John Wayne Gacy — The Killer Clown — Killer Files

Alleged / reported perpetrator

John Wayne Gacy Jr.

Status: executed

Case overview

John Wayne Gacy Jr. (1942–1994) murdered 33 young men and boys in Chicago's Norwood Park Township between January 1972 and December 1978. A contractor and community volunteer who performed as "Pogo the Clown" at charity events, Gacy lured victims — primarily working-class teenagers and young men seeking employment — to

Reported paranormal context

The house at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue was demolished in April 1979 and replaced with a new structure. Subsequent residents and neighbours reported persistent feelings of unease, shadow figures, and unexplained sounds — particularly from the area of the former crawl space. Several residents reportedly vacated the new structure within months. The Des Plaines River locations where Gacy disposed of additional victims have also been the subject of reported apparitions of young men near the water. The Norwood Park neighbourhood has not recovered a full sense of community normalcy. Paranormal investigators have documented EMF anomalies and EVP activity at the address.

Timeline

1972-01-02 · attack
Murder of Timothy McCoy — first victim
Timothy McCoy, 15, of Omaha, Nebraska — the first known victim. Gacy later stated he experienced a sense of pleasure at the moment of killing and determined to repeat the act.
1978-12-11 · attack
Robert Piest disappears — investigation begins
Robert Piest, 15, told his mother he was going to speak with a contractor about a summer job. That contractor was Gacy. Piest's family immediately reported him missing and pressed for thorough investigation, distinguishing this case from prior disappearances.
1978-12-21 · arrest event
Crawl space discovered — Gacy arrested
Officers searching 8213 West Summerdale Avenue detected a foul odour. Excavation of the crawl space revealed human remains. Gacy was arrested the same day. He confessed on 22 December 1978 to 30 killings and directed officers to the Des Plaines River.
1980-03-13 · trial
Convicted on all 33 counts of murder
Gacy was found guilty on all 33 murder counts on 13 March 1980. He received 12 death sentences and 21 natural life sentences — the largest death sentence in Illinois history at the time.
1994-05-10 · execution
Gacy executed by lethal injection
John Wayne Gacy was executed at Stateville Correctional Center, Crest Hill, Illinois, on 10 May 1994. His last words were "Kiss my ass."

Attack / sighting map

Explore geographic context on the PRN Map Explorer.

Media archive

image · historical
John Wayne Gacy at the White House, 1978
Official White House photograph of Gacy with First Lady Rosalynn Carter.
Open

Reported paranormal activity

atmospheric · unverified
The house built on the site of Gacy's former home at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue has been the subject of ongoing reports. Multiple residents of the replacement structure have reportedly moved out within months, citing an oppressive and unexplained atmospheric quality. Paranormal investigators report EMF anomalies and EVP activity at the address. The Des Plaines River sites where river victims were disposed of have also produced reported phenomena — accounts of young male apparitions near the water. The Norwood Park community has not fully recovered a sense of normalcy in the area.
Area: 8213 West Summerdale Avenue, Norwood Park, Chicago (replacement structure)
visual · unverified
As reported by Newsweek, paranormal investigator and 'Ghost Adventures' host Zak Bagans acquired one of Gacy's clown self-portraits for his Las Vegas Haunted Museum, where it sits among objects he presents as paranormally charged, including items he attributes to Charles Manson and Jeffrey Dahmer. Bagans markets the collection on the premise that such objects can hold residual energy; this is a curated attraction's framing rather than verified phenomena.
Area: Gacy's 'Pogo the Clown' self-portrait now in Zak Bagans' Haunted Museum, Las Vegas, alongside other serial-killer 'murderabilia'
atmospheric · unverified
In a widely reprinted Boston Herald report, Massachusetts musician and murderabilia collector Nikki Stone claimed his signed Gacy 'Pogo the Clown' self-portrait, bought for about $3,000 in 2001, brought a run of misfortune: he linked the death of his dog, his mother's cancer diagnosis, a fatal car crash near a friend who stored it, and a friend's suicide attempt to the painting, calling it 'cursed.' The same coverage relays the often-repeated claim that Johnny Depp grew so unsettled by a Gacy clown painting he owned that he developed a fear of clowns and got rid of it. These are the collectors' own attributions, not established causation.
Area: Privately owned Gacy 'Pogo the Clown' self-portrait (Malden, Massachusetts collector); related claim about a painting once owned by actor Johnny Depp
visual · unverified
A persistent strand of murderabilia lore frames Gacy's death-row clown paintings, especially the 'Pogo the Clown' self-portraits, as 'cursed objects' that carry his malign influence. As reported by All That's Interesting, some buyers acquired the works specifically hoping to sense the artist's thoughts, and believers in object-attachment hold that the spirits of especially violent people can cling to their belongings. In 1994 around 300 people, including some victims' relatives, reportedly gathered in Naperville, Illinois to burn roughly 25 of the paintings on a pyre.
Area: Gacy's 'Pogo the Clown' self-portrait paintings (murderabilia), as held by private collectors and museums
auditory · unverified
The site's haunted reputation inspired the 2010 found-footage film '8213: Gacy House' and Richard Estep's non-fiction book 'Gacy's Ghost.' The film dramatises paranormal investigators attempting to record EVP (electronic voice phenomena) at the location. Such media treatments present the alleged activity as entertainment and reported lore rather than verified phenomena.
Area: Site of the former Gacy home, Norwood Park, Chicago (subject of a 2010 found-footage film and a non-fiction ghost-hunting book)
atmospheric · unverified
Chicago folklore holds that after Gacy's home was demolished in 1979, the cleared lot took on a haunted reputation. According to All That's Interesting and the listing site MansionFreak, locals reported unexplained sounds and shadowy figures, and were unnerved that the ground stayed barren for years, with reportedly neither grass nor weeds taking hold on the property. These are anecdotal neighbourhood claims rather than documented investigations.
Area: Vacant lot at 8213 (since renumbered) West Summerdale Avenue, Norwood Park, Chicago, after the original house was demolished in 1979

Sources

Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders — Terry Sullivan and Peter T. Maiken, 1983Tier 3
People of Illinois v. John Wayne Gacy Jr. — trial record — 1980Tier 2
John Wayne Gacy House Location — Illinois Haunted Houses, 2018Tier 3
Who Was Timothy 'Tim' McCoy, John Wayne Gacy's First Known Victim? — Elena Ferrarin, 2023Tier 2
John Wayne Gacy | Crime, Murders, & Facts — John P. Jenkins, 2025Tier 2
The 33 Known and Unknown Murder Victims of 'Killer Clown' John Wayne Gacy — Benjamin H. Smith, 2018Tier 3
9 Haunted Paintings Said To Be Cursed By Supernatural Forces — All That's Interesting staff, 2021Tier 3
Serial killer Gacy's painting brings bad luck — Boston Herald report (collector Nikki Stone), archived, 2010Tier 3
8213: Gacy House (Video 2010) — IMDb, 2010Tier 3
John Wayne Gacy House: Location, Haunted History & What's There Now — MansionFreak, 2024Tier 3
Zak Bagans Adds John Wayne Gacy's Clown Self-Portrait to His Extensive Collection of Oddities — Newsweek staff, 2020Tier 3
John Wayne Gacy's House: Inside The Lair Of A Serial Killer — All That's Interesting staff, 2021Tier 3