Pogo's Rumpus Room

 

The Serial Killer:  John Wayne Gacy (March 17, 1942-May 10, 1994).  After having been imprisoned for the sodomy of a teenage boy in Iowa, Gacy was released on probation in 1970.  Shortly after, he purchased a ranch-style house in a metropolitan part of Chicago, Illinois.  It was there he murdered at least thirty young men and boys.  He buried twenty-six of his victims in the crawl space under his house, three on other parts of his property, and discarded four of his victims in the Des Plaines River.  After luring these young men into the recreation room in his home, he would offer them alcohol, drugs, and pornography.  The boys were then duped into donning handcuffs so that Gacy could demonstrate a "magic trick."  Once the men were helpless, he would rape and kill them by asphyxiation or strangulation.  The investigation into the disappearance of one Des Plaines teenager led to Gacy's arrest in late 1978, and he was sentenced to death in 1980.  In 1994, he was executed by lethal ejection at Stateville Correctional Center.  Prior to his arrest, John Gacy was considered a pillar of the community who did public performances as Pogo the Clown.  As such, he became known as "The Killer Clown."

The Room:  Known for collecting artwork, Gacy had several paintings of clowns throughout his three-bedroom, one-and-a-half bathroom home.  One piece in particular was a large painting of a clown that hung over the sofa in his recreation room.  Also in the room was a tiki wet bar where he would serve cocktails in a romanticized Polynesian atmosphere.  This atmosphere was further emphasized across the room by a built-in planter loaded with exotic plants.  Not only would Gacy offer his young victims drugs and alcohol at the bar, it is also there he kept a set of handcuffs used to demonstrate his deadly "magic tricks."  Dominating the center of the room was a large pool table, where boys were encourage to unwind over a friendly game of "eight-ball."  A large window facing south overlooked an outdoor barbecue pit, where one of Gacy's many victims had been buried.  South of the pit was the garage, under which Gacy had buried his first victim.  During the police investigation, most of the floor in the house had been removed.  As the house was then deemed unsafe, its remains were officially demolished in 1979.

The Floor Plan:  Rather than provide Gacy's entire house, I chose to provide the floor plan of his recreation room.  Based on pictures I found online, the following is a guesstimate of the room where Gacy's numerous tortures began.  Based on my research, there are a few things to keep in mind:

1)  While researching this residence, I could not find the year that Gacy's house was built.  I did, however, find a house similar to his in the same neighborhood built in 1952.  Therefore, my guess is that his house was built in the early 1950s.

2)  When looking at floor plans of the house, it appears to me that the recreation room, wet bar, small bathroom, and formal dining room were most likely added onto the south end of the house at a later date.

3)  It is believed that all of Gacy's victims were raped, tortured and murdered in this house.  There were some nights Gacy referred to as "doubles," in which he would lure two men to his recreation room at two separate times in one night.

4)  When investigating the disappearance of Gacy's last victim, two police officers entered his house.  After, both admitted to smelling "the odor of death."

5)  During the investigation, police searching the kitchen discovered a receipt for a roll of film that had belonged to one of Gacy's victims.  While searching a bedroom, police found a high school ring belonging to a young man that had been missing for two years.

6)  In 1979, Gacy's house was razed and a three-bedroom, two-bathroom brick home was built on the property in 1986.  At that time, the house address was changed.

Sources:

Amirante, Sam L. & Broderick, Danny.  John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster.  Skyhorse Publishing, 2011.

Chicago Tribune.  "Four Bodies Found: Total Climbs to 22."  December 1978.  https://www.newspapers.com.  Accessed 7 April 2024.

Illinois' Halloween Entertainment Guide.  "John Wayne Gacy House Location: Real Chicago Haunted Place."  Illinois Haunted Houses.  https://www.illinoishauntedhouses.com.  Accessed 7 April 2024.

Kneeland, Douglas E.  "4 More Bodies Found Under House of Contractor, Bringing Total to 9."  The New York Times.  December 1978.  https://www.nytimes.com.  Accessed 7 April 2024.

Linedecker, Clifford L.  The Man Who Killed Boys: A True Story of Mass Murder in a Chicago Suburb.  St. Martin's Press, 1980.

Mackay, Robert.  "More Bodies Found in Illinois."  Nashua Telegraph.  December 1978.  https://news.google.com.  Accessed 7 April 2024.

Margaritoff, Marco.  "John Wayne Gacy’s House:  Inside The Lair of a Serial Killer."  All That's Interesting.  August 2023. https://allthatsinteresting.com.  Accessed 7 April 2024.

Marshall Cavendish Weekly Publication.  Murder Casebook: Orgy of Killings.  Marshall Cavendish, 1990.

Montreal Gazette.  "Neighbors Relieved as Gacy Home Demolished." April 1979.  https://news.google.com.  Accessed 7 April 2024.

Nelson, David.  Boys Enter the House: The Victims of John Wayne Gacy and the Lives they Left Behind. Chicago Review Press, 2021.

Sullivan, Terry & Maiken, Peter T.  Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders.  Pinnacle Publishers, 2013.

Town Talk.  "8 More Bodies Found Under Home."  December 1978. https://www.newspapers.com.  Accessed 7 April 2024.

Wilkinson, Alex.  "Conversations With a Killer."  The New Yorker. April 1994.  https://www.newyorker.com.  Accessed 7 April 2024.