S is for Serial Killers - Gacy

It was May 10th 1994. I was living in Chicago and working in a furniture warehouse. There was an eclipse happening that day. I happened to be prepared with special glasses so I could watch the show thanks to my older sister who worked at the Adler Planetarium. I went outdoors and joined a few others who were checking it out. Nobody else has glasses so I shared mine.

This happened to also be the day that Illinois was putting John Wayne Gacy to death. One of the back office employees was out there smoking and she mentioned the execution. She said that her friend's brother was one of the victims. The paper that day had a list with headshot pictures of all the people he murdered. As the exterior light around the warehouse and the street we were standing began to change, my thoughts turned to my uncle.

My dad's brother was a Chicago cop and was on the sidelines of the Gacy investigation before he was caught. Apparently, he became obsessed with the case. I can only image how you would not get caught in the gravitational pull of this black hole. And much like the darkening roundness above my head, I felt like I was very much a part of the darkness and the light in the world, all at the same time.