Latest / DISGRACELAND / Sigourney Weaver: A Goddess, Beasts and Demons, and Paying Tribute from Death Row

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Sigourney Weaver: A Goddess, Beasts and Demons, and Paying Tribute from Death Row · DISGRACELAND

0:00
Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners.
0:03
Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information.
0:06
Speaker 2: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis.
0:23
Speaker 1: This is the.
0:24
Speaker 2: Story of a goddess, sort of. It's the story of
0:28
Speaker 2: an actress that a man with a very fractured mind
0:31
Speaker 2: believed was a goddess, a goddess sent to this earth
0:35
Speaker 2: to battle beasts and demons, A goddess named Sigourney Weaver.
0:41
Speaker 2: Sigourney Weaver, who was believed to be a real life deity,
0:45
Speaker 2: believed to be that by a man named Alexander Williams,
0:49
Speaker 2: a man who literally worshiped Sigourney Weaver through arcane rituals
0:54
Speaker 2: from the floor of his death row prison cell, a
0:58
Speaker 2: cell filled with the not so great music playing on
1:01
Speaker 2: a loop in a not so sane man's head. Not
1:04
Speaker 2: great music like that music I played for you at
1:08
Speaker 2: the top of the show that was also not great music.
1:12
Speaker 2: That was a preset loop for my melotron called idleb
1:16
Speaker 2: damned MK one. I played you that loop because I
1:22
Speaker 2: can't afford the rights to Hot Stuff by Donna Summer.
1:27
Speaker 1: And why would I play.
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Speaker 2: You that specific slice of teal square cheese? Could I
1:31
Speaker 2: afford it, because that was the number one song in
1:36
Speaker 2: America on June twenty second, nineteen seventy nine, and that
1:40
Speaker 2: was the day of the film Alien was released, with
1:43
Speaker 2: a breakthrough role for young actress Sigourney Weaver, in doing so,
1:48
Speaker 2: sparking a very weird obsession by a killer at the
1:52
Speaker 2: center of this very weird true crime tale. On this episode,
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Speaker 2: a fractured mind evins a deity, a weird as true
2:03
Speaker 2: crime story in the Goddess, Sigourney Weaver, I'm Jake Brennan,
2:09
Speaker 2: and this is this graceland. Sunlight splintered through the bars
2:42
Speaker 2: of the prison cell window. It was time for the
2:44
Speaker 2: ritual to begin. That six inch sliver of luminescence was
2:48
Speaker 2: the only natural light he got in this eight by
2:50
Speaker 2: eight box. And this was his home now, had been
2:54
Speaker 2: for the past fourteen years, and it would continue to
2:57
Speaker 2: be his home for as long as he was alive.
3:00
Speaker 1: How long would that be?
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Speaker 2: Exactly another week, another year, maybe thirty years or more
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Speaker 2: if he played his cards right. Only the Goddess could
3:08
Speaker 2: say for sure, which was why each day he waited
3:11
Speaker 2: for the beacon, a glimmer of hope that she sent
3:14
Speaker 2: from beyond every goddess wants a tribute, and the goddess said,
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Speaker 2: Alexander Williams worshiped was no exception. He yanked the cold
3:23
Speaker 2: white sheet from his cot. He pulled it up above
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Speaker 2: his head, pinching tight around his neck, and let the
3:28
Speaker 2: fabric fall loosely from his shoulders. Kneeling down, he arranged
3:33
Speaker 2: the plastic knives he pilfered from the mess hall into
3:35
Speaker 2: the shape of a sigil, a symbol with magical powers.
3:40
Speaker 2: He used the puddle of sunlight as a stage. He
3:43
Speaker 2: placed a small tea candle at each of the vertices.
3:47
Speaker 2: He couldn't light them, of course, there were rules about
3:49
Speaker 2: matches and open flames here, but the flickering sun would
3:53
Speaker 2: do the job for now. Alexander leaned back on his haunches.
3:57
Speaker 2: He took a deep breath, His fingers fell limp upon
4:00
Speaker 2: his thighs, and then suddenly the cell door slid wide open,
4:07
Speaker 2: followed by the rhythmic thudding of boots on concrete. The
4:10
Speaker 2: guards always liked to make an entrance.
4:13
Speaker 1: Get up.
4:14
Speaker 2: One of the guards said, you get a visitor and
4:16
Speaker 2: try not to scare this one away.
4:17
Speaker 1: Okay.
4:19
Speaker 2: The guards yanked Alexander up from the floor, and they
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Speaker 2: didn't care that he was in the middle of the ritual.
4:24
Speaker 2: They patted him down, clipped the cuffs around his wrists.
4:27
Speaker 2: Then they shoved him into the corridor and down the
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Speaker 2: hall to another room. This one was slightly larger than
4:32
Speaker 2: the one he was used to, just as barn, though
4:35
Speaker 2: without even a window, and there was a large metal
4:38
Speaker 2: table in the center. A bald man in a suit
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Speaker 2: sat on one side of it. You must be Alexander,
4:43
Speaker 2: the man said, nice to meet you. Alexander didn't say anything.
4:47
Speaker 2: The guards shoved him down into the other chair. The
4:50
Speaker 2: man in the suit continued talking. I understand he had
4:53
Speaker 2: some trouble with the last two lawyers they assigned to you.
4:55
Speaker 2: One of them said he wouldn't even talk. That seems
4:58
Speaker 2: to be a pattern.
5:00
Speaker 1: Xander wonder what.
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Speaker 2: Else the last guy had said about him. Demons were
5:03
Speaker 2: known to lie, so were lawyers. He looked his new
5:06
Speaker 2: attorney up and down, squinting to see what lay beyond
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Speaker 2: those beady brown eyes, searching for signs of the devil inside.
5:14
Speaker 2: The lawyer continued a few months from now, he explained,
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Speaker 2: someone was going to shove Alexander into a different chair,
5:21
Speaker 2: a chair he wouldn't get up from and that would
5:23
Speaker 2: be the end, and that's why they call it death row.
5:26
Speaker 2: But if he wanted to live, the lawyer explained, Alexander
5:29
Speaker 2: had to trust him. Alexander wasn't ready for that. He stalled,
5:37
Speaker 2: using some of the tactics he learned in the appeals
5:39
Speaker 2: he'd written himself, starting with the lowest hanging fruit, that
5:43
Speaker 2: the jury was racist. The lawyer rolled his eyes. Nearly
5:47
Speaker 2: half the jury that convicted Alexander was black. Discrimination was
5:51
Speaker 2: going to be a hard sell, even in the state
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Speaker 2: of Georgia, though the lawyer was impressed with the way
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Speaker 2: that Alexander laid out his argument in the court documents.
6:00
Speaker 2: This was especially true in light of the prison psychiatric evaluation.
6:07
Speaker 2: Alexander was diagnosed with a severe form of psychosis, known
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Speaker 2: at the time as paranoid schizophrenia or sometimes schitz effective disorder.
6:16
Speaker 2: This was the nineteen eighties when every B movie serial
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Speaker 2: killer was labeled schizophrenic. But whenever you want to call
6:22
Speaker 2: the sickness to plague the mind of Alexander Williams.
6:25
Speaker 1: The state had decided.
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Speaker 2: He was mentally unfit, that even if he wasn't in prison,
6:30
Speaker 2: he was still too unstable to live by himself or make.
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Speaker 1: His own decisions.
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Speaker 2: But Alexander Williams was never formally diagnosed until after the
6:38
Speaker 2: State of Georgia sentenced to death. To make matters more complicated,
6:43
Speaker 2: he was only seventeen when he was convicted. At the time,
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Speaker 2: the Supreme Court had just ruled that the Constitution allowed
6:50
Speaker 2: the death penalty for minors, making the US one of
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Speaker 2: the few countries where that was legal. But to execute
6:56
Speaker 2: someone who was severely mentally ill for a crime they
6:59
Speaker 2: committed as a miner that smelled like a violation of
7:02
Speaker 2: international law. Even the UN High Commission on Human Rights
7:06
Speaker 2: spoke out in Alexander's defense. His new lawyer laid out
7:10
Speaker 2: all this information. It made it clear they did have
7:13
Speaker 2: a case. It wouldn't get Alexander out of prison, but
7:16
Speaker 2: at least he could get off death row. Alexander mulled
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Speaker 2: this over for a moment. He looked up at the
7:21
Speaker 2: lawyer again, still no sign of demons in his eyes.
7:25
Speaker 2: Alexander decided it was safe to open up. Did my
7:28
Speaker 2: last lawyer tell you about the Goddess? The lawyer shook
7:32
Speaker 2: his head. He had not, and so Alexander began.
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Speaker 1: To explain.
7:39
Speaker 2: The goddess first came to earth beneath the Libra's balanced scales.
7:43
Speaker 2: It was October eighth, nineteen forty nine, the year of
7:46
Speaker 2: the Ox. She manifested her physical form through Venus' air
7:50
Speaker 2: and the avatar of the Weaver. Her tall, spindly elegance
7:54
Speaker 2: cast a shadow of light across the isle of Manahada,
7:57
Speaker 2: where she spuwn great yarns of glory, and with the
8:00
Speaker 2: poisoned grace of a looming tapestry. In her youth, her
8:05
Speaker 2: story swelled in the lattice work of symmetry, and she
8:08
Speaker 2: was gracious with her gossamer embrace. But when the Goddess
8:12
Speaker 2: came of age, she embarked on Echibbittz. She traveled to
8:15
Speaker 2: the holy land that so many false idols have written
8:18
Speaker 2: off and gone to war over. And it was during
8:20
Speaker 2: that magnificent journey, just as the Weaver crossed the threshold,
8:24
Speaker 2: that Alexander Williams's father spilled his seed into his mother
8:28
Speaker 2: six thousand, six hundred and sixty six miles eastward. As
8:32
Speaker 2: the crow flies, so it was that Alexander was born
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Speaker 2: with the blessing of a goddess he had yet to meet.
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Speaker 2: She the Great Weaver and he her prophet. Alexander hadn't
8:43
Speaker 2: always recognized his destiny, not until the day he saw
8:46
Speaker 2: her face emblazoned on the celluloid amidst the sea of
8:49
Speaker 2: alien eggs. He watched in awe as the Weaver battled
8:53
Speaker 2: at demonic xenomorph, a dark inversion of the Great Mother.
8:57
Speaker 2: The Weaver used the prowess of justice to blast the
9:00
Speaker 2: beast into the blackness of space, where no one could
9:03
Speaker 2: hear it scream. No monster could contend with the glory
9:06
Speaker 2: of the Weaver's flame, and so the newly christened Goddess
9:10
Speaker 2: began her journey back to Earth on the arc called Nostromo.
9:14
Speaker 2: Hold on, that's some batshit crazy shit, but that's where
9:18
Speaker 2: Alexander Williams was coming from. And the lawyer was just
9:22
Speaker 2: as fucking confused as you are right now. So back
9:25
Speaker 2: to our story. The lawyer suddenly interrupted. Just so we're clear,
9:29
Speaker 2: The lawyer said, this goddess you're referring to is Sigourney Weaver.
9:34
Speaker 2: Alexander saw something in the lawyer's eye when he spoke
9:37
Speaker 2: the true name of the goddess, That cruel, reddish glimmer
9:41
Speaker 2: somewhere in the room he heard the fading echoes of
9:43
Speaker 2: a demon's cackle. He glanced over at the guards by
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Speaker 2: the door, and they were just standing there, oblivious to
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Speaker 2: the fact that evil had finally revealed itself.
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Speaker 1: Alexander knew what he had to do. He kicked the chair.
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Speaker 2: Back, violently, using it as leverage, lunged across the table,
10:00
Speaker 2: even with the handcuffs on his fingers still.
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Speaker 1: Fit around the demon lawyer's neck.
10:04
Speaker 2: He knew the guards to be on him in a moment,
10:07
Speaker 2: but that was all the time he needed to wring
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Speaker 2: the evil from.
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Speaker 1: The devil's throat.
10:37
Speaker 2: The purr of the engine was almost loud enough to
10:39
Speaker 2: drown out the pounding of Alexander Williams's anxious heart. Almost
10:45
Speaker 2: The seventeen year old pulled the brand new, bright blue
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Speaker 2: eighty six Mustang into the arcade parking lot and let
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Speaker 2: it idle. He knew it wasn't safe to hold on
10:52
Speaker 2: to the car for too long. He just hoped that
10:54
Speaker 2: someone would see him driving it and then tell everyone
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Speaker 2: how cool he looked.
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Speaker 1: But no one noticed.
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Speaker 2: They didn't even look out the window of the arcade
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Speaker 2: to see what was going on. They are probably too
11:04
Speaker 2: busy playing gomblet too, or, let's be honest, probably bubble
11:07
Speaker 2: bubble Alexander side. He shut the engine off, and then
11:11
Speaker 2: he steeled himself up to head inside. Sure enough, John
11:15
Speaker 2: and Maggie were huddled around the bubble bubble machine, while
11:18
Speaker 2: Leon and Jerry took their turns at gamblet too. The
11:22
Speaker 2: games were taking up all their attention. Alexander cleared his throat,
11:27
Speaker 2: loud and conspicuous.
11:28
Speaker 1: Anyone out to get rid of a car?
11:30
Speaker 2: He led his friends out to the parking lot, and
11:33
Speaker 2: they were more nervous than impress. Uh, how did you
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Speaker 2: get a brand new Mustang? Alexander told him not to
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Speaker 2: worry about it, but if they helped out, he'd reward
11:42
Speaker 2: them in cash. John and Jerry filed into Maggie's car.
11:47
Speaker 2: She was the only other one with her own ride.
11:49
Speaker 2: It wasn't a Mustang, but it got her around. They
11:53
Speaker 2: followed Alexander, who led the way out of town with
11:55
Speaker 2: Leon riding shotgun. Alexander thought the ride would calm his nerves,
12:00
Speaker 2: and it almost did, until Leon asked him where the
12:03
Speaker 2: car came from. Leon promised he wouldn't tell the others.
12:07
Speaker 2: Alexander wasn't sure if he could trust him wasn't sure
12:10
Speaker 2: if he could trust anyone. He shook his head. He
12:13
Speaker 2: didn't want to say. He checked the rear view mirror,
12:16
Speaker 2: no sign of the goddess. He was on his own.
12:20
Speaker 2: Leon kept prodding. Alexander knew he had to tell him something.
12:24
Speaker 2: I met this chick at the mall, he said, focusing
12:26
Speaker 2: his gaze on the road to keep himself grounded. And
12:28
Speaker 2: we were just talking and she told me to get
12:30
Speaker 2: in asked if I wanted to go for a ride,
12:32
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. Leon scoffed, yeah, okay, whatever meant.
12:37
Speaker 2: But once Alexander got going, he couldn't stop himself. The
12:40
Speaker 2: words poured from his lips with a flat affectation, like
12:43
Speaker 2: someone else was using his voice. He told Leon how
12:46
Speaker 2: the girl had this light around her and aura the
12:49
Speaker 2: halo of a heavenly being, and it kept getting brighter,
12:52
Speaker 2: so bright, and so loud, so loud that Alexander told
12:56
Speaker 2: her to keep it down and be quiet. Leon laughed again,
13:00
Speaker 2: she gonna be quiet about you taking her car. Alexander
13:03
Speaker 2: hesitated for a moment before he answered, she won't tell
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Speaker 2: a soul, he said, his unblinking eyes still trained on
13:09
Speaker 2: the asphalt. He reached over to the glove compartment and
13:12
Speaker 2: popped it open. Leon saw the twenty two caliber pistol inside.
13:17
Speaker 2: They ditched the blue Mustang near Wooded Creek, just outside Augusta.
13:21
Speaker 2: Alexander knew he had to buy his friend's silence. He
13:24
Speaker 2: pulled a shopping bag from the back seat of the car.
13:27
Speaker 2: Inside were necklaces, earrings, and rings.
13:30
Speaker 1: Go ahead, take it all, he told them. Then he
13:32
Speaker 1: flashed a purse full of credit cards.
13:34
Speaker 2: And told them all to meet him at the mall
13:35
Speaker 2: the next morning for a shopping spree. On the ride
13:38
Speaker 2: back into town in Maggie's car, Alexander's heart raced. He
13:42
Speaker 2: leaned over to Jerry, who sat next to him in
13:44
Speaker 2: the middle of the car's front bench. Hey Jerry, he whispered,
13:47
Speaker 2: you ever shot anyone? Jerry hesitated, and then he gave
13:52
Speaker 2: a subtle nod, which was just enough to prompt Alexander's
13:55
Speaker 2: follow up, cush, what did.
13:58
Speaker 1: You do with the body?
14:02
Speaker 2: The next morning, Alexander met his friends at the mall
14:05
Speaker 2: and handed out the credit cards. Just like he promised,
14:08
Speaker 2: they were all made out to the same name.
14:10
Speaker 1: I led a bunch.
14:12
Speaker 2: No one bothered asking who that was, and maybe they
14:14
Speaker 2: didn't want to know. Alexander's first stop was the comic
14:17
Speaker 2: book store. He had to get his hands on the
14:19
Speaker 2: latest issue of Miracle Man. He picked up the comic
14:22
Speaker 2: book and was looking it over when suddenly he heard
14:24
Speaker 2: a familiar voice from.
14:25
Speaker 1: Behind the counter. He turned around.
14:28
Speaker 2: The store manager was watching Ghostbusters on the small TV
14:31
Speaker 2: in the corner. That's when the goddess came to him again.
14:35
Speaker 2: There is no data, There is only Zeel. The Great
14:38
Speaker 2: Weaver went by many names. After banishing the great demonic Xenomore,
14:48
Speaker 2: she who was now Sigourney, returned to Earth, where she
14:51
Speaker 2: won the favor of a deity of time, wealth, and agriculture.
14:54
Speaker 2: That God was so moved by her performance in the
14:56
Speaker 2: legendary battle that he bestowed upon her the record nition
15:00
Speaker 2: of his most sacred Saturn Award. Soon enough, a golden
15:04
Speaker 2: globe began to spin around her name as well, and
15:06
Speaker 2: though it wouldn't settle in her orbit for several years
15:09
Speaker 2: to come, she survived through the year of Living Dangerously
15:13
Speaker 2: and stole the power of the Peacemaker to broke with
15:15
Speaker 2: the deal of the century. Even the wicked Zul couldn't
15:18
Speaker 2: resist the way she weaved her melodies upon the cello.
15:21
Speaker 2: Was there anything the Great Sigourney couldn't do? Alexander Williams
15:25
Speaker 2: was proud to serve such a noble goddess, though he
15:28
Speaker 2: was disappointed when he learned that she had chosen another
15:30
Speaker 2: mortal to be her consort, a human male called Jim Simpson,
15:35
Speaker 2: who came to her twice removed from the Broadway. Still,
15:40
Speaker 2: Alexander held out hope. He knew that one day he'd
15:43
Speaker 2: be rewarded for his worship. When he saw the halo
15:46
Speaker 2: manifest around that girl around to lead a bunch, he
15:49
Speaker 2: saw it as a sign. Even when she denied him,
15:52
Speaker 2: he assumed it was a test. He had waited so
15:55
Speaker 2: long for his prize, for a.
15:57
Speaker 1: Union of the flesh.
15:58
Speaker 2: He was seventeen years old. Now he knew he'd finally
16:01
Speaker 2: earned it. He deserved it, so he took it the
16:05
Speaker 2: only way he knew how. Alexander's mind was suddenly flooded
16:08
Speaker 2: with memories of what he had actually done.
16:11
Speaker 1: The world around him began to splinter and spin.
16:13
Speaker 2: The sound of a girl's voice shouting his name rang
16:16
Speaker 2: out over and over and over. It took him a
16:19
Speaker 2: moment to realize it was Maggie she was standing right
16:21
Speaker 2: beside him in the comic book Star, Hello Earth to Alexander,
16:25
Speaker 2: I asked you a question. Alexander tried to shake himself
16:29
Speaker 2: free from his hypnotic dream, and it wasn't easy. So
16:32
Speaker 2: Maggie repeated herself. She wanted to know where he'd gotten
16:35
Speaker 2: the credit cards and the jewelry and the mustang. Alexander
16:40
Speaker 2: told her the same thing he told Leon he met
16:42
Speaker 2: a girl at the mall, and that much was true,
16:45
Speaker 2: but Maggie wasn't buying it. She heard what he asked
16:48
Speaker 2: Jerry on the car ride back if he'd ever shot
16:50
Speaker 2: someone and where to hide the body. She pulled out
16:53
Speaker 2: the credit card that Alexander had given her and read
16:55
Speaker 2: the name out loud. I led a bunch. She threatened
16:58
Speaker 2: to go to mall security of Alexander didn't tell her
17:00
Speaker 2: what was going on. Alexander's heart was racing, now, a
17:04
Speaker 2: frantic rhythm, thutting up his chest and into his skull.
17:08
Speaker 2: It drowned out the world around him. He thought of
17:10
Speaker 2: Serebellum was shaking loose, adrenaline was boiling just under his skin,
17:15
Speaker 2: and the Goddess was nowhere to be found. He leaned
17:18
Speaker 2: close to Maggie, hissing through his gritted teeth. You ever
17:21
Speaker 2: hear of kill and kill again? He asked, because if
17:24
Speaker 2: I did it once, you damn well better believe I'll
17:27
Speaker 2: do it again.
17:31
Speaker 1: We'll be right back after this. We're We're, We're.
17:39
Speaker 2: Alexander Williams weaved his way through the quiet Georgia streets.
17:43
Speaker 2: He tried not to fold or bend the comic he
17:45
Speaker 2: grasped tight against his chest. He'd already risked too much
17:49
Speaker 2: to get his hands on it. Man Thing issue number one.
17:52
Speaker 2: It was near mint cost him twenty seven coins from
17:55
Speaker 2: his meticulous, securated antique penny collection. He had his grandmother
17:59
Speaker 2: to think for the coin collecting. He enjoyed the tactile experience,
18:03
Speaker 2: the attention to detail, the proud feeling of ownership possession.
18:08
Speaker 2: But he was twelve years old now, and coins just
18:11
Speaker 2: weren't cool anymore. Definitely not as cool as Man Thing.
18:15
Speaker 2: The reddish dusk was dimming fast, and Alexander cut across
18:19
Speaker 2: Missus Johnson's backyard through the baseball field behind Saint Mark's.
18:23
Speaker 2: It was the most direct route to his mom's house,
18:26
Speaker 2: even if it did take him past the Bridger's nasty
18:28
Speaker 2: pitbull He glanced down at the comic book in his
18:31
Speaker 2: arms and read the slogan on the cover. Whoever knows
18:33
Speaker 2: fear burns at the touch of man thing. He told
18:37
Speaker 2: himself he wouldn't be afraid, not of the dog anyway.
18:40
Speaker 2: Alexander made it past the Bridger's house unscathed. His mother's
18:44
Speaker 2: house was right there over the horizon. He could see
18:47
Speaker 2: the fiery sun sinking just behind it, casting an ominous
18:51
Speaker 2: shadow on the front porch. As he got closer, he
18:54
Speaker 2: saw his mother standing in the darkness with a frying
18:57
Speaker 2: pan in one hand and a belt.
18:59
Speaker 1: In the other.
19:02
Speaker 2: I told you to be home before the sunset, she said.
19:04
Speaker 2: She beckoned him up the stairs with a bony finger.
19:07
Speaker 2: Alexander knew better than to resist or to scream. He
19:11
Speaker 2: just stood there, stern and silent, and accepted his punishment.
19:16
Speaker 2: The first lash from the belt tore a button off
19:18
Speaker 2: of Alexander's shirt. It was a Sunday night, and he
19:21
Speaker 2: was still in his church clothes, but he was too
19:24
Speaker 2: distracted by the incoming frying pan to notice. He tried
19:27
Speaker 2: out the flinch as the cast iron connected with his cheek.
19:30
Speaker 2: He knew that if he made a sound, she'd just
19:32
Speaker 2: get mad at him for talking back.
19:35
Speaker 1: He wasn't minding her, she said.
19:37
Speaker 2: After his mother was done with her thrashing, she asked
19:40
Speaker 2: Alexander what happened to his clothes. She pointed to the
19:43
Speaker 2: missing button on his shirt that had come off with
19:45
Speaker 2: a belt. Alexander didn't know what to say, so he
19:48
Speaker 2: said nothing. His mother tore into him verbally this time
19:53
Speaker 2: he was sloppy, disrespectful. How darry be so careless with
19:56
Speaker 2: the clothes she bought for him with the money she earned,
19:58
Speaker 2: threw all of her hard work. His mother didn't work
20:01
Speaker 2: three jobs just to watch him ruin everything she built
20:03
Speaker 2: for him. She ordered Alexander to take his clothes off
20:06
Speaker 2: right there in the porch. Why while the covering yourself
20:09
Speaker 2: If you're just going to make a mess anyway, that
20:11
Speaker 2: was her logic. At least may as well go out
20:13
Speaker 2: into the world the same way you came into it.
20:16
Speaker 2: Then she went inside and locked the door behind her.
20:20
Speaker 2: The sun had fully set and the April chill was
20:23
Speaker 2: setting in in twelve year old Alexander Williams was completely
20:27
Speaker 2: naked with no way back inside. This wasn't the first
20:31
Speaker 2: time he found himself in this situation. He did what
20:34
Speaker 2: he always did when his mother left him like this,
20:36
Speaker 2: he went for a walk. By Now he knew his
20:39
Speaker 2: way around those desolate streets in the dark, and where
20:41
Speaker 2: to find the safest shadows for a naked boy to
20:43
Speaker 2: get a little shut eye. Sometimes he explored different neighborhoods.
20:47
Speaker 2: His dad lived around here somewhere, or so they said.
20:51
Speaker 2: But on this night, in particular, clutching his now crumpled
20:54
Speaker 2: copy of man Thing Number one, Alexander found a different
20:58
Speaker 2: kind of shelter. The frying pan to the face had
21:01
Speaker 2: left him dizzy, and he kept seeing these flickering lights
21:03
Speaker 2: in the corners of his eyes. They had disappeared each
21:06
Speaker 2: time he turned around, but like a moth to a flame,
21:09
Speaker 2: he followed them anyway, hoping to find the source. The
21:12
Speaker 2: lights led him to a house where Alexander could see
21:15
Speaker 2: the ambient flicker of a television set through the window.
21:18
Speaker 2: His eyes struggled to sift through the static, but soon
21:21
Speaker 2: enough the bright blur melted into focus, revealing the glorious
21:25
Speaker 2: visage of a savior on the screen, Sigourney Weaver sitting
21:30
Speaker 2: in a spaceship an angelic white underwear. A monster lurked
21:34
Speaker 2: behind her, Alexander just stood there outside, buck naked, staring
21:39
Speaker 2: at the screen through the window, he squinted as the
21:42
Speaker 2: radiance washed over him, a baptism of light. Alexander returned
21:48
Speaker 2: home in the morning to fetch his clothes for school,
21:50
Speaker 2: and his mother didn't say a word to him, not
21:52
Speaker 2: about worried Ben or the awful abuse she put him through.
21:56
Speaker 2: Alexander didn't tell her anything either. He kept the revelation
22:00
Speaker 2: and to himself, and the mysterious lights that had guided
22:03
Speaker 2: him to that religious epiphany. They never went away. He
22:07
Speaker 2: spent more time in his bedroom after school, exploring new
22:10
Speaker 2: rituals and ways to commune with the goddess, the great
22:13
Speaker 2: weaver Sigourney. It was like collecting coins or comics. His
22:17
Speaker 2: quiet curation became a ritual in its own right. A
22:20
Speaker 2: few times, Alexander's mother even found him talking with the
22:23
Speaker 2: soundless voices that were living in his head. She asked
22:26
Speaker 2: what was going on, and he knew better than to lie,
22:29
Speaker 2: though she probably wouldn't have believed him either way, and
22:32
Speaker 2: to his surprise, she never punished him for the strange
22:35
Speaker 2: behaviors he displayed in the house. She mostly just ignored it.
22:39
Speaker 2: She still had plenty of other reasons to beat him anyway,
22:42
Speaker 2: like when he came home late, when he wouldn't mind her,
22:45
Speaker 2: or when he tried to tell her that her new
22:46
Speaker 2: husband was abusing him.
22:48
Speaker 1: He was tense, on edge.
22:50
Speaker 2: He waited for the goddess to reveal herself to him again.
22:53
Speaker 2: In the dining hall at school, he watched as a
22:55
Speaker 2: boy write a comic book adaptation of the movie Alien,
22:58
Speaker 2: starring the Great Weaver as Ripley. He watched for a
23:02
Speaker 2: close distance as the boy flipped page after page. He
23:05
Speaker 2: saw the illustrated illumination of his beloved goddess in each
23:08
Speaker 2: comic panel. He approached the boy, give me that comic.
23:12
Speaker 2: The boy refused. Alexander grabbed a butter knife from a
23:15
Speaker 2: nearby lunch tree. He put the knife to the boy's neck,
23:18
Speaker 2: and the boy was shaking. Give me that comic, or
23:21
Speaker 2: I'll cut your fucking throat. That little stunt at Alexander
23:25
Speaker 2: a few months in juvie, and when he came home again,
23:28
Speaker 2: the beatings continued. But these beatings weren't at the hand
23:32
Speaker 2: of his mother. These were self inflicted. Alexander took to
23:36
Speaker 2: pounding his head against the wall, beating the world out
23:39
Speaker 2: of his mind, just nothing, nothing but the illness that
23:42
Speaker 2: came with repeated instances of intense pain. He hid his
23:46
Speaker 2: head on the wall, over and over until he felt
23:49
Speaker 2: less than he had before, until his face and the
23:51
Speaker 2: wall were bloody. His mother brought him to the Georgia
23:54
Speaker 2: Regional Mental Hospital, replete with the brand new state of
23:57
Speaker 2: the arid algorithmic computer diagnostic system think Scantron, but for
24:02
Speaker 2: mental illness. She wanted him committed. But when the doctor
24:05
Speaker 2: has asked her what was wrong with her son, all
24:08
Speaker 2: she said was that he was being difficult. He won't
24:10
Speaker 2: mind me, she said. The official reason on the hospital's
24:14
Speaker 2: paperwork was that Alexander was in transigent, literally meaning he
24:19
Speaker 2: was just stubborn and disagreeable. The doctors weren't sure how
24:22
Speaker 2: that made him different from any other teenager, but they
24:25
Speaker 2: agreed to take him in for a temporary state to
24:27
Speaker 2: evaluate him. Alexander went through the usual series of tests
24:32
Speaker 2: and they tracked his behavior on that fancy new computer system.
24:35
Speaker 2: After seven days of careful observation, doctors are confident in
24:39
Speaker 2: their assessment Alexander Williams was a normal teenage boy and
24:45
Speaker 2: there was absolutely nothing wrong with him. The frogs tried
25:07
Speaker 2: to tell him. Alexander Williams was kneeling on the concrete
25:11
Speaker 2: floor of his prison cell, scheming with the flying frogs
25:14
Speaker 2: who lived beneath his bed. Around his eyes, he wore
25:17
Speaker 2: a frayed strip of cloth from the foot of his
25:19
Speaker 2: bed sheet, with two lopsided eye holes that he carved
25:22
Speaker 2: using the jagged edge on the corner of his thumbnail.
25:25
Speaker 2: He knew the makeshift mask looked a little silly, but
25:28
Speaker 2: then his fantastical amphibian friends, with their bulbous eyes didn't
25:31
Speaker 2: always look so great themselves, and the only difference was
25:35
Speaker 2: no one else could.
25:36
Speaker 1: See the frogs.
25:37
Speaker 2: They suddenly let out another warning, a chorus of croaking
25:40
Speaker 2: that swelled into utter cacophony. Alexander begged them for a
25:44
Speaker 2: better explanation, and it was no use.
25:47
Speaker 1: He couldn't speak frog.
25:49
Speaker 2: Even worse, the ribbits in this particular hallucination had gotten
25:52
Speaker 2: so loud that he couldn't hear anything else over the noise,
25:55
Speaker 2: not the snap of the lock of the sliding door
25:57
Speaker 2: or the bootsteps behind him. By the time Alexander realized
26:01
Speaker 2: what was happening, one of the prison guards already had
26:04
Speaker 2: his arm pressed against his throat while the first guard
26:07
Speaker 2: kept Alexander pinned in place, the second came around the
26:10
Speaker 2: front and shoved two pills into his mouth. Then he
26:13
Speaker 2: clamped Alexander's josh shut with his giant hands and kept
26:16
Speaker 2: it closed until Alexander swallowed or went blue in the face.
26:20
Speaker 2: Alexander went through the same routine every day. Sometimes he
26:24
Speaker 2: complied and let the pills slide down his throat. Other
26:27
Speaker 2: times he fought back. Then there were the days when
26:30
Speaker 2: he wasn't even sane enough to make a decision either way.
26:33
Speaker 2: The only reason Alexander ended up cooperating this time was
26:36
Speaker 2: because the prison had just received a DVD of Galaxy Quest,
26:39
Speaker 2: a nineteen ninety nine sci fi comedy starring none other
26:42
Speaker 2: than Sigourney Weaver, and he was desperate to seize Goddess
26:46
Speaker 2: once again. Back in nineteen eighty six, nine months after
26:51
Speaker 2: he was released with a clean bill of health from
26:53
Speaker 2: the Georgia Regional Mental Hospital after doctors said there was
26:57
Speaker 2: nothing wrong with him, Alexander kidnapped steen year old it
27:00
Speaker 2: led a bunch from the Augusta Mall. He raped her,
27:04
Speaker 2: he shot her four times in the head. Forensics couldn't
27:07
Speaker 2: figure out the order of those things happened to him.
27:10
Speaker 2: Alexander was seventeen years old at the time. He spent
27:13
Speaker 2: the next sixteen years in prison fighting for appeals, though
27:17
Speaker 2: not because anyone seriously doubted.
27:19
Speaker 1: What he'd done.
27:20
Speaker 2: The legal appeals had more to do with Alexander's trial.
27:24
Speaker 2: His court appointed lawyer knew that Alexander was facing a
27:26
Speaker 2: potential death sentence, yet somehow he failed to mention anything
27:30
Speaker 2: about Alexander's stay in the mental institution or the years
27:33
Speaker 2: of physical and sexual abuse he endured at home. In fact,
27:36
Speaker 2: the mother who abused him was one of the only
27:39
Speaker 2: witnesses called in his defense. She told the jury that
27:42
Speaker 2: her son was a nice, quiet boy who liked comic
27:44
Speaker 2: books and antique coins, and that he never did anything wrong.
27:48
Speaker 2: The entire defense presentation lasted fifteen minutes. The jury found
27:52
Speaker 2: Alexander guilty on all counts and sentenced them to death.
27:55
Speaker 2: Alexander's mental health deteriorated rapidly while he waited for his execution.
28:00
Speaker 2: The prison doctors formerly diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenias it
28:04
Speaker 2: gets effective disorder, though it was pretty clear to everyone
28:07
Speaker 2: that he'd been losing his grip on reality long before
28:09
Speaker 2: he raped and killed poor letter Bunch in August two thousand,
28:14
Speaker 2: about eight months after Galaxy Quest was released. In fourteen
28:17
Speaker 2: years after the death of a Letter Bunch, more than
28:20
Speaker 2: half of the jury from Alexander's trial sent a letter
28:23
Speaker 2: with a signed affidavit in his defense. They said they
28:27
Speaker 2: never would have agreed to the death sentence if they
28:29
Speaker 2: had known anything about his mental health. A flood of
28:32
Speaker 2: public support followed. Amnesty International, the UN Commission on Human Rights.
28:37
Speaker 2: Even former First Lady Rosalind Carter, a lifelong advocate for
28:40
Speaker 2: mental health reform, spoke up, but it still wasn't enough.
28:44
Speaker 2: The State of Georgia was committed to following through with
28:47
Speaker 2: the sentence, even though Alexander Williams would be the only
28:50
Speaker 2: person in US history who would have to be forcibly
28:53
Speaker 2: medicated in order to make him sane enough to legally kill.
28:58
Speaker 2: No one was trying to prove Alexander innocence or get
29:01
Speaker 2: him out of prison, but there was some serious legal
29:03
Speaker 2: and ethical questions about executing someone with a debilitating mental
29:07
Speaker 2: illness for a crime they committed as a miner. Alexander
29:11
Speaker 2: Williams's death was finally scheduled for February twenty six, two
29:15
Speaker 2: thousand and two, Just a few hours before his execution,
29:19
Speaker 2: the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles agreed to commute
29:22
Speaker 2: his death sentence. Alexander would still have to spend his
29:25
Speaker 2: life in prison, but at least he'd have a life
29:28
Speaker 2: to spend for another nine months anyway, which is how
29:32
Speaker 2: long it was before Alexander was discovered in his cell,
29:35
Speaker 2: hanging from his own shirt wrapped around his neck, dead
29:38
Speaker 2: from an apparent suicide.
29:40
Speaker 1: He was thirty four.
29:42
Speaker 2: His mother maintained his innocence even after his death, Even
29:45
Speaker 2: after all she put him through, she still insisted he
29:48
Speaker 2: was a nice, quiet boy who would always mind her,
29:51
Speaker 2: and while he was still alive, she encouraged the prison
29:54
Speaker 2: guards to let him keep the candles and trinkets from
29:56
Speaker 2: the rituals he did to commune with his goddess, the
29:59
Speaker 2: Great Weaver called Sigourney. Of course, his mother never knew
30:03
Speaker 2: the true name of the goddess. Maybe that's because Sigourney
30:06
Speaker 2: Weaver wasn't actually a deity, a great actress, sure, but
30:10
Speaker 2: not divine, not literally. For all we know, she never
30:14
Speaker 2: even heard about Alexander Williams. People do all kinds of
30:17
Speaker 2: heinous things in the names of gods and goddesses. But
30:21
Speaker 2: we don't blame the deities, even if they are real,
30:24
Speaker 2: because we know that ordinary human beings are very good
30:27
Speaker 2: at being evil without any supernatural.
30:29
Speaker 1: Help, and that is a disgrace.
30:35
Speaker 2: I'm Jake Brennan in this is Disgraceland, all right.
30:52
Speaker 1: Guys, how weird was that? One? In honor of Sigourney
30:55
Speaker 1: Weaver and the excellent film Alien.
30:58
Speaker 3: I want to know which movies about space should I
31:00
Speaker 3: be watching?
31:01
Speaker 1: And why? Which ones do you guys want to watch? Again?
31:03
Speaker 3: What are the great space movies, the great alien movies,
31:05
Speaker 3: the iconic ones.
31:07
Speaker 1: This isn't my bag. I need entry into this realm.
31:10
Speaker 3: Hook me up.
31:10
Speaker 1: You can leave out Star Wars. I'm up to date
31:12
Speaker 1: on that at least.
31:13
Speaker 3: Uh hit me with you rex okay six one seven
31:16
Speaker 3: nine oh six six six three eight, Leave me a voicemail,
31:18
Speaker 3: send me a text and let me know. You can
31:20
Speaker 3: also reach me at disgrace lampod as well on Instagram,
31:23
Speaker 3: X and Facebook.
31:24
Speaker 1: Leave a review for.
31:25
Speaker 3: The show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and.
31:27
Speaker 1: Win some free merch. All right, here come some credits.
31:32
Speaker 4: Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced in
31:35
Speaker 4: partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be
31:38
Speaker 4: found on the show notes page at disgracelampod dot com.
31:42
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Speaker 4: you for supporting the show.
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32:22
Speaker 1: Rock a Roller, He's a bad band man.