Wanna Hear Something Really Scary?

Been carrying this around with me since I was a small child...  something overheard while my parents were visiting an old friend.  They'd drag us kids along on these weekend visits, and it was always strange.  Being quiet kids, we would just sit on the couch listening to what was going on around us.  "You kids want a drink or something?" and we'd just quietly say 'no'...even if we wanted something.  Quiet kids.

Well, at this one house, I remember the TV was on and they had an episode of REAL PEOPLE playing.  Now this was a creepy variety show of sorts, where they'd feature strange stories about remarkable (weird) people and places.  And often times they'd do segments on the paranormal or unexplained.  So on this one night on this one episode, we were watching a segment on ghosts appearing in photographs.  Seems so tired and worn out now, but back then, the prospect of a photograph revealing the ugly pained face of a ghost in the background was brand new and purely horrifying.  I recall an image of tombstones in a cemetery with faces in the stones.  Awful faces.  Man, I was scared.

Anyways, the guy my parents were visiting starts reminiscing, and I don't know if it was the TV show giving this guy some terrible thoughts, but he started to recall a memory of when he was a boy.  He asked my dad if he remembered Mr. and Mrs. So-And-So.  My dad did.  And they both started talking about that couple's weird son.  "Do you remember that kid, sitting in the yard all the time?  Well, they bought him a pet turtle...and it died.  So they bought him another one, ....and IT died.  By the fourth small turtle, they watched the kid from a window in the back of the house.  And wouldn't you KNOW!  They see this kid with the turtle...and he's sitting there with it....and just as the turtle starts to put its head out of its shell, the kid is sitting there with a pair of metal scissors....AND CUTS ITS HEAD OFF!"

My GOD, that story horrified and terrified me then.  And it still does today.  God, it's horrible.  And so sad.  And so disturbing on a million levels.

I have no idea who they were talking about.  And ten minutes ago I called my dad asking him if he remembered that story.  He's up there in age and couldn't remember, and accused me of making it up.  When I described the details of the house, as I recall there being a lot of hanging photos and dark wood paneling, he DID recall that house and who owned it.  I said "Call the guy up!  See if he remembers!" and my dad replied "He's dead.  Died YEARS ago."  He then proceeded to tell me that all my mom does is dye her hair.  "You see, all that dye seeps into the brain...it catches up to you!"  We both laughed.

He told me that he'll start asking around as that man's brother is still alive and he sees him semi-regularly.  I'll, of course, do a follow-up blog post if the mystery is solved.

Though I have a feeling I should just scan old crime files in the region for psychopaths or sociopaths (no idea what the difference is).