This Article Originally Ran On Blumhouse.com
We are all fan of various celebrities. We go out of our way to make sure we see their movies, buy their albums, or read their books. We Google them from time to time if it seems like we haven’t heard any updates on them for a while. We follow them on Twitter and maybe respond to random tweets of theirs a little too often. For the vast majority of fans, that is where it ends. No harm, no foul.
Then, there are others. People who don’t stop there. Some fans take things to a level most of us can’t imagine, a level that is, to be blunt, crazy. Too often, mentally unstable fans find ways to get close to the people they obsess over, and bad things happen.
ROBERT FORD
The youngest of the family, Robert Ford was drawn to Jesse James. Robert was engrossed by stories about James’ time fighting for the South during the American Civil War, and his move to outlaw after the war. Ford dreamed of joining the James Gang, and when his brother Charles did become a member of the gang, Robert saw his chance.
There’s differing thoughts on just how much a member of the James Gang Robert Ford was. Ford often said that he was a full member, but others who were part of the James Gang claimed that Rob was just a hanger-on who mostly just stood around gawking at Jesse James.
When Robert Ford was arrested for the murder of Wood Hite, cousin of Jesse James, Ford made a deal with the authorities - if they let him go, he would bring them Jesse James. James, who was watching the members of his gang turn themselves into the police one by one, became paranoid, believing that sooner or later, one of the James Gang would come for him. For some reason, Jesse trusted Robert Ford, a mistake that would cost him his life.
On April 3, 1882, Robert and Charlie Ford had breakfast with Jesse and his family. When Jesse’s wife went out with the children, the men stayed behind to discuss plans for the future. Jesse noted that a picture hanging over the fireplace was crooked, and he went to straighten it. It was as Jesse was fixing the picture that Robert Ford shot him in the back of the head.
Ford was arrested for the murder, but pardoned by the governor of Missouri. Jesse’s brother, Frank, swore to avenge his brother, though he never did. The threat was enough to make Charlie Ford spend two years on the run. Tired of running, and filled with guilt, Charlie would take his own life.
In what can only be called morbid, Robert Ford put on a one act play retelling the story of how he killed Jesse James. The play didn’t last long, and Ford moved to Colorado where he opened a dance hall. On June 8, 1892, Robert Ford was killed by Edward O'Kelley.
MARK DAVID CHAPMAN
From an early age, Mark David Chapman showed signs of obsession. When he was in junior high, Mark spent most nights laying on the grass outside his family home in Georgia looking up at the sky for UFOs. He also was a big believer in the theory that Paul McCartney was dead. Chapman collected every fanzine he could find on the Beatles, and searched for clues on Paul’s death. He went from obsession to obsession, until he found two that really stuck: drugs, and John Lennon.
Born in 1955, Chapman was too young to really be a child of the 60s, but old enough to partake in some of it. He was a fan of LSD and mescaline, but heroin was his favorite. Chapman told friends that when he took heroin, he could see heaven. Chapman would spend his days high and discussing the greatness that was Lennon. He joked with his friends that Lennon was right - the Beatles were bigger than Jesus.
Then, in his junior year at Columbia High, Chapman found something better than drugs. Better than John Lennon. Better than anything he had ever seen or felt. Mark David Chapman was reborn a Christian at a evangelist revival show. When the preacher blessed Chapman, he changed. He quit drugs cold turkey, got a haircut and became horribly annoying to his friends, talking only about Jesus. Most shockingly was Chapman’s turn from Lennon. To Chapman, Lennon was evil now, and his remark six years earlier about the Beatles being bigger than Jesus wasn’t a joke, it was an offense to God. When Lennon released his classic song IMAGINE in 1971, Chapman and his prayer group would openly joke “imagine if John Lennon was dead”. A good, clean, Christian joke, and one that stuck with Chapman.
Chapman went to college, but dropped out when he found the work to be too hard. He got a job as a security guard where he was trained to use a pistol. He moved into a new obsession - THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, which he would carry with him everywhere, but also returned to an old one - John Lennon. Chapman could not forgive the musical idol for dissing Jesus all those years ago, and when he read the book JOHN LENNON: ONE DAY AT A TIME, Chapman became enraged that Lennon would sing about love and peace but live it up like a millionaire. Chapman knew that Holden Caulfield would see John Lennon the same way he did - as a phony.
On December 8, 1980, Mark David Chapman left his room at the Sheraton Hotel and stood outside The Dakota - the building John Lennon lived in. Chapman spent the day speaking with the doorman and other Lennon fans. At one point, Chapman met five year old Sean Lennon, John’s son. Chapman shook Sean’s hand and commented on how beautiful the boy was, alluding to the "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)", which John had written about Sean.
At 5PM, Chapman met John Lennon as Lennon left The Dakota to head to a recording session. Chapman shook Lennon’s hand, and Lennon signed Chapman’s copy of DOUBLE FANTASY. Photographer Paul Goresh captured this moment on film.
Chapman continued to hang around until just before 11PM when Lennon returned home. As Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono exited the limo and headed into The Drake, Chapman dropped to one knee, pulled out a revolver, and fired five shots. Four of the rounds hit Lennon in the back puncturing his left lung and his left subclavian artery.
Mark David Chapman then sat down, took out his dogeared copy of THE CATCHER IN THE RYE and began to read it.
EDWARD JONES
How about we take a break on the full on depressing and look at a story that, while no less creepy, and certainly still sad, doesn’t include murder? Also, the next guy is a serious amount of insane, so Eddie here is gonna help us out by working as a palate cleanser.
The son of a tailor in Westminster, Edward Jones was born in 1824. Edward, better known as “The Boy Jones” was arrested for the first time when he was 14. Eddie, being well ahead the Three Stooges, disguised himself as a chimney sweep and walked on in to Buckingham Palace. After spending an unknown amount of time in the Palace, Eddie was chased out by a porter before being caught by police. When they searched Eddie, the police found that The Boy Jones had taken a few souvenirs including a sword, some linen, and a few pairs of the Queen’s underpants.
Eddie, it turned out, had a thing for Queen Victoria.
I supposed that in the 1838, the people of England were either hella chill, or they didn’t like Queen Victoria all that much - a jury acquitted Eddie, letting him go free, as long as he promised not to do it again. Can you see where we’re headed here?
Nine days after Queen Victoria gave birth to her first child, Princess Victoria, Eddie snuck into Buckingham Palace again. This time, Eddie climbed over a wall, walked around the Palace for a bit, then left undetected. Two days later, The Boy Jones snuck in again. A nurse caught sight of Eddie while he hid under a couch in the Queen’s dressing room. Once again, Eddie was brought before a jury of his peers, but this time they weren’t as cool with him, but still pretty cool. Eddie was sentenced to three months in a house of correction, which seems light when this is your second offense of stalking the Queen, but what do I know?
The courts, and Eddie’s dad, tried to convince The Boy Jones to join the Navy, figuring that if he was out at sea, there’s no way he’d end up back in Buckingham Palace. Eddie refused, a pirate’s life was not for him - not when there were still plenty of pairs of the Queen’s knickers to snatch up.
And snatch them he did! Just thirteen days after being released from Tothill Fields Prison, Eddie was caught having a snack in in one of the royal apartments. This time, Eddie was sentenced to three months of hard labor, or “labour” as our British pals would spell it. Also, finally figuring that the security at Buckingham Palace may not be all that great, additional guards were brought in.
Upon release from hard labor, Eddie was offered a gig at a music hall that would have paid him £4 a week (£328 today) to hang around and tell his story. Fearing it would get in the way of his hobby, The Boy Jones turned it down. Sure enough, Eddie was once again caught, only this time he didn’t even make it inside the Palace. Seems like the new security system was working!
Eddie was forced into the navy, and he served on a number of ships. While docked in Portsmouth, Eddie decided to go for a wee walk to London. A quick check on the old Google Maps tells me that such a walk is roughly 24 hours based on today’s roads and paths. I don’t know if Eddie knew just how far he would be walking and didn’t care, or if he had no idea when he started, but was just too stubborn to quit. Either way, he didn’t make it to the Palace, Eddie was caught in London and returned to his ship. While still in the navy, Eddie fell overboard and nearly drowned. He also became an alcoholic, a burglar, and the town crier for Perth, Australia.
It was while living in Australia that The Boy Jones, now going under the name Thomas Jones to escape notoriety, would meet his end. On Boxing Day 1893, Eddie got drunk and fell off a balcony. He went down some 12 feet and smashed his head into a piece of quartz. While the coroner could not figure out how long Eddie laid there before he died, it was certain that Eddie did not die on impact. He had a handful of thistles, which he clutched after the fall.
The Boy Jones is remembered today in part because Charles Dickens wrote about him, and in part because there is a plaque in his honor at the Windsor Palace, though no one knows why it is there instead of at Buckingham.
RICARDO LOPEZ
There’s a part of me that doesn’t want to write about Ricardo Lopez because he, more than anyone else on this list, is beyond terrifying. Part of what makes Lopez so frightening is that you can jump on over to YouTube and watch his videos, including his suicide. This shit… I really didn’t like researching this guy.
While born in Uruguay, Ricardo Lopez and his family moved to the United State and settled in Georgia while Ricardo was young. Ricardo dropped out of high school to pursue an art career, but his internal fear of rejection kept him from every actually attempting to make a living with his art. Instead, Ricardo took a job working for his brother’s pest control company. As time passed, Ricardo became more and more reclusive. He started to obsess over specific celebrities, mostly actresses, but would just as quickly move on from them. In 1993, Lopez first came across the Icelandic singer Björk and found himself drawn to her.
Lopez saw Björk as his muse. He learned everything he could about the singer, and wrote her countless letters. Over time, his infatuation with Björk grew stronger and stronger. Lopez started spending more time alone, more time focusing on Björk. He started a diary that focused primarily on Björk and the fantasies he had about her. None of them were sexual - Lopez felt that he loved Björk too much to ever be with her. His fantasies revolved around being friends with the singer, of being accepted by her. He dreamt of having an effect on her life.
While most of the diary’s 803 pages were dedicated to thoughts about Björk, Ricardo also wrote about himself from time to time. He felt inadequate because he was overweight and suffered from gynecomastia (disorder of the endocrine system in which there is a non-cancerous increase in the size of male breast tissue). He also complained of his inability to get a girlfriend. Ricardo would sometimes write about wanting to commit suicide, and at other times, he would write about wanting to commit murder. Clearly, he was unstable.
In 1996, Ricardo was living alone in Hollywood, Florida, when he read about Björk’s relationship with fellow musician Goldie. This news sent Ricardo deeper into his depression. He began to film himself, saying that the camera was his psychologist. Ricardo saw Björk’s relationship with Goldie as a betrayal, and he came to the most illogical of conclusions - Björk had to die.
On Ricardo’s 11 tapes, each one lasting 2 hours, he goes through his plan on how he will kill Björk. His first idea was to send the singer a mail bomb filled with needles containing HIV infected blood. Realizing that the HIV bomb was not possible, Ricardo moved on to a second strategy.
The new plan called for a letter bomb hidden inside of a hollowed out book. Upon opening the book, the bomb would go off and, in Ricardo’s mind, Björk would be horribly disfigured, if not straight up killed.
On September 12, 1996, Ricardo started his final video. It begins with him preparing to head to the post office to mail his bomb to Björk. Ricardo makes it clear that he is bringing a gun with him to the post office - "I'm very, very nervous. I'm certainly not going to get arrested. I'm going to blow my head off."
The tape starts back up - Ricardo has returned from the post office. Björk’s music plays as Ricardo undresses, then shaves his head bald. He then covers himself in red and green grease paint. He then uses black paint on his lips. Ricardo watches himself in the mirror for a bit, saying that he is nervous. “I'm definitely not drunk. I am not depressed. I know exactly what I am doing. It is cocked back. It's ready to roll."
As Björk’s song "I Remember You" plays, Ricardo sits down in front of a handmade sign that reads “The best of me - Sept 12”. He rocks back and forth, taking deep breaths as he listens to the music. As the song ends, Ricardo looks into the camera one last time and says “This is for you” before placing the gun into his mouth and pulling the trigger.
I strongly suggest against watching the video. I have, and it haunts me. The pop of the gun is almost comedic in how cartoonishly weak it sounds. What isn’t comedic is the groan that comes from Ricardo as he falls forward and out of frame. The groan continues for a moment longer, then stops. Half in the shot and half out is Björk’s face on a TV.
Ricardo’s body was found four days later. Police reviewed the tapes and were, thankfully, able to stop the mail bomb from ever reaching Björk. Ricardo would never know that his plan failed, or that Björk and Goldie had ended their relationship a few days before he took his own life.