Today in Pop Culture: Sing Along with History, Volume One

By Jeffery X Martin

Some days just bring songs to mind. The historical events create their own playlist and allow us the opportunity to be educated and entertained. I call these phenomena “educationerments.” Let’s begin, shall we?

The year is 1946 and the kidnapping of a six-year-old girl in Chicago has the town on edge. Little Suzanne Degnan’s father found a ransom note, asking for $20,000. It wouldn’t have mattered, though. When they found the youngster, her remains were in five separate sewers and storm drains.

Police did catch the man responsible, a student named William Heirens. When they administered sodium pentothal to the suspect, he claimed another man named George Murman was the one who committed the crime.

That’s because Murman and Heirens were the same guy! He claimed to truly have a split personality. Prosecutors weren’t so sure, but they had some qualms about sending a mentally ill person to the electric chair (obviously, this case wasn’t tried in Texas). He received life in prison.

It’s interesting that Heirens/Murman left a note in lipstick at the scene of the crime. It read, “For heaven’s sake, catch me before I kill more, I cannot control myself.” In a similar fashion, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking of these songs when I read the story.

I’m sure, at some point, you’ve found yourself screaming the name of a fascist dictator while driving or at the club. But you may not have even realized it! So, it’s time to discuss the Khmer Rouge.

The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia for four years, beginning after the US pulled out of Saigon, signaling the end of the country’s involvement with the Vietnam War. This government overthrew the pro-Western government that was already in place, renamed the country Kampuchea, and set about enforcing their new rules.

Kampuchea was meant to be an agricultural paradise, with no modern technology anywhere. People found in possession of eyeglasses or wristwatches were punished. The bilingual were murdered, as was anyone thought to be an intellectual. Prisoners were marched off to collective farms, where they labored in rice paddies day and night.

Between 1975 and 1978, two million Cambodians had lost their lives due to execution, forced labor, and lack of food.

By the way, the name of the leader of the Khmer Rouge who placed the country under such harsh conditions was Pol Pot. He and the Khmer Rouge were overthrown on this date in 1979.

A man has to be in dire straits to eat the flesh of another human being. I’m not talking about Mark Knopfler (for once); I’m talking about Alfred Packer. He took out in 1873 as a guide for a group of prospectors headed for Breckenridge, Colorado.

A winter storm hit, and Packer and his men stayed with a tribe of Ute Indians for a while. The chief invited them all to stay until severe winter weather had passed. Packer and five others decided to head out anyway, away from safety and into the unknown.

Two months later, Packer turned up at the Los Pinos Indian Agency. Alone. He was looking pretty healthy, too. First, Packer claimed he had gotten along on rabbits and rosebuds. That story floated until authorities realized Packer had a lot of money and a lot of possessions that didn’t belong to him. That’s when the real story came out. Four of the men had frozen to death. Packer and a man named Shannon Bell ate their corpses to stay alive. Bell eventually went insane, and tried to kill Packer. Packer shot the man and ate him, too. No sense in wasting resources.

Packer was charged with murder when investigators found remains of the other five men all at one campsite, not strewn about in different places, like Packer had said. Packer changed his story a couple of times, and a jury of his peers ended up convicting him of manslaughter. On this date in 1901, he was paroled. Packer claimed he was innocent from that point on, until his death in 1907.

It’s a strange tale, but one meaty enough to warrant its own musical. Trey Parker and Matt Stone created Cannibal! The Musical before they started working on South Park. It is a heartwarming affair, and the songs are catchy as bird flu.

Enjoy listening to your history educationerments!