01. Introduction

Welcome to this course in which you are going to learn English with True Crime. As said before, some materials may disturb some, so please be advised!

My name is Zsolt, the founder of Law Enforcement English and I am quite excited about this course: it is a special topic with intriguing cases and stories with the help of which learning English is even more exciting.

You will find blue texts that deal with the grammar of the unit, and also black texts with yellow background, these are something interesting to the topic.

About this unit:

You can see a unit on John Wayne Gacy, Jr., one of the American serial killers that we deal in this course with. From unit to unit you might have to click on external links that will take you to images, PDF files, videos or other readings.

All words in bold are in a separate PDF sheet, which is the vocabulary of the given unit.

There is a mini quiz in this introductory chapter as well as a downloadable worksheet. As far as grammar goes, we will focus on word formation.

The vocabulary is hosted by Quizlet, these lists can be practised and downloaded as PDFs during this course. You can download the vocabulary here:


Download
Intro.pdf

Are you ready? Then, let's begin:


Imagine you are standing in front of a house that is in the peaceful neighborhood of Norridge. This tranquil suburb is in Chicago, Illinois and people are sleeping as it is late at night. Next to the fridges the calendars show January 3, 1972. The wreaths and the Christmas decorations are still hanging, decorating porches and front doors. It is snowing and silence is all over the place. The only sound that can be heard is muffled grunt of a young boy, because he was just killed by a man. This man is one of the most vicious murderers in the history of American serial killers. His name is John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
John Wayne Gacy, Jr., whose alter-ego, “Pogo” - while doing tricks at children’s birthday parties - camouflaged one of the most demented minds of US serial killers. John Wayne Gacy, Jr. was a serial killer and a rapist who was convicted for killing 33 boys and young men in Cook County, Illinois between 1972 and 1978. As Gacy remarked, upon his arrest: “You know, clowns can get away with murder."

Grammar Point: Word formation

We will deal with some types of words during this course. Nouns answer the questions who? or what?, verbs refer to an activity, adjectives describe something or someone and adverbs indicate a manner, that is how something happened or how somebody does something.

When we have a word, like "killer", we can see that this is a noun, that is "somebody who kills someone else." This noun can have a verb form and an adjective form as well. Study the chart below:

In another words, "killer" is a noun that is also the criminal, somebody, who commits a crime. When the killer commits a crime, for example kills somebody, this crime is called a killing or murder. Look at the chart again:

John Wayne Gacy's Quick Facts

~John Wayne Gacy was born on March 17, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois

~Gacy and his siblings grew up with a drunken and abusive father

~Gacy had congenital heart condition and suffered further alienation in his childhood school days

~Gacy realized he was attracted to men, and founded a great deal of conflict over his sexuality

~Was involved in his community

~Was a clown performer

~Gacy also organized cultural gatherings

~married and divorced twice; had biological children and stepchildren.

~He was convicted in 1968 and given a 10-year prison term due to sexual assaults of two teen boys

~Released on parole in 1970

~Arrested again after another teen accused Gacy of sexual assault; the charges were dropped

(Source)


Watch this video on Gacy's first murder, provided by Biography.com and answer the questions in the practice test below:


Did you know?

The American band, Deer Tick wrote a song about Gacy, in which you can find reference to the imaginary inner voice Gacy might have had in his head:

"My feeble heart was filled with wrath

My poison mind with thoughts perverse

And the devil is living my basement

I’m trying hard to hide him from my wife"

Deer Tick "Clownin Around"

lyrics

You can also listen to the American musician Sufjan Steven's account on the infamous killer's life.

Sufjan Steven "John Wayne Gacy, Jr."

lyrics


VOCABULARY. Now practice the words.

Complete and Continue