Killer Legends Page #4

and this particular house here

was used in one of

the big scenes.

when Virgil and Katie starks

were attacked in their farmhouse

just outside of town.

Virgil was shot

and killed in his armchair...

( Gunshot )

( Scream )

While Katie, shot in the face,

ran out of the house.

Everybody seems convinced

that youell swinney is the guy,

but you're saying...

Youell swinney would have

been easy to pin it on,

and they needed to

pin it on somebody.

The one person that...

I haven't been satisfied

he was cleared...

was a young man

that committed suicide

and left a note saying

that he was the phantom killer.

It's just part of the legend...

the son of a prominent family,

and it had the connections to,

you know,

cover up his dirty deed.

Joshua:
Hoping to dig up

more information,

we went searching

through the microfiche

of the texarkana gazette.

Promising lead proves dud.

So this is the mention

of that, youell swinney.

The officer had been

trying to validate

the story of a woman.

The woman's statement

followed so closely

that they are almost positive

that she was telling the truth,

and at one point,

they were almost to the point

of announcing a break

in the case.

Subsequently, however,

the woman said

that neither she nor her husband

had anything to do

with the slayings.

So they don't call him

the phantom at all in this,

but we just saw, literally,

the advertisement

in the newspaper

for the movie that is showing,

the phantom speaks.

This is the movie

that they theoretically

pulled the name from,

and right here at the newspaper,

we need to call him something,

let's call him the phantom.

We had just witnessed

an important step

in the creation

of any urban legend...

the naming of the boogeyman.

Bill Ellis:
One of the roles

that urban legends play...

and this is

an ancient function...

is that they will put

a name on something

that gives people

fears or anxieties.

That gives the person

some feeling of control.

So give the murderer a name...

he's the phantom murderer.

Joshua:
The mask,

the movie, the phantom.

These were the crucial elements

that would help create

texarkana's very own

urban legend...

a legend that would only

continue to grow

with screenings of

"the town that dreaded sundown"

held every year in

texarkana's spring lake park.

All of this area was part

of spring lake park...

At the time and this is where...

a couple of the places

where the murders happened.

That was where lover's Lane was.

You basically

set up the screening

that you have of

the town that dreaded sundown

at spring lake park.

Yes, we do it every October,

and because of the history,

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