Dead Heads Still Living Consider Yourself Lucky

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StClone

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For decades, an alarming number of cold-case disappearances and killings have shared one common link: the victims were Deadheads. The new podcast “Dead and Gone” investigates.


In 1995, a man’s body was found on the side of a highway by a Grateful Dead concert in Atlanta. His identity is still unknown.

In 2008, a woman’s body was discovered by a fisherman underneath a boxspring in Sacramento. Her cause of death and identity is still unknown. The one marker: she was wearing a Grateful Dead jacket.

More and Podcast: https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-are-so-many-grateful-dead-fans-being-murdered?ref=home
 
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Mr Janny

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Smiley face killers?
 

Gonzo

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When you have that much acid pumping through your system, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that they disproportionately ended up missing or dead along the side of a highway. I wasn't a Dead Head but dabbled in plenty of fun/stupid stuff in my younger years and still consider myself lucky to have made it out of the early- and mid-90s alive.
 
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StClone

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Smiley face killers?
Glad you brought up the "Smiley Face Killer" thing. That is pretty much debunked as urban myth. There are real murders but, and copy cats of the idea, but no evidence of this "smiley" killer.

In WI there is are a grouping of young men who party and are later found dead under very odd if not mysterious circumstances (like shoes left far away and yet their socks are clean-so how did they get to drown if they didn't walk there? More like that!). But NO! no smiles to be found.
 

StClone

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When you have that much acid pumping through your system, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that they disproportionately ended up missing or dead along the side of a highway. I wasn't a Dead Head but dabbled in plenty of fun/stupid stuff in my younger years and still consider myself lucky to have made it out of the early- and mid-90s alive.
Maybe part of it but not the whole story if you take time to hit the link.
 

Mr Janny

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Glad you brought up the "Smiley Face Killer" thing. That is pretty much debunked as urban myth. There are real murders but, and copy cats of the idea, but no evidence of this "smiley" killer.

In WI there is are a grouping of young men who party and are later found dead under very odd if not mysterious circumstances (like shoes left far away and yet their socks are clean-so how did they get to drown if they didn't walk there? More like that!). But NO! no smiles to be found.
Oh I know. There was a massive thread on the Smiley face killers on this site, several years back. There were some true believers. I was not one of them
 
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Gonzo

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Maybe part of it but not the whole story if you take time to hit the link.

I'm sure my description doesn't cover the whole story, and I did hit the link. Just not sure I'd make the leap to murder for many of the deaths that aren't explained. Dead Head laying along the side of the road could've just as easily been tripping his nuts off doing spins in the middle of the highway and got ran over and left. Unless I missed some of it where there were actual signs of being murdered.
 

Mr Janny

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For reference:
 

BWRhasnoAC

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Drugs. There was an older man who died in Ames 15 years ago or so by falling off the bridge into the creek across from Friley in winter. He was actually a troubled individual with drug problems. I was lucky enough to have played some jazz with him on a few occasions, dude played Carnegie Hall in the 60s (drummer). That is what I would put as most likely commonality with the Dead Head wrinkle.
 
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coolerifyoudid

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Based on the quoted paragraphs below, it appears they found a genre where they have a good combination of focusing on specific aspects and leading their audience to certain conclusions. I feel a decent amount of sensationalism reading the write-up, similar to a Discovery show that researches ancient legends and mysteries.



“Not to sound like an authoritarian square…” Brennan starts. “And the Grateful Dead, obviously, they didn't have anything to do with this and we're not casting blame on them. But they live and they preach this super anti-authority lifestyle, even after they became an institution themselves. Being a Deadhead and traveling on the road following the band was all about living outside of the bounds of society, and there's a lawlessness that goes along with that. It's ultimately part of what contributed to this environment of vulnerability where people went missing and lost their lives.”

Lindsey’s background is in true-crime investigation, having created the podcasts Up and Vanished, about the cold-case disappearance of a former beauty queen in Georgia, and Atlanta Monster, about the infamous murders of 25 children in the city from 1979-81. And while Brennan’s podcast Disgraceland was about musicians getting away with murder, he was largely unfamiliar with the Dead and their fanbase before working on Dead and Gone.

One thing they’ve both been struck by after interviewing Deadheads from all over the country is how many of them are not surprised to learn about these murders, an acknowledgment of the darkness that seemed to be always lurking in those sketchy parking lots and risky invitations by strangers.
 
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TXCyclones

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For decades, an alarming number of cold-case disappearances and killings have shared one common link: the victims were Deadheads. The new podcast “Dead and Gone” investigates.


In 1995, a man’s body was found on the side of a highway by a Grateful Dead concert in Atlanta. His identity is still unknown.

In 2008, a woman’s body was discovered by a fisherman underneath a boxspring in Sacramento. Her cause of death and identity is still unknown. The one marker: she was wearing a Grateful Dead jacket.

More and Podcast: https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-are-so-many-grateful-dead-fans-being-murdered?ref=home

Umm...