Um, the Kansas City Scalper killer in Wednesday actually does have real life inspiration

Right at the start of Wednesday season two we’re thrown straight into Wednesday Addams being held by a serial killer called the Kansas City Scalper. She really does get herself in all sorts of situations. So, you might be wondering if the eerie killer story is true.

Haley Joel Osment plays the killer on Netflix. During the first episode, Wednesday has heard his story, and has gone to track him down. Of course! She sees him closing a door of his business’ van, and asks the killer if he lists his serial killing services too. Next thing, she’s tied up in his creepy doll basement.

In Wednesday, the Kansas City Scalper got his name from doing exactly what you’d expect. He’s based in Kansas City, and scalps his victims. But is this at all based on a true story?

via Netflix

So, is the Kansas City Scalper from Wednesday season two actually real?

There isn’t a real life Kansas City Scalper, but the story looks to have taken two horrendous stories of serial killers and merged them together. Therefore creating the most horrific story possible.

Between 1977 and 1993 a man called Lorenzo Jerome Gilyard Jr. became known as the “Kansas City Strangler”. The former trash-company supervisor murdered at least 13 women and girls between those years. He was convicted of six counts of first-degree murder on March 16th, 2007.

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His case got more publicly in 2018, when Piers Morgan interviewed Gilyard as part of his Serial Killer series. During the interview, Gilyard said he doesn’t associate himself with the term “serial killer” and threatened to leave the interview if it kept being used. He also denied ever having seen the women he was found guilty of murdering, when Piers presented him with photos of them.

via ITV

The other part of the killer name in Wednesday is also true. There is a real life serial killer known for scalping victims. John Sweeney is known as the “scalp hunter” killer – and there have been TV shows made about him, too. He murdered and dismembered two of his former girlfriends, before dumping their remains in canals in Rotterdam and London.

Sweeney, born in Liverpool in the UK, was arrested in 2001 and is now serving life in prison for attacking and killing multiple women over the course of the 1990s. He was dubbed the “scalp hunter” by the media. His case was recently told in ITV documentary, Until I Kill You: The Real Story.

Sweeney spent seven years on the run, living under other names, before he was caught in 2001. He was given a whole life sentence, with no chance of parole.

Wednesday is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.