Driven to the UnthinkableLists about real people who crossed the ultimate line and what they did—their histories, their motives, the grisly details, and what happened next.
The OJ Simpson murder case is never far from popular culture. With the 20th anniversary of the slayings in 2014, and the 2016 FX miniseries about the infamous event and trial, it's worth diving into some creepy OJ Simpson facts. Simpson's behavior before, during, and after the trial was some of the strangest and most compelling in modern history - and much of it was really, really creepy.
For example, Simpson has made numerous attempts to profit from the notoriety he achieved from the slayings, even while insisting he didn't commit them. He put his name on a ghostwritten confession, wanted to put his first interview on pay-per-view, and tried to cash in with a prank show. Oh, and he threw a giant bash after being acquitted of the crimes that he was later sued and ultimately found responsible for.
What happened to OJ Simpson? Here are some of the creepiest, most WTF facts about OJ Simpson and the insane trial of the century that swirled around him.
In 2018, Fox airedO.J. Simpson: The Lost Confession? which was filmed in 2006. In it, he describes a bloody scene outside his apartment in what he calls a "hypothetical" situation. He said he didn't know who Goldman was, and confronted him and his ex-wife Nicole Brown outside her home. According to the interview, Brown fell down and Goldman stepped in to defend her. Simpson took a knife from a man only identified as "Charlie." He said he blacked out after that, but when he came to, he saw blood all around the front of his property.
The special was supposed to air congruently with the release of his book If I Did It, but when the book wasn't published due to a legal battle with Goldman's father, the special never surfaced.
Simpson Had Pictures Of Kim Kardashian In His Prison Cell
Simpson knew Kim's parents, Kris and Robert Kardashian, for years even before his trial. He also seems to have a pretty intense crush on Kim, who is half his age (not to mention married and a mother of two). Sources say that while OJ served his prison term for a 2008 robbery in Nevada, he talked about her constantly and decorated his cell walls with pictures of her from Playboy.
One anonymous source quoted him as once saying, "Kim likes Black ball players, I am a Hall of Famer - and I still have my Heisman award,” - a dig at ex-boyfriend Reggie Bush, who returned his 2005 award. Whether or not this is true or just tabloid nonsense is anyone's guess.
Someone Found A Knife On OJ's Property - In 1998
In March 2016, the LAPD held a press conference to announce that it was examining a blade that had been found buried on the perimeter of OJ's Brentwood estate. In a shocking twist, the folding buck knife had actually been found by a construction worker in 1998 when the estate was being demolished. But by June, authorities had determined that the blade was not the one used in the slayings, since forensic tests (and its small size) ruled it out.
Apparently, the worker gave the blade to an off-duty police officer who was in the area providing security for a film set. The officer inexplicably held on to the blade, and it wasn't until earlier in 2016 that the officer retired and told a friend at the LAPD about it, allegedly seeking the case number so he could frame the weapon and add a plaque with the identifying detail. That officer turned around and told his superiors, who demanded that the bladee be handed over for examination.
The weapon in the Simpson case was never found, but Simpson can't be tried again due to double jeopardy laws. Simpson himself reportedly laughed about the whole thing, quipping to a guard, "If the knife is rusted, I can’t be busted.”
Simpson Got Military Knife Skills While Training On A TV Show
A few months before the slayings, Simpson filmed a TV movie/backdoor pilot for NBC called Frogmen, about an elite squad of Navy SEALs based in Miami. Simpson starred as the group's leader, and as such, underwent combat training. The pilot also had a scene in which Simpson's character held a blade to his daughter's throat, thinking she was an intruder.
It was during the filming of Frogmen that Simpson went to Ross Cutlery and examined the blade that prosecutors say he used to slay Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. The tape of the pilot was admitted as evidence, but never used. It's now in a Warner Brothers vault, and has never been aired.
We Finally Know What OJ Whispered To Robert Shapiro
Just after the jury pronounced him not guilty, OJ leaned over to Robert Shapiro and whispered something in his ear. Now, after a 2016 interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly, we finally know what the just-exonerated suspect said to his high-priced lawyer: "You were right."
According to Shapiro, he'd told OJ at the very beginning of the trial that he'd be found not guilty, and as it turned out, he was completely correct. Shapiro blamed a narrow prosecution, and in particular, the moment where OJ was asked to try on the glove that didn't fit, for his being found not guilty. And does Shapiro himself think OJ did it?
Apparently, he never thought about it. "As far as moral justice," Shapiro said, "I haven't discussed it with anyone... Our system of justice is one that's balanced. We hope and pray that innocent people are never convicted. And the price we pay is that sometimes guilty people can and do go free."
OJ Wanted To Do His First Post-Trial Interview On Pay-Per-View
OJ briefly thought of having his first post-acquittal interview take place in a pay-per-view special, and he would have made millions if the deal had gone through. Fortunately, he couldn't find any sponsors, and the plan fell apart.
He ended up doing his first interview on NBC - and neither he nor the network made any money from it.
