The Grisly DetailsSure, serial killers ~killed~ people, but what did they actually do? Lists about who they murdered, how they did it, and other horrifying facts that will keep you wide awake tonight, shaking your head at humanity.
Before Michael and Suzan "Bear" Carson became the San Francisco Witch Killers they were just two unstable divorcées partying it up in the '70s' psychedelic drug culture. When they met, they were Susan Barnes, an unhappy mother of two teenaged sons, and James Carson a busboy/pot dealer with a master’s degree in Chinese studies and father to one daughter. Due to who-knows-how-many drugs, an unwavering commitment to their ideology, and probably some voices in their heads, the San Francisco killers decided to rid the world of witches. The young killer couple's resemblance to the rest of the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood allowed them to easily vanish into the flower child crowd.
The twisted saga of these killers saw them change names and jobs, but their allegiance to each other never waned as they traveled throughout the US and Europe spreading their macabre bastardization of Islam. Rife with contradictions, their quest to destroy witches ironically sent them down some pretty witchcraft-y paths, like getting married at Stonehenge or claiming that thunderclaps told them to kill someone. While eventually convicted of three murders, Michael and Suzan Carson likely committed more killings during their travels. Both remain incarcerated and still voice no remorse for their crimes.
According to Michael’s daughter, Jenn, Suzan tipped her already mentally ill father over the edge. Michael turned violent in the final year of his marriage to Jennifer’s mother, but it was not until he met Suzan that he became a killer. Once he became her accomplice, she renamed him Michael, after the archangel who fought the devil in the Christian Bible. Suzan was almost ten years older than Michael and by all accounts she was the puppet master and he the weak-minded student of her deranged ideologies. If we distil Suzan’s rhetoric down to single pitch it would be,
Suzan: “Let's take a bunch of psychedelics, change our last name to Bear, convert to Islam, and start hunting witches.”
Michael: “Down.”
Suzan created a DIY religion that she called Islam but was really an elaborate collage of justifications for the couple’s future crimes. Homosexuality, abortion, and witchcraft were causes for death, but drug use, murder, theft, anarchy, and driving without a license were just fine.
They Were Married At Stonehenge Beneath The Light Of The Moon
In 1978 the couple began traveling around Europe. Along the way they preached the ethos of their religion and their crusade against witchcraft. It failed to catch on, as they apparently lacked that Charlie Manson charm. It might also have been due to the glaring contradictions and ideological non-sequiturs that plagued every aspect of their belief system. In expected, oxymoronic fashion the two were wed at Stonehenge beneath the light of the moon. What’s more witchy than a moonlight wedding at the site of pagan worship?
They Killed Their First Victim With A Frying Pan Because She Was A “Psychic Vampire”
The first victim of the Witch Killers was their Haight-Ashbury roommate Keryn Barnes, a twenty-three year old aspiring actress. According to Suzan, while hitchhiking in a rainstorm she received clear orders to return home and end the life of her roommate, who apparently had been a witch all along. Since childhood, Suzan claimed to be psychic, and in her confession she stated the reason for killing Barnes was that she was a "psychic vampire witch" who blocked Suzan's own psychic abilities.
The actual reason is much more mundane and petty. Suzan and Michael grew upset with Barnes after she declined to enter a polyamorous relationship with the couple. In March of 1981 Suzan commanded Michael to hit Barnes over the head with a frying pan as the young girl was preparing herself a snack. The frying pan did not complete the job and Suzan commanded Michael to stab her, which he did 13 times. They would later claim self defense.
They Killed Their Second Victim With Expired Bullets And Covered The Body In Chicken Poop
The second person they were convicted of killing was their old coworker Clark Stephens from their time working on a marijuana farm in Humboldt County. During their time as fellow ranch hands working for Stephens, the couple became displeased with his heavy drinking and loud voice. Seeing his behavior as disrespect towards God, the Bears thereby deduced Stephens must be a witch.
In May of 1982 they shot Stephens using an old pistol filled with expired bullets. It took two bullets in the head to kill Stephens; in an attempt to prevent the body from being sniffed out they covered it in chick manure and burned it, burying the remains in the woods. The body was eventually found, and because they buried him near his ID, Stephens was quickly identified and their camouflage efforts went up in flames.
They Killed Their Third Victim On The Side Of The 101 Freeway In Front Multiple Witnesses
In January of 1983, Jon Hellyar, a friendly man in a pickup truck, took in two hitchhikers headed to Santa Rosa. He could not have known they were serial killers, as they looked like any harmless stoner couple. At some point in the 300 miles they rode together, Suzan received the divine message that Hellyar was, you guessed it, a witch. Michael tried to shoot Hellyar but he fought back for control of the gun. As the struggle moved to the side of the road, multiple witnesses saw Michael eventually get a hold of the gun and shoot Hellyar dead. The police received a call from a nearby fruit stand and began a high-speed chase after the Bears, who had stolen Hellyar's truck. The truck swerved into a ditch and the Bears finally landed in police custody for good.
Their Kill List Had Ronald Reagan And Johnny Carson On It
Did you know former president Reagan and Tonight Show host Johnny Carson were witches? Suzan and Michael Bear thought so. Near Clark Stephen’s shallow grave the Bears accidentally left their fantasy kill list of all the top witches. In their televised confession, the couple once again brought up Reagan, ranting about how he was perhaps not just an agent of the devil, but the devil.
