For a period of time in the middle decades of the 20th Century, circus performer Grady Stiles was a star attraction. He developed substantial upper body strength that, when combined with his bad temper and alcoholism, made him dangerous to others. Grady Stiles Jr. - 'Lobster Boy' Grady Stiles was born, on June 26, 1937, with a deformation due to a genetic condition known as electrodactyly. Her son Glen (Harry Glenn Newman) had apparently overheard her statement and told Wyant, who shot Grady soon after. According to The Human Marvels, he would taunt his family while abusing them, referencing his light punishment for murder two decades earlier. Teresa's son overheard this, and went to a neighbor and repeated those words. Although he was convicted of murder, Grady was sentenced to only 15 years probation. Mary Teresa Stiles, 56, was sentenced on Aug. 29 to 12 years in prison for manslaughter. While he sometimes used a wheelchair, he most commonly used his hands and arms for locomotion. On November 29, 1992, Stiles was watching TV in his living room. Then he started hitting on me with his fist. Grady Stiles Jr., who would become known as Lobster Boy, was born in Pittsburgh in 1937. Stiles and his two children toured together as The Lobster Family. Grady Franklin Stiles Jr. (June 26, 1937 November 29, 1992) was an American freak show performer and murderer. The media went into a frenzy. Grady eventually filed for divorce and won custody of the children, due to Mary not attending court. On October 23, 2021, Investigation Discovery aired an episode of True Nightmares: Tales Of Terror called "Hate The Game." October 23, 2021 When Grady Stiles was shot and killed inside his trailer in November 1992, the police had quite a long list of suspects to work through. Furthermore, Grady Stiles admitted to committing the murder and showed no remorse. Why Lovers Exchange Rings During Weddings? When we meet a person, the first thought and impression we get about him is how he speaks and his sitting posture. January 6, 1973. Stiles grew up in this carnival world, and so it wasnt surprising that as a young man he fell in love with another carnival worker, a young woman named Maria (some sources say Mary) Teresa who had run away to join the circus as a teenager. They enjoy watching movies together, eating sushi or just cuddling. Together they had two children and, like his father before him, introduced the children with ectrodactyly to the family business. For reasons that no one either in the Stiles family or outside of it has been able to understand, his first wife agreed to remarry him in 1989. He was like Satan himself. In 1978 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Stiles shot and killed his oldest daughter's fianc on the eve of their wedding. Throughout his childhood, Stiles and his family toured with the carnival circuit, spending the offseason in Gibsonton, Florida as many carnies did. They toured in the circus as performers. Due to all this, Stiles'ssentence was given as 15 years' probationand he was released immediately. Abby Norman is a writer based in New England, currently writing a memoir for Nation Books. Grady said to her, I told you I would kill him.. Grady III has a daughter, Sara, who does not have ectrodactyly. The performer made no attempt to put up a defense, but instead argued that he shouldn't go to prison due to his disability, as well as cirrhosis of the liver due to alcoholism and emphysema brought on by his three-pack-a-day smoking habit. The most informative, researched, and entertaining true crime stories on the internet. The Stiles aren't as unique as some freaks I've seen, but the public loves them." Grady Franklin Stiles Jr. shortened in Grady Stiles was born on June 26, 1937, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who was perfectly fitted in their family circus for the strange deformity and later worked as an American freak show performer. On the night before the wedding, he took a shotgun and murdered him in cold blood. Tags: circus claws grady lobster murder murderer stiles Contact Us About Us "Three Is a Magic Number" was the pilot episode and had originally aired in full as part of Curiosity Shop on September 2, 1971. Grady continued to beat up and terrorize his family. Stiles died almost instantly. Gradys character witnesses included his friends from the circus, including the Bearded Lady, a carnival dwarf and the Fat Man. His ill-tempered drinking coupled with a feeling of invincibility from getting away with murder made Grady even more abusive than he was before. Related: Adam Rainer: The Giant and the Dwarf. Stiles was so hated in his community that no one was willing to be his pallbearer. The young man stumbled out of the house and died. Accept Read More, Frank Lentini: Three Legged Man and Circus Superstar. Fred Rosen's Lobster Boy offers a biography of Grady Jr. and descriptions of both trials. It goes without saying that shed had enough. He had 4 children, 1 boy and 1 girl had the same deformity that he had. The assassin took 1500 US dollars in cash to put three bullets into Grady's head. Grady Stiles was a famous freak show performer, but his life took several dark turns and ended in cold blood. Grady Stiles Jr. was the fourth child of Grady F. Stiles Sr. and his wife Edna. Unable to walk, he sometimes used a wheelchair, though just as often he used his arms to move about, according to The Human Marvels. Stiles' son, Grady Stiles III, disputes the claim that Teresa had him murdered. That became a problem once he started abusing alcohol andbegan to abuse his familyas well. What happened that night is a matter of dispute. On November 29, 1992, Wyant entered Stiles's home with a loaded gun after Mary had gone out for the evening. The only way out seemed to be his death. He began to drink heavily again and he often boasted that he got away with murder. Grady Stiles had evaded prison and gained a sense of being above the law, and thus the beatings became more severe. Unlike Grady Stiles, Wyant was sentenced to 27 yeas in prison for the murder. He hit me to the point he knocked me out of the chair., The next morning, she said, her womb started bleeding, but she didnt say anything. Real Paranormal Activity Caught on CCTV Camera? Grady Stiles, Jr. came from a long line of people with ectrodactyly, or "lobster claw" syndrome. Reputed to be a mean drunk, Lobster Boy reportedly beat his wife and children for years until one night in 1973. The Carolina Conjoined Twins The Incredible Mighty Atom Tiny Performer Tom Thumb If you were a member, you would see thousands of color images, detailed biographies and all sorts of fascinating information about each image. Even though Stiles had been an abusive killer, his death was still a murder. Menu. But was the Lobster Boy based on an actual person? Not being able to walk, Grady used a wheelchair and would crawl around soon developing a strong upper body and arms. Finally, see some of the most incredible Andre the Giant photos that you wont believe arent photoshopped. Grady Stiles (June 26, 1937 - November 29, 1992) was an unusual boy, to his friends. Her other son, Grady Stiles III, even claims that she was only talking about it, and hadn't actually ordered Stiles's killing. Meet Grady Stiles, The Murderous Lobster Boy Who Killed His Daughter's Fiance COLLECTION 15 LISTS The Greatest Show on Earth Step right up! In 1978, Stiles daughter, Donna, fell in love and got engaged. For more than a century, a peculiar physical condition known as ectrodactyly has afflicted the Stiles family. Grady was known for his bad temper and his drinking made it worse. He suffered from ectrodactyly from birth, giving his fingers and feet the illusion of lobster claws. Unfortunately, it's no surprise that he took it horribly when his daughter Donna approached him to announce her engagement in 1978. The night before the wedding, Stiles picked up a shotgun and murdered his to-be-son-in-law. His deformity was the genetic condition ectrodactyly, in which the fingers and toes are fused together to form claw-like extremities. He was not only a murderer, but he was also a misogynist who assaulted his wife and children countless times without pity or. He came from a line of circus "freaks" born withectrodactyly his fingers and toes were fused into claw-like appendages, hence his nickname. Related: Frank Lentini: Three Legged Man and Circus Superstar. Grady Stiles Jr., commonly known as Lobster Boy. Grady was born with a rare medical condition known to run in his family called ectrodactyly. The court realized they really had no counterargument, as it was true that the prisons were not well-equipped to deal with many disabilities, certainly not Stiles incredibly rare one. It was the den of all circus performers during the circus off-season. At least one of their children, Cathy, testified against him as well. He attacked his wifeand murdered his daughter's fianc. Joe", "Vestavia John P. Strohm | Songs, Reviews, Credits", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grady_Stiles&oldid=1107061954, People convicted of murder by Pennsylvania, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. At that point, his father was already part of the freak show circuit, adding his kids with ectrodactyly to the act. It is a deformity in which the fingers and toes fuse together to look like the claws of a lobster. By Amy Beeman / Feb. 25, 2021 11:14 am EST. On HBO's Carnivle, set on a traveling carnival during the Great Depression, the central character, Ben Hawkins, is sent out by his employers to investigate rumors of a "Scorpion Boy" in a nearby town in the episode "Lonnigan, Texas". Glen ironically was named the mastermind. During the trial, his wife spoke at length of his abusive history. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. For more strange physical conditions, check out this list of unusual disorders. In 1978, as The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette would later report, Stiles' oldest daughter, Donna Stiles, had taken a shine to a man named Jack Layne, and the two had gotten engaged. Human Skeleton, Living Skeleton, Thin Man (34), Alligator Skin, Elephant Skin, Armadillo-Skin (14), Big Feet, Big Hands, Too Many Fingers (15), Frog Folk, Turtle Folk, Bear Folk, Serpent Folk, Penguin Folk (46), Half-Man Half-Woman, Half-And-Halfs, Hermaphrodites (87), Unusual Artists & Incredible Craftsmen (16), Confections, Snacks and Refreshments (10), Fortune Tellers, Psychics, Spirtualists (12). While he was still touring the carnival circuit, the now-adult Stiles met Mary Teresa, a 19-year-old runaway. Grady's daughter, Donna, fell in love and wanted to marry a young man by the name of Jack Lane, but her father greatly opposed. Grady Stiles III, 17, testified that only days before his father's 1992 slaying, he broke through a locked door to rescue his stepmother from his father's . The real Stiles was an abusive alcoholic who was convicted of murdering a man, and who himself died violently. It didnt take long for Grady to return to his old ways, even though he promised Mary that he was a changed man. [4] Grady went on to get married to Mary Theresa and have three children, two of whom were born with ectrodactyly - Cathy and Grady III. Stiles had been married twice, having a daughter and son whom both have electrodactyly. Grady Stiles Jr.s case was pretty severe: in addition to his hands, he also had it in his feet and therefore could not walk. Gradys daughter, Cathy, who also has lobster claws, has played roles in the HBO series Carnivale and the Tim Burton film, Big Fish. He stopped drinkingand sought out his ex-wife, Mary. Donna explained that she was running away with her fianc, that she was pregnant (a lie), and that they were very much in love. However, he soon began drinking again and his family claimed that he became even more abusive. Grady was born with a rare medical condition known to run in his family called ectrodactyly. The family did well: they made anywhere between $50,000 to $80,000 per season, and unlike a lot of freak show acts, didnt have to subject themselves to anything more than curious stares. As far back as the early 1800s, the "Lobster Family," as they were called, produced children with and without the condition. His wife had finally reached her breaking point. He was sentenced to life in prison, while his mother was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Amazingly shoddy quality photo pitchcard of Grady and his daughter-- "Father 36., Daughter 5 yrs." But Newmanwanted nothing more than to protect his frantic mother. It is just knowing when you find them," Grady Stiles III, 39, told The Huffington Post. When aired on Multiplication Rock, a . His hands were split down the middle and fused to . Grady included them in his circus act and they all toured together as The Lobster Family. They paid him $1,500 to murder Grady. Cathy was born with the same deformity but Donna was not. After some time, he again took to drinking and beating his family members. Further, he was an exceptionally popular draw: for a time, the Stileses pulled in $50,000-80,000 per season a king's ransom in those days. The rare congenital deformity makes hands look like lobster claws as the middle fingers are either missing or seemingly fused to the thumb and pinky. He soon went to trial, having admitted to his actions with no remorse whatsoever, but pointed out that he couldnt possibly be imprisoned: no jail could handle his disability and to confine him to prison would be cruel and unusual punishment. He used his amazingly strong arms to torture his wives and children. As townsperson Ken Hayward told Rodell, the social welfare system these days means that "freaks" can collect a disability check, rather than having to seek out a living in the sideshow circuit. 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