All Hallow on the Eve 2026 - Unknown True Crimes - The Bag Murders
Image yourself at a bar with some friends. Now imagine that you're a select minority of people (a gay individual) during the mid-to-late 1970's in America. After a night of comradery and fun with friends new and old at your favorite watering hole, you're met by a stranger. Perhaps they look familiar to you, perhaps not. All you know is that they're frequenting the same bar as you.
And although they're a stranger to you, they seem friendly enough, asking for a ride home or, if willing, a ride back to your apartment in Lower Manhattan. Conveniently they're also wearing the same brand of leather clothing that most gay men had come to purchase out of Greenwich Village and so you assume they're looking to have a good time with you. After one more drink, maybe two, you decide to bring them back to your place.
The car ride is friendly enough, and it's been a while since you've been with a new lover. Maybe this time he'll be more than a fling, maybe things will work out. Judging by his appearance and the conversation he keeps you two immersed in, he begins to seem like a possible partner. You start wondering if you two will go steady together, or if this is just another one-night stand.
It doesn't matter though, you're six-drinks in and careless. Walking him up to your third-floor apartment on the west side of town. Unlocking your door, you allow him in first, proving that civility and manners aren't quite dead yet. You ask him if he'd like one more drink while pointing him to your large sofa in the living room, wanting to be a good host after all.
But he insists on following you into the kitchen. You don't see a problem with this; in fact, he may just want to start things off right away. This excites you as you search through your liquor cabinet in an attempt to find that one bottle of merlot that you've been saving for an occasion such as this one.
Then out of nowhere you feel a sharp incision, or maybe a blunt force striking you over the head. Either way there is pain, sometimes a lot, sometimes a little, before the world fades to black...
Days go by with friends, family, and others beginning to wonder where you went. Then weeks follow and soon the police have a missing persons' case on their hands. And as months follow, you're soon discovered by an unknown individual who had no need to come across the plastic garbage bag that you had been stuffed in. Not all of you, of course, but pieces of you. Soon after more garbage bags are found, some with arms and legs inside, another carrying your torso, and so on.
You're dead, murdered after a night at your favorite gay bar, dismembered, and finally tossed into the Hudson River simply to wash ashore days later. Your name makes the paper that same day, but it doesn't matter. Gone from this world, simply because you were different, you were a gay man in New York in 1975...
The story told above is fictionalized but is strongly based on the actual case events of the Bag Murders of 1975 to 1977 in Manhattan, New York. And you're not the only one who had been murdered between those two years, five others had their lives snuffed out, were chopped up and bagged, only to float down the Hudson River.
The newspaper to the left is of a man by the name of Paul Bateson who admitted to a colleague/friend (later a witness during his trial) that Paul had murdered the film reporter Addison Verrill. And during Paul's trial for Verrill's' death, prosecutors brought forth evidence and witness statements pertaining to the deaths of three other men, all of whom Paul admitted to killing. Each of the three men had been stabbed to death, living in Lower Manhattan, and had also frequented the gay bar scene in New York at the time. However, due to lack of evidence Paul was not charged for the three men's murders, only that of Addison Verrill.
Bateson was sentenced to 20-years to life in prison for his crimes, though to this day he still denies that he ever was the Bag Murderer. Since 1977 no person has been confirmed to be said killer, and the Bag murders remain a mystery. Though some still believe that it was Paul Bateson...
During Bateson's trial, acclaimed film director Willaim Friedkin would visit him in the county jail. The duo apparently had a short history together, with Bateson having played a minor role in Friedkin's' blockbuster horror film "The Exorcist" in 1973. While the two spoke throughout the years, Friedkin developed a plotline for his 1980 film "Cruising", with the then recent murders serving as inspiration to the films overarching plots. Friedkin even claims that, while speaking on and off with Bateson, that he managed to extract some very dark information from his prior coworker and friend.
Friedkin has stated that Bateson ended up partially admitting to the murders and dismemberments of gay men in Manhattan, in particular one gay man whose body was dismembered, with their remains stuffed into black trash bags and thrown into the East River.
Though after the film Cruising Friedkin was met with backlash from the gay community, stating that "putting a gay man at the center of such a serious film would only cause more murders to occur within their community". Nonetheless, the film is dedicated to the terrors of being a gay individual in New York City around the turning of the era.
To this day it is still uncertain whether or not Bateson was the Bag Murderer or not. There is plenty of evidence to speculate on, sure, but nothing concrete enough to condemn the man as the actual serial killer. Much of the gay community, especially in the 1970's, experienced numerous atrocities throughout the decade and those following. It's no surprise that most serial killers and the like find shallow motives in obvious places, the gay community being one such notion that has driven many to the brink.
In the end, Bateson was never fully charged with any crimes relating to the Bag Murders. He has since passed away on September 15th, 2012, at the age of 72, while having been released on parole in 2003 only nine years prior. Speculation surrounding his involvement remains to this day.
It should be stated that Bateson had a drinking problem beginning in 1974, a year after his role on set for "The Exorcist". The film itself has been said to of been cursed from its mere inception, and perhaps some of Bateson's' involvement with the film bled into his actual life. This statement is, of course, no excuse for his wicked actions, but might lend some meaning behind his mental state and why he chose to murder not just Addison Verrill, but possibly others.
One thing for certain, no matter who had committed these crimes, they were a tyranny over a culture that wanted nothing more than acceptance in our society. And that may just be the most terrifying part of this entire article, realizing that you could be sought out, captured, dismembered, and tossed into a bag like trash before being sent down the river, never to return...
All Hallow on the Eve 2026 - Unknown True Crimes - The Bag Murders
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