​In the winter of 1974 and 1975, downtown Los Angeles became a slaughterhouse.

A quiet, methodical predator known as the "Skid Row Slasher" hunted vulnerable unhoused men in the flophouses and alleys of Skid Row leaving behind a chilling signature: ear-to-ear throat slashings, unlaced shoes pointing at the dead, circles of white salt, and cups filled with victims' blood.

​While the press panicked over Satanic cults and the LAPD wasted weeks hunting a fictional, bigoted profile of a "tall, blond, deformed, and sexually impotent" white boogeyman, the real killer was a 30-year-old Black man named Vaughn Greenwood.

When the heat downtown got too intense, Greenwood slipped six miles northwest into Hollywood, murdering men behind closed doors.

​In this episode of Homocidal Tendency, Matt dives deep into the true crime history of the case, exploring how racism, classism, and homophobia blinded law enforcement, humanizing the eleven men whose lives were lost, and examining the dark intersections of queer survival and true crime in 1970s Los Angeles.

​Key Landmarks & Locations Mentioned

• ​L.A. Central Library (Flower Street): The recurring dumping ground where three victims—David Russell (1964), Charles Jackson (Dec 1974), and David Perez (Dec 1974)—were found.
• ​St. George Hotel (East 3rd Street): Where 67-year-old retired meat salesman Benjamin Hornberg was found murdered in November 1964.
• ​Pickwick Hotel (833 S. Grand Ave): Where 58-year-old Casimir Strawinski, gravely ill with cancer, rented a room to stay safe before being slain in January 1975.
• ​Golden West Hotel (East 5th Street): Where tough local regular Robert "Tex" Shannahan was found butchered in January 1975.
• ​Hotel Barclay (103 W. 4th Street): Where 49-year-old Samuel Suarez was discovered in Room 528 on January 25, 1975.
• ​North Kingsley Drive & North Vista Street (Hollywood): The residences of catering secretary George Frias and mechanic Clyde Hay, murdered in late January 1975.
• ​Laurel Canyon Boulevard: The site of the February 2, 1975 hatchet attack on William Graham and Kenneth Richer, leading directly to Greenwood's arrest near Burt Reynolds' estate.

​Sources & Archival References

• ​Primary Court & Police Records: California Court of Appeal record (People v. Greenwood, 71 Cal.App.3d 953); Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Central Division homicide logs and task force reports (1974–1975).
• ​Illinois Appellate Court Records: People v. Greenwood, 115 Ill. App. 2d 167 (pertaining to his 1966 Chicago conviction for the attack on Mance Porter).
• ​Newspaper & Periodical Archives: Los Angeles Times trial and investigative coverage (1975–1977); Rolling Stone magazine dispatch on Skid Row policing and unhoused vulnerability (1975); Drummer magazine contemporary queer investigative reporting.
• ​Criminological Databases: Radford University and Florida State University Serial Killer Database (Vaughn Greenwood case profile).

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​“Isn't it a little late for this sort of thing?”

​It’s 11:30 PM on October 31, 1957. In the quiet, pristine suburb of Sun Valley, Los Angeles, the trick-or-treaters have long since gone to bed.

When the doorbell rings at 13236 Community Street, 35-year-old beauty salon owner Peter Fabiano grabs the leftover candy bowl and heads downstairs.

Standing on his porch is a small figure wearing blue jeans, red gloves, and a cheap plastic superhero mask, holding up a brown paper sack.

​Seconds later, a single .38 caliber gunshot shatters the quiet of the hallway.

​What initially looks to the LAPD like a cold, calculated mob hit quickly spirals into one of the most bizarre psychological cases of the 1950s.

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​Sources & Archival Research:

​Los Angeles Times Archival Coverage (November 1957 – March 1958): "Beauty Shop Owner Slain in Halloween Mask Shooting," "Two Women Held in

Halloween Slaying," and "Two Women Plead Guilty in Trick-or-Treat Murder."
​Los Angeles Mirror-News & Herald-Express (1957–1958 Crime Beat Archives).
​

Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Valley Division Homicide Files — Case Year 1957 (Victim: Peter Fabiano).

​Superior Court of Los Angeles County Official Plea and Sentencing Records (March 11, 1958; Defendants: Joan Rabel, Goldyne Pizer; Defense Counsel: Jerry Giesler).

​Deranged LA Crimes by Joan Renner — Historical analysis of 1950s Los Angeles crime and the Fabiano homicide.

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In the 1840s, the remote, mist-shrouded forests of Galicia, Spain, became the hunting ground for a very real monster.

When desperate women and children began vanishing into the mountains, the starving villagers blamed the Sacaúntos a mythical bogeyman who harvested human fat.

But the truth was far stranger.

This week, we dive into the chilling case of Manuel Blanco Romasanta, a soft-spoken traveling salesman who mounted the only successful "werewolf" legal defense in Spanish history.

We explore his brutal crimes, his shocking courtroom confession, and the modern medical evidence suggesting Spain's most infamous serial killer was actually living with a profound intersex condition.

​We unpack:

• ​The brutal reality of life and survival in 1840s Spain
• ​How Manuel weaponized his tailoring background to lure victims
• ​The forensic twist that proved actual wolves scavenged the remains
• ​The groundbreaking 2013 medical theory that reframes this supernatural myth as a psychiatric and endocrinological tragedy

​Sources & Further Reading:

• ​The 2013 Forensic Report: Research by forensic anthropologist Fernando Serrulla and forensic artist Margarita Sanín, proposing Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) / feminine pseudohermaphroditism as the biological reality behind Romasanta's life.
• ​The Court of Allariz Transcripts (1853): The original trial records documenting Romasanta's confession, the werewolf defense, and the forensic wolf-bite evidence.
• ​The Letters of "Dr. Philips" (Joseph-Pierre Durand de Gros): The historical correspondence with Queen Isabel II that successfully stayed Romasanta's execution based on the diagnosis of Clinical Lycanthropy.

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