The Town That Dreaded Sundown was a 1976 docudrama that was based on actual crimes committed in Texarkana in 1946. A hooded killer terrorized citizens in rural areas surrounding the border between Texas and Kansas. Dubbed the “Texarkana Moonlight Murders” by the press, eight people were attacked and five were murdered within the span of three months. The film purported to be a true depiction of the crimes, with only the names of the victims changed. However, Charles B. Pierce’s film was not an accurate depiction of what occurred, and took many liberties with the facts. A “meta-sequel” produced by Jason Blum in 2014 only helped to further blur the truth.
Screenwriter Early E. Smith follows the basic outline of the crimes, but adds exploitative elements to the narrative which undercut the film’s credibility. The writer also created completely fictional scenarios, including a chase between law enforcement and the killer, which have colored the public’s perception of the truth for many years. Unlike popular crime films such as Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers (1994), which focused on one man’s obsession with a real serial killer, Sundown carried the weight of crimes that affected real people.
The attacks began on February 22, 1946 when a young couple, parked in an area known as “lovers’ lane” were confronted by a hooded stranger yielding a flashlight and gun. The driver of the car, Jimmy Hollis (25) and his girlfriend Mary Jeanne Larey (19) were ordered out of the car after being told by the intruder that he "did not want to kill them". After fracturing the skull of Hollis with the gun, Larey was also hit in the head but, bizarrely, also told to run away by the assailant. He caught up with her, sexually assaulted her, but let her go after the attack. The hooded perpetrator’s behavior, at times erratic, seemed to suggest an uncertainty in his actions. He would show none of these signs in his next three attacks.
The True Crimes In The Town That Dreaded Sundown
March 24, 1946 another couple was confronted in a different area also known as a “lover’s lane.” This time, both victims were not so lucky. Richard L. Griffin (29) and his girlfriend Polly Ann More (17) were found dead in his car from gunshot wounds to the head. Less than a month later on April 13 the killer took the lives of Paul Martin (17) and his friend Betty Jo Booker (15) – both shot with the same gun used as the previous double-murder, a .32 automatic Colt pistol. After Martin and Booker were killed, the Texarkana Daily News used the “Phantom Killer” moniker in a headline, which was soon used to describe him by the national media.
The final attack by the hooded killer took place on the night of April 13. Married couple Virgil and Katie Starks, both in their 30s, were shot in their home located on a 500 acre farm 10 miles northeast of Texarkana. Virgil was shot and killed while sitting in a chair in his living room. Katie was shot twice in the face while attempting to call the police. She survived the ordeal after running to a distant neighbor’s house for help. The Phantom Killer never struck again, and though there was a robust manhunt and investigation no one was ever convicted of the crimes. While The Town That Dreaded Sundown may have played with the facts of the actual case, it did keep the memory of the tragic events alive for decades. Even today the film is shown once a year around Halloween in an outdoor theater in Texarkana. It is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime.
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