The murder of Alice Benoit in 1957 remains one of the most monstrous crimes in Beaumont, Texas. The young prostitute was a favorite among the sailors, dock workers and wildcatters who visited the Hotel Rouler, the city's most colorful bordello. But one night in 1957, Alice Benoit (at left in only known photo) was literally slaughtered by a jealous sailor when she spurned his marriage proposal. Her macabre slaying ignited a firestorm of public intolerance for Beaumont's famed red light district, which was soon shut down by police.
Last summer, a local TV crew (the station manager asked that it not be identified) embarked on a story about the 50th anniversary of the murder that changed the face of Beaumont forever. As the crew prepared to videotape a reporter at the long-abandoned hulk of the Hotel Rouler, the videographer was startled to see a misty figure in an empty window. Later, he noticed that an open mike also picked up an eerie sound: A disembodied human voice whispering what sounds like a name.
If you want a real-life scare for Halloween, take a look at the video and judge for yourself if this ghost really exists.
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Can you spot the child molester among these four people?
Admit it, no matter which one you choose, you'll be guessing. You can't tell a pedophile just by looking. We all carry certain wayward beliefs about what a molester should look like. And wouldn't it be comforting to be able to spot a molester ... or rapist, murderer, con-man, burglar or armed robber ... at a glance? We can't. The next person to walk past you might be a molester.
And here comes Halloween, when children knock on strangers' doors and accept candy, or maybe some playful conversation. Luckily, we can prepare children to be safer as they trick-or-treat, but we can never be sure that we aren't sending them onto the radar of people who would sexually exploit them on any other day of the year.
On top of all the personal safety measures you can teach your kids this Halloween, check to see where registered sex offenders live in your neighborhood. One good site is Family Watchdog's National Sex Offender Registry, where you can enter your address and get an updated map of offenders in your neighborhood. Many of them will be under orders to keep their porchlights off on Halloween; some must put out signs declaring a sex offender lives there. And gently guide your children away from those homes. Better safe than sorry?
So did you figure out who was the sex offender among the four folks pictures above? Click on "Read More" to get the answer....
All of them
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Some of the scariest spooks who'll haunt us on Halloween will be the slasher Christians who see the holiday as the Devil's barn dance. Party-poopers.
Lori D'Augostine, an associate producer at Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network, posted an essay at CBN's website on the evil behind Halloween. To her, trick-or-treaters are little souls surrounded by the Occult, but instead of turning off the porchlight, she advises Christians to reach out to them.
"Did you ever wonder why Halloween seems to primarily feed off of a market of 3-13 year olds?" Lori writes. "This is a Satanic ploy for our children. I don't think that Christian children should completely abstain from the festivities of costumes and candy, because they can be a light through their alternative behavior. [I personally plan on dressing my children up in Biblical and God-honoring characters that will draw people to ask questions.]"
Satanic ploy? I thought it was just good, old-fashioned American marketing. I must be a true heathen.
And I'm not sure some Bible characters would be an improvement over SpongeBob Squarepants. ("Oh, such a pretty little girl. Who are you?" "Thank you, ma'am. I'm a Bible character named Jezebel!") Hey, maybe a bunch of kids could go as the Seven Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Instead of candy, Lori suggests handing out homemade Bible tracts or Scripture Candy and EvangeCandy, "the only candy with color-coded Gospels on every wrapper!" All the cavities of pagan candy without the guilt.
Yeah, that's the way to save a soul ... and get your house TP'd. maybe you should give the little devils some Hershey's white chocolate. That'll teach 'em.
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The murder of Alice Benoit in 1957 remains one of the most monstrous crimes in Beaumont, Texas. The young prostitute was a favorite among the sailors, dock workers and wildcatters who visited the Hotel Rouler, the city's most colorful bordello. But one night in 1957, Alice Benoit (at left in only known photo) was literally slaughtered by a jealous sailor when she spurned his marriage proposal. Her macabre slaying ignited a firestorm of public intolerance for Beaumont's famed red light district, which was soon shut down by police.
