Jump to content

Waco Is Weird


statsman

Recommended Posts

I did not grow up in Waco, but graduated HS there before matriculating at UT. I figured out quickly that I needed to get out of there. My folks still live there. 
Here is a top 10 list of Waco weirdness. They are not just a list of tragedies, although most are tragic. This is a compilation of bad things happening and civil society failing to respond in a normal or honest manner, making things…weird. In roughly chronological order- feel free to google for details

1. The career and murder of “sort of journalist” William Cowper Brann. 
2. The lynching of Jesse Washington 

3. 1926 Baylor-TAMC football riot, killing an Aggie. 
4. Incredibly successful and influential WHS football coach Paul Tyson relieved of duties due to suspicion of illicit relations with players. 
5. 1982 Lake Waco murders, with a strong possibility that the killer(s) were never found and innocent (of that crime, at least) men were executed. 
6. The1990 incident where two (married to other people) Waco news anchors went missing, only to be found in a clandestine tryst in New Mexico. 
7. Branch Davidians

8. Dave Bliss

9. Art Briles

10. Twin Peaks

wow. Can any community top that, for weirdness? I listed ten items and didn’t even need to add Kenneth McDuff’s murder spree while a paroled student at TSTI. 
Anyone want to argue that Waco isn’t weird?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The murder of Patrick Dennehy would be top ten.

I remember stopping several times in Waco in the 1990s for gas because it was cheaper than Dallas or Austin. Always ran into Branch Davidians street hustling and busking at gas stations, the Whataburger near campus. Pretty much everywhere. I know for certain I talked to Koresh who was asking me for ten bucks to pay for baby formula. Always told my Wacko Waco stories to friends. Then the Waco Standoff happened and I was just glued to the TV for a month.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, statsman said:

I did not grow up in Waco, but graduated HS there before matriculating at UT. I figured out quickly that I needed to get out of there. My folks still live there. 
Here is a top 10 list of Waco weirdness. They are not just a list of tragedies, although most are tragic. This is a compilation of bad things happening and civil society failing to respond in a normal or honest manner, making things…weird. In roughly chronological order- feel free to google for details

1. The career and murder of “sort of journalist” William Cowper Brann. 
2. The lynching of Jesse Washington 

3. 1926 Baylor-TAMC football riot, killing an Aggie. 
4. Incredibly successful and influential WHS football coach Paul Tyson relieved of duties due to suspicion of illicit relations with players. 
5. 1982 Lake Waco murders, with a strong possibility that the killer(s) were never found and innocent (of that crime, at least) men were executed. 
6. The1990 incident where two (married to other people) Waco news anchors went missing, only to be found in a clandestine tryst in New Mexico. 
7. Branch Davidians

8. Dave Bliss

9. Art Briles

10. Twin Peaks

wow. Can any community top that, for weirdness? I listed ten items and didn’t even need to add Kenneth McDuff’s murder spree while a paroled student at TSTI. 
Anyone want to argue that Waco isn’t weird?

Who were the news anchors? 

We've got a TopGolf now so things are looking up.

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

Who were the news anchors? 

We've got a TopGolf now so things are looking up.

 

https://buffalonews.com/news/missing-waco-anchors-lost-together/article_7aa6715c-d8d3-5fe8-a10c-4da305e5e86c.html
 

Mike Reeder and Wendy Sheldon

This would be the first item to be displaced by the next new really weird one. The story is funny and weird, but the sex (unlike in most of the other stories) is consensual, so it is barely in the top ten. 

Edited by statsman
  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

57 minutes ago, bolverk said:

 Also, the Homestead Heritage compound just north of Waco.

They are the best people in the world and I think their religion is perfectly normal. The fact that 10% of my business comes from them has nothing to do with that statement.

 Shifty Eyes GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

Edited by SimonBolivar
  • Like 3
  • Haha 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to work summer gigs in Waco where I'd rent the cheapest shack in the ghetto (basically, anywhere in the actual physical center of Waco that people never go to unless they are a cop or they live there) and amuse myself by wandering around on foot. So I figure that alone made Waco weirder, me being there.

But wait, there's more.

One day I was walking along a sidewalk in a fairly well-populated section, and there was a dead dog on the sidewalk. And it was a skeleton. As in, in this alleged human neighborhood, a dog had died in front of a house, ok, that could happen, dogs die... but not only did no one dispose of the carcass, but they let it bloat, rot, settle back down into leathery scraps, and then slowly turn to dust and bones, on the fucking sidewalk near several houses. Imagine the great greasy bloated flies, the crows pecking at it. None of these Waco trash could be bothered to even get a shovel and toss it into a pile of rubbish, much less bury it. Most likely none of the fat fucking Waco bastards ever even used the sidewalk.

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, SimonBolivar said:

They are the best people in the world and I think their religion is perfectly normal. The fact that 10% of my business comes from them has nothing to do with that statement.

 Shifty Eyes GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

I thought their whole thing was they do everything themselves?  What could you sell them?  Isn't their deal they are totally self-sustaining?  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, Lobo said:

I thought their whole thing was they do everything themselves?  What could you sell them?  Isn't their deal they are totally self-sustaining?  

Individual auto loans mostly. Not one of them have missed a single payment yet and I've had nothing but pleasant experiences with them. I'm a bit surprised they haven't created some form of internal credit union yet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Billy Joe Shaver shot a guy in the face and got away with it in a bar just outside Waco

2. Kenneth McDuff killed a few of his victims around Waco

3. a guy took the Christmas light tour of Waco from downtown that ended up touring the lights on his street.

  • Hook 'Em 2
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Lobo said:

I thought their whole thing was they do everything themselves?  What could you sell them?  Isn't their deal they are totally self-sustaining?  

I've seen them at the Bellmead H-E-B. If you're passing through, the restaurant at the site is amazing.

Edited by Harrison Bergeron
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I moved to Waco from San Diego when I was 10 and got the hell out as soon as I could. I have a lot of family and people I love there, so I visit 4 or 5 times a year. Its a wierd place for sure, but the locals are genuinely puzzled as to why I'd prefer living in a "big city", especially on, in California like San Francisco, when I could be there.

That said, Chip and Joanna, for better or worse, are bringing a shitload of people there both as tourists and new residents. It's a great place to be investing money right now. I wish I would have bought some of those downtown lots a decade ago.

Maybe not on the top 10 list, but now they feature a Space X facility that shakes the whole town on the regular.

A Top 10 is pretty limiting foe Waco, it should be a Top 25 at least.

Crash at Crush should be somewhere on the list.

https://wacohistory.org/items/show/70

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...