“Ground Zero Part 4: Diabolical Games”

The Canonical Story is becoming more devoid of its most cherished aspects. To lose cigarette burns, is to lose torture. To lose hot water burns, is to lose something akin to torture. And whereas the contributors to this website will by no means miss these things, those who remain true to the Inherited Wisdom will no doubt cry, “Heresy!” “You took away the beloved Number 3!” “You deprived us of the wordy and grammatically correct slogan that makes this case so famous!” “But to deprive us of what we need most; that which puts the horror in the House of Horror; what do we have left if we have no cigarette burns or scalding hot water? If we give up torture, what do we have left?” That can be answered differently. One such answer is obvious…we still have all manner of stories of abuse…perhaps something can be salvaged from that. Is there still a chance that we will find speed bumpos in the road to slow us down? Or do we plunge headlong into a Calendrical Singularity? Maybe, but maybe not. Still, one must, at this point, enter a part of the Canonical Story World that is just as dangerous as the part that existed only in a world of Smoke and Mirrors. So all involved must sign a waiver and take care! We must now venture into a world of Diabolical Games.

It is well known that one of the accusations made by the witnesses clearly indicated that a favorite past-time at 3850 East New York Street was not chess, or checkers, or Parcheesi. No, it was “Sylvia flipping.” And what is meant by that term is essentially kids playing Judo or Karate. That this is the case is clear from the following:

Q. Was Coy Hubbard over there a lot?
A. I don't know.
Q. Did you see him over there very often?
A. Not all the time, I did not.

Q. When would you see him over there, if you remember? Do you remember seeing him over there?

A. Yes.
Q. You do?
A. I don't know how many times I was over there.
Q. Do you remember when he would be there, when you would see him there?

A. Sometimes he was over there, I seen him. They had these things, he was taking his hand and breaking them. I remember that.

Q. What?
A. Those wooden cards.
 

Judy Duke is indicating that she saw Coy playing Karate. He was breaking what were probably very thin wooden boards with his hands. Paul Harmon described what he found when he searched Gertrude’s basement:
 

Q. A piece of orange colored wood, a black crowbar and one screw hook?
A. That is right.
Q. Did you also find a black leather belt in that basement?
A. No, I did not.
Q. Did you find four pieces of brass colored tubing in the basement?
A. No.
Q. You found one piece of orange colored wood?
A. In the basement, yes.

So the piece of orange colored wood is not the paddle, also referred to as “the board.” That’s a good thing, since “Paula get the board” is something you never want to hear. Could the wood found by Harmon have something to do with the wood that Coy Hubbard was breaking with his hands? This roughhousing took another form, i.e. “flipping.” Now one could run through all the stories about “Sylvia flipping” before delivering the coup de grace, but it would save a lot of time recounting silly stories to start with the real explanation that underlies this theme:

Q. Did you ever see anyone take her and flip her over their head?
A. One time when everybody was doing it.
Q. Yes, who was everybody?
A. Everybody except Mom.
Q. Name them.
A. Paula, Johnny - no, not Johnny - and Coy and somebody else.
Q. Who is Coy?
A. Him. (indicating defendant Coy Hubbard)
Q. Are you pointing to the defendant, Coy Hubbard?
A. Yes.
Q. Where did you do this?
A. In the front room.
Q. You were flipping Sylvia over your head?
A. We was flipping everybody.
Q. Did you flip Sylvia?
A. I don't think so.
Q. You don't think Sylvia got flipped?
A. I think once - once or twice.
Q. Where did she land?
A. She missed the mattress.
Q. On what did she land?
A. On the rug.
Q. What part of her body hit the floor?
A. The bottom.
Q. That was twice?
A. Yes.
Q. Who flipped her?
A. Paula did, I think.
Q. Paula. Are you sure?
A. I am pretty sure.
Q. Twice?
A. I think so.

It feels strange to say, but “thank you Stephanie.” For what? For telling the truth. The connection Judy Duke made between Coy Hubbard and playing Karate would appear to be correct. Coy said the following:

“About 4 or 5 days later I went back over to Stephanie's and I flipped Sylvia on the floor, I think I did this because of something she said about Stephanie..”

The kids put a mattress on the floor, and took turns pretending to be Bruce Lee. Everybody got a turn at flipping everybody. Sylvia missed the mattress, and landed on the floor. I’ll bet it hurt, but she survived. And I’ll bet that a broken wrist feels a lot worse than landing on your backside on the floor of Gertrude’s front room. I’ll also wager that it didn’t hurt as bad as several whacks from the police belt or Paula administering a solid spanking with the infamous “board.” It may well be that the person responsible for flipping Sylvia, who accidentally missed the mattress and landed on her backside, was Coy. It was an accident. But the “karate” element appears to owe its origin to Coy Hubbard who played at martial arts like countless boys his age and younger have for decades. And based on his apparent inability to do this correctly, I feel safe to say that there was no danger of the sudden entrance of a dragon. Not that any more animals, real or mythical, are needed. It was this single, harmless event that gave birth to the whole “Sylvia flipping” element. The careless use of this theme can be seen with Shirley:

Q. Did you like Sylvia?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. You got along well with her?
A. Yes, I did. One time I slapped her because she flipped my brother.
Q. I did not hear.
A. She flipped my baby brother, my eight-year old brother.
Q. Is that Jimmy?
A. Yes, it is.

Was this an event from a round of karate flipping? Apparently not:

Q. Do you remember when the incident with Jimmy was?

A. Sylvia promised him a piggy-back ride and he was trying to get on her back and Sylvia turned around real quick and he landed flat on his back.

Q. She was playing with him?
A. I don't know. I was not there.
Q. You were not there?
A. No, sir, I was there at the present time when he was crying about it.
Q. I see. Jimmy had kidney trouble?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. You were not supposed to roughhouse with him, were you?
A. No, sir.

So this wasn’t a case of “flipping” at all. It was, of course, another accident. And so too flipping Sylvia and her missing the mattress. But “flipping” was also the cause of Danny Likens wearing out his welcome at Gertrude’s house:

Q. Did that happen in the summer time?
A. Yes, sir, when Sylvia's brother was over, her eighteen year old brother was over.
Q. What is his name?
A. Danny, I think.
Q. Did Danny do anything to Paula to make her be mad at his sister?

A. Danny did something to make Paula mad. He was going to flip Mom and he was trying to make it out like he was kidding but Mom was trying to prevent it and he got hold of Mom and threw her over his shoulder and nearly broke Mom's leg.

Q. They were actually having a fight?
A. No, Mom did not know he was going to do that.
Q. Did your mother make Danny leave and tell him not ever to come back again?
A. She said that to Denny, Jenny's twin.

Danny sure is one brave guy! Mixing it up with one of the most dreaded female murderers in American history? A Kebelian Madman? Impressive. And he survived! I wonder why it wasn’t Danny who ended up in the basement. Of course, this is interesting in another way. Danny and Benny frequented Gertrude’s house, and apparently joined in the roughhousing. But both of them angered Gertrude to the point that they were no longer welcome. Oh, and why the confusion between Marie’s maybe-nephew Denny and Jenny’s twin Benny? It seems odd that four of the five Likens kids hung around at Gertrude’s house. All the more so, given what Lester said:

Q. Two blocks. How old is your son Danny?
A. Nineteen.
Q. Where was he living?
A. He was with me. He worked for me.

That’s odd. I don’t want to go into too much detail about a subject that another writer is currently working on, i.e. the claims made by Lester and Betty Likens about where and when they were at any given time. But it does seem odd that Danny is supposed to be on a fair tour working with Lester, but turns up at Gertrude’s house. Stephanie provides an important detail:

Q. When you returned on approximately the 16th or 17th of July, was there a girl by the name of Sylvia Likens living at your home?

A. She was with my Mom when they came after me.
Q. How did they come after you?
A. In my aunt's car.
Q. Who else came with your mother?
A. My aunt and Sylvia's brother.
Q. What is his name?
A. Danny, I think, or Denny.
Q. Who drove the car?
A. My Mom, I think.
Q. Sylvia and Danny were in the car when they came to pick you up?
A. Yes.

Raise your hand if you think that Lester Likens was telling the truth about where Danny, the one who knew where to find Sylvia at the beginning of the tale, was? He wasn’t working for dear old Dad, he was riding in Aunt Rosie’s car. A boy in a car. How interesting! Stephanie needs to be picked up, so Gertie, Rosie, and Sylvia go to pick her up. Why in the world is Danny Likens with them? I will give you my opinion…Danny Likens was around Gertrude’s house fairly frequently, and not working at fairs. This illustrates the clear possibility that the nature of the relationship between Gertrude and the Likens has been the subject of tremendous subterfuge. And that subterfuge, well, the reason for it, may in fact be…Photo 1 Girl. That said, there may be an even more important reason for breaking the connection between the Likens boys and Gertrude..or Photo 1 Girl; and the breaking of this connection may have started on the evening of October 26th when a certain someone decided to break it. Perhaps Photo 1 Girl was the link between Lester Likens and Gertrude Baniszewski. If one is to “deconstruct” thoroughly, then we must remember that people are not who they seem to be. Gertrude Baniszewski, Gertrude Guthrie, Gertrude Wright..are these one person or three people (sorry about the Number Three)? John Baniszewski and John Blake..is that one person or two people? If the mother of Jimmy and Johnny wasn’t Gertrude, asking this for the sake of thoroughness, then who was? Fascinating question! If the three Gertrude’s are really three Gertrudes, then one, or two, of these Gertrudes could be the mother of one, or both, of these boys. And who was Johnny’s father..Mr. Baniszewski, or Mr. Blake? I say the latter, which is also the former, if the two men are the same person, assuming of course, that they aren’t two different men. Who showed up in court? It’s strange that the woman is supposedly Gertrude Baniszewski, yet the ever comical and quite loveable Officer Dixon insists on calling her Mrs. Wright. Why? It was established that she was Gertrude Baniszewski, and although everyone claimed that Baby Denny was actually her baby, she was never married to the baby’s supposed father..Dennis Lee Wright Sr. So! Officer Dixon is wrong..this woman wasn’t Mrs. Wright, a name that is essentially an alias, and one that she obtained after the evening of October 26th. So why does Dixon insist that the woman in the court room is not Gertrude Baniszewski, but rather Gertrude Wright?

Tektonikus:  “Your Honor! I object!”

The Court:  “To what this time?”

Tektonikus:  “Officer Dixon!”

The Court: “Could you be more specific?”

Tektonikus: “Of course, Your Honor. The court has established that the woman in question is Gertrude Baniszewski. Shirley can even spell the last name, which is long!”

The Court: “Yes, she appears to be a good speller. And! Judy Duke was able to spell D-u-k-e.”

Tektonikus: “True; I was surprised by that, although Sylvia apparently spelled it B-i-t-c-h.”

The Court: “That is enough of that!”

Tektonikus: “Sorry. But Gertrude Baniszewski wasn’t married to this mysterious Denny Wright. And how odd is it that the baby’s name is the same as the name of the street on the other side of the Double?”

The Court: “That is a coincidence. But I grant you, it is odd.”

Tektonikus: “Perhaps. But given the identification of the woman charged with murder, I would respectfully request that Officer Dixon stop calling her by her alias, and start calling her by her legal name, assuming that she doesn’t want to be called Gertie Van Fossan.”

Attorney: “Your Honor! I object to the objection. We are calling this woman Gertie Wright because the real Gertie Wright disappeared and it was important, given the very real possibility that someone might refer to the real Gertie Wright, that we make a Composite Gertie in the same manner that we made a Composite Sylvia…wait! Did I say that? Ah, never mind.”

That’s impossible. But who showed up to court..John Baniszewski, or John Blake? We are told that it was the former, and it was he who told us about the invisible police dog. Yet he also couldn’t seem to remember whether he was still a cop, nor the correct dates associated with his cop/not-cop existence. If John Blake’s obituary does not refer to his being a cop…and he never was one, leaving us with the belief that John Blake was really Mr. Disisit, then John Baniszewski didn’t show up to court. That goes too far! John and Gertrude Baniszewski were never present at the trial? Gertrude Wright and John Blake were? Gertie Wright and Gertrude Baniszewski weren’t the same person until they were? Sylvia and Photo 1 Girl weren’t the same girl until they were? Three pairs of Chimeras? How about a fourth! What if Gertie Wright was originally someone else with a starring role in the Great Confusion? Then you must chant “Gertie Wright” over and over again until only a person of a somewhat heretical character suddenly steps back and says…wait! Why does everybody insist on calling Gertie Baniszewski by the name of Gertie Wright?

Still, whose kid is whose? Come on down! You’re the next contestant to play 3850 East New York Street Name that Kid’s Parents! That would be a cool new game-show. And one that would be very hard to win. Who are the parents of Photo1Girl? That would be the question for the bonus round. If one were to guess that she was the half-sister of Sylvia, Jenny, Danny, and Denny..sorry, Benny..I’m getting confused, Little Denny lives on North Denny..no! Little Benny lives on North Danny..that’s not Wright either..sorry..Sylvia’s brothers are Danny, Benny, and Denny…that’s three, which is two less than five! Hey Marie! That’s two or three boys…isn’t it? And Judy! Maybe Sylvia spelled your name correctly after all. Sorry, Your Honor.

More on the connection between the Likens brothers and Gertrude:

Q. After September 15, when was the next time your mother and Sylvia had any trouble?
A. The next day.
Q. The next day?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What was that about?

A. That morning Shirley seen Sylvia's brother and somebody said something about her parents, they did not want the girls to see the boys or something, and so Mom told them if she seen Danny not to talk to him.

Q. Your mother told that to who?
A. Sylvia.
Q. To see who?
A. Danny.
Q. Who is Danny?
A. Her brother.
Q. What happened then?

A. Well, Sylvia came home from school and said she was late. I don't think she was. Anyway, she came home and Mom said she smelled like Whitecastles and so Mom asked her if she had seen Danny and she said "No". Nobody had heard that Danny had been around the house until Shirley told them that morning. Sylvia did not know nothing about it. Mom asked if she had seen Danny and she said "No". Mom kept saying she did again and that she smelled like hamburgers. She said she did not smell like hamburgers. Mom said she did.

Fascinating! Once again Danny is hanging around Gertrude’s house, although if I were him I would have been worried that the Beast of East New York Street was plotting some horrible payback for the “Gertrude Flipping” event. Maybe she planned to hold his head under the faucet, or toss him in the bath tub and dump Arm and Hammer on him, or give him 150 cigarette burns, or throw bottles at him, or push him down the stairs. Hey! Something just occurred to me! It seems like Gertrude had more of a reason to hate Danny Likens than she did to hate his sister; assuming, of course, that Sylvia was actually his sister. Perhaps Gertrude had more of a reason to hate Danny Likens than she did to hate his half-sister. But it would seem that Lester Likens had had another conversation with Gertrude. He knew that Danny, although he was supposed to be working for him at fairs, and..wait! We’re never told where Benny was. Except for the fact that we know he hung around Gertrude’s house. And this conversation? Well, apparently Lester asked Gertrude to keep Jenny and Sylvia from hanging around Danny and Benny, and quite possibly to keep Dianna Shoemaker from seeing Jenny and Sylvia as well. Seeing how Dianna was married to a criminal, one might be sympathetic with the parents as far as Miss Pie, Oranges, and Rain Water goes. But one is justified in asking the following question, “If Danny and Benny were hanging around Indianapolis while the parents were elsewhere, what were they doing?” Here’s another question, “If the parents did not want Sylvia and Jenny to be around Danny and Benny, then were Danny and Benny trouble-makers? Were they up to no good?” That’s two questions. But I can see no other reason for Lester and Betty to feel so strongly about keeping Sylvia and Jenny away from them that they would drag Gertrude into the middle of it, than Danny and Benny must have been a bad influence. Trouble-makers! Here’s yet another question, and I will ask it seeing how I am on a roll! “If Gertrude got paid $10.00 per kid..$20.00 a week for both Jenny and Sylvia, and all Gertrude was doing was letting two previously unknown kids stay at her house according to a wholly unbelievable story, actually two stories, about how they came to be there, why wouldn’t she have wanted extra money if she were going to be the one who had to keep Danny and Benny away from Sylvia and Jenny? The Whitecastles story above suggested that Gertrude accepted this responsibility. Surely agreeing to be this referee and to put herself in the middle of some kind of family feud, if she had no other connection to the feuders than a simple boarding arrangement, and not asking for a special, shall we say, bonus for doing so, actually suggests that there was a closer relationship between the Likens and Gertrude. Perhaps a closer relationship between Gertrude and Lester. Nonetheless, one is justified in speculating that Danny and Benny were into something, or hung around with somebody or somebodies that they should not have been. This meant trouble, and this meant keeping them away from their sisters. It is also interesting that a few known trouble-makers lived just one house down from Gertrude’s house…Lepper boys. Although I am new to all of this, I must say that the trial gives the appearance of a bit of sleight of hand, giving off smoke and setting up mirrors, as far as Danny and Benny are concerned. Why was no attempt made to explain why they hung around at Gertrude’s house? Why was no attempt made to explain why Lester and Betty wanted the two boys kept away from Sylvia and Jenny? Why was the whereabouts of Benny ignored, whereas the whereabouts of Danny at the time seems to have been the subject of subterfuge? It seems to me that a concerted effort was made to keep Danny and Benny out of the Great Saga, which makes me suspicious that they were, in fact, at the center of it.

Perhaps I’m overanalyzing all of this. But I spoke to Techtonicus about this, and she told me that she too had been accused of overanalyzing. She also assured me that overanalyzing something is far better than under-analyzing something, although she warned me that if I agreed on that point, I might be labelled Kryptikus the Troll. What? Trolls are welcome here? If shovel-scrapers are welcome in the Canonical Story World, but those who overanalyze are banished as trolls, then what would happen if a shovel-scraper entered the Realm? Would that person be a Shovel-scraping Troll? I was told that this was indeed possible, but as long as that Troll was in pursuit of the truth, then that Troll could join the Community of Trolls who dwell here. Maybe. But, going back to the Whitecastles story, I must add…Shirley is a tattle-tale! Hah-Hah!

So there is no “Sylvia Flipping” abuse. But that isn’t the only roughhousing to feature prominently in the Great Lie. How about this from Shirley:

Q. Speak very loud so these ladies and gentlemen can hear, and the judge. What did you see Coy Hubbard do?
A. Downstairs in the basement, he rammed her against the basement wall.
Q. How did he do this?
A. He tackled her.
Q. Did he take hold of her?
A. No.
Q. How did he tackle her?
A. He just shoved her like they do to get a football, ram him sort of to get him out of the way. That is what Coy did.
Q. Did he push her against the basement wall?
A. Yes, he did.
Q. Did she strike the basement wall?
A. Yes.
Q. What part?
A. Her head.
Q. How many times did Coy do this?
A. Three times.

Football torture! Sorry. So the boys were roughhousing, Sylvia wanted to play too, and ended up the worse for it. If I were Gertrude, I would have yelled, rather angrily: “Take it outside! No Basement Football in the house! Don’t you know that me and Mrs. Lepper are very nervous women?” Adlib, Shirley:

Q. Did you ever see him do anything else to Sylvia?
A. Yes, ma'am.
Q. When was this?
A. Well, before she died.
Q. Was it within the last two weeks before she died?
A. I think so.
Q. What did you see?
A. Upstairs in the bedroom he rammed her against the wall and socked her and smacked her.

Recycling! He “rammed her against the wall”? Hey, kiddo, you already used that one when you described Basement Football! And oh no! Sock and Smack!

So it has become clear that we have an element here that I have called “Diabolical Games.” I still remember reading the very interesting essay on this website that looked at the Bump in the Night nonsense involving Pseudo-Judy Duke, and I am probably not the only one very disturbed by the description of a naked girl with no teeth running around Gertie’s house stealing birthday cake. It takes a truly sick mind to come up with such things, so I suppose the originator of that is very much home in the Canonical Story World. But I mention this only in so far as to call to mind the diabolical Gertrude-version of Ring around the Rosie, which involved Sylvia surrounded by a ring of psychopathic children kicking her as they passed by. Another diabolical game. But there is one more diabolical game… “Trip Sylvia” or even “Push Sylvia Down the Stairs.”

Q. Jenny, did you ever see any one push Sylvia down the steps?
A. Yes.
Q. When did this happen?
A. In the two weeks.
Q. Before Sylvia died?
A. Yes.
Q. And who was present?
A. Me and Sylvia, Paula, Gertrude, Stephanie was one time, Johnny, Randy Lepper, Coy Hubbard and I can't remember if Ricky was or not.
Q. Which steps are you referring to?
A. The basement steps.
Q. And what happened, what did you see and hear?

A. Well, I did not see her fall down the steps. I was in the kitchen and heard someone say they were going to trip her. Gertrude said, "Here is how to do it". Sylvia said, "I don't want to" and she threw her down.

Q. Who threw her?
A. Gertrude.
Q. Where did Sylvia land.
A. I know it was close to the bottom step. I don't know if she hit the cement or not.

Ah, yes…The Two Weeks! So here is another diabolical game. Hey, Gertie! Can we trip Sylvia? Sure! But..wait! If you want to play “Trip Sylvia” you have to know how to play it right. Would you like to play “Trip Sylvia,” Sylvia? No! Too bad! And so Gertrude taught the kids how to play this diabolical game. And! Jenny does not know if Sylvia hit the cement? Another essay on this website shows clearly that any fall down the basement steps will end with one’s head hitting the concrete wall…fatally.

Q. Did this happen more than once?
A. I'd say two or three times.
Q. This was all at the same day?
A. Well, I'd say different days.
Q. Different days?
A. Yes.
Q. Tell about another day it happened?

A. Well, Sylvia was coming down the steps leading from the bedroom, coming down to the living room. Paula tripped her. She caught her balance and did not fall. When she got downstairs Gertrude ripped her dress off her.

Now that is interesting. We find out that this terrible game can be played on the basement steps, or on the steps leading from the upstairs back bedroom. And Paula is not a good player of “Trip Sylvia.” Salt in sores, and dump Sylvia in the bath tub, well, she’s pretty good at those, not mention that she is a very good board getter. I feel sure that Paula was not present at the initial “how to play trip Sylvia” lesson that happened earlier, or she would have got it right. So Sylvia won! Just like when she a won fight and busted another kid’s wrist. Paula lost that one too. Of course, Sylvia was punished for winning. How? If you don’t play “Trip Sylvia” and make sure you lose, Gertie rips your dress off. What possible correlation is there between these two things? Jenny tells us, along with Judy Duke and her sister Pseudo-Judy Duke, all about Sylvia running around naked and having her clothes ripped off. I will say no more than that I’m sure that there are psychiatric professionals who can help…

Q. Did you see Sylvia go down the steps any other time?
A. I have seen her go down the steps a lot of times.
Q. Pushed down the steps?
A. Yes.
Q. When?
A. If Gertrude was behind her, she would shove her or kick her.
Q. Where did she kick her?
A. She would just be walking down the steps and she would kick her in the back.
Q. What happened to Sylvia?
A. She would lean against the wall.
Q. Did she kick her the rest of the way down?
A. She would just shove her.
Q. How many times did you see this?
A. Three or four times.

“Push Sylvia down the Stairs” is one tough game. I thought Gertie was the expert at this game, and the techniques that are necessary to win. Paula can’t get it right, and even Gertie can’t get it right! Even if you sneak up behind her and kick her in the back, Sylvia still wins. I think that they should go back to “Sylvia Flipping” or “Basement Football” where they had a better chance of winning.

Q. Did you see Sylvia pushed or kicked down the steps any other time than what you have testified?
A. Just Paula and Gertie is all I seen.

Well, I guess that’s a good thing, seeing how Sylvia keeps winning the game. Randy:

Q. Did you ever see her do anything else to Sylvia?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What did you see her do?
A. Push her down the steps.
Q. What steps.
A. Down, I think it was the basement steps.
Q. How did she do that?
A. Just shoved her.
Q. Where was Sylvia standing when she was shoved.
A. I think at the top of the basement steps.
Q. What did Sylvia do after she got shoved?
A. She was about half unconscious.

Randy is closer than anyone at getting this right. He knew exactly what would happen if someone was shoved down the basement steps. In fact, I think he’s telling the truth, sort of. But not about the date:

Q. When did this take place?
A. I think it was in late September.
Q. Who was there when she did that?
A. I can't recall.
Q. Just before Gertrude pushed her down the steps, what did Sylvia do?
A. She might have said something to her. I don't know.
Q. You don't recall?
A. No.
Q. What did Sylvia do after she got pushed down the steps?
A. I don't know.
Q. Did you go down in the basement?
A. I think so.
Q. After she got pushed down the steps?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What did you see?
A. I seen her laying on the floor.
Q. Where, with reference to the basement?
A. At the end of the steps.
Q. What happened then?
A. I can't recall.
Q. Did you help her?
A. No, sir.
Q. Was she conscious?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did she say anything?
A. No, sir.
Q. Where did you go?
A. I think I went home.
Q. Did you go clear down in the basement or just on the stairs?
A. I think clear down.
Q. You went clear down?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you stay in the basement long?
A. No.
Q. Was Sylvia still there when you left the basement?
A. Yes, I think so, sir.
Q. Did she get up before you left?
A. I am not sure.
Q. Where, particularly, was she laying with reference to the stairway?
A. At the end of the stairway.
Q. I am sorry, I could not hear.
A. At the end of the stairway.

Strange; it sounds like Randy witnessed a pretty heated argument between Gertrude and Sylvia, one that ended with Sylvia being knocked down the steps into the basement, where she hit her head against the wall. Randy could tell that Sylvia was hurt. Then he went home. Soon Mrs. Lepper was knocking on Gertie’s door. Why? To talk about Gertrude’s face? Show Gertie how good Randy looked in drag? Or did Randy tell his mother what happened to Sylvia, and then Vernal Lepper marched down to confront Gertrude about it? Interesting. Judy Duke:

Q. When did this happen?
A. When Gertrude went in the kitchen and got some salt?
Q. What month was it, Judy?

A. In September, and she handed the salt to Paula and she went upstairs and before she handed it to her they were knocking her downstairs.

Q. Who was knocking who?
A. Paula Baniszewski and Gertrude were knocking her down the steps.
Q. Who down the steps?

A. Sylvia and she had a cut in her leg and I did not see other cuts anywhere else except on her knee and Mrs. Gertrude Wright give it to Paula and she went upstairs and took Sylvia with her and put salt on her legs, not very much though, but she rubbed it - not real hard though - and told all the kids to get downstairs. I was standing there.

Who was knocking who? Still..how interesting is this? Gertrude goes and gets the salt. Then they knock Sylvia down the stairs. This is followed by Gertrude handing the salt to Paula. Apparently, Gertie and Paula got better at the game. So now Sylvia has a cut on her knee, and as we have seen so many times, those so intent on making Sylvia suffer are equally intent that there be no infection! She adds that Paula didn’t use a lot of salt, and didn’t rub it “real hard.” So much caring! Sort of reminds one of the saline soap prescribed by Dr. Shuck for use by Gertrude to cleanse her sores. 

Q. Was Coy Hubbard there then?

A. Yes, when she was telling them to get down the steps, Coy Hubbard said, "That ain't the way to do it" and he put more on it and rubbed it real hard.

Q. What did Sylvia do?
A. She just yelled.
Q. Did you see any blood?
A. Yes, on her leg, on her knee.
Q. Was this where they were putting the salt?
A. Yes.
Q. You said somebody knocked her down the steps. Who was doing this?
A. Paula and Gertrude.
Q. How many times did they do this?

A. Quite often they would do it when I was there. I don't know whether they would do it when I am not there. Sometimes they would do it when I am there.

Q. I meant this particular time in September. How many times did they knock her down?
A. I don't know. They did it quite a lot.
Q. More than once or twice?
A. Yes.
Q. Did Sylvia have any clothes on then?
A. Half on and half not.
Q. Did they do anything to her clothes?
A. They ripped them.
Q. Who ripped them?
A. Gertrude did two times and Paula did it one or two times.

Quite often when I was there..I don’t know about when I was not there..but they do it when I am there. What? Perhaps “Push Sylvia Down the Steps” was a game that couldn’t be played if Marie wasn’t in the audience. Yet again, tearing off Sylvia’s clothes seem to be associated with the Trip Sylvia game.

Funny..with all the salt stories involving Paula and Gertrude, it turns out that they were amateurs. And just as Gertie intervened in “Trip Sylvia” to show the kids the right way to play it, Coy is present to show them how “salt torture” really works. Of course, when Dr. Shuck was treating Gertrude’s sores with saline soap, it clearly wasn't torture, or even abuse. And then the nakedness. I will leave this alone since the record speaks for itself. Well, I will leave it alone after this:

“About a week and a half ago I was at Gertrude Wright's home when I saw Gertrude knock Sylvia Likens, down the stair steps, Sylvia Likens, had then in the upstairs bedroom, and Gertrude pulled all of Sylvia's clothes off of her, ? her bra and panties.”

Stop right there, Judy Bit..Duke! Did you really have to go that far? I’m sure there are psychiatric professionals who can help…

Q. What happened in the living room?
A. They was pushing her down the steps and fighting with her.
Q. Did you ever see anyone throw Sylvia down the basement steps?

A. Mrs. Wright. I did not see her throw her down. She just opened the door and I did not see her throw her down. She opened the door and Sylvia was on the steps but I never seen her throw her down. She had the door open.

Q. Did Sylvia walk down the steps?
A. Yes, I believe so. I did not hear nothing fall. She opened the door and she shut the door and she went down.

I did not hear nothing fall! I did not see her throw her down..and I did not see her throw her down..and I never seen her throw her down…alright! We get it! Wait, no we don’t! She opened the door and she shut the door and she went down. I see..but did you hear anything fall or see her throw her down? I did not hear nothing…Raise your hand if you understand anything this little genius just said.

Q. I think you testified you are presently in the 6th grade in school?
A. Yes.
Q. What sort of grades do you get in school?
A. I got one A and I got some B's and C's and D's. That is all.
Q. You have had occasion to fail to pass?
A. I think the third grade I failed.
Q. You repeated that year?
A. No.
Q. If you failed were you still passed to the next grade?

A. Let's see, I failed and I was on trial once and I passed though. You know in school the thing that tells you when you are late and the note you bring in? Some other kids were on trial and they went back and I looked when this girl that was sitting by me was checked off.

D’s? No! Wait. I know! Judy is trying to say her A-B-C-Ds like Sylvia did in the basement. One more time:

Q. What grade were you in last fall?
A. Fifth. I don't know.
Q. Were you in the fifth grade last fall?
A. I don't know.

 I don’t know what grade I was in last fall…fifth! Oh, so you were in fifth grade last fall? I told you I don’t know!

Q. You were a frequent visitor?
A. Yes, all the time I go over. I mostly go on Fridays.

Hey Judy! How many Fridays are there in a week? Even if you spend the entire 24 hours of one Friday at Gertrude’s house…you still aren’t there all the time. In fact, you aren’t there most of the time. In fact, looking at this on a day-basis, you are only there 1/7th of the time. So you aren’t there 6/7th of the time. Perhaps you should talk to Randy.

THE COURT: Before we call in the jury, your name is what?

A. Judy Darlene Duke.

THE COURT: How do you spell that last name?

A. d-u-k-e.

 Yeah! I knew she could do it! And that’s a whole four letters!

 “Gertrude Wright, offered Richard Hobbs, a $1,000 if he would help kill Sylvia Likens.”

Miss Duke’s entertainment value is off the chart! What bizarre Canonical Story World would be complete with a contract killer? And what bizarre Canonical Story World would be complete without Judy Duke? Why is it that Judy so disliked Sylvia? I know the answer to that:

 A. Yes, about three weeks ago I was over at Gertrude Wright's, 3850 East New York Street, I slapped Sylvia Likens, on the arm, and kicked her on the leg, because Gertrude Wright, had told me that Sylvia Likens, had called me a (bitch).

Now why in the world would Sylvia have called Judy such a name? Perhaps because Sylvia was righ…I would finish that, but I digressed. Sorry. Marie:

Q. You also said Sylvia was pushed down the stairs by several people, of whom your sister Paula was one?
A. Yes.
Q. Could you tell whether or not the hands of Sylvia were free at the time she was pushed?
A. They were free.
Q. Where was she standing when the push was given?
A. At the top of the stairs.
Q. Where were you standing?
A. I was at the foot.
Q. Was more than one person standing at the top of this stair?
A. Only the person who was going to push her.
Q. That is to say, Sylvia and your sister Paula were at the head of the stairs?
A. I was at the foot and Paula was at the head.
Q. Sylvia was at the head, getting ready to come down?
A. Yes.
Q. Tell us how many steps there were from where these girls were standing and the point where you were standing?
A. I think eight or nine steps.
Q. Was there a railing that went downstairs on either side?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Then you saw someone, you say your sister Paula, give her a push?
A. It was quite a few of them pushed her.
Q. Was actually more than one person standing at the head of the stairs and Sylvia was standing facing you?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. So you could not tell in the group who actually gave the push that actually sent her moving forward?
A. No.
Q. As to that matter, you are not quite positive who did push her - would that be correct?
A. Yes, sir.

Wow! Marie counted the number of steps. Of course she did. And Paula suddenly morphs into…a whole bunch of kids. That’s no surprise, seeing that this is Gertrude’s House of Magic! And the funny thing about this is that I would think that after the first couple of games of “Push Sylvia Down the Stairs,” Sylvia would start looking behind her before actually taking the first step. Oh, hey…Paula’s behind me. Well, she’s not very good at this game anyway. Besides, maybe I’ll just break her wrist again! Then abracadabra! Paula magically turns herself into a gang of sadistic children…and that’s not fair!

A very important question should be asked here..how many times can a girl get shoved down the steps leading from the second floor to the first floor, and down the basement steps that lead directly into a concrete wall, and not break any bones? Not break a wrist, arm, ankle, leg, finger..or even a better question..her neck or her back? And yet, Dr. Ellis says he didn’t find any fractures…much less any broken bones. Well, he didn’t find any by simply feeling around. The x-ray machine was apparently still sitting next to Jenny’s thermometer in the upstairs back bedroom of Gertrude’s house. So either Sylvia Likens had bones made of iron, and we know Paula’s bones weren’t, or she would have been dead long before October 26th. And yet with all these violent falls down the stairs, not a single fracture. The only kid in the story with a broken bone is Paula, and Sylvia gave it to her. I think something important is happening here. It was a fall down the basement steps during a fight with Gertrude that lead to Sylvia’s death. And that was known on the evening of October 26th. The Canonical Story was, by the next morning, still in its infancy. How would the fatal head trauma be explained? That was still very much up in the air. Yet in the end, numerous possible causes of head trauma were sprinkled throughout the testimony like the sprinkles on Shirley’s do-nuts. But if the truth about the head trauma was being knocked down the basement steps and hitting her head against the concrete wall, that would have to be built into the Great Nonsense. As a result, this was built into Paula’s forced confession:

“I have pushed Sylvia Likens, several times down the stairs steps, I knocked her down the stairs once.”

As a result, Paula becomes one of those responsible for the diabolical game called “Trip Sylvia” or “Push Sylvia Down the Steps.” But what of Gertrude? That is in Paula’s forced confession as well:

“Mom pushed Sylvia down the stair steps several times during September.”

But the Canonical Story decided that it needed a bigger pool of perpetrators:

Q. Did you ever knock her down the stairs?
A. Twice I done it, I think.

That was Johnny. But Coy Hubbard was forced to make a forced confession on the same day, and the following comes as no surprise:

“Last week I was at the house and I took Sylvia down 2 or 3 steps of the basement stairs, and put her hands behind her and pushed her the rest of the way down…”

As it turned out, no specific cause of the head trauma that killed Sylvia Likens was identified during the trial, although so many possible causes were offered. I think that in the end, Sylvia being accidentally knocked down the basement steps and hitting her head against the concrete wall was the actual cause of the fatal head trauma, and the falling indications should be noted:

1. Speaking incoherently

2. Involuntary bowel movement

3. Appearing to be half-conscious

4. Having difficulty recognizing people

Of course, she was knocked down the steps by accident, and it was not the result of a diabolical game called “Push Sylvia Down the Steps.”

There is one more Diabolical Game that is worth noting. The infliction of burns takes several forms in the Canonical Story. We know of cigarette burns, we know of hot water burns, and we know of the supposed branding of the Number 3. But there was another form of “burning Sylvia” that appeared during the forced confessions of October 27th:

Q. Did you ever burn Sylvia Likens or did you ever see anyone else burn her?
A. Yes, I used matches and Mom used cigarettes to burn Sylvia.
Q. How many times did you burn her?
A. Oh many, I know how many.
Q. How many times did your mother burn Sylvia?
A. Oh, lots of times.

That’s from Johnny’s confession. Paula mentioned only cigarette burns. From Coy’s statement:

“One other time I was over at the house I burned Sylvia on the arm with a match.”

Watch Shirley have difficulty making up a believable “Burn Sylvia with Matches” story:

Q. Did you ever see anyone burn Sylvia?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. Who did this?
A. My mother.
Q. And how many times have you seen this?
A. Twice.
Q. And what did she burn her with?
A. One time she threw matches on her and one time she put a cigarette out on her.
Q. Were these matches lighted?
A. Yes.

So Gertrude didn’t really burn Sylvia with matches..Shirley is saying that Gertrude threw lighted…sorry Mr. School, I should have said… “lit” matches, on Sylvia. Like she sat across from her, lit matches, and then tossed them at Sylvia. Stephanie gives us a better story:

Q. Now, did you ever see your mother burn Sylvia with a match?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. When did that take place?
A. About a week after I was sick.
Q. O.K. Can you tell where it took place?
A. I'd say in the front room.
Q. Who was there?
A. All the kids except Paula.
Q. Tell the jury what you saw.

A. Somebody stole something and they said Sylvia did it and Mom said - when I walked in - that she had stolen something and she was burning her fingers.

Q. Who was burning whose fingers?
A. My Mom was burning Sylvia's fingers.
Q. With what?
A. A match.
Q. How did she do it?
A. Just passing it over her fingers.
Q. Over Sylvia's fingers?
A. Yes.
Q. What did your mother say?
A. "I don't want ever to catch you stealing anything again".
Q. What did Sylvia do?
A. Jerked her hand away.
Q. Did she say or do anything?
A. Just "Oh".
Q. Did she cry?
A. If she did, I did not see her.

This one is bizarre. Sylvia has been caught stealing. Her punishment is to have her fingers burned. But rather than holding the match for a prolonged period of time against Sylvia’s fingers, Gertrude passes it “over her fingers.” Does that make any sense? How would she burn Sylvia’s fingers by passing the match over her fingers? Wouldn’t she have to pass the match “under” her fingers? And burns were inflicted? Burns that elicited “Oh” from Sylvia, who then simply pulled her hands away? Dr. Ellis does refer to the fingers:

“Going to the back of the left hand, I described a large bruise present on the middle finger and there are two areas of superficial loss of skin. At the proximal knuckle of the little finger is another irregular area of loss of skin. On the left side at the - approximately the same level as the 3 that was described, near the left side was another irregular area of loss of epidermis. On the back of the right hand at the base of the finger - ring finger was another very small patchy loss of superficial skin and present within it a bruise as described on the back of this hand there is an apparent scratch and near the base of the index finger there is again a patchy loss of skin in that region.”

And:

“On the right wrist and near the base of the little finger, is another linear region where there is loss of superficial skin.”

There is no indication in these descriptions that burns made by matches are the cause of the loss of skin. In fact, Dr. Ellis also mentions “bruises” in connection with some of the skin loss on the fingers. It seems safe to believe that the bruises and the skin loss occurred in conjunction with one another.

I would also point out one last ridiculous attempt to create a “Burn Sylvia with Matches” story, this time from Marie:

Q. When was Sylvia when she was burned with a match by your mother?
A. In the front room.
Q. What was Sylvia doing?
A. She was sitting down on the floor.
Q. Where did your mother burn her with the match?
A. On her skirt and when Mom lit the skirt she hurried up and put it out and then would do it again and then do it again.

So Shirley states that Gertrude threw matches at Sylvia. Stephanie has the match pass over the fingers, not under them, and with no prolonged exposure of the skin to the flame from the match. Marie resorts to the creation of a Diabolical Game, and one that is perplexing to say the least. According to Marie, Gertrude would light a match, then use it to set Sylvia’s skirt on fire. But before the skirt went up in flames, Gertrude put it out. Then she did the whole thing again, and again, and again. Without saying so, we can probably feel confident that Sylvia simply sat there and did nothing as this Diabolical Game was played. Silent, Suffering Sylvia.

Where does all of this leave us? Well, for one, where we might expect to find ourselves. Namely, children creating abuse stories by falling back on childhood games. In this case, they invent Diabolical Games. When asked to create stories of abuse, abuse that they never saw, they take the specifics of what they’ve been told and create a context for them. Inevitably, the oddest of games soon appear. There’s “Push Sylvia Down the Stairs,” “Sylvia Flipping,” “Sadistic Football,” “Throw Matches at Sylvia,” “Try to Light Sylvia’s Skirt on Fire,” and, thanks to Pseudo-Judy Duke, “Diabolical Ring around the Rosie.” Wait! How could I forget? “Sock and Smack” and “Color on Sylvia.” These are, in fact, all Diabolical Games, and it must be said that the witnesses were not old enough to contextualize many of the claims of abuse in any other way. All elements associated with these games should have been instant signs to the jury that none of this can hope to claim anything by way of validity or truth. In fact, these elements should have clearly signaled to the jury that, along with problems associated with other elements of the Canonical Story, the whole thing was wholly unbelievable. The games made up by the children would be more at home in a horror movie than at 3850 East New York Street. That said, they would be at home if that home were the House of Horror; Natty Bumpo’s House of Horror. Perhaps, Gertrude’s Evil Fun-house! How relieved am I that none of these games were played when I was a used-to-be-a-kid. Still, games that underlie some of these games are classics. Obviously, football can be rough, and there are plenty of bumps and bruises to be found in that game. Playing at Karate and pretending to be Bruce Lee is much the same. The children living in the Canonical Story were undoubtedly a rough bunch. I’m sure that if I were ten years old again, I would lose a game of “Sock and Smack” with Shirley, and have the marks to prove it. But I would survive, and so did they. It would also appear that they scrapped with each other a lot, and they would have the marks to prove it. But they would survive that too. What is most important here is not some Sociological analysis of the rougher side of Working-class Indianapolis. Although I do play a Sociologist on Daytime TV, I am not one in real life. Perhaps my true calling is that of Troll, a Techtonicus-type Troll. I’m not sure, but I am certain that none could label me a Diabolical Troll. There are none of those here I assure you. The most important thing is very different, and the inevitable conclusion is one that is not welcome in the farthest reaches of the Canonical Story World, be it in 1965, or in 2017. Alas! I too must needs be banished into the world of the outcasts, a place where many who pursue the truth find themselves in the end. That’s ok; the wilderness is usually far more interesting than the beaten path. So what is that inevitable conclusion? That virtually all of the stories of abuse, including, most importantly, the cigarette burns, but also the hot water nonsense, and then all of the elements underlying the Diabolical Games, are fictional. But it is also certain that two girls died tragically on the same day in 1965. And one of these girl’s body was in a frightful condition. Bruises, abrasions, scratches, cuts, denuded areas where the skin was missing; severe head trauma, two black eyes, and what may be the most telling, 10 fingernails broken backwards. This was all very real. But as I stated in part one of this essay, the conclusion to be found in the “Missing Persons- A Stitch in Time” essay is central, in my opinion, indeed critical, to understanding the truth about what happened to Basement Girl. So I add by way of conclusion that when looking at all the sickening trauma to be found on Photo1Girl, and I will show in part five that there is one other type of trauma present on the body of the person who just may have been Sylvia’s half-sister that was intentionally omitted from the Canonical Story because its inclusion would have revealed the truth, we must look to a different explanation than that offered by the Inherited Wisdom.  And the truth, welcome on this website, was not welcome in the Great Lie. Now it is time to move on to the long-awaited climax to the story.