Truth is stranger than fiction

I just stumbled over this old story:
https://bizarrela.com/2017/09/los-angeles-witch-woman/

Now I've written some odd stories - but nothing so odd as this one.

To make a long story short - for 8 years a woman went around the LA area snatching children (both male and female) and spanking them, often after pulling their pants down. Sometimes with her hand, other times with a switch or leather belt. Sometimes there were witnesses, but most thought it was a mother disciplining her own child and didn't get involved. Other times she took her victim to empty houses to spank them.

Or was it multiple women committing those crimes? Few of the descriptions matched. They caught the woman who committed at least one of the crimes, only to discover that she was on file as the mother of one of the victims. Since the crimes she was convicted of included kidnapping she was sentenced to three years to life, never leaving prison.

I can't think of any story posted here that is as strange as this real life story. And yes, I searched on the woman's name and found other sites referring to her as the Witch Woman.

I remember a radio show host here once saying that he was being a bit of brat on the beach (given his age this would have been sometime in the early 60's) and all of a sudden this woman came up to him and began to spank him. His mother was there and when she protested, the woman said 'It's okay, I'm a teacher.' I know school teachers spanked quite commonly back then, but clearly this woman thought it gave her the right to spank any misbehaving child whether she knew them or not.

A mother / teacher taking charge of a misbehaving kid in public is one thing. Taking a random kid to empty house to take down its pants for a spanking - that's another.

Now that is one bizarre story,obviously a deranged psychopath, and there could have been more than one. Must admit though that modern day witches, women(and some men) who practice Wicca would take offense at the stereotype of the Evil Witch. From what I know of these Wiccans they are gentle nonviolent people who would never harm a child.
On the other hand,some so-called neo-pagan groups and the like have been known to practice ritual flagellation. But that is another matter entirely, involving supposedly consenting adults.
And then there was Aleister Crowley, the notorious "black magician" who tells in his autobiography that he spanked his wife shortly after their wedding.

I don't think that anyone really thought she was a witch - it was probably a term used because it would frighten child enough to them to keep their eyes open.

She was:
"American, French woman or Italian, 35 to 40 years of age, five feet six inches in height, weighing 175 pounds, heavily set, dark complexion, round face, black, straight, short bobbed hair, wearing a one piece black dress of light-weight material, light-colored stockings, and black oxfords, no hat, coat or purse."

A "gray-haired woman wearing glasses."

Dressed as "an elderly woman," she had stepped out of a "shabby automobile"

a "mannish-appearing woman"

"American, 50 years of age, 5 feet in height, brown sunken eyes, no front teeth, wearing glasses, a blue dress with white apron and a hat tied under the chin with a white ribbon."

Those varied descriptions has me thinking that more than one woman did those things (and one of them might have been a man dressed as woman) whose crimes were linked in the public consciousness.

Hmm, amazing.

Wow! What makes people like that tick? And the "witch" or "witches" got away with it for some eight years? I know that Los Angeles is known for being home to numerous "weirdos" - but this is amazing.

Okay, that was just bone-deep weird. Who knew California was that crazy even back in the 1920s? But judging by the varying descriptions and modus operandi it seems like it was multiple women. There's a big difference between spanking a kid and kicking, striking and trying to choke them. And one woman did get convicted whereas another potential attacker wasn't identified in a line up.

The best part was the photo of the kid with the huge rock he just happened to be holding and whacked the woman on the arm with when she tried to snatch him. Who carries around a rock for self-protection? And shouldn't she have recognized the potential danger and chosen an easier target (there were two girls nearby who corroborated his story)?

That kid might have made up a wild story that was believed - or there happened to be a large rock near him.

I'm also of the opinion that many cases were linked - possibly to see news papers and possibly because the polices felt embarrassed having to investigation these cases. Especially when they couldn't solve them.

It causes a smile, be cause of the subject matter, but anyone with that little impulse control should be in prison. On the other hand if adults played at being the children in an elaborate fantasy of being spanked by a strange woman, it becomes fun again. Fantasy makes bad reality.