Before a convicted felon is executed by lethal injection or in the electric chair, it is
usually customary for the criminal to have one last opportunity to address the public
with final words.
Sometimes inmates take this opportunity to make peace with their actions while others
say a chilling statement that is aimed to shock or upset people.
There have been a ton of chilling last words from inmates right before they take their
last breathes so here is the top 10 scary last words from prison inmates.
Starting things off in at number 10 we have Robert Alton Harris.
He said, "You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everyone dances with the grim reaper."
He was arrested on July 5, 1978 when him and his brother hijacked a car with two teenage
boys in it.
They ordered them to drive to a remote location where the brothers brutally murdered them
and then used the vehicle as a getaway car when they robbed a San Diego Bank.
Robert Harris was arrested just one hour after the robbery and he was charged with murder,
auto theft, kidnapping, burglary and bank robbery.
One of the arresting officers was the father of one of the murdered boys but he didn't
realize that the victim was his son until later.
He wasn't even able to recognize his son's face, that's how violent the murder was.
Robert Harris was sentenced to death in 1979 but after many appeals, he was finally executed
in San Quentin's gas chamber on April 21, 1992.
Moving up this list with George Engel in at number 9.
He was an anarchist who didn't like to follow any sort of rules or regulations.
He was involved with a lot of activism and protests in the Chicago area.
A protest bombing took place in Haymarket Square in Chicago that resulted in the deaths
of seven police officers, four civilians and a lot of other people were seriously injured.
George Engel was actually at home playing cards while this riot broke out but he was
arrested the next day and charged with conspiracy in the bombings.
He was convicted and sentenced to hanging.
But before he took his last breath he said, "Hurrah for anarchy.
This is the happiest moment of my life."
Roger Keith Coleman makes his last statement in at number 8.
His case gained nationwide attention and major controversy because he maintained his innocence
the whole time during his conviction and even right before he was executed.
During his final words he said "An innocent man is going to be murdered tonight.
When my innocence is proven, I hope Americans will realize the injustice of the death penalty
as all other civilized countries have."
He was convicted in Virginia for assaulting and murdering his sister-in-law on the day
that he had been laid off from work.
After his death, the DNA evidence was reanalyzed and in January 2006, the Governor announced
that the testing of the DNA evidence had conclusively proven that he was guilty of the crime.
Ok that's great and all but don't you think you should have done a thousand tests on that
DNA before you executed him?
It makes no sense.
What if the DNA evidence proved that he was guilty.
What would that press conference look like.
"Oops we made a massive mistake and killed an innocent man.
My bad."
And now in at number 7 we have Timothy McVeigh.
He infamously said "I am the master of my fate.
I am the captain of my soul."
If you guys remember, he was the one who was behind the Oklahoma City bombing which killed
168 people and injured over 680 others.
This bombing is actually the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in The United States.
His execution date was set for June 11, 2001 and he made a request to have it publicly
televised but this motion was denied.
He invited a composer to perform classical music on the night of his execution and he
request to have a Catholic chaplain.
He also requested two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream as his last meal.
He was executed by lethal injection and his wait to be executed was way shorter than most
inmates waiting on death row.
He only spent about 4 years on death row while most inmates spend an average of 15 years
there.
The infamous Jeffrey Dahmer is in at number 6.
He was sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms for murdering 17 men and boys in the Milwaukee
area between 1978-1991.
He was also heavily into necrophiliac and he kept his victims' body parts in his freezer
so that he could eat it later.
The interesting part of this story is that Jeffrey Dahmer wasn't given the death penalty.
His inmate actually beat him to death because he said that Jeffrey Dahmer was a sick and
creepy man.
He used to make his prison food look like human body parts and he would cover them in
ketchup to resemble blood.
So according to Jeffrey Dahmer's murderer, his last words were, "I don't care if I live
or die.
Go ahead and kill me."
And now in at number 5 we have Tom "Black Jack" Ketchum.
He was an outlawed cowboy who murdered someone in 1895.
After that, his gang fled to New Mexico where they committed more robberies before he was
captured during an unsuccessful attempt to rob a train.
He was quickly arrested, put on trial, found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging.
When his execution date arrived, it was the biggest public display in the area because
he was the first person to be hanged for a train robbery in New Mexico.
However, things didn't go as smoothly as they hoped.
Before he was hanged he said this, "I'll be in hell before you start breakfast, boys.
Let her rip."
And right after he said that, the rope completely decapitated him and it is said that his headless
body landed on its feet and stayed standing upright for quite some time.
John Wayne Gacy had three famous last words and this comes in at number 4.
He kept it short and sweet when he said "Kiss my ass."
I don't know about you guys, but I think I would have a lot more to say for my final
words.
But then again, he was a text book serial killer who didn't really have any emotions.
He was known as the killer clown because he used to dress up as Pogo the clown and perform
at many charitable events and birthday parties.
He took the lives of at least 33 young boys in Illinois and he would bury their bodies
underneath his home.
So, when he was convicted of sexual assault in 1968, the police were able to find all
of the dead bodies that he tried to cover up.
Despite a bunch of corpses being found underneath his own home, he maintained his innocence.
but he was found guilty in 1980 because there was so much evidence against him.
He was given multiple death penalties and life sentences and finally, after being on
death row for 14 years, he was executed by lethal injection.
Aileen Wuornos is up next in at number 3.
Aileen had a terrible childhood that was full of abuse and abandonment so its almost no
surprise that she went on a killing rampage that would define her as America's most infamous
female serial killer.
She worked as a prostitute and she had killed seven men that picked her up along the highway.
Aileen said that all of her murders were out of self-defence but she was convicted and
sentenced to death for six of the murders.
She was executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002 but before she died, she said this,
"I'd just like to say I'm sailing with the rock, and I'll be back like Independence Day
with Jesus June 6.
Like the movie, big mother ship and all, I'll be back."
I don't even know what this means, but I'm scared.
Carl Panzram's last words make it onto this list in at number 2.
You probably don't recognize his name but he is actually known as one of the most sadistic
American serial killers.
He had more than a dozen aliases and no one knew anything about what he had done for years
until he was captured in November 1928.
Before his death, he confessed to killing 21 people and sexually harming 1000 males.
And right before he was hanged he said, "In my lifetime I have murdered 21 human beings,
1 have committed thousands of burglaries, robberies, larcenies, arsons and last but
not least I have committed sodomy on more than 1,000 male human beings.
For all these things, I am not in the least bit sorry."
The Vampire of Dusseldorf falls onto this list in at number 1.
He is known as a vampire because he would occasionally attempt to drink the blood from
his victim's wounds while they were still alive.
But eventually he was arrested and sentenced to death by beheading because he committed
a series of murders and sexual assaults.
He even admitted to killing a nine-year-old girl.
It is confirmed that he murdered at least 9 people, but the police suspect that he was
brutally murdered a lot more people.
So, one the evening before his death, he ordered a wiener schnitzel, a bottle of white wine
and fried potatoes and the next morning he was taken to the guillotine to have his head
chopped off.
But before he left this world, he made one last scary statement that probably haunted
the people who were at his execution.
He said, "Tell me.
After my head has been chopped off, will I still be able to hear, at least for a moment,
the sound of my own blood gushing from the stump of my neck?
That would be a pleasure to end all pleasures."
Uggghh, I'm going to have nightmares about this guy now.
Oh and if that wasn't enough, his mummified head is on display in a Wisconsin museum after
doctors tried to cut it open to find a reason behind his evil.
Is this real life right now?
Well there you guys have it...