165. Smells Like An Exorcism Of Logic - Paul Bateson, Addison Verrill And The Six Unknowns

You wanna hear a really creepy ghost story?  Well…actually…a really creepy satanic possession story…or something? Try this on for size: Guy gets really good at his job.  So good that he’s given a cameo doing his job in one of the biggest horror movies of the century.  A movie whose set became legendary for weird accidents, injuries, fires – even deaths! – during its making…and a few years later, same guy gets arrested for knocking his gay hook-up over the head with a frying pan and then stabbing him to death…and to top it off, same guy seems to be pretty much the person who killed at least six other unidentified men, dismembering them, then packing them into garbage bags that get thrown into the Hudson River. Not very believable.  Except that it’s a true story. It’s the story of Paul Bateson, the alcoholic radiological technologist whose delicate, caring manner in performing the cerebral angiography procedure on children at New York University Medical Center caught the eye of film director William Friedkin, who cast Bateson as the technologist performing the procedure on the character of young Regan MacNeil, the possessed girl at the center of Friedkin’s film adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s “The Exorcist.” Seems like quite the feather in Mr. Bateson’s cap – something to build a highly successful career on.  Right? Unfortunately, no. Troubled from youth and battling alcoholism his entire life, Bateson fell deeply into his addiction in the years following the release of the movie, and ended up losing is job at NYUMC. Now working odd jobs and trying to find a way to get back to working in radiology, Bateson fell off the wagon again in 1977 and, in one weird, wild night, he met, hung out with, drank with, went home with, and then murdered renowned Variety film journalist Addison Verrill in Verrill’s New York City Apartment. The circumstances around Bateson’s capture and arrest are fascinating, and Melissa recounts the twists and turns in that case – including Bateson’s release on Parole and his subsequent fade-away into obscurity, where even though someone using his name and Social Security Number was certified as deceased in 2018, it can’t be proven to be the same person.  Weird.  But wait, there’s more – a lot more.  You see, it turns out that during the 1970s prior to Bateson’s arrest, there had been a string of murders of young men in New York – six altogether – each of whom had been murdered and mutilated, their cut-up bodies placed in garbage bags and tossed into the Hudson River.  To this day, tragically, not even one of these men has been identified by anyone.  And no one has ever been arrested in their murders.  But even more compelling is the fact that all of the garbage bags all six of those young men’s bodies were found in bore the mark of the place they came from:  New York University Medical Center.  Follow Melissa into this dark hole of mystery, creepy movie sets – and even a side trip into Melissa’s and Producer Mark’s own personal adventures into telekinesis! – on this most fascinating episode.  Remember, if you have a tip of any kind that can help solve a crime or any mystery whatsoever,  you can call Melissa on the TIP-STER HOTLINE at (832) TIP-STER (832-847-7837) or send an email to [email protected].