Welcome to the research notes for our investigation on The Crying Boy!
Now, before we get started, bigfoot may actually be an alien. I mean, I don't know yet but I might research it in future! At least Huffington Post think it may be possible.
Also, I know I laughed when Rory mentioned hiding under the bed but I couldn't sleep last night and I figured I'd give it a try, just incase my house got raided middle of the night style.
And well, I tried to get under there but saw this
I don't have a cat.
I don't know who's cat this is, or if he even has an owner. I mean he has a tag but he looked so much like he wanted to fight I didn't try to read it.
Also, if anyone is too young to have had a gameboy, Rory's under the bed set up probably looked a bit like this.
You know the screeching, blaring sound of an ambulance as it drives right by you? That's what Pokémon sounds like through this puppy.
But on to the matter at hand. One. Sad. Boi
And... wait. I never noticed this before...
Enhance.
And again, enhance.
Holy shit. Illuminati confirmed? This is a WHOLE other angle to this story. Boy. I mean, I got to finish this post and get under the bed ASAP.
Anyway like we mentioned, it was really several sad bois, not just one. As many as 50 in fact! Here's a smörgåsbord.
As you can see there are some clear popular favourites out there, but they all use the same style, and there are even sad girls in there!
Like I said, I would like to see
I really think this is the creepiest though.
Like you know that's the last thing Franchot Seville AKA G Bragolin saw as his studio was burning down. Don Bonillo himself!
... ACTUALLY I take this back. Look at this one:
Yep. Paranormal.
So, like I said on the pod, the story more or less begins with the Sun, and their coverage of the Hall family house fire.
Here was the first print!
(I actually was wrong on the pod, the 'headline' I mentioned is the caption. Still a mad headline!)
And they ran several stories!
I mean, jesus christ. What else was happening in the country. For sure write about other things.
Here's the video we watched about burning the painting, made by the BBC. Mad that this was actually commissioned using tax payers money. I'm starting to think we should be cashing in on this 'TV' thing, all I got to do is set fire to junk?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyRL-yIIVH0
And here was the article the Sun ran, when they blitzed all the crying boys people had sent them.
Fun fact: the model posing with the fire said she had been decorating a friend’s home when she drew on a crying boy painting, saying “I painted him with red spiky hair for a giggle”. Later the friends home flooded, leaving the picture undamaged...
I mean, this is the face of someone who knows they've just pissed off the spirit of Don Bonillo
And you might be somewhat surprised to find the artist G Bragolin actually has a wikipedia page! Which validates at least some of this story...
I'm glad to hear he did OK for himself in the end! Looks like he lived a pretty long life, RIP brother!
As for George Mallory the retired teacher who told us the story of Don Bonillo?......... that is less clear... details are, err, patchy at best.
Like I said! Just a bad ass story.
And as Rory asked - just why did anyone want these paintings in the first place? Shout out to this Electric Lady Land blog for schooling me that this style of painting was actually popular even before this phenomenon? People were painting sad looking youngsters for decades potentially!
I mean, slightly less weird but still why.
But if you do want to read more on this case, the best pages about it are as follows!
Dr. David Clarke's website (who actually is involved in the story!)
All music in this episode by http://www.purple-planet.com except for:
and Funkytown ... of course
Hope you enjoyed this case, and maybe had some conclusions of your own! If you want to know anything I might have missed, leave it in a comment below! See you on Tuesday!
K & R