Killer Doll Frank Byron Jr.

One day I came across a rather strange old photograph. A bit creepy, isn’t it? It was accompanied by a description of a completely unbelievable crime story that happened in 1924 in the United States of America. What do you think it is?

Here is a Detroit Police Department card featuring (pay attention!) a killer puppet named Frank Byron Jr. This puppet was arrested and taken into police custody after three ladies died during his stage performance. They died… (pay attention again!) … from laughing. They choked on an incredibly funny joke told by this wooden man. Well, of course, adults understand that Pinocchios-Malvinas-Harlequins cannot talk — Karabas-Darabass do it instead. Frank Byron Jr. only opened his mouth, and instead of him, his owner — a man with the beautiful stage name Great Lester — made a deadly joke .

The great Lester was the greatest ventriloquist of the first half of the last century. For those who have never been to a circus or a variety show, or simply don’t know, ventriloquism is a technique in which an artist speaks without moving his lips, creating the illusion that the voice is not coming from him. This is precisely why ventriloquists need puppets — to put their sparkling jokes into their wooden mouths.