Dowbrigade

Malden
man’s guilty pleasure of investing in murderabilia has come back to haunt
him thanks to a "cursed" clown painting by serial
killer John Wayne Gacy, which the collector claims turned his life into
a three-ring circus.

"I just want to get rid of it," said musician Nikki Stone about the late Gacy’s
signed self-portrait of his terrifying alter ego, "Pogo the Clown."

Since he plunked down $3,000 in 2001 to buy the framed oil from national murderabilia
merchant Arthur Rosenblatt, Stone said his beloved dog has died and his mother
found out she had cancer.

When a friend offered to store the painting at his house, the friend’s
neighbor was killed in a car crash. A second friend who kept the painting
for Stone attempted suicide, Stone said.

"I’ve never even hung it," said Stone, who hopes a less superstitious buyer
will at least cover the $3,000 he blew – even if only to burn the true-crime
artifact.

The creepy conversation piece is now in the care of Stone’s pal Shawn McCarron,
a consignment art dealer and owner of Kaleidoscope Tattoo & Art in Cambridge.

from the Boston Herald