What Do You Have to Say For Yourself?

It’s hard to imagine that words have as long-lasting an effect as someone’s crimes. However, some of the most infamous names refused to go down without saying their final, chilling statements. Some were warnings. Others were jokes. All of them were unforgettable. Come with us as we explore some of the creepiest last words ever recorded. 

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1. Peter Kürten

Otherwise known as “The Vampire of Düsseldorf,” Kürten stalked the streets of Germany. Throughout the 1930s, he was arrested for a number of charges and eventually sentenced to the guillotine. Before his final moments, he asked the prison psychiatrist if, after all was said and done, he’d be able to experience the aftermath. “That would be the pleasure to end all pleasures.”

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2. John Wayne Gacy

When guys like Gacy are finally brought to justice, you’d like to think that they have some sort of remorse—especially right before the curtain call. However, the psycho clown didn’t seem to care much about the approximately 30 lives he stole, with his final words in 1994 being to kiss his backside. 

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3. Wallace Wilkerson

It was a grisly time in the 1870s, and when your options are the gallows or firing squad, you have to pick your battles. Sentenced for snuffing out a man’s life, Wilkerson opted for the squad—but they missed their literal target on his chest. He shouted, “Oh, my God! My God! They've missed it!” before finally succumbing to his injuries a whopping 15-27 minutes later (reports vary). 

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4. Carl Panzram

Panzram had dozens of arrests to his name, none of which stopped him from admitting to thousands more in his final hours. He was sentenced to the gallows in 1930, and even spat in officers’ faces as they attempted to hood him. When asked if he had any last words, he told them yes, called them hoosiers, and suggested he could take out a dozen men while they fiddled around. 

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5. Aileen Wuornos

Infamous lady of the evening, Aileen Wuornos, had a few curious words before her last cup of coffee in 2002: “Yes, I would 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'll be back.” At the time, she was the tenth woman in America to receive capital punishment. 

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6. Clarence Ray Allen

Born in 1930, Clarence Ray Allen didn’t get the injection until he was 76 years old. It actually took two shots to get the job done, after which the warden read out Allen’s final statement: “My last words will be 'Hoka Hey, it's a good day to die.' Thank you very much. I love you all. Goodbye.”

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7. Leonel Torres Herrera

Originally sentenced for taking the lives of two police officers, new evidence emerged that allegedly proved Herrera’s innocence. The case was brought to court in 1992, but was overruled 6-3, and Herrera met his end in ‘93. His final words were, “I am innocent, innocent, innocent. Make no mistake about this; I owe society nothing. Continue the struggle for human rights, helping those who are innocent, especially Mr. Graham. I am an innocent man, and something very wrong is taking place tonight. May God bless you all. I am ready.”

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8. Karla Faye Tucker

In 1983, Tucker claimed two lives in a robbery gone wrong and was sentenced to receive an injection. However, given her gender and conversion to Christianity, she actually wound up building a solid number of supporters who vied for her to get a life sentence instead. Despite the outcry, her time came in 1998. She bid goodbye to those in attendance before saying, “I love all of you very much. I am going to be face-to-face with Jesus now. [...] I love all of you very much. I will see you all when you get there. I will wait for you.”

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9. Albert Fish

Fish went by many terrifying names: Werewolf of Wysteria, the Brooklyn Vampire, the Moon Maniac—you name it. His notorious record eventually caught up to him, and in 1935, he was subjected to the chair. His final words? “I don't even know why I'm here.”

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10. Robert Charles Towery

Towery was sentenced to the injection in 1991 after a home robbery. In 2012, his bizarre final words were simply, “I love my family. Potato, potato, potato." According to his lawyer, it was meant as a message to his nephew, who was among the onlookers; as avid Harley-Davidson buffs, “potato” is the sound an engine makes, and Towery said it as a final goodbye. 

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11. Tom Ketchum

Notorious outlaw Ketchum was sentenced to the gallows in 1901 for attempting to rob a train. His last words were, “Goodbye. Please dig my grave very deep. All right; hurry up,” but that wasn’t exactly the worst part—it was what happened thanks to the rope’s length.  

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12. Johnny Frank Garrett

It’s not every day Pope John Paul II grants you clemency, but Garrett was actually pardoned in 1992 until the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles overruled the vote for a life sentence by 17-1. It was initially reported that he didn’t have a final statement, but it soon came out that his final words were, “I'd like to thank my family for loving me and taking care of me.” As for the rest of the world, he said they could kiss his ever-loving behind. 

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13. Jack Jones Jr.

In 1996, Jones Jr. was sentenced to his final day after claiming Mary Phillips’ life. Her young daughter testified during the trial, claiming that he knocked her out before turning his sights on her mother. Before his injection in 2017, he said, "I hope over time you can learn who I really am, and I am not a monster. There was a reason why those things happened that day. I am so sorry, Lacy. Try to understand; I love you like a child."

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14. George Engel

Engel was just one of three men sentenced to their last day following the Haymarket riot in 1886. During his trial, he wrote to the governor not to grant clemency, stating, “I protest against a commutation of my sentence and demand either liberty or death." Upon the gallows a year later, his last words were simply, “Hurrah for anarchy!” 

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15. James French

The last thing you want to hear before such an event is someone cracking a joke. That didn’t stop James French from not only requesting the chair but also quipping about it just days before he sat there. During an interview with reporter Bob Gregory, French said that if he were covering the story, the headline would be “French Fries.” His actual last words were, “Everything's already been said.”

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16. George Appel

Weirdly enough, French wasn’t the only one who cracked a joke before his demise. Sentenced to the chair in 1928 for claiming a cop’s life, Appel merely said, “Well, gentlemen, you are about to see a baked Appel.”

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17. Timothy McVeigh

Responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma tragedy, McVeigh met his end in 2001. His final statement was actually the poem “Invictus,” and his last words were, “It matters not how strait the gate/How charged with punishments the scroll/I am the master of my fate/I am the captain of my soul."

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18. Ronald Turpin

In 1962, Turpin was sent to the gallows for taking out a police officer. He was actually one of the last two people to meet such an end in Canada, and though reports initially stated that he didn’t have any final words, the Toronto Star later published that he said, “If our dying means capital punishment in this country will be abolished for good, we will not have died in vain.”

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19. William Bonin

Bonin haunted freeways for years before he was finally caught and tried in 1982. Before his injection, he told the warden, “[...] I would suggest that when a person has a thought of doing anything serious against the law, that before they did, that they should go to a quiet place and think about it seriously.”

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20. Robert Alton Harris

Before Harris was escorted to the gas chamber in 1992, he pigged out on all sorts of junk food—KFC, Domino’s, jelly beans, cigarettes, Pepsi—and then gave his final words, “You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everybody dances with the grim reaper.” The quote was inspired by Bill & Ted Bogus Journey.

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