The Bird Hex

        

      Despite us talking about this episode in the future on the podcast, I still wanted to write about it because this case still scares South Dakota. This is known as the Bird Hex. 

        Jake Bird was born in an unknown location in Louisiana. At the age of 19, Bird was forced to leave home and did what any other homeless person would do. In order to keep warm, he would stay in box cars. He would work for sleep and meals.  For work, he was a manual laborer and a railroad dancer that laid and maintained tracks. A thing to note about how Bird got away with his crimes was his job required him to travel. Other than what he did as work, he is known for his label as a serial killer. Even though there is a complete timeline, we need to go back to October 30th, 1947 and the trial that brought the Bird Hex. 

        In not just my personal opinion, but many others that wrote about October 30th, it isn't stated in anything that I could find on why Bird did what he did. At the time, he was looking for work and stumbled upon a house at 1007 South 21st. Street. In his hand, he had an axe and then entered it before murdering Bertha Kludt and her daughter Beverly June. As they were being axed, they screamed and it alerted the neighbors, which alarmed the police. When they arrived, Bird was covered in their blood, holding a knife and he then fled the scene. 

    

        When the police cornered Jake, he slashed at officers before slicing one in the hand and stabbing the other one before being restrained on the ground. After being sent and released to the hospital, he was sent to jail. While investigating the suspect, Bird almost convinced the police that he didn't do it. Unfortunately, when parts of the brain was found on his shirt, they stopped being convinced. He did confess to it about the double homicide being a 'robbery gone wrong'. 

        The trial

        A month later Jake Bird was on trial and it lasted three days. He was convicted of Murder of the First Degree and instead of being locked away, he was sentenced to be hanged. This is where the Bird Hex came. 

        It was just after his sentencing when Jake Bird declared, "I'm putting the hex of Jake Bird on all of you who had anything to do with me being punished. Mark my words. You will die before I do."

        The Hex's affect

        Imagine sitting in the trial and hearing just some crazy talk that came out of a murderer's mouth. If you're not a superstitious person, you'd probably laugh it off. If you believe in it, you'd be scared. Nobody believed him until people started dying. 

        The first person to die from this Hex was the judge who died from a heart attack not long after sentencing Bird. The next person was Bird's defense lawyer who died also from a heart attack. Following after him, the police officer and another officer who wrote the official report died of a heart attack. Then a prison guard who watched Bird also died of a heart attack. Lastly the court's clerk died of pneumonia. 

        Death Row Confessions

        While still awaiting his death, Bird confessed to various other crimes. In 1942, Bird committed his first two murders in Illinois. Following after, it was Kentucky, Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, Ohio, Florida, and Wisconsin. In total he had murdered 44 other people, closing 11 cases. 

        

        Aside from concluding this story, as stated previously, After Dark: Coast to Coast Killers will be releasing this episode on August, 27th to conclude the season finale of the series. Until then, if you want to check out other episodes, you can find the podcast anywhere you can listen to a podcast. I release weekly episodes every Friday and Sunday to fulfill your daily hunger of crime and murder. We are also on Facebook so feel free to like and follow us on there as well.