Clowns on the Barbary Coast

Send us a text

In this episode of The Wild Wild Death, we dive into the twisted story how a night at the circus turned deadly. Thirteen-year-old Willie Snyder was just trying to enjoy the show when a clown named Manuel Reys took his routine to a whole new level —and things went terribly wrong. Join us as we share the story of how a clown’s over-the-top performance turned a fun night out into a tragedy, proving that sometimes, the joke really is on you.

If you'd like more information about the history behind this episode of The Wild Wild Death, check out these links:

• https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/big-bertha-heyman-the-confidence-queen/article_289d524f-7865-5b03-b344-8a7c6456ec99.html
• https://www.thedeadhistory.com/blog/killed-by-a-circus-clown
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/64461187/william-bernard
• https://medium.com/marvels-of-history/who-was-the-man-known-as-oofty-goofty-f249e664d52d
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_made_from_human_corpses#:~:text=Many%20bodies%20had%20incompletely%20decomposed,turned%20into%20candles%20and%20soap
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/americas-big-circus-spectacular-has-long-and-cherished-history-180962621/

KEYWORDS:

Circus gone wrong

Tragic clown performance

Willie Snyder tragedy

Manuel Reys clown accident

True crime podcast

Circus mishap

Dark circus history

Over-the-top performance tragedy

Night at the circus death

Clown routine turns deadly

Tragedy strikes circus

Circus accident true story

Unfortunate circus performance