DISGRACELAND - Sigourney Weaver: A Goddess, Beasts and Demons, and Paying Tribute from Death Row

Episode Date: September 24, 2024

In classic ‘80s films like Ghostbusters and Aliens, Sigourney Weaver battled demons and beasts. But to one particular inmate on death row in Georgia, she battled those demons and beasts in real life as well. To Alexander Williams, a convicted murderer, Sigourney Weaver was a goddess – a divine being sent to this earth to do battle with evil. He worshiped her from the floor of his prison cell. And as his day of reckoning drew closer, he waited for a glimmer of hope that the goddess would intervene and change his fate.This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to some listeners, including depictions of suicide, sexual assault, and child abuse.To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at www.disgracelandpod.com.There's more about Sigourney Weaver coming to your feed on Thursday in the After Party bonus episode, and Jake needs your recommendations - what space-themed films are your favorites? Let us know and join the party at 617-906-6638, [e-mail], or on socials @disgracelandpod.Purchase Tickets for Disgraceland's Special Live Stream Event on Oct. 9, 2024:https://www.moment.co/disgraceland/disgraceland-we-are-not-alone-music-wont-save-us-but-tom-delonge-mightTo listen to Disgraceland ad free and get access to a monthly exclusive episode, weekly bonus content and more, become a Disgraceland All Access member at disgracelandpod.com/membership.Visit www.disgracelandpod.com/merch to see the latest Disgraceland merch!Sign up for our newsletter and get the inside dirt on events, merch and other awesomeness - GET THE NEWSLETTERFollow Jake and DISGRACELAND:InstagramYouTubeX (formerly Twitter) Facebook Fan Group To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is exactly right. Double Elvis. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed, I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends.

Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This season on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, we have some fantastic guests like Amelia Clark. When like young people come up to me and they want to be an actor or whatever. My first thing is always, can you think of anything else that you can do? Rather be disappointed in. Do that.

David O'Yellowo. I love this podcast, whether it's therapy or relationships or religion or sex or addiction or you just go straight for the guts. Dennis Leary, Gaten Matarazzo from Stranger Things, Tana Monsu, Camilla Morone, Carrie Kenny Silver, and more. Listen to these episodes of Dear Chelsea on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Movies can make you feel, make you dream. Sometimes they even make you appreciate architecture. Is there anybody who's been hotter in a doorway than Elizabeth Taylor? That's the kind of analysis you'll find every week on Dear Movies I Love You, the new podcast from the Exactly Right Network. Every Tuesday, we break down the films we're crushing on, from blockbusters to deep cuts. Listen to Dear Movies I Love You on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners.

Please check the show notes for more information. Disgrace Land is a production of Double Elvis. This is the story of a goddess. Sort of. It's the story of an actress that a man with a very fractured mind believed was a goddess. A goddess sent to this earth to battle beasts and demons. A goddess named Sigourney Weaver. Sigourney Weaver, who was believed to be a real life deity, believed to be that by a man named Alexander Williams. A man who literally worshipped Sigourney Weaver through arcane rituals from the floor of his death. throw prison cell.

A cell filled with the not-so-great music playing on a loop in a not-so-sane man's head. Not-great music. Like that music I played for you at the top of the show. That was also not great music. That was a preset loop for my Melotron called Idle-B-Dammed M-K-1. I played you that loop because I can't afford the rights to hot stuff by Donna Summer. And why would I play you that specific slice of teal square cheese could I afford it? Because that was the number one song in America on June 22, 1979.

And that was the day the film Alien was released with a breakthrough role for young actress Sigourney Weaver. In doing so, sparking a very weird obsession by a killer at the center of this very weird true crime tale. On this episode, a fractured mind, demons, a deity, a weird as-f-tru crime story, and the goddess Sigourney Weaver. I'm Jake Brennan, and this is this Graceland. Sunlight splintered through the bars of the prison cell window. It was time for the ritual to begin. That six-inch sliver of luminescence was the only natural light he got in this 8-by-8 box. And this was his home now.

had been for the past 14 years, and it would continue to be his home for as long as he was alive. How long would that be exactly? Another week, another year, maybe 30 years or more if he played his cards right. Only the goddess could say for sure, which was why each day he waited for the beacon, the glimmer of hope that she sent from beyond.

Every goddess wants a tribute, and the goddess that Alexander Williams worshipped was no exception. He yanked the cold white sheet from his cot. He pulled it up above his head, pinching tight around his neck, and let the fabric fall loosely from his shoulders. Kneeling down, he arranged the plastic knives he pilfered from the mess hall into the shape of a sigil, a symbol with magical powers. He used the puddle of sunlight as a stage.

He placed a small tea candle at each of the vertices. He couldn't light them, of course. There were rules about matches and open flames here. But the flickering sun would do the job for now. Alexander leaned back on his haunches. He took a deep breath. His fingers fell limp upon his thighs. Suddenly the cell door slid wide open,

followed by the rhythmic thudding of boots on concrete. The guards always like to make an entrance. Get up, one of the guards said. You get a visitor. And try not to scare this one away, okay? The guards yanked Alexander up from the floor. And they didn't care that he was in the middle of the ritual. They patted him down, clipped the cuffs around his wrists.

Then they shoved him into the corridor and down the hall to another room. This one was slightly larger than the one he was used to. Just as barren, though, without even a window. There was a large metal table in the center. A bald man and a suit sat on one side of it. You must be Alexander, the man said. Nice to meet you. Alexander didn't say anything.

The guard shoved him down into the other chair. The man in the suit continued talking. I understand he had some trouble with. the last two lawyers they assigned to you. One of them said he wouldn't even talk. That seems to be a pattern. Alexander wondered what else the last guy had said about him. Demons were known to lie.

So were lawyers. He looked his new attorney up and down, squinting to see what lay beyond those beady brown eyes, searching for signs at the devil inside. The lawyer continued. A few months from now, he explained, someone was going to shove Alexander into a different chair, a chair he wouldn't get up from.

and that would be the end. That's why they call it death row. But if you wanted to live, the lawyer explained, Alexander had to trust him. Alexander wasn't ready for that. He stalled, using some of the tactics he learned in the appeals he'd written himself, starting with the lowest hanging fruit, that the jury was racist. The lawyer rolled his eyes.

Nearly half the jury that convicted Alexander was black. Discrimination was going to be a hard sell, even in the state of Georgia. though the lawyer was impressed with the way that Alexander laid out his argument in the court documents. This was especially true in light of the prison psychiatric evaluation. Alexander was diagnosed with a severe form of psychosis known at the time as paranoid schizophrenia, or sometimes schizoaffective disorder. This was the 1980s, when every B-movie serial killer was labeled schizophrenic. Whenever you want to call the sickness to plague the mind of Alexander Williams,

the state had decided he was mentally unfit, and that even if he wasn't in prison, he was still too unstable to live by himself and make his own decisions. But Alexander Williams was never formally diagnosed until after the state of Georgia's sentenced into death. To make matters more complicated, he was only 17 when he was convicted. At the time, the Supreme Court had just ruled that the Constitution allowed the death penalty for minors,

making the U.S. one of the few countries where that was legal. But to execute someone who was severely mentally ill for a crime they committed as a minor, that smelled like a violation of international law. Even the UN High Commission on Human Rights spoke out in Alexander's defense. His new lawyer laid out all this information. It made it clear. They did have a case. It wouldn't get Alexander out of prison, but at least he could get off death row.

Alexander mulled this over for a moment. He looked up at the lawyer again. Still, no sign of demons in his eyes. Alexander decided it was safe to open up. Did my last lawyer tell you about the goddess? The lawyer shook his head. He had not. And so, Alexander began to explain.

The goddess first came to Earth beneath the Libra's balanced scales. It was October 8, 1949, the year of the ox. She manifested her physical form through Venus's air in the avatar of the weaver. Her tall, spindly elegance cast a shadow of the owl. of light across the Isle of Manahara, where she spun great yarns of glory and creation with the poising grace of a looming tapestry. In her youth, her story swelled in lattice work of symmetry, and she was gracious with her gossamer embrace. When the goddess came of age, she embarked on a kibbutz. She traveled to the Holy Land that so many false idols have written off and gone to war over,

and it was during that magnificent journey, just as the weaver crossed the threshold, that Alexander Williams' father spilled his seed into his mother, 6,66 miles eastward as the crow flies. So it was that Alexander was born with the blessing of a goddess he had yet to meet. She, the great Weaver, and he, her prophet. Alexander hadn't always recognized his destiny, not until the day he saw her face emblazoned on the celluloid amidst the sea of alien eggs. He watched in awe as the Weaver battled that demonic xenomorph, a double. dark inversion of the great mother. The weaver used the prowess of justice to blast the beast into the blackness of space where no one could hear its scream. No monster could contend with the

glory of the weaver's flame. And so the newly christened goddess began her journey back to earth on the arc called Nostromo. Hold on. That's some bat shit crazy shit, but that's where Alexander Williams was coming from. And the lawyer was just as fucking confused as you are right now. Back to our story. The lawyer suddenly interrupted. Just so we're clear, the lawyer said, this goddess you're referring to, is Sigourney Weaver? Alexander saw something in the lawyer's eye

when he spoke the true name of the goddess. That cruel reddish glimmer. Somewhere in the room he heard the fading echoes of a demon's cackle. He glanced over at the guards by the door, and they were just standing there, oblivious to the fact that evil had finally revealed itself. Alexander knew what he had to do. He kicked the chair back violently, using it as leverage to lunge across the table.

Even with the handcuffs on, his fingers still fit around the demon lawyer's neck. He knew the guards were beyond him in a moment. But that was all the time he needed to ring the evil from the devil's throat. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And Rule 2, never mess with her friends either. We always say that, trust your girlfriends.

I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no.

I vowed I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Your husband is not who you think he is. Your body is not what you thought it was.

Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Danny Shapiro. And these are just a few of the stunning stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season of family secrets. And just then, we felt the plain turn in the air, so much so that the bags that were under people's seats just kind of flew into the aisle. Each week, we dive head first into the complex power of secrecy, how it shapes our identities and relationships, and how it ultimately can reveal to us our truest selves.

My daughter, she's pretending she doesn't know, but is trying to cook and feed me and keep me alive because I wasn't eating anything, and me pretending like everything was fine. He kind of shoved me out of the way and said, move. And he went out the front door and he jumped in a car and drove off. And that was the last time I saw him. Listen to season 14 of Family Secrets, starting May 7th on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This season on Dear Chelsea, with me, Chelsea Handler, we have some fantastic guests like Amelia Clark. When, like, young people come up to me and they want to be an actor or whatever.

And my first thing is always, can you think of anything else? that you can do rather be disappointed in. Do that. Dennis Leary. I wake up and I'm hitting him in the head with a water bomb. And Bruce Jenner is on the aisle in a karate stance. Like he's about to attack me. Like making karate noises.

And his entire the Kardashian family over there, everybody's going. And the air marshal is trying to grab my arms and screaming. And I immediately know that I've been sleepwalking. David O'Yellow-O. I love this podcast, whether it's therapy or relationships or religion or sex or addiction or you just go straight for the guts. Guy Branham. So anyway, Nicole Kimman broke up with Keith Urban. Being half of a country couple was always a hat she was going to wear, not like a life she was going to lead.

Oh, interesting. I like that. Did you practice that on your way over? Gaten Matarazzo from Stranger Things. Tena, Mongeau. Camilla Morone. Kenny Silver and more. Listen to these episodes of Dear Chelsea on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The purr of the engine was almost loud enough to drown out the pounding of Alexander Williams's anxious heart.

Almost. The 17-year-old pulled the brand new bright blue 86 Mustang into the arcade parking lot and led it idle. He knew it wasn't safe to hold on to the car for too long. He just hoped that someone would see him driving it and then tell everyone how to cool he looked, but no one noticed. They didn't even look out the window of the arcade to see what was going on. They were probably too busy playing Gondlet, too, or let's be honest, probably bubble bubble bubble. Alexander sighed. He shut the engine off, and then he steled himself up to head inside. Sure enough, John and Maggie were huddled around the bubble-bubble machine, while Leon and Jerry took their turns at Gondlet 2. The games were taking up all their attention. Alexander cleared his throat, loud and conspicuous.

Anyone know how to get rid of a car? He led his friends out to the parking lot, and they were more nervous than impressed. Uh, how did you get a brand new Mustang? Alexander told them not to worry about it, but if they helped out, he'd reward them in cash. John and Jerry filed into Maggie's car. She was the only other one with her own ride.

It wasn't a Mustang, but it got her around. They followed Alexander, who led the way out of her. to town with Leon riding shotgun. Alexander thought the ride would calm his nerves, and it almost did, until Leon asked him where the car came from. Leon promised you wouldn't tell the others. Alexander wasn't sure if he could trust him. Wasn't sure if he could trust anyone.

He shook his head. He didn't want to say. He checked the rearview mirror. No sign of the goddess. He was on his own. Leon kept prodding. Alexander knew he had to tell him something. I met this chick at the mall, he said, focusing his gaze on the road to keep himself grounded.

We were just talking, and she told me to get in. Asked if I wanted to go for a ride, know what I mean? Leon scoffed, yeah, okay, whatever, man. But once Alexander got going, he couldn't stop himself. The words poured from his lips with a flat affectation like someone else was using his voice. He told Leon how the girl had this light around her, an aura, the halo of a heavenly being, and it kept getting brighter, so bright and so bright and so bright. So loud, so loud that Alexander told her to keep it down, be quiet.

Leon laughed again. Is she going to be quiet about you taking her car? Alexander hesitated for a moment before he answered. She won't tell a soul, he said. His unblinking eyes still trained on the asphalt. He reached over to the glove compartment and popped it open. Leon saw the 22-caliber pistol inside. They ditched the blue Mustang near a wooded creek just outside Augusta.

Alexander knew he had to buy his friend's silence. He pulled a shopping bag from the back seat at the car. Inside were necklaces, earrings, and rings. Go ahead, take it all, he told them. Then he flashed a purse full of credit cards and told them all to meet him at the mall the next morning for a shopping spree. On the ride back into town in Maggie's car, Alexander's heart raced. He leaned over to Jerry who sat next to him in the middle of the car's front bench. Hey, Jerry, he whispered.

You ever shot anyone? Jerry hesitated. And then he gave a subtle nod. which was just enough to prompt Alexander's follow-up question. What did you do with the body? The next morning, Alexander met his friends at the mall and handed out the credit cards, just like you promised. They were all made out to the same name, a let a bunch.

No one bothered asking who that was, and maybe they didn't want to know. Alexander's first stop was the comic book store. He had to get his hands on the latest issue of Miracle Man. He picked up the comic book and was looking it over when suddenly he heard a familiar voice from behind counter. He turned around. The store manager was watching Ghostbusters on the small TV in the corner. That's when the goddess came to him again. There is no Dana. There was only Zool. The great Weaver went by many names. After banishing the great demonic xenomorph, she who was now Sigourney returned to Earth, where she won the favor of a deity of time, wealth, and agriculture.

That god was so moved by her performance in the legendary battle that he bestowed upon her the recognition of his most sacred Saturn award. Soon enough, a golden globe began to spin around her name as well, and though it wouldn't settle in her orbit for several years to come. She survived through the year of living dangerously and stole the power of the peacemaker to broker the deal of the century. Even the wicked Zool couldn't resist the way she weaved her melodies upon the cello. Was there anything the great Sigourney couldn't do? Alexander Williams was proud to serve such a noble goddess, though he was disappointed when he learned that she had chosen another mortal to be her consort. A human male called Jim Simpson, who came to her twice removed from the Broadway.

Still, Alexander held out hope. He knew that one day he'd be rewarded for his worship. When he saw the halo manifest around that girl around to let a bunch, he saw it as a sign. Even when she denied him, he assumed it was a test. He had waited so long for his prize, for a union of the first. flesh. He was 17 years old now. He knew he'd finally earned it. He deserved it. So he took it. The only way he knew how. Alexander's mind was suddenly flooded with memories of what he had actually done.

The world around him began to splinter and spin. The sound of a girl's voice shouting his name rang out over and over and over. It took him a moment to realize it was Maggie. She was standing right beside him in the comic bookstore. Hello, Earth to Alexander. I asked you a question. Alexander tried to shake himself free from his hypnotic dream, and it wasn't easy. So Maggie repeated herself. She wanted to know where he'd gotten the credit cards and the jewelry and the Mustang. Alexander told her the same thing he told Leon. He met a girl at the mall, and that much was true.

But Maggie wasn't buying it. She heard what he asked Jerry on the car right back, if he'd ever shot someone, and were to hide the body. She pulled out the credit card that Alexander had given her and read the name out loud, a let a bunch. She threatened to go to Mall's security if Alexander didn't tell her what was going on. Alexander's heart was racing now, a frantic rhythm thudding up his chest and into his skull. It drowned out the world around him. He thought a cerebellum was shaking loose. Adrenaline was boiling just under his skin, and the goddess was nowhere to be found. He leaned close to Maggie hissing

through his gritted teeth. You ever hear of kill and kill again? he asked. Because if I did it once, You damn well better believe I'll do it again. We'll be right back after this world, word, word. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no.

I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your husband is not who you think he is. Your body is not what you thought it was.

Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Danny Shapiro. And these are just a few of the stunning stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season of Family Secrets. And just then, we felt the plain turn in the air, so much so that the bags that were under people's seats just kind of flew into the aisle. Each week, we dive head first into the complex power of secrecy,

how it shapes our identities and relationships, and how it ultimately can reveal to us our truest selves. My daughter, she's pretending she doesn't know, but is trying to cook and feed me and keep me alive because I wasn't eating anything, and me pretending like everything was fine. He kind of showed me out of the way and said, move, and he went out the front door,

and he jumped in a car and drove off, and that was the last time I saw him. Listen to season 14 of Family Secrets, starting May 7th on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This season on Dear Chelsea, with me, Chelsea Handler, we have some fantastic guests like Amelia Clark. When, like, young people come up to me and they want to be an actor or whatever,

my first thing is always, can you think of anything else that you can do? You'd rather be disappointed in. Do that. Dennis Leary. I wake up, and I'm hitting him in the head with a water bomb. And Bruce Jenner is on the aisle in a karate stage. Like he's about to attack me, like, making karate noises. And his entire, the Kardashian family over there, everybody's going,

and the air marshal is trying to grab my arms and screaming. I immediately know that I've been asleepwalking. David O'Yello. I love this podcast, whether it's therapy or relationships or religion or sex or addiction or you just go straight for the guts. Guy Branham. So anyway, Nicole Kidman broke up with Keith Thurban. Being half of a country couple was always a hat she was going to wear, not like a life she was going to lead.

Oh, interesting. I like that. Did you practice that on your way over? Gayton Matarazzo from Stranger Things. Tena Monsu. Camilla Morone at Carrie Kenny Silver. And more. Listen to these episodes of Dear Chelsea on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Alexander Williams waved his way through the quiet George. just streets. He tried not to fold or bend the comic he grasped tight against his chest. He'd already risked too much to get his hands on it. Man Thing, issue number one. It was near Mint. Cost him 27 coins from his meticulously curated antique penny collection. He had his grandmother to thank for the coin collecting. He enjoyed the tactile experience, the attention to detail, the proud feeling of ownership, possession. But he was 12 years old now, and coins just weren't cool anymore. Definitely not as cool as Man Thing. The reddish dusk was dimming fast, and Alexander cut across Mrs. Johnson's backyard through the baseball field behind St. Marks.

It was the most direct route to his mom's house, even if it did take him past the Bridger's nasty pit bull. He glanced down at the comic book in his arms and read the slogan on the cover. Whoever knows fear burns at the touch of Man Thing. He told himself he wouldn't be afraid, not of the dog anyway. Alexander made it past the Bridger's house unscathed. His mother's house was right there over the horizon. He could see the fiery sun sinking just behind it, casting an ominous shadow on the front porch.

As he got closer, he saw his mother standing in the darkness with a frying pan in one hand and a belt in the other. I told you to be home before the sunset, she said. She beckoned him up the stairs with a bony finger. Alexander knew better than to resist. Or to scream. He just stood. stood there, stern and silent, and accepted his punishment.

The first lash from the belt tore a button off of Alexander's shirt. It was a Sunday night, and he was still in his church clothes. But he was too distracted by the incoming frying pan to notice. He tried not to flinch as the cast iron connected with his cheek. He knew that if he made a sound, she'd just get mad at him for talking back. He wasn't minding her, she said. After his mother was done with her thrashing, She asked Alexander what happened to his clothes.

She pointed to the missing button on his shirt that had come off with the belt. Alexander didn't know what to say, so he said nothing. His mother tore into him verbally this time. He was sloppy, disrespectful. How dare he be so careless with the clothes she bought for him, with the money she earned through all of her hard work? His mother didn't work three jobs just to watch him ruin everything she built for him. She ordered Alexander to take his clothes off right there in the porch.

Why bother covering yourself if you're just going to to make a mess anyway. That was her logic, at least. May as well go out into the world the same way you came into it. Then she went inside and locked the door behind her. The sun had fully set, and the April chill was setting in. And 12-year-old Alexander Williams was completely naked with no way back inside. This wasn't the first time he found himself in this situation. He did what he always did when his mother left him like this. He went for a walk. By now he knew his way around those desolate streets in the dark and where to find the safest shadows for a naked boy to get a little shut-eye. Sometimes he explored different neighborhoods. His dad lived around here somewhere, or so they

said. But on this night in particular, clutching is now crumpled copy of Man Thing Number One. Alexander found a different kind of shelter. The frying pan to the face had left him dizzy, and he kept seeing these flickering lights in the corners of his eyes. They disappeared each time he turned around, but like a moth to a flame, he followed them anyway, hoping to find the source. The lights led him to a house, where Alexander could see the ambient flicker of a television set through the window. His eyes struggled to sift through the static, but soon enough, the bright blur melted into focus, revealing the glorious visage of a savior on the screen. Sigourney Weaver sitting in a spaceship, an angelic white underwear. A monster lurked behind her.

Alexander just stood there outside, buck naked, staring at the screen through the window. He squinted as the radiance washed over him, a baptism of light. Alexander returned home in the morning to fetch his clothes for school, and his mother didn't say a word to him, not about where he'd ban or the awful abuse she put him through. Alexander didn't tell her anything either. He kept the revelation to himself. In the mysterious lights that had guided him to that religious epiphany, they never went away. He spent more time in his bedroom after school, exploring new rituals and ways to commune with the goddess, the great weaver, Sigourney.

It was like collecting coins or comics. His quiet curation became a ritual in its own right. A few times, Alexander's mother even found him talking with the soundless voices that were living in his head. She asked what was going on, and he knew better than to lie, though she probably wouldn't have believed him either way. And to his surprise, she never punished him for the strange behaviors he displayed in the house. She mostly just ignored it. She still had plenty of other reasons to beat him anyway, like when he came home late,

when he wouldn't mind her, or when he tried to tell her that her new husband was abusing him. He was tense, on edge. He waited for the goddess to reveal herself to him again. In the dining hall at school, he watched as a boy write a comic book adaptation of the movie Alien, starring the Great Weaver as Ripley. He watched for a close distance as the boy flipped page after page.

He saw the illustrated illumination of his beloved goddess in each comic panel. He approached the boy. Give me that comic. The boy refused. Alexander grabbed a butter knife from a nearby lunch tray. He put the knife to the boy's neck, and the boy was shaking. Give me that comic or I'll cut your fucking throat. That little stunt got Alexander a few months in juvie.

And when he came home again, the beatings continued. But these beatings weren't at the hand of his mother. These were self-inflicted. Alexander took to pounding his head against the wall, beating the world out of his mind. Just nothing, nothing but the dullness that came with repeated instances of intense pain. He hit his head on the wall over and over until he felt less than he had before, until his face and the wall were bloody. His mother brought him to the Georgia Regional Mental Hospital,

replete with a brand-new state-of-the-aird algorithmic computer diagnostic system. Think Scantron, but for mental illness. She wanted him committed. But when the doctors asked her what was wrong with her son, all she said was that he was being difficult. He won't mind me, she said. The official reason on the hospital's paperwork was that Alexander was intransigent,

literally meaning he was just stubborn and disagreeable. The doctors weren't sure how that made him different from any other teenager, but they agreed to take him in for a temporary stay to evaluate him. Alexander went through the usual series of tests, and they tracked his behavior on that fancy new computer system. After seven days of careful observation, doctors were confident in their assessment. Alexander Williams was a normal teenage boy, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with him. The frogs tried to tell him.

Alexander Williams was kneeling on the concrete floor of his prison cell, scheming with the flying frogs who lived beneath his bed. Around his eyes he wore a frayed strip of cloth from the foot of his bed sheet with two lopsided eye holes that he carved using the jagged edge on the corner of his thumbnail. He knew the makeshift mask looked a little silly, but then his fantastical amphibian friends with their bulbous eyes didn't always look so great themselves. And the only difference was no one else could see the frogs. They suddenly let out another warning, a chorus of croaking that swelled into utter cacophony.

Alexander begged them for a better explanation, and it was no use. He couldn't speak frog. Even worse, the rivets in this particular hallucination had gotten so loud that he couldn't hear anything else over the noise. Not the snap of the lock or the sliding door or the bootsteps behind him. By the time Alexander realized what was happening, one of the prison guards already had his arm pressed against his throat. While the first guard kept Alexander pinned in place, the second came around the front and shoved two pills into his mouth. Then he clamped Alexander's jaw shut with his giant hands and kept it closed until Alexander swallowed or went blue in the face. Alexander went through the same routine every day.

Sometimes he complied and let the pills slide down his throat. Other times, he fought back. Then there were the days when he wasn't even sane enough to make a decision either way. The only reason Alexander ended up cooperating this time was because the prison had just received a DVD of Galaxy Quest, a 1999 sci-fi comedy starring none other than Sigourney Weaver, and he was desperate to see his goddess once again. Back in 1986, nine months after he was released with a clean bill of health

from the Georgia Regional Mental Hospital, after doctors said there was nothing wrong with him. Alexander kidnapped 16-year-old to let a bunch from the Augusta Mall. He raped her, and he shot her four times in the head. Forensics couldn't figure out the order of those things happened in. Alexander was 17 years old at the time. He spent the next 16 years in prison, fighting for appeals, though not because anyone seriously doubted what he'd done.

The legal appeals had more to do with Alexander's trial. His court-appointed lawyer knew that Alexander was facing a potential death sentence. Yet somehow he failed to mention anything about Alexander's stay in the mental institution or the years of physical and sexual abuse he endured at home. In fact, the mother who abused him was one of the only witnesses. is called in his defense. She told the jury that her son was a nice, quiet boy who liked comic books and antique coins and that he never did anything wrong.

The entire defense presentation lasted 15 minutes. The jury found Alexander guilty on all counts and sentenced him to death. Alexander's mental health deteriorated rapidly while he waited for his execution. The prison doctors formally diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia and schizophrenic disorder, though it was pretty clear to everyone that he'd been losing his grip on reality long before he raped and killed poor Aletta Bunch. In August 2000, about eight months after Galaxy Quest was released, and 14 years after the death of Aleta Bunch,

more than half of the jury from Alexander's trial, sent a letter with a signed affidavit in his defense. They said they never would have agreed to the death sentence if they had known anything about his mental health. A flood of public support followed. Amnesty International, the UN Commission on Human Rights, even former First Lady Rosalind Carter, a lifelong advocate for mental health reform, spoke up. But it still wasn't enough.

The state of Georgia was committed to following through with the sentence, even though Alexander Williams would be the only person in U.S. history who would have to be forcibly medicated in order to make him sane enough to legally kill. No one was trying to prove Alexander's innocence or get him out of prison. But there was some serious legal and ethical questions about executing someone with a debilitating mental illness for a crime they'd committed as a minor. Alexander Williams' death was finally scheduled for February 26, 2002. Just a few hours before his execution, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles agreed to

commute his death sentence. Alexander would still have to spend his life in prison. But at least he'd have a life to spend, for another nine months anyway. Which is how long it was before Alexander was discovered in his cell hanging from his own shirt wrapped around his neck, dead from an apparent suicide. He was 34. His mother maintained his innocence, even after his death. Even after all she put him through, she still insisted he was a nice, quiet boy who would always mind her. And while he was still alive, she encouraged the prison guards to let him keep the candles and trinkets from the rituals he did to commune with his goddess,

the great Weaver, called Sigourney. Of course, his mother never knew the true name of the goddess. Maybe that's because Sigourney Weaver wasn't actually a deity. A great actress, sure, but not divine, not literally. For all we know, she never even heard about Alexander Williams. People do all kinds of heinous things in the names of gods and goddesses. But we don't blame the deities, even if they are real. Because we know that ordinary human beings are very good at being evil without any supernatural help. And that is a disgrace.

I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland. All right, guys, how weird was that one? In honor of Sigourney Weaver and the excellent film, Alien, I want to know which movies about space. Should I be watching? And why? Which ones do you guys want to watch again? What are the great space movies, the great alien movies,

the iconic ones? This isn't my bag. I need entry into this realm. Hook me up. You can leave out Star Wars. I'm up to date on that, at least. Hit me with your Rex, okay? 617-90666-6638.

Leave me a voicemail. Send me a text and let me know. You can also reach me at Disgraceland Pod, as well on Instagram, X, and Facebook. Leave a review for the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and win some free merch. All right, here comes some credits. Disgraceland was created by yours truly

and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be found on the show notes page at disgracelandpod.com. If you're listening as a Disgraceland All-Axist member, Thank you for supporting the show. We really appreciate it. And if not, you can become a member right now by going to Disgracelandpod.com slash membership.

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Rockerola. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe, on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This season on Dear Chelsea, with me, Chelsea Handler, we have some fantastic guests like Amelia Clark. When, like, young people come up to me and they want to be an actor or whatever. My first thing is always, can you think of anything else that you can do? Rather be disappointed in. Do that.

David O'Yello-O. I love this podcast, weather is that? or relationships or religion or sex or addiction or you just go straight for the guts. Dennis Leary, Gait and Moderato from Stranger Things, Tena Mongeau, Camilla Morone, Carrie Kenny Silver, and more. Listen to these episodes of Dear Chelsea on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Just like great shoes, great books take you places. Through unforgettable love stories and into conversations,

conversations with characters you'll never forget. I think any good romance, it gives me this feeling of like butterflies. I'm Danielle Robeye, and this is Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club from Hello Sunshine and IHeart Podcast, where we dive into the stories that shape us on the page and off. Each week I'm joined by authors, celebs, book talk stars, and more for conversations that will make you laugh, cry, and add way too many books to your TBR pile. Listen to Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club On the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Cotton, The Fabric of Our Lives.