Mark Branch: The Grocery Clerk Who Thought He Was Jason Voorhees

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October 24th, 1988. Greenfield, Massachusetts. A 19 year old grocery store clerk puts

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on a hockey mask, grabs a knife, and walks to his victim's house. He's about to make his favorite

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horror movie a reality. The victim, an 18 year old college student who made one fatal mistake,

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she tried to understand him.

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[Music]

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Sharon Gregory was doing everything right. Fall semester 1988 at Greenfield Community College

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in the 18 year old psychology major was keeping up with coursework, hanging out with her

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identical twin sister Cheryl, and working on what she probably thought was a fascinating assignment.

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She'd chosen to do a psychological evaluation on someone she knew around town. Someone who made

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her twin sister very uncomfortable. Someone named Mark Branch. Mark Branch was a 19 year old grocery

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store clerk who was obsessed with horror movies, specifically the violence within these horror movies.

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But calling it an obsession doesn't really capture what was going on here.

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The clerk at video xbo1 in Greenfield would later say that Mark rented strictly gore,

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period, the goreer the better. And we're not talking about someone who likes scary movies,

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I like scary movies. We're talking about someone who studied them like other people study textbooks.

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Mark had a special interest with the Friday the 13th movie series, a franchise of

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slasher films surrounding a character named Jason Voorhees who wore hockey masks and stalked his

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victims. And when police would eventually search his apartment what they found was beyond disturbing.

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They reportedly recovered 75 slasher films, 64 killer related books, 12 hockey masks,

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three knives and a machete. This was less of a fan collection, more like a blueprint.

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Throughout his earlier teenage years, Mark had terrified and repulsed his female classmates.

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So when Sharon Gregory decided to do a psychological profile on him, whether for a class assignment

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or personal interest, she was stepping into dangerous territory. And Mark knew about it.

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He knew she was analyzing him, picking his brain apart, writing down her conclusions about what made

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him tick. Greenfield police chief David McCarthy would later reveal the motive. As far as he was

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concerned, the bottom line motive was that Sharon Gregory had in her possession a psychological profile

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of Mark Branch and that profile was wanted badly by Mark Branch. He didn't like being studied,

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he didn't like being figured out and he wanted that profile back. On October 24th, 1988, Mark put on

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a pair of black boots and a hockey mask to resemble Jason. They set off to Sharon's apartment.

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It was a Monday afternoon, Halloween was just days away. The town would soon be preparing for

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parades and trick-or-treating, but Mark Branch had his own celebration planned.

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What exactly happened inside Sharon's apartment will never fully know. Sharon's twin sister

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Cheryl found her body in the upstairs bathroom. The scene was horrific. Sharon had been stabbed

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multiple times in her head, neck and chest. Definitely not a quick kill, this was fury.

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This was someone acting out every violent scene they'd memorized from dozens of slasher films.

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Cheryl was able to tell police that they needed to look into someone Sharon knew named Mark,

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who she said had made her uncomfortable by the way he looked at her. She knew immediately.

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The twin said probably talked about him at length, how weird he was, and about how he made her feel.

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Now, her sister was gone forever. A neighbor verified that someone fitting Mark's description

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had been at the home for a few minutes that night. Within days, tips started flooding in.

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People around Greenfield knew about Mark. They knew about his obsession. They knew he'd talked about

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wanting to kill. Police searched his apartment and they found a setup, almost a shrine,

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dedicated to gore and horror, with multiple items relating to Jason Voorhees. But Mark was gone.

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Police received another tip from someone who reported that they believed they'd found Mark's car

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abandoned 13 miles outside of Greenfield near Buckland. The car had blood on the front seat

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and the front console, sparking a massive manhunt. After several days when Mark still wasn't found,

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and with Halloween quickly approaching, the rest of the town was on edge and terrified.

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Think about that. You've got a guy dressed up as Jason Voorhees running around somewhere,

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and Halloween is in less than a week. Media coverage only fueled the fear in town,

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with the parade and annual events downtown being cancelled and trick-or-treating move to

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daylight hours at the insistence of concerned parents. Parents who had grown up watching

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Friday the 13th movies were now living in one. Halloween came and went without incident,

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but Mark was still out there. Over a month after Sharon's murder, on November 28, police received

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a tip from a local hunter who was out hunting deer during the first week of deer season.

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He had found Mark's body in the woods hanging from his belt and shoelaces from a pine tree.

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His death was tentatively ruled a suicide, and the medical examiner determined that his death

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had taken place shortly after he murdered Sharon. So here's what the police believe happened.

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Mark Branch killed Sharon Gregory on October 24, fled to the woods and nearby Buckland,

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where his car was found, and then took his own life probably within days of the murder.

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But his body wasn't discovered for over a month. The town of Greenfield lived in terror for weeks,

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canceling most of the Halloween celebrations, keeping the kids inside at night, reporting sightings

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of Mark all over New England. In the whole time, he was already dead, hanging from a tree 13 miles away.

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The psychological profile that Sharon wrote on Mark was never found. Did he destroy it? Before he

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died, did he have it with him in the woods? We don't know. McCarthy said Branch's particular interest in

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Jason was part of the motive for the stabbing, explaining that police had confirmed Mark had a

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mental illness of some kind that was confirmed by his parents. McCarthy later elaborated on what

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he believed drove Mark to kill. He was so entrenched with Jason that he had to have the final chapter

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in his own feelings. He wanted to know what it felt like to live out that part of Jason.

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This wasn't about the profile alone. This was about a young man who had become so detached

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from reality that he believed he could become the character he'd watched killed dozens of people

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on screen. The media did not let up on the angle of Mark's horror movie obsession and the

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Friday the 13th aspect. This case became ammunition for every parent, politician and activist who

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believed that horror movies were corrupting youth. And honestly, it's hard not to see why they made

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that connection. A guy who collected 12 hockey masks and 75 slasher films puts on a Jason costume

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and stabs someone to death. The correlation is right there. But here's the thing. Millions of

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people watched Friday the 13th movies in the 80s. Millions of teenagers rented those same films from

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video stores. They didn't become killers. Mark Branch had something else going on. He had documented

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mental illness. He'd been under psychiatric care for years. One report mentioned he'd sought treatment

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at a Boston psychiatric hospital after leaving a private school six weeks into the school year

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back in 1984. The movies didn't create Mark Branch. But they gave him a template. They gave him a

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costume. They gave him a fantasy to step into when his reality became unbearable. And Sharon

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Gregory, who was trying to understand him through her psychology studies, became the victim of that

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fantasy. When told of Mark's death, Sharon's father Edward said they were glad it was over. It was

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time to forget and carry on as best they can. But how do you carry on after something like this?

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Sharon Gregory found her identical twin sister murdered in their bathroom. She'd have to live

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with that image in her mind forever. Their parents lost a daughter to senseless violence right before

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Halloween. And then had to wait over a month while the town lived in fear before learning the killer

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had been dead almost the entire time. There was no trial, no conviction, no moment in court where the

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Gregory family could finally face Mark Branch and get some answers. Local newspapers even petitioned

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the courts to release documents about the murder. Evidence taken from Mark's home and the crime scene.

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But Mark's family fought to keep those details private. So we're left with fragments.

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With police statements and news reports and a community that still talks about the Halloween

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they got canceled. Sharon Gregory was 18 years old. She was smart, studying psychology,

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probably hoping to help people understand mental illness someday. Instead, she became a case study

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herself. A cautionary tale about getting too close to darkness while trying to shine a light on it.

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That is the story of Mark Branch, the grocery store clerk who thought he was Jason Voorhees.

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Thanks for listening today and keep binging away if that's what you're doing right now.

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Quickly, here's an email from Marcus and Philadelphia. Subject, sleep schedule versus serial killers.

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Hi Joe. I've started listening to your show at night which has completely ruined my sleep

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schedule. I go to bed thinking about unsolved mysteries and wake up wondering why I now check my

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locks twice. Do you ever spook yourself after recording a particularly unsettling story late at night?

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Or are you at the point where nothing phases you anymore? And Mark as I gotta tell you,

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I definitely am faced. I'm locking multiple locks on my doors every single night and I do a quick

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check before bed. I go through and make sure the windows are locked, all the doors are locked and I'm

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safely secure in my house. And my refrigerator has this habit of making a noise. I think it's the

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ice maker, but it makes this noise that I can't get used to it. Every time I hear it and it's quiet

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in the house and it's just that noise, I automatically assume someone's breaking in. So your answer is,

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it does phase me a whole lot. And honestly that can be on a normal night, not even a night where I'm

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doing the podcast stuff. Thanks for the email. Hey, this is your first time listening, hit subscribe

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right now so that you never miss a story. Leave a review until other true crime fans about the show.

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You can check out 10minutemurder.com to learn more about the podcast, read the blog, and contact me.

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The episodes I'm working on that are coming up, you can expect those pretty soon,

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the shoe fetish slayer inside Jerry Brudot's House of Horrors. That's a serial killer obsessed with

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women's shoes. And then also betrayed by blood, the daughter who orchestrated her family slaughter.

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I'm Joe, I'm the host. Thank you for listening. Until next time.

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