By Courtney Wood
Gorehounds are fans of horror films that are typically drawn to slasher movies centered on young people of dubious moral quality who attempt to escape a menacing villain with stabbing or hacking weapons. (definition from urban dictionary.com).
Horror is one of the most popular and controversial movie genres, which continuously generates millions of dollars every year. Even though they are generally not well received critically, they have one of the most passionate fan bases of any style of film. One of the reasons these films are so popular is because they are the greatest reflections of society as a whole. True fans appreciate how they comment on every conceivable issue people face in a unique way. For the most part, fans flock to these macabre flicks to escape everyday life, to be entertained and even release negative energy; but just like every art form, they have inspired evil from disturbed individuals who cannot tell reality from fictional commentary. This inability to differentiate would cost a young woman in Greenfield Massachusetts her life. This is the true story of when a disturbed man became obsessed with a ‘slasher’ icon and the real-life bloodshed that followed.
A Bloody Crime Right Out of a Movie
On October 24th, 1988, nineteen-year-old college student Sharon Gregory was brutally murdered while alone in her own home. Gregory was stabbed several times in the head, chest and abdomen then discarded on her bathroom floor. In an extremely sad occurrence, Sharon's mutilated body was discovered by her twin sister Cheryl. The crime scene of a beautiful young woman brutally stabbed to death and left in a pool of her own blood was something out of a horror movie; but this was not fiction, this was a real-life tragedy. When asked about the crime, Greenfield Police Chief David McCarthy said: “I’ve been a cop for twenty-five years and this was the grossest killing I've ever seen”. This seemingly senseless crime baffled everyone that knew the promising woman who many described as “responsible” and “well-liked”. The only lead the police had to go off of was a strange connection she had with a troubled man who had a deep obsession with horror movies, especially ‘Friday the 13th' villain Jason Voorhees.
“He was so entrenched with Jason that he had to have the final chapter in his own feelings. He wanted to know what it felt like to live out the part of Jason”.
- David McCarthy
The Puzzling Investigation
During the routine questioning of Gregory’s friends and family, a name came up several times; eighteen-year-old grocery store cashier Mark Branch. Those closest to Sharon said they were weary or outright afraid of Branch. They warned her repeatedly to stay away from him; but unfortunately, she did not listen. At the time of her murder, Gregory was a freshman psychology major at Greenfield Community College and wanted to use her limited schooling to write a psychological profile of the unusual man. Gregory was extremely intrigued by Branch’s love of horror movies and wanted to exam the effects of them more. It would later be theorized that this profile was the catalyst of her death as he was afraid of what was written in it and her refusal to give it to him. David McCarthy agreed with this, concisely summarizing “as far as I'm concerned, the bottom-line motive was that Sharon Gregory had in her possession a psychological profile of Mark Branch and that profile was wanted badly ... he didn't like her having it and he wanted it.” Even decades later, the fight over this profile is the only concrete motive for this terrible crime.
While searching his home, investigators would come upon the biggest glimpse into the muddled mind of Branch. In his home there was a shrine dedicated solely to ‘slasher’ movies; a majority of which were from his favorite series, the ‘Friday the 13th' franchise. Horror memorabilia was displayed as far as the eye could see. In total, there were seventy-five slasher movies, sixty-four true crime books, three knives and three goalie masks just like ‘Jason Vorhees’ wore. When questioned, a clerk at the local video store, told investigators that Branch “rented strictly gore, period, the gorier the better”. It became blaringly obvious that this young man had an alarming obsession with horror movies way beyond that of a typical fan.
After the searching of his home unearthed a horrific delusion and likely disconnection from reality, officers looked deeper into Branch’s past. What they found were several alarming facts. First, they discovered while in high school he wrote several girls threatening letters describing how he wanted to kill them and the way he wanted to do it. These dark fantasies went too far in one incident when he pulled a knife on a girl; fortunately, that young lady was unharmed. They also learned that in 1984, he sought treatment at a psychiatric hospital in Boston. The records from that visit were not available, but it did make all those involved wonder what he was seeking help for. Although nothing definitive was found, it was becoming clear that they were dealing with someone who had the potential to be dangerous and needed to be found as soon as possible.
A Small City in Panic
The thought of having a cold-blooded killer amongst them sent the tiny community of fewer than twenty-thousand people into complete and udder panic. For the resident's safety and peace of mind, many Halloween festivities were either altered, postponed or canceled outright. The community college canceled their dance, the city canceled their annual parade and moved trick or treating to day-light hours to ensure the killer could not hide in the cloak of darkness. The most coincidental change made that year was that the local theater decided to postpone the release of ‘Halloween 1V: The Return of Michael Myers’. The theater owners were afraid that the ‘slasher’ flick, which is extremely similar to the ‘Friday the 13th’ movies, would attract the horror loving suspected killer and endanger moviegoers. To further fuel hysteria, there were at least three (reported) sightings of Branch around the city. With all of these factors, it is no surprise the people of Greenfield were in a state of trepidation.
A huge break would come when examiners found a car abandoned outside of a slaughterhouse. The car, linked to Mark Branch, had blood scattered all over the interior. Finally, the police had more than their suspicions, they now had physical cause to bring in Branch. Investigators had to quickly follow their very strong lead as they needed to find their suspect immediately. To aid in this time-sensitive investigation, police enlisted the services of psychic John Monti. Logically the search started at the bloody abandoned car. Monti got many visions of a killer dressed just like ‘Jason Vorhees’ hanging from a tree and said he kept hearing the name “Jason” over and over again. Ominously, they found a drawing on the wall of a man wielding a knife chasing a woman on a staircase. At the bottom of the picture were the cryptic words “Death of Intention”. The illustration seemed to be a macabre depiction of how Sharon Gregory was killed. Upon investigation of the slaughterhouse, it became obvious that the killer was using the secluded location as a hideout. They had no idea what to make of all their creepy findings but felt confident they were closing in on the troubled and dangerous suspect. This unusual investigation was featured on an episode of ‘Court TV’s popular show ‘Psychic Detectives’.
After nearly a month of fear, the ordeal would finally be over. On November 28th, 1988, hunters celebrating the first day of deer season came across Mark’s dead body. He was discovered in the woods outside of rural Buckland Massachusetts, just as John Monti predicted. His body was a mere two-hundred yards from the slaughterhouse where his car was abandoned. That was not the only thing the psychic detective got correct, Branch was also found in the trees hanging from his neck by his belt and bootlaces dressed as ‘Jason Voorhees’, just as Monti foresaw. Branch’s autopsy determined he died approximately a day after Sharon was murdered.
A Controversy Rises
A wanted murderers’ dead body being discovered would normally bring peace to the community they have wreaked havoc on, but that would not be entirely the case with Mark Branch. Two small but loud controversies would arise soon after his death; one about how he died and the other about why.
Even though most of the evidence pointed to suicide, some believe that’s not how it happened. The biggest alternative theory of his death was that he died because a mob of people took justice into their own hands. Those who believe this argue that citizens turned into vigilantes because of the high level of fear the killer subjected to their community. There is no substantial evidence that Branch was murdered, but it is not difficult to believe that people would want him to pay for his crime, bring an end to the town’s terror and provide justice to the young woman’s family.
Despite the lack of proof and it being reasonable to assume that he committed suicide to avoid punishment for his crime (as opposed to out of guilt), there are some who believe that the media pushed him to kill himself. They claim that the media vilified him with little more than circumstantial information and that all of the negative attention brought on to the still legally presumed innocent man goaded him into ending his life. In a story written about Branch, a self-proclaimed Greenfield local named ‘Maryelen’ wrote, "The press in Greenfield vilifies nearly everyone, for all sorts of reasons, and repeatedly it seems rather plausible to suggest that the newspaper is guilty of [instigating Branch's death]." The thought of people from his community viewing him as guilty before a trial may have been enough to drive Branch to end it all. Some may argue that this is a distinction without a difference, but it is important to know what went through his mind before he died in order to know the exact mental state he was in during his final moments. Knowing his final thoughts may reveal if he had remorse for his actions.
The Battle Over the Public’s Right to Know
With all of the peculiar circumstances, it is obvious why this story received so much attention. People were left wanting to know what happened and more importantly why. Making matters worse, little information was being let out to the public. In fact, there were so few documents being released, local newspapers decided to petition courts for more information. Their lawyers would describe these records as “public information” and argued that people had the right to know everything the authorities knew. Branch’s family did not agree with that point of view and their lawyers argued that most of the information “ought not to be brought into the public eye by the media.”. Ultimately, the debate would be decided by Greenfield District Court Judge Benjamin Atkin, who initially took the case under advisement to allow himself time to decide. In the end, the court ruled in favor of Branch’s family and much critical information would never be given to the public. It is very interesting to think about what was being hidden and what light could have been shed on this story.
With all the twists and turns this story took, the sad murder of Sharon Gregory will not be forgotten. Despite the connection to a beloved Hollywood movie franchise, it is important to never overlook that an innocent young woman lost her life. Hopefully, this tragic tale will be a cautionary one not an inspiration for future carnage.
Editor's note: this article ran in Serial Killer Magazine and is reproduced as written. The thing to hold on to is one the article states but does not press: Mark Branch was never charged and never tried. He was eighteen, he was the suspect, and he was found hanged in woods outside Buckland about a month after Sharon Gregory was killed, with the autopsy putting his death roughly a day after hers. Everything attributed to him here, the motive over the psychological profile, the shrine of masks and slasher films, rests on the investigation and on Police Chief David McCarthy's account of it, and none of it was tested in a court. He has no entry in this archive's roster. The article is fair in recording that his family won the fight to keep the records sealed and that some in Greenfield thought the press had hounded him. The psychic John Monti's involvement is reported here as the police described it at the time and as a television programme later retold it; the archive takes no view on it. Sharon Gregory was nineteen and a psychology student, and she is the reason to read this.