Joe Ball

Even though he was a well-educated man with a degree from the University of Texas, Joe Ball rejected his family’s offer of employment in their many successful businesses, and instead he became a bootlegger. He bought a saloon called ‘The Sociable Inn’ in the late 20s, and before long he added an unusual attraction to the place; a large cement alligator pond. He would invite customers to watch the alligators fight over raw meat or sometimes live cats and dogs he threw in.

However the animals were not only used for entertainment. Ball used to alligators to dispose of some of his beautiful barmaids and girlfriends, as well as two wives. Authorities believed there was something very odd about the way they were disappearing without a word, but many feared Ball, the large Texan man. A local constable was threatened with a handgun for lightly approaching the subject, and one neighbour who accidentally interrupted Ball while he was dismembering a corpse was so frightened that they fled to California, and did not mention the incident until long after the crimes were solved.

On 24th September 1948, a Texas Ranger and his men arrived at the inn to confront Ball. But Ball did not reply, and promptly pulled out his revolver, put it to his own head, and killed himself. Later on Ball’s handyman, Clifford Wheeler, admitted to helping Ball dispose of a few bodies, and he led authorities to the bodies of a barmaid in a barrel and another woman buried in a shallow grave. Wheeler claimed Ball had murdered as many as 12 women, but the exact number was never confirmed, as Ball’s pet alligators had eaten most of the remains.