Canadian bus beheading
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By ANDREW HANON
Nathan Carlson has barely slept since July 30.
"Ever since it happened, I haven't been able to get it out of my head," Carlson says haltingly. "I just don't know what to think of it, quite frankly."
The Edmonton ethno-historian is one of the world's leading experts on Windigo phenomenon, and the recent horrific beheading and alleged cannibalism on a Greyhound bus bound for Winnipeg from Edmonton rocked him to his very core.
As the grisly details of Tim McLean's last moments on Earth came to light in the following days, Carlson sank deeper and deeper into a fog of horror and revulsion.
Vince Weiguang Li is accused of abruptly attacking McLean, who by all accounts he didn't even know -- while McLean slept on the bus.
Up until a few days before the killing, Li held a part- time job delivering newspapers in Edmonton. He was well thought-of by his boss and considered a nice guy, if a bit quiet and shy.
On July 20 -- just 10 days before the killing -- Li delivered copies of the Sun that contained an extensive interview with Carlson about his research into the Windigo, a terrifying creature in native mythology that has a ravenous appetite for human flesh. It could take possession of people and turn them into cannibalistic monsters.
The two-page feature talked about how, in the late 1800s and into the 20th century, Windigo "encounters" haunted communities across northern Alberta and resulted in dozens of gruesome deaths.
In one case, a Cree trapper named Swift Runner was hanged after admitting to killing and eating his wife, children, brother and mother in the woods northeast of Edmonton in the winter of 1878-79.
Prior to being charged with murder, he had suffered screaming fits and nightmares, which he attributed to being possessed by a Windigo.
In several other cases, people banded together and killed individuals they feared were possessed by a Windigo. Often, they would decapitate the corpse and bury the head separate from the body in order to keep it from rising from the dead.
Carlson documented several cases in northern Alberta communities where people believing they were "turning Windigo" would go into convulsions, make terrifying animal sounds and beg their captors to kill them before they started eating people.
In last month's bus case, Li allegedly butchered McLean's body, brandishing the victim's severed head at the men who trapped him on the bus until police could arrive.
He was later accused of eating McLean's flesh.
When he appeared in a Portage La Prairie courthouse on charges of second-degree murder, the only words Li reportedly uttered were pleas for someone to kill him.
A lot of his reported behaviour eerily mirrors the Windigo cases recounted in the newspaper feature that Li helped deliver to Edmonton homes just days before McLean was killed, one of the most gruesome slayings in modern Canadian history.
Several media reports called McLean's killing unprecedented - an unspeakable, random attack the likes of which has never been seen in Canada.
But Carlson knows better.
"There are just too many parallels," he says.
"I can't say there's definite connection, but there are just too many coincidences.
"It's beyond eerie."
Nathan Carlson has barely slept since July 30.
"Ever since it happened, I haven't been able to get it out of my head," Carlson says haltingly. "I just don't know what to think of it, quite frankly."
The Edmonton ethno-historian is one of the world's leading experts on Windigo phenomenon, and the recent horrific beheading and alleged cannibalism on a Greyhound bus bound for Winnipeg from Edmonton rocked him to his very core.
As the grisly details of Tim McLean's last moments on Earth came to light in the following days, Carlson sank deeper and deeper into a fog of horror and revulsion.
Vince Weiguang Li is accused of abruptly attacking McLean, who by all accounts he didn't even know -- while McLean slept on the bus.
Up until a few days before the killing, Li held a part- time job delivering newspapers in Edmonton. He was well thought-of by his boss and considered a nice guy, if a bit quiet and shy.
On July 20 -- just 10 days before the killing -- Li delivered copies of the Sun that contained an extensive interview with Carlson about his research into the Windigo, a terrifying creature in native mythology that has a ravenous appetite for human flesh. It could take possession of people and turn them into cannibalistic monsters.
The two-page feature talked about how, in the late 1800s and into the 20th century, Windigo "encounters" haunted communities across northern Alberta and resulted in dozens of gruesome deaths.
In one case, a Cree trapper named Swift Runner was hanged after admitting to killing and eating his wife, children, brother and mother in the woods northeast of Edmonton in the winter of 1878-79.
Prior to being charged with murder, he had suffered screaming fits and nightmares, which he attributed to being possessed by a Windigo.
In several other cases, people banded together and killed individuals they feared were possessed by a Windigo. Often, they would decapitate the corpse and bury the head separate from the body in order to keep it from rising from the dead.
Carlson documented several cases in northern Alberta communities where people believing they were "turning Windigo" would go into convulsions, make terrifying animal sounds and beg their captors to kill them before they started eating people.
In last month's bus case, Li allegedly butchered McLean's body, brandishing the victim's severed head at the men who trapped him on the bus until police could arrive.
He was later accused of eating McLean's flesh.
When he appeared in a Portage La Prairie courthouse on charges of second-degree murder, the only words Li reportedly uttered were pleas for someone to kill him.
A lot of his reported behaviour eerily mirrors the Windigo cases recounted in the newspaper feature that Li helped deliver to Edmonton homes just days before McLean was killed, one of the most gruesome slayings in modern Canadian history.
Several media reports called McLean's killing unprecedented - an unspeakable, random attack the likes of which has never been seen in Canada.
But Carlson knows better.
"There are just too many parallels," he says.
"I can't say there's definite connection, but there are just too many coincidences.
"It's beyond eerie."
Gee ... "the Devil made me do it" was an old Flip Wilson gambit. I've heard of Windigo - but somehow, I don't think a Judge is gonna buy it.
I would say it's the lure of the 'head' or 'don't loose your head' jokes.:lol:
Personally I like the double entendre types. You know how it is, right? ;-)
"Prior to being charged with murder, he had suffered screaming fits and nightmares, which he attributed to being possessed by a Windigo."
Ha! I called it! :lol:
Ha! I called it! :lol:
? I don't recall you mentioning Swift Runner, or what might have prompted him to kill his family.
The young lady in theis story was a Chinese national that had first studied at Memorial University in Newfoundland for a couple of years before going down to Virginia after the New Year. CBC also did a couple of stories on it. This is from FOX in the States.
No Windigo here.
FOXNews.com - Virginia Tech Student Decapitated With Kitchen Knife by Attacker She Knew - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News
Found the CBC Link also Memorial University grad slain on American campus
Virginia Tech Student Decapitated With Kitchen Knife by Attacker She Knew
Friday, January 23, 2009
Haiyang Zhu
BLACKSBURG, Virginia — Alone and in a new country, graduate student Xin Yang reached out to other Chinese students at Virginia Tech when she arrived two weeks ago, trying to establish her life on campus.
She went to social events with international students, got in touch with the campus center that works to help them adjust and appeared to be making friends as she settled into her accounting program, those who had met her said.
But one of the friendships may have led to her death: Police say she was decapitated with a kitchen knife while having coffee with a Chinese doctoral student in a campus cafe Wednesday night.
Click here for photos.
The killing stunned a campus that still has vivid memories of the mass slayings in April 2007, when a student gunman shot 32 people and then took his own life. The stabbing was the first slaying on campus since then.
"An act of violence like this brings back memories of April 16," university President Charles Steger said. "I have no doubt that many of us feel especially distraught."
It appeared Yang had met her accused attacker, 25-year-old Haiyang Zhu of Ningbo, China, only recently, said Kim Beisecker, the director of Cranwell International Center, which works with international students.
Zhu, a doctoral student in agricultural and applied economics, had been assisting her in adjusting to life at Tech, something the 500 Chinese students often do for new members in their community, she said. They both attended functions for international students, she said.
"She was a very sweet young woman," she said. "He was known as a polite young man."
Though they apparently didn't know each other well, school records listed Zhu as one of her emergency contacts. Beisecker said that may have been because Yang knew few people on campus.
"As best we know, she had made a fair number of friends, but only in the last week," Beisecker said.
What led to the attack is also a mystery: About seven other people who were in the coffee shop told police that the two hadn't been arguing before the attack. Beisecker said there hadn't been previous signs of trouble between them.
Investigators have asked a court for permission to search Zhu's cell phone, computer records and diaries. They hope the phone, computer and other records they're seeking will give them clues about what might have led to the attack.
Police received two 911 calls shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday, and were on the scene in a little more than a minute to take Zhu into custody, Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said.
Zhu was charged with first-degree murder and was being held without bond at the Montgomery County Jail. His attorney, Stephanie Cox, did not return a call seeking comment Thursday.
Classes were held as usual Thursday and the sprawling 2,600-acre campus appeared normal, with students skateboarding, talking on cell phones and chatting with friends.
Tasha Lockhart, a sophomore from Ocean City, Md., went to her biology class in the Graduate Life Center's auditorium Thursday afternoon. She said she felt "a little bit" wary. Her instructor told students to be aware of exits that were away from the main entrance in case of trouble, she said.
After the arrest, a campus alert system put in place after the mass shootings by Seung-Hui Cho in 2007 sent out messages to 30,000 subscribers by e-mail, text messages and telephone voice mails Wednesday night, University spokesman Larry Hinckler said.
Because a suspect was in custody, the messages were sent out as notifications rather than as emergency alerts, he said. He said 60,000 messages were sent in about a half hour.
The school offered counseling to students, faculty and staff, and officials contacted students who were injured in the mass shootings as well as the families of victims.
"It was a very retraumatizing kind of experience," said Debbie Day, director of the Office of Recovery and Support.
No Windigo here.
FOXNews.com - Virginia Tech Student Decapitated With Kitchen Knife by Attacker She Knew - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News
Found the CBC Link also Memorial University grad slain on American campus
Virginia Tech Student Decapitated With Kitchen Knife by Attacker She Knew
Friday, January 23, 2009
Haiyang Zhu
BLACKSBURG, Virginia — Alone and in a new country, graduate student Xin Yang reached out to other Chinese students at Virginia Tech when she arrived two weeks ago, trying to establish her life on campus.
She went to social events with international students, got in touch with the campus center that works to help them adjust and appeared to be making friends as she settled into her accounting program, those who had met her said.
But one of the friendships may have led to her death: Police say she was decapitated with a kitchen knife while having coffee with a Chinese doctoral student in a campus cafe Wednesday night.
Click here for photos.
The killing stunned a campus that still has vivid memories of the mass slayings in April 2007, when a student gunman shot 32 people and then took his own life. The stabbing was the first slaying on campus since then.
"An act of violence like this brings back memories of April 16," university President Charles Steger said. "I have no doubt that many of us feel especially distraught."
It appeared Yang had met her accused attacker, 25-year-old Haiyang Zhu of Ningbo, China, only recently, said Kim Beisecker, the director of Cranwell International Center, which works with international students.
Zhu, a doctoral student in agricultural and applied economics, had been assisting her in adjusting to life at Tech, something the 500 Chinese students often do for new members in their community, she said. They both attended functions for international students, she said.
"She was a very sweet young woman," she said. "He was known as a polite young man."
Though they apparently didn't know each other well, school records listed Zhu as one of her emergency contacts. Beisecker said that may have been because Yang knew few people on campus.
"As best we know, she had made a fair number of friends, but only in the last week," Beisecker said.
What led to the attack is also a mystery: About seven other people who were in the coffee shop told police that the two hadn't been arguing before the attack. Beisecker said there hadn't been previous signs of trouble between them.
Investigators have asked a court for permission to search Zhu's cell phone, computer records and diaries. They hope the phone, computer and other records they're seeking will give them clues about what might have led to the attack.
Police received two 911 calls shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday, and were on the scene in a little more than a minute to take Zhu into custody, Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said.
Zhu was charged with first-degree murder and was being held without bond at the Montgomery County Jail. His attorney, Stephanie Cox, did not return a call seeking comment Thursday.
Classes were held as usual Thursday and the sprawling 2,600-acre campus appeared normal, with students skateboarding, talking on cell phones and chatting with friends.
Tasha Lockhart, a sophomore from Ocean City, Md., went to her biology class in the Graduate Life Center's auditorium Thursday afternoon. She said she felt "a little bit" wary. Her instructor told students to be aware of exits that were away from the main entrance in case of trouble, she said.
After the arrest, a campus alert system put in place after the mass shootings by Seung-Hui Cho in 2007 sent out messages to 30,000 subscribers by e-mail, text messages and telephone voice mails Wednesday night, University spokesman Larry Hinckler said.
Because a suspect was in custody, the messages were sent out as notifications rather than as emergency alerts, he said. He said 60,000 messages were sent in about a half hour.
The school offered counseling to students, faculty and staff, and officials contacted students who were injured in the mass shootings as well as the families of victims.
"It was a very retraumatizing kind of experience," said Debbie Day, director of the Office of Recovery and Support.
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That will be the next thing. Edmonton is going crazy with stabbings. They must not be able to get the guns that the other major cities can. I have heard that a better hitman will use a knife rather than a gun though, so, it may be a pride thing.
Anyway the Mayor there is trying to put a ban on large knife sales.
CTV Edmonton - Mayor and Police Chief vow to crack down on knives - Canadian Television
Mayor and Police Chief vow to crack down on knives
Updated: Mon Feb. 23 2009 17:30:31
ctvedmonton.ca
Mayor Stephen Mandel and Police Chief Mike Boyd are vowing to crack down on the growing number of knives on city streets.
The two met Monday to discuss the possibility of new bylaws or legislation.
"With the number of knives coming out and being used, people are not safe," said Boyd.
The possibilities discussed Monday include, to create a bylaw making carrying a knife in public illegal, to restrict the sale of certain kinds of knives and to ban carrying knives in licensed establishments.
"We'll get a report back from administration as far as we can in order to do what we can to limit or eliminate knives in the city of Edmonton," said Mandel.
But, Criminologist Dr. Bryan Hogeveen questions whether any of the possibilities would make a difference.
"The problem is that we're not dealing with the issue at hand the issue at hand isn't knives, its violence," Hogeveen said.
Dr. Hogeveen said restricting knives doesn't address the root causes of the crime that is now being studied by a task force, trying to target violent offenders early.
"How do we find them, the supports and the services, so they can make different decisions, that's how we'll measure success," said Lindsay Kelly with Task Force on Community Safety.
That is a long-term approach at this point, with an estimated 1600 knife related incidents in a year in Edmonton, some feel a short-term fix is needed.
"We have to step forward and stop this," said Mandel.
The issue of knives has been raised in other Canadian cities as well.
Calgary passed a bylaw last year imposing a small fine for carrying visible knives in public and a city-wide ban was proposed in Saskatoon in 2005 but never became a bylaw.
The issue on the growing number of knives on city streets stems from two deadly stabbings in our city in the past week.
With files from Scott Roberts
OK, seriously too funny. How dumb can Canadians really be? :lol:
It isn't the size of the knife that matters it's how well you use it. ;-)
I think it would be better to ban all metal knives and only allow plastic.
Of coarse that means people will start poking each other with pointy sticks (spears) :-?
Better ban those too.
Oh, and stones of coarse.
Baseball bats...
It only takes one idiot to plant the seed of a useless but politically hot
idea about redundant legislation that the Criminal Code of Canada
already addresses, and other political opportunists will jump onto the
band wagon. Regina mayor will examine knife ban
idea about redundant legislation that the Criminal Code of Canada
already addresses, and other political opportunists will jump onto the
band wagon. Regina mayor will examine knife ban
A story popped into my head after reading that.
I have a buddy who is an O.P.P. officer and did his internship on the reserves in Northern Ontario. He said that every weekend you would get at least one pair of guys in a knife fit. the worst was a fight where they both had close to 30 stab wounds. The things with the Natives up there was that they know what they were doing. They where doing as a sport he figured out. They would stab eachother but not hit any vital organs or main arteries because, as one said,"Jeez! If I killed em, I'd have nobody to fight with next weekend."
I have a buddy who is an O.P.P. officer and did his internship on the reserves in Northern Ontario. He said that every weekend you would get at least one pair of guys in a knife fit. the worst was a fight where they both had close to 30 stab wounds. The things with the Natives up there was that they know what they were doing. They where doing as a sport he figured out. They would stab eachother but not hit any vital organs or main arteries because, as one said,"Jeez! If I killed em, I'd have nobody to fight with next weekend."
Trial started today. It is expected to last three days total.
Vince Li believed the voice of God told him to kill Tim McLean, Manitoba's Director of Forensic Psychiatry testified in court Tuesday.
Vince Li is accused of the second-degree murder last summer of Tim McLean, a 22-year-old man from Winnipeg who was killed in what passengers described as a random horrific attack.
According to Dr. Stanley Yaren, Li is a schizophrenic who hears voices.
Yaren, who has treated Li, told the court Li believed the victim was a force of evil.
CTV Winnipeg- Li heard command to kill: psychiatrist - CTV News, Shows and Sports -- Canadian Television
Li pleads not guilty in Greyhound beheading trial
CTV.ca | Accused in Greyhound bus killing pleads not guilty
Vince Li believed the voice of God told him to kill Tim McLean, Manitoba's Director of Forensic Psychiatry testified in court Tuesday.
Vince Li is accused of the second-degree murder last summer of Tim McLean, a 22-year-old man from Winnipeg who was killed in what passengers described as a random horrific attack.
According to Dr. Stanley Yaren, Li is a schizophrenic who hears voices.
Yaren, who has treated Li, told the court Li believed the victim was a force of evil.
CTV Winnipeg- Li heard command to kill: psychiatrist - CTV News, Shows and Sports -- Canadian Television
Li pleads not guilty in Greyhound beheading trial
CTV.ca | Accused in Greyhound bus killing pleads not guilty
