Hammer

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Hammers have been used for centuries for many purposes. In
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medieval times, hammers were designed as weapons of war to
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counter the armor that protected fighters from swords and axes. Today,
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we know them mainly for their use in construction, hammering
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nails and demolishing old buildings. Despite being intended to create,
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people still use the construction tool as a device of death.
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Hammers have been used for as long as man has
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been alive. A simple stone being struck against something was
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essentially the earliest hammer. Adding a stick or bone as
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a handle gave the user more control, and eventually the
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stones would be shaped to better suit the user's needs.
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They quickly became a staple tool for building, but they
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wouldn't escape being used as a weapon throughout history. By
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the fifteenth century, quality plate armour's development created new challenges
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that traditional weapons couldn't overcome. Swords and axes lost their
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edge against the angled, hardened surfaces of quality plate armor.
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The surface hardened steel armor matched sword edges and axe blades.
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In hardness, strikes would simply glance off instead of penetrating.
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The curved contowards sections of plate armor deflected sword strikes
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by design, which made powerful blows useless warriors, and plate
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armor rendered standard cutting swords obsolete. Though the weapons had
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ruled early Middle Ages battlefields, the greater massive axes didn't
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help much either. They could cause blunt force trauma through
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chain mail, but failed against plate armours stiffness and deflective properties.
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Warriors learned that their trusted edged weapons could no longer
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pierce or damage advanced armor, so battlefield tactics had to change.
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The warhammer emerged as a solution to that problem. Unlike
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swords that needed sharp edges, warhammers used concussion to defeat
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armored opponents. A warhammer's concentrated force could stagger and stun
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an opponent without piercing their armor. When people think of
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hammers used in battle, they generally imagine a large hammer
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like Thor's mule near, but they were actually much different.
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Warhammers featured a two inch or five centimeter square iron
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head on a handle which varied in length. Foot Soldiers
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usually carried a longer one up to five or six
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feet or one and a half to one point eight meters.
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Soldiers on horseback carried shorter warhammers at two to three
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feet or sixty to ninety centimeters. That design focused massive
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force on a small area. The impact could dent armor
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enough to break bones or disorient the person wearing it.
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The hammerhead's small surface created a focused point of impact
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that livered maximum force, especially in downwards strikes from horseback. Eventually,
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a sharp spike was added to the backside of the
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head to add more versatility. The weapon continued to evolve
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over time. Some added a spike on top so it
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could be used like a pike. Warriors could pierce armor,
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grapple opponents, or hook reins and shields. Some designs combined
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three or four pronged hammer heads with spikes and picks
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to assistant pulling armour off of opponents. Metal lankeets made
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wooden shafts stronger, while later all metal designs eliminated broken
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wooden shafts entirely. Guns ended up changing the battlefield completely.
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Soldiers were able to pierce armour from far away, which
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made plate armor and specialized anti armour weapons obsolete in
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Western Europe by the sixteenth century. After that, cavalry used
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them for some time as backup weapons. Military leaders eventually
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realized armour's protection was not worth its weight and how
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it limited movement, soldiers gave up their heavy plate armor
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and the special weapons they used to break through it
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fell out of favor. Warhammers took a different path in
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Eastern Europe, though Polish and Hungarian warriors used those weapons
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extensively through the seventeenth century and into the first half
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of the eighteenth century. Polish, who saw light cavalry, loved
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their warhammers and kept them hanging from their saddles, ready
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to use. Polish nobles saw the weapons's crucial gear. For centuries.
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They ranked them second only to sabers in importance. Still,
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modern technology saw those forces also abandoned the weapon for
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more advanced tools of combat. After that, the hammer became
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an essential tool for construction, but it didn't lose its deadliness.
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On my other channel, This is Monsters, I've covered many
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stories where a person was murdered by being beaten to
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death with them hammer. The story of Carl Bluestone in Kent, England,
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the murder of Vanessa, Gean and Fort Hood, Texas, and
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of course the Niperpetrovsk Maniacs in Ukraine. I've put links
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to all of those videos in the description. Hammers have
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been used in a wide range of crimes due to
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their convenience and easy availability. There is a myth that
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gets repeated that more people in the US are killed
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by hammers every year than guns, but that's not even
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close to being true. Still, they get used often enough
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to have created an extensive list of cases where they're
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used as a murder weapon. One of the earliest accounts
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of a murder by hammer happened in eighteen seventy one,
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when seventeen year old Jane Klausen was found bludgeoned and
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clinging to life in Altha, a district of London, England.
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A bloody hammer was found near her body and her
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purse was nearby, still containing money. She was taken to
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the hospital but died four days later. Before she did, though,
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she was able to name twenty year old Edmund Puke
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as her attacker. Jane worked as a housekeeper for the
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Pooks and Edmund was their son. He was claimed that
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they were in a relationship and she had become pregnant,
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but Edmund's father was mad about it and fired her.
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The Pookes claimed that they fired her for having an
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unkempt appearance and not performing her duties well. Either way,
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she ended up being murdered, and despite her identification of Edmund,
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he was acquitted at trial. A different man who matched
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Edmond's appearance had been seen in the area, and a
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shopkeeper said that he had sold a hammer to that man,
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not Edmund, a few days earlier. The true identity of
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the killer was never revealed, and the Pukes moved out
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of the area to avoid the media. Twenty year old
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Bonnie Garland was sound asleep at her parents' house in Scarsdale,
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New York, when she was viciously attacked. She had been
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dating twenty three year old Richard Heron for about three years,
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but the last year had been long distance. Once Richard
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graduated from Yale, he had been accepted to a graduate
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program in Texas. The following summer, Bonnie took an extended
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trip to Europe, and the time apart made her realize
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she was no longer in love with Richard. He flew
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back to New York and stayed at the Garland home
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while he tried to win her back, but she assured
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him that it was over. At about two am on
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July seventh, nineteen seventy seven, he snuck downstairs, where he
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found a hammer in a kitchen cabinet, He crept upstairs
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and struck Bonnie in the head with the weapon over
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and over. He then stole the Garland's car and drove around.
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At one point he smashed the rear view mirror and
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used the glass to cut himself. When he ran out
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of gas, Richard walked to a church where he confessed
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to the murder. The priest called the police. When they
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arrived at the Garland house, Bonnie was still alive, but
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she died later in the hospital. Richard Herron was convicted
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of first degree manslaughter and spent seventeen years in prison
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before being released on parole. Critics of his lenient sentence
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blamed the clergy of Yale's Catholic Church for convincing the
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judge that Richard was of quote unquote good character and
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was just the victim of his upbringing in a minority
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neighborhood in Los Angeles. A year before Richard was released
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from prison, a hammer was used in the attempt at
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hijacking a Federal Express flight seven oh five. Forty two
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year old Auburn Callaway was a flight engineer for Federal Express,
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and he was facing a possible dismissal for lying to
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his employer about his flight hours. On April seventh, nineteen
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ninety four, the day before his scheduled hearing in the matter,
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he boarded flight seven oh five as a deadhead. On
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the flight from Memphis, Tennessee, to San Jose, California. About
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twenty six minutes after takeoff, Auburn pulled a hammer out
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of his carry on and attacked the flight crew, with
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the three men in the cockpits. Stunned, Auburn retrieved a
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spear gun and returned to the flight crew, but they
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fought back. The first officer was still at the controls.
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As the captain and flight engineer struggled with the christ coworker,
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he pulled the plane into a sudden climb, throwing everyone
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else to the rear of the plane. Then he rolled
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the plane almost upside down, which knocked Auburn around, and
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the other flight crew were able to get a hold
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of him. The plane landed back in Memphis, where Auburn
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was arrested by police. Forty nine year old Captain David
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Sanders had deep gashes to his head and his right
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ear was partially removed. Forty two year old First Officer
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James Tucker Junior had a fractured skull, a dislocated Jod
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had been stabbed in his right arm. Thirty nine year
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old flight engineer Andrew Peterson had a fractured skull in
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his temporal artery had been severed. All three survived their wounds.
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Auburn Callaway pleaded not guilty due to temporary insanity, but
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he was found guilty of atta eempted air piracy and
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sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in federal prison. He
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was learned that he had taken out a two hundred
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and fifty thousand dollars life insurance policy on himself and
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he was planning to crash the plane, making it look
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like an accident. The insurance money would have gone to
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his two children. Twenty one year old Lily James was
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the coach of the water polo team at Saint Andrew's
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Catholic School in Sydney, Australia. She had dated a twenty
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three year old man named Paul Tyson for a short time,
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but had broken up with him in the middle of October.
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It seems that Paul was unable to accept that Lily
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didn't want to be with him, so on October twenty fifth,
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twenty twenty three. He attacked her in the restroom of
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the school after she had finished water polo practice. It
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was not a spur of the moment attack, though upon
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review of surveillance footage, it was revealed that Paul had
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practiced his attack in the time leading up to the murder.
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Paul was also a coach at the school, so he
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had access, and the footage shows him locking the doors
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to the school and then walking into the restroom with
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the hammer in his hand. First, he does it with
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the hammer in his right hand, then does it again
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with the hammer in his left hand. He then waited
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in the staff room until water polo practice ended, even
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being seen on surveillance looking out the window, presumably checking
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to make sure his ex girlfriend's car was still in
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the parking lot. When Lily returned to the staff room
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and went into the restroom to change, Paul waited outside
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for a few minutes and then suddenly lunged into the room,
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where he struck Lily with the hammer twenty five times,
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killing her. Surveillance showed Paul leave the school and drive
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away in a rented car. He wired money to his
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roommates and texted them messages saying it was for future rent.
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The police searched for him, but it took a few
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days before they found his body at the bottom of
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some ocean side cliffs. The investigation uncovered that Paul had
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also stalked and harassed another former girlfriend when she broke
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up with him as well. A forensic psychologist said that
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he likely had severe feelings of inadequacy, which he tried
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hard to cover up, but breakups triggered those feelings. Paul
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Tyson was originally from the Netherlands, but his parents opted
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to not have his remains returned. The most recent story
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that I found that fits this theme happened earlier this
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year at the hands of sixty eight year old Richard Law.
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Not seeing the irony of his name, Richard struck his sister,
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seventy year old Judith Law, six times with a hammer
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and then called emergency services on January seventeenth, twenty twenty five.
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He and his sister lived together in Devon, England, and
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Richard told authorities that he and Judith were both suicidal
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and the pressure just built up. He said he didn't
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kill her out of anger, and that he had plans
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to kill himself afterwards. But couldn't go through with it.
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Richard Law pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished
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responsibility and was placed in a psychiatric hospital. And definitely,
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as someone who spent many years in the building industry,
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I'm very familiar with the use of hammers. They come
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in a variety of shapes and sizes that are meant
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to help complete projects, from framing to finish, carpentry, or
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even metal fabrication and autobody work. Unfortunately, most of those
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designs are also effective as devices of death. Thanks so
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much for letting us tell you this sinister story. If
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you enjoyed it, subscribe on whatever platform you're on and
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hit like, rate it, or leave a comment. Join us
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again for more dark and interesting stories from around the world.
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Be safe,