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| Swan enjoyed a good cigar as he engaged in one of his favorite daily pastimes... blissfully taking in the latest amusements in his private video room. At least, that's what he told us he was doing in there. |
Being the greatest showman of his time, Swan had the foresight to record his life on video, and to set aside for permanent storage the most important artifacts from throughout his long and illustrious career.
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This photo of the murderer swinging down from above was taken by wedding guest Abe Zapruder Jr., who happened by coincidence to be aiming his camera towards the ceiling at the crucial moment.
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This photo, of Leach with an unidentified acquaintance -- possibly a coconspirator -- was found clutched in Leach's hand after his death. Photo: Allan Tannenbaum.
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Swan had intended that these records and artifacts be preserved in the Archives. Sadly, a mysterious fire broke out on Friday, December 13, 1974, consuming Swan's video storage facility and the overwhelming bulk of the Archives' collection. In a tragic coincidence, just as the fire spread through the Archives, Swan was murdered -- during what should have been the happiest night of his life, his wedding, onstage at the Paradise, to his ingenue, Phoenix. For reasons which have never been adequately explained, a madman named Winslow Leach (who appears to have been acting alone, though there is evidence he may have been working with a second assassin in a projection booth) swung down from the rafters into the midst of Swan's nationally televised wedding, murdered Swan, and then apparently stabbed himself to death.
The full records of the investigation into the deaths of Swan, Leach, and Arnold Philbin, who also perished onstage that night, have never been made available to the public. However, there are persistent rumors that no knife matching Leach's lethal stab-wound was ever found. The official police explanation is that Leach stabbed himself with the same "crowgirl" mask that he had used only a moment before to stab Swan. This account is belied, though, by the live feed of the event, broadcast coast to coast, which appears to show that the mask was taken from Leach immediately after he stabbed Swan with it. The official explanation of events has thus been deridingly labeled the "magic crowgirl mask theory" by those who remain convinced that there are facts which have to this day been concealed from the public.
Ironically, Leach, an ex-con, had while in prison been a beneficiary of the kindness of our sister nonprofit institution, The Swan Foundation Dental Health Research Program.
In the spirit of Swan's stated intentions that his archives enrich humankind for generations to come, The Swan Archives presents in these pages what little remains of the physical record of Swan's life...and untimely, tragic death.
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Inquiries may be directed by email to archivist at swanarchives.org. The words "grand guignol" appear nowhere on this site. All website text, design, and coding is Copyright 2006-2024, Ari the Principal Archivist. No claim is made to the copyrighted works, trademarks or service marks of Harbor Productions, 20th Century Fox or A&M Records, and The Swan Archives is in no way affiliated with any of these entities.
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