Listen Now: Candyman: The True Story Behind the Bathroom Mirror Murder
Blood is Thicker: The Hargan Family Killings
CBS News
4.1 • 965 Ratings
🗓️ 3 October 2024
⏱️ 3 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ruthie Mae McCoy’s frantic 911 call stated, “They want to come through the bathroom.” Nearly three days later, police found her shot to death, her apartment breached through her bathroom medicine cabinet. In the new "48 Hours" podcast, Candyman: The True Story Behind the Bathroom Mirror Murder, Chicago native and journalist Dometi Pongo uncovers the terrifying reality of McCoy’s murder, which was one of the inspirations for the “Candyman” horror franchise.
Listen to "Candyman: The True Story Behind the Bathroom Mirror Murder" now wherever you get your podcasts.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. |
| 0:07.0 | It was called Candyman. |
| 0:11.0 | The Scary Cult Classic was set in the Chicago Housing Project. |
| 0:15.0 | It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. |
| 0:22.0 | Candyman. his name five times into a bathroom mirror. |
| 0:24.0 | Candy man. |
| 0:26.0 | Candy man. Candy man. |
| 0:28.0 | Candy man. |
| 0:29.0 | Now we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear. But did you know that the movie |
| 0:35.3 | Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? |
| 0:39.7 | Ruthie May, according to the medical examiner, had been shot four times. |
| 0:45.4 | Before she was gunned down in her apartment, Ruthie May McCoy, a 52-year-old grandmother, tried to get help. But what she told 911 sounded almost |
| 0:56.3 | unbelievable. She said the intruders were coming through her bathroom mirror. |
| 1:02.3 | I was struck by both how spooky it was, |
| 1:08.0 | but also how outrageous it was. |
| 1:11.2 | This was in 1987, and she lived on the 11th floor of a Chicago Project building. |
| 1:16.0 | When police came, they knocked on her door and called out to her, got no answer. |
| 1:22.0 | So after about a half hour they just left. |
| 1:26.0 | I'm Dometi Pungo. |
| 1:28.0 | And from 48 hours, this is Candyman, |
| 1:31.4 | the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder. |
| 1:38.6 | We're gonna talk to the people who were there. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from CBS News, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of CBS News and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.