"Here is a work that emphasizes the full view of the lives of those
young people that Gacy took. . . . It is essentially the Gacy story in
reverse. Victims first."
--Jeff Coen, author of Murder in Canaryville
As investigators brought out the bagged remains of several dozen young
men from a small Chicago ranch home and paraded them in front of a crowd
of TV reporters and spectators, attention quickly turned to the owner of
the house. John Gacy was an upstanding citizen, active in local politics
and charities, famous for his themed parties and appearances as Pogo the
Clown.
But in the winter of 1978-79, he became known as one of many so-called
"sex murderers" who had begun gaining notoriety in the random brutality
of the 1970s. As public interest grew rapidly, victims became footnotes
and statistics, lives lost not just to violence, but to history.
Through the testimony of siblings, parents, friends, lovers, and other
witnesses close to the case, Boys Enter the House retraces the
footsteps of these victims as they make their way to the doorstep of the
Gacy house itself.