The Rare Archival Photos Behind ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

June 26, 2024 11:39 AM

While investigating the heinous Osage murders for his new book, David Grann also came to know the victims’ faces: One day in 2012, when I was visiting the Osage Nation Museum, in Oklahoma, I saw a panoramic photograph on the wall. Taken in 1924, the picture showed members of the Osage Nation alongside white settlers, but a section had been cut out. When I asked the museum director why, she said it contained the image of a figure so frightening that she’d decided to remove it. She then pointed to the missing panel and said, “The devil was standing right there.”
posted by bq (8 comments total)

Grann gave a great lecture at the museum I used to work at. I think the thing that I found the most impressive was that he went into the jungle for his book The Lost City of Z. That might not seem impressive until you learn that he is legally blind and can't see very far in front of him. An incredible guy.
posted by mattgriffin at 12:18 PM on June 26 [5 favorites]

This was fascinating and also a bit disappointing because I would really like to know the name of the one killer in the image shared. I imagine the book is really great. Thanks, bq!
posted by Bella Donna at 12:58 PM on June 26 [2 favorites]

Looks like William Hale.

Really interesting to see archival photos of all of this. Thanks for posting.
posted by mazola at 1:53 PM on June 26 [2 favorites]

Author of the article seems about as terrified by the killers as the director of the museum is.

If we can’t even look monsters in the face, and come right out and name the people who enabled them as well as the monsters themselves, how will we ever stop them?
posted by jamjam at 3:06 PM on June 26

I mean he did write a whole book about it, I imagine he used his name in the book as opposed to this short article with a specific focus.
posted by bq at 3:48 PM on June 26 [2 favorites]

Here’s an odd sideshow: The Strange but True Story of the Pioneer Woman’s Link to Killers of the Flower Moon
posted by bq at 3:50 PM on June 26 [3 favorites]

If we can’t even look monsters in the face, and come right out and name the people who enabled them as well as the monsters themselves, how will we ever stop them?

You won't. They've all been dead for many decades with only a few of them facing any kind of punishment. That was the point of the movie:

HALE
...Oh there might be some public outcry ‘for awhile’ but then people will forget. They won’t even remember - they won’t even care. Nothing’s gonna change, son, it’s just gonna be another everyday, common tragedy.

posted by star gentle uterus at 6:01 PM on June 26 [2 favorites]

There are no monsters. There’s just us.
posted by toodleydoodley at 7:09 AM on June 27 [1 favorite]