1 day Ago By Ellie Hook
Natalie Webster has shared her chilling experiences with the man who would go on to murder John Lennon in 1980. In an interview with The U.S.
Sun, Natalie described Mark David Chapman, whom she first met when she was only 10 years old , as protective, "paranoid" and a lover of art - before he gained notoriety as John Lennon's killer. She started by discussing her unconventional childhood, which kicked off in 1980 when she resided in Hawaii with her younger sister Lana and their mother, Donna-Gail, a recent convert to Scientology. They frequently visited a building in Waikiki, O'ahu, where the Church of Scientology was headquartered.
Sydney Sweeney slammed for 'inappropriate' dress at Glen Powell's sister's wedding Val Kilmer dead aged 65 after legendary Batman star suffered pneumonia battle While their mother, then 27, delved into the teachings of the religion, Natalie and Lana, aged 10 and seven respectively, were allowed to wander the streets. It was during this time that the sisters encountered Mark. Natalie remembered, "My sister and I, we would draw pictures.
We would color pictures and try to sell them to make money to buy candy." "We got kicked out of the Scientology building for doing that. They said, 'You can't do that in here.
You can't run a business in a Scientology organization.'" Consequently, Natalie and Lana took their entrepreneurial efforts to the streets. "We went across the street, and we would talk to a security guard named Mark, and he would buy the drawings from us for 25 cents," she recounted.
Natalie enthused that Mark swiftly became the girls' "best customer," snapping up lots of their artwork and spurring them to churn out more. Natalie confessed to the interviewer that she always found Mark "a bit odd", yet she appreciated that he spurred them on in their artistic pursuits. "That stood out to me as well because not only did he buy some of our drawings that we did, he encouraged it," Natalie shared.
She sensed that he was at least somewhat aware of Scientology but displayed an "wasn't open" attitude towards the belief system. She recalled Mark's tendency to be "over the top" with his warnings, cautioning the girls with phrases like, "'Don't go down the street,' like it was dangerous outside and not a safe place to be." "But I can remember thinking, 'he's worked up about it'.
Now, I can put words to it: agitated, paranoid, looking around. 'Don't go down there,' 'don't go down there,'" Natalie elaborated. At the time, Mark's "energy" and his manner of expressing himself "scared" her.
However, she can now look back and laugh as she recalled the story, admitting she wanted to keep the relationship going "because he was my best customer". Natalie also divulged that she once urged Mark to undertake a "personality test," something she had often observed her mother suggesting to others. The "personality test" in question was a 200-item questionnaire used by the Church of Scientology to attract new members, often administered in bustling public spaces like streets, local fairs, and carnivals.
Compelled by Natalie's persistent suggestions, Mark reportedly stormed into the Scientology center, exclaiming, "This is a cult." Natalie recounted, "I inadvertently, I guess, 'body-routed' Mark David Chapman into Scientology. He thought it was a cult, and he didn't stay.
" She later reflected on whether his animosity towards the Scientologists was fueled by their lax supervision, which allowed her and her sister to roam the streets unattended at night. Merely months after causing a commotion at the Scientology establishment, Mark resigned from his security guard position in 1980 and headed for New York City. There, he infamously assassinated John Lennon on December 8, as the famed musician entered his Upper West Side apartment, by discharging five shots at close range — hitting him four times in the back.
Lennon was swiftly taken to the hospital but was declared dead on arrival. Mark admitted to second-degree murder and was handed a prison term of 20 years to life. He remains incarcerated at Green Haven Correctional Facility, located north of New York City, with parole having been denied to him multiple times.
In the aftermath of Lennon's tragic death, it came to light that Mark, a Georgia native, had cultivated an intense fascination with the Beatles, with a peculiar fixation on Lennon, especially during his teenage years. Further investigation revealed that Mark had initially traveled to New York City with the intention of shooting the music legend but had a change of heart and returned to Hawaii in November. However, he flew back to New York on December 6 and lay in wait outside Lennon's residence at The Dakota two days later.
The former security guard allegedly lingered at the crime scene, engrossed in reading The Catcher In The Rye, until he was apprehended. At the time of Lennon's murder, Mark would have been 25 years old, and it was also around this period that he was acquainted with Natalie and Lana. The repercussions of Mark's arrest led to Natalie's family being "temporarily banned" from the Church of Scientology, as they had inadvertently "brought the FBI" to the organization's doorstep.
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