Today in History: John Lennon Was Murdered

On this day (December Eight) in 1980 John Lennon was murdered by Mark David Chapman. Chapman had traveled from Honolulu the preceding October to kill Lennon but changed his mind. That morning Lennon had signed his album, Dark Fantasy, for Chapman. That evening Chapman shot him four times in the back.

Why Chapman shot him is difficult to understand. He had been a big Beatles fan but got angry at Lennon for stating that the Beatles were “bigger than Jesus”. Later he got angry that Lennon could write “Imagine” about “no possessions” and then enjoy his millions. Lennon wasn’t the only person on his “hit list”. It included David Bowie, whom he had front row tickets to see in Elephant Man the next night (as did John Lennon and Yoko Ono), Johnny Carson, Marlon Brando, Walter Cronkite, Elizabeth Taylor, George C. Scott, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. I guess in the end, he was just crazy. He changed an insanity plea to a guilty plea and is currently serving twenty years to life in prison. He has been denied parole nine times.