Symbols Becoming the Boogeyman Richard Chizmar

The Hangman Drawing: A Symbol of Game, Guilt, and Hidden Identity in Becoming the Boogeyman

What Is the Hangman Drawing?

In Becoming the Boogeyman, the hangman drawing is a small, childlike illustration left on the palm of a victim. It depicts a stick-figure gallows with a noose, drawn in black ink using a fine-point Sharpie. Below the figure, the killer adds a series of dashes representing blanks in a word‑puzzle, with one dash already filled by a number—the digit “7.” The drawing first appears on the hand of murdered teenager Peyton Bair, discovered by police during the initial investigation.

The literal object is crude and unsettling: a playful game image imposed on a corpse. It mimics the kind of drawing a child might make during a game of Hangman, yet here it becomes a deliberate signature. The killer uses it to mimic serial killer Joshua Gallagher’s original calling card from his 1988 murders, where Gallagher also left telltale marks such as hopscotch grids and missing‑dog signs. The copycat’s hangman drawing is both an homage and a taunt, designed to link the new murders to the “Boogeyman” legend while creating its own twisted puzzle.

Where the Symbol Recurs

  • Peyton Bair’s palm (Chapter Nine, “The Hangman Cometh”)
    Lieutenant Clara McClernan shows Richard Chizmar a crime‑scene photograph: an outstretched hand with a silver charm bracelet, blue nail polish, and in the center a hangman figure with eight dashes below, the last dash containing “7.” Chizmar immediately recognizes it as a link to Gallagher. The chapter’s title itself signals the symbol’s importance.

  • Media revelation (Chapter Eleven, “The Copycat Effect”)
    After the mannequin incident, television news broadcasts exclusive images of the hangman figure, confirming the copycat used a Sharpie and the number seven matches the numeric sequence Gallagher employed in 1988 to differentiate his victims. The media connects the symbol to the original Boogeyman murders, intensifying public fear and the copycat phenomenon.

  • Final decoding (Chapter Nineteen, “Reckoning”)
    While confessing his past to his wife Kara, Chizmar is struck by the word “pawn” during their conversation. He recalls Gallagher’s love of games and crossword puzzles, then realizes the seven‑letter blank under the hangman must spell “METHENY”—the last name of Henry Metheny, the imprisoned accomplice at Ware State Prison. This revelation demonstrates that the hangman drawing was not merely a signature but a hidden clue pointing to the mastermind.

How the Meaning Changes

Initially, the hangman drawing functions as a signature of the copycat. It says to the police and the public: I am continuing the Boogeyman’s work. It capitalizes on the notoriety of Joshua Gallagher and the town’s obsession with true crime. The crude style suggests a game, reinforcing the killer’s playful yet cruel attitude.

As the investigation deepens, the symbol becomes a puzzle to be solved. The number “7” and the blank dashes invite interpretation. Richard Chizmar initially wonders if the number sequence matches Gallagher’s old victim counting, but later evidence shows the blanks form a name. The drawing transforms from a simple identifier into a cryptic message—a literal hangman game waiting to be completed.

In the final act, the hangman reveals hidden identity. When Chizmar deduces that the seven letters are “M-E-T-H-E-N-Y,” the symbol becomes a Rosetta Stone linking the copycat murders to Henry Metheny, the man who worked in the prison library and communicated with Gallagher via crossword puzzles. What once seemed like a boastful signature is now a confession of complicity. The drawing changes from an act of imitation to an act of exposure, forcing Chizmar and the police to recognize that the true puppet master has been hiding in plain sight.

Character and Theme Connections

  • Joshua Gallagher – The original boogeyman used cryptic signatures (hopscotch grids, pumpkins, pennies) but not the hangman drawing. However, his love of games and puzzles (chess, crosswords) sets the stage for the copycat’s choice. The hangman image becomes a bridge between the two killers, emphasizing Gallagher’s influence even from prison.

  • Richard Chizmar – As the author‑narrator, Chizmar is obsessed with understanding every detail of the murders. The hangman drawing directly implicates him because the copycat seems to be targeting his town and his family. His eventual decoding of “METHENY” links his past—he once worked with Metheny—to the present horror, deepening his guilt and complicity.

  • The Copycat Killer – The unnamed perpetrator adopts the hangman as a deliberate homage to Gallagher while also making it his own. By leaving the drawing on a victim’s palm, he asserts creativity and control. The symbol reveals his need for recognition and his desire to play a game with law enforcement and the public.

  • Henry Metheny – The hidden conspirator, Metheny never appears in person but his name is the answer to the hangman puzzle. The drawing ultimately points to him as the intellectual architect, a figure who used Gallagher’s notoriety and Chizmar’s fame to orchestrate murders from inside the prison system.

  • Theme: Copycat Effect – The hangman drawing is the visual embodiment of the copycat phenomenon, where media coverage of one killer inspires others. The symbol triggers a wave of imitation and public hysteria, as seen in the town’s panic after the photo is released.

  • Theme: True Crime Obsession – The drawing becomes a viral image, dissected on news shows and internet forums. It fuels the very obsession that Chizmar critiques—the public appetite for gruesome details and connections to celebrity killers.

  • Theme: Blurring Reality and Fiction – Chizmar, a fictionalized version of the real author, must separate the story he is writing from the reality of the murders. The hangman drawing blurs the line because it originates from Gallagher’s fictionalized crimes in Chasing the Boogeyman but is now appearing in the “real” world of the sequel.

  • Theme: Guilt and Complicity – Chizmar feels responsible because his book about the Boogeyman may have inspired the copycat. The hangman drawing, by pointing to Metheny, also implicates Chizmar’s past silence about his coworker. He recognizes he was “a pawn” in Gallagher’s games, a realization that forces him to confront his own moral failures.

  • Theme: Performance of Evil – The hangman drawing is a performance: a stage prop in the killer’s theatrical display. It turns murder into a spectator sport, complete with a puzzle for the audience to solve. The drawing invites the public to play along, transforming the crime into a macabre game.

Study Questions and Answers

1. What is the literal appearance of the hangman drawing, and where does the reader first encounter it?
Answer: The hangman drawing is a child‑like stick‑figure of a gallows with a noose, drawn on a victim’s palm in black Sharpie ink. Below the figure are eight dash marks representing missing letters in a word; one dash already contains the digit “7.” It first appears in Chapter Nine when Lieutenant McClernan shows Chizmar a photograph of Peyton Bair’s hand.

2. How does the symbol connect the copycat killer to Joshua Gallagher, and why does this matter to the story?
Answer: The copycat uses the same numeric sequence (the number seven) that Gallagher used in 1988 to number his victims. This deliberate echo suggests the new killer is imitating Gallagher’s signature style. It matters because it fuels the copycat effect—Chizmar’s book and the true‑crime frenzy around Gallagher inspire the killer—and because it leads investigators to suspect Gallagher is directing the copycat from prison.

3. What hidden meaning does the number “7” and the eight dashes conceal, and how does Chizmar eventually decode it?
Answer: The seven dashes form the name “METHENY.” Chizmar decodes it after saying the word “pawn” in conversation; the word triggers a memory of Gallagher’s love of crossword puzzles. He realizes the hangman drawing is a literal game, and the completed word points to Henry Metheny, an accomplice at Ware State Prison who communicated with Gallagher via online crosswords.

4. In what way does the hangman drawing reflect the theme of “performance of evil” in the novel?
Answer: The drawing turns murder into a game for the public to observe and solve. By leaving a hangman‑style puzzle, the killer invites spectators—police, media, readers—to participate in the “play” of identifying the missing word. This performance emphasizes the killer’s desire for an audience and the novel’s critique of true‑crime culture, where violence is packaged for entertainment.