Dentist By Day; Hit Man By Night

Once again I volunteered to be a docent on the Central West End mansion tour in St. Louis.

I arrived for my shift, and found myself stationed between the music room and the library in a huge house built in 1902.  I could have just stood there and told visitors: “This is the music room and over here is the library”, but I wanted something juicy to tell them.

The head docent showed me the secret passage: you pressed upon a section of wall paneling and it opened into a secret hallway.  But I knew I couldn’t tell visitors about the secret passage, because they will want to find the secret passage.  We couldn’t have visitors pressing wall panels all over the house…

Then the head docent lowered his voice to a whisper: “Glennon Engleman, the dentist, was a frequent visitor to this house; he was the brother of the owner’s wife.”

The head docent scurried away.  Why would a dentist be something juicy to talk about?  I took out my phone and googled.  Glennon Engleman’s name came up – on www.serialkillercalendar.com.  Definitely juicy. 

As people came through the music room, I mentioned that Glennon Engleman was a frequent visitor to the house.  The name rang a bell with one visitor: “My house is down the street from a couple that the dentist bludgeoned to death.”  A few minutes later, another visitor said: “My husband was the prosecuting attorney who put that dentist away.”

Then a couple came through the music room.  “We used to own this house, and one day we were standing in the front yard when a van pulled up.  It was the Discovery Channel, and they wanted to film our house for a series on mass murderers.  They brought along the FBI agent who had arrested Engleman in this very house.”

Glennon Engleman was a popular dentist because he was affordable.  However, he trained his female dental assistants in the art of wooing men --- men with big fat life insurance policies.  Once the dental assistant married the man with the  life insurance policy, the dentist offed the husband.

Besides bludgeoning, the dentist sometimes used a rifle, but he preferred dynamite because it left few clues behind.  Then the proceeds from the big fat life insurance policy were divvied up. 

Seven murders have been attributed to Engleman, who was arrested in 1980.  He was incarcerated in the Missouri State Penitentiary --- he actually served as the prison dentist before he died there in 1997.

This was a very juicy tidbit to tell people coming through on the mansion tour.  If the people had a kid, I would ask if their child scared easily.  If they answered no, I would tell the kids about the deadly dentist.

On hearing that a mass murderer used to visit the mansion, little girls would become all apprehensive, and ask me if the dentist was hanging around somewhere upstairs.  Little boys, however, would become all attentive, and ask me to show them the bloodstains…

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NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com