The son of one of the 20th century's most famous freak show attractions is coming to terms with his dad's legacy and the man's infamous 1992 murder.
As "Lobster Boy," Grady Stiles, Jr. was the sixth generation of his family to be born with ectrodactyly, a congenital disorder that makes hands and feet resemble claw-like appendages.
His son, Grady Stiles III, inherited the condition and toured with his dad and sister as the "Lobster Family."
But it's what the younger Stiles didn't inherit from his dad that makes him happiest, according to an episode of "Freakshow," airing Tuesday on AMC.
"I'm not a fan of my dad as a person," Stiles III said to series stars Todd Ray, Danielle Ray and Phoenix Ray. "My father was racist [and] abusive. When I cried, [he was like] 'I'll give you a reason a to cry.'"
In 1979, the elder Stiles was convicted in the third degree murder of Jack Layne, his eldest daughter's fiance, one day before the wedding, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Grady Stiles, Jr. got a "sympathy verdict" of 15 years' probation, after authorities determined he had cirrhosis of the liver from his Seagrams and emphysema from smoking 60 Pall Mall cigarettes a day.
Stiles was notoriously verbally and physically abusive to people, often swatting them or choking them with his claw hands. He would head-butt people in anger, according to FindADeath.com.
"I think alcohol brought out the worst in him," Grady Stiles, III said.
In November, 1992, Stiles was murdered in his home in Gibsonton, Florida, by Chris Wyant, a family friend with gang ties.
Stiles was so hated in his community that no one was willing to be his pallbearer.
Wyant was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 27 years.
In court, it was revealed that Wyant had been paid $1,500 by Stiles' wife, Mary Teresa Stiles, and her son from a previous marriage, Harry Glenn Newman, III, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Grady Stiles III said his father's murder wasn't exactly as it was reported in court.
"What actually happened was my mother and my dad had gotten in another fight as usual and my mother had made the comment that something needed to be done," Stiles III said. "My brother had overheard that and went to the neighbor kid and told him that something had to be done.
"My brother thought that meant scaring him or beating [my dad] up or something to make him realize that he was going to lose his family. A little while later, my dad was shot."
Newman was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. His mother was sentenced to 12 years in prison for manslaughter.
As difficult as life has been for Grady Stiles III, there is one thing he wishes he could say to his father.
"Thank you for showing me who not to be and maybe you can appreciate who I became because of that," he said. "You were a drunken bastard but you were my dad."
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