The early 1980s were a trying time for the people of Pierce County, Washington, a populous area about one hour south of Seattle. A serial killer who committed some of the most gruesome murders in history roamed the streets. His victims were not human. It is estimated that Jacob Theodore Bundy, known simply as JAKE, brutally murdered more than 1,100 cats, both domestic and feral. However, he was only convicted of 141 killings for which there was concrete evidence.
He would skewer, then burn alive, most of the feral cats whom he killed. Domestic cats were different. He would gut them over the dining room table, then use their blood to paint “Cats Are Neat” on the bathroom mirrors, and sign it “JAKE”—usually with a backward K, causing many to think that he was dyslexic. It was rumored that his diet consisted mainly of cat meat and apples, but there is no evidence that he actually ate his victims.
After 14 months of terror, JAKE was finally arrested. He then was taken to Western State Hospital for an evaluation by a psychiatrist, who would later testify that JAKE claimed hallucinogenic maggots in the apples that he ate instructed him to go to war with cats and their leader, the Egyptian goddess Bast. According to JAKE, Bast domesticated cats so they could infiltrate humans’ homes and spread disease.
JAKE explained, “The cats were given eight lives by Bast, and were supposed to spend them ridding the world of humans. Bast encouraged her subjects to kill unborn children in their mothers’ wombs. If they did, they’d be rewarded with a ninth life. This is why I was exterminating them. I wanted to save humanity. I burned and tortured them over and over again to use up all of their lives.”
Despite JAKE’s statements, the psychiatrist determined that JAKE understood his actions were against the law, and therefore he was fit to stand trial. The Pierce County prosecutor decided to try the 15-year-old as a juvenile. JAKE was transferred from Western State to the Remann Hall Juvenile Detention Center in Tacoma, where he was placed in the center’s general population and allowed to roam freely. This elicited numerous complaints from other inmates, who feared him.
Flash, AMQA’s rhythm guitar player, recalls: “We were all in there. Derk, Corey, Bob, Paul, and I. We would generally meet in the music room during our out-of-cell time. We had a band called The Juvies going. One day, JAKE walked in. We instantly recognized him. He approached Corey, and told him, ‘I’ve written a song for your band, and you’re going to make it sound good.’ The song was ‘Cats Are Neat’.
“From then on, he would join us every day in the music room, sharing stories and ideas, and forcing us to change the name of the band to the Hallucinogenic Maggots. Then he disappeared. Using cat blood from an unknown source, he’d painted on the music room mirror, ‘Cats are neat when they’re smashed in the street.’ He was nowhere to be found. He’d escaped. Eventually, the rest of us were let out, and we continued the band on the outside. We changed the band name again, to Apple Maggot Quarantine Area, from a highway sign that we passed daily. We all felt that JAKE and hallucinogenic maggots were very bad things.”
JAKE was never seen again. However, many think that he went to Mexico, due to the large number of cats on both Mexican coasts that have been brutally murdered in the last 40 years!


-David Ulysses Portnow-


Corey Ladas - Bass/Vocal

Flash - Rhythm Guitar/Vocals

Mike Clam - Lead Guitar,

Bob Bulgrien - Drums & Vocals on ‘Rick'