WICHITA, Kan. _ John C. Woods took to the killings with morbid fascination.
The Wichitan had developed a career of killing bad people, badly. He was thrust into the world's spotlight at the end of World War II as the hangman for 10 Nazi war criminals. Several of them died not from broken necks as would be expected with hangings but from slow, excruciating strangulation.
Nazi Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel was reported to have taken 28 minutes to die.
Woods bragged about the hangings. His face was plastered on newspapers, magazines and news reels.
It has been nearly seven decades since Woods experienced his own bizarre death. He is now the focus of a book scheduled to come out within the next few months.
"I don't look at him as an evil guy but as a guy who had to do something for which he volunteered to do," said retired U.S. Army Col. French MacLean, the author of "American Hangman." "I don't think he was a sick serial murderer but you could have fooled the Germans. He behaved like a bum.
"When Woods was hanging people, he was the main primary actor. It was his show."
MacLean is hopeful that there may be people who remember stories about Woods that could lead to more understanding about the Nazi hangman.
