Previously we looked at a number of alien-related slayings, as well as throwing in a round up of general cases, and now another strange, sad and unusual one pops up on the radar (OK it was the Anomalist but you get my drift):

TV 'told babysitter to stab boy'

A babysitter who stabbed a six-year-old boy to death claimed he was acting on telepathic messages from television show Stargate SG1, a court heard.

James Brennan was stabbed 73 times by 25-year-old Anthony Barnwell at his home in Chorlton, Manchester, last September while his father was out.

Barnwell admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility at Manchester Crown Court last month.

On Wednesday, he was sent indefinitely to a secure mental hospital.

James' father, David Broomhead, found his son's body after returning home to Terrington Close at about 0810 BST on 1 September.

Police arrived a few minutes later and found James in his bedroom on the ground floor of the maisonette.

Stargate SG1

Barnwell was found at the Southern Cafe on Nell Lane, Chorlton, at 0910 BST during a search of the area by police.

He was arrested on suspicion of murder and was subsequently detained under the Mental Health Act.

Manchester Crown Court heard that Barnwell, a friend of Mr Broomhead who also lived on Terrington Close, was a paranoid schizophrenia.

Philip Curran, prosecuting, said Barnwell had been watching Stargate SG1 the night before the attack and believed he had received messages telling him that James was Judas Iscariot and to "take him out".

He stabbed him repeatedly with a bread knife the next morning after staying up all night.

A post-mortem examination revealed James had suffered 73 stab wounds.

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Obviously as Anthony Barnwell is mentally disturbed it is difficult to analyse but there is no clear connection between watching Stargate, thinking the child was Judas and the need to kill him. There are other odd coincidences: It was Turn off TV Week and the Gospel of Judas recently resurfaced - clearly not an influence on this (as it happened last year) but just an example of unusual timing.

There have been a few stories cropping up concerning strange delusions so I thought a quick round up might be in order:

Evil Cloud

Rather reminscent of the alien crash deaths reported earlier:

High on methamphetamine, under the delusion "an evil cloud" was chasing him, Vasily Basargin crashed his truck last July into vehicles at three busy Anchorage intersections during rush hour, injuring four people.

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Devil slayer

A Clarendon Hills man charged with killing his 8-year-old daughter told authorities she was the devil and he had to kill her to save the world, a law enforcement source said Thursday.

...

In the statement, Lofquist, speaking clearly and calmly, said he saw signs of the devil in his daughter and saw the number "666" in a card game they were playing, the source said. Lofquist told authorities he would not hurt his 6-year-old son because he was "the chosen one," the source said.

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God told me to do it

A mother accused of severing the arms of her 10-month-old daughter has a brain tumor that could have caused the psychotic hallucinations her defense says led to the killing, a Collin County Jail psychiatrist testified Friday.

The cancerous tumor in the middle of Dena Schlosser's brain and its possible effects were not part of the 37-year-old Plano woman's capital murder trial in February, which ended with a deadlocked jury and a mistrial.

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Wu said it is possible the tumor created a condition known as peduncular hallucinosis, with symptoms such as vivid, recurring hallucinations, sleep disorders and problems with motor skills.

Testimony in the first trial showed that several times in the year before the killing Schlosser had religious-based hallucinations and delusions that she thought God wanted her to kill the child.

In jail, Schlosser once lost her balance, fell and fractured a bone, Wu said.

Wu said that while Schlosser's hallucinations were consistent with a brain tumor, she was not certain that they were directly linked.

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And indeed she got off:

A mother charged with murder for cutting off her baby daughter's arms in what her lawyers portrayed as a religious frenzy was found not guilty by reason of insanity Friday by a judge.

Dena Schlosser, 38, will be sent to a state mental hospital and held until she is no longer deemed a threat to herself or others.

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Police arrested Schlosser in 2004 after she told a 911 operator she had severed her baby's arms. Officers found the 10-month-old baby, Margaret, near death in her crib and Schlosser covered in blood, holding a knife and listening to a hymn.

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The judge relied on evidence he had heard during the first trial. Among other things, psychiatrists said Schlosser suffered severe mood swings and religious hallucinations. One doctor said Schlosser told him she wanted to cut off her baby's arms and her own limbs and head and give them to God.

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In another similar Texas case, a jury rejected an insanity defense in 2002 from Andrea Yates, the Houston mother who drowned her five children in the bathtub. She won a new trial on appeal and will again use an insanity defense in June.

In 2004 in East Texas, Deanna Laney was acquitted by reason of insanity after killing her 6- and 8-year-old sons by bashing their skulls with rocks.

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