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What Happened In The Bradley Gang Massacre In Welcome To Derry Revealed
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- Published on Feb 16, 2026
- What really happened during the Bradley Gang Massacre in 1935? In this video, we’re going back to Derry’s past to unpack the truth behind one of the town’s bloodiest days and how it connects to It: Welcome to Derry and Stephen King’s original IT.
We walk through who the Bradley Gang were, why they came to Derry, how the town quietly set up an ambush, and what actually went down when those cars rolled onto the street. Then we dig into the creepy part: the conflicting eyewitness stories, the clown that some people swear they saw in the middle of the gunfire, and what that means for Pennywise’s role in the massacre.
This isn’t just a history lesson. It’s a character study of Derry itself-how a whole town can become a weapon, and why Pennywise keeps coming back here to feed. We’ll also talk about how the show updates the timeline, what the buried car full of skeletons really tells us, and why the Bradley Gang Massacre matters so much to the larger story.
If you love deep dives, lore breakdowns, and story analysis, you’re in the right place. Grab a drink, get comfy, and let’s go back to 1935 together.
#ItWelcomeToDerry #StephenKing #BradleyGangMassacre #Pennywise #HorrorBreakdown 
Film & Animation
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The idea of IT jumping out the window shooting into the melee in its Pennywise disguise is both funny and dark, considering it was the one who influenced the town's human nature to carryout the violence.
Stupid incredibly stupid is what it is for a clown to walk out Rambo style killing a bunch of people
@ryannewberry3845 only that it's not really a clown but a sadistic cosmic entity taking part in a bloddy massacre.
@magallanesagustin4952yeah a massacre that he influenced too😂
@ryannewberry3845seriously is it so hard for people to acknowledge the fact that pennywise is one of the entity's many forms
@ryannewberry3845
Actually the "clown" was inspiring the whole town to shoot up a couple people.
Pennywise: The only one who can terrorize Derry is Me!
Damn. He really IS *"PENNY* *"WALK EM DOWN"* *WISE*
🗿🗿🗿🗿
🔫🤡🎈
😂
The Dancing on their graves clown.
@w1ndgeneral226 😂
I think you said it but just in case, each shooter saw Pennywise hold the same gun they were shooting.
Totally Pennywise’s influence inside each person and the town could see him
The image of pennywise max payning out the window is always going to be a favorite
IIRC, the guy who saw Pennywise leaning out of the window said that he was leaning too far out for it to be natural.
Dude, IT: Welcome to Derry is by far the best live action show I have seen in a long time. Me personally, I am very excited to see these three big incidents for this season, season 2, and season 3, mainly because they were talked about in the movies, but never really shown, so seeing the events that lead to the catastrophies is going to be awesome!!!
I’m hoping this show gets the green light for an extra season cause the book has a lot of ground to cover.
@spaceballs44they already said season 2 & 3 will happen
@primal8724 Yeah but HBO has yet to greenlight season 2. Seems like they will though given the show’s success but nothing is guaranteed yet.
@megachonkr1392I think they will because it welcome to Derry has been super viral and it's making people watch
“by far the best@ this generation calls everything the best please stfu and just enjoy the show 😂
The Bradley Gang Massacre bears an eerie similarity to the killing of Ken McElroy in Skidmore Missouri in 1981.
In that incident, the town 'united' to kill Ken McElroy, and no one ever admitted wrongdoing, and apparently, no one was ever held accountable. 🤔
If Welcome to Derry gets a season 2 and takes place in 1935 the massacre episode is going to be so damn bloody
They already said season 2 will happen
@primal8724Yeah I think they're going back as far back as 1881 with it. So far we've seen 1908.
@JocMilesthey are making three season. 1st was 1962. 2nd is 1935 and season 3 being 1908
So basically.... It's heavily implied that It himself was the cause of the Bradley Gang Masacre, disguised as each shooter, and he was the reason why the gangsters were dead. Honestly, that sounds badass
*she
@tiffmonique7154IT
@tiffmonique7154 *it
@tiffmonique7154 not a she IT only get she her pronouns in the spider body IT is just energy.
@tiffmonique7154 0/10 ragebait.
I love seeing natives on t.v and on popular shows I’m proud to be one my tribe only have 7000 people
What tribe are ya from if you don't mind me asking?
Same here
Well good for you 👍
@BeeHatGuy😂 why would they mind?
😂 want a participation trophy?
It would be interesting twist if a Bradley gang member ( most likely girlfriend) had the shine... and Penny wise was messing with the Gang... and all those bullets they wanted was to fight IT... so IT organised the town to fight back....
That would be interesting though guess we'll see when season 2 comes
Putting my money on this
I can’t wait for season 2!
It’s gonna end at season 1
@Theycallmedabeaverno there are totally 3 seasons
@Theycallmedabeaverno they already said season 2 & 3 will happen
I don’t wanna see this story though as we already know how it’ll end. They should do a 1881 , 1908 or 1989
@MentLeeeIt chapter 1 is already 1989.
This is like the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre & a gun fight in the Wild West.
No it is not. It is a take on the Bonny & Clyde ambush.
@darthkek1953 That's a good point.
I think for one reason or another “IT” will be shown to be threatened by the Bradley gang for one reason or another and IT takes them out as a result
my theory as of last week is that since we know pennywise can be photographed, the Bradley Gang has evidence that will bring more attention to Derry
Maybe Pennywise was even jealous that Derry was more afraid of the gang than it.
@w1ndgeneral226exactly my thoughts
I've seen some people on tiktok saying the season 2 set of kids will likely have a character or two who are related to some of the members of the Bradley gang, pennywise is already eating kids and they'll likely end up telling the Bradley gang who then try taking pennywise out which then leads to pennywise turning the derry people against the Bradley gang, pennywise can shapeshift into anyone dead or alive victim or not so it's possible he shape shifts into some of the Bradley gang people and causes chaos amongst some places making the derry town go against them leaving him to feast on all the gang and the kids that are the next "loser club" for season 2
This will be the story going into Season 2 of Welcome To Derry’s storyline. This is one of the most gut-wrenching stories out the Dark Tower.
Yes and i think the bradley gang will be blamed for the disappearance of kids and get executed as a result. It be quite the twist if we find out that the reason they went into that store for ammunition was to try to kill pennywise.
@giovannygarica275 plot twist of the century 🔥💯
What if The Bradley actually ordered the ammunition to kill Pennywise and probably their plan gonna work since they're adult gangsters and not kids? Then Pennywise influenced Derry's people to kill them instead?
I wouldn’t expect that to be the case, as while the Deadlights love to feast and feed on fear, particularly children, it’s still a cosmic entity that, would, can, and will kill people. You can boil chicken and eat it sure, but it’s going to taste like shit. Fear to the Deadlights, is the difference between boiled chicken and chicken parm. The losers club only won at the end of chapter two, because they had already experienced the Deadlights, and were somewhat familiar with them.
@michaeljohnroderick376
Well maybe the idea that this gang is making the town of Derry more scared of them than even IT might make it seem like a territorial conflict. Like how animals mark their territory to ward off other animals. IT probably saw the Bradley Gang as intruders who are making IT's food less...variant in flavor, let's say.
Cool spin, never thought of that. Maybe we'll find out more with Season 2 of Welcome to Derry. Ugh I hate we have to wait for 1 to 2 years tho😮😢😢😢😢😢😢
This season pennywise didn’t have any direct influence on the black light massacre beside killing the kids that Hank got accused of. If anything some kids will go missing and suddenly the new criminal element will either be see as the cause or be the unfortunate victim of a town on edge
If I'm Pennywise, I want fear. Right?
So in comes a gang SO FEARED, that Pennywise isn't feeding as much as he could because the town, at this moment, does NOT fear Pennywise. They fear the GANG.
Psychologically, the more ruthless the Bradley Gang are, so is the power that comes from when they finally feel that fear that everyone else feels.
I hypothesize that Pennywise could get enough "food" for that cycle. Yes, he'll probably be eating townsfolk and children but the fear from a FEARLESS gang, is more fear than that town could produce in TWO cycles.
But since the show is now having Pennywise take out descendants of the Loser's Club, perhaps the Bradley Gang (for the sake of the show) are trying to get out of town to save a child (a Marsh, maybe) from an entire town where Pennywise influences the town to kill the kid.
But the book has several horrible events, Derry has never been right. 'Salems Lot, Castlerock, Little Tall Island, etc ... all have sketchy history and destructive human behavior.
I think pennywise is supposed to represent the evil that lies in all humans. It or pennywise is just normal human behavior when we let the worst of ourselves out.
What if the bradley gang was actually not that bad and they just accidentally killed someone and when they encountered Pennywise they decided to kill him because even they felt bad about the kids in the town, they can show us that the new team of kids will also develop some friendship like relationship with tha gang as they work together to kill IT.
Bust sadly Pennywise will do his trick..
The reason I love the show because of how realistic it is , how this thing is affecting the entire Derry. But I was disappointed when I saw the views on trailer only 14 million views despite being the best show of this year.
Its ok give it time i grew up on curry films but i also
Have both of bills and
Just finished watching the 1st season cant wait till the next couple of seasons and i just got to read the book to get everything
so this is why it was jumping through the window while holding a gun
You made it pretty clear the tension was ramped up due to Pennywises influence. Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to.
This sounds it’s gonna be ranked 3rd out of the seasons lol
There is going to have to be a 2nd season.
3 of em
I’m also a fan of tommyknockers and I find it funny that the military is interested in “It” while buried 35 miles away underground in Haven is alien ship that would probably be a lot more practical to exploit versus some fear based cosmic psychic entity. I hope they do a long form series that is closer to the book with that story someday. The TV mini series barely cut it as an adaption.
I would love that too for The Shining. I used to hate Kubrick's take, but nowadays I just don't consider it a true adaptation of the book. Kubrick borrowed the hotel and some names of people, but that's it for the connection to the actual story of The Overlook hotel and Daniel Anthony Torrence. They even bastardized Dr. Sleep to coincide with the events of Kubrick's movie instead of the book. I hate Hollywood. 🙃
I agree!! I think that would be a good take too.
Well, this is the same military in The Mist
Damm this is getting good tell me more
"Creeping Jesus" is a crazy nickname 💀💀
P wise really be strapped up then 😭
I’m yo dancing daddy 🕺🏾🕺🏾🕺🏾🕺🏾
So are we supposed to feel bad for a town killing a bunch of people that killed and robbed people? This might make me like pennywise
IT is the reason why there are evil acts in the first place.
I can't wait to see in play out in the series!! That's going to be EPIC!!
Waiting for season 2
Respect for Taniel and Pauly for sacrificing their lives ❤
Im beyond heavily invested 😂 my guy Penny is by far the most interesting something I have ever had the pleasure to be absolutely terrified of not this new one the original
Sounds like Pennywise made a strong impression on you!
Imagine we get all 5 seasons
Penny wise keeps going further back in time to the point where he traps himself in his own beginning killing himself off
i think im first here, i just stumbled across your videos theyre pretty dope
Awesome, so glad you're enjoying the videos!
They all saw the clown because they were all possessed by the clown, so they are part of the clown.
Pennywise is evil and he definitely would've been in hog heaven with all that chaos. Shit he would have fun now with all the division going on. 😊
Have they showed the Bradly gane ?
Can’t wait to see this in season 2
It would be so dope if we seen season 2 episode opening scenes of this
I find this event strange. It doesn't quite fit with other events, especially that there are no children involved and those killed were bad. Who's fear is Pennywise feasting on? Doesn't seem to work.
Did they blame them for the children?????
Most likely.
Pennywise en Culiacán
Bro
That was good. loved it ! very detailed and informative ! 🙂
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching.
I feel it's both the towns' people and It. The towns' people have hate in them, but It amplifies their hate. Kind of like a spreading virus or disease.
I was there
My grandfather was at the ambush of Bonnie and Clyde, he was not in the posse but assisted before and after as he was a Beinville Parish Sheriff Deputy !
My grandfather is from Haynesville and I ended up as a teenager in Lancaster, TX. I was shocked to learn that Lancaster was one of the places they hit before heading to Louisiana.
So he basically helped them escape
So question in the intro we are shown that Bradley gang clearly died and fell to the ground after being shot , with that being said how did their car get buried with them inside ? Could the mob have buried them or what
Kinda makes you wonder why IT inspired the massacre to begin with.
*Sure it feeds off fear, and what better way to spread fear than with a massacre. But was there another reason IT caused the shootout? Was Pennywise just bored out of it's mind, or was he secretly jealous that the Bradley Gang is causing all the fear in Derry? Heck maybe IT even felt like the gang was invading it's territory, IT is an animal technically speaking.*
Yeah I'm fascinated by this story too. As brutal as it was, it was technically a case of lawful self-defense. A group of ruthless criminals think they can terrorize this small helpless town, only for the local Cosmic Horror to say "nuh-uh, not in my neighborhood " and inspiring the townsfolk to violently fight back. Like the Trope "Mugging the Monster " except it's whole group of humans with Monster back up.
IT just loves chaos and its a free food for him so why not, humans are just too unimportant for a cosmic entity to care about territory.
Maybe it’s just me but this Bradley gang incident sounds like justice and earned. Am I suppose to feel concerned a town of people came together and got rid of some criminals and covered it up? Outta give them a medal. This kinda citizens justice is needed irl. Example right now this kinda townsfolk intervention is needed in Oklahoma 2025. On video graper stranguler is sentenced to community service.
deserved or not, people enjoyed it, no one should enjoy something like that. They shot them far more than they needed to, if you watched it happen, you’d be distraught at the fact that they enjoyed ripping peoples bodies apart with bullets.
@HapTheAp you underestimate the grisly nature of us. So I beg to differ.
@HapTheApI agree
Didn't this happen in real life
Like one dude in small town.. Texas maybe
Yea a dude was left in a busy street in town during the day full of bullets and not one witness
The show is really well done so far, unfortunately we know how all the seasons end, Pennywise wins
Still really interesting
He wins but Stephen King has said he has given the directors free reign, so I think he will win but with some twist on those wins
@PandoraChiles yeah like Ronnie s a character that dies in the book. She may very well survive the season and somehow connect to the losers
Its meant as a prequel to It's origin. It also serves as a way to answer mysteries that were in the books and a way to understand what penneywise is.
What else would u expect from a prequel !?!?
iT really cares about public safety lol
Sounds like Bonnie and Clyde
Why would they feel the least bit guilty though? Id of been right in there with them
Only denji can kill this devil
Al, Alvin? 🤔
5:58 No is still self-defense.
The show gave IT powers IT doesnt have, like telekentic Projection. IT is shapeshifter, in its physical form. NOTHING MORE. Any time it takes a weird form, that isnt IT just creating a projection (like falsely conveyed in the Pickle Aisle scene or the fake Snail Eyes scene). Even when Henry Bowers sees IT in the Moon, its because IT takes that physical form. Hes not projecting an image, lol.
IT can also create illusions.
@goon5031IT literally doesn't create illusions, unless you mean his physical body transforming into something other than the Spider form.
You're just giving IT powers that IT never had, by saying that you think it does things. Lol. 😂🫵 does spiderman Fly like Thor now because some wetahd said it? Lol
@AlwaysNerdyTV the Ritual of Chüd in the book is a literal psychic battle. To say that IT(The Dead Lights) only uses Glamour shows you've never read the book.
What about the fortune cookie scene. I believe it was an illusion of some sort.
@RIPToNateDoggIHadToRegulateObjectively, That was IT taking the form of fortune cookies and when each member opens theirs, IT shapeshifts again into each of their fears. That was described as ITs "Welcome Back", it was not an illusion. If they stomped on the cookies, they were stomping on IT, not some tele-projection of their fears.
@film parardise. Its shit is posioning the towns water. Little hint to it in welcome to derry