Big Ears

Big Ears is a scary true story about a serial killer called “El Petiso Orejudo” which means “The Big-Eared Shorty”. His real name was Cayetano Santos Godina and he was a boy from Argentina who became an evil serial killer who preyed on younger kids.

Cayetano Santos Godino was born to a poor family in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His father was an abusive alcoholic and when he got drunk, he would use his entire family as punching bags.

As a child, Godino had a lot of health problems. He was very short for his age, with a small head, very long arms and extremely large ears. He also displayed very odd behavior from an early age, taking pleasure in killing cats and birds and setting things on fire.

He went to 6 different schools and was expelled from all of them for his violent and disruptive behavior. He had no interest in studying and never even learned how to read. Instead, he roamed the streets of his neighborhood looking for evil things to do. Because of his strange appearance, people thought he was mentally disabled and didn’t pay much attention to him.

When he was 7 years old, Godino beat a 2-year old boy and threw him into a ditch. A nearby official saw this and brought both of the kids down to the police station, where their mothers picked them up a few hours later.

A year later, Godino dragged an 18-month old girl to a patch of wasteland and started beating her over the head with a rock. A police officer who was nearby heard the little girl’s cries and intervened before Big Ears killed her. Because of his young age, Big Ears was released after spending a night in jail.

When he was 10, Godino’s parents discovered a box full of dead birds with their eyes plucked out under his bed. Since he was unable to stop the boy’s bad behavior, his father marched him down to the police station and had him put in jail for a few months.

What nobody knew at the time was that, a few days before, Big Ears had lured a 2-year old girl to a vacant lot and buried her alive under a pile of rubbish. Her body was never found.

After he was released from prison, Godino was back to his old tricks. He lured a 2-year old boy to an abandoned warehouse by promising him sweets and then tried to drown him in a trough of water. The owner of the place heard the commotion and came running. Godino told him that a mysterious woman in black had tried to drown the little boy and he was just trying to save the child.

His parents had enough of his shocking behavior and they brought him to the police station again. This time, the police sent him to a mental hospital. While he was at the hospice, Big Ears tried to strangle two of his fellow patients and attempted to poison another. He spent three years there and was released shortly after his 13th birthday.

As soon as he got out, Godino was back to roaming the streets, and embarked on a huge crime spree.

On January 17, 1912, he set fire to a warehouse and watched with glee as firemen struggled to put out the flames.

On January 26, 1912, he lured a 13-year old boy to an abandoned house. He tied him up and stuffed a handkerchief in his mouth. Then, he whipped the boy with a tree branch, beat him, stripped him naked and strangled him to death with a rope.

On March 7, 1912, Godino saw a 5-year old girl looking at shoes in a shop window. He set fire to the girl’s dress and watched her burn. A policeman managed to put out the flames, but the girl died in hospital 16 days later.

On September 24, 1912, he set fire to a railway station and snuck into a stables where he killed a horse with a knife.

On November 8, 1912, he lured an 8-year old boy to a warehouse with the promise of candy. He tied the boy’s feet and tried to choke him to death with a belt. He was interrupted when a man who worked nearby called the police. The police questioned the big-eared boy, but he claimed he had been saving the child’s life. Without any evidence, the police had to let him go.

On November 16, 1912, he attacked a young girl and started beating her in the street. A man happened to be looking out of his window and saw the whole thing. He saved the girl and called the police, but the big-eared boy escaped before they arrived.

On November 20, 1912, he tried to kidnap a 2-year old girl, but she cried out and was rescued by a neighbour.

On December 3, 1912, a mother allowed her 3-year old son to go outside to play. She had no idea that it would be the last time she saw her son alive. Godnio spotted the boy and lured him away with the promise of sweets. He took him to an abandoned house and tried to choke him with his belt. Then, he tied the boy’s hands and legs and started beating him.

He left the house in search of another weapon to use on the boy. On the way, he happened to bump into the boy’s father who was looking his missing child. When the father asked the big-eared boy if he had seen his son, Godino sent him in the wrong direction. He went back to the house with a nail and used a rock to hammer it into the side of the boy’s skull, killing him. Then, he hid the corpse.

The frantic father came back and searched the house a few minutes later. He was horrified to find his son’s dead body. The family held a wake for the boy that evening and Godino showed up. When he went up to view the body, he touched the boy’s head where the nail had been hammered in.

By this time, the police were very suspicious of Big Ears and the way he always seemed to be around when children were attacked. Also, two witnesses had seen Big Ears in the company of the murdered boy and hanging around the abandoned house.

The next morning, the police surrounded Godino’s house and arrested him. In custody, Big Ears confessed to his crimes and spent hours boasting about what he had done.

Godino was finally charged with 3 murders and 11 attacks and he was sent to a mental hospital. Psychiatrists came from all over the country to examine him. While he was at the hospital, he tried to murder two fellow inmates, so he was moved to a prison where he spent the rest of his life. Doctors judged him to be too dangerous to release.

In 1927, they performed an operation to pin back his ears, hoping that this was the cause of all of his evil crimes, but it did nothing to improve his behavior.

In 1933, he strangled a cat and tossed the corspe on the fire. The other inmates were outraged because the cat was the prison masot and they beat him so badly that he had to spend 20 days in the hospital.

From 1935 onwards, he was always ill and received no visitors.

On November 15, 1944 Godino was found dead in his cell. He had died due to internal bleeding and there were some strange circumstances surrounding his death. Some people believe that he was beaten to death by his fellow inmates.

He was buried in the prison cemetery and nobody attended his funeral. Nobody turned up to mourn him either. It was a fitting end to the evil, vicious and miserable life of the big-eared boy.