Remember how after 9/11, stories started coming out about celebrities like Seth MacFarlane and Mark Wahlberg, who were dangerously close to being passengers on the doomed flights ? It's hard to imagine a world without A Million Ways To Die In The West , or a world where Marky Mark single-handedly stopped the hijackers and saved the day like he says he totally could have . But our point is that being a celebrity doesn't make you immune from being connected to terrible crimes that permanently change your life. For example ...

5 The First Lady Took A Photo With John Wayne Gacy Just Months Before He Was Arrested

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Throughout the 1970s, John Wayne Gacy was responsible for sexually assaulting and murdering over 30 young men, as well as further ruining clowns for generations to come.

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But despite paving the way for It, Gacy seemed like a regular guy who was an active member of his community. Among other things, he helped organize Chicago's annual Polish Constitution Day Parade, second only on the Chicago parade calendar to the Lithuanian Supreme Court Establishment Parade. In May 1978, first lady Rosalynn Carter decided to attend the parade, and then this happened:

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Yes, Gacy was given the honor of posing for a photograph with the first lady, and Mrs. Carter even signed a copy and wrote "best wishes" to a man who would turn out to be evil incarnate. If you look at his jacket, you'll see a pin that indicates the Secret Service had given him special clearance to meet her.