DISCLAIMER : If you're under the age of 13 or if you're sensetive to murder and scary stuff, I suggest you don't read this for your own safety. Credit to The YouTuber, Horror Stories and The Podcaster, Greg from Suspicious Circumstances for the information. Enjoy.

Paul Michael Merhige is arguably considered to be one of the worst and scariest mass shooters in The History Of The United States. A man who suffered a long History of mental health problems and trouble with his friends and family that would ultimately lead to one of the most terrifying mass shootings of all time. This is The Story Of Paul Merhige.

Paul Merhige was born on September 10th 1974 in Jupiter, Florida to Michael and Carole Merhige and he was their first born child. He later became the brother to his younger Twin Sisters, Carla Merhige and Lisa Merhige. They were a very fun loving family and Merhige often fought with his twin sisters, but it was completely normal since siblings always fight with each other. Merhige grew up to be an Honor Student and Varsity Athlete at a Private Preparatory and Graduated from The University Of Miami. The Merhige's seemed like a good family and Paul seemed like a good behaved independent person. Little did any of them know however that their family, and especially Paul would take an extremely dark turn later on and it would result in one of the most horrifying events in History...

Despite how well behaved and independent Merhige was, his life was way more troubling than anyone thought. Over the years, he started to suffer terribly from his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and his Depression, which often caused him to have mental breakdowns. He was able to calm himself down a lot of times after his mental breakdowns, but he often dealt with his mental issues daily, which caused him to become less stable as the years went on and his mental health only continued to get worse overtime. By his early 20's, Merhige started suffering from what was described as : "An Nervous Breakdown" Which is often used to describe people who are heavily affected by stressful situations in which they're temporarily unable to function normally in day-to-day life. For his entire life, Merhige never held any jobs, romantic relationships, he was lazy, and he would stay inside on his computer all day most of the time.

However, his mental health problems only continued to get more severe and unthinkable. Throughout his life, Merhige made numerous frantic threats to kill himself along with Carla and Lisa as he started to grow a huge hatred for them as he grew up. In 1999, Merhige attempted suicide at the age of 24 by shooting himself in the chest with a gun, but the attempt failed. Although now everyone wishes Merhige was successful that day...

One time, Merhige went to the Police to report false accusations he made against his sister Carla, telling them she was trying to kill him and after the Police found out the accusations were false and calming Merhige down, he dropped the accusations a few weeks later. A couple years after his false accusations against his sisters, he threatened to cut his and their throats with a knife. Lisa and Carla were so scared of their psychotic Brother, they would eventually get restraining orders against Paul, which they would drop a few weeks after they acquired them due to the fact that Paul often calmed himself down after having mental breakdowns. Unfortunately, The Merhige Sisters should have kept their restraining orders against Paul because they had no idea that their volatile brother would only get worse over the next few years...

Everyone was very worried about Merhige and his extremely troubled Mental Health, so he was sent to Psychiatric Hospitals 3 times under Florida's Baker Act. During his time at the Hospitals, he would often admit to fantasizing about killing his family, which worried the doctors so much, he underwent Electro Shock Therapy. He was also placed on several Medications, including Antipsychotics and Anti Anxiety Medicine. Several doctors took care of Merhige during his time at the Hospitals, including his own uncle, Dr. Antoine Joseph. Merhige seemed to be doing a good job at recovering from his Mental Issues in the Hospitals, so he was released during all three of his visits there. But unfortunately, releasing Merhige from the Hospitals would be a big mistake that they would deeply regret later on...

From 1996 to 2006, Merhige was considered to be Legally Disabled due to his mental struggle and violent outbursts. From 1994 to 2009, he lived with his parents who were generous enough to let him live with them during his adult life and take care of him. They also managed his insurance since he never held a job in his life. They took him to therapy and made sure he always took his medications, gave him allowance when he did chores around the house, and paid his bills. He also was financially dependent on them.

It seemed like Merhige had a good easy life living at home with his parents, but in actuallity, Merhige living with his parents was far more difficult than they ever would have thought. During his 13 years living with them, Merhige's parents reported him to the police 10 times due to his aggressive outbursts and violent threats he made against them. Merhige was reported threatening other people with violence, physically attacking people, discharging firearms, threatening to discharge firearms, and refusing to take his mental health medications.

Merhige also felt and expressed hateful rage towards the rest of his family, including his uncle, Dr. Antoine Joseph as he believed that he was the reason as to why his life was so troubling as well as his sisters, who he had a lot of resentment and jealousy towards.

Merhige's behavior got so bad to the point where his parents were exhausted and scared of him and kicked him out of the house in 2009. However, they were still generous enough to set him up in his own Condo and hired a housekeeper to clean his house and to notify them on Merhige's life.

Unfortunately, even though this seemed to make things better for Merhige's parents, they didn't make Merhige any happier, himself. He became reclusive and avoided contact with people. The only person he ever communicated with and let in his house was the housekeeper himself. Merhige also completely stopped taking his medications, which the housekeeper noticed and reported to Merhige's parents.

Unfortunately, even though this seemed like Merhige was at his lowest point, he would do something later that year that would be so horrific, that it would completely destroy and tear apart his family in every way imaginable...

On this day, 12 years ago, on Thanksgiving Day, November 26th 2009, Jim Sitton, Muriel Sitton, and their 6 year old daughter, Makayla Sitton started a lovely Thanksgiving get together with 15 people they invited over. They invited Michael and Carole Merhige, their twin daughters, Carla Merhige, who was a real estate agent at the time, and Lisa Merhige, who was pregnant at the time. Lisa's Husband, Patrick Knight who worked as a Miami Attorney also joined the happy get together. Also joining The Sittons were Muriel's parents, Antoine Joseph and Raymonde Joseph. However, The Sittons had an unexpected guest at the Thanksgiving get together who they never invited, and that guest was Paul Merhige.

Everyone was surprised to see Paul show up to the get-together as The Sittons never invited him, and Michael and Carole who were just as confused as everyone else, never told him that their son was coming over. He also heavily distanced himself from most of his family throughout his adult life, and he only met Jim and Muriel twice and the last time they saw each other was 13 years prior in 1996. Paul's family found his appearance very out of character for him since not only did Paul invite himself, but during the months leading up to the event, he was asking his parents for specific details about the Thanksgiving get together, such as how many people would be there, if his sisters and uncle would be there, what was the address, and when would it be over.

Earlier that day, he called his mother and told her he was coming to The Sitton's Thanksgiving get together and he was lost and needed directions on how to get to their house. Carole and Lisa were a little bit concerned about Paul wanting to join them for Thanksgiving based on his History of his unstabled mental health. After they ended the call, Carole said to Lisa : "I hope he doesn't come and kill us all tonight.". After hearing those disturbing words from her mother, Lisa replied saying : "Mom, it came to my mind. But don't tell Dad, because Dad would get upset that we had such ideas.". Carole and Lisa thought they were thinking too far and decided to enjoy Thanksgiving with their family. Unfortunately though, Carole and Lisa couldn't have been more wrong, because within a few hours, they would not only go through one of the most terrifying events in their lives, but one of the most terrifying events in History...

After Carole and Lisa discussed their concerns to each other, Carole told everyone else that Paul was coming over for the get-together, which shocked everyone in the house, especially Muriel who asked Raymonde if anyone invited Paul, to which Raymonde simply replied : "I have no idea.".

Despite the unexpected self invitation, everyone was still okay with Merhige coming over and when he arrived at the house, he was happily let in and treated well. He sat down quietly at the dinner table and had a nice big Thanksgiving dinner with his family.

After enjoying the Thanksgiving dinner with each other, the family gathered in the living room around Makayla's Piano to sing Christmas songs because December was only 5 days away. Makayla was a Piano player who loved to play Music and Lisa and Carla loved to sing songs with her. She played a song from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Ballet which she would perform at a Play she would be in the next month. Everyone was very happy and entertained by Makayla's Piano playing and it seemed to be a Happy Perfect Thanksgiving. However, Merhige was feeling jealous and angry that everyone was getting love and attention except him, and within a few minutes, he would perform one of the scariest and most heinous acts imaginable...

After performing for her family, Jim put Makayla to bed and returned to the rest of his family in his living room. A few minutes after he returned, Paul left the house without saying a word. His family thought he was just going outside for some fresh air or to smoke a cigarette, or he was simply leaving the house without saying goodbye. The family just shrugged Paul's unexpected leaving off as no big deal, but tragically... They couldn't have been more wrong because the happy perfect Thanksgiving get-together was about to turn into a nightmare that would forever change the lives of everyone inside the house...

After Merhige left the house, he walked to his Blue 2007 Toyota Camry to grab a gun he brought with him, and walked back inside the house, immediately scaring everyone inside and sending them screaming and running for their lives. Without hesitation, Merhige immediately shot his aunt, Raymonde Joseph in the shoulder as she fell and collapsed to the floor. Absolutely terrified, her husband, Dr. Antoine Joseph quickly knelt down beside her and tried to heal her, but Merhige shot her again in the chest, this time fatally wounding her. He then shot and killed his two sisters, Carla and Lisa, killing them instantly. Merhige then shot his brother in law, Patrick Knight in the stomach, who collapsed to the ground, and he was hurt so bad, he was completely paralyzed.

Merhige then shot a friend of his family, Clifford Gabara which slightly injured him. Merhige then pointed the gun at his crying uncle, Dr. Antoine Joseph. Merhige attempted to shoot his uncle twice, but his gun jammed both times, so he cleared the pistol jam and walked upstairs to Makayla's room as Knight watched in horror. Merhige walked into his 6 year old cousin Makayla's room. She was asleep when Merhige shot her. Merhige then stepped out into the upstairs hallway, only to turn around and walk back inside Makayla's room to shoot her two more times. Merhige then walked back downstairs into the living room and said : "I have been waiting 20 years to do this!".

However, just as it seemed like Merhige's horrific killing spree was only just beginning and everyone else in the house was in serious danger, he left the house and drove away.

When the coast was clear, everyone else in the house, who were on the verge of having heart attacks, urgently called Police and Pandemics who quickly arrived at the House to recover the bodies and search for Merhige, but he was nowhere to be found.

Patrick Knight and Clifford Gabara had luckily survived their shot wounds but sadly, Lisa Knight, Carla Merhige, Raymonde Joseph, and Makayla Sitton all died instantly. Patrick Knight was injured so badly, he had to be put in a Medically Induced Coma for the next 3 months. It was a devastating loss to the whole family and Merhige was on the run from everyone.

After the massacre, a massive manhunt began for Merhige and he was featured on the TV show, America's Most Wanted, but he was not discovered until 1 month later on January 2nd 2010. After he drove away from The Sitton House, Merhige had cut his hair, switched the license plate on his car, used "John Baka" as a fake name, used a Car cover to hide his Car, and moved 3 hours away from Jupiter, Florida to The Edgewater Lodge Motel in a part of The Florida Keys called Long Key 6 days after the massacre on December 2nd 2009.

1 month after he moved into the motel on January 2nd 2010, he was discovered by Paul Fath. Fath was the owner of The Motel and he was watching a Football game on TV when a commercial for the America's Most Wanted Merhige episode appeared on his TV.  Fath realized that the man on TV looked just like John Baka and was positive that he was the man who checked into the Motel the previous month. When Fath realized that the man on TV was the same man in his hotel, he was terrified beyond belief. His wife, Linda researched the case on the show's main website and she was just as terrified as her husband. They quickly called the Police, alerting them that Merhige was at their motel. When the Police questioned them on a 1-10 scale of how sure they were Merhige was at their motel, they replied : "10! You need to get here now!".

Finally, after 1 month of being on the run from a terrifying massacre, Paul Merhige was caught and was immediately taken into Police custody.

Police and Investigators realized that in the days preceding the massacre, Merhige had purchased several firearms, including a handgun and a remington with a scope. He also withdrew $12,000 from his bank account and got his Passport back from his parents. Everybody was disgusted with Merhige and wanted him to be thrown in jail as soon as possible.

During his trial, Merhige used insanity as his defense due to his unstable mental health resulting in an inhumane resolution. But everyone else, including the prosecutors completely disagreed with Merhige and knew it was pre-meditated murder as he was fully prepared for the massacre and he knew what he wanted to do that night. There was no defense Merhige could use for himself.

On October 27th 2011, after making a deal that spared him The Death Penalty, Paul Merhige was found guilty and was given 7 Life Sentences Without Parole.

Merhige's brother in law, Patrick Knight thought it was a good idea to sentence Merhige to Life In Prison Without Parole instead of The Death Sentence because he wanted to move on with his life and not deal with years of constant appeals, and he thought it was the only punishment Merhige could have and he believed The Death Sentence was a fast and easy punishment for him.

But Makayla's father, Jim Sitton didn't agree with Nephew In Law and was pleading for The Death Sentence instead. He became so desperate that he had a mental breakdown and had to be removed from the courtroom after falling on his knees and begging and screaming at the judge to put Paul Merhige to death.

However, everyone else agreed that Merhige's sentence was good enough for him, and he was sentenced to 7 Life Sentences Without The Possibility Of Parole.

Shockingly, The Thanksgiving Massacre weren't the only murders in The Merhige Family History. On July 19th 1973, Merhige's aunt, Salwa Merhige Abrams shot and killed her husband in their home before calling in her two sons one by one and shooting them dead as well. She then committed suicide by shooting herself afterwards...

On the previous Thanksgiving in 2008, Paul's uncle, Dr. Antoine Joseph hosted the get together and he threatened to cancel it if Michael and Carole brought their son to the event.

Unfortunately, The Thanksgiving Massacre didn't just take four beloved family members away, but it also destroyed and tore apart the rest of the family, as they were constantly suing and blaming each other for the next several years. Jim and Muriel sued Michael and Carole claiming they created a zone of danger by inviting their son to the get together without telling anyone and even though they no longer financially helped him, they still didn't do anything to prevent him from buying guns. Jim Sitton went as far as to say : "If someone brought a Rattlesnake or a Pitbull to your home without your permission, and that Pitbull started attacking and killing people, wouldn't you hold that person responsible? That's what this is! We're seeking justice with every means at our disposal.".

The court on the other hand, disagreed with The Sitton's lawsuit against Michael and Carole since they were no longer his guardians at the time of the massacre and couldn't be held legally responsible for the actions of another person they were not in control of and Merhige bought the guns without his parents knowing.

Michael and Carole also sued The Sittons and Paul's uncle, Dr. Antoine Joseph who lost his wife in the massacre, saying it was their fault the massacre happened because they should've known Paul was dangerous despite the fact that the massacre didn't happen at Dr. Antoine's house and everyone knew Paul was dangerous, including his own parents who invited their son at the last minute.

The family's relationship was completely destroyed by the massacre in every way imaginable, but over the years, the family has been able to apologize to each other and calm themselves down, moving on from all of their accusations against each other and choosing to focus on the four victims who were tragically murdered that day. Although the family's lives have never been the same without them. "After the murders, all the joy and laughter and little girl giggles left us a cold empty house." Said Jim Sitton 10 years after the murders. Jim and Muriel had 2 more children named Natalia Grace Sitton and Rayla Sitton in 2012 and 2014 respectively and over the years, the family has still been able to have good times with each other, but they will never forget that terrifying night that changed all of their lives for the worst...

It's been 12 years since The Thanksgiving Massacre, and Paul Merhige is still serving his 7 Life Sentences in Prison with no chances of being released. Thanks to his troubling volatile life, he committed one of the most terrifying events of all time and an event that will never be forgotten...

To this day, 12 years later, The Story Of Paul Merhige remains as one of the most terrifying Stories ever and a crude reminder as to how horrific people can turn into...

The end...