User:Manytroubles/Johanna Saari

Johanna Elmina Saari (March 23, 1898-October 31, 1927) was a singer at the St. Anthony Hotel in San Antonio,Texas. Saari was originally born in Keräsjänkkä,Sweden where she lived with her father, Oskar Ruonala, and mother, Catarina, until 1914. When she was only 16 years old she came to America with her fiance Frans Saari. They were later married in Kentucky on September 1, 1916. Saari originally had dreams of becoming a world famous actress and Broadway performer. She worked as a singer at The Brisbane nightclub in Kentucky, which is now the famous nightclun Bobby Mackey's Music World. In 1917 her husband Frans was killed by Arthur Leo McKellops, Saari's secret lover. Shortly after her husbands death Saari and McKellops moved to San Antonio,Texas to start a new life. Saari started working at the St. Anthony Hotel as a singer in the Anacacho Ballroom and McKellops was the piano player. According to urban legend, in 1923 Saari and McKellops were trying to break into the Hotel's safe when the owner, an elderly woman by the name of Claudette, found them and tried to stop them. McKellops is said to have killed Claudette and tried to hide the body when a maid, named Anita, and her young daughter came into the room. Legend says Anita put some kind of satanic curse on McKellops while he strangled her and locked her daughter in the closet. McKellops then supposedly put both of their bodies in the bathtub in the main suit. Saari and McKellops are said to have left the St. Anthony Hotel and traveled more than 11 miles to what is now Troy,Texas.