In a recent blog (go here), I discussed the furor created by the creation of serial killer trading cards* back in 1992. A similar controversy has erupted over the growing practice of collecting artifacts and even bits of hair from those involved in serial killings. The controversy surrounding Murderabilia. It's an odd world where people collect and own bits of a stranger or infamous person, even if it's as innocent as a lock of … [Read more...]
Popular Culture and True Crime – Tutorial I – Serial Killer trading cards?
About the same time that Michael Aamodt, a professor at Radford University in Virginia, started cataloguing serial killers, trading cards popped up. Aamodt's Serial Killer Data Base, compiled with the help of students, is academic, respectable. See here for a prior blog re Aamodt's Radford work. Serial killer Trading cards are not respectable, at least they weren't back in 1992. They are still bought and sold on Amazon, Etsy, and Ebay. Aamodt's catalogue has over five thousand entries … [Read more...]
Why are so many fascinated by Serial Killers?
Are you spending hours binging on TV shows and documentaries about serial killers these days? Fascinated by serial killers? One might say Covid-19 is to blame. But many of you were fascinated by serial killers as a child. There was something about them. Many of them appeared quite charming, intelligent, attractive, and engaging. As an illustration, let's look at a relatively unknown serial killer, Rodney Alcala, who embodies many of these traits. With his hip hair style and dazzling … [Read more...]
Serial murderers, their killing fields, and sacred rituals. II
In my last post, I talked about killing fields where some serial killers conduct their sacred rituals.** But many killers don't have access to a remote outdoor places or even a basements or crawl spaces to do this. So they must rely on souvenirs to re-live the sense of power or the psychological high they got from killing. Souvenirs and scared rituals. If you're like me, you love bringing home souvenirs home from a vacation as a nice reminder of the great trip you had. During Covid-19 … [Read more...]
Serial Murderers – their sacred killing fields and rituals. Part I.
Killing fields as Sacred Grounds. Kathleen Ramsland, a professor of forensic psychology and prolific writer, claims that many serial murderers stake out killing fields, which often become burying fields as well. They reveal their pathological need for control when they feel violated upon discovering that one of their victim’s remains has been found and removed by authorities. Ramsland describes a case that fascinated people around Manchester, England, where I spent sabbaticals … [Read more...]
Guess what special MO let a serial killer murder 93?
America's deadliest serial killer, Samuel Little, left a trail of 93 —maybe more— bodies...because of his special MO. I've written several blogs about serial killers, and my blog here is useful if you need some basics about this kind of multicide. It's not the same as mass murder or spree killings, for example. A special MO. How'd Little manage to get away with so many murders? He was smart, kept on the move, and used a method of operation (MO) that was difficult to investigate. Police use a … [Read more...]
Answering the question, Is the Joker a Psychopath?
I noted in a recent piece that I'd deal with the question, is the Joker a psychopath? Of course, it matters a lot which portrayal of the Joker we're talking about. Sheltering in place has given many people time to watch various movies. Of the many featuring the Joker, most have probably see Heath Ledger's The Dark Knight and/or Joaquin Phoenix's Joker. To keep things manageable, let's choose Ledger's version in The Dark Knight, knowing there's nothing ever definitive about a fictional … [Read more...]