Killer Fandoms Crime-tripping & Identity in the True Crime Community

Killer Fandoms Crime-tripping & Identity in the True Crime Community

Author: Naomie Barnes

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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During Ted Bundy0́9s 1979 murder trial in Miami, Florida, a 0́−steady and unusual string of spectators0́+ filled the courtroom and lined up outside (0́−Ted Bundy Groupies0́+ 1979). News reels from the trial show that these spectators were young women around same age as the two sorority sisters Bundy was accused of murdering the year before. Though some of the women admitted to being afraid or unnerved by Bundy, they also admitted that they were fascinated by him, even if they were unsure as to why. Similar cases of attraction to the spectacle surrounding serial and mass murderers shroud killers such as Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson, Richard Ramirez, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, Dennis Rader, Ed Gein, John Wayne Gacy, H. H. Holmes and many others throughout the centuries (Schmid 2005; Levin and Fox 1985; P. Jenkins 1994).This same pattern of fascination0́4from both male and female spectators0́4 continues in more recent trials for mass killers such as TJ Lane, Dylann Roof, James E. Holmes, and others.2 As unlikely as it may seem, 0́−crime is no longer a bar to celebrity; indeed, it is as close to a guarantee of celebrity as on can find0́+ (Schmid 2005, 10). Their infamous killings are followed by groups of people fascinated with these criminals, victims, and court cases0́4many times long after the criminal has been imprisoned or is deceased. Those who choose to follow the cases surrounding these murders are often labeled as serial killer or mass murder 0́−fans.0́+


Killer Fandom: Fan Studies and the Celebrity Serial Killer

Killer Fandom: Fan Studies and the Celebrity Serial Killer

Author: Judith May Fathallah

Publisher: mediastudies.press

Published: 2023-11-06

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 1951399250

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Killer Fandom is the first long-form treatment of serial killer fandom. Fan studies have mostly ignored this most moralized form of fandom, as a stigmatized Bad Other in implicit tension with the field’s successful campaign to recuperate the broader fan category. Yet serial killer fandom, as Judith May Fathallah shows in the book, can be usefully studied with many of the field’s leading analytic frameworks. After tracing the pre-digital history of fans, mediated celebrity, and killers, Fathallah examines contemporary fandom through the lens of textual poaching, affective community, subcultural capital, and play. With close readings of fan posts, comments, and mashups on Tumblr, TikTok, and YouTube, alongside documentaries, podcasts, and a thriving “murderabilia” industry, Killer Fandom argues that this fan culture is, in many ways, hard to distinguish from more “mainstream” fandoms. Fan creations around Aileen Wuornos, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and Richard Ramirez, among others, demonstrate a complex and shifting stance toward their objects—marked by parodic humor and irony in many cases. Killer Fandom ultimately questions—given our crime-and violence-saturated media culture—whether it makes sense to set Dahmer and Wuornos “fans” apart from the rest of us.


Killer Fandom

Killer Fandom

Author: Judith Fathallah

Publisher:

Published: 2023-11

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781951399368

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Killer Fandom is the first long-form treatment of serial killer fandom. Fan studies have mostly ignored this most moralized form of fandom, as a stigmatized Bad Other in implicit tension with the field's successful campaign to recuperate the broader fan category. Yet serial killer fandom, as Judith May Fathallah shows in the book, can be usefully studied with many of the field's leading analytic frameworks. After tracing the pre-digital history of fans, mediated celebrity, and killers, Fathallah examines contemporary fandom through the lens of textual poaching, affective community, subcultural capital, and play. With close readings of fan posts, comments, and mashups on Tumblr, TikTok, and YouTube, alongside documentaries, podcasts, and a thriving "murderabilia" industry, Killer Fandom argues that this fan culture is, in many ways, hard to distinguish from more "mainstream" fandoms. Fan creations around Aileen Wuornos, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and Richard Ramirez, among others, demonstrate a complex and shifting stance toward their objects-marked by parodic humor and irony in many cases. Killer Fandom ultimately questions-given our crime-and violence-saturated media culture-whether it makes sense to set Dahmer and Wuornos "fans" apart from the rest of us.


Dangerous Ground

Dangerous Ground

Author: M. William Phelps

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2018-02-27

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 078604084X

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“Anyone can become a killer under the right circumstances—even you.” It was a bold, life-changing decision when award-winning investigative journalist M. William Phelps asked one of America’s most disturbing convicted serial killers to co-star with him on TV’s Dark Minds. Now Phelps reveals the identity of the man code-named “Raven”—and tells the story of their intriguing bond. For as Raven shared his insights into the minds and crimes of other killers, making the series an international sensation, he also became Phelps’s unlikely confidante, ally—and friend . . . Here is an unforgettable journey into the heart of a psychopath few would dare to know—and the determined journalist who did just that. “Phelps is a true-crime veteran.” —New York Post “Anything by Phelps is an eye-opening experience.” —Suspense Magazine “Phelps is the Harlan Coben of real-life thrillers.” —Allison Brennan As seen on Investigation Discovery’s Dark Minds


The Bayou Strangler

The Bayou Strangler

Author: Fred Rosen

Publisher: Open Road Media Books

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781504039505

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The true story of Louisiana serial killer Ronald Dominique's ten-year murder spree, the men he slayed, and the detectives who hunted him down. In 1997, the bodies of young African American men began turning up in the cane fields of the quiet suburbs of New Orleans. The victims--many of them transient street hustlers--had been brutally raped and strangled, but police had no leads on the killer's identity. The murders continued, leaving southeast Louisiana's gay community rattled and authorities desperate for a break in the case. Then, Detectives Dennis Thornton and Dawn Bergeron came together as task force partners, indefatigable in their decade-long effort to track down the killer. In 2006, DNA evidence finally linked the murders to a suspect: the unassuming Ronald Joseph Dominique, who had lived under the radar for years, working as a pizza deliveryman and meter reader. But who was Ronald Dominique and what led him to commit such heinous crimes? With direct access to the investigation, Dominique's confession, and all of the killer's body dump sites in throughout the state, author Fred Rosen enters the warped mind of a murderer and captures a troubled, disturbing, and broken life. As with the many other serial killers he has covered, including Jeffrey Dahmer (the Milwaukee Cannibal) and Dennis Rader (the BTK Killer), Rosen provides a horrifying and fascinating account of the lengths to which a bloodthirsty monster will go to lure and brutalize his victims.


Mindhunter

Mindhunter

Author: John E. Douglas

Publisher: Pocket Books

Published: 2017-10-24

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781501179969

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Now a Netflix original series Discover the classic, behind-the-scenes chronicle of John E. Douglas’ twenty-five-year career in the FBI Investigative Support Unit, where he used psychological profiling to delve into the minds of the country’s most notorious serial killers and criminals. In chilling detail, the legendary Mindhunter takes us behind the scenes of some of his most gruesome, fascinating, and challenging cases—and into the darkest recesses of our worst nightmares. During his twenty-five year career with the Investigative Support Unit, Special Agent John Douglas became a legendary figure in law enforcement, pursuing some of the most notorious and sadistic serial killers of our time: the man who hunted prostitutes for sport in the woods of Alaska, the Atlanta child murderer, and Seattle's Green River killer, the case that nearly cost Douglas his life. As the model for Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs, Douglas has confronted, interviewed, and studied scores of serial killers and assassins, including Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, and Ed Gein, who dressed himself in his victims' peeled skin. Using his uncanny ability to become both predator and prey, Douglas examines each crime scene, reliving both the killer's and the victim's actions in his mind, creating their profiles, describing their habits, and predicting their next moves.


Killer Story

Killer Story

Author: Claire St. Amant

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2025-02-18

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 1637746067

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For every true crime story that makes headlines, there's a separate drama happening behind the scenes. Follow a journalist and TV producer from 48 Hours and 60 Minutes as she carves out a career in the ruthless, knives-out world of true crime television . . . one killer story at a time. Serial killers. Homicidal spouses. Sociopathic criminals. Claire St. Amant has met them all. She spent nearly a decade in network television chasing the biggest true crime stories in the country, including the murder of Chris Kyle, plastic surgeon turned murder-for-hire suspect Thomas Michael Dixon, the Parkland High School mass shooting, the disappearance of Christina Morris, and serial killer Samuel Little. Bringing a true crime story to network television requires quick thinking and tenacious stamina, and in her debut memoir, Claire offers true crime fans a rare in-depth look on the other side of the yellow tape. In Killer Story, readers will learn what it really takes to get these gripping cases on the air with insights such as: How it feels to share space with a dead-eyed murderer Which TV show has a reputation for “eating their young” How reporters win over skeptical cops and reluctant lawyers Why TV journalists are always racing against the clock—and competitor sabotage What happens when a district attorney decides journalists have committed a felony The unresolved crimes that still haunt the author to this day Claire’s journey into—and out of—true crime television offers an eye-opening look behind the scenes of investigative journalism and an unforgettable read for all true crime fans.


The Man from the Train

The Man from the Train

Author: Bill James

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2017-09-19

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 1476796270

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An Edgar Award finalist for Best Fact Crime, this “impressive…open-eyed investigative inquiry wrapped within a cultural history of rural America” (The Wall Street Journal) shows legendary statistician and baseball writer Bill James applying his analytical acumen to crack an unsolved century-old mystery surrounding one of the deadliest serial killers in American history. Between 1898 and 1912, families across the country were bludgeoned in their sleep with the blunt side of an axe. Some of these cases—like the infamous Villisca, Iowa, murders—received national attention. But most incidents went almost unnoticed outside the communities in which they occurred. Few people believed the crimes were related. And fewer still would realize that all of these families lived within walking distance to a train station. When celebrated true crime expert Bill James first learned about these horrors, he began to investigate others that might fit the same pattern. Applying the same know-how he brings to his legendary baseball analysis, he empirically determined which crimes were committed by the same person. Then after sifting through thousands of local newspapers, court transcripts, and public records, he and his daughter Rachel made an astonishing discovery: they learned the true identity of this monstrous criminal and uncovered one of the deadliest serial killers in America. “A suspenseful historical account” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), The Man from the Train paints a vivid, psychologically perceptive portrait of America at the dawn of the twentieth century, when crime was regarded as a local problem, and opportunistic private detectives exploited a dysfunctional judicial system. James shows how these cultural factors enabled such an unspeakable series of crimes to occur, and his groundbreaking approach to true crime will convince skeptics, amaze aficionados, and change the way we view criminal history. “A beautifully written and extraordinarily researched narrative…This is no pure whodunit, but rather a how-many-did-he-do” (Buffalo News).


Killer on the Road

Killer on the Road

Author: Ginger Strand

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2012-04-04

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0292744560

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Starting in the 1950s, Americans eagerly built the planet’s largest public work: the 42,795-mile National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. Before the concrete was dry on the new roads, however, a specter began haunting them—the highway killer. He went by many names: the “Hitcher,” the “Freeway Killer,” the “Killer on the Road,” the “I-5 Strangler,” and the “Beltway Sniper.” Some of these criminals were imagined, but many were real. The nation’s murder rate shot up as its expressways were built. America became more violent and more mobile at the same time. Killer on the Road tells the entwined stories of America’s highways and its highway killers. There’s the hot-rodding juvenile delinquent who led the National Guard on a multistate manhunt; the wannabe highway patrolman who murdered hitchhiking coeds; the record promoter who preyed on “ghetto kids” in a city reshaped by freeways; the nondescript married man who stalked the interstates seeking women with car trouble; and the trucker who delivered death with his cargo. Thudding away behind these grisly crime sprees is the story of the interstates—how they were sold, how they were built, how they reshaped the nation, and how we came to equate them with violence. Through the stories of highway killers, we see how the “killer on the road,” like the train robber, the gangster, and the mobster, entered the cast of American outlaws, and how the freeway—conceived as a road to utopia—came to be feared as a highway to hell.