Any true crime stories fascinate---or terrorize--you?---Al

-- Al Schroeder (al.schroeder@nashville.com), January 13, 2001

Answers

There are two that fascinate me---or at least have stayed with me over the years. The earlier of the two was Barbara Stager, a woman in Durham, N.C. who killed both of her husbands. She got away with the first, claiming accident, but it wasn't as thoroughly investigated as the second, for which she is now serving life in prison. That one was the subject of Jerry Bledsoe's Before He Wakes a few years ago, and I think it stayed with me because friends of friends were involved in the investigation. The second one is the horrifying story of Susan Smith in South Carolina, who drowned her two little boys. That one has stayed with me because it upset me so much when it happened.

-- Becky (becky-says@diaryland.com), January 14, 2001.

ALOT of them, actually. I have a huge fascination with Serial Killers. Jack the Ripper and the Acid Bath Murderer... The Boston Strangler.

Yet-- I'm more interested in the older ones, you lay a book about the Ramsey's in front of me, or start rattling off information, I'm not going to be interested. And not just because they weren't serial killers, (if anything at all) but because they are modern.. I'm not into that. For whatever reason...

-- Jen (Winter@nyc.com), January 14, 2001.

Neither fascinate nor terrorize me, but some things make me curious and try to figure out how and why a person, in their twisted mind allowed themselves do a criminal thing. I think that inspirational teaching by example by parents is a good start for making a selfless person who enjoys life and does for others. There are some who are anomalies which crop up that have no hope and no explanation for and as far as I can see, no method to change them.

-- Denver doug (ionoi@webtv.net), January 16, 2001.

I read them for knowledge. It's interesting walking down the street seeing a person behave a certain way and trying to profile them in my mind. Keeps ya on your toes. The fascination comes into play when I start to wonder how the murderers come up with what they come up with. Basically, how demented one person's mind can get and, sometimes, the steps of how they got that way.

-- amen snackey (ashawkey@kbainc.com), June 15, 2001.

I have been most troubled by the husband who killed (shot) his wife in a poor part of town and pretended that a black man did it. Later his brother gave him up. I can't remember the people involved so that I can read up on it. It recieved a lot of publicity. I beleive the wife may have been pregnant. Does anyone remember this case? The most fascinating case to me is that of Jeffrey dahmer. Most books skirt over the obvious family dysfunction that must have been present for him to have become such a persn. His father appears almost saintly on Tv. What's the real story?

-- Shaaron Shaaron (shaaronie@aol.com), December 15, 2001.

Helter Skelter....definately scared me for a long time. Also the true story of the Amityville murders called "High Hopes". Two books that stayed with me for a long time.

-- Gialynn Romano (laurscorr@aol.com), December 21, 2001.

I was fascinated by the Stager story as well. As a matter of fact, I picked it up last night and began to read it for the eighth or ninth time. Highly recommended. I also recommend you read House of Secrets about the Sexton case. Stays with you...

I think that there are many reasons why a person might read these types of books. (I am, of course, assuming Al asked this question for a reason.) I am almost obsessed in learning how and why people do the things they do or react the ways they react. Another reason could be that they read them as a tool, although I suppose (or hope) this number of readers is small. Most of us have read these types of books. We know how some of them are found with this type of reading material on them. I have read of a "few" and I hope I have read them all.

I suggest if you haven't already done so or aren't already doing so, you try a class in psychology. Easy "A" for me! And I earned every bit of it!! It is easy to do something you enjoy. I think it would be easy for any of you.

-- Becky Engel (bengel8@juno.com), January 25, 2002.

I think that the story that upset me the most was the story of Susan Smith, the audacity of her to do such an incredulous thing and then sit by while the police and everyone else looked on for the "mysterious black man", all the while her children were sitting in the bottom of a lake.

-- Chelle (Tigeronyx2@aol.com), February 22, 2002.

I was fascinated by the Betty Broderick story, and I enjoy all of Ann Rule's books. I don't read about serial killers because I think they are just sick people but I can so understand jealousy and the control it has over a person, so I am most fascinated by love/murder relationships, another good book was Blood Sisters the story of twin sisters who hired a man to kill one of their husbands.

-- Phyllis Holland (poh@hsy.com), May 02, 2002.

I love any true crime but I am especially fascintaed with serial killers. Albert Fish, John Wayne Gacy, Dahmer. I've read any I can get my hands on. The psychological profiles are my interest. I have not found one that could terrorize me yet.

-- Mary Ough (oughmy@hotmail.com), May 07, 2002.

There is a man named John list who murdered his mother, his 3 children and his wife. He was a devout lutheran and believed that the financial mess he had gotten the family into after buying a huge home and being fired from several jobs was overwhelming. He believed that the family would be better off dead than to be poor. He was unaware of the fact that the ballroom in his mansion of a home was made by Tiffany and would have been worth over a million dollars. When the police found him through a broadcast on Americas Most Wanted about 20 years later he was going down the same financially destructive path under a new name , with a new wife.

-- Ginger Carter (tecginger@hotmail.com), May 17, 2002.

i am very interested in both serial killers and true crime stories. i think it started because i went to school with one of barbara stagers sons and saw how her case impacted the community. i did not know him well but i know the whole thing tore him apart.i am interested in trying to get into the minds of killers and learning how they think.i highly reccomend reading anything by profiler john douglas or robert ressler

-- kyle wayne prine (kyleprine@hotmail.com), June 27, 2002.

I am a crime writer. While doing research on a particular inmate, I actually had to put the book down in order to rest my mind. It was so difficult for me to believe that anyone could be so cruel. The book was written by Ann Rule, then under the name "Andy Stack"...try reading this incredible story of a serial killer. The name of the book?..."The Want-Ad Killer"

-- L. Bradford (visigothic1@aol.com), October 21, 2002.

I think the book that left the most impression on me has to be "Rites of Burial" about Robert Bordello. The pictures are extrememly graphic. Another book was Savage Messiah. It's about a cult in the small towns of Canada.It's written by Paul Kaihla & Ross Laver. Nobody has even heard of this cult but when I tell them there is a book and lend it to them they are shocked. It also has very graphic photos. I love to read anything about crime. I have over 3000 books and have not bought any in 3 years. I just have my local library bring them in now.If anyone has some good sites or any recommendations I'd love to hear from you. Thanx. And good reading!

-- kimberly (myknella40@msn.com), November 08, 2002.