BLOAT BOOK A iL(y)i7M@[^i > r. Digitized by the Internet Archive 2010 in http://www.archive.org/details/lustmordwritingsOOking LUSTMIRl The Writinfs and Artifacts tf Murderers edited by Irian Kin^^ LIAT, a |iMlilishin§ c»m|iany Copyright ©1996 byBrian King a Bloat book ISBN 0-9650324-0-X Book design: Tom Dolan. Coverdesign: Blpat. From BriefAgainstDeathby EdgarSmith, copyright © 1968 by EdgarSmith. Reprinted by permission ofAlfred A. Knopf, Inc. From DoingTime:StoriesfromtheMindofaDeathRowPrisoner,Bool<OnebyWilliam Bonin, copyright © 1991 byWilliam Bonin. Reprinted bypermission ofEagle Publishing, P. 0. Box403, Red Bluff, CA 96080. From KillerFiction:TalesofanAccusedSerialKillerbyG.J. Schacfer, copyright © 1990by Media Queen, Ltd. Reprinted by permission ofMedia Queen, Ltd. Photographs byHarvey Glatman courtesyAP/WideWorid Photos. Bloat P. 0. Box 254 Burbank. California 91503 email [email protected] phone 818 759 6460 TAiLE iF CINTENTS Introduction v Acknowledgnfients ix Preface x; GertrudeBaniszewski 1 MaryBell 3 David Berkowitz 8 William Bonin 19 Mr. Brown 31 PatrickByrne 36 Michael ft Suzan Carson 37 AlbertDeSah/o 46 DerrickEdwardson 49 Albert Fish 50 John Linley Frazier 60 Jeannace Freeman 61 Bruno G. 63 Harvey Glatman 74 CharlesGuiteau 81 John GeorgeHaigh 91 William Heirens 99 William Edward Hickman 108 11 William K.Jones 116 Joseph Kallinger 117 John List 134 Patrick Mackay 139 Herbert Mullin 143 Carl Panzram 164 Pauline Parker 21 Issei Sagawa 215 Gerard SchaeferJr. 218 Schizophrenic Firesetter 229 CharlesSchmidJr. 231 EdgarSmith 244 Richard ft Bridget Smith 253 CharlesStarkweather 254 PeterSutcliffe 276 Dennis Sweeney 278 T. T. A. 281 ErnestAlbert Walker 284 Zodiac 286 SelectedBibliography 31 INTRtlUCTItN Artoftheuglysoul. One islimiting art much tooseverelywhen one demandsthat onlythecomposed soul, suspended in moral balance,mayexpressitselfthere.As in theplasticarts, thereisin musicand poetryan art oftheuglysoul, aswell as an art ofthebeautiful soul: and in achieving art'smightiest effects - breaking souls, moving stones, and humiiniziny animals - perhaps thatvery art hasbeen mostsuccessful. - Human,AllTooHuman. Friedrich Nietzsche 1 satin silenceasmyheartwaspounding against mybreast asitwasrising involuntarilyin an occasional deepreminiscentsob, than [sic] mydeformity compelled, by heart became a grimaceofhatred, crimson, and than myheartas though to have matirialized out ofthe atmospherea wildcatten hatred burned into it, and it seem as though I could see my heart before my eyes, turning dark black with hate ofrages, ofharhequinade, stripped from that ofmunnerlife leaving only naked being-hate. - from thewritings ofChariesStarkweather, murderer Obsessive, dedicated, alienated, neurotic, rebellious, inspired. Classicqualitiesofa writer, an artist: a creative person.But whatifthiscreative person is a rapist, mutilator, torturer, murderer?Aperson who doesnot kill formoney, does not kill a loved onein a moment ofanger, doesnot kill an enemy in the field ofcombat, does not kill in self-defense, does not kill to exact revenge, does not kill for political gain? Aperson who takespleasure in the act ofmurder, who kills forthe simple delight of seeing another die? Amurderer- a person compelled to kill - does not,however, usuallycreatewith theintention ofan artist.The substanceofa murderer'screativityliesin how itisviewed.Asviewed bya criminologist, it can beevidence ofguilt; bya psychologist, evidenceofpsychosis;bya sociologist, evidenceofclass or cultural conflict. The phenomena surrounding the act ofmurder, however - letters, diaries, photographs, memoirs, essays, drawings, notes, poems - can also beviewed and evaluated asobjects ofunschooled creative expression. The murderers in thisvolume lack a singularity ofpurpose save one: the need to expressthemselves (INTRODUCTION] through an outlet otherthanmurder. Theyhave attempted to deciphertheirpsychopathicactions; their writingsand artifactsare genuine human documentsofsadism, guilt, delusion and madness, filtered through various formsofexpiation, fabrication and exculpation. Some had such a need to express themselvesthat theirwords and imagesled to theircapture, conviction and execution. Novelistshavelong been entranced and captivated bytheworkingsofthe criminal mind, whatJoseph Conrad called the "fascination oftheabomination."The machinationsofthediseased psychehave been insightfullydisplayed and examined bysuch authors asFyodorDostoevsky,Jim Thompson and Patricia Highsmith, and cynicallyexploited bysuch authorsasJames Ellroyand Bret Easton Ellis. Some literary figureshave killed, or have attempted to kill, such asWilliam S. Burroughs and Norman Mailer. But even the most imaginativewritersoffiction cannot equal the stark intensity and demented enthusiasm evident in the authentic writings ofmurderers.Thesewritings are an aesthetic testimony to the sickness and depravity, the emotion and logic, ofa murderer'sthoughts, a mind filled with terrorand hatred, absurdity and horror, pathos and iniquity. Once we recognize thepeculiarinception ofthewordaestheticin theEnglish language, and begin to appreciate the problematic role that aestheticshas come to playinWestern philosophyand culture in general, we maybegin to sense — although not without resistance - theextent to which ourcustomaryexperience ofmurderand other forms ofviolence is primarilyaesthetic, ratherthan moral, physical, natural, orwhateverterm we choose asa synonym fortheword real. Onlythevictim knowsthebrutal "reality" ofmurder; therest ofusview it at a distance, often asrapt onlookerswho regard its"reality" as a peak aesthetic experience. - TheAestheticsofMurder. Joel Black 1 would like to be able to free myselffrom thisworld, because it inhibits my creative ability. My mind cannot function properlywhen it ispreoccupied with averting a social calamityand a personal tragedy. It is trying to fight the urge to relieve these terrible cravings. 1 am sure that there must be an answer somewhere, and some day I will be cured. — from thewritings ofGerard SchaeferJr., murderer There isno glamourin the reality ofmurder; there isno glamourin the realityofdeath. It isthewriter and artistwho doesnotkill who usually attaches thesensibility ofglamour to murder and death. Thesekillers have no notion or pretension ofmurderasa surrealistic act - theirmurderswere not enacted as performance art and their confessionswere not recited ascoffeehouse poetry. Theirwords are not merelymodernist hieroglyphics; theirwritingsretain theirpoweronlyin the narrative oftheir murders.Theyhave in common the knowledge that someonehas died at theirhands.Theyhave crossed thelinemost ofuswould not care to cross. It would be an injustice, to the murderers and theirvictims, to simplyelevate these artifacts to the level of"art"; these men and women are killers first and arristssecond. Associopaths, they have really given up being accepted aspart ofsociety; their alienation is not a pose to sell books and paintings. Theyhave destroyed, and therein lies the fascination. Uninhibited and malicious, theyhavesuccumbed to the basest desiresand taboosknown to civilization: sexual murder, wholesaleslaughter, necrophilia, cannibalism. Most actsofmurderaredistinctivelymundane.According to criminologist Marvin E.Wolfgang, "homicides areprincipally. . .violent slayingsthat arenot premeditated orpsychoticmanifestations."A husband beatshiswifein ajealousfrenzy, a drunkstabsanotherinebriateoutsidea bar, anemployee shootshisbossafterbeing fired, a gang membershootshisenemies overturf. Unfortunately, the same laclc ofthought that resuUs in thesekillers' imprisonmentordeath is also apparent in theirwordsand imagery.Havelock Ellis noted in hispioneeringbook TheCriminal that in the artwork ofprisoners, "the design ispatheticallycommonplace; it is naturalisticin thelowestsenseoftheword, adding nothing. suppressingnothing." Usuallyin conjunction with this typical kind ofmurdereristhe notion ofrehabilitation through expression; ifthese misguided souls canjust write ordrawawaytheirrage, the catharsis can result in theirbeing useful members ofsociety.Writers" workshopsin prisonsacross the countryhelp prisoners with theirwriting skills, but thisintervenrion usuallyremoves them from the context oftheirown lives and recondirionsthem into a morass ofHemingwayand Mailerclones. Most ofthewriring isalso reflective oftheircircumstances; faced with prison fora substanrial part oftheirlives, theirwordsare used, asnoted byoneprison writer, "primarilyasweapons ofpsychicsurvival and onlyincidentallyas good literature." The murderers in thisbook aresocietallyin theminority: theyare Lustmorders, orpleasure-killers. (The word Lustin the German language is defined as "joy, delight, desire"; when combined with other words, "comedy" [Lustspiel], "venereal disease" [Lustseuche], or"lustful murder" [Lustmord].) They can, through theirforms ofexpression, be amazinglylucid and intelligent, sexually pornographic and cruel, amusinglyself-serving and fantastic, disturbingly naiveand unrepentant.Theywerechosen forthis book on thebasisofcreative expression in relation to theircrimes;theirworkswere, in most cases, not muddied by prison workshops. Some are well-educated andwriteon a professional level, some are nearly illiterate.Theirworkswere mostly created while in the arena oftheircrimes: before, during, or immediately aftertheirmoments ofdestruction. Thestyle and substance ofthe murderers' words and imagesvaryas much as theirorigins and methodsofviolence.William Bonin, who wasabused asa child, murdered twenty-one teenageboys andyoung men.An element ofhiswritingishisroledisplacementoftheadolescent aswaif-like victim;hewritesdisturbinglyfrom thepoint ofview ofthe teenagershetortured, raped and murdered.JeannaceFreeman mutilated and killed two ofherlesbian lover'schildren. She attempts to convince the reader, in a bathetic, self-serving plea, that sheismisunderstood, that shereallytried to kill hermanipulativelover, but the children tragicallygot in theway. Herbert Mullin shot and stabbed thirteen people to death. Hispoetry, notesand essays arerifewith paranoia and madness,yet thereis also an unconscious underlying tone ofhumorand sadness. EdgarSmith sexually assaulted and bludgeoned to death a teenage giri. In a chapterofhisbest-sellingbook Smith self-righteously proclaimshisinnocencewhile cruellyenumerating thedetailsofhiscrime and libelinghisvicrim and herfamily. HarveyGlatman raped and murdered threewomen afterhephotographed them invarious formsofbondage.What would perhapsbe clichesadomasochisticpornographybecame, to Glatman, masturbatory relics documenting his ritual ofmurder. As shown by Elliott Leyton in his bookCompulsiveKillers, the pleasure-killeroftoday"can onlybe accuratelyand objectively perceived as prime embodiment of[his] civilizarion [who] nets... a substanrial social profit ofrevenge, celebrity, idenrity, and sexual relief."It is possible, based on this observation, to posit that the motivarion to murderforpleasureisincreasing due to the escalating oppressivehyperrealityofourpresentworid. In thiscontext,Leyton sees these murderersasenacting "a kind ofprimitive rebellion against the social order..."Healsonotes, however, that "this fundamentally rebellious, not revolutionary, nature oftheirprotest is undoubtedlywhyso few government and police resources are allocated to thecapture ofthesekillers (compared, say, to the huge police apparatus that monitors political dissidents), fortheypose no threat to the established order - neitherin their ideology norin their acts." [INTRODUCTION] What we call evil in thisworld, moral aswell asnatural, isthe grand principle that makes ussociable creatures, the solid basis, the life and support ofall trades and employmentswithout exception; that therewe must look forthe true origin ofall arts and sciences, and that the moment evil ceases, the societymust be spoiled, ifnot totallydissolved. - TheFableoftheBees. Bernard Mandeville Men have made a studyofcrime itscause, effect and the remedy. Many men know the effect. Many men know the cause. know the remedy. 1 The answeris.Truth. — from thewritings ofCarl Panzram, murderer This is, bynecessity, a morbid work. It is not, however, intended as a work ofnihilism, although these writingsand artifactswere chosen with darkness, absurdityand horroras the primarycriteria. Perhaps when one acknowledges that evil is compelling and that we, asan audience, carryourown ideasof prurience and morality, one can enter thisworld with a clearerunderstanding ofourvacillation between attraction and repulsion when the subject is murder.