Serial Killers and Mass Murders, Part 1.

     I have to admit; I was so engrossed in the work on my book that time just flew by.  While I love days like that, it left me with a problem.  I hadn’t even thought about my post for today.  I opened up a new Word document and the blank page was glaring back at me.  My sweetie had gone to bed so I decided to change the channel.  Inspiration often comes to us in strange ways.  Mine was right there, perfectly gift-wrapped by the Biography channel.  They were running their “Crime Special” programs on Serial Killers.  Hello Ed Gein and John Wayne Gacy! 

     The horrific Ed Gein was the inspiration behind horror films like Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  He made chairs and lampshades from human skin while carving out human skulls to use as soup bowls.  He even attached specific parts of his female victims to his own body to “transform” into a woman.  From 1954-1957 the quiet community of Plainfield, Wisconsin was turned upside-down and held in the grip of terror until Gein was finally captured.  It was after his capture that the full extent, of his grisly crimes, was brought to light. 

     John Wayne Gacy is the serial killer I least like to talk about.  While I am not “afraid” of clowns, I really do not like them.  You can’t think about Gacy, let alone write about him, without picturing him as Pogo the Killer Clown.  Gacy’s crimes did not inspire the blockbuster films like Gein.  However, the made-for-television movie, Dear Mr. Gacy, offered a disturbing look into Gacy’s time on death row. 

     Tomorrow, and possibly even a few days more, we will look into other killers and their influence on Hollywood.  Until then, sleep well.