There is a show on Netflix called “Mindhunters”. It is about the start of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit. The FBI guys go interview famous serial killers in jail to try to figure them out.
The killers are portrayed by actors that look very much like them. The dialouge during the questioning is taken from the interview tapes.
One of the first guys they interview is this huge guy. But he is very smart and calm during the interviews.
“So - you don’t think you are a freak?”
“Oh yes - but there are a lot of freaks out there.”
“Wait - so you think there are more killers out there? How many?”
“Well, based on the number of missing persons, I would estimate that at least 10 at any one time. Perhaps up to 20 or more.”
I recall one other statement he made. Something about how the planning and killing and all of that made his occupation very stressful.
“Wait - did you say ‘occupation’?”
“Well, what would you call it? It’s certainly much more than just a hobby.”
I noted awhile ago that serial killers don’t seem to be a big thing anymore. I’m sure they are out there, but they don’t seem to be as prevalent.
I wonder how much of deviant behavior is driven by the media? It seems like there were waves of serial killers. Waves of airline hijackings. Waves of bombings. And now waves of school or mass public shootings. Although those now seem to have tapered off with Covid-19 taking over the news. Oh - I guess the obvious cause is no schools and no mass gatherings!
I never saw the TV show, but I read the book by former FBI Agent John Douglas.
The huge guy you are talking about was Ed Kemper, the “Co-Ed Killer,” who is 6’9’’ and has
an IQ of 145.
By the way, Kemper was never caught, he turned himself in.
Ben Stein had a run in with his Kemper’s mother while he was a teacher at UC Santa Cruz, just a year
or two before he murdered her.
(He murdered is grandparents at 15, but was let out of a state psychiatric when he was 21 years old.
In the book The Sociopath Next Door, the author states that 1 out of 4 people in the United States are sociopaths - ranging from the petty bureaucrat at the DMV to the Ted Bundy types.