So as previously mentioned, I will write about whatever springs into my mind. Now the thing that has been preoccupying my brain for the last few hours comes as a result of a turn of mind that often freaks people out more than a little. I might note that I'm currently reading The Silence of the Lambs for college so my thoughts did come from somewhere and I have a good excuse to be preoccupied about this right now. Anyway I had a childhood filled with horror films and horror stories that I used to get from the library and devour. I grew up when Goosebumps was being aired on the television so the fact I like horror isn't all that surprising. I had plenty of exposure to things that chill the blood.
My parents never believed in the idea of age ratings on films. It didn't matter if it was U or 18s, I was allowed watch it. More often than not they would have recorded a film and would have absolutely no problem watching it if I was in the room. Even better, they often encouraged me to watch them. So I have seen horror films that were highly inappropriate for my age group from at least the age of 3. Lynda and Fergal let me watch Sleepy Hollow at that age despite the fact that they're normally very much in agreement with age ratings. Presumably I was just in the room and they thought it would go over my head. Now I'm not saying that such exposure ensured that I ended up a little bit morbid but I'd certainly say it helped.
When I was 8, I became very preoccupied with the idea of my death. I was obsessed to be perfectly honest. I associated a rapid heartbeat with imminent death at the time so every time I watched any film that was exciting, whether horror or otherwise, and my heart raced, I genuinely I was bidding goodbye to the world. My mother got me out of it eventually, mainly because I had the horrifying realisation that one day she was going to die and she reassured me that dying wasn't a bad thing. So after that rather than being afraid of death, I actually became interested in it.
My parents also liked crime programmes, specifically things to do with murders so I also grew up on CSI (the original, Miami and New York), Silent Witness and other such programmes. I came to enjoy many books that contained information on crimes. I watched Crimewatch (the UK programme where they appeal for information about crimes) and quite frankly I was just always too interested. It makes sense that as I got older, I became more and more interested in true crime and in particular circumstances surrounding murders.
Yes, yes, this does sound very bad but we'll get to some level of vague sanity soon hopefully.
Anyway, I've always been interested in people. People are very odd creatures in my opinion because they aren't me and quite frankly I have no idea in what way they're connected to me. I've Asperger's Syndrome, a high functioning form of it, which means I can adjust better than others with the condition but I still have it. We're sometimes described as neuroatypical and AS is actually on the Autistic spectrum of disorders. So what that means is that I don't react in the way that typical people do. I've always been interested in watching other people who I didn't identify as being like me and seeing what they do while trying to work out why they do it. The vast majority of the time, most people seem stark raving bonkers to me but I can eventually understand some behaviours after considerable time and sometimes with the help of explanations. Therefore, what motivates someone to kill has always been of great interest to me because it's a type of behaviour that most "normal" (I hate that word) people can't fathom. It's a fantastic little puzzle for me to tackle.
A lot of subjects interest me and to be perfectly honest I was torn between doing a number of different college courses, including Psychology and Biology related courses. Psychology really does interest me and I have a real fascination with criminal profiling.
Now let's take the idea of a murderer and their motivations. They might kill in order to gain something like money, they might kill out of revenge or murder someone in the heat of the moment. A lot of murders that you hear about are one off things though, a murderer only killing once and then being sent off to prison or executed depending on where the crime takes place. Serial killers on the other hand are an entirely different matter. They usually grasp the public imagination, newspapers throwing gory details and horror headlines at you. Some reach a high level of notoriety like Ted Bundy or Jack the Ripper. I'm not alone in my interest, even if some people don't admit to being fascinated by such things. Human beings love misfortune and violence and such things so why would we not watch murder programmes. It isn't that weird.
So yes, I have been reading about Hannibal Lecter once more. I've read the four books about Hannibal the Cannibal, a name that I believe is notorious despite him being a fictional character. If you haven't read them and like rooting for/sympathising with the bad guy then they're definitely worth the read. I do find that you forget that he used to kill and eat people, except when you know... the fact is shoved in your face. Hannibal is fun but he isn't real. Interesting but not real. I know a bit about some real serial killers like Ted Bundy, the Zodiac Killer and the Yorkshire Ripper but I know quite a lot about Jack the Ripper.
Jack the Ripper is probably one of the best know serial killers. We link him with the Victorians, to smog filled London, to characters like Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He's almost a romanticised character, which is a bit weird but anyway. The thing is though that he's a killer that a lot of people know about it. The Yorkshire Ripper actually didn't want to be called a Ripper because of the connotations that came with the name. There have been many serial killers that have killed far more people and by more horrible means but yet Jack is remembered. It's also something that people want to solve. Lots and lots of people. It's the classic whodunnit but I don't think that people ever think about why.
I did a project on it for History in my Leaving Certificate exam so I'm very familiar with the details. I've read different theories, I've read unbiased accounts, I've looked at newspaper illustrations and photographs from the time. I'm by no means an expert but I'm not clueless either. The thing about Jack the Ripper is that they (I say they because there's always the possibility that the killer was female) created an atmosphere of mystery around their activities that leave people stumped more than 100 years on. The killer killed five women, all prostitutes, by cutting their thoughts with other things occurring post mortem. They weren't sex crimes. They didn't seem to be linked in anyway. They were carried out in a rather cool manner, seemingly dispassionate which would rule out a personal connection. The thing about the Ripper though was that they weren't seen or heard. One of the crimes took place in 14 minutes. The fourth victim, Catherine Eddowes, was brought into an area, killed and mutilated and the killer got away without anyone hearing or seeing a thing in a city that was already highly anxious about a murderer on the loose. Magic was suspected. The only explanation seemed to be in the supernatural because it just seem possible.
Is was a very big case for the detectives of Scotland Yard, they were only starting to get off the ground at the time. It was a landmark case for them and they couldn't solve it. It also gave detectives a bit of celebrity. It's out of that that Sherlock Holmes came when you think of it, the difference being that he could solve his cases, supernatural seeming or no.
Yeah so I'm going to stop being strange and worrying now. Until next time at least.
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