What is it that is so appealing about the darkside? Is it because they have cookies? I like cookies. Shit, who doesn't?
You always hear this and that about "the light.”
Let there be light. Run to the light. I mean, things grow in the light.
Darkness is just that. It’s dark.
Hiding becomes easy. I think it’s safe to say that the only thing that grows in darkness is morbid curiosity.
The light is where the majesty of a plant in full bloom can be recognized and appreciated. Kids have fun playing outside in the open space of lightness during the day. It’s supposed to be safer in the light.
The dark is quiet and mysterious and not always safe. So, why do so many of us find ourselves drawn to its charm and fascinated by all of its bleak glory? I guess it must be that mysterious thing working overtime. Things that are mysterious just seem to have a way of fondling our curious nature, stroking it ever so gently.
While many people will surely claim they live their lives according to a basking of lightness and illuminated glory, one can never deny the allure of the darkside and I truly believe that most people cannot help but find themselves peaked in interest by the darker side of nature.
I am a sick fuck. I love dark shit. Always have. I have always been fascinated by serial killers and gory things.
I grew up on monster movies. Godzilla, King Kong, and Planet of the Apes all were early introductions to my darker leanings. But the dark factors here are somewhat campy, clearly workings of overworked imaginations. Giant lizards that stomp Asian people and an enormous ape that lusts after a frizzy haired hussy.
The Planet of the Apes thing was a little more pragmatic because these apes represented something far more rooted in reality. Humanity. They were us. . . Or, we were them. One or the other. But on this show, like with real life, the bad guys were always far more intriguing than the good guys.
Speaking of intriguing, I used to find my curiosity peaking red levels from things like Satanism and Witchcraft. But as I grew older and began to learn more about these religious philosophies I realized that the reputation built around Satanism and Witchcraft was once again a product of this whole active imagination thing.
Everybody likes to picture Satan as a red guy with horns and a tail. Maybe a forked tongue.
Witches are looked upon as evil wenches that cast spells and ride around on a broomstick. They were burned at the stake simply for being witches hundreds of years ago. So they must be bad, right?
Nope. Not always.
Witchcraft is not always used for being bad. Witches merely are in touch with nature and in the end the idea of being a witch is no more frightening than being David Copperfield’s jockstrap.
A true Satanist believes more in self actuality and less in conformity to a lifestyle dictated by a religious deity rather than sacrificing chickens or drinking plasma milkshakes from a goat skull.
It’s only when these things are misinterpreted and their philosophies all twisted around from the distortion of truth that we begin to fear them because they are dark and considered evil. A darkness and evil that simply manifests itself as a result of a simple misunderstanding. After all, we tend to fear the things that we don't understand.
But, murder is something that has no dual consensus. There is no other side of the coin when it comes to butchering another human being in cold blood. Therefore, by all rights serial killers are the truest evil known to man. It is often said that there is no greater evil to mankind itself than . . . . Mankind itself. So, the serial killers that we find ourselves drawn to are certainly the ultimate architects of evil.
Some guy was ignored by mommy or beaten by daddy or can't handle his high and goes about offing a bunch of people and in doing so finds a cheap avenue to stardom through a maniacal infamy.
The world is fascinated by these sociopathic misfits. Books. Movies. Even the display or marketing of items related to their crimes has became big business now. Murderabilia it’s called.
There is artwork created by some of these murderers sold and collected worldwide. Objects that played a significant role in their blood-soaked career are being put on display in museums all across the country.
I have always been an avid reader growing up, and got interested in reading books about these atrocities and their perpetrators quite early on in my course of discovery. I used to have to search the cobwebbed corners of the most obscure booksellers to find stuff of interest, but now you can walk into any bookstore and guarantee there will be an actual true crime section full of ghastly horrors and good reading for anyone who chooses to read about this stuff.
My interest in serial killers and their crimes became strengthened by two particular events in my life.
I remember being a kid growing up and always hearing about Charlie Manson. Everybody knows about Charlie. He was the O.B. Original boogeymen. It’s ironic that he is pretty much considered the true face of evil immortalized by that Life magazine cover and he didn't even kill any of the people he is held responsible for murdering.
In 1976, when I was nine years old, the TV-movie Helter Skelter was a television event. I watched that movie and became fascinated by the whole thing.
My dad used to take me to see horror movies all the time and shortly after that we went to see a double feature that consisted of They Came from Within and the horror comedy Fearless Vampire Killers.
I remember seeing this beautiful blond actress and my dad leaning over to me and whispering that woman was Sharon Tate, the woman Charles Manson and his family had murdered. After that my interest in serial killers and dark stuff would continue on a low key level until I heard this metal band called Macabre.
I used to trade tapes back in the 80's and I met these guys from Downers Grove, which is near Chicago. They were called Macabre and while there were plenty of metal bands that sang about Satan, they had quite an enticing gimmick about them in that all of their songs were about serial killers. They sang catchy little tunes that were almost structured like nursery rhymes. Demented ones. Some of their song titles include Edmund Kemper had a Horrible Temper, What the Heck Richard Speck (eight nurses you wrecked) and Mr. Albert Fish (was children your favorite dish)? By the way, the answer to that last question was Yes! Children stew.
Macabre released their great album Sinister Slaughter in 1993 that featured a cover parody of the Beatles Sgt. Pepper album with a gang of assorted serial killer celebrities.
After I heard this band I became full on interested in all this stuff and I bought any true crime book I could find. I even bought some other morbid items.
For instance, did you know that Charles Manson was also a recording star? Yep, he has several CD releases and even has one called live at San Quentin. Although, the quality is pretty bad on that one as you can hear prison noise just as well as you can hear him playing guitar and singing.
I have quite a few of Manson's CDs actually. I have read several books about him and his family. Seen many of the films. I even have a book called the Manson Files that is chock full of drawings and writings actually done by Manson himself. Not anything that is going to be hailed as masterpiece, but hey . . . . It’s Charlie.
This is one of his drawings.
Prior to becoming notorious for the murders, Manson did record some proper music in a recording studio and his most famous release is the Lie album. If you can get past the gruesomeness of the whole thing the album is actually quite good in my opinion.
Marilyn Manson and Guns 'n' Roses have recorded some of Manson's songs. Evan Dando of The Lemonheads completely rips off Manson and many of his lyrics on the album Lovey. Seriously Evan, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Just because a man is in prison and his work is probably considered public domain that doesn't mean you should just steal his shit. At the very least the man deserves a writers credit, dont' you think? I have always wondered if Charlie knows about this. Be afraid, Evan. Be very afraid.
I'm not the only person who is fascinated by all of this stuff. Movies and books about murderers and their crimes is big business. BIG business, I tell you.
Lots of times people have said I am sick for being so fascinated by these dark things. But who pays to see all these movies?
Who buys all these books?
Trent Reznor took his love of the Manson legacy a little too far when he bought the house at Cielo Drive where Sharon Tate and her friends were slaughtered. He turned it into a recording studio and recorded one of the darkest and coolest albums of all time there, The Downward Spiral.
Reznor claims that he had no idea of the history of the house when he purchased it. Come on Trent, don't bullshit me.
Owning a piece of gruesome historical value is not a foreign concept. Another major market in murderabilia is serial killer artwork. For those that can afford it, Ottis Toole fancies himself quite the artist.
Ottis Toole is an accomplice of an even more famous sociopath, and all around nutjob, Henry Lee Lucas. The movie Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is loosely based on the exploits of these two guys.
Toole will mostly be known for the idea that he is thought to be the man responsible for the murder of Adam Walsh, son of John Walsh. After the murder of his son, John Walsh became notorious for his America’s Most Wanted television program, and the rest is history there.
The most famous so-called artist and most bankable serial killer art master is probably John Wayne Gacy. Gacy is known for killing 33 boys and burying their corpses underneath a crawlspace in his house. But his Pogo the Clown paintings have been on CD covers and are in museums and have even graced the homes of people like Johnny Depp and John Waters.
Three of the most successful horror films of all time are based on composites of two major players in the blood and guts game.
The whole mama's boy idea of Norman Bates in Psycho was based on that of Ed Gein, as was Leatherface in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and his flesh wearing antics. The Buffalo Bill character of Silence of the Lambs is a mash up of the stalking methods of Ted Bundy and once again a nod to Ed Gein with that skin wearing thing. This movies worldwide gross was nearly 300 million dollars. They always say that sex sells. But, apparently, murders box office intake is none too shabby either.
In addition to being quite popular in movies Ed Gein was somewhat of an artist himself. When he was arrested the police found several items in his home that were created by Gein from his many years of grave robbing.
They found chairs with human skin covering. Skin masks. Bowls made from human skulls. Skulls atop his bedposts.
They even found nine vulvas in a shoebox. Though not credited as such, Ed Gein may or may not have been the un-official architect of the pocket vagina.
The fascination with these evil men and their evil doings simply knows no boundaries.
Richard Ramirez, who is more commonly known as the night stalker has a harem of groupies that oohh and ahhh his every breath. So, for all you men out there who can't get laid here is some vile food for thought . . . . You can't get a woman to bump uglies with you, but Ramirez has ladies lined up down the block just waiting for a chance to bump and grind and bust and ooze ugly all over a filthy mattress during a conjugal visit with his murdering ass.
But, Jeffrey Dahmer was not so popular behind bars. Though quite the stud muffin in his day and known all around town for making milkshakes in a boiling vat of acid from all the neighborhood boys, he got piped to death one day while playing basketball in the gym. A double standard might you ask? Nahhh. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
By the way, Jeffrey Dahmers favorite movie was Exorcist 3. I love that movie. Dahmer might have had bizarre fetishes and weird sexual extravagances, but the guy sure did know his horror movies it seems. He will forever be remembered though for his. . . . . uhhhhh. . . . . .taste in men.
I do believe that the line where the interest in this stuff is drawn is in actuality a matter of taste. What tastes good and bad is always subject to individual discretion.
Yes, I have many true crime books. I have enjoyed many of the films inspired by these crimes. I can be found jamming to that Charlie Manson CD any day of the week.
But I would never purchase any of the artwork available by any of these guys. Just seems creepy to me. Creepier than listening to the music of Charles Manson? In my opinion, yes.
The National Museum of Crime and Punishment in Washington DC, which also houses the television studio for Americas Most Wanted incidentally, currently has the Ted Bundy VW on display as soon as you walk in the door.
Yep, the vehicle which transported corpses on many a moonlit night is there in all its glory to be gazed upon by anybody who wants to stand there and gawk at it.
The museum claims the Beetle is a dark lesson to mankind and purely for educational purposes. Call me kooky, but I think the idea that one shouldn't get into a car with a stranger is kind of a universal knowledge and I don't need to be reminded by standing in a room with the death buggy.
The Smithsonian passed on acquiring the suit that OJ Simpson was wearing when he was allowed to walk away from butchering the mother of his children and her Oscar Mayer Weiner man. But in the true tradition of death selling like hotcakes, the Newseum gladly snatched it up and now proudly displays a reminder of the trial that proved fruitless to justice and did nothing but divide white and black all over again.
Why anybody would wish to stare in awe at this suit and be reminded of all of this is beyond me. I wonder if when OJ gets out of prison in a few years he will want it back because for him it’s a fond remembrance that pre-dates a time of what happens in Vegas not staying in Vegas.
I guess I just get kind of pissed off for all these years of people telling me that I am a weirdo for being so interested in all the things I am into and my partaking into certain commodities of interest while everybody else either lines up at a prison door to fuck a guy who scooped out a ladies eyeballs or stands in a line to look at a suit worn by a man who slaughtered the American dream.
I like dark shit. So sue me. I bought the last deck of serial killer trading cards that Reptilian Records had 15 years ago, but to this day I do not track my days from a serial killer calendar.
I don't play the serial killer trivia game either. Although, I’d probably kick your ass at it because I know my shit.
Has that face of Charlie on Life magazine been replaced by a new face of evil? A suit that hangs in a museum and reminds people of a crime that was nothing but a mockery of the judicial system and race relations?
I mean, Manson has long been viewed as the ultimate face of evil and all he did was take some acid and then, not only think The Beatles were talking to him, but misinterpreted their message like the crazy motherfucker that he is. Was. Is. Oh, never mind.
OJ Simpson killed the mother of his children and got away with it. He even couldn't find the decency to count his only blessing and slink off into obscurity, he had to write a book about it called "If I did it" . . . . How fucked up is that?
OJ is probably in jail as I write this humming the tune of 99 problems and a bitch ain't one while Bubba backs him into a corner and tries to squeeze the juice.
Charles Manson is no longer the face of evil. He is just a cranky old man who probably has trouble containing his bowels these days. But murder is always gonna be big business. It sells and mankind is lining up around the block to buy some of it as you read this blog. Nobody is afraid of Manson anymore though. That asshole doesn't even surf.
****Original post date 5/13/2010****
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