Lustmord: The Writings and Artifacts of Murderers

332 Pages·31.674 MB·English

by  Brian King

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LUSTMIRl
The Writinfs and Artifacts tf Murderers
edited by Irian Kin^^
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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 [phone]
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.