Valentine Bundy

On Facebook, you’ll find many groups dedicated to serial killers. Some of the members are there to learn more about these killers and others are there to praise them. Yes, you read that right, they enjoy romanticizing certain killers and they express an interest in being with them. Many have chosen Ted as their preferred interest and seem to imagine if they had been in his life, they could have changed him. He would see the error of his ways. Other people are certainly experiencing hybristophilia (attraction to a dangerous person), much in the way many serial killer sidekicks feel (e.g. Karla Homolka, Myra Hindley, etc…). Bundy received many fan letters on a daily basis while he was in prison. Clearly, his admirers didn’t see him the same way his victims did.

To romanticize a serial killer and necrophile, such as Ted, is to dishonor those he murdered. The women whose lives he ended are worth more than the memory of such a disastrous individual. He was neither gallant nor romantic and I shudder to think of what he would do if he were still roaming free.

I think we can agree that Bundy was both dangerous and violent. His desires and bizarre fetishes were unusual to even the casual observer. The remains of his victims can attest to his belligerence towards women and his cool behavior around them indicate he viewed them merely as objects for his personal use.

While it may be common for “normal people” to pity and want to help the psychopaths and sociopaths around us, it’s also deadly. Please think twice before writing to a prisoner or helping someone who has committed any number of felonies. That is not to say we shouldn’t work to help others, but we must take care not to become their next victim.