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Re: the theory discussed by Yith and others about a "spike" in serial killers in the 80s being due to them being raised by traumatised WW2 veterans, wouldn't that also imply an approximate "50s/60s spike" due to that generation being raised by traumatised WW1 vets? Or did it get compounded in aftermath of WW2, where a generation raised by those traumatised by one war who had also been been raised by those traumatised by the previous one?

Interesting notion ...

One thing to bear in mind ... If sons of traumatized WW1 vets were old enough to relive their fathers' traumas in WW2, some portion of them didn't live to reproduce.

Personally, I think it's far more likely that any such 1980's-era spike resulted from psychological / personal damage left over from the turbulent 1960's and 1970's. During that period there was widespread encouragement to abandon mainstream cultural mores / values and set off to liberate oneself. Many tried, only to end up never making it past a period of undifferentiated libertinism that left them scarred or twisted.
 
...psychological / personal damage left over from the turbulent 1960's and 1970's. During that period there was widespread encouragement to abandon mainstream cultural mores / values and set off to liberate oneself. Many tried, only to end up never making it past a period of undifferentiated libertinism that left them scarred or twisted.

Luckily many such survivors ended up as serial killers; or else they might have joined the rest of the damaged in politics, education and the media, where they could have done some serious harm.

maximus otter
 
Re: the theory discussed by Yith and others about a "spike" in serial killers in the 80s being due to them being raised by traumatised WW2 veterans, wouldn't that also imply an approximate "50s/60s spike" due to that generation being raised by traumatised WW1 vets? Or did it get compounded in aftermath of WW2, where a generation raised by those traumatised by one war who had also been been raised by those traumatised by the previous one?

From that post:

He said there was a less pronounced but noticeable increase in serial killings from 1935 to 1950, following World War One, and hopes sociologists and criminologists look more closely at the war experiences of the fathers of these killers, and their paternal relationships.
 
Luckily many such survivors ended up as serial killers; or else they might have joined the rest of the damaged in politics, education and the media, where they could have done some serious harm.

maximus otter
"they might". Sure, we can say that.
 
Can't help thinking Ted would love the attention he's been getting this year. Not that I'm sad he's not around to enjoy it.
I can't help feeling I read somewhere recently that some women are finding him attractive and are talking about it on the internet. Hopefully I didn't though.
 
I can't help feeling I read somewhere recently that some women are finding him attractive and are talking about it on the internet. Hopefully I didn't though.
Loads of serial killers have had female 'groupies' after they've been caught .. some have even married them, death row or not. This documentary includes the man who married Susan Atkins so it's not just women who do this.

 
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I can't help feeling I read somewhere recently that some women are finding him attractive and are talking about it on the internet. Hopefully I didn't though.

I did read an article recently about a "Who's sexiest?" online spat between those who wanted to have sex with Bundy and those who wanted to have sex with supervillain Venom. If that doesn't make you despair for humanity a little, I don't know what will.

I say, by all means remember the victims. But let the murderers fall away out of the limelight.
 
Interesting notion ...

One thing to bear in mind ... If sons of traumatized WW1 vets were old enough to relive their fathers' traumas in WW2, some portion of them didn't live to reproduce.

Personally, I think it's far more likely that any such 1980's-era spike resulted from psychological / personal damage left over from the turbulent 1960's and 1970's. During that period there was widespread encouragement to abandon mainstream cultural mores / values and set off to liberate oneself. Many tried, only to end up never making it past a period of undifferentiated libertinism that left them scarred or twisted.

Yes, the sixties clearly ruined everything.

As I understand it, the sixties and too a lesser extent, seventies were extremely impactful decades, however, most people lived lives largely divorced from "all the hippy stuff" and I don't know to what extent they were meaningfully affected. Very few people were at Glastonbury, Woodstock or on Carnaby Street, compared to the population at the time.

Humans seem very keen to pin change, especially negative change on ideas and in the cases of negative changes (or perceived negative changes) the ideas are generally those people disagree with. Whilst ideas are in dialogue with the fundamentals of a culture, I think the fundamentals are probably more important. For example: I think that diminishing fuel fossil fuel supplies are having more of an effect on culture than the "ideas" of either "the left" or "the right".

I also feel we are at the behest of History and of forces both too subtle and vast for us to adequately comprehend, we can make analyses of course but these are necessarily limited and flawed.
 
From that post:

He said there was a less pronounced but noticeable increase in serial killings from 1935 to 1950, following World War One, and hopes sociologists and criminologists look more closely at the war experiences of the fathers of these killers, and their paternal relationships.

Sorry for missing that Yith, was trawling through and catching up with many pages at once.
 
... As I understand it, the sixties and too a lesser extent, seventies were extremely impactful decades, however, most people lived lives largely divorced from "all the hippy stuff" and I don't know to what extent they were meaningfully affected. Very few people were at Glastonbury, Woodstock or on Carnaby Street, compared to the population at the time. ...

"All the hippy stuff' represented one form of response to that era's turbulence - attracting and engaging a portion of the youth and younger adults. The fact that hippies were iconic doesn't mean it was all about them.

The sociocultural tides flowing during those decades (e.g., 'sexual revolution', 'civil rights', 'women's liberation', 'anti-establishment activism') affected and influenced a much wider swath of the population who never personally tuned in, turned out, or dropped out.
 
"All the hippy stuff' represented one form of response to that era's turbulence - attracting and engaging a portion of the youth and younger adults. The fact that hippies were iconic doesn't mean it was all about them.

The sociocultural tides flowing during those decades (e.g., 'sexual revolution', 'civil rights', 'women's liberation', 'anti-establishment activism') affected and influenced a much wider swath of the population who never personally tuned in, turned out, or dropped out.

Yes but those ideas take a while to permeate and how did those ideas create serial killers in the 80s?
 
Presumably they are infinite then?

What I meant was "diminishing cheap, easily available fossil fuel supplies”...

a) Nope.

b) Also, however, nope. For example see here and here just for recent huge discoveries.

Isn’t it odd that they haven’t been more widely trumpeted in the mass media? It’s almost as if...

End of thread hijack.

maximus otter
 
a) Nope.

b) Also, however, nope. For example see here and here just for recent huge discoveries.

Isn’t it odd that they haven’t been more widely trumpeted in the mass media? It’s almost as if...

End of thread hijack.

maximus otter
Back in a minute, I'm off to buy an enormous cool 60's American car.
 
More about Samuel Little.

An imprisoned murderer is being investigated after confessing to 90 killings across four decades in the US.

The FBI believe Samuel Little, who is 78, may be among the most prolific serial killers in US criminal history. State and federal agencies are now working to match his confessions with the deaths of dozens of women across the country from 1970 to 2005. Investigators say they have already linked him to 34 murders and are working to corroborate many others.

Little is currently serving life in prison after being sentenced in 2014 for the murders of three women. He has been in custody since September 2012 when he was arrested at a Kentucky homeless shelter and transferred to California where he was wanted on a drugs charge. DNA samples taken from Little were then linked to the unsolved deaths of three women in Los Angeles county in 1987 and 1989.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46384197


The FBI has released the portraits a serial killer drew of his victims in the hope that they can be identified.

Samuel Little, 78, confessed to killing 90 people over three decades last year, while already serving three life sentences for murder.

The killings took place across the US between 1970 and 2005.

Investigators say he targeted "marginalised and vulnerable women", and that some of their bodies went unidentified and deaths uninvestigated.

Having heard all of his confessions, they believe he could be one of the most prolific serial killers in US history.

_105637294_littleheader.jpg


Agents are continuing to question Little and collect drawings of his victims.


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47228784
 
The FBI has released the portraits a serial killer drew of his victims in the hope that they can be identified.
Is this decision to publish unique?

Heartbreaking, if you believe one of the victims portrayed is a missing loved one. What if it isn't though, as will surely occur on many an occasion?

Also, how accurate are any of those sketches likely to be?

We can obviously see the point.. just not sure about this.
 
We can obviously see the point.. just not sure about this.

I know.

I think at this stage there is a faint hope that some questions might be answered. Most families seem to say (totally unscientific impression) that it's the not knowing which is the worst, as the years mount up.
 
I know.

I think at this stage there is a faint hope that some questions might be answered. Most families seem to say (totally unscientific impression) that it's the not knowing which is the worst, as the years mount up.
Absolutely... just find this initiative chilling, macabre and arguably plain wrong.
 
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