A heady mix of drugs, sex and murder were the ingredients that led to the slayings in the Laurel Canyon neighborhood known as Wonderland in the early morning of 1 July 1981. The victims were all bludgeoned to death. There was one survivor, but the perpetrators were never positively identified and the case remains unsolved. Porn star John Holmes was arrested for his suspected involvement but later was acquitted for lack of evidence as were the other accused.
You've previously read about Ed Gein HERE, who inspired Robert Bloch's character of Norman Bates in his novel, Psycho, as well as serial-killer "Buffalo Bill" from THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Both of these stories were featured in CRIME MONTHLY (#49, April 2023).
With so much evidence over the centuries, we are still surprised when something so terribly gruesome happens. His crimes are especially heinous and sadly memorable. We have to be careful that we do not allow lowlifes to undermine the truth of how the Nazis did what Gein did on an industrial scale so many decades ago. There are those about now who are weirdly eager to do just that.
ReplyDeleteThe artifice of civilization does little to hide the inhumanity of man. We are still greedy, jealous and many times, bloodthirsty. There is a documentary on Netflix about Albert Fish, another sick individual who cannibalized some of his many victims. A little sensationalized, but an interesting view.
ReplyDeleteI've always loved William Stout's Ed Gein cover on Weird Trips.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.deniskitchen.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=SK&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=CB_weirdtrip2#:~:text=Weird%20Trips%20was%20not%20a,got%20past%20this%20second%20issue.
Yes, he did a real good job on that one. I like his dinosaur art, too. I had the pleasure of meeting him at Monsterpalooza some years ago and was able to purchase some of his signed art, which I'll be posting down the road...
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