Ted Bundy
Born November 24th, 1946, Ted Bundy was to put it in his own words “a cold-hearted sun of a bitch”. Ted Bundy was a skinny, white man who dropped out of law school to commit some of the most horrific acts committed by any serial killer. He admitted to 30 confessed murders in a last-ditch effort to save his life on death row, however, the actual total is considered to be much higher. Ted Bundy’s kills spanned between February of 1974 to February of 1978. He was caught and successfully escaped twice, once in June of 1977 for almost a week and once in December of 1977 for almost two months. Ted Bundy would kidnap, rape, and murder young women. He sometimes would perform sexual acts on the dead bodies and decapitate victims to keep mementos from his murders. The women he killed didn’t have a ton in common except they often were young, white, had straight hair, and a middle part. Ted Bundy was given the electric chair after being found guilty of these murders. He managed to marry a woman whom he proceeded to have a child with during his incarceration. Below are some of his victims.
Past Representation
Ted Bundy began his murder spree almost 46 years ago, and it’s hard to imagine how people 46 years ago reacted to the heinous acts he committed. While the overall reaction to his murders was shock and anger, there was this fascination with him. In particular with young women. Young women came to his trials, wrote him letters, sent him naked pictures, and talked about him like he was a celebrity. Ted Bundy was charming, in that sort of “white privilege politician” sort of charming. That was why he was able to escape initially, they were letting him walk around unhandcuffed and no one was watching him, so he jumped out of the window. People trusted him. The women who wrote to him and came to his trials were frightened by him somewhat, but some of them didn’t think he seemed like the type, and even those who did realize he was guilty still giggled and smiled when talking about him. He was considered handsome and interesting while also considered psychotic and dangerous, and it seemed like the danger didn’t stop people. To the media, in the 1970s Bundy was an attractive madman.
Current Representation
You would think that the fascination with a serial killer from 40+ years ago would have died down, but it didn’t. Movies, documentaries, books, articles, all have been and continue to be written about Ted Bundy. Two films about him came out in 2019, one a documentary and one a movie with Zac Efron playing the lead. Ted Bundy’s name is consistently near the top of “Top 10 Hottest Serial killers” lists. He managed to escape from prison twice and yet one of the biggest topics that were brought up upon release of the films was Bundy’s attractiveness. A lot of articles and videos would mention how they didn’t excuse his actions but how they couldn’t deny his attractiveness. It seems like whatever it is that draws people to these men is not a “new” thing, it is common and part of the reason the men got away with what they did.
