In the last few months I’ve been binging episodes of the My Favorite Murder podcast (which is super great if you like true crime and enjoy gabbing with girlfriends about it). In one of the earliest episodes the hosts mentioned Ann Rule’s book about Ted Bundy, The Stranger Beside Me, and I was immediately intrigued. Ted Bundy is one of those serial killers I know a little about and can actually remember related news stories and his execution. But I was 10 at the time […]
We’re All Strangers to Each Other
In 1971 Ann Rule was a writer struggling to get by on articles for detective magazines. During her free time she volunteered at a Seattle Crisis Clinic, helping callers through their personal issues. Her partner during this time was Ted Bundy. Ann liked him immediately. They saw each other a little and were in contact some after leaving the crisis centre, and Ann would offer advice on his romantic life with his lost love, Stephanie. In 1974 there were attacks against young women and disappearances. […]
Yeesh.
In Washington State in the early 80s, young women were going missing. Mostly young women who were at risk – runaways and sex workers – everyone seemed content to believe that they had simply moved elsewhere. But when bodies started to be found, first in the Green River that would give a killer his name and then in clusters in lonely camping spots, the truth could no longer be ignored. A serial killer was in their midst. The Green River Killer remained at large for […]
Why I’ll never help anyone with a broken limb
I was about 8 or 9 years old when I first stumbled upon a book of my dad’s – an encyclopaedia of serial killers. Up until that point, I’d known that people died, whether that be through accident, illness, war or whatever, but it was this book that informed me that sometimes people died because someone enjoyed hurting them. Given that I’ve been reading about murder ever since, I’m amazed that thirty years later I’d still somehow never got around to reading The Stranger Beside […]