Does the Pacific Northwest breed serial killers? - KPTV.com

Does the Pacific Northwest breed serial killers? – KPTV.com

PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) -

There is a tranquil beauty about the Pacific Northwest, but for decades the region has also hidden dark secrets.

Oregon and Washington have the dubious distinction of being home to some of the nation’s most prolific serial killers.

“We’ve got these serial killers and these ended up turning into very, very large cases,” said Dr. Nici Vance, a forensic scientist with the Oregon State Police crime lab.

Dr. Vance has analyzed forensic evidence found at the dumpsites of northwest serial killers, including the dumpsite of Dayton Leroy Rogers.

Rogers, known as the Molalla Forest Killer, was convicted of killing seven women.

“We have a lot of tools that are used for big scenes like that,” she said.

As far back as the 1960s, Jerome Brudos, dubbed the Shoe Fetish Slayer, killed women in the Willamette Valley.

Notorious serial killer Ted Bundy grew up in Seattle and hunted women in several states, including Washington and Oregon. One of his victims was snatched from the Oregon State University campus. 

The Northwest was also home to Robert Lee Yates, a serial murderer who operated in the Spokane area; the I-5 Killer, Randall Woodfield; and Gary Ridgway, known as the Green River Killer, who confessed to killing 49 women, mainly prostitutes.

A photographer spent two years documenting the dumpsites of northwest killers.  Stephen Chalmers traveled to more than 250 dumpsites in northern California, Oregon and Washington. He captured images that are simply titled with the victims’ names.

The photos are stark and evocative.

Chalmers, who once worked a an EMT in Portland, said the inspiration for the project came while he was on a date. The pair was hiking on a picturesque trail near Seattle and Chalmers later learned it was where a serial killer had dumped his victims.

“I hope the photos help people look at the scenes in a different light,” he said. “They’re a beautiful tribute to the victims.”

Chalmers used old newspaper articles, police archives and information from Freedom of Information requests to locate the sites. The project is now being considered for publication as a book.

As for why there seem to be so many serial killers in the Northwest?

Dr. Vance said it may be the region’s rural and wooded areas.

“It’s largely anonymous, all the open areas, up and down the I-5 corridor,” she said. “I think it’s a thoroughfare of humanity and it’s easy to be obscure when you’re there.”

RELATED: “Dumpsites” by Photographer Steven Chalmers

Copyright 2013 KPTV-KPDX Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.

Does the Pacific Northwest breed serial killers? - KPTV.com

Local man donates memorabilia to serial killer museum - Dodge City Daily Globe

Local man donates memorabilia to serial killer museum – Dodge City Daily Globe

When Bob George, a lifetime Dodge City resident, first wrote a letter to Charles Manson, he had no idea it would become a decades long fascination spreading to other mass murderers and serial killers.
“I was teaching psychology at the high school,” George remembers, “and we were about to start a chapter on cults. I had just happened to read in the paper that day that Manson was denied parole once again. I thought ‘what a great visual aid for this topic- a letter from Manson himself’.”
So, George wrote Manson a letter in 1997. He didn’t respond.
But George didn’t give up. He decided to write one more letter and hoped for a response.
Again Manson didn’t respond. But someone else did. At the time Manson was receiving over 60 letters a day in prison, so he had his own personal ‘secretary’, a man named Roger Dale Smith, a fellow prisoner. Smith just happened to be a born again Christian, and George had included a Fellowship of Christian Athletes card with his letter. Smith saw the card and wrote back to George.
George and Smith began corresponding for several years. The relationship ended only when Smith passed away in 2004.
Before he died however Smith convinced Manson to write to George as well, and George finally received his first letter from Manson. According to Wikipedia, Charles Manson is an American criminal and musician who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He manipulated members into committing brutal murders on his behalf. The letter, scrawled on yellow and pink paper and written in crayon, made no sense. Since then, George has continued to periodically receive more letters and drawings from Manson.
George was most fascinated with serial killers, out of all the topics he covered in psychology, this was the most interesting for him.
“I wanted to understand how their minds work,” George said. “How they can do horrific things to other human begins, and get pleasure from it.”
When Dennis Rader, BTK, was captured in 2005, George took notice.
George knew that Rader was being held in Sedgewick County Detention Center and began writing him immediately. He received about 10 letters as his trial approached. Before the trial, George asked if he was on the visitors list to see Rader. He wasn’t, but was allowed to visit anyway because he does jail ministry.
“I was so nervous when I was about to talk to him,” George said. “When Rader walked in he high-fived the glass between us, and within 30 seconds I was completely at ease.”
George went on to say that this is one of the talents of a serial killer, they can become whoever you want them to be. This is often how they get people to trust them before they attack.
Over the years George has become pen pals with several other serial killers including Son of Sam, Rock n Rolling Stewart, BTK, Charles Manson, Mikhail Markhasev and countless others. All the letters are carefully organized and preserved in his house.

Learning from their actions
George, although now retired from teaching, still lectures at the high school twice a year, and speaks at other meetings and events when asked.
“I want to teach others, especially women, that these people are out there. Everywhere,” George said. “I want them to know so they can better protect themselves, and prevent themselves from becoming the next victim.”
George brings several of his letters and artwork as visual aids to his lectures. And tells horror stories of what these people have done.
“I always tell people you can’t trust anyone,” George added. “BTK had a wife and family, was the leader of a Boy Scout troop, and active in the church. And look what he did in his spare time. Ted Bundy pretended to be handicapped to capture victims. You can’t trust anyone.”
To schedule a presentation with George call (620) 225-1612.

Looking inside Evil Minds
A few weeks ago George discovered a museum known as the Evil Minds Museum located at the FBI training Academy in Quantico, Va. The museum is not open to the public, only to FBI agents and other experts, including handwriting analysts, artwork experts, and serial killer researchers who may be able to provide insight into what makes a serial killer.
George has decided to donate his letters and other artifacts to the museum to try and help the researchers.
“I hope that my letters can help the experts find something, some link that connects the killers, so that in the future we can prevent things like this from happening,” said George.
So, after over a decade of corresponding with several killers what has George learned?
“I’ve learned that the more I study these letters and try and find patterns and similarities, the less I know,” said George. “I don’t think there’s one common link between people like this. I think you can have 100 people, all with personalities like Dennis Rader, but for one person one thing slightly different happens at some point in his life and his brain changes. What that one thing is, I have no idea. It’s probably different for each person.”

Follow Julia on twitter, @julia_dcglobe

Comment or view comments  »

Local man donates memorabilia to serial killer museum - Dodge City Daily Globe

Local man donates memorabilia to serial killer museum ... - Dodge City Daily Globe

Local man donates memorabilia to serial killer museum … – Dodge City Daily Globe

When Bob George, a lifetime Dodge City resident, first wrote a letter to Charles Manson, he had no idea it would become a decades long fascination spreading to other mass murderers and serial killers.
“I was teaching psychology at the high school,” George remembers, “and we were about to start a chapter on cults. I had just happened to read in the paper that day that Manson was denied parole once again. I thought ‘what a great visual aid for this topic- a letter from Manson himself’.”
So, George wrote Manson a letter in 1997. He didn’t respond.
But George didn’t give up. He decided to write one more letter and hoped for a response.
Again Manson didn’t respond. But someone else did. At the time Manson was receiving over 60 letters a day in prison, so he had his own personal ‘secretary’, a man named Roger Dale Smith, a fellow prisoner. Smith just happened to be a born again Christian, and George had included a Fellowship of Christian Athletes card with his letter. Smith saw the card and wrote back to George.
George and Smith began corresponding for several years. The relationship ended only when Smith passed away in 2004.
Before he died however Smith convinced Manson to write to George as well, and George finally received his first letter from Manson. According to Wikipedia, Charles Manson is an American criminal and musician who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He manipulated members into committing brutal murders on his behalf. The letter, scrawled on yellow and pink paper and written in crayon, made no sense. Since then, George has continued to periodically receive more letters and drawings from Manson.
George was most fascinated with serial killers, out of all the topics he covered in psychology, this was the most interesting for him.
“I wanted to understand how their minds work,” George said. “How they can do horrific things to other human begins, and get pleasure from it.”
When Dennis Rader, BTK, was captured in 2005, George took notice.
George knew that Rader was being held in Sedgewick County Detention Center and began writing him immediately. He received about 10 letters as his trial approached. Before the trial, George asked if he was on the visitors list to see Rader. He wasn’t, but was allowed to visit anyway because he does jail ministry.
“I was so nervous when I was about to talk to him,” George said. “When Rader walked in he high-fived the glass between us, and within 30 seconds I was completely at ease.”
George went on to say that this is one of the talents of a serial killer, they can become whoever you want them to be. This is often how they get people to trust them before they attack.
Over the years George has become pen pals with several other serial killers including Son of Sam, Rock n Rolling Stewart, BTK, Charles Manson, Mikhail Markhasev and countless others. All the letters are carefully organized and preserved in his house.

Learning from their actions
George, although now retired from teaching, still lectures at the high school twice a year, and speaks at other meetings and events when asked.
“I want to teach others, especially women, that these people are out there. Everywhere,” George said. “I want them to know so they can better protect themselves, and prevent themselves from becoming the next victim.”
George brings several of his letters and artwork as visual aids to his lectures. And tells horror stories of what these people have done.
“I always tell people you can’t trust anyone,” George added. “BTK had a wife and family, was the leader of a Boy Scout troop, and active in the church. And look what he did in his spare time. Ted Bundy pretended to be handicapped to capture victims. You can’t trust anyone.”
To schedule a presentation with George call (620) 225-1612.

Looking inside Evil Minds
A few weeks ago George discovered a museum known as the Evil Minds Museum located at the FBI training Academy in Quantico, Va. The museum is not open to the public, only to FBI agents and other experts, including handwriting analysts, artwork experts, and serial killer researchers who may be able to provide insight into what makes a serial killer.
George has decided to donate his letters and other artifacts to the museum to try and help the researchers.
“I hope that my letters can help the experts find something, some link that connects the killers, so that in the future we can prevent things like this from happening,” said George.
So, after over a decade of corresponding with several killers what has George learned?
“I’ve learned that the more I study these letters and try and find patterns and similarities, the less I know,” said George. “I don’t think there’s one common link between people like this. I think you can have 100 people, all with personalities like Dennis Rader, but for one person one thing slightly different happens at some point in his life and his brain changes. What that one thing is, I have no idea. It’s probably different for each person.”

Follow Julia on twitter, @julia_dcglobe

Comment or view comments  »

Local man donates memorabilia to serial killer museum ... - Dodge City Daily Globe

Local man donates memorabilia to serial killer museum ... - Dodge City Daily Globe

Local man donates memorabilia to serial killer museum … – Dodge City Daily Globe

When Bob George, a lifetime Dodge City resident, first wrote a letter to Charles Manson, he had no idea it would become a decades long fascination spreading to other mass murderers and serial killers.
“I was teaching psychology at the high school,” George remembers, “and we were about to start a chapter on cults. I had just happened to read in the paper that day that Manson was denied parole once again. I thought ‘what a great visual aid for this topic- a letter from Manson himself’.”
So, George wrote Manson a letter in 1997. He didn’t respond.
But George didn’t give up. He decided to write one more letter and hoped for a response.
Again Manson didn’t respond. But someone else did. At the time Manson was receiving over 60 letters a day in prison, so he had his own personal ‘secretary’, a man named Roger Dale Smith, a fellow prisoner. Smith just happened to be a born again Christian, and George had included a Fellowship of Christian Athletes card with his letter. Smith saw the card and wrote back to George.
George and Smith began corresponding for several years. The relationship ended only when Smith passed away in 2004.
Before he died however Smith convinced Manson to write to George as well, and George finally received his first letter from Manson. According to Wikipedia, Charles Manson is an American criminal and musician who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He manipulated members into committing brutal murders on his behalf. The letter, scrawled on yellow and pink paper and written in crayon, made no sense. Since then, George has continued to periodically receive more letters and drawings from Manson.
George was most fascinated with serial killers, out of all the topics he covered in psychology, this was the most interesting for him.
“I wanted to understand how their minds work,” George said. “How they can do horrific things to other human begins, and get pleasure from it.”
When Dennis Rader, BTK, was captured in 2005, George took notice.
George knew that Rader was being held in Sedgewick County Detention Center and began writing him immediately. He received about 10 letters as his trial approached. Before the trial, George asked if he was on the visitors list to see Rader. He wasn’t, but was allowed to visit anyway because he does jail ministry.
“I was so nervous when I was about to talk to him,” George said. “When Rader walked in he high-fived the glass between us, and within 30 seconds I was completely at ease.”
George went on to say that this is one of the talents of a serial killer, they can become whoever you want them to be. This is often how they get people to trust them before they attack.
Over the years George has become pen pals with several other serial killers including Son of Sam, Rock n Rolling Stewart, BTK, Charles Manson, Mikhail Markhasev and countless others. All the letters are carefully organized and preserved in his house.

Learning from their actions
George, although now retired from teaching, still lectures at the high school twice a year, and speaks at other meetings and events when asked.
“I want to teach others, especially women, that these people are out there. Everywhere,” George said. “I want them to know so they can better protect themselves, and prevent themselves from becoming the next victim.”
George brings several of his letters and artwork as visual aids to his lectures. And tells horror stories of what these people have done.
“I always tell people you can’t trust anyone,” George added. “BTK had a wife and family, was the leader of a Boy Scout troop, and active in the church. And look what he did in his spare time. Ted Bundy pretended to be handicapped to capture victims. You can’t trust anyone.”
To schedule a presentation with George call (620) 225-1612.

Looking inside Evil Minds
A few weeks ago George discovered a museum known as the Evil Minds Museum located at the FBI training Academy in Quantico, Va. The museum is not open to the public, only to FBI agents and other experts, including handwriting analysts, artwork experts, and serial killer researchers who may be able to provide insight into what makes a serial killer.
George has decided to donate his letters and other artifacts to the museum to try and help the researchers.
“I hope that my letters can help the experts find something, some link that connects the killers, so that in the future we can prevent things like this from happening,” said George.
So, after over a decade of corresponding with several killers what has George learned?
“I’ve learned that the more I study these letters and try and find patterns and similarities, the less I know,” said George. “I don’t think there’s one common link between people like this. I think you can have 100 people, all with personalities like Dennis Rader, but for one person one thing slightly different happens at some point in his life and his brain changes. What that one thing is, I have no idea. It’s probably different for each person.”

Follow Julia on twitter, @julia_dcglobe

Comment or view comments  »

Local man donates memorabilia to serial killer museum ... - Dodge City Daily Globe

Inside the mind of a serial killer: a psychologist's perspective - Science Omega

Inside the mind of a serial killer: a psychologist’s perspective – Science Omega

Although rare, serial killers are random. They can pop up at any time and in any place. I would argue that the public’s fascination with this group is, in part, an attempt to reduce the latent fear that is evoked by serial killers.
Professor Peter Hepper

Perhaps because of the extreme nature of their crimes, serial killers pose somewhat of an ethical quandary for society. What is the ‘correct’ response to those who devise and commit multiple murders? On the one hand, the actions of such individuals seem alien and abhorrent to the vast majority of citi ens. Even so, the inner workings of serial killers’ minds have long since served to inspire morbid fascination amongst the general public.

Serial killing is also an area that is of great interest to psychologists as it represents one of the most extreme examples of human behaviour. How can actions so vile and uncompassionate be explained from a psychological perspective? An initial response might be to label serial killers as ‘mad’. However, evidence suggests that these crimes are often committed by individuals who – although very different from the rest of us – are completely rational. Even more worrying is the fact that before they are detained, many serial killers operate unnoticed within their communities for significant periods of time. By improving our understanding of the cognitive factors that help to create and motivate serial killers, psychologists are uniquely positioned to assist those tasked with identifying and incarcerating such criminals.

As part of last week’s Flavour of Psychology event organised by the Northern Ireland Branch of the British Psychological Society (NIBPS) and hosted at Queen’s University, Belfast (QUB), Professor Peter Hepper delivered a lecture on how psychology contributes to our understanding of serial killers. During his talk, Professor Hepper, a Member of the Behaviour Development and Welfare Research Cluster at QUB, addressed a range of related issues including why society is so intrigued by these individuals and how a person becomes a serial killer.

In a feature interview with ScienceOmega.com, Professor Hepper outlined the ultimate psychological quest: to unravel the mind of a serial killer…

Why are the minds of serial killers so fascinating from a psychological perspective? Can they teach us anything about the minds of – for want of a better word – ‘normal’ people?
I would argue that all forms of human behaviour exist on a continuum. The behaviour of serial killers can be found at the extreme end of this line. In one sense, serial killers are totally abnormal; they are different from everybody else in society. However, the processes that have driven them to this point are the same as the ones that have affected every other human being who has ever lived. In this respect, the only thing that separates ‘us’ from serial killers is the outcome. Psychologists want to understand the factors that drive individuals to become serial killers. It is psychology’s job to explain human behaviour, and serial killing represents one of the most extreme forms of human behaviour.

Could you provide an example of the type of factor that might increase a person’s likelihood of becoming a serial killer?
One of the biggest challenges within this field is to explain what a serial killer is. We can do this in terms of the specific behaviour; serial killers are individuals who kill three or more people with a cooling-off period in between murders. However, some researchers have attempted to produce typologies of serial killers and to group them together. In my opinion, this is where things have gone wrong. Other than the fact that they have all murdered three or more people, serial killers are members of an extremely diverse group. There are many, many different paths that can lead to a person becoming a serial killer.

It is possible to look for certain influencing factors. For example, some people have suggested that brain injury is important. In the 1970s, John Wayne Gacy killed 33 young men across Chicago. He had previously suffered a serious brain injury after being knocked unconscious by a swing. However, the ‘brain injury’ argument doesn’t necessarily hold true when you investigate other serial killers. Ted Bundy murdered 30 young women during the same period yet he exhibited no signs of brain injury whatsoever. This is one of the main problems with this approach. The backgrounds of two serial killers who have committed comparable crimes might have very little in common with one another. At present, it simply isn’t possible to say that factor x causes a person to become a serial killer. This behaviour is undoubtedly the result of some combination of factors operating at a certain point during an individual’s life, but what these factors are, we just can’t say.

Given the diversity that you’ve just mentioned, can it ever be useful to create psychological profiles of serial killers who have yet to be apprehended?
I think that this strategy is potentially helpful from the perspective of law enforcement. Whilst profiling is never going to be able to provide the name of the individual responsible for a crime, it can help to narrow down the pool of suspects. Psychology, however, is interested in getting inside the serial killer’s head. Unfortunately, there exists such a multiplicity of factors that we are not yet in a position to group these people together appropriately, or to identify the most important drivers.

Obviously, the actions of serial killers disgust most members of society. With this in mind, why do you think we find these individuals so fascinating?
This really is a difficult question to answer. The crimes that serial killers commit are absolutely horrendous. In real life, nobody would want to be associated with these acts. However, for some unknown reason, books and TV programmes have been written with serial killers as their central figures. For example, in the Hannibal Lecter series, the title character has transmogrified into the antihero. Hannibal is now a ‘good’ serial killer in contrast with Buffalo Bill, who is a ‘bad’ one. In Showtime’s Dexter, we also see a ‘good’ serial killer. On reflection, this trend seems quite odd.

Many of us have a slightly darker side that has a tendency to become fascinated with things that lie beyond our comprehension. I think that this is partly the result of inquisitiveness – an attempt to understand actions to which we just cannot relate – but I believe that it’s also related to fear. Although rare, serial killers are random. They can pop up at any time and in any place. I would argue that the public’s fascination with this group is, in part, an attempt to reduce the latent fear that is evoked by serial killers.

What, in your opinion, are the most interesting avenues of contemporary research concerning the psychology of serial killers? Has our understanding of this group continued to advance over the years?
Yes, it has. For understandable reasons, the vast majority of research into serial killers has been conducted by individuals who are linked to law enforcement. Only recently has it started to move into the psychological arena. We need to address this extreme form of behaviour from a psychological perspective; to try to understand just what’s going on in the minds of serial killers. What causes them to do the things that they do? Why have they developed in this way? What are the main differences between serial killers? Psychologists want to create a clearer picture of what exactly is going on.

Do you think that psychology will ever be capable of identifying markers for this extreme behaviour before a person begins to kill?
I think that we will because I believe that psychology can endow us with an understanding of human behaviour. However, I think that the ability to spot potential serial killers is still a long way off. We need to develop a better understanding of the factors that drive these people; how certain events that happen to an individual can increase his or her likelihood of becoming a serial killer. Psychologists must identify the factors that have some predictive value in determining future behaviour.

But presumably, any new knowledge in this area would be useful. Even if it isn’t possible to identify markers in advance, a greater understanding could facilitate those working to apprehend serial killers…
That’s right. It may also be possible to identify factors that suggest a person is not a serial killer. We just don’t know at this stage. It all comes back to the level of specificity that we are able to achieve. At present, we’re still at the level of very general factors but as we explore the scene, these factors will become more and more specific. In the future, we might even be able to identify indicators for particular behaviours further down the line.

Are any of your current research activities related to the psychology of serial killers?
There is a general theme in my research that is related to this group. I am interested in behaviour development: prenatal learning, how we recognise our siblings, etc. When I started out as a psychologist, we looked at the individual and his or her behaviour as a whole. I am slightly concerned about the path that psychology has since followed. We now tend to ‘chop off’ little bits of behaviour in an attempt to understand them better. However, we don’t always replace these bits within the big picture. I want to return to a starting point whereby I try to understand why a person behaves as they do. Serial killing is of interest to me because it encompasses gross and extreme examples of human behaviour. If psychology is to succeed in understanding ‘the mind of the serial killer’, it must start by finding out why certain individuals exhibit these behaviours.

Inside the mind of a serial killer: a psychologist's perspective - Science Omega

What's Up, Annie Parisse? The Following Star Talks Broadway Serial Killers and ... - Broadway.com

What’s Up, Annie Parisse? The Following Star Talks Broadway Serial Killers and … – Broadway.com

‘I had so many people say, ‘You didn’t tell me you were playing one of the bad guys!’

From prime real estate to primal serial killers, Annie Parisse has seen it all. The Broadway veteran and Clybourne Park alumna is currently taking names as kick-ass police chief Debra Parker on FOX’s pulse-pounding thriller The Following, co-starring Kevin Bacon. Parisse is one of a handful of Broadway actors who appear on the show, which is all kinds of cra y—and we love it! Because we’re such fans, we tracked down Parisse to get her story on the fascination with The Following, Broadway stars in body bags and her Clybourne Tony memories.

The Following is so, so good. What attracted you to it?
It was a combination of things. The funny thing for me was that my character, Debra Parker, is not in the pilot, so I was trying to understand what the part would be. I had some conversations with [show creator] Kevin Williamson about how he envisioned her fitting into the series, which all sounded really interesting. And then I read with Kevin Bacon—and of course, he’s a fantastic actor and a really fun guy to work with. I thought, I’ll just take a leap of faith!

Police chiefs on television can often fall into cliché. How does Parker fit into the mold?
I hope she goes against it! That was one of the concerns for me. To be totally honest, police shows aren’t my thing—it’s generally not the TV I watch, so the exciting things were that [Chief Parker] has a great sense of humor, and now they’re bringing out some of her past, which is dark and scary. I had this same conversation with our executive producer before I started, where he was like, “We want all of the agents in the show to feel like people.” It’s sort of a funny thing to say, but it’s true: Agents are people, too!

Has anyone said anything about the show that stuck with you?
After the second episode aired, I had so many people say, “You didn’t tell me you were playing one of the bad guys!” I think that’s one of my favorite comments about the show, because Kevin Williamson has set up this world in which you really don’t know who’s on what side. I love that about it. That’s the kind of TV I like to watch, where you just don’t know what’s going to happen.

We’re seeing a lot of Broadway actors on this show—as serial killers!
I know! We just did an episode with Marin Ireland, who is a buddy from way back. You don’t usually get to do TV shows in New York, so it’s been really fun for me because there’s literally not been one episode where there hasn’t been somebody who’s a friend from a play, or [someone] I don’t know but who I’ve seen on stage. I’m always like, “Oh my god, I’m so excited I get to work with you!”

What is it about Broadway stars on crime shows, either being serial killers—or being serially killed?
I feel like the most fun roles are the people who come in and do the killing and wreak mayhem, you know? It’s a huge compliment to all the Broadway folks that they get to come in and chew the scenery a little bit.

What was the Tony whirlwind like for Clybourne Park?
It was very intense. It was so exciting that we got nominated, just because it was such a long time coming to get the show to Broadway, and the fact that we had all of the original cast members…it was really special. I’ll always look back on that experience as one of the sweet moments in my career because it felt like a dream. You do the play, you move to Broadway, everybody goes together, you get nominated for a Tony and then you win! The longer you work in this business, you reali e things don’t usually work this way.

Do you think The Following would make a good transition to the stage?
I feel like it’s not in the cards, but it’s a wild idea, and I kind of love it! I don’t know how you’d do it. But that would be a cra y, cra y night at the theater.

The Following airs on Mondays at 9/8c on FOX.

What's Up, Annie Parisse? The Following Star Talks Broadway Serial Killers and ... - Broadway.com

Critic's Notebook Why serial killers draw a following on TV - Boston Globe

Critic’s Notebook Why serial killers draw a following on TV – Boston Globe

Last fall, Mandy Patinkin explained why he abruptly left the CBS series “Criminal Minds” in 2007. “It was very destructive to my soul and my personality,” he said about working on a weekly procedural obsessed with the warped thinking of serial killers. “Audiences all over the world use this programming as their bedtime story,” he added as a bit of social commentary. “This isn’t what you need to be dreaming about.”

Looks like many American TV viewers don’t agree with Patinkin, despite the fact that he’s the mensch of the century as Saul on “Homeland.” We kind of, sort of, love serial killers, who surface all over the “dial,” most recently on Fox’s nascent hit, “The Following” and the CW’s “Cult.” Patinkin or no Patinkin, “Criminal Minds” has remained in Nielsen’s weekly Top 15 for five of its eight seasons. Twenty-two years after its release, “The Silence of the Lambs” has become a defining influence on programming, as these series probe the magnetic dynamic between detectives and serial killers. NBC, aware of that trend, is returning to the source on April 4 with “Hannibal,” in which Hugh Dancy’s FBI agent turns to Mads Mikkelsen’s Lecter every week for assistance.

And the serial killers we’re watching aren’t exactly schleps or classic losers. Dexter Morgan, who kills killers on Showtime’s hugely successful “Dexter,” could even be a fashion model for Miami casual chic. The serial killer has become a kind of rock star figure on TV, often charismatic and playful regardless of his brutality. James Purefoy’s Joe Carroll on “The Following” is a former English professor with enough glamour to inspire a cult of younger killers. The January premiere of BBC America’s Victorian procedural “Ripper Street” began with a sightseeing tour of the Ripper’s trail in London, a nod to the fact that he was one of the first serial killers endowed with a form of celebrity. “Ripper Street” isn’t about Ripper so much as those who failed to catch him, but his fame hangs over every episode.

The list of our serial killer fantasies goes on: Serial killers show up regularly on crime procedurals from the “CSI” shows to “Bones,” and a serial killer is the focus of the long arc of CBS’s “The Mentalist,” whose hero still grieves the death of his family at the hands of Red John. “Dark Minds,” an Investigation Discovery reality series, just returned for its second season with a doo y of a “Silence of the Lambs” gimmick: weekly speculation about unsolved serial murders by an anonymous man known as “Raven” who is serving time for a series of murders. And “Bates Motel,” the early story of Norman Bates from “Psycho,” premieres on A&E on March 18. Bates, an icon of twisted Freudian pathology, was Anthony Perkins in Hitchcock’s movie and will be Freddie Highmore on the upcoming series.

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Is Mandy Patinkin right — that these gruesome tales aren’t what we need to be dreaming about? I want to say yes, that as a culture we ought to be focusing on more positive fantasies than, as “The Following” has it, gouging out eyes in the name of Edgar Allen Poe. We shouldn’t be elevating these figures, not only the likes of Joe Carroll on “The Following” but also the countless real serial killers such as Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Aileen Wuornos, John Wayne Gacy, and David Berkowit who are all endlessly profiled in sensationali ed cable biographies. We should ignore them, make them go away.

But my sense of TV, as well as movies and books, is that among its many, many purposes, it can serve as an outlet for our darkest fantasies. TV can provide us with a safe opportunity to process on a subconscious level the scariest behaviors we can imagine — and serial killing, a blend of violence, randomness, and fetishism, is surely up there. Like horror movies, serial killer stories on TV allow us to set free our own murderous thoughts, too — which, on some level, exist in the sanest of people — rather than tamping them down and letting them build up. As Stephen King writes in his essay “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” “anti-civili ation emotions don’t go away, and they demand periodic exercise.”

The apocalypses of shows such as “Revolution” and “The Walking Dead” aren’t exactly lullaby material, either. Same with hospital dramas. But they, too, provide the same kind of psychological outlet, a way to let the worst-case scenarios drift through our curious imaginations. The idea of TV programming that is entirely built on triumph and health and “normalcy” is distasteful to me. If you are a student of human behavior, you want to see all facets of it, not just the bright sides.

I’m not defending rampant violence on TV. Gratuitous depictions of violence may or may not lead to cultural desensitivity toward violence in life, but they are a shallow and unsatisfying form of storytelling. I do think that thought-provoking depictions of violence — in, say, the first few seasons of “Dexter,” which were moral conundrums about vigilantism and capital punishment — have a place in our broad range of programming. As long as they are properly rated on the broadcast networks, and put behind pay walls on cable, smart portrayals of violence can be revelatory; without blood, “The Wire” or “The Sopranos” would have lost a lot of their power and impact. As we debate the causes of the Newtown massacre, we need to remember that solely blaming the media is one of those knee-jerk responses that often take attention away from more profound issues.

Of course, badly made and poorly written serial-killer stories on TV are just bad TV. “The Following” has an addictive pace, but it is a mess of crudely drawn clichés with logical leaps that strain the imagination. “Dexter” is now a much diminished product. “Criminal Minds” is a tiresome string of bleak images. They are bedtime stories that do no justice to our nightmares.

Get two weeks of FREE unlimited access to BostonGlobe.com. No credit card required.Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewGilbert.

Critic's Notebook Why serial killers draw a following on TV - Boston Globe