The Golden Age of Murder: A True Crime Podcast

On this episode of Golden Age of Murder we are joined by Nic Edwards from the incredibly popular True Crime Garage. We discuss the BTK, Dennis Rader a sadist who named himself after his process Bind, Torture, Kill. Born in 1945, he experienced what to most seemed a pleasant childhood with a loving family but underneath he developed dark sexual urges. These feelings  would lead him to model himself after Harvey Glatman from our first episode. Young women would be his target but he would murder whole families. Rader would go on to kill 10 people and is a primary case study in sadism like nothing else.  True Crime Garage presents an archive of missing persons, unsolved and cold cases, plus accounts of infamous serial killers and chilling solved cases. Follow Nic Edwards at @TCGNIC and the Garage True Crime Garage on Apple Podcasts and anywhere you can listen to podcasts. 

In this episode we look at the life and times of the Son of Sam. David Berkowitz, born Richard David Falco, engaged in a killing spree between July 29, 1976 and July 31 1977 taking the lives of many innocent couples in New York City. In his furious writings to the cops Berkowitz would describe himself as the Son of Sam, a name that would forever become synonymous with that time in the city's history. During a period where America and specifically New York City, where the  killings took place, was undergoing a crisis of confidence. New York was home to rampant crime, a fiscal crisis and urban decay. 1976 where  Berkowitz crimes became was described by many as the worst year in American history and 1977 in New York saw a massive black out which would see looting and fires. Berkowitz a very lonely young man who struggled to fit and felt rejected by the women in his life would become the horror of horrors in a city which was rejected by the rest of the nation and where many were anonymous. 

On this episode we take a panoramic look at the 1970s a decade which would see recorded serial killing numbers higher than the previous decade combine. Joined with special guest Jennifer Murray, Indiana state university criminologist and expert on mass and serial murder. Her work engages with contemporary mass and serial killers and their psychological development and fantasies. This decade would carry on the rise in violent crime that engulfed the 1960s taking it much further within the cities a process that would transform American's understanding of crime and would make people more fearful. It would be the start of the late 20th century serial killer boom. 

Dean Corll born 1939 was an American serial killer who abducted raped and tortured several young men. His victims total 46 known. He terrorized the community of The Heights, Houston in a crime that would end the culture of suburban openness that characterized the 1950s and much of the 1960s. No longer would the kindly clean cut neighbour who had an affinity for children be seen without perhaps some watchful suspicious eye. Corll was helped and supported by two men, the diffident David Owen Brooks and sly young rogue  Wayne Henley, who both assisted him in finding victims.  We explore this tragic story in lurid details while also putting these true events in the context of America's developing understanding of homosexuality in the late 1960s with Corll being a negative symbol for the gay community. 

In this episode we explore the life of Edmund Kemper, the co-ed killer who murdered six college students; his mother and her best friend. Detailing how a harrowing childhood of neglect helped create this serial killer from the material of what may have been an ordinary intelligent man. We use the famous meeting between Kemper and FBI criminal profiler John Douglas (The Mindhunter) to develop a history of criminal profiling going back to the early 20th century and how it changed the FBI. Ending with a comparison between Kemper and other serial killer Jerome Brudos. 

We talk about Peter Kurten the Vampire of Dusselfdorf, a man who would kill people in order to gain a thrill from their blood and who is the perfect example of evil formed in a dangerous time. In this episode we go to Germany, the home of modern sadism to outline how a culture of serial murder is created. Focusing on a key concept of the podcast which is foundational to the high watermark of serial killing in America and the best way to understand it. First going through the murderous career of Heinreich Kramer, an evil priest whose book set off one of the largest events of serial murder in history. Then moving on to Peter Kurten a suave, well spoken, well dressed member of the Dusselfdorf community with a dark secret. 

The podcast delves into the origins of serial murder in the western mind, exploring the life of Giles De Rais, a hero and perhaps the most cruel of all serial killers. It also discusses Peter Stubbe, the 'werewolf of bedburg'. The chapters touch on the comparison between werewolves and vampires as archetypes for serial killers, the dark psychology of serial killers, the rise of werewolf cases, disturbing crimes of Gilles de Rais, accounts of the werewolf's capture, and the tale of Guernier involving witchcraft and cannibalism.

In this podcast, Harvey Glatman, known for his perverse fantasies from a young age, is explored as the Glamour Girl Killer in 1950s Hollywood. The show delves into Glatman's dark psychology, murders imprinted on celluloid canvas, and the societal impact of his crimes. The chapters examine Glatman's twisted world, cultural shifts, family dynamics, psychological depths, early sexual fixations, legal loopholes, and distinguishing psychopathic traits. It also explores Glatman's dangerous descent into a perilous path and the haunting shadows of Los Angeles. Furthermore, it sheds light on the exploitation and vulnerability in Hollywood's Golden Age, the desperation faced by single women, and the psychological control exerted by a killer over his victims.