This past week, Netflix dropped a new series which Australia can’t stop talking about- “Conversations with A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes.”
The four-part docu-series features present-day interviews with journalists Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth, archival footage and audio recordings made on death row form a searing portrait of notorious American serial killer Ted Bundy.
The release of the series coincides with the pending release of the film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile starring Zac Efron. YES…. ‘High School Musical’ Zac Efron, who is receiving accolades for his role. So as a precaution and to educate yourselves, SheSociety urges you to watch the Netflix series prior to the film to ensure you understand what a perverted and narcissistic person Ted Bundy really was. Charming YES but ‘Zac Efron’ handsome NO. There is a huge risk that seeing the film without the context of the man could possibly make him the ‘hero’ of which ‘he’ is not. He is the villain and we thought it best to summarise his character below.
Before he was put to death in 1989, Bundy admitted to killing more than 30 women in the early 70s.
Throughout the show, there was a lot to be learned about the nature of Ted Bundy which has shocked audiences.
He liked to set traps
While Bundy insists on the tapes he “never lacked playmates”, Sandi Holt, a childhood friend says, “He just didn’t fit in.”
“He had a temper. He liked to scare people,” Holt continued, adding Bundy liked to build what she referred to as “tiger traps,” a pit with pointed stakes, disguised with vegetation.
“One little girl went over the top of one of Ted’s tiger traps and got the whole side of her leg slit open with the sharpened point of the stick that she landed on,” said Holt.
Remembering Bundy’s high school years, Holt said, “He tried to fool you and lie to you” and recalled him spending time alone and not dating.
As Bundy explained in his own words, “It wasn’t that I disliked women or was afraid of them, it was just that I didn’t seem to have an inkling as to what to do about them.”
He almost killed himself before his execution
On January 22, 1989, two days before Bundy was executed, he confessed to an estimated 30-plus murders over seven states to FBI special agent Bill Hagmaier.
The following day, as people gathered outside the Florida prison celebrating Bundy’s impending death, Hagmaier said Bundy threatened to kill himself with a writing pen.
“At some point that day, Ted tells me that he’s not gonna sit in a chair and I said, ‘Well, what are you gonna do?’ He said, ‘I’m gonna die right here.’
“And he was sitting across from me, and he had a pen,” Hagmaier continued.
“He said, ‘I can stick this so far up my artery it’ll squirt in your face. And I’ll be drained before anybody even gets here.’ I said, ‘Is that what you want to do?’ and he says, ‘I’m not gonna let them kill me.’ “
Bundy died the next day at age 42.
He thought killing would fulfil him
Bundy propositioned journalists with interviews with the requirement his cases would be re-examined so he could be proven innocent. To get Bundy to open up, Michaud came up with the idea of using the third person, positioning him as an “expert witness,” instead of a criminal.
“Well, it’s not an easy question, but I think we can speculate,” Bundy answered when asked who could have done these things.
“We can generally describe manifestations of this condition of this person’s being skewed toward matters of a sexual nature that involve violence.”
“Perhaps this person hoped that through violence, through this violent series of acts, if with every murder leaving a person of this type hungry… Unfulfilled. Would also leave him with the obviously irrational belief that if the next time he did it he would be fulfilled,” Bundy said. “And the next time he did it he would be fulfilled. Or the next time he did it he would be fulfilled.”
When asked when the person first acted out, Bundy replied: “It would reach a point where the anger, the frustration, the anxiety, the poor self-image, feeling cheated, wronged, insecure. He decides upon young attractive women being his victims.”
A master of deceit
The man who lured one victim in by posing as a police officer complete with badge had many tricks up his sleeve.
Bundy delayed a court appearance by stuffing his cell lock with wet toilet paper.
“He was different, and he was smart, and he was a challenge to the best,” former Leon County Sheriff Ken Katsaris said.
He felt no guilt
After Bundy was found guilty in 1980 of the murder of then-12-year-old Kimberly Leach, he refused to be affected by his actions. He was convicted in the deaths of Florida State University students Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy the previous year.
“I don’t feel guilty for any of it,” Bundy said. “I feel less guilty now than I’ve felt at any time in my whole life. About anything. I mean really.
“And it’s not that I’ve forgotten anything or I’ve closed down part of my mind or compartmentalized,” he added. “I believe I understand everything that I’ve done.”
“I am in the enviable position of not having to feel any guilt. And that’s it,” he protested. “Guilt is this mechanism we use to control people. It’s an illusion. It’s this kind of social control mechanism and it’s very unhealthy.”
The fascination that women had with Ted Bundy during his ‘self represented’ court appearances seems to continue today. It is a wonder why women are so taken with such evil and are also so forgiving if the mask of the perpetrator is not what is expected.
SheSociety is a site for the women of Australia to share our stories, our experiences, shared learnings and opportunities to connect.
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