Murderabilia: A History of Crime in 100 Objects

by Harold Schechter

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

True crime fans gather around and hear the story behind one hundred pieces of murder scene memorabilia. With the endlessly compelling prose of genre maestro Harold Schechter, this is a must for anyone who enjoys getting into the mind of a killer.

From veteran true crime master Harold Schechter comes a unique look into the history of crime told through the dark objects left behind.

The false teeth of a female serial killer from 1908, the cut-and-paste confession of the Black Dahlia killer, the newly cracked cipher of the Zodiac killer, the shotgun used in the Clutter family murders, which were made famous by Truman Capote's true crime classic In Cold Blood—these are more than simple artifacts that once belonged to notorious murderers. They are objets of fascination to the legion of true crime obsessives around the world. And not merely for fleeting dark thrills, but because they represent a way to better understand those who we typically label monsters in lieu of learning how they actually became one.

In Murderabilia, veteran true crime writer Harold Schechter presents 100 murder-related artifacts spanning two centuries (1808–2014), with accompanying stories of various lengths. A visual and literary journey, it presents a history unlike any previously told in the true crime genre, one that speaks to the dark fascination of true crime fans while also presenting a larger historical timeline of how and why we continue to be captivated by the most sensational crimes and killers among us.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781523515295
Publisher:	Workman Publishing Company
Publication date:	09/26/2023
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	45,592
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Harold Schechter, a two-time Edgar nominee, has published more than 30 true crime titles, including five 100K+ copy bestsellers. His most recent work, Maniac: The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer, just published (March 9, 2021). He has taught literature and myth criticism for more than 40 years at Queens College/CUNY and is a murderabilia collector himself.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. The Murder of “Omie Wise” (1808)

2. Burke and Hare, The British “Anatomy Murders” (1828)

3. The Helen Jewett Murder (1836)

4. The Murder of Mary Rogers (1841)

5. The Colt–Adams Affair (1841)

6. The Parkman–Webster Case (1849)

7. The Deering Family Massacre (1866)

8. “The Boston Boy Fiend” (1871–1874)

9. The Bloody Benders (1873)

10. The Smuttynose Horror (1873)

11. The Kidnapping of Little Charley Ross (1874)

12. “The Colorado Cannibal” (1874)

13. “The Pocasset Tragedy” (1879)

14. The Servant Girl Annihilator (1885)

15. “Jolly Jane” Toppan, Angel of Death (Late 1880s–1901)

16. Dr. H. H. Holmes, “The Arch-Fiend” (1891–1894)

17. The Fall River Murders (1892)

18. “The Demon of the Belfry” (1895)

19. “The Stockyard Bluebeard” (1898–1905)

20. The “Sausage Vat Murder” (1897)

21. The Molineux Poison-Murder Case (1899)

22. The Murder of Stanford White (1906)

23. The “American Tragedy” Murder (1906)

24. “The Female Bluebeard” (1908)

25. The London Cellar Murder (1910)

26. “The Spirit of Meanness Personified” (1906–1930)

27. “The Brides in the Bath Murders” (1912–1914)

28. “The Vampire of Düsseldorf” (1913–1930)

29. Frederick Mors (1914–1915)

30. “The Bluebeard of Paris” (1915–1919)

31. “The Ragged Stranger” (1920)

32. The Mysterious Murder of William Desmond Taylor (1922)

33. The Chicago “Thrill Killers” Case (1924)

34. The Hall–Mills Murder Trial (1926)

35. William Edward Hickman, “The Fox” (1927)

36. The “Double Indemnity Murder” (1927)

37. The Bath School Disaster (1927)

38. “The Werewolf of Wisteria” (1928)

39. “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” (1929)

40. Bonnie and Clyde (1930–1934)

41. The Bluebeard of Quiet Dell (1931)

42. “The Trunk Murders” (1931)

43. The Massie Affair (1931–1932)

44. The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping (1932)

45. “The Blonde Borgia” (1933–1937)

46. The Crown Point Escape (1934)

47. “The Cleveland Torso Killer” (1935–1938)

48. “The Mad Sculptor” (1937)

49. The “Babes of Inglewood” Murders (1937)

50. “The Soap-Maker of Correggio” (1939–1940)

51. The “Mad Bomber” (1940–1956)

52. “Le Docteur Satan” (1944)

53. “The Acid Bath Murderer” (1944–1949)

54. “The Lipstick Killer” (1945)

55. Nannie Doss,“The Giggling Granny” (1945–1955)

56. The Black Dahlia Murder (1947)

57. The Camden Massacre (1949)

58. “The Ripper of Rillington Place” (1949–1953)

59. The Sam Sheppard Murder Case (1955)

60. “The Butcher of Plainfield” (1957)

61. “The Glamour Girl Slayer” (1957–1958)

62. The Starkweather–Fugate Spree Killings (1958)

63. The Killing of Johhny Stompanato (1958)

64. “The Capeman” Murders (1959)

65. The Clutter Family Massacre (1959)

66. The Boston Strangler (1962–1964)

67. “The Moors Murderers” (1963–1965)

68. The Slaying of Kitty Genovese (1964)

69. “The Pied Piper of Tucson” (1964–1965)

70. “The Torture Mom” (1965)

71. The Richard Speck Murders (1966)

72. The Texas Tower Massacre (1966)

73. Mary Bell, “The Devil’s Spawn” (1968)

74. The Zodiac Killings (1968–1969)

75. The Charles Manson Murders (1969)

76. The MacDonald Family Massacre (1970)

77. The Family Annihilator (1971)

78. “The Killer Clown” (1972–1978)

79. Ted Bundy (1974–1978)

80. “Dr. Death” (1974–1998)

81. “Son of Sam” (1976–1977)

82. “The Unabomber” (1978–1995)

83. Gary Heidnik (1986–1987)

84. “The Milwaukee Cannibal” (1987–1991)

85. The “Winnetka Killer” (1988)

86. “The Otaku Killer” (1988)

87. “The Backpacker Murders” (1989–1992)

88. “The Gainesville Ripper” (1990)

89. “The Pig Farm Killer” (1991–2001)

90. “The Modern-Day Medea” (1994)

91. Andrew Cunanan and the Versace Murder (1997)

92. The Torture-Murder of James Byrd Jr. (1998)

93. The Martyrdom of Matthew Shephard (1998)

94. The Columbine Massacre (1999)

95. “The Man-Eater of Rotenburg” (2001)

96. The Murder of Laci Peterson(2002)

97. The Beltway Snipers (2002)

98. The “Grim Sleeper” Murders (1985–1988, 2002–2007)

99. The Boston Marathon Bombing (2013)

100. The Slender Man Stabbing (2014)

Photo Credits

Acknowledgments

Editorial Reviews

06/12/2023

True crime writer Schechter (Butcher’s Work) spotlights objects linked to acts of violence in this eccentric volume. According to Schechter, the practice of holding on to such keepsakes dates back to at least 1827, when an English hangman cut up a noose from a notorious killer and sold one-inch sections of it for a guinea each. Here, the author pillages evidence lockers, universities, museums, and private collections for morbid mementos, using them as launching points into a bevy of bloody real-life tales. He discusses artworks by serial killers John Wayne Gacy and Danny Rolling, and examines the mummified head of Germany’s Peter Kürten, who in the 1930s killed at least nine people and drank their blood. After his execution, Kürten’s head was split open so researchers could dissect his brain; the empty head wound up in a Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum in Wisconsin. Schechter’s prose has the punch of a campfire ghost story (“He arrived around midnight when the women were asleep”), and the objects run a satisfying gamut from intriguing curios to the stuff of nightmares. It adds up to a strange and fascinating tour of the macabre. Photos. Agent: David Patterson, Stuart Krichevsky Literary. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"Schechter’s prose has the punch of a campfire ghost story and the objects run a satisfying gamut from intriguing curios to the stuff of nightmares. It adds up to a strange and fascinating tour of the macabre."—Publishers Weekly

"I am extremely interested in [Murderabilia]. Think about it, a history of crime in 100 objects. What objects? And why?"

—Nancy Grace, Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

"Short chapters and copious illustrations make Murderabilia a great choice to leave on the night table to dip into before bed."—BookPage

"Not just a history of true crime but a cultural history... Love this book."—Last Podcast on the Left

"It is the rare reference book that is compulsively readable, but Murderabilia is one... These two-to-four-pages-long articles provide fertile ground for true-crime fans or students researching specific cases or types of crimes."—Booklist

"A perfect choice for a book group that likes a body count; or a serial killer aficionado’s coffee table; or for the friends you never see because they’re addicted to Life After Lockup. Murderabilia could and should launch hundreds of true crime novels."—The Washington Post

"A fascinating tour of criminological history."—Katherine Ramsland Ph.D., Psychology Today

"It is a measure of [Schechter's] research and gift for storytelling that the reader not only learns new details about familiar murders but about murders that are just as gruesome but lost to time.... The book not only saves you the trip but gives you 99 other reasons to be an armchair detective."—Air Mail

From the Publisher