Forensic psychologist Jeffrey Smalldon spent decades corresponding, conversing, and probing the minds of some of America's most notorious killers, from John Wayne Gacy to the Manson family. Why are we, as a society, so fascinated with history's most violent and depraved acts and events? Are Canadians different from Americans in our fascination with such horror?
Jeffrey Smalldon's book, 'That Beast Was Not Me: One Forensic Psychologist, Five Decades of Conversations With Killers': https://www.blacklyonpublishing.com/product-page/that-beast-was-not-me-one-forensic-psychologist-five-decades-of-convers
Jeffrey Smalldon's website: https://jeffreysmalldon.com/
An additional note for today's episode. Early on, we discuss the difference between Canada's recollection of historic political assassinations and America's. That Americans (and Canadians, thanks to our proximity and our consumption of American culture) know locales like Ford's Theatre where Lincoln was assassinated, Dealey Plaza in Dallas where JFK was shot, or the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, the site of the killing of Martin Luther King.
I suggested that Canadians were less likely to know that kind of detail about similar events, even though political assassinations are much rarer here. I wondered how many Canadians knew about events that had happened in their own city - the biggest political assassination in Canadian history was that of D'Arcy McGee, on of the Fathers of Confederation, on Sparks Street in Ottawa. Another was that of Pierre Laporte, murdered during the FLQ crisis in 1970. And a third was the assassination of Atilla Altıkat, a Turkish diplomat gunned down on Island Park Drive in Ottawa in 1982.
Curious after discussing these things, I mentioned them to my boss later in the day after recording this episode. While she was sort of familiar with Laporte, the other two events came as a surprise. Then I went to dinner with my mom and asked her - she was also unfamiliar with D'Arcy McGee. But more surprisingly to me, she had almost no recollection of the murder of Altıkat. I would have been a baby or toddler, and the event took place about eight blocks from where we lived at the time.
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