FBI pulls the plug on Colin Wilson

[DarkPassenger]

I disagree with Wilson about Maybrick, that I concede. I can't see his reasoning there.

His general theory, outlined in "A Plague of Murder" makes perfect sense however, unlike the structural theories of David Wilson or the anthropology of Elliot and Norris. With JTR, I disagree with Wilson. Everything else I agree with.

Wilson's theory is Maslovian.

[Stewart P Evans]

One Colin Wilson

Colin Wilson has been mentioned by Dark Passenger and others, and in fact this thread refers to him. He has written some books about serial killers, profiling, etc. I have not read those books. But I keep hearing his name discussed.
I did, however, read a book in which he, Colin Wilson, wrote a a chapter. The Mammoth Book of JtR, which in the US is the JtR Comprehensive A -Z. Jakubowski and Braund. And in this chapter, he Colin Wilson stated that he thinks James Maybrick was the killer. Something doesn't fit. A scientific profiler type who favors Maybrick?
So maybe, about the chapter Colin Wilson wrote naming Maybrick:
(a) I read it wrong
(b) its an inside joke
(c) there is another Colin Wilson
(d) none of the above.
Any help would be appreciated, because I am bapholed.
Roy

There's only one Colin Wilson in Ripperworld. He has modified his opinions on the Ripper over the years and latterly, for come unknown reason, appears to have been swayed by Feldman and the 'diary' arguments.

[Sam Flynn]

Agreed. I think Bond's proto-profiling attempt is still pretty useful. I think that the "field" of profiling hasn't really advance much beyond what Bond attempted back in 1888.

I'd agree, and would suggest that the pop-psychology derived from Freudian Theory, which took off in the intervening century or so since Bond, had a lot to do with it.

[mariag]

Roy--Colin Wilson has written a plethora of books over many years on all kinds of subjects like unsolved mysteries, the Bermuda Triangle,ghosts psychic powers and all that jazz.


He writes a nifty yarn--uses that breathless " could it be possible that..." kind of style that invites the reader to suspend disbelief and follow along for the ride.

I would not call them in any way scholorly or authoratative, but if you like the "gee wizz" brand of nonfiction, he's your guy.

[Magpie]

It's hard to think of a Ripper theory that Wilson hasn't endorsed at some point.

[Roy Corduroy]

Well Magpie, that's how his essay was. He told of different people coming to him with their latest "find." A sounding board of Ripperdom. It just surprised me when he came out for Maybrick.

I appreciate you DarkP, Stewart and Mariag for answering my question. A search shows our public library has 20 books by Mr. Wilson. I'll just get one and read it.

Thanks again,

Roy

[DarkPassenger]

I'll be fair, Roy, I agree with Wilson totally, but his theory is far from complete. For a good study into the structural conditions which cause some groups in society to succumb to predatory crime, read David Wilson's "Serial Killers: Hunting Britons and their Victims," and for a very good read from a profiler's POV, read "The Jigsaw Man" by Paul Britton.

[Natalie Severn]

I cant read Wilson -he seems to have sex on the brain and it becomes somewhat nauseating reading about his innermost thoughts on the matter and how it has shaped his theories.Its sort of man with a raincoat.

[DarkPassenger]

He's identifying with the sexual nature of man, and specifically with sex criminals. Sex criminals have sex on the brain and to understand them you need to think like them.

[Cap'n Jack]

Yeah right, like when Wilson classifies the brutal murder of a younger boy by two older boys as 'sexual' because the two older boys used a chisel to kill the boy - that was a penis you must understand - and the body was left in a culvert - that was a vagina you must understand.
You kooks need some serious help.

[DarkPassenger]

What's your source for that comment, Jack?

I suppose the Yorkshire Ripper killed those pro's because they owed him money, huh? Or Fred and Rose West were just clumsy and accidentally killed their lodgers? Or maybe Alun Kyte was just a bit fat, and the 12 women he allegedly killed accidentally suffocated?

Not all killers are sex killers, but serial killers are nearly always sex killers. Agreeing with a theorist is not the same as adhering to every word they say 100%. I know some of Wilson's theories are off the mark but I still agree with most of his theory. Same with Norris - I think positivism went out with the dinosaurs but I see his logic and his well crafted theory does have key elements of truth.

To deny that serial killers are sexually motivated is like saying bank robbers aren't motivated by financial gain.

[Sam Flynn]

I suppose the Yorkshire Ripper killed those pro's because they owed him money, huh?

Perhaps he just liked killing prostitutes, or just liked killing women. The fact that they were prostitutes needn't imply a sexual motive - it may indicate a need to find easy targets with which to feed an appetite for murder.

To deny that serial killers are sexually motivated is like saying bank robbers aren't motivated by financial gain.

Some who steal do so not for financial gain, but out of necessity - others do so simply for the buzz. To believe that all serial killers are sexually motivated is to deny that other motivations may drive them.

[Howard Brown]

Dark Passenger:



Theirry Paulin, a gay serial killer from France, killed old women for finanical gain, but strangled,smothered and stabbed them as well...much like someone considered an ssk would....and they weren't prostitutes. Just women.

I think,as time goes by,we will see that this emphasis on "sex" in serial killing is but one factor, a major one in many to be sure, of a variety of variables which create the monsters...

Severin Klosowski's motive wouldn't be classifed as one of sexual serial killing.
Neil Cream's either. Both are serial killers.

Herbie Mullin eviscerated a woman named Mary Guilfoyle in late 1972 on a college campus and ripped her insides out for "the vultures". Herbie had 10 murders under his belt. Herbie heard "voices". No sexual contact was made,either, in either murder.

I ask you,D.P, sor.......whats the difference between the Guilfoyle murder and Catherine Eddowes' murder?

[Cap'n Jack]

'Even more dangerous, perhaps, is Wilson's classification of the famous Bobby Franks murder case as a sexual crime. This took place in the 1920's in America where two wealthy, bored male students kidnapped and murdered a 14-year-old boy, Bobby Franks, to prove that they could get away with the 'perfect murder'. It is difficult to understand why Wilson should classify this as a sex crime when there was absolutely no signs of sexual interference but we are told that the chisel used to kill the boy was a symbolic penis and the culvert into which the body had been thrust a symbolic vagina. Wilson admits that his interpretation, based on Freudian reasoning, is simplistic, but he believes it does show that the murder had a sexual motive and demonstrates that such crimes are by their very nature 'baffling and paradoxical'.'

That quote is from some bloke called AP Wolf who wrote that in 1993 in a work named 'Jack the Myth'.
I'd suggest you read the relevant chapter here on site.

[DVV]

Hi Howard,
in parenthesis, Paulin was caught because his haircut was like that of Carl Lewis. Funny enough!

Amitiés,
David