FBI pulls the plug on Colin Wilson

[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.

[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]

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.

[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]

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.

[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

[Magpie]

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Roy Corduroy]

Answer please

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

[Celesta]

I agree with TGMichael. It's not that they need to ignore patterns that apply, but that they need to remain open and flexible to the exceptions. Instead of one rigid model, they need a range of characteristics. As yet, they haven't fully established those. Sex, a powerful motivator, is a trait of some serial killers, and is a convenient excuse, but there are other types of pleasures that can be derived from killing. A range of characteristics for those needs to be considered.


Timothy, Thanks for the heads-up on the FBI report.

[DarkPassenger]

With idiots like Cap'n Jack hunting the Ripper he'll never be caught.

Of course not all serial killers are sexually motivated but most of them are.

[Cap'n Jack]

Magpie
are you claiming that Freemasons don't have sex?
Surely you can't be on the square?