Edmund Kemper quotes from Mindhunter

Edmund Kemper

You see, Bill, I knew a week before she died I was gonna kill her. She went out to a party, she got soused, she came home alone. I asked her how her evening went. She just looked at me. She said, "For seven years." She said, "I haven't had sex with a man because of you, my murderous son." So I got a claw hammer and I beat her to death. Then I cut her head off, and I humiliated her. And I said, "There, now you've had sex." If there's one thing I know, it's this: A mother should not scorn her own son. If a woman humiliates her little boy, he will become hostile, and violent, and debased. Period.

Holden Ford

You don't think you could benefit from psychiatry?

Edmund Kemper

I already did all that in the institution. It didn't take. For me, I think surgery might give me the best chance.

Holden Ford

And if surgery doesn't take, in this modern society, what do we do with the Ed Kempers of the world?

Edmund Kemper

Well, isn't that your department?

Holden Ford

From your perspective...

Edmund Kemper

Death by torture?

Edmund Kemper

Butchering people is hard work. Physically and mentally. I don't think people realize. You need to vent. What are you writing down?

Holden Ford

[freely showing his notebook] Oh, I just think it's an interesting choice of words, "vocation."

Edmund Kemper

Well, what would you call it? A hobby? I'd say it's more than that. Look at the consequences. The stakes are very high.

Bill Tench

I'm sorry, Ed, do you mean that violence in the movies drove you to kill those women?

Edmund Kemper

No. My point is, in reality it doesn't work the way you expect. When you stab somebody they're supposed to fall dead. They go, "Oh," and they fall dead, right?

Bill Tench

Right.

Edmund Kemper

In reality, when you stab somebody, they lose blood pressure and they leak to death, very slowly.