Richard Speck: Bad Dream or Hellish Nightmare?

by cmoneyspinner

In one night, a 24 year-old sailor turned the innocence of eight student nurses into a hellish nightmare. One lone survivor, Cora Amurao, lived to testify and put him away.

Richard Speck (Richard Benjamin Speck; Dec 6, 1941 to Dec 5, 1991).

He was a sailor, 24 years old at the time and he murdered 8 student nurses in Chicago in their dormitory room.

Since I didn't do research to find out if there was a full moon the night the crimes were committed plus I don't believe in werewolves, the only similarity I can surmise by comparing "the minds" of various serial killers is they all enjoy the pleasure of the kill.

Full Moon | ID 22403 © Marbo
Full Moon | ID 22403 © Marbo

Evil Exists

All Murder Victims Know That

Obviously, Lucifer is dark; even though his name means "light bearer".

Lucifer's proselytes are dark as well.

Serial killers are Lucifer's proselytes.

They employ graphic, gruesome, violent methods to stalk and murder their prey. When the law finally catches up with them, they resign themselves to being caught. They know they're guilty and they don't care.

Many want to study the mind of a serial killer, like Richard Speck and others. Their rationale or reasoning is that if they could learn what is in the mind of a serial killer, perhaps they could profile and predict attitudes and behavior, and equipped with this knowledge, intended victims might be spared.

Naïve thinking, wouldn't you agree? Hey! Argue with the statistics.

Surmise is to infer with little evidence or GUESS!

Surmise is what one does because one refuses to go into the mind of a serial killer to try to figure out what makes them tick!

Perhaps some of them have real genuine stories about horrible childhoods, suffering abuse at the hands of their primary caretakers, etc. Perhaps these murderers are misunderstood, they've been hurting a long time, and it's a means of releasing rage and making others feel their pain.

But here is a salient fact and it is a contrast and comparison that anybody would be hard-pressed to ignore. There have been children who have endured unimaginable cruelties and they have grown up to become ... non-serial killers.

 

About Richard Speck

And His Victims

Richard Speck's VictimsIt was 1966 and I was 10 years old. There was an article in the Miami Herald (I grew up in Miami, Florida) describing what Richard Speck had done and explaining that the police were looking for him. One of his intended victims had escaped his killing spree by hiding under a bed and staying there until she mustered up enough courage to roll out from under the bed, get herself untied, climb out of a window onto a ledge and start screaming for help! The news article had an artist sketch of Mr. Speck based on the description the student nurse had given. Following up in a subsequent article when they reported his capture, his real picture was placed next to the artist sketch. Yep. The sketch sure did look like him.

I remember my late mother commenting:  "You know if he had only counted the number of girls, he would have noticed one of them was missing."

I also remember thinking: "Stabbing, shooting, strangling ... He forgot to count? (???)"

This minor detail is mentioned only because, most reports indicate when a serial killer is finally arrested, during the interrogation they can usually state the number of victims who perished at their hands and fill in many other missing details that nobody else would now except them.

Please. Please don't strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Please don't split hairs and argue that technically Speck wasn't a serial killer. Please don't draw a fine line and say he was a mass murderer, not a serial killer, since he did away with all of his victims in one session. Whatever! I say: He was a serial killer who got lucky!

Movies like "The Silence of the Lambs" and TV series like "Dexter" popularize the serial killer image. The script writers try to paint a picture of "everyday people" - cultured, educated, average, even law-abiding (sort of) - i.e. they're only eliminating people who are distasteful or displeasing or are somehow unsatisfactory and don't deserve to live and/or they make a tasty meal. One could say they're "cleaners".

The writers try to humanize them.

What person is human who can repeatedly commit disgusting, coldhearted, brutal murders? Such a "malevolent creature" should only exist in a nightmare. But the reality is: serial killers are living nightmares. There is only one English word that paints them in their true colors: BLOODTHIRSTY.

I read the account of Richard Speck's murderous rampage in 1966. I never did follow up on his life in prison until recently and realized that he had escaped the executioner. Now I am convinced that capital punishment is the only fair way to treat a serial killer. If there is a God, then let Him deal with them. If there is no God, then we the people have a moral obligation to remove these loathsome creatures from our society, so we don't have to deal with them.

  • {Photo of Speck's victims. Public domain images.}

Richard Speck was real.

Hannibal and Dexter are only fiction.

Movies like "The Silence of the Lambs" and TV series like "Dexter" popularize the serial killer image. The script writers try to paint a picture of "everyday people" - cultured, educated, average, even law-abiding (sort of) - i.e. they're only eliminating people who are distasteful or displeasing or are somehow unsatisfactory and don't deserve to live and/or they make a tasty meal. One could say they're "cleaners".

The writers try to humanize them.

What person is human who can repeatedly commit disgusting, coldhearted, brutal murders? Such a "malevolent creature" should only exist in a nightmare. But the reality is: serial killers are living nightmares. There is only one English word that paints them in their true colors: BLOODTHIRSTY.

References
  • All Serial Killers dot com All Serial Killers have Famous Serial Killers, Female Serial Killers, Victims of Serial Killers, and Pictures of Serial Killers. From The States to Canada these Famous Serial Killers are Murderers to the extreme. Even Female Serial Killers are hardcore killers.

CONCLUSION

I read the account of Richard Speck's murderous rampage in 1966. I never did follow up on his life in prison until recently and realized that he had escaped the executioner. Now I am convinced that capital punishment is the only fair way to treat a serial killer. If there is a God, then let Him deal with them. If there is no God, then we the people have a moral obligation to remove these loathsome creatures from our society, so we don't have to deal with them.

 

On the plus side ... A horrific and tragic incident could have been even worse.  Suppose Richard Speck was a doctor!!

Job's Evil Dreams

Intro Image Credit

When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaints; then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions... ~ (Job 7: 13, 14)

(At least Job could wake up from his dreams.)

Historic Fine Art Print | William Blake | Job's Evil Dreams, from Illustrations of The Book of Job | Vintage Wall Art Décor Poster Reproduction | 16in x 20in
Historic Fine Art Print | William Blake | Job's Evil Dreams, from I...
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Job's Evil Dreams from The Book of Job  By: William Blake
Job's Evil Dreams from The Book of Job By: William Blake

NOTE TO READERS:

An Apology
* * * *
My original intent when I started writing was actually to publish something "spooky" to take part in the Halloween festivities.

 

But as you can plainly see, I got sidetracked. Oh well!! Happy Halloween!

 

Halloween image found at at glitter-graphics.com

If You Still Want to Get in the Halloween Spirit

These Wizzles Might Help You Create the Mood
Many of us have come in contact with Ouija board-Is it real and safe is the question that has haunted for decades.Whether or not you believe in spirits,it is prudent to be cautious
The old legend is that if you look in the mirror at midnight, you will see beside your reflection the image of the one you will marry. This was one pretty popular.
In Exeter, Rhode Island, the villagers gathered to exhume the body of a suspected vampire. It happened right on the eve of the 20th century.

Can't Have Halloween Without Black Cats and a Mask


Black Cat

Soft, lifelike, stuffed plush black cat, made in the tradition of master toy-maker Giovanni Bocchetta. Available from: Stuffed Ark Corporation

 

Updated: 05/17/2019, cmoneyspinner
 
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cmoneyspinner on 02/18/2014

@Tolovaj - Never heard of him. Thank goodness he's not world famous. Last thing we need is a copycat. We never caught the Zodiac Killer!!

This is not one of my popular articles. The subject matter no doubt turns people off. I was surprised to get an eMail that a comment had been left. Spooky world indeed.

Tolovaj on 02/18/2014

I never heard about Richard Speck before. I guess he is not world wide famous. Looking at other cases which inspired impersonators, this is probably a good thing. You are right, we are living in a spooky world...

cmoneyspinner on 09/17/2013

@BrendaReeves - Yeah. It was my follow-up research on Mr. Speck that sort of turned in this writing into a NOT so Happy Halloween article. Left an imprint on your memory too eh?

BrendaReeves on 09/17/2013

I remember the Richard Speck incident also. There was an airline strike and my mother, brother and I were taking the train from CA to KY to visit my grandparents and aunts. Richard Speck died of a heart attack a few years back. There was a documentary made of him not too long before he died. They showed him in prison with a male lover, Speck had taken drugs that gave him breasts. He said that if the government knew how much fun he was having in prison, they'd release him. Sometimes I like to think there really is a hell.

cmoneyspinner on 07/28/2013

@MikeRobbers - Well written? Think so? I thought it needed a little work. I polished it a bit. (I think.) Said the same stuff. Just moved it around. I sort of plagiarized myself. It's a dare between me and the search engines that shine the spotlight on "duplicate content".

It's puzzling. People go to article databases and copy content for their websites. Sometimes they do a copy job word for word. Why doesn't the "duplicate content" robot police thingy do ... ??? ... something!

MikeRobbers on 07/28/2013

A well written account of a heinous series of crimes.

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