48 pages • 1 hour read
Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers
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Introduction-Part 1, Chapter 4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, illness or death, sexual violence, child abuse, child sexual abuse, and child death.
Part 1: “Little Domesday”
Introduction Summary: “Crime Scenes of the Pacific Northwest, or The Crazy Wall”
The Pacific Northwest of the US is known for its serial killers, which seem to exist in greater numbers in the states of Alaska, Washington, and Oregon than in the rest of the country. When author Caroline Fraser was a child in Tacoma, Washington, she lived near the infamous serial killers Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, and Gary Ridgway. Fraser connects the prevalence of killings in the Pacific Northwest to the geological feature known as the Olympic-Wallowa Lineament (OWL), a fiercely debated area connecting a series of topographical features (such as lakes, mountain ranges, and fault lines) from northwest Washington to southeast Oregon. The geologist who identified it, Erwin Raisz, argued that it posed a threat to infrastructure throughout the region, comparing it to the San Andreas fault. Fraser notes that this geological feature cuts directly through the parts of the Pacific Northwest where infamous serial killers operated.
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “The Floating Bridge”
This chapter argues that human nature cannot overpower the Pacific Northwest’s dangerous landscapes. Despite its nickname, the Emerald City, Seattle can be a depressing place: In mid-winter, the city has only eight hours of sunlight per day, and true summer lasts just a few weeks. Fraser characterizes Washington State’s geography as “lethal.
