These Quotes From Ted Bundy Are Absolutely Chilling
Chances are, you've watched Netflix's Ted Bundy movie, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. The film focuses on the infamous serial killer from the perspective of his ex-girlfriend, Liz Kloepfer, and it shows Bundy (played by Zac Efron) from the beginning of his relationship with her to his murder conviction. Throughout that entire time period, the real Bundy maintained his innocence and refused to confess to any crimes. But once he was put on death row, it was a different story.
During hundreds of hours of interviews with journalists and government agents, Bundy slowly began to expose himself...and finally straight-up confessed right before his execution.
On Guilt
From the time Bundy was first arrested to his sentencing, he never admitted to any wrongdoing. Despite mounting evidence against him, he insisted that he was innocent, and he was confident that his name would be cleared. Even as he sat on death row, Bundy didn't officially own up to any of his heinous crimes until days before his execution-and even then, he only starting talking in hopes to extend his execution date.
"No man is truly innocent. I mean we all have transgressed some way in our lives, and as I say, I've been impolite, and there are things I regret having done in my life, but nothing like the things, I think, that you're referring to."
"Guilt. It's this mechanism we use to control people. It's an illusion. It's a kind of social control mechanism and it's very unhealthy. It does terrible things to the body."
“I don't feel guilty for anything. I feel sorry for people who feel guilt.”
"What's one less person on the face of the Earth, anyway?”
“I am the most cold-hearted son of a bitch you will ever meet.”
On His Actions
So Bundy didn't fully admit to his killings until the very end of his life...but he did address them subtly before then. During in-prison interviews with journalists Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth, Ted began to speak about his actions in the third-person. He speculated about what caused "the individual" to do such awful things and eventually began describing his own crimes. But after awhile, he no longer tried to hide behind semantics.
“I don’t think anybody doubts whether I’ve done some bad things. The question is what, of course, and how, and maybe even most importantly, why?”
"Murder is not just a crime of lust or violence. It becomes possession. They are part of you…[the victim] becomes a part of you, and you [two] are forever one…and the grounds where you kill them or leave them become sacred to you, and you will always be drawn back to them."
"The ultimate possession was, in fact, the taking of the life. And then…the physical possession of the remains."
"When you feel the last bit of breath leaving their body, you're looking into their eyes. A person in that situation is God!"
“I haven't blocked out the past. I wouldn't trade the person I am, or what I've done, or the people I've known, for anything. So I do think about it. And at times it's a rather mellow trip to lay back and remember.”
"I understand now a lot of stuff about myself that I didn't understand then. It makes me realize what was going on. The senselessness of it appalls me, although I'm sure not so much as those who were so close to it."
On Serial Killers
Despite claiming innocence for years, Bundy gave up the act in his last days and actually helped FBI special agent Bill Hagmaier get a better understanding of serial killers. Together they would profile similar cases, and Bundy offered his input on the motivations, behaviors and actions of the killers. With his personal knowledge, he gave the FBI a rare insight into the chilling phenomenon.
“Society wants to believe it can identify evil people or bad or harmful people, but it's not practical. There are no stereotypes.”
“We serial killers are your sons, we are your husbands, we are everywhere. And there will be more of your children dead tomorrow.”
"I've lived in prison for a long time now, and I've met a lot of men who were motivated to commit violence just like me. And without exception, every one of them... was deeply involved in pornography."
"Those of use who have been so much influenced by violence in the media, in particular pornographic violence, are not some kinds of inherent monsters. We are your sons, and we are your husbands. And we grew up in regular families. And pornography can reach out and snatch a kid out of any house today. It snatched me out of my home twenty, thirty years ago."
"I deserve certainly the most extreme punishment society has...I think society deserves to be protected from me and others like me."
His Last Words
After his last meal-steak and eggs-Bundy was sent to the death chamber on the morning of January 24, 1989. When asked if he had any last words, he said, "Jim [Coleman, his defense attorney] and Fred [Lawrence, his minister], I'd like you to give my love to my family and friends." After that, he was executed via the electric chair.
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