Excitement's Crave

[playinem]

From City of Chill:

I have an MA in English and teach English lit, so I know quite a bit about poetry. I haven't studied 'Excitement's Crave' in depth, but I can tell from a few cursory readings that it is likely this perp had an interest in poetry at the least, and perhaps even took a few college-level courses. He definitely read poetry and knew something about metre and rhythm. Even though his poetry does not follow a specific metric scheme like iambic pentameter, there is definitely an attempt at adding a somewhat consistent rhythm to his verse. For the most part, he uses a ragged iambic quadrameter - four pairs of syllables to a verse, the first unstressed and the second stressed. His use of this metre is not totally consistent, but he returns to it again and again, sometimes switching to the trochee (the same as an iamb, but with the stress arrangement reversed), but almost always going with pairs of stressed and unstressed syllables, with most verses containing 8 syllables.



If none of this makes sense to you, try reciting the poem out loud while tapping your thigh to coincide with every other syllable. The author's knowledge of rhythm is most obvious in lines like:



Take inventory of their worth

As is decorum, seeking lore

Leisure tempts excitement seeking

To make a movie of my life

Just now I'd like to add the wife



The above lines are pretty consistent in their use of iambic quadrameter, with the occasional trochee thrown into the mix. The rest of the poem does not employ such consistent use of meter, but still has a noticeable rhythm to it. Only the final stanza abandons all forms and conventions as far as rhythm and meter go.



Anyways, the point is that this poem was written by someone who is, at the very least, a pretty avid reader of poetry. It would be interesting to compare his lexicon and diction in the poem to the letter believed to be his (Custer and teacher complaints). While the poem is an amateur effort, it is not written by someone who knows nothing of poetry. This person has studied poetry to some degree and probably writes poetry in his spare time. Just another detail we can add to our profile of the offender.


Thanks Chill...I don't know for sure if the offender wrote the poem but it is really nice to see it analyzed by someone who clearly knows whereof he or she speaks.

[Deleted]

I've actually been reading the poem over and over, spending some time with it, and I have to say it's actually a pretty clever little thing and offers tremendous insight into the offender's worldview. I do believe the EAR/ONS wrote it. I cannot explain why, but I feel it. I mean, I could explain it, but I don't feel that the poem of a rapist/murderer deserves to have a short essay written about it.

What I will say is one should notice how this person makes no explicit mention of sex, lust, rape, etc. This person doesn't see or care about the pain they are causing. There is no feeling. It is simply excitement's crave for him - the choice made by this particular mortal who (unfortunately) survived his birth about the course his life would take. I believe all humans have dark feelings and thoughts from time-to-time - desires we have but would never act on. The malignant narcissist doesn't see why they should play by society's rules when that means denying themselves what they want. He is disconnected from the pain he is causing, concerned only with himself. The author sees life as a series of choices, and he has made his. It is the kind of shallow and fatalistic view of human life I would expect from a psychopath (also notice his use of the word "mortal." An interesting choice for many reasons). That's all I want to write about this guy's writing for now. It makes my skin crawl. Perhaps I will continue to add to this analysis in small pieces. 

As for the writing of poetry and who can do it - I agree that it takes a certain amount of empathy and insightfulness to write good poetry. But anyone can write poetry about themselves, especially the narcissist who believes his own development is more important than that of his victims. This guy is frightening. Compare his poetry to the suicide note of that other idiot, Israel Keyes, and you'll see some similarities in the way the poem barely even touches what seems so obvious to everyone else - the crimes. If you were to get rid of the last stanza and show this poem to a person who has no idea it was written by a serial rapist/killer, they would never imagine what it's really about - this offender's choice to derive pleasure from the pain of others. The offender doesn't have any deep feelings about the crimes he committed - he cares about himself, and that is what the poem is about. Him. 

[tmacchallenger]

Maybe part of the reason that EAR didn't mention his crimes is because even he knew that they were nothing to brag about. Even in the criminal underworld this freak would have been looked at as a pariah.

In his imaginary world, the EAR wanted to be a dangerous outlaw like Jesse James but he was too messed up with his sexual rage/problems. The mention of a Mafia Lord's wife may be a sign of his jealousy towards criminals that have real power, wealth, and influence.

[lepke]

Are there any groups of people in America, who are known to dislike Italians?

[Deleted]

Mar 29, 2014 20:13:26 GMT tmacchallenger said:

Maybe part of the reason that EAR didn't mention his crimes is because even he knew that they were nothing to brag about. Even in the criminal underworld this freak would have been looked at as a pariah.
, 
In his imaginary world, the EAR wanted to be a dangerous outlaw like Jesse James but he was too messed up with his sexual rage/problems. The mention of a Mafia Lord's wife may be a sign of his jealousy towards criminals that have real power, wealth, and influence.

It seems to me that he's actually comparing himself to these other famous outlaws. He sees himself as one of them - in their league. I don't believe he is ashamed about his crimes in any way, and actually is proud of his "skill;" his ability to terrorize an entire community, to strike at will makes him feel invincible. He could care less about how his crimes are perceived by anyone. For him, they are proof of his superiority. He even thinks a movie should be made about him - this is not someone who feels ashamed in any way about what he's done. 

[Deleted]

Mar 30, 2014 2:23:00 GMT lepke said:

Are there any groups of people in America, who are known to dislike Italians?

I don't think so - not a particular group of people. Some individuals may not like Italians for whatever reason, but I don't think there's a group of people that disproportionately hates Italians. 

[Drifter]

cityofchill wrote:

I believe all humans have dark feelings and thoughts from time-to-time - desires we have but would never act on.

That's true.

Psychological brakes prevent people from acting on dark feelings.

Quite clearly, the East Area Rapist / Original Night Stalker lacked psychological brakes. And what I wonder is whether the absence of brakes was brought about by some traumatic event or series of events.

The strength of psychological brakes would be greatly diminished by the absence of fear, an emotion that paralyzes most people.

If the guy had survived a fearful and unrelenting trauma in the past, that might have been enough to overcome subsequent fear and the attendant mental brakes that almost everyone has.  In such a situation, the guy would feel overwhelmingly confident and untouchable.  And we have good reason to believe he was.

Of course the above idea is in addition to a personality that was really, really narcissistic, and devoid of compassion.

Drifter

[tmacchallenger]

Mar 30, 2014 2:42:46 GMT cityofchill said:

Mar 29, 2014 20:13:26 GMT tmacchallenger said:

Maybe part of the reason that EAR didn't mention his crimes is because even he knew that they were nothing to brag about. Even in the criminal underworld this freak would have been looked at as a pariah.
, 
In his imaginary world, the EAR wanted to be a dangerous outlaw like Jesse James but he was too messed up with his sexual rage/problems. The mention of a Mafia Lord's wife may be a sign of his jealousy towards criminals that have real power, wealth, and influence.

It seems to me that he's actually comparing himself to these other famous outlaws. He sees himself as one of them - in their league. I don't believe he is ashamed about his crimes in any way, and actually is proud of his "skill;" his ability to terrorize an entire community, to strike at will makes him feel invincible. He could care less about how his crimes are perceived by anyone. For him, they are proof of his superiority. He even thinks a movie should be made about him - this is not someone who feels ashamed in any way about what he's done. 

I'm not saying he felt ashamed or had any remorse per se. I'm just saying he had enough street sense to know that his crimes wouldn't be approved by the people he wanted to emulate. Regardless of the severity of their crimes...Cowboys, outlaws, and gangsters are looked at as 'cool' by some people in society and pop culture. Scumbag serial rapists don't have any fans except fellow scumbag rapists.

I guess basically, what I am trying to say is that he didn't mention his rapes because to him they weren't what was important in the grand scheme of things. What was important to him was that he controlled a large population by fear. He would have preferred to be notorious for bank robberies, mob hits, controlling a large gang etc. Except because of his weird mental hangups and other bad qualities that I can only speculate on, this was the road he went down. Having his penis size mentioned definetly would have hurt his ego...even more reason for him not mentioning the sex acts.

I'll even go a little further and guess that he may have been bi-polar and when he was feeling at his lowest, would pity himself, (not his victims though) wishing that he wasn't so messed up in the head.

I once worked with a guy years ago in a warehouse. He was an ex-gangmember. Big dude. A weightlifter that was a boxing champion at the prison. He was married with kids at the time I met him. When asked he had no problem telling me about various gang stories, fights, and crimes he had done such as a few armed robberies...all past the statute of limitations of course. But whenever I asked him what he was actually locked up for he would change the subject. Why wouldn't he tell me what he was locked up for if he had no problem telling me about all his other scrapes with the law?

Well, eventually I had a cop buddy of mine run him and he turned out to have been in jail for aggravated rape to his girlfriend at the time. Now I know as sure as * if he was in jail for robbery, shooting someone, or drug running he would have had no problem bragging about it. Rape just has that ugly stigma, as it should have, that just about nobody would brag about if they committed it.

Anyway, that is just my theory about why he left it out of the letter but I could be wrong.

[Deleted]

Mar 30, 2014 5:29:32 GMT tmacchallenger said:

Mar 30, 2014 2:42:46 GMT cityofchill said:

It seems to me that he's actually comparing himself to these other famous outlaws. He sees himself as one of them - in their league. I don't believe he is ashamed about his crimes in any way, and actually is proud of his "skill;" his ability to terrorize an entire community, to strike at will makes him feel invincible. He could care less about how his crimes are perceived by anyone. For him, they are proof of his superiority. He even thinks a movie should be made about him - this is not someone who feels ashamed in any way about what he's done. 

I'm not saying he felt ashamed or had any remorse per se. I'm just saying he had enough street sense to know that his crimes wouldn't be approved by the people he wanted to emulate. Regardless of the severity of their crimes...Cowboys, outlaws, and gangsters are looked at as 'cool' by some people in society and pop culture. Scumbag serial rapists don't have any fans except fellow scumbag rapists.

I guess basically, what I am trying to say is that he didn't mention his rapes because to him they weren't what was important in the grand scheme of things. What was important to him was that he controlled a large population by fear. He would have preferred to be notorious for bank robberies, mob hits, controlling a large gang etc. Except because of his weird mental hangups and other bad qualities that I can only speculate on, this was the road he went down. Having his penis size mentioned definetly would have hurt his ego...even more reason for him not mentioning the sex acts.

I'll even go a little further and guess that he may have been bi-polar and when he was feeling at his lowest, would pity himself, (not his victims though) wishing that he wasn't so messed up in the head.

I once worked with a guy years ago in a warehouse. He was an ex-gangmember. Big dude. A weightlifter that was a boxing champion at the prison. He was married with kids at the time I met him. When asked he had no problem telling me about various gang stories, fights, and crimes he had done such as a few armed robberies...all past the statute of limitations of course. But whenever I asked him what he was actually locked up for he would change the subject. Why wouldn't he tell me what he was locked up for if he had no problem telling me about all his other scrapes with the law?

Well, eventually I had a cop buddy of mine run him and he turned out to have been in jail for aggravated rape to his girlfriend at the time. Now I know as sure as * if he was in jail for robbery, shooting someone, or drug running he would have had no problem bragging about it. Rape just has that ugly stigma, as it should have, that just about nobody would brag about if they committed it.

Anyway, that is just my theory about why he left it out of the letter but I could be wrong.

I think you've expressed your thinking quite well, and I would agree with you if it weren't for the poem's final sign off, where he proudly admits to being a notorious rapist. The sign off is also important because it sort of suggests that he sees himself as a kind of local Super Villain when he uses the sign off of a superhero - Spider-Man ("your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man" becomes "Your East Area Rapist / And deserving pest / See you in the press or on TV.")

[tmacchallenger]

Mar 30, 2014 5:50:49 GMT cityofchill said:

Mar 30, 2014 5:29:32 GMT tmacchallenger said:

I'm not saying he felt ashamed or had any remorse per se. I'm just saying he had enough street sense to know that his crimes wouldn't be approved by the people he wanted to emulate. Regardless of the severity of their crimes...Cowboys, outlaws, and gangsters are looked at as 'cool' by some people in society and pop culture. Scumbag serial rapists don't have any fans except fellow scumbag rapists.

I guess basically, what I am trying to say is that he didn't mention his rapes because to him they weren't what was important in the grand scheme of things. What was important to him was that he controlled a large population by fear. He would have preferred to be notorious for bank robberies, mob hits, controlling a large gang etc. Except because of his weird mental hangups and other bad qualities that I can only speculate on, this was the road he went down. Having his penis size mentioned definetly would have hurt his ego...even more reason for him not mentioning the sex acts.

I'll even go a little further and guess that he may have been bi-polar and when he was feeling at his lowest, would pity himself, (not his victims though) wishing that he wasn't so messed up in the head.

I once worked with a guy years ago in a warehouse. He was an ex-gangmember. Big dude. A weightlifter that was a boxing champion at the prison. He was married with kids at the time I met him. When asked he had no problem telling me about various gang stories, fights, and crimes he had done such as a few armed robberies...all past the statute of limitations of course. But whenever I asked him what he was actually locked up for he would change the subject. Why wouldn't he tell me what he was locked up for if he had no problem telling me about all his other scrapes with the law?

Well, eventually I had a cop buddy of mine run him and he turned out to have been in jail for aggravated rape to his girlfriend at the time. Now I know as sure as * if he was in jail for robbery, shooting someone, or drug running he would have had no problem bragging about it. Rape just has that ugly stigma, as it should have, that just about nobody would brag about if they committed it.

Anyway, that is just my theory about why he left it out of the letter but I could be wrong.

I think you've expressed your thinking quite well, and I would agree with you if it weren't for the poem's final sign off, where he proudly admits to being a notorious rapist. The sign off is also important because it sort of suggests that he sees himself as a kind of local Super Villain when he uses the sign off of a superhero - Spider-Man ("your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man" becomes "Your East Area Rapist / And deserving pest / See you in the press or on TV.")

Yeah, but that was the name he was already given with no choice in the matter. He kind of had to put that in there so they knew it was him. Of course, if he felt that strongly against his nickname he could have added at the bottom something along the lines of -

'Thou shall now refer to me as 'The Night Creature'....the scourge of California!'

At least we are in agreement that the poem is authentic and not a prank. It's just too personal, without being too personal if that makes any sense? No bombastic boasts about raping the world or other such nonsense a hoaxter would use, but just enough thought put into it with the author trying to be 'cute.'

I think you may agree with me that if the EAR was ever caught and gave a confession in an interrogation room to detectives, the details regarding the rapes he would try to gloss over. To this individual it would be all about bragging how he would gain entry into the homes, his escape routes, and how smart he was fooling the police and causing different cities tons of money in trying to capture him.

Thanks for saying that I was expressing my opinions well. I usually post on my stupid phone so sometimes the words do not flow as freely as I would like. Good call on the similarities to Spider-Man at the end. Being an old-school comic book fan I should have spotted that before you.

I wonder if EAR was a fan of the short lived Marvel Super-Villain Team-Up series from the 1970's starring Dr. Doom and the Sub-Mariner? Come to think of it, the Ransacker definetly sounds like a loser villain Daredevil would have beaten up back in the day lol.

[lepke]

On the subject of fear, and while psychopaths may be best known for their lack of conscience, they lack fear as well. As for EAR/ONS possibly being prouder of how he could frighten people than he was of the rapes themselves, and I would say that he was much more effective at the former. When it came to the latter, he had trouble even getting erect, and when he did some of the women he raped hardly felt his penis...

[Deleted]

Mar 24, 2014 13:48:15 GMT cityofchill said:

Aug 20, 2013 1:19:22 GMT truthandsoul said:

Just wanted to get this posted somewhere...

I have an MA in English and teach English lit, so I know quite a bit about poetry. I haven't studied 'Excitement's Crave' in depth, but I can tell from a few cursory readings that it is likely this perp had an interest in poetry at the least, and perhaps even took a few college-level courses. He definitely read poetry and knew something about metre and rhythm. Even though his poetry does not follow a specific metric scheme like iambic pentameter, there is definitely an attempt at adding a somewhat consistent rhythm to his verse. For the most part, he uses a ragged iambic quadrameter - four pairs of syllables to a verse, the first unstressed and the second stressed. His use of this metre is not totally consistent, but he returns to it again and again, sometimes switching to the trochee (the same as an iamb, but with the stress arrangement reversed), but almost always going with pairs of stressed and unstressed syllables, with most verses containing 8 syllables. 

If none of this makes sense to you, try reciting the poem out loud while tapping your thigh to coincide with every other syllable. The author's knowledge of rhythm is most obvious in lines like:

Take inventory of their worth 
As is decorum, seeking lore
Leisure tempts excitement seeking
To make a movie of my life
Just now I'd like to add the wife

The above lines are pretty consistent in their use of iambic quadrameter, with the occasional trochee thrown into the mix. The rest of the poem does not employ such consistent use of meter, but still has a noticeable rhythm to it. Only the final stanza abandons all forms and conventions as far as rhythm and meter go.

Anyways, the point is that this poem was written by someone who is, at the very least, a pretty avid reader of poetry. It would be interesting to compare his lexicon and diction in the poem to the letter believed to be his (Custer and teacher complaints). While the poem is an amateur effort, it is not written by someone who knows nothing of poetry. This person has studied poetry to some degree and probably writes poetry in his spare time. Just another detail we can add to our profile of the offender.

Fantastic job COC, much needed expertise and analysis in my opinion. Perhaps taking a look at the member list from the AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs) against various suspect lists might yield a common name. Let me post it as it was presented on the old A&E message board complete with punctuation ..... A.W.P.

[playinem]

Mar 30, 2014 2:23:00 GMT lepke said:

Are there any groups of people in America, who are known to dislike Italians?

Prior to 1979 (I believe?) Italians were classified as a non-white minority. Also, like the Irish they had to deal with the stigma of being predominantly Catholic in what was more of a white, anglo-saxon and Protestant world in those days. They also have perhaps the largest stereotype brand of criminality in American society as much from Hollywood (The Godfather, Goodfellas, Sopranos, etc.) as reality. Now though, I don't think they are viewed as being anything but mostly assimilated mainstream Americans.

[lepke]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvKXt3Surlk

[Agent99 aka Sandia]

Mar 31, 2014 0:04:46 GMT playinem said:

Mar 30, 2014 2:23:00 GMT lepke said:

Are there any groups of people in America, who are known to dislike Italians?

Prior to 1979 (I believe?) Italians were classified as a non-white minority. Also, like the Irish they had to deal with the stigma of being predominantly Catholic in what was more of a white, anglo-saxon and Protestant world in those days. They also have perhaps the largest stereotype brand of criminality in American society as much from Hollywood (The Godfather, Goodfellas, Sopranos, etc.) as reality. Now though, I don't think they are viewed as being anything but mostly assimilated mainstream Americans.

Playinem,  I am ashamed to say that I am a watcher of  the "Real Housewives" series on t.v..  The Real Housewives of New Jersey is unfortunately not helping the stereotype.  Brawls, table flipping, etc.

I think we humans tend to not like ANYBODY that is not exactly like us (except me of course, I like everyone, lol).  Different religion, nationality etc.  I think every group that has come to this country has encountered discrimination, like you mentioned, the Irish, Italians, Jews, Chinese, Mexicans, Blacks etc.  Archie Bunker has a name for every group, LOL.  It seems once they assimilate and blend in with American dress, accent, culture the discrimination starts to dissipate.   The more different they are the more discrimination.  At least that's the way I perceive it.

Here is New Jersey in action, enjoy (kind of enjoy, in a guilty type of enjoyment, lol):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrwXA4aHYkA

www.youtube.com/watch?v=See7PfwFpQc

I won't post more but there are even more New Jersey brawls.  It's bad!  Once couple is currently in the news and probably going to prison.

Obviously I'm not Italian or I would hide this!  and to be fair all of the housewives series is one big argument from Beverly Hills to Orange County to New York.  They are wealthy socialites but what a bunch of back biting vipers, however no matter, none can compare to the physical violence of New Jersey.

Hope I'm not offending, of course the majority of Italians are not like this group.