The Danville Papers: Big Red Herrings?

[lkm777]

Jul 2, 2017 2:19:06 GMT Any of N said:

If I were the one who dropped the papers, I would never in a million years own up to it. Not with Paul Holes saying that the writer's mental state was deteriorating throughout the Mad essay. Maybe some poor kid was just pushing himself to finish the dang thing so he could complete the assignment. Maybe it had to be at least a page and half long, and maybe the kid had to check off the other requirements. What (check), why (check), how (check), where (check), and who (check). This was the rough draft; his name and the date went on the copy he turned in.

That's a good question about the "best" lead. My mind goes again to cars and license plates. You know, the dog that didn't bark in the night. The EAR-ONS apparently drove to many of his attacks, yet why couldn't a vehicle ever be traced back to him? As mentioned in other threads, that was the end of many a prolific serial offender. Quester looked into auto wreckers, but it didn't lead to anything and the theory didn't address some of the major questions. A junked license plate could get you pulled over. A stolen plate from a different make and model of car could get you pulled over. A legit plate could identify you. The seller of an old car could remember you. What the heck was going on?

The idea that the "Mad Is the Word" confessional reflects a disturbed, deteriorating state of mind is laughable, in my opinion. To me, this piece reads like a juvenile response to a 7th-grade writing prompt. The spelling throughout is atrocious; a mediocre sixth-grade student would have better spelling skills than the writer, who was presumably no longer in sixth grade when he OR she penned this notebook entry. 

Numerous aspects of the piece, including its misspellings, suggest that it was written by an ESL student. It exhibits many hallmark ESL mistakes, such as verb form errors not typically made by native English speakers ("had know" instead of "had known" in the third sentence and "built" instead of "build" in the seventh sentence); tense shifting; unnatural wordiness; odd or thesaurus-y word choices; count and noncount noun ending errors ("sentance" [sic] instead of "sentances" and "years" instead of "year"); and run-on sentences. This piece should be analyzed by ESL and language arts teachers who taught at the middle or high school level in the '70s.

The Custer essay has similar glaring errors. Note the egregious article error in the second sentence: "He became a general at a very young age of 23..." It should be: "He became a general at the very young age of 23..." Few native English speakers would make this mistake, even if they were just furiously scribbling down notes.     

[Any of N]

lkm777 --

Intriguing observation. It had not occurred to me that English might be the writer's second language. Looking over the essay again, you may be on to something. Thus the effects of cultural differences might also be in play, leading various readers to misinterpret the tone and vibe of the writing.

[Girl Sleuth]

I'm a newbie, so I apoligize, but where is the Custer homework? I've never read it. Thanks!

[Drifter]

Girl Sleuth ... many of the threads in this folder relate in some manner to the Danville papers.

Thread titles that are worded "homework papers" or "the map" or "punishment map" or "saund's theory vs. Paul Holes' theory", and many other threads discuss various aspects of the Danville papers, of which the "Custer homework" is part of.

Drifter

[Any of N]

Girl Sleuth , the Case File podcast created a nice PDF that contains the image. Here's the link.

Here's the Custer text itself, pulling from my notes. Consider it a rough approximation. Words shown in italics were written between the lines as edits by the author. Strikeouts and line lengths are shown as they appear in the original. Spelling and punctuation are also as they appear in the original, sort-of. There are many ambiguous markings, and I might very well have made some transcription errors. Line numbers are added for reference.

Custer Essay

1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Gen. George Armstrong Custer. A man well amired, but a man hated very much by many who served him. He became a general at a very young age of 23 as this all took place during the civil war. Custer, after the war was dropped to his permanent rank of a captain, as he fought more, he made more enemies, especially fighting against the indians in the south west. IN 1876 the government planned to Round up the Suix AND Cheynre and put the on reservations. Custer’s regiment joined the expedition, commanded by general alfred H. Terry. As Terrys scout’s reported indian villages throughout the Montana territory, Terry ordered Custer to find [unintelligible word(s)] them. As custer searched for the villages, custer and his men found a vally that ran allong the little big horn river. Custer, expecting only around 1000, had not expected realized there would be around 5000 indias THAT WOULD fight back. It was the largest gathering of hostile tribes in the Western territory. This battle would be one of the deadlest and most strangest battles between the indians and the white man. 225 UNION men, including Custer, died that day by couragous but hostile Indans that would do anything to save there homes and there families.

[Any of N]

I didn't see Drifter's post above before I included the Custer Essay. Doesn't hurt to have it the same thread, though. While I'm at it, here's the Mad Is the Word text. What's interesting is how much better it sounds when you make corrections, i.e. all the straightforward changes we might expect from the author before he "turned in his assignment for school".

Mad is the Word Essay, original v. corrected

	Original, page 1		Corrected, page 1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31	Mad is the word, the word that reminds me of the 6th grade. I hated that year I wish I had know what was going to be going on during my 6th grade year, the last and worst years of elementary school. Mad is the word that remains in my head about my awful year as a 6th grader. My madness was one that was caused by disappointments   that hurt me very much. Disappointments from my teacher, such as field trips that were planned, then cannceled. My 6th grade teacher gave me a lot of disappointments and which made me very mad and made me built a state of hated in my heart, no one ever let me down that hard before and I never “ hated anyone” as much as I did him. Disappointment wasn’t the only reason that made me mad in my sixth grade class, another was getting in trouble at school especially talking that’s what really bugged me was writing sentences those awful sentence that my teacher made	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31	Mad is the word, the word that reminds me of 6th grade. I hated that year. I wish I had known what was going to be going on during my 6th grade year, the last and worst year of elementary school. Mad is the word that remains in my head about my awful year as a 6th grader. My anger was caused by disappointments that hurt me very much. Disappointments   from my teacher, such as field trips that were planned and then canceled. My 6th grade teacher gave me a lot of disappointment which made me very mad and made me build a state of hatred in my heart. No one ever let me down that hard before, and I never “ hated anyone” as much as I did him. Disappointment wasn’t the only reason that made me mad in my sixth grade class. Another was getting in trouble at school, especially talking. What really bugged me was writing sentences, those awful sentences that my teacher made

	Original, page 2		Corrected, page 2
32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54	me write, hours and hours Id sit and write 50-100-150 sentence day and night I write those dreadful paragraphs which embarrassed me and          more important it made me ashamed of myself which in turn, deep down in side made me realize that writing sentance wasn’t fair it wasn’t fair to make me suffer like that, it just wasn’t fair to make me sit and waight until my bones ached, until my hand felt ever horrid pain it ever had and as I wrote, I got mader and mader until I cried, I cried because I was ashamed I cried because I was discusted, I cried because I was mad, and I cried for myself, bid who kept us having to write those G-dame sentances. My angryness from sixth grade will scar my memory for life and I will be ashamed for my sixth grade year forever”	32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54	me write. Hours and hours I'd sit and write 50-100-150 sentences. Day and night I wrote those dreadful paragraphs which embarrassed me, and more importantly it made me ashamed of myself, which in turn, deep down inside, made me realize that writing sentences wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair to make me suffer like that. It just wasn’t fair to make me sit and write until my bones ached, until my hand felt more horrid pain than it had ever felt before, and as I wrote, I got  madder and madder until I cried. I cried because I was ashamed. I cried because I was disgusted. I cried because I was mad, and I cried for myself, bitter at who kept making us write those G-damn sentences. My anger from sixth grade will scar my memory for life, and I will be ashamed of my sixth grade year forever.

Notes: Line numbers added. Interlineal text added by author shown in italics in left column.


To me it still sounds like a young kid who had to write an essay for a school assigment. Maybe he picked this topic simply because he had to choose something to fill up two pages. He quickly dashed off a very rough draft, not worrying too much about spelling, grammar, or punctuation. He could fix all that later, and look at how I barely changed the wording.

If it turns out that DeAngelo did in fact write this, then okay. The guy turned out to be a serial killer, so we can then read mental disturbances into the essay. But just looking at the essay by itself, without sure context, no.

And I'm not convinced the handwriting is a match. The sample of of the known DeAngelo writing is much too small.

[Drifter]

Any of N wrote:

It has been pointed out many times on this message board -- we don't know for sure that the EAR dropped these papers. There isn't anything that definitively ties them to our offender. All that richness of information and so little to show for it. If something seems too good to be true…

Definitely agree.

I think the obsession with the Danville papers was, and still is, associated with the failure of LE to put out any useful information to the public for so long.

Posters were desperate for information, any scrap of hints, anything at all ...

Enter Michelle MaNamara, who brought this "evidence" to everyone's attention. And because she was so admired and looked up to as an "expert", then by extension the papers just had to be relevant to the case. The papers provided a useful insight into who the guy was, so the assumption was.

A lot of people have invested a lot of time in these papers. Some still won't give up on the idea that they are relevant. But they did not help identify DeAngelo. And future reports about him may show just how irrelevant these papers really were.

Drifter

[annielynn]

Maybe we will someday know - because just maybe these papers were clues to origins still unknown. He took on the processes of throwing red herrings that could be construed numerous ways although *content had it's own purpose/meaningfulness to him*. Stupid stuff like a 6th grade homework page? No. There is content that significantly leads elsewhere. The papers all connect and there is a story behind them. That's what I adamantly believe.

[winters]

I was never able to glean much use from them, but I did find them fascinating. A map with nonsequiturs on the back, a crudely written essay, a childish rant piece, a typed slip of paper and some yarn all have almost nothing to do with each other.

[Girl Sleuth]

Jul 7, 2018 5:55:21 GMT Drifter said:

Girl Sleuth ... many of the threads in this folder relate in some manner to the Danville papers.

Thread titles that are worded "homework papers" or "the map" or "punishment map" or "saund's theory vs. Paul Holes' theory", and many other threads discuss various aspects of the Danville papers, of which the "Custer homework" is part of.

Drifter

Thank you. Sorry for the new thread...I didn't realize they were called the Danville Papers. I'm hip now!

ETA I'm still really fascinated with the papers. If they belong to JJD, why is he carrying around old notebooks? If they didn't belong to him, could they be something he took from a house? One of his many souvenirs that he drops on the ground later? 

I still like to think he wrote it, cause it's so creepy. 

[retrosacto]

Jul 7, 2018 7:51:48 GMT Any of N said:

I didn't see Drifter's post above before I included the Custer Essay. Doesn't hurt to have it the same thread, though. While I'm at it, here's the Mad Is the Word text. What's interesting is how much better it sounds when you make corrections, i.e. all the straightforward changes we might expect from the author before he "turned in his assignment for school".

Mad is the Word Essay, original v. corrected

	Original, page 1		Corrected, page 1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31	Mad is the word, the word that reminds me of the 6th grade. I hated that year I wish I had know what was going to be going on during my 6th grade year, the last and worst years of elementary school. Mad is the word that remains in my head about my awful year as a 6th grader. My madness was one that was caused by disappointments   that hurt me very much. Disappointments from my teacher, such as field trips that were planned, then cannceled. My 6th grade teacher gave me a lot of disappointments and which made me very mad and made me built a state of hated in my heart, no one ever let me down that hard before and I never “ hated anyone” as much as I did him. Disappointment wasn’t the only reason that made me mad in my sixth grade class, another was getting in trouble at school especially talking that’s what really bugged me was writing sentences those awful sentence that my teacher made	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31	Mad is the word, the word that reminds me of 6th grade. I hated that year. I wish I had known what was going to be going on during my 6th grade year, the last and worst year of elementary school. Mad is the word that remains in my head about my awful year as a 6th grader. My anger was caused by disappointments that hurt me very much. Disappointments   from my teacher, such as field trips that were planned and then canceled. My 6th grade teacher gave me a lot of disappointment which made me very mad and made me build a state of hatred in my heart. No one ever let me down that hard before, and I never “ hated anyone” as much as I did him. Disappointment wasn’t the only reason that made me mad in my sixth grade class. Another was getting in trouble at school, especially talking. What really bugged me was writing sentences, those awful sentences that my teacher made

	Original, page 2		Corrected, page 2
32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54	me write, hours and hours Id sit and write 50-100-150 sentence day and night I write those dreadful paragraphs which embarrassed me and          more important it made me ashamed of myself which in turn, deep down in side made me realize that writing sentance wasn’t fair it wasn’t fair to make me suffer like that, it just wasn’t fair to make me sit and waight until my bones ached, until my hand felt ever horrid pain it ever had and as I wrote, I got mader and mader until I cried, I cried because I was ashamed I cried because I was discusted, I cried because I was mad, and I cried for myself, bid who kept us having to write those G-dame sentances. My angryness from sixth grade will scar my memory for life and I will be ashamed for my sixth grade year forever”	32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54	me write. Hours and hours I'd sit and write 50-100-150 sentences. Day and night I wrote those dreadful paragraphs which embarrassed me, and more importantly it made me ashamed of myself, which in turn, deep down inside, made me realize that writing sentences wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair to make me suffer like that. It just wasn’t fair to make me sit and write until my bones ached, until my hand felt more horrid pain than it had ever felt before, and as I wrote, I got  madder and madder until I cried. I cried because I was ashamed. I cried because I was disgusted. I cried because I was mad, and I cried for myself, bitter at who kept making us write those G-damn sentences. My anger from sixth grade will scar my memory for life, and I will be ashamed of my sixth grade year forever.

Notes: Line numbers added. Interlineal text added by author shown in italics in left column.

I’m reading the last of the “I cried...” sentences as “I cried for myself, kid who kept on having to write those baloney sentences.”

[Any of N]

retrosacto - Baloney? I'm shocked at your language, lol.

Bid = kid: That would be logical, too. Who knows. The words kept us makes me think he was referring to his perceived tormentor.

[retrosacto]

Jul 13, 2018 0:24:54 GMT Any of N said:

retrosacto - Baloney? I'm shocked at your language, lol.

Bid = kid: That would be logical, too. Who knows. The words kept us makes me think he was referring to his perceived tormentor.

Big struggle, these American spellings of German words. Bologna/Baloney. Another “not fair” moment to add to his long list, no doubt.

[tiburonbeast]

Am I the only one that sees the name "Snelling" above the work "punishment", within the circles?

[Any of N]

tiburonbeast -

In one of the documentaries that came out shortly before DeAngelo was identified, they showed a clearer image. Then I could see it, too -- Snelling with the i-n-g clearly at the end.

Because our offender killed a man by that name it does count as a possible link. I concede the point, but by itself it doesn't do much to change the argument, IMO.