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Psycho USA: Famous American Killers You Never Heard Of
AMERICA’S MOST COLD-BLOODED!
In the horrifying annals of American crime, the infamous names of brutal killers such as Bundy, Dahmer, Gacy, and Berkowitz are writ large in the imaginations of a public both horrified and hypnotized by their monstrous, murderous acts. But for every celebrity psychopath who’s gotten ink for spilling blood, there’s a bevy of all-but-forgotten homicidal fiends studding the bloody margins of U.S. history. The law gave them their just desserts, but now the hugely acclaimed author of The Serial Killer Files and The Whole Death Catalog gives them their dark due in this absolutely riveting true-crime treasury. Among America’s most cold-blooded you’ll meet
• Robert Irwin, “The Mad Sculptor”: He longed to use his carving skills on the woman he loved—but had to settle for making short work of her mother and sister instead.
• Peter Robinson, “The Tell-Tale Heart Killer”: It took two days and four tries for him to finish off his victim, but no time at all for keen-eyed cops to spot the fatal flaw in his floor plan.
• Anton Probst, “The Monster in the Shape of a Man”: The ax-murdering immigrant’s systematic slaughter of all eight members of a Pennsylvania farm family matched the savagery of the Manson murders a century later.
• Edward H. Ruloff, “The Man of Two Lives”: A genuine Jekyll and Hyde, his brilliant scholarship disguised his bloodthirsty brutality, and his oversized brain gave new meaning to “mastermind.”
Spurred by profit, passion, paranoia, or perverse pleasure, these killers—the Witch of Staten Island, the Smutty Nose Butcher, the Bluebeard of Quiet Dell, and many others—span three centuries and a host of harrowing murder methods. Dramatized in the pages of penny dreadfuls, sensationalized in tabloid headlines, and immortalized in “murder ballads” and classic fiction by Edgar Allan Poe and Theodore Dreiser, the demonic denizens of Psycho USA may be long gone to the gallows—but this insidiously irresistible slice of gothic Americana will ensure that they’ll no longer be forgotten.
In the horrifying annals of American crime, the infamous names of brutal killers such as Bundy, Dahmer, Gacy, and Berkowitz are writ large in the imaginations of a public both horrified and hypnotized by their monstrous, murderous acts. But for every celebrity psychopath who’s gotten ink for spilling blood, there’s a bevy of all-but-forgotten homicidal fiends studding the bloody margins of U.S. history. The law gave them their just desserts, but now the hugely acclaimed author of The Serial Killer Files and The Whole Death Catalog gives them their dark due in this absolutely riveting true-crime treasury. Among America’s most cold-blooded you’ll meet
• Robert Irwin, “The Mad Sculptor”: He longed to use his carving skills on the woman he loved—but had to settle for making short work of her mother and sister instead.
• Peter Robinson, “The Tell-Tale Heart Killer”: It took two days and four tries for him to finish off his victim, but no time at all for keen-eyed cops to spot the fatal flaw in his floor plan.
• Anton Probst, “The Monster in the Shape of a Man”: The ax-murdering immigrant’s systematic slaughter of all eight members of a Pennsylvania farm family matched the savagery of the Manson murders a century later.
• Edward H. Ruloff, “The Man of Two Lives”: A genuine Jekyll and Hyde, his brilliant scholarship disguised his bloodthirsty brutality, and his oversized brain gave new meaning to “mastermind.”
Spurred by profit, passion, paranoia, or perverse pleasure, these killers—the Witch of Staten Island, the Smutty Nose Butcher, the Bluebeard of Quiet Dell, and many others—span three centuries and a host of harrowing murder methods. Dramatized in the pages of penny dreadfuls, sensationalized in tabloid headlines, and immortalized in “murder ballads” and classic fiction by Edgar Allan Poe and Theodore Dreiser, the demonic denizens of Psycho USA may be long gone to the gallows—but this insidiously irresistible slice of gothic Americana will ensure that they’ll no longer be forgotten.
420 pages, Paperback
First published August 7, 2012
261 people are currently reading
2907 people want to read
About the author
Harold Schechter
79 books1,394 followersAka Jon A. Harrald (joint pseudonym with Jonna Gormley Semeiks)
Harold Schechter is a true crime writer who specializes in serial killers. He attended the State University of New York in Buffalo, where he obtained a Ph.D. A resident of New York City, Schechter is professor of American literature and popular culture at Queens College of the City University of New York.
Among his nonfiction works are the historical true-crime classics Fatal, Fiend, Deviant, Deranged, and Depraved. He also authors a critically acclaimed mystery series featuring Edgar Allan Poe, which includes The Hum Bug and Nevermore and The Mask of Red Death.
Schechter is married to poet Kimiko Hahn. He has two daughters from a previous marriage: the writer Lauren Oliver and professor of philosophy Elizabeth Schechter.
Harold Schechter is a true crime writer who specializes in serial killers. He attended the State University of New York in Buffalo, where he obtained a Ph.D. A resident of New York City, Schechter is professor of American literature and popular culture at Queens College of the City University of New York.
Among his nonfiction works are the historical true-crime classics Fatal, Fiend, Deviant, Deranged, and Depraved. He also authors a critically acclaimed mystery series featuring Edgar Allan Poe, which includes The Hum Bug and Nevermore and The Mask of Red Death.
Schechter is married to poet Kimiko Hahn. He has two daughters from a previous marriage: the writer Lauren Oliver and professor of philosophy Elizabeth Schechter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 154 reviews
December 16, 2017
Posted at Shelf Inflicted
I discovered Harold Schechter while taking criminal justice electives toward my degree in General Studies. During my Intro to Criminal Justice class, I read Deranged, a bone-chilling account of one of the most monstrous of serial killers. Arrested for the kidnapping and brutal murder of 10-year-old Grace Budd, Albert Fish confessed to kidnapping, torture, rape, murder and cannibalism of many more young victims. Though the subject matter was deeply disturbing, this was quite possibly one of the best true-crime books I’ve ever read. During my Juvenile Justice class, I picked up Fiend, the story of Jesse Pomeroy, the youngest person in Massachusetts to be convicted of first-degree murder. Because he was only 14, his death sentence was commuted to life in prison. Then I read Fatal, about Jane Toppan, a nurse guilty of poisoning numerous elderly patients in her care.
I like Harold Schechter’s writing style. His books are well researched and rich in historical details. Not only is he skilled at bringing the past to life, he excels in exploring the mindset of individuals and societal attitudes at the time the crimes were committed.
Though I have a few more of his titles on my shelf, I haven’t read any more until I recently borrowed a copy of Psycho USA from the library. This book is different in that this is a collection of short accounts of little-known criminals from the past. In the introduction, Schecter explains why certain crimes are forgotten while others remain vivid in our collective memories.
Unhappy with rising taxes, increasing financial difficulty and wanting revenge on his community, Andrew Kehoe set off explosives that destroyed a school and his house and farm, killing his wife along with 38 children and injuring 58 others. Not only was this crime eclipsed by Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight, Americans were just not fearful of terrorism in 1927.
There are poisoners, serial killers, kidnappers, torturers, and rapists. Some were mentally ill, making me wonder if psychological intervention could have prevented their crimes. I was shocked by the number of criminal and accidental deaths due to poison in the Victorian era, a time when there was no control over sales and people needed affordable ways to control vermin.
The stories are presented chronologically, starting with the late 1700’s and ending with 1961. While I enjoyed these snippets, I prefer the author’s full-length books that go into much greater detail.
I discovered Harold Schechter while taking criminal justice electives toward my degree in General Studies. During my Intro to Criminal Justice class, I read Deranged, a bone-chilling account of one of the most monstrous of serial killers. Arrested for the kidnapping and brutal murder of 10-year-old Grace Budd, Albert Fish confessed to kidnapping, torture, rape, murder and cannibalism of many more young victims. Though the subject matter was deeply disturbing, this was quite possibly one of the best true-crime books I’ve ever read. During my Juvenile Justice class, I picked up Fiend, the story of Jesse Pomeroy, the youngest person in Massachusetts to be convicted of first-degree murder. Because he was only 14, his death sentence was commuted to life in prison. Then I read Fatal, about Jane Toppan, a nurse guilty of poisoning numerous elderly patients in her care.
I like Harold Schechter’s writing style. His books are well researched and rich in historical details. Not only is he skilled at bringing the past to life, he excels in exploring the mindset of individuals and societal attitudes at the time the crimes were committed.
Though I have a few more of his titles on my shelf, I haven’t read any more until I recently borrowed a copy of Psycho USA from the library. This book is different in that this is a collection of short accounts of little-known criminals from the past. In the introduction, Schecter explains why certain crimes are forgotten while others remain vivid in our collective memories.
“The crimes that come to define an era tend to be those that reflect its most pressing anxieties.”
Unhappy with rising taxes, increasing financial difficulty and wanting revenge on his community, Andrew Kehoe set off explosives that destroyed a school and his house and farm, killing his wife along with 38 children and injuring 58 others. Not only was this crime eclipsed by Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight, Americans were just not fearful of terrorism in 1927.
There are poisoners, serial killers, kidnappers, torturers, and rapists. Some were mentally ill, making me wonder if psychological intervention could have prevented their crimes. I was shocked by the number of criminal and accidental deaths due to poison in the Victorian era, a time when there was no control over sales and people needed affordable ways to control vermin.
The stories are presented chronologically, starting with the late 1700’s and ending with 1961. While I enjoyed these snippets, I prefer the author’s full-length books that go into much greater detail.
May 13, 2020
This book was about the most twisted true crime book I have read in a long time!
I didn't realize there were so many psychos back in the 19th century, but after reading this book, there were more than I ever expected to be living in those days. The author, Harold Schechter, delved long and deep into the past to find these crazy murderers!
All these murderers were people I have never heard of before and it didn't matter if it was a man or a woman as both were the most cold hearted individuals to walk this earth. In my opinion, the men in this book that committed the crimes back in the 1800's were worse than the famous killers that we know of today. We thought that Bundy, Dahmer, and Gacy were twisted, but after reading this book, there were worse killers than them back in the "old days".
The women were just as bad and it seems that the women loved to use arsenic and any kind of poison they could get their hands on to commit their crimes. The men loved to use axes and hatchets to "chop" up their victims.
This book is not for the faint of heart as the author goes into descriptive detail about the murders and it was one of the most detailed versions of murders that I have read in a very long time.
I found myself through some of the stories getting queasy as the information of the murders were so detailed that I could imagine the pain and agony of the victims. That is saying a lot for me as I consider myself a hardened horror fan and normally I don't get queasy reading about twisted psychos! But with this book it was a different. This is no "walk in the park" book. It is a "ride into hell". Four stars for this one.
I didn't realize there were so many psychos back in the 19th century, but after reading this book, there were more than I ever expected to be living in those days. The author, Harold Schechter, delved long and deep into the past to find these crazy murderers!
All these murderers were people I have never heard of before and it didn't matter if it was a man or a woman as both were the most cold hearted individuals to walk this earth. In my opinion, the men in this book that committed the crimes back in the 1800's were worse than the famous killers that we know of today. We thought that Bundy, Dahmer, and Gacy were twisted, but after reading this book, there were worse killers than them back in the "old days".
The women were just as bad and it seems that the women loved to use arsenic and any kind of poison they could get their hands on to commit their crimes. The men loved to use axes and hatchets to "chop" up their victims.
This book is not for the faint of heart as the author goes into descriptive detail about the murders and it was one of the most detailed versions of murders that I have read in a very long time.
I found myself through some of the stories getting queasy as the information of the murders were so detailed that I could imagine the pain and agony of the victims. That is saying a lot for me as I consider myself a hardened horror fan and normally I don't get queasy reading about twisted psychos! But with this book it was a different. This is no "walk in the park" book. It is a "ride into hell". Four stars for this one.
November 7, 2016
2.5 stars
While the concept of a book about infamous killers who history has forgotten about seemed like a good idea, I didn't really like the execution. It was a little boring and nothing memorable in the way the author wrote the stories. Really only enjoyed the audiobook aspect of this because the man reading it had such an enjoyable voice.
While the concept of a book about infamous killers who history has forgotten about seemed like a good idea, I didn't really like the execution. It was a little boring and nothing memorable in the way the author wrote the stories. Really only enjoyed the audiobook aspect of this because the man reading it had such an enjoyable voice.
April 3, 2018
This book started off slow and I didn't think I'd enjoy it much. After all, how many hideous crimes could possibly have taken place in the late eighteenth and nineteenth century, right? You'd be surprised! I know I sure was. It just goes to show that humans possess an incredible capacity for savagery and brutality and sometimes it takes very little to unleash that murderous rage.
"...it seemed as if my heart was dead to every human feeling and was a stranger to pity and every soft emotion."
~ The bloodthirsty pirate, Albert Hicks, described his apathy and indifference.
It seems that most murderers back in "the good old days" displayed classic pschopathic signs and tendencies that went completely unnoticed since there were no formal diagnoses or behavioral patterns to raise flags. After all, the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) wasn't compiled until the mid-twentieth century.
As with many deviously depraved predators preying upon victims today, the perpetrators of ghastly murders back then were often intelligent, prominent, seemingly respectable gentlemen (mostly) from good families. I was shocked at how many medical school students and doctors committed heinous crimes.
People were just as sick and perverse back then as they are today. Not only were horrific crimes sensationalized, but the subsequent hangings often received greater fanfare than holiday events, like Fourth of July celebrations. These "carnivalesque executions" were attended by all ages and both genders, including, "...[f]ashionably dressed women..." in droves. Women, the so-called "tender sex" outnumbered the men in most of these gala public executions.
The author did an excepetional job researching the crimes and relaying them in great, gory detail. The only thing I didn't much care for was the inclusion of the many ballads that were written to commemorate the victims. Also, I wish there were more recent examples of serial killings. Surely, there are several "unknown" murderers from recent time who could have 'graced' the pages of this book with their atrocities. Hopefully, the author will consider writing a companion book, one that continues where this one left off. I'm certain there's no shortage of crimes/criminals, sadly.
This was an intriguing non-fiction book.
"...it seemed as if my heart was dead to every human feeling and was a stranger to pity and every soft emotion."
~ The bloodthirsty pirate, Albert Hicks, described his apathy and indifference.
It seems that most murderers back in "the good old days" displayed classic pschopathic signs and tendencies that went completely unnoticed since there were no formal diagnoses or behavioral patterns to raise flags. After all, the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) wasn't compiled until the mid-twentieth century.
As with many deviously depraved predators preying upon victims today, the perpetrators of ghastly murders back then were often intelligent, prominent, seemingly respectable gentlemen (mostly) from good families. I was shocked at how many medical school students and doctors committed heinous crimes.
People were just as sick and perverse back then as they are today. Not only were horrific crimes sensationalized, but the subsequent hangings often received greater fanfare than holiday events, like Fourth of July celebrations. These "carnivalesque executions" were attended by all ages and both genders, including, "...[f]ashionably dressed women..." in droves. Women, the so-called "tender sex" outnumbered the men in most of these gala public executions.
The author did an excepetional job researching the crimes and relaying them in great, gory detail. The only thing I didn't much care for was the inclusion of the many ballads that were written to commemorate the victims. Also, I wish there were more recent examples of serial killings. Surely, there are several "unknown" murderers from recent time who could have 'graced' the pages of this book with their atrocities. Hopefully, the author will consider writing a companion book, one that continues where this one left off. I'm certain there's no shortage of crimes/criminals, sadly.
This was an intriguing non-fiction book.
October 5, 2012
I received this book through Goodreads First Reads.
Psycho USA is a nonfiction book that documents forgotten or not well known murderers or killers in American History. There's a nice (is that a word that can be used when discussing serial killers?) sprinkling of weapons and poisons, making the overall theme of "murder" a more varied read.
My favorite part (again, that sounds creepy) were the songs and poems that were written about some of these killers to keep the story alive. It sounds dark, but how many people know the Lizzie Borden rhyme? It was a cool glimpse into our history (our being America.... Not murderers).
Overall, I found this book an interesting and morbidly entertaining read. I was admittedly a bit bored in the beginning, and I wasn't sure if it was going to be my kind of story. I'm not sure if it was my mood or the book that changed, but it picked up and I'm very glad it did. I have a dark interest in murders and prisons, and this book was right up my alley. It was informative, well written, and reflective. People always say, "Man, the world is going to hell in a hand basket. We never acted like this." Well, the murderers of the 1800s who wielded pickaxes and hammers instead of guns beg to differ. As Sartre said, "L'enfer, c'est les autres."
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime novels, nonfiction, or even horror.
Psycho USA is a nonfiction book that documents forgotten or not well known murderers or killers in American History. There's a nice (is that a word that can be used when discussing serial killers?) sprinkling of weapons and poisons, making the overall theme of "murder" a more varied read.
My favorite part (again, that sounds creepy) were the songs and poems that were written about some of these killers to keep the story alive. It sounds dark, but how many people know the Lizzie Borden rhyme? It was a cool glimpse into our history (our being America.... Not murderers).
Overall, I found this book an interesting and morbidly entertaining read. I was admittedly a bit bored in the beginning, and I wasn't sure if it was going to be my kind of story. I'm not sure if it was my mood or the book that changed, but it picked up and I'm very glad it did. I have a dark interest in murders and prisons, and this book was right up my alley. It was informative, well written, and reflective. People always say, "Man, the world is going to hell in a hand basket. We never acted like this." Well, the murderers of the 1800s who wielded pickaxes and hammers instead of guns beg to differ. As Sartre said, "L'enfer, c'est les autres."
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime novels, nonfiction, or even horror.
October 18, 2017
Harold Schechter is one of my favorite true crime authors. I have several of his books covering the crimes of Ed Gein, H.H. Holmes, Jesse Pomeroy and others and one day hope to find myself with time to read some of his fiction. He writes in a manner that is both intelligent and accessible and manages to speak about the unspeakable without the bombast and disgust that I am sure would mar my writing were I ever to try to write about killers.
So given his skills, I should not have been so smug as to think this book had little to teach me. I’ve stated on this site before that up until 2000 or so, I knew about almost all serial killers, and I did know quite a bit. But I certainly knew far less than I thought I did because in this book of more obscure American killers, some of whom are serial killers or mass murderers, I only knew of three killers out of the thirty-one presented. Among poisoners, sex killers, lonely hearts murderers and family annihilators, I knew of the Smutty Nose Killer, an angry seaman who killed a house full of women for money; Carlyle Harris, a despicable seducer and poisoner; and William Edward Hickman, a kidnapper and mutilator. I had sort of heard of Andrew Kehoe, having come across his name in reference to school mass murderers, but had never read about him in any depth.
Since I am attempting to write quickly for Halloween, I’m going to write about the two murders I know best, and hope I can give justice to this compendium as I do it. A lot of the true crime encyclopedias out there are tiresome cash grabs, covering the same ground over and over and discussing intricate and fascinating murders in so little detail that the reader finds herself longing for text at least as comprehensive as Wikipedia. Not so with Schechter, and even if my discussion doesn’t resonate, you should look into him if his name is new to you. If it doesn’t resonate, it’s probably my fault.
Smutty Nose
I hate to call any of these murders my “favorite” but I find the Smutty Nose murders absolutely fascinating. This may be the murders most casual true crime readers know the best because it was written about in a fiction novel by Anita Shreve (called The Weight of Water) and the book was adapted into a film of the same name that featured Sarah Polley, Sean Penn and the amazing British actress, Katrin Cartlidge, who died too young from peritonitis.
The Smutty Nose murders get their name from the location of the killing – off the coast of New Hampshire there is a series of small islands that are pretty much the last place anyone would want to live but in 1873 some hearty folk decided to live on these islands and a Norwegian family lived on one of the islands called Smutty Nose. Quoting Anita Shreve, Schechter tells us the island got its name from “a clump of seaweed on the nose of a rock extending into the ocean.” On this island lived Maren Hontvet, a 26 year old woman; her husband John; Maren’s older sister Karen; Maren and Karen’s brother Ivan; Ivan’s wife Anethe; and John’s brother Matthew. The three men were commercial fishermen and occasionally worked with other fishermen in the area. They lived in a relatively small house, yet they took in boarders periodically, notably Louis Wagner, the 28 year old Prussian immigrant who would eventually slay everyone he found in the house on Smutty Island.
Louis Wagner was angry because he did not earn enough money and decided to rob the Hontvets.
Schechter isn’t being hyperbolic – what Wagner did to those women was appalling. Striking on March 3, 1873, Wagner knew the men of the house would be out. He had met them in Portsmouth and they told him they were delayed and would not go back to the small island until the morning. Wagner seized his chance. He stole a boat and rowed his way to the island. It was after ten pm when he reached the house, and all the women had gone to bed. Karen was sleeping on a cot in the warm kitchen, while Maren and Anethe slept in a bed in a nearby room. Around midnight Wagner burst into the house and launched an attack so quickly and without warning that Maren had no idea what was happening. She died believing that her brother-in-law John had snapped and was bludgeoning her – Wagner used a kitchen chair to beat her.
Maren heard her sister screaming and could not get the latch on the door to work and was unable to get to her sister to help her. Karen ran to the door and hitting the door she dislodged the latch and Maren was able to let her wounded sister inside, but Wagner made it inside the room too and began to beat the two women with a long piece of wood from the chair he broke over Karen. Somehow Maren got her sister inside and shut and locked the door with Wagner outside. Anethe ran for the window to escape and Maren told her to scream in the hopes people on nearby islands might hear her and send help. But Anethe was scared to the point that she couldn’t utter a sound. Wagner found her outside the house and Anethe finally was able to say something. Recognizing her killer, she said, “Louis! Louis!” letting Maren know who was waging this attack. Maren had made it to the window just in time to see Wagner pick up an axe leaning on the side of the house and strike her with it.
Maren had a dire choice to make – stay and try to defend herself and her mortally wounded sister, because Karen was too injured to flee, or run away on her own and leave her sister to die. As she heard Wagner reenter the house, Maren had to act quickly.
As she ran, she was able to hear Wagner killing Karen. She made her way to the far end of the island, she wedged herself between two rocks and she and the little dog huddled together for warmth. She could barely breathe as she heard Wagner searching for her.
Ending here to avoid "spoilers and because this is yet another of my entirely too long looks at a book. You can read the rest of this and my other Halloween 2017 entries over on Odd Things Considered.
So given his skills, I should not have been so smug as to think this book had little to teach me. I’ve stated on this site before that up until 2000 or so, I knew about almost all serial killers, and I did know quite a bit. But I certainly knew far less than I thought I did because in this book of more obscure American killers, some of whom are serial killers or mass murderers, I only knew of three killers out of the thirty-one presented. Among poisoners, sex killers, lonely hearts murderers and family annihilators, I knew of the Smutty Nose Killer, an angry seaman who killed a house full of women for money; Carlyle Harris, a despicable seducer and poisoner; and William Edward Hickman, a kidnapper and mutilator. I had sort of heard of Andrew Kehoe, having come across his name in reference to school mass murderers, but had never read about him in any depth.
Since I am attempting to write quickly for Halloween, I’m going to write about the two murders I know best, and hope I can give justice to this compendium as I do it. A lot of the true crime encyclopedias out there are tiresome cash grabs, covering the same ground over and over and discussing intricate and fascinating murders in so little detail that the reader finds herself longing for text at least as comprehensive as Wikipedia. Not so with Schechter, and even if my discussion doesn’t resonate, you should look into him if his name is new to you. If it doesn’t resonate, it’s probably my fault.
Smutty Nose
I hate to call any of these murders my “favorite” but I find the Smutty Nose murders absolutely fascinating. This may be the murders most casual true crime readers know the best because it was written about in a fiction novel by Anita Shreve (called The Weight of Water) and the book was adapted into a film of the same name that featured Sarah Polley, Sean Penn and the amazing British actress, Katrin Cartlidge, who died too young from peritonitis.
The Smutty Nose murders get their name from the location of the killing – off the coast of New Hampshire there is a series of small islands that are pretty much the last place anyone would want to live but in 1873 some hearty folk decided to live on these islands and a Norwegian family lived on one of the islands called Smutty Nose. Quoting Anita Shreve, Schechter tells us the island got its name from “a clump of seaweed on the nose of a rock extending into the ocean.” On this island lived Maren Hontvet, a 26 year old woman; her husband John; Maren’s older sister Karen; Maren and Karen’s brother Ivan; Ivan’s wife Anethe; and John’s brother Matthew. The three men were commercial fishermen and occasionally worked with other fishermen in the area. They lived in a relatively small house, yet they took in boarders periodically, notably Louis Wagner, the 28 year old Prussian immigrant who would eventually slay everyone he found in the house on Smutty Island.
Louis Wagner was angry because he did not earn enough money and decided to rob the Hontvets.
Wagner was intimately familiar with the Hontvets, their financial circumstances, and the layout of their little home, having boarded with them for several months. By his own later admission, they had always treated him “like a brother.” During one of his recurrent bouts of illness, he had been nursed back to health by the women, who, in his words, “were most kind to him.” He would repay that kindness with the sort of atrocious cruelty that defies easy psychological explanation and tempts even rationalists to speak of pure evil.
Schechter isn’t being hyperbolic – what Wagner did to those women was appalling. Striking on March 3, 1873, Wagner knew the men of the house would be out. He had met them in Portsmouth and they told him they were delayed and would not go back to the small island until the morning. Wagner seized his chance. He stole a boat and rowed his way to the island. It was after ten pm when he reached the house, and all the women had gone to bed. Karen was sleeping on a cot in the warm kitchen, while Maren and Anethe slept in a bed in a nearby room. Around midnight Wagner burst into the house and launched an attack so quickly and without warning that Maren had no idea what was happening. She died believing that her brother-in-law John had snapped and was bludgeoning her – Wagner used a kitchen chair to beat her.
Maren heard her sister screaming and could not get the latch on the door to work and was unable to get to her sister to help her. Karen ran to the door and hitting the door she dislodged the latch and Maren was able to let her wounded sister inside, but Wagner made it inside the room too and began to beat the two women with a long piece of wood from the chair he broke over Karen. Somehow Maren got her sister inside and shut and locked the door with Wagner outside. Anethe ran for the window to escape and Maren told her to scream in the hopes people on nearby islands might hear her and send help. But Anethe was scared to the point that she couldn’t utter a sound. Wagner found her outside the house and Anethe finally was able to say something. Recognizing her killer, she said, “Louis! Louis!” letting Maren know who was waging this attack. Maren had made it to the window just in time to see Wagner pick up an axe leaning on the side of the house and strike her with it.
Maren had a dire choice to make – stay and try to defend herself and her mortally wounded sister, because Karen was too injured to flee, or run away on her own and leave her sister to die. As she heard Wagner reenter the house, Maren had to act quickly.
Now it was either flee or die for Maren. Grabbing the nearest garment, a skirt, she threw it over her shoulders, climbed out the window, hurried past the slaughtered corpse of Anethe and – with the little dog, Ringe, following close on her heels – searched desperately for a hiding place.
As she ran, she was able to hear Wagner killing Karen. She made her way to the far end of the island, she wedged herself between two rocks and she and the little dog huddled together for warmth. She could barely breathe as she heard Wagner searching for her.
It was a situation so nightmarish that it has become a staple of horror movies: an implacable monster hunting for a young woman who huddles nearby in absolute terror, barely daring to breathe for fear her hiding place would be discovered.
Ending here to avoid "spoilers and because this is yet another of my entirely too long looks at a book. You can read the rest of this and my other Halloween 2017 entries over on Odd Things Considered.
June 12, 2019
Re-read 2019
I saw this on Scribd and decided to pick it up, it is a great true crime encyclopedia that discusses many formerly well-known murderers.
I really enjoyed this book, The book is about criminals, mostly serial killers, that America's forgotten. Though I did know 3 of the stories in the book. I really recommend it if you're into True Crime stories.
I saw this on Scribd and decided to pick it up, it is a great true crime encyclopedia that discusses many formerly well-known murderers.
I really enjoyed this book, The book is about criminals, mostly serial killers, that America's forgotten. Though I did know 3 of the stories in the book. I really recommend it if you're into True Crime stories.
September 18, 2019
Like Harold Schecter's The Serial Killer Files, Psycho USA is a sort of anthology of murder snippets; this time, however, he is looking at now forgotten (or never cared about nor publicized) serial killers and their crimes.
The stories are quick and pithily told, full of all the lurid crime details one could want but missing much of what usually makes Schechter the best at what he does -- the context beyond the killer and the killings. He tries to make up for that, though, with a a sub-history running throughout the book. Underneath the crimes themselves, Schechter takes us on a journey into true crime fiction, from murder ballads to great novels to Country and Western songs.
As fascinating as the stroll down true crime lit was, though, it made me feel cheated in two ways: way one was that I spent a lot of time listening to lyrics and poetry and plot summaries of other people's literary work rather than Schechter's own writing about the crimes at hand (which was a bummer); way two was that the idea was fascinating, so much so that I wanted an entire book just about the history of true crime literature (get cracking on that book Schechter ... you know you want to write it). Plus, way two missed a great Hemingway short story that must have been inspired by one of the saddest murder stories in the whole book: the story of the Mad Sculptor, Robert Irwin.
Regardless, Psycho USA was a good listen, and it has pointed me in the direction of my next Schechter. The Mad Sculptor has jumped to the front of my next listen queue.
The stories are quick and pithily told, full of all the lurid crime details one could want but missing much of what usually makes Schechter the best at what he does -- the context beyond the killer and the killings. He tries to make up for that, though, with a a sub-history running throughout the book. Underneath the crimes themselves, Schechter takes us on a journey into true crime fiction, from murder ballads to great novels to Country and Western songs.
As fascinating as the stroll down true crime lit was, though, it made me feel cheated in two ways: way one was that I spent a lot of time listening to lyrics and poetry and plot summaries of other people's literary work rather than Schechter's own writing about the crimes at hand (which was a bummer); way two was that the idea was fascinating, so much so that I wanted an entire book just about the history of true crime literature (get cracking on that book Schechter ... you know you want to write it). Plus, way two missed a great Hemingway short story that must have been inspired by one of the saddest murder stories in the whole book: the story of the Mad Sculptor, Robert Irwin.
Regardless, Psycho USA was a good listen, and it has pointed me in the direction of my next Schechter. The Mad Sculptor has jumped to the front of my next listen queue.
November 9, 2022
The Mad Sculptor! The Smutty Nose Butcher! The Siren of the Swamps! The Virago of Vermont! The Minneapolis Svengali! The Veiled Murderess! The Witch of Staten Island! The Brownout Strangler! All were famous in their time, so why don't we remember them along with Lizzie Borden and Jack the Ripper? Harold Schechter retells their stories and the stories of their victims. I enjoyed the emphasis on murder ballads and other examples of pop culture. This is a lot of terror and mayhem for one book (416 pages/about 15 hours), so you may need to put this aside for a while and come back to it later, as I did.
September 18, 2021
Wow, finally. This book had been in my "reading" category for years, haha. It's a compilation about American murderers, in historical order; a few pages per criminal. That's why it was so easy to start and stop reading it. I like reading true crime stories and have for decades. This book contained some vile people I had never heard of before. Very interesting.
June 3, 2015
Due to the grisly subject matter, I can't say I really "enjoyed" this book. I did, however, find it darkly fascinating - It's very strange (and, in an odd way, reassuring) to know that our country has always had its Bundys and Dahmers, and it's not that just late 20th-century society is singularly disturbed. Every society, and every era, has its monsters. From a cultural perspective, it's also interesting to consider why some killers live forever in infamy (like Lizzie Borden, for instance) when other even more terrifying and dastardly people are quickly forgotten. I, for one, was shocked that I had never before heard of the Kehoe murders, especially considering he was a right-wing terrorist, a precursor to Timothy McVeigh. This collection was well-written, with just enough narrative and detail to make me feel like I was reading a horror novel and not a historical overview. The scholarly validity of this book is up for debate, I suppose - I think it should have included footnotes, for instance - but it's a good popular history of some of the darkest characters in our cultural history.
December 11, 2021
I loved this book. I didn't realize how many serial killers I have never heard of. Makes you want run out and buy a bunch of deadbolts. Very detailed account of murder and murders. It is armchair detective dream. Recommend.
😺😺😺
😺😺😺
May 2, 2019
Well-researched and entertaining.
November 16, 2022
The interesting parts of this book attempt to analyze while some criminals and some crimes have stayed matters of public obsession, while others, just as horrific, have faded away. I wish the book were weighted somewhat more to this content, and not to the schlocky list of atrocities the cover suggests, but there was some fascinating media analysis in here. Also, as fucked up as a lot of modern true crime coverage has become, this book proves it has always been thus -- and at least no one is writing epic poems about popular murders anymore. At least I think -- I hope! -- they're not.
January 1, 2015
This was a very interesting read. I definitely learned about people who perpetrated heinous crimes in their heyday only to be forgotten. How sad how some serial killers can attain infamy in their afterlife while others fade away as soon as their sentences have been handed down. Definitely a must read for true crime buffs.
June 27, 2019
I loved this book! Written in such a profound and enticing way. I look forward to reading more by Harold Schechter. I loved the style of the book's format, and some of the stories were so gruesome it made my stomach hurt. Such amazing writing and storytelling. I loved this book. Though the horrible atrocities were disgusting and some hard to swallow, it gave an in depth and deliciously profound account of each murderer. Highly recommend this one.
September 24, 2012
I almost didn't pick this up due to the rather unfortunate cover that creeps me out and the sensationalized title. In spite of the disturbing cover I was pleasantly surprised to find how much I enjoyed reading this book. It is the perfect marriage of history and true crime. The book is full of stories that mimic the crimes we are all so familiar with today but the catch is that happened a long time ago and have largely been forgotten by the public. Today when something sensational happens in the news the internet spreads it like wildfire and we can watch the trials on TV but back when these crimes occurred they were reported in the paper and then largely forgotten. While some cases caught the public's attention and are still well known today such as Lizzie Borden and Jack the Ripper, the cases presented in this book have become so obscure that I hadn't heard of any of them. I always tend to think of people who lived a hundred years to have more manners and be a it more refined than the people of today. Turns out they had their share of money hungry crazies too. The wheels of justice seemed to turn faster in the past and most of the murderers recounted in this book met their fate at the end of a hangman's noose. It was particularly interesting to read how the crimes of the past were solved without the benefit of the forensics and DNA techniques of today.
August 22, 2012
Kinda creeped out and horribly excited about reading this book!!
I won Psycho USA: Famous American Killers You Never Heard Of through the Goodreads First Read Giveaway on 08/23/2012 and received on 09/04/2012!
I was really surprised with how much I enjoyed this book! I absolutely LOVED how Schechter would state what authors were influenced by certain murders and where they used that inspiration. I found that to be a wonderful surprise when I started the book.
You hear about all of these horrific stories from not too long ago and the media makes it seem like it is the first incident of it's kind ... in reality, I learned that that isn't the case.
Such an intriguing book ... one I'll definitely read again because I'm sure in all of my (rushed) reading that I missed some important details. I need to learn to slow down and enjoy a story without rushing through it just to see what happens next!
Very interesting book - easy to pick up and put down because there are tons of small stories in this mammoth book!
I won Psycho USA: Famous American Killers You Never Heard Of through the Goodreads First Read Giveaway on 08/23/2012 and received on 09/04/2012!
I was really surprised with how much I enjoyed this book! I absolutely LOVED how Schechter would state what authors were influenced by certain murders and where they used that inspiration. I found that to be a wonderful surprise when I started the book.
You hear about all of these horrific stories from not too long ago and the media makes it seem like it is the first incident of it's kind ... in reality, I learned that that isn't the case.
Such an intriguing book ... one I'll definitely read again because I'm sure in all of my (rushed) reading that I missed some important details. I need to learn to slow down and enjoy a story without rushing through it just to see what happens next!
Very interesting book - easy to pick up and put down because there are tons of small stories in this mammoth book!
March 1, 2013
Completed yesterday, this book was A W E S O M E!!!
Worth the read and a complete page-turner.
Schechter is a really profound writer. He has a way of making complex terminology really simple and gives life to past villains that have been forgotten by history. There were some cases that were simply shocking to me that we'd allowed to drop from our collective memory that he resurrected with ease.
Ca't wait to read his next book!!!
Worth the read and a complete page-turner.
Schechter is a really profound writer. He has a way of making complex terminology really simple and gives life to past villains that have been forgotten by history. There were some cases that were simply shocking to me that we'd allowed to drop from our collective memory that he resurrected with ease.
Ca't wait to read his next book!!!
September 5, 2012
3.5 stars -- Despite the lurid title, this is no trashy tabloid collection but rather a well-written account of murders that once made headlines in American history but have since been forgotten. Show this to people who claim that "things are so much worse these days."
April 16, 2013
Many times while reading this book, I was heard muttering "Why am I reading this?".
If you are into this genre, you will love it.
If you have a queasy stomach, stay away as there are some descriptions of the crime that are just gruesome.
If you are into this genre, you will love it.
If you have a queasy stomach, stay away as there are some descriptions of the crime that are just gruesome.
November 2, 2020
So many stories. Never ceases to amaze me at just how cruel humans can be. Definite recommend!
February 13, 2017
This was quite a mixed bag of goods for me. Real crime and serial killers are something that I am (weirdly) interested in; and when this book promised to talk about the notorious kind of serial killer like Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy, but focusing on killers who had for some reason be forgotten, I was hooked. The cover makes it look like a gritty investigation into the worst kind of crime, too.
But what you get is quite different. Yes, the murder is there, and it is bloody enough (it's not for the faint-hearted), but the historical remove served to make it seem almost unreal in some cases (no pun intended).
What bothered me, though, was the set-up of the book. The individual murderers are described in fairly short chapters that could almost be called vignettes, and in some cases, the author talks at great length about several other cases (that he might perhaps have wished to include but didn't have the space for) before embarking on the actual case in question. And there is little depth to the chapters. While I realize that with some of them, a lot of the details might simply be irretrievably lost to time, it reads in some instances more like a tabloid newspaper serialization than like gritty investigative journalism.
The weirdest part for me, however, was that at the end of each chapter was tucked on an addendum. In some cases, this described yet more vaguely similar cases that didn't get their own chapters or changes in criminal persecution, which I found quite interesting. But most of them presented ballads or poems or nursery rhymes that have evolved around these crimes, some of them in full length and different versions. While I'm sure these would be very interesting to people interested in folklore and how crime is incorporated into shared cultural knowledge, this is simply not what the book promises to be on its cover and what I wanted to read about.
I wanted the book to tell me more about the actual police work used to bring the killers to justice, the development of forensic methods and police work; not so much about ballads.
The narration was a bit uneven and seemed to jump around a lot, digressing from the cases at hand and delving into lengthy by-ways that seemed hardly related to the topic.
In all, I would say an interesting book, but one that failed to develop its full potential and also suffers from misleading marketing by the publisher.
But what you get is quite different. Yes, the murder is there, and it is bloody enough (it's not for the faint-hearted), but the historical remove served to make it seem almost unreal in some cases (no pun intended).
What bothered me, though, was the set-up of the book. The individual murderers are described in fairly short chapters that could almost be called vignettes, and in some cases, the author talks at great length about several other cases (that he might perhaps have wished to include but didn't have the space for) before embarking on the actual case in question. And there is little depth to the chapters. While I realize that with some of them, a lot of the details might simply be irretrievably lost to time, it reads in some instances more like a tabloid newspaper serialization than like gritty investigative journalism.
The weirdest part for me, however, was that at the end of each chapter was tucked on an addendum. In some cases, this described yet more vaguely similar cases that didn't get their own chapters or changes in criminal persecution, which I found quite interesting. But most of them presented ballads or poems or nursery rhymes that have evolved around these crimes, some of them in full length and different versions. While I'm sure these would be very interesting to people interested in folklore and how crime is incorporated into shared cultural knowledge, this is simply not what the book promises to be on its cover and what I wanted to read about.
I wanted the book to tell me more about the actual police work used to bring the killers to justice, the development of forensic methods and police work; not so much about ballads.
The narration was a bit uneven and seemed to jump around a lot, digressing from the cases at hand and delving into lengthy by-ways that seemed hardly related to the topic.
In all, I would say an interesting book, but one that failed to develop its full potential and also suffers from misleading marketing by the publisher.
December 17, 2020
"It is a general phenomenon of our nature that that which is sad, terrible, and even horrendous holds an irresistible attraction for us." - Friedrich Schiller
From serial poisoners to axe murderers, mass murderers, family annihilators and many more, Psycho USA is a collection of lesser-known shocking crime cases from 1782 - 1961.
This was one interesting read as I've not heard of almost all the cases in this book! I was only familiar with maybe three cases out of like at least thirty cases in this book? Yes! There were A LOT of cases which were categorised as Fiends of the Early Republic (1782 - 1826), Antebellum Maniacs (1840 - 1860), Post-Civil War Monsters (1866 - 1880), Turn-Of-The-Century Psychos (1892-1896), A Year of Horror (1927), Demons of the Depression, Soldier-Sailor, Serial Killer (1941-1961). This is definitely a book to be savoured slowly.
Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart was inspired by the 1840 gruesome crime of Peter Robinson. Polly Bodine was a female criminal comparable to Lizzie Borden and she was executed one week before Borden committed her crimes. Another Lizzie - Lizzie Halliday was given the moniker "The Female Jack the Ripper" because of her appalling crimes.
During the 19th century, powdered arsenic was being sold freely to anyone and was widely used in Victorian beauty products! You can even get arsenic soaps! Yikes!
I think what was really creepy was the "murder ballads" - poems that were composed to sensationalise homicide before the existence of tabloid journalism. Henry Sherman Backus was a well-known composer of murder ballads.
In a nutshell, this was one fascinating read and I would recommend it to true crime buffs. The research was good considering these were really old cases. I was both creeped out and shocked after reading this book!
CW: gore details, violence
From serial poisoners to axe murderers, mass murderers, family annihilators and many more, Psycho USA is a collection of lesser-known shocking crime cases from 1782 - 1961.
This was one interesting read as I've not heard of almost all the cases in this book! I was only familiar with maybe three cases out of like at least thirty cases in this book? Yes! There were A LOT of cases which were categorised as Fiends of the Early Republic (1782 - 1826), Antebellum Maniacs (1840 - 1860), Post-Civil War Monsters (1866 - 1880), Turn-Of-The-Century Psychos (1892-1896), A Year of Horror (1927), Demons of the Depression, Soldier-Sailor, Serial Killer (1941-1961). This is definitely a book to be savoured slowly.
Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart was inspired by the 1840 gruesome crime of Peter Robinson. Polly Bodine was a female criminal comparable to Lizzie Borden and she was executed one week before Borden committed her crimes. Another Lizzie - Lizzie Halliday was given the moniker "The Female Jack the Ripper" because of her appalling crimes.
During the 19th century, powdered arsenic was being sold freely to anyone and was widely used in Victorian beauty products! You can even get arsenic soaps! Yikes!
I think what was really creepy was the "murder ballads" - poems that were composed to sensationalise homicide before the existence of tabloid journalism. Henry Sherman Backus was a well-known composer of murder ballads.
In a nutshell, this was one fascinating read and I would recommend it to true crime buffs. The research was good considering these were really old cases. I was both creeped out and shocked after reading this book!
CW: gore details, violence
August 20, 2021
Listened to the audiobook
Trigger warning: Murder, statutory rape, sexual assault, gaslighting, child abuse, violence, racism
If you’re tired of hearing about heavy hitter serial killers like Jeffrey Dalmer, H.H. Holmes, Aileen Wuornos, and others, this book has more American killer content than you could have ever hoped to ask for.
The organization of this book is something to behold. It’s impressive to put together a book like this chronologically rather than according to the nature of the crimes. Within the chapters, it jumps around a bit historically within each section. I hesitated with how to rate this book, since many of the references to other
Knowing that Schechter himself went through a divorce (from the interview that took me a week and a half to listen), it’s interesting to me that a subtle takeaway from all these tales is this: divorce is a net positive for society. From femme fatales to husbands who could’ve gone without wives, so much violence could have been avoided if people had a way out. The story that stuck with me most was that of Edward H. Rulloff, the namesake of a bar in Ithaca, NY, and it completely exemplifies how giving either Edward or Harriet a way out might have prevented some violence.
Overall, interesting in its history, but also captivating in its meta-commentary on what makes some killers rise to star status within the literature of true crime.
Trigger warning: Murder, statutory rape, sexual assault, gaslighting, child abuse, violence, racism
If you’re tired of hearing about heavy hitter serial killers like Jeffrey Dalmer, H.H. Holmes, Aileen Wuornos, and others, this book has more American killer content than you could have ever hoped to ask for.
The organization of this book is something to behold. It’s impressive to put together a book like this chronologically rather than according to the nature of the crimes. Within the chapters, it jumps around a bit historically within each section. I hesitated with how to rate this book, since many of the references to other
Knowing that Schechter himself went through a divorce (from the interview that took me a week and a half to listen), it’s interesting to me that a subtle takeaway from all these tales is this: divorce is a net positive for society. From femme fatales to husbands who could’ve gone without wives, so much violence could have been avoided if people had a way out. The story that stuck with me most was that of Edward H. Rulloff, the namesake of a bar in Ithaca, NY, and it completely exemplifies how giving either Edward or Harriet a way out might have prevented some violence.
Overall, interesting in its history, but also captivating in its meta-commentary on what makes some killers rise to star status within the literature of true crime.
August 9, 2018
I was on the waiting list at my local public library for months to check-out this book but I have to say, the wait was worth it! Very good information and nothing that I have read in other true crime books. Not the same old famous killers/murders but heinous murders that are even shocking by today's standards. It amazes me the creative ways that humans devious to rid themselves of other human beings, the immoral ways to kill, then the complicated methods of disposal. I appreciate how the author lists his bibliography/sources for his information and that he states quite plainly if the crime was a confession or facts taken from the clues. I enjoyed this book plus Harold Schechter included when possible photos, newspaper articles or folk songs (for the time) about the killer. I would definitely read this again because there's so much information and the book so well written.
Read
December 2, 2020DNF @20%
This is not a bad book; I’m just finding the encyclopedia-style entries don’t really work for me. The author’s introduction, however, discussing why certain crimes become and remain famous and so indicative of certain time periods (they reflect the social anxieties and primal fears of that era) was super interesting.
This is not a bad book; I’m just finding the encyclopedia-style entries don’t really work for me. The author’s introduction, however, discussing why certain crimes become and remain famous and so indicative of certain time periods (they reflect the social anxieties and primal fears of that era) was super interesting.
May 11, 2024
“It took a monster to commit such atrocities. And I don’t know that the law hangs monsters.”
There were some interesting stories in this book and some not-so-interesting. I have to leave this at a three-star read for the way of the telling, which was mostly banal.
There were some interesting stories in this book and some not-so-interesting. I have to leave this at a three-star read for the way of the telling, which was mostly banal.
August 3, 2019
A 3.5 - a solid and gruesome overview told story-style of true crime in America over the last few hundred years.
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