Springfield-Greene County Library District discussion

Hi everyone!

This month, we're talking about Monsters and Villains! The perfect topic for October spookiness. Let us know in the comments: What or who are your all-time favorite monsters and/or villains?

My favorite villain is Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men. Chilling!

I've always had a soft spot for gargoyles. They're creepy without being evil, and they technically actually exist. ;)

For villains, I might have to go with Ursula, from the Little Mermaid. I can't even explain why.

I love truly "evil" monsters, demons and in a more nuanced way witches.
I'm about to start rereading "Master and Margarita" and it has a nice team of demon antagonist. Behemoth the evil demon cat always stands out.

I was also just reminded of the Alan Moore comic From Hell and just how evil the main villain William Gull (semi-spoiler aka maybe jack the ripper?) is depicted, truly deeply sick but with refined internal reason and logic, which is one of the darkest combinations.

Miranda wrote: "My favorite villain is Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men. Chilling!"

100% agree!

Norman Bates is a super creepy villain! He is especially creepy because it's not impossible for a "Norman Bates" to exist in real life. -- I guess there is a rumor that his character may have been based off Ed Gein, so I guess there definitely has been a Norman Bates. *shudders*

Not necessarily a villain, but I adore the Wolfman. I think the inner turmoil he goes through is so interesting. He is a nice person, but because he tried to save someone, he's forced to turn into a monster and do terrible things.

John Hobbs , the evil spirit in the Diviners. Grover in the monster at the end of this book. Even at 6 my granddaughter enjoys this Monster book

One of my favorite books with monsters is Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant. Seriously scary killer mermaids!!!

So many good villains mentioned here! Linda, I was SO creeped out by John Hobbs in the Diviners. But in a good way! Hannah, I hadn't heard that Norman Bates might have been based off of a real person...that is horrifying. And brings me to another question:

What real-life villains have you read about in nonfiction?

I recently read Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann, and it features a whole network of awful real-life villains from the 1920s who, led by a wealthy cattle baron named William Hale, orchestrated a complicated plot to kill dozens (possibly hundreds) of Osage Indians to gain access to the oil on their land in Oklahoma. The extent of the evil is heartbreaking and also terrifying.

To me, real life villains are even more frightening and disturbing than fictional ones. It's one thing to think about something hypothetically, but knowing that it really happened is especially chilling.

Also, while we're talking about real-life villains, I'd like to plug the Library's My Favorite Crime Book Club here on Goodreads. They discuss a different true crime-related book each month. If you have a "favorite" serial killer or are fascinated by forensics, this is a great book discussion for you!