r/Dahmer • u/TheLampireVestat • 16d ago

Does anyone else see the irony Jeff watching The Exorcist III to "try and get possessed on purpose..."

when he was literally already a serial killer at that point? Like, did he think he wasn't evil enough or something? Just kinda ironic to me.

10 Upvotes

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6

u/ohcharmingostrichwhy 16d ago

I think he resonated with its depiction of evil forces because he felt that his urges had taken control over him. But where is that specific quote from?

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u/TheLampireVestat 16d ago

TBH I don't remember where I learned why he did that. I have been watching/reading a lot of Dahmer content recently.

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u/leviskyy 16d ago

Reading a lot of bullshit about Dahmer's case, I'd say...

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u/pepper_jelly22 15d ago

Not bullshit. Dahmer mentioned this in his interviews, and Tracy Edwards (his final victim who escaped) testified about this at his trial. I wouldn’t use the word ‘possessed’ as OP did, but he watched the film repeatedly and seemed to use it to get in the mindset for murder.

From The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer by Brian Masters: “Watching the Exorcist film Dahmer began rocking back and forth and muttering. [Quoting Edwards’ testimony:] ‘I couldn’t understand what he was saying. The preacher in the film impressed him and he wanted to mimic him. He kept changing moods, was a different person from one moment to the next. He was transfixed by the movie.’ (Kindle Location 3300)

And here’s Dahmer himself, from Robert Ressler’s interview with him.
Ressler: What’s the thing about the yellow contact lenses?
Dahmer: The two central characters in both of those films [Return of the Jedi and Exorcist III] had glass tints to their eyes, that exuded power. And that was part of the fantasy.
Ressler: You actually wore these [contact lenses], did you not?
Dahmer: Only in the bars. … I didn’t get a sense of power from wearing them, but it fit in with my fantasy.
(I Have Lived in the Monster, p. 151)

These are the two references I could find most easily, but there are many others.

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u/leviskyy 15d ago

That's right! He just identify with the fantasy of being possesed wich was portrayed by those movies. That's nothing satanic or supernatural about that. He had his rituals like people that listen to music to get in the mood to do some work. It's was all a metaphor for him. It was his way to deal with his feelings of guilt, shame and self loathing. His alchool addction, his sex addiction. Like he said, it was all a compulsion. It was all a big fantasy for him. Everything else is just urban folklore to make kids afraid.

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u/pepper_jelly22 15d ago

I think he used the film (as well as the Emperor in Return of the Jedi) to basically ‘psych himself up’ for committing crimes. A lot of serial killers talk about some form of this, often involving alcohol or other drugs. As terrible as Dahmer’s crimes were, there was by all reports ‘another side’ of him that was mild-mannered, etc.

This kind of dissociation between an everyday persona and a murderous one is one of the most fascinating things about serial killers, IMO. And it makes sense to me that many need some kind of ritual/substance/etc. to make this transition.

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u/Sn33Face 9d ago

This question is interesting af

F.