Beyond the Headlines: True Crime's Myths & Legends

Ever wonder about the truth behind the sensationalized headlines when it comes to history's most infamous killers? So did author Jeff Ignatowski, a nationally known speaker on the psychology of serial killers, who turned that curiosity into his meticulously researched book BEYOND THE HEADLINES: True Crime's Myths and Legends.

More than a collection of dramatically told true crime stories, Ignatowski's anthology challenges and explores the integrity of widespread myths surrounding infamous personalities such as Jack The Ripper, Dennis Rader, Elizabeth Bathory, Ed Gein, and Ted Bundy. It provides a deeper understanding of their stories through historical insight, criminological analysis, and a careful separation of fact from fiction.

Having spent years counseling incarcerated youth offenders and studying serial killer psychology through his collaboration with other true crime and forensic psychiatry experts, he examines in BEYOND THE HEADLINES how these narratives have been molded by and, in turn, shaped public beliefs and media representations.

BEYOND THE HEADLINES invites readers to reconsider what they think they know about these "monsters" and their crimes. By challenging conventional narratives, readers will come away with a deeper understanding.

Excerpts From the Book

"Jack the Ripper was a frenzy killer, who seemed to kill because he took exception to ladies who lived on the street in the Whitechapel area. He used a knife and seemed to be enraged at several of the murder scenes. On the other hand, Holmes seemed to be a very calculated killer. He would gas people and did not prefer to use a knife, until after death, where he would dismember the bodies for disposal or sale. This is still the most compelling argument against Holmes being Jack the Ripper.”

"He may not be the most well-known killer in this book, but he may well be the most influential in pop culture. No other killer has inspired as many movie franchises as the story of the Butcher of Plainfield. Norman Bates from Psycho, Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs were all inspired by his story. The account of the life of Ed Gein is so strange, and what they found in his barn was so macabre, it has influenced the way we think about modern horror.”

"If there is one case that will be forever etched into the annals of true crime history, it is the case of Ted Bundy. There have been many cases before him and since, but none showed us the horrors of what a smiling face, an intelligent mind, and the depravity of a soul could do within our society. The case of Ted Bundy would have far reaching implications for our law enforcement, investigations, and psychology. We would finally get a real look inside the mind of a killer. Sadly, it would only be the beginning.”

"Unlike other killers that we have described, Dahmer was not trying to hide his crimes in any conventional sense. He did not try to find random victims, he did not attempt to clean up the crime scene, and he did not try to hide the bodies.”

"The fantasy that Rader was constantly building within himself, was of complete control over these women. Everything that he did would feed his desire to have that control. The danger of stalking them and knowing their every move would be fuel for the event to come.