Ted Talk: Bundy Edition

Get ready to hear Ted Bundy practically whispering in your ear as he tells you the story he wants us to hear about being a murderer, covering up himself by talking in third-person in Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes. Netflix released this four-part documentary series this past January. It follows the life of Ted Bundy through his words while on death row and the people that knew him along with people affected by him. Archival footage and interviews help guide the story along attempting to trace Ted’s steps. It is directed by Joe Berlinger, who also took part in directing his new movie starring Zac Efron, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile a biographical film from the perspective of Ted’s longtime girlfriend, which recently premiered at Sundance Film Festival.

This is what Ted Bundy wanted us to hear. While he was on death row in 1980, he sent out a message “willing to speak exclusively with a journalist in exchange for a re-examination of all the cases against him, which he said it would prove that he was innocent.” We sit through and listen to his manipulative words on these tapes, to only confirm what we already knew, that the man is crazy; while he tries to tell us he is not an animal. You’re right Ted, you’re not an animal, but a monster. And here we are distracted by these words when we should be focusing more on the victims. The documentary lacks information about what happened to a lot of the woman, besides that of “she disappeared”. It is understandable, that they do not have all the information. Ted was charged with over 30 murders but considering he has mentioned that there are possibly one-hundred people that he has killed, it is frightening to think how long someone can get away with doing something like that. Ted started his killing spree in Washington and took it to Colorado, California, Utah, Oregon, and all the way to Florida where his messiest murdering spree happened. Ted would often dump the bodies in mountains after torturing, raping, cutting off their heads or whatever other sick thing he did to these woman and even children. Police would find the remains of the the body parts from different women not far from each other.

The documentary starts out by normalizing Ted and focusing on how he was a social worker, campaign activist, and attractive man (to some). We watch two journalist talk about their experience with Ted and how they eventually got him to “open-up” by having him talk in the third person, so he could admit to what he thought the killer might’ve done. Without actually having to admit anything. The timeline depicts Ted’s killings that started in 1974 (possibly even earlier than this but the documentary leaves this out) and the events of his life until his ultimate death by the electric chair. The docuseries tends to pursued the audience to think a certain way, like this guy is smart and cunning just because he knows psychology. When really everyone around him was just oblivious. How did the man manage to get out of jail twice? Irresponsibility and the fact that they had no idea what they were doing back then. They mention many times the term serial killer was not even a thing yet, and Ted had access to police information he shouldn’t have.

The Ted Bundy Tapes does not shy away from the fact that this man did do horrific acts of violence. If you do not know much about Ted Bundy, it might be a lot to take in after watching this. Graphic images, from the cases they do have, are shown along with some of the victim’s faces. Subtle but haunting music plays in the background as videos and images appear on the screen that mimics the words being narrated. There’s an intense mood watching this documentary as we learn about some of the woman that were never heard from again. It did a good job answering questions that run through your head as your watching. But did a mediocre job of details of the crimes (if you’re even one to want to hear that) and leaves some loose strands at the end that you’ll have to look-up to find out for yourself. As it does describe Ted as a smart man, the documentary also likes to be hypocritical and helps us recognize the times Ted messed up and started to get sloppy. Ted Bundy was not a special serial killer that could outsmart everyone but what he did do that was special was take so many precious young women lives away. Ages 8-26, from what they know, gone. There are woman who have survived and escaped Ted and one woman in particular gets to share her story in the documentary; which was an interesting perspective to have after hearing about all the woman who did not survive. It was possible to escape from the infamous killer.

Overall, the documentary shared some crazy insight into the mind of Ted Bundy but it’ll be your choice if you care or not about what he has to say. His words wanted to be heard but I think we all know actions speak much louder than words. And so do 30 plus dead girls. Netflix chose to release the series on January 24th, coinciding with his ultimate death by an electric chair in 1989 at Florida State Prison.

Why Does it Matter?

Ann Marie Burr (8), Lynda Ann Healy (21), Donna Gail Manson (19), Susan Elaine Rancourt (19), Brenda Baker (15), Roberta Kathleen Parks (20), Brenda Carol Ball (22), Georgeann Hawkins (18), Janice Ott (23), Denise Naslund (18)… just to name a few people that never will get to grow older than that age.

Ted's eerie words seem to linger in the back of my mind, "that the next time he did it, he would be fulfilled, or the next time he did it he would be fulfilled." Clearly, he never was, and that is one lesson, if anything, that can be taught from his always confusing and manipulating words. He was stuck in a cycle that no one saw coming. He killed all those woman selfishly hoping he would one day feel complete.

I give it 7.8/10 stars

-Brittany Doyle

For more information on Ted Bundy's victims please visit http://murderpedia.org/male.B/b1/bundy-ted-victims.htm