Assassination Vacation

By Alison

So besides having two amazing books coming out in early July, my friends Megan Abbott and Theresa Schwegel are about to embark on a tour -- PLUS a really interesting (and kinda creepy) side-project. Instead of hitting the bars in the various towns they'll be signing and reading at, Megan and Theresa want to visit historic true crime sites -- anything from the bank Bonnie and Clyde robbed to the hotel where Bob Crane met his maker. They're asking everybody out there to email them and recommend these infamous locales, too -- which means they're serious, so help 'em out, okay?  They probably wouldn't mind a  few good bar recommendations either.

It all gets me thinking about our fascination with "scenes of the crime." Whether it's staring at photographs of the house where the atrocities in In Cold Blood occured, or standing at Ground Zero, there's something about these places that both repels us and draws us in. In a way, they are the proof that these horrifying events actually occured, in the real world. And the fact that they are usually so mundane and run-of-the-mill looking makes them even more chilling, at least to me. Growing up in Southern California, I once snuck into the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel where Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. In ruins at the time, there was still something terrifying -- and haunted -- about it. And I used to feel the same way when driving  through Benedict Canyon, past the house on Cielo drive where the Manson murders took place.

I don't think I've been to any other crime scenes -- at least not that I know of -- but the feeling still resonates. Have you ever been to a famous crime scene? How did it make you feel?

Comments

[Karen Olson]

I went to Ground Zero three months after 9/11. The subways weren't stopping at their usual stops, the police had the area cordoned off. Smoke hung in the air from the crews trying to clean up, and you could see shadows of the towers' remnants in the distance. Memorials were hung on fences up and down the block: firefighter Tshirts, buttons, hats, photos of those missing and dead. Crowds surrounded the area, but everyone was incredibly respectful. No shoving, no pushing, no loud voices. I was overwhelmed with sadness and the enormity of what had happened there.

[Patti Abbott]

One of the most distressing ones was in Memphis, where MLK was assassinated. They have the Loraine hotel room and balcony in a museum there-just as it was in the National Civil Rights Museum there. That room is haunting-so modest for a man of his stature.

[Kathleen McLaughlin]

I bought my house in LA from Leslie Abramson, the Menendez lawyer. Not really a crime scene but it was creepy when we found a box of old files from he case while cleaning out the garage. We promptly returned it to Leslie. I also remember seeing the untouchables in the same theater Dillenger was shot in.

[norby]

I've never been to a famous crime scene, but my parents bought their house from a woman whose husband had sprayed nitric acid in her face when she came back to the house to pick up some belongings after they had separated. He was on trial the year after they bought the house, and my mom freaked when the house and a large article appeared in the Akron paper.

There are these odd stains on the cement in the basement in the shape of a bare foot, that's where the couple was when he started spraying her, then she ran upstairs and out into the garage screaming for help. A high school friend of mine who lives across the street ran over (along with her husband, both of who are nurses) and started helping. My friend's husband had actually been so freaked out that he ran into his house first to get his handgun before coming over.

When the attacker (husband) came out, still carrying the bottle, they asked him if there was going to be any more trouble and I guess he just said no and set the bottle down.

The daughter of my dad's hairstylist was one of the first responders-she said it was the worst thing she's ever seen-she couldn't wait until it was her turn to testify at the trial.

He finally took a plea bargain and will be in jail for at least 12 years.

The Montel Williams Show actually called my parents house looking for the wife. They didn't believe me when I said she didn't live there anymore and I didn't know where she did live.

[Lori Armstrong]

South Dakota sites:

I've been to Saloon #10 where Wild Bill was shot.

And to the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre.

[Mary Stella]

Several years ago, I visited South Beach in Miami in the morning for breakfast. I walked past a beautiful big home on Ocean Drive and thought, "Somebody famous must live there if tourists are all posing in front and taking pictures."

Then I realized it was Versace's home and they were standing where Versace was murdered by Andrew Cunanan.

Now about John Dillinger. There are some rumors that he had an 18" long penis and that it's preserved somewhere in the Smithsonian. Years ago, a friend and I investigated but were unable to confirm any aspect of this rumor.

However, we discovered that the Ripley Museum at the Smithsonian is not one of those Believe it or Not locations with two-headed calves and people with 6 feet long fingernails. It's named after a former curator of the Smithsonian.

[Acid Reflux Cough]

Sounds like a really hoot of a vacation. Lol.

Thanks for sharing such a great post.