Althouse: Necrophilia in Wisconsin.

September 6, 2006

Necrophilia in Wisconsin.

Can you believe there are men who see an obituary photo in the newpaper, find the dead woman pretty, and go dig up the body for a sexual encounter?

UPDATE: The Smoking Gun has mugshots, etc.

56 comments:

michael farris said...: "Can you believe there are men who see an obituary photo in the newpaper, find the dead woman pretty, and go dig up the body for a sexual encounter?"

My answer BC (before computers): "WHAT???" (stares disbelievingly)

My answer AD (after download):
"Why yes, yes I can." (sighs wearily); 9/6/06, 7:56 AM
MadisonMan said...: Totally bizarre. I like the factoid that they stopped first at Wal-Mart for condoms!

When I read stories like this, I always wonder how the parents react. And what was going on in the family dynamic that pushed the twins in this direction.; 9/6/06, 7:59 AM
knox said...: WTF. I wouldn't be surprised if these two to pop up as serial killers in a few years.; 9/6/06, 8:01 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: No, I don't believe it. Cops must have it wrong. You know like the Boulder DA Fuba.; 9/6/06, 8:12 AM
amba said...: Yes, why buy condoms?? They're worried that the corpse might have a lingering STD? Obviously they're not worried about getting her pregnant. If it's none of these things, then the purchase betrays a lingering fastidiousness that somehow doesn't comport with necrophilia.; 9/6/06, 8:15 AM
The Drill SGT said...: Well we now have a new definition for:

Loser!; 9/6/06, 8:47 AM
Squints said...: the purchase [of condoms] betrays a lingering fastidiousness that somehow doesn't comport with necrophilia.

I dunno. Said fastidiousness only enhances its creepy Lecterian-ness.; 9/6/06, 9:11 AM
Troy said...: I could've done without the name of the deceased. Why pile on extra to this family who just recently lost their daughter? Would this not be allowed to be kept secret under WI open records laws?; 9/6/06, 9:22 AM
Troy said...: And for the record... having worked with law enforcement in some capacity for the last 12 years -- no surprise at all -- which is sad.; 9/6/06, 9:23 AM
Susan said...: I always wonder how these wierdos find each other. The twins you can understand, but how did they find someone else with similar tastes?
"We like having sex with dead women."
"Really? Me too!"; 9/6/06, 9:24 AM
goesh said...: Eddie, Eddie, Eddie Gein
n'er had thy deeds been seen
O! Pariah verily foul, unclean
Lo! Always with women and n'er a teen
did'st thou dance and preen
with lovely skin its silken sheen
wearing buttocks plump n'er lean
in the School of Ghoul thou be'th Dean
-LDM; 9/6/06, 9:30 AM
Robert Holmgren said...: Ann, yesterday you seemed to be criticizing sexual moralizers on campus, but today you become the moralizer. Is it the absence of the religious angle that makes this possible or does necrophilia trump pedophilia? I look forward to the photos of you joining the campus group with this additional issue?; 9/6/06, 9:52 AM
Jennifer said...: I would have had a hard time believing there was one man, let alone three. Yeesh.

Menlo Bob - Pedophelia what? Yesterday's moralizers were against homosexuality and sex outside of marriage.

Personally, I would separate men who dig up dead bodies and rape them from even the flippin' mayor of the Capitol of Lesbianism.; 9/6/06, 10:13 AM
KCFleming said...: Fenrisulven has a point. Without the prohibitions to appetite enforced by religion, where does the moral guidance come from to hold these men to be pariahs?

It is a slippery slope, once rules are discarded one after the other, and yet still we wonder how we got here. That is, on what basis do we apply any set of rules at all, even against this kind of grotesquery?

And I am quite aware that this behavior is not new. But what is new is that the behavior seems to shock so few people.; 9/6/06, 10:36 AM
Al Maviva said...: So make up your mind, Madison. What is it? Are you the Capital of Lesbianism? Or the Necropolis of Necrophilia?

Ps. How do you know the two guys aren't zombies who merely thought they were out on a date? I'd be afraid. Very afraid.; 9/6/06, 10:44 AM
Joe Giles said...: I'm outraged, but Oprah says we shouldn't judge.; 9/6/06, 11:02 AM
Beth said...: Jeff, while I am a religious person, I have read quite persuasive arguments by many people that convince me morality is alive and well among non-religious people. You state it's surprising this behavior offends so few, and I'm wondering what you base that on. I'd be much more surprised if the reaction to it were anything but shock amongst most people. In any case, it stretches credibility to say that few are shocked, unless you've done some kind of quick survey.; 9/6/06, 11:10 AM
Bissage said...: Ann asked: "Can you believe there are men who see an obituary photo in the newpaper, find the dead woman pretty, and go dig up the body for a sexual encounter?"

Not readily, no.

Besides, according to the article, the sex accusation came from Radke after he got fingered by Grunke and after he got pinched by the cops.

Ouch!

Seriously, though. From the article alone, I simply don’t believe it.

Now, why Radke thought it exculpating to accuse a co-conspirater of attempted necrophilia, . . . , well, you’ve got me there.; 9/6/06, 11:31 AM
SippicanCottage said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/6/06, 11:37 AM
MadisonMan said...: Let me point out to those who would rename Madison Necropolis that this deed took place near Cassville. That's over on the Mississippi River. Cassville's most famous export was probably Sam Okey. Having taken the ferry to Cassville from Iowa, I can report that there is very little there.; 9/6/06, 11:50 AM
knox said...: Sippican, between this and the mouse comment, are you trying to gross me back to the stoneage today???; 9/6/06, 12:01 PM
Cate said...: I can't believe there was one man who'd do such a disgusting thing, let alone three. Yuck.; 9/6/06, 12:12 PM
SippicanCottage said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/6/06, 12:21 PM
jimbino said...: From the point of view of a 10-year-old boy, necrophilia is no more gross than the "normal" kind of sex. You can get used to anything.

Furthermore, the black widow mates then kills the father of her children and the praying mantis starts eating her mate before orgasm, head first.; 9/6/06, 1:00 PM
Beth said...: From Sippican, the 10-year-old boy perspective is funny--gross, but funny. From Jim, I dunno why, but I just get the creeps.; 9/6/06, 1:33 PM
BJK said...: Am I the only one left wondering how attractive this lady was that 3 people would conspire to exume her body for sexual gratification?

(I'm sure there's some journalistic standard against showing her picture alongside the story....and it certainly wouldn't make things any easier on the family.)

Tom Petty danced with a corpse in a music video about a decade ago....but at least she looked like a young Kim Basinger. (For reference, it's the same song he's suing the Chili Peppers over now.); 9/6/06, 1:39 PM
KCFleming said...: Elizabeth, you're probably right about the 'shock' being yet present. I was basing my take on the few here who said 'no', and having over years simply gleaned that nothing seems to shock people much anymore.

I pick up from old books and magazines that what really shocked people back in the 1850s compared to 1900 to 1950 to now has evolved a hundred-fold. We have more freedom and few (if any) taboos.

And it begs the question: with this rate of change, what taboos will be broken next? And will we notice it? And then what?

As for the Smoking Gun mugshots. Yipe! Sorta Deliverance material, one of 'em leastways. One grocery store bagger, who just dropped out of community college, too. But why was Emo Philips there?; 9/6/06, 1:44 PM
goesh said...: "let's go out for a cold one" OMG! ROR! ROR!; 9/6/06, 1:50 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: Puts the lie to Andrew Marvell:

But at my back I always hear
Time's winged chariot hurrying near;
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.
Thy beauty shall no more be found,
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
My echoing song; then worms shall try
That long preserv'd virginity,
And your quaint honour turn to dust,
And into ashes all my lust.
The grave's a fine and private place,
But none I think do there embrace.; 9/6/06, 1:55 PM
Ruth Anne Adams said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/6/06, 2:04 PM
SippicanCottage said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/6/06, 2:42 PM
mtrobertsattorney said...: Let's be adults about this: once freewheeling notions of human sexuality percolate down to the general population, this kind of thing should come as no surprise. After all, the premise of the sexual revolution is that, absent issues of consent, the only limit on the form and expression of human sexuality is the human imagination. Any notion that something like nature places limits to expressions of sexualilty is opressive and should be relegated to the dark ages. This kind of behavior is just a cost of open-ended sexual freedom.; 9/6/06, 2:59 PM
knox said...: The eyes on those twins are a little too far-apart...; 9/6/06, 3:18 PM
Troy said...: The Sick Sense... as played by the Grunke twins

Cole Sear: I screw dead people.
Malcolm Crowe: In your dreams?
[Cole shakes his head no]
Malcolm Crowe: While you're awake?
[Cole nods]
Malcolm Crowe: Dead people like, in graves? In coffins?
..................................
Malcolm Crowe: How often do you screw them?
Cole Sear: All the time. They're everywhere.; 9/6/06, 3:29 PM
Beth said...: Shemp, Moe, and Emo!

Pogo, you should write up your 200 years of slippery taboos study; I'd love to read it. I just saw a headline--I didn't follow it down to the text--that Google is going to offer a search engine for 300 years of news stories. How cool is that?

While we're mining the past for paens to love for the dead:

I am stretched on your grave
and will lie there forever
if your hands were in mine
I'd be sure we'd not sever
my apple tree my brightness
it's time we were together
for I smell of the earth
and am worn by the weather

when my family thinks
that I'm safe in my bed
from night until morning
I am streteched at your head
calling out to the air
with tears hot and wild
my grief for the girl
that I loved as a child

do you remember
the night we were lost
in the shade of the blackthorn
and the chill of the frost
thanks be to Jesus
we did what was right
and your maiden head still
is your pillar of light

the priests and the friars
approach me in dread
because I still love you
my love and you're dead
I still would be your shelter
through rain and through storm
and with you in your cold grave
I cannot sleep warm; 9/6/06, 3:51 PM
Tibore said...: Oh. Dear. Lord.

Exactly how is sex with an unresponsive, cold partner supposed to be exciting? And no, I'm not trying to provide an opening for bad date jokes, I'm serious. How... I don't know... deprived do you have to be to consider sex with a something that doesn't react at all to what you're doing be something desireable? Sex is as much about the reaction of the partner as it is about yourself; it's interaction. Do these guys dance with lampposts? Talk with walls? I mean, c'mon!!; 9/6/06, 3:57 PM
KCFleming said...: Elizabeth,
I'll call my study To Hell In A Handbasket: 200 Years of Moral Decline

I wonder if there's some sort of grant, like from the Gnarly Old Grampas Foundation. Like the Ford Foundation, but, starboard.; 9/6/06, 3:57 PM
Palladian said...: AlaskaJack: "Let's be adults about this: once freewheeling notions of human sexuality percolate down to the general population, this kind of thing should come as no surprise. After all, the premise of the sexual revolution is that, absent issues of consent, the only limit on the form and expression of human sexuality is the human imagination. Any notion that something like nature places limits to expressions of sexualilty is opressive and should be relegated to the dark ages. This kind of behavior is just a cost of open-ended sexual freedom."

No, this is about some neurologically-impaired-looking persons who allegedly tried to violate a corpse. I thought it was funny when Santorum equated bestiality with consensual human sex, but this new slippery slope argument is a laugh riot. Gay sex and unmarried couples lead to NECROPHILIA! That's our kooky theocons!

The funniest part about this is that some people seem to think depravity was invented sometime around 1966. Read the nineteenth century book "Psychopathia Sexualis" for a cornucopia of case studies of amusing and horrifying perversions from way before anyone ever burned a bra.

And I can't believe we've had a necrophilia post without someone mentioning one of the great pieces of poetry in the genre:

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea--
In her tomb by the side of the sea.; 9/6/06, 4:52 PM
KCFleming said...: Re: "some people seem to think depravity was invented sometime around 1966"

Not really, no. Rather that religion has been the only even partially successful mechanism to enforce certain moral behaviors and proscribe others.

And it's not unreasonable to wonder if some easily observable things (like the decline in civil behavior, the rise of teen murders) aren't evidence of a general decay in social order. That is, does the broken windows theory apply to human behavior?

You can joke about that, to be sure. It was certainly held up to mockery in the 60s, for example. But one ought to consider such things, unless you believe that it simply doesn't matter what we teach or do to kids, or expect from each other in public, as everything comes out the same.

But that would be to counsel ignorance.; 9/6/06, 5:10 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: Speaking of the history of necrophilia and the art it has inspired, don't forget the traditional Irish poem "I am Stretched on Your Grave." Its origins are lost in antiquity, but it was recently popularized in lovely rendition sung by Sinead O'Connor.

I Am Stretched on Your Grave

I am stretched on your grave and will lie there forever,
If your hands were in mine, I'd be sure they'd not sever,
My appletree, my brightness 'tis time we were together,
For I smell of the earth and am worn by the weather.

When my family thinks that I'm safe in my bed,
From night until morning I am stretched at your head.
Calling out to the air with tears hot and wild,
My grief for the girl that I loved as a child.

Do you remember the night we were lost
In the shade of the blackthorn and the chill of the frost.
Thanks be to Jesus we did what was right
And your maidenhead still is your Pillar of Light.

The priests and the friars approach me in dread,
Because I still love you, my love, and your dead.
And still would be your shelter through rain and through storm
For with you in the cold ground I cannot sleep warm.

I am stretched on your grave and will lie there forever,
If your hands were in mine, I'd be sure they'd not sever,
My appletree, my brightness 'tis time we were together,
For I smell of the earth and am worn by the weather.; 9/6/06, 5:16 PM
Palladian said...: "And it's not unreasonable to wonder if some easily observable things (like the decline in civil behavior, the rise of teen murders) aren't evidence of a general decay in social order. That is, does the broken windows theory apply to human behavior?"

I think this "decay" has a lot to do with the size of the population. There are simply a lot more people around today. And we communicate the bad things more easily than we used to. I rather suspect that, on the average, people are actually less coarse and less violent than they were during times of greater religious influence on the population, such as the European middle ages. A couple hundred years ago these guys would have been hanging from the gallows in their rural village by now, and those of us in other villages would never have heard about it, except perhaps through a bawdy ballad ten years later.; 9/6/06, 5:43 PM
Jeremy said...: ...this is about some neurologically-impaired-looking persons...

Not to be obtuse, Palladian, but what does this mean?; 9/6/06, 6:36 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Re "I Am Stretched on Your Grave": Thanks, Jack. That was really beautiful. It made me cry.; 9/6/06, 7:31 PM
Palladian said...: Jeremy, it was my clumsy way of saying that they looked neurologically impaired, perhaps as a result of some genetic defect. Sort of like the guys in "Deliverance", mentioned earlier.; 9/6/06, 8:31 PM
SippicanCottage said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/6/06, 8:55 PM
mtrobertsattorney said...: Wow! Palladian read my post and saw a discussion of gay sex and unmarried couples. Dyslexia?

"The lady protests too much, methinks."; 9/6/06, 9:31 PM
Beth said...: Sippican, call me Ms. Cellophane.

But with two recommendations, let all take note of a really great song. I play it in my Intro to Poetry class when we get to ballads. I love Sinead's version especially for her use of rhytem, but Dead Can Dance's is more grim and moving. I love a good baritone.; 9/6/06, 9:45 PM
Beth said...: That's "rhythm," dagnabbit. My usual habit is not to correct casual email or blog posts. It's a judgment call, and probably a bad one since I type poorly.; 9/6/06, 9:47 PM
Beth said...: One more thing, for those who might care: I think I'll put both versions, Dead can Dance and Sinead, on my ....

shiny, new Video iPod. Yes, indeed. I am a lucky woman, with someone who loves me and gives me iPods for presents. I cannot wait to annoy people at red lights with my volume cranked and my windows down. (The AC's broke, otherwise, I'd be more polite.); 9/6/06, 9:50 PM
SippicanCottage said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/6/06, 11:17 PM
Harry Eagar said...: Actually, Professor, if you'd asked me to guess which state it happened in, Wisconsin, home of Ed Gein, probably would have been my first guess.; 9/6/06, 11:23 PM
KCFleming said...: Re: "A couple hundred years ago these guys would have been hanging from the gallows in their rural village by now, and those of us in other villages would never have heard about it, except perhaps through a bawdy ballad ten years later."

And what's the bad part?; 9/7/06, 7:10 AM
Chris Althouse Cohen said...: At least they practice safe sex. Actually, they may have been worried about contracting an STD from each other, since they would presumably come into contact with each other's semen in the corpse gang bang. If not, the question becomes: how long does herpes live on a dead body?

It's particularly upsetting when you look at the pictures of these boys. Were they really THAT unable to get laid? They're not all that ugly. One of them could even be a little cute if you shaved his facial hair, changed his wardrobe and his hair style in the right way. Perhaps there is something special and appealing about a dead body, like the tightness rigor mortis provides.; 9/7/06, 12:12 PM
Beth said...: I have an excellent footnote for my CV now; I appear as a character in the collected works of Sippican.; 9/7/06, 12:51 PM
Beth said...: Christopher,

I don't think the problem for any sexual predator or criminal is an inability to get laid. Even Ted Bundy was kind of cute, and certainly worked his charm to attract females. These guys may just be working out the worst-case form of needing to be in total control.; 9/7/06, 12:54 PM
ashpash said...: Dead bodies carry insects, specifically mites....which is probably why that guy got condoms first....it obviously wasnt his first time with a dead woman....If you sleep with dead bodies you can get mites, almost like getting crabs...Disgusting I know.. I actually heard a story about a girl who had gotten mites from sleeping with a guy whod been sleeping with dead bodies...I was almost sick!; 5/30/07, 10:35 PM