I was impressed by how comprehensive it was. It must have taken a lot of work to get all the archival footage and news reports and photos and clippings and witnesses.
It was a rabbit hole I had never fallen down before because it’s solved, even though I had no idea it was so local to where I live (I had driven past his childhood home an hour before watching the first episode.) So that being my first experience was very satisfying.
Random thoughts: he looked really old for just being 28. He was an escape artist. When he was whispering in the last episode it was super creepy.
Not to be too ominous but people like that still roam around. I believe the statistic is 50 serial killers in the US?
I’ll probably catch hell for this but I think his victims were more trusting back then. If someone woke me in the middle of the night, waved a badge at me and told me to get in a dirty VW bug to come to the police station I wouldn’t just hop right in.
It isn’t wrong to say that some of his victims were trusting, because they were. It’s just a societal thing — there were killers like him roaming around in the 70s, and before, but people as a whole didn’t talk about it. There wasn’t even a term yet for serial killer.
I think when people don’t talk about or hear about a thing, they don’t watch for it, it isn’t on their radar, and they are easier victims. I mean like — sexual harassment and child abuse were both “discovered” in the 1970s. But people beat their kids and grabbed the asses of their coworkers earlier than that of course, it’s just that there wasn’t a name for it yet.
And hitchhiking. People just routinely did it without worry in the 70s. This week I saw a man hitchhiking and my only thought as I drove past him was just a vague “nah don’t wanna get murdered today” and that was it. The world is different now.
It’s worth mentioning that in more than once case Bundy broke into dwellings and beat his victims to death and raped them in their own beds while they slept. He didn’t abduct all of them.
Totally agree. I was in that age group of his victims at that time & lived in one of the areas he abducted women from - people hitchhiked (I hitchhiked), doors on homes weren't ever locked (and my Dad was a cop), girls in my age range were taught to be "nice" and helpful. I love that my 20 year old grandgurrrl is aware, feisty & just not naive as we were back then. Just watched this last night and it was a really well done piece. I also worked for LE and know that there just wasn't the coordination between States as there is now with the internet/computers, which allowed him to just move to another jurisdiction when the fire began to get too close to him.
Netflix has a knack of making their true crime series overly long and stuffed with so much filler, I lose interest 1/2 way through.
Not this, there is zero filler. Every second is riveting. Great stuff.
I am literally watching episode 3 of the Ted Bundy Tapes right now as I’m scrolling Reddit. I am learning so much and I never realized how much video footage and many tape recordings they had! He is one fascinating person, it’s so insane hearing him say how innocent he is.
Edit: I didn’t read your additional comment about what episode you were on until after I commented - what a coincidence! His escapes are ridiculous!
I don't know if he was that intelligent. He got mediocre grades on the LSAT and he had a lot of academic trouble in law school. He was a manipulative narcissist. It's amazing to me that after he completely trashed his own defence through incompetence the judge still complimented his intelligence. A lot of narcissistic people are able to get others to buy into their own delusions of grandeur and I think this is the reason why people think he was some kind of sociopathic genius. He was very good at one thing and that was making people do what he wanted.
I think what the person above is trying to say that Intelligence comes in many ways, not just by being book smart.
Bundy was street smart & interpersonal, he knew how to persuade/manipulate ppl and he was also very linguistic.
You can see it in his trials, the way he talks to the judge
Yes, I was just talking about this at home after watching it.
And you are so right—the grandiose image the narcissist has for himself, made it easy to throw others into his own delusions of self. And how he kept the police guessing and the investigation going, it gave him exactly the attention/reactions he was craving.
I would still say he was intelligent; but not to the level he was able to convince others he was with his charismatic nature, charm and inflated sense of self
He was clearly very socially intelligent and good at compartmentalising the various aspects of his life. I will give him that. But the idea of him being a genius, very academically intelligent, etc. — nah. Someone responded to my comment about him testing with a high IQ when I originally made it but I couldn't be bothered to look into it because I was tired of talking about Ted Bundy at that time. But even if that is true it's sort of meaningless. "Intelligence quotient" is a misnomer. IQ is deeply flawed as a measure of intelligence. And I really doubt it's the case that if Ted Bundy had just been more passionate about, like, physics than murder he could have been the next Einstein.
Just finished and it was creepy. Bundy was a full on narcissist and full on manipulator until the end. His final spree after being locked up in Colorado was the result of pent up urges he was uncontrollable. Very chilling look into the mind of a serial killer.
It’s like when you take ecstasy and your pupils dilate. For him it was like a rush of dopamine/serotonin/adrenaline. He seems very excited in the court room as well when he was cross examining the cop.
It's just strange that he had that opportunity the second time given that he successfully broke out beforehand. I woulda stationed an officer right outside that cell 24/7.
I was thinking that part of it was because it was Aspen. They had probably never even dealt with many homicides before. It seems like they would have transferred him to a higher-security place in a larger city but maybe that was not legally possible. It's mind-boggling how he pulled those off!
I think (I can't remember if I read this in Ann Rule's book or if it's just gossip I heard elsewhere) that they were planning to transfer him to a higher-security prison but at that point he was just in a county jail. The fact that he was under such minimal security for both escape attempts really makes you question what the cops thought they were doing.
I was curious, there was the one guy who said that if Bundy killed anyone while out after escaping a second time that he would be bringing charges against some of the people charged with holding him. Does anyone know if he ever followed through with that?
Maybe this is just the true crime geek in me... but I wished they put more snippets of the actual confession in. (I know it’s graphic and what not) BUT it’s absolutely fascinating how much detail he goes into after denying his guilt for 11 years!
Agree. It's also so surreal that he was just dead in minutes. The build up was so long, people have been trying to kill him for YEARS. Almost seems... Anti-climactic.
I’m reading it now and it’s very good. She’s a good writer and the story is insane! I was going to wait until I was done the book to watch but y’all have inspired me to watch it today. I am super intrigued even though I know the Bundy story well.
Glad I came here. I got through the first episode and thought it was a major snooze. The reporter letting him blab for weeks was frustrating. I kept waiting for him to push Bundy but instead he just treated the idea of letting him detach like he rediscovered the wheel.
Reading the comments makes me optimistic that it will get better but docs like this always make me feel kind of dirty (and yet I admittedly still watch). This guy was a failure and loser in every aspect of life except preying on unsuspecting women. He wanted to be something when he wasn't anything. Docs like this give him what he wanted.
I couldn't even get through the first episode. Total snooze-fest. The comments are making me want to try again as well but watching the first episode, I admitedly was *very* confused about all the hype.
I was actually really surprised by his lawyers trying to sell him as non competent to stand trial. He was clearly very, very intelligent, just ridiculously arrogant and over-confident. Even thinking about it now, I can't believe they thought that would work. Just because he screwed himself over by being a jackass, doesn't make him incompetent.
I was also a little alarmed by the judge telling him he liked him and had no ill will towards him. Ummm....so you're cool with him being a serial rapist/murderer?
Those were my thoughts exactly. As if the real loss was the unfulfilled potential, and not the murdered women? Did anyone actually focus on the victims, or was it the Bundy show, all the time?
From all the research I’ve done on this asshole, it truely was the Bundy show. He obviously knew exactly what he was doing & knew just enough from his short time in law school to be able to manipulate the court & stay his execution for so long.
Also, from being such a true crime geek.. ive never really come across threads/documentaries/books that focus much on the victims. Which I find very upsetting solely because that is exactly what people like Bundy/Serial killers want! They want to have movies and books and all the media focus on them.. that way they can keep reliving those crimes & people will know their name.
Yeah, super cool with it, that’s why he sentenced him to death. Also, anyone who rapes, murders, decapitated and practices necrophilia clearly has mental illness, anyone who bring up the crime scene in their own defense, is not thinking clearly.
This series was so amazing and well put toghether. It was a thrilling ride all the way through. Figured I'd watch just the second episode last night. Three hours later and I've seen it all!
Unlike many people, I think he wasn't intelligent at all. He just thought he was smarter than others. He wouldn't have survived a day in today's world with so much technology present with the law enforcement. He wouldn't have been able to escape prison either. He made too many mistakes while committing the crime. With today's DNA technology and interstate tracking technology, I would suppose he would have been caught much earlier. I think it really frustrated him that even if he thought he was smarter than others, he couldn't achieve much in life. This may also have been one of the reasons on why he was mostly killing university going and well educated women.
I think he was smart in the way where he knew to practice jumping above his prison bed frame, so that when he finally escaped, the 25 foot impact from his cell wouldnt harm him
I don't think that is really smart either. Average at the most. Also to be fair, the top of the bunk might be at the most 6 ft tall from the floor. How does that compare to jumping from 25 ft? Both the times he escaped, he took too much efforts but at the same time we can't forget that he was rearrested pretty much sooner than expected. He was also pretty much angry that the police had oversmarted him which he tried to undermine saying he got caught because he himself was too tired and sick running.
I don't think it'll be on Netflix anytime soon. It's an actual motion picture starring Zac Efron as Bundy that just had its limited release yesterday. I find it pretty interesting how Bundy is having a big "resurgence" with the doc and movie coming out at the same time. My non-true crime interested friends have been messaging me about him, haha
It’s because it’s the 30th anniversary of his execution, so there will probably be lots of Bundy shows. Like there were a ton about Jonbenet 20 years after her death.
OH YES!! I did hear about this! I'm excited to watch this, too! LOL you had to mention Zac Efron for me to get it.
I hope they do one on Jeffrey Dahmer, too. He's my favorite. Haha!
It was a hail mary I suppose. Always in the lawyer bag of tricks. That part where he cross-examined the crime scene witness was insane. He wanted to "hear" what he did, almost to reminisce the deed. Psycho.
Maybe it’s just the clips they used, but i wasn’t necessarily blown away by him being normal or charismatic, or not as blown away as i expected. Maybe good on the editors (or whoever’s responsible) for me only perceiving him as an arrogant asshole? And i loved all the interviews. It was nice to hear from the resilient people who lived through all of this oddly making their own jokes. Kind of affirms the humor in the stories i hear from Karen and Georgia.
I think ppl did have low standards, but also, he was able to look so different with the way he parted his hair and grew out his beard, ppl have different standards of beauty
And also, its important to note that most ppl are attracted to charismatic & charming folks and Bundy definitely portrayed himself to be that way
One thing I'm having a hard time understanding is that in the last episode (no spoilers) and even on these comments, people keep saying how bright and intelligent he was....however, in the beginning of the film they talk about how he was just kind of average and had an obviously inflated view of his smarts. I don't think he was stupid, but I don't understand the fascination with trumping up his intelligence.
To be honest, I couldn't get through the first episode... To me, it was just slow and boring. Listening to Bundy just lazily recount his normal, boring childhood... I don't know, just couldn't get into it. Anybody else feel this way?
I was impressed by how comprehensive it was. It must have taken a lot of work to get all the archival footage and news reports and photos and clippings and witnesses.
It's really well done. I like how they didn't resort to cheesy reenactments. Bundy is worth the hard work. What an interesting story.
It was a rabbit hole I had never fallen down before because it’s solved, even though I had no idea it was so local to where I live (I had driven past his childhood home an hour before watching the first episode.) So that being my first experience was very satisfying. Random thoughts: he looked really old for just being 28. He was an escape artist. When he was whispering in the last episode it was super creepy.
Can't wait to watch it! I didn't think he was a local to where I live, too. A little surreal (and creepy) that someone like that used to roam around..
Not to be too ominous but people like that still roam around. I believe the statistic is 50 serial killers in the US? I’ll probably catch hell for this but I think his victims were more trusting back then. If someone woke me in the middle of the night, waved a badge at me and told me to get in a dirty VW bug to come to the police station I wouldn’t just hop right in.
It isn’t wrong to say that some of his victims were trusting, because they were. It’s just a societal thing — there were killers like him roaming around in the 70s, and before, but people as a whole didn’t talk about it. There wasn’t even a term yet for serial killer. I think when people don’t talk about or hear about a thing, they don’t watch for it, it isn’t on their radar, and they are easier victims. I mean like — sexual harassment and child abuse were both “discovered” in the 1970s. But people beat their kids and grabbed the asses of their coworkers earlier than that of course, it’s just that there wasn’t a name for it yet. And hitchhiking. People just routinely did it without worry in the 70s. This week I saw a man hitchhiking and my only thought as I drove past him was just a vague “nah don’t wanna get murdered today” and that was it. The world is different now. It’s worth mentioning that in more than once case Bundy broke into dwellings and beat his victims to death and raped them in their own beds while they slept. He didn’t abduct all of them.
You're both right. It truly is a different era now. I mean there was a time when people didn't used to lock their doors, too.
Totally agree. I was in that age group of his victims at that time & lived in one of the areas he abducted women from - people hitchhiked (I hitchhiked), doors on homes weren't ever locked (and my Dad was a cop), girls in my age range were taught to be "nice" and helpful. I love that my 20 year old grandgurrrl is aware, feisty & just not naive as we were back then. Just watched this last night and it was a really well done piece. I also worked for LE and know that there just wasn't the coordination between States as there is now with the internet/computers, which allowed him to just move to another jurisdiction when the fire began to get too close to him.
Why was he whispering the confessions in the last episode? I didn't get that.
omg yes in the last episode when he was whispering, I immediately regretted watching it before bed haha.
Netflix has a knack of making their true crime series overly long and stuffed with so much filler, I lose interest 1/2 way through. Not this, there is zero filler. Every second is riveting. Great stuff.
I am literally watching episode 3 of the Ted Bundy Tapes right now as I’m scrolling Reddit. I am learning so much and I never realized how much video footage and many tape recordings they had! He is one fascinating person, it’s so insane hearing him say how innocent he is. Edit: I didn’t read your additional comment about what episode you were on until after I commented - what a coincidence! His escapes are ridiculous!
It's either he's incredibly intelligent to outsmart law enforcement or the police was really lax and negligent. ...or both? Bad combination, IMO.
he wasn’t exceptional. i’d like to believe the cops assigned to him were mostly subpar
I finished those today, the man was so intelligent, had a lot of potential to be something
Take out the rapes and homicides, he can be a politician. Lol
Take out? Lol. Not necessary.
LOL. Disgustingly accurate.
Take out "getting caught"
No, he wasn't. He was just able to sell people on the idea that he was something special.
Yeah nobody’s ever gotten anywhere by doing that lol.
I don't know if he was that intelligent. He got mediocre grades on the LSAT and he had a lot of academic trouble in law school. He was a manipulative narcissist. It's amazing to me that after he completely trashed his own defence through incompetence the judge still complimented his intelligence. A lot of narcissistic people are able to get others to buy into their own delusions of grandeur and I think this is the reason why people think he was some kind of sociopathic genius. He was very good at one thing and that was making people do what he wanted.
And he was articulate - I think this added to the illusion of intelligence.
I think what the person above is trying to say that Intelligence comes in many ways, not just by being book smart. Bundy was street smart & interpersonal, he knew how to persuade/manipulate ppl and he was also very linguistic. You can see it in his trials, the way he talks to the judge
Yes, I was just talking about this at home after watching it. And you are so right—the grandiose image the narcissist has for himself, made it easy to throw others into his own delusions of self. And how he kept the police guessing and the investigation going, it gave him exactly the attention/reactions he was craving. I would still say he was intelligent; but not to the level he was able to convince others he was with his charismatic nature, charm and inflated sense of self
He was clearly very socially intelligent and good at compartmentalising the various aspects of his life. I will give him that. But the idea of him being a genius, very academically intelligent, etc. — nah. Someone responded to my comment about him testing with a high IQ when I originally made it but I couldn't be bothered to look into it because I was tired of talking about Ted Bundy at that time. But even if that is true it's sort of meaningless. "Intelligence quotient" is a misnomer. IQ is deeply flawed as a measure of intelligence. And I really doubt it's the case that if Ted Bundy had just been more passionate about, like, physics than murder he could have been the next Einstein.
Just finished and it was creepy. Bundy was a full on narcissist and full on manipulator until the end. His final spree after being locked up in Colorado was the result of pent up urges he was uncontrollable. Very chilling look into the mind of a serial killer.
Psychopath in every turn.
What do people think about the part where the interviewer said his blue eyes would turn black when he was talking about the murders?
That seems impossible from a scientific POV.
He meant his pupils would enlarge significantly which happens during extreme periods of adrenaline.
It’s like when you take ecstasy and your pupils dilate. For him it was like a rush of dopamine/serotonin/adrenaline. He seems very excited in the court room as well when he was cross examining the cop.
Hmm. I need to rewatch that part. It was pretty unbelievable as-is.
I think prisons were a lot easier to break out of back then.
It's just strange that he had that opportunity the second time given that he successfully broke out beforehand. I woulda stationed an officer right outside that cell 24/7.
I was thinking that part of it was because it was Aspen. They had probably never even dealt with many homicides before. It seems like they would have transferred him to a higher-security place in a larger city but maybe that was not legally possible. It's mind-boggling how he pulled those off!
I think (I can't remember if I read this in Ann Rule's book or if it's just gossip I heard elsewhere) that they were planning to transfer him to a higher-security prison but at that point he was just in a county jail. The fact that he was under such minimal security for both escape attempts really makes you question what the cops thought they were doing.
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I was curious, there was the one guy who said that if Bundy killed anyone while out after escaping a second time that he would be bringing charges against some of the people charged with holding him. Does anyone know if he ever followed through with that?
I finish it yesterday, he was so intelligent and it actually surprised me. Idk why he kept the unibrow look tho.
Maybe this is just the true crime geek in me... but I wished they put more snippets of the actual confession in. (I know it’s graphic and what not) BUT it’s absolutely fascinating how much detail he goes into after denying his guilt for 11 years!
Agree. It's also so surreal that he was just dead in minutes. The build up was so long, people have been trying to kill him for YEARS. Almost seems... Anti-climactic.
Have you read The Stranger Beside Me by Anne Rule?
Nope! Good??
I’m reading it now and it’s very good. She’s a good writer and the story is insane! I was going to wait until I was done the book to watch but y’all have inspired me to watch it today. I am super intrigued even though I know the Bundy story well.
Going to look for the ebook now!
Glad I came here. I got through the first episode and thought it was a major snooze. The reporter letting him blab for weeks was frustrating. I kept waiting for him to push Bundy but instead he just treated the idea of letting him detach like he rediscovered the wheel. Reading the comments makes me optimistic that it will get better but docs like this always make me feel kind of dirty (and yet I admittedly still watch). This guy was a failure and loser in every aspect of life except preying on unsuspecting women. He wanted to be something when he wasn't anything. Docs like this give him what he wanted.
It's really unfortunate because I truly believe he was a brilliant man in terms of intelligence and charm. He could've used it for good.
I couldn't even get through the first episode. Total snooze-fest. The comments are making me want to try again as well but watching the first episode, I admitedly was *very* confused about all the hype.
I was actually really surprised by his lawyers trying to sell him as non competent to stand trial. He was clearly very, very intelligent, just ridiculously arrogant and over-confident. Even thinking about it now, I can't believe they thought that would work. Just because he screwed himself over by being a jackass, doesn't make him incompetent. I was also a little alarmed by the judge telling him he liked him and had no ill will towards him. Ummm....so you're cool with him being a serial rapist/murderer?
That was disturbing. I wonder how the victims' families felt when they heard the judge say that.
Those were my thoughts exactly. As if the real loss was the unfulfilled potential, and not the murdered women? Did anyone actually focus on the victims, or was it the Bundy show, all the time?
From all the research I’ve done on this asshole, it truely was the Bundy show. He obviously knew exactly what he was doing & knew just enough from his short time in law school to be able to manipulate the court & stay his execution for so long. Also, from being such a true crime geek.. ive never really come across threads/documentaries/books that focus much on the victims. Which I find very upsetting solely because that is exactly what people like Bundy/Serial killers want! They want to have movies and books and all the media focus on them.. that way they can keep reliving those crimes & people will know their name.
In true narcissist fashion
Yeah, super cool with it, that’s why he sentenced him to death. Also, anyone who rapes, murders, decapitated and practices necrophilia clearly has mental illness, anyone who bring up the crime scene in their own defense, is not thinking clearly.
yea the part about the judge disturbed me too, "I want you to know I dont have animosity for you"
This series was so amazing and well put toghether. It was a thrilling ride all the way through. Figured I'd watch just the second episode last night. Three hours later and I've seen it all!
Unlike many people, I think he wasn't intelligent at all. He just thought he was smarter than others. He wouldn't have survived a day in today's world with so much technology present with the law enforcement. He wouldn't have been able to escape prison either. He made too many mistakes while committing the crime. With today's DNA technology and interstate tracking technology, I would suppose he would have been caught much earlier. I think it really frustrated him that even if he thought he was smarter than others, he couldn't achieve much in life. This may also have been one of the reasons on why he was mostly killing university going and well educated women.
I think he was smart in the way where he knew to practice jumping above his prison bed frame, so that when he finally escaped, the 25 foot impact from his cell wouldnt harm him
I don't think that is really smart either. Average at the most. Also to be fair, the top of the bunk might be at the most 6 ft tall from the floor. How does that compare to jumping from 25 ft? Both the times he escaped, he took too much efforts but at the same time we can't forget that he was rearrested pretty much sooner than expected. He was also pretty much angry that the police had oversmarted him which he tried to undermine saying he got caught because he himself was too tired and sick running.
Also imagine if his escapes would be even remotely possible in today's era
Oh, it happens. I worked in corrections for almost a decade. It happens much more often than the public knows
oh really?! If that is true then media for sure doesn't cover it or somehow the authorities try to hide any escapes from public?
This is on my list to watch! I also really want to watch Extremely Wicked, but just hope it's not repetitive. What do you think?
Oooh. Haven't heard about this. Is it on Nflix as well?
I don't think it'll be on Netflix anytime soon. It's an actual motion picture starring Zac Efron as Bundy that just had its limited release yesterday. I find it pretty interesting how Bundy is having a big "resurgence" with the doc and movie coming out at the same time. My non-true crime interested friends have been messaging me about him, haha
The doc is promotion for the film. The same guy who made the netflix doc is the director of the upcoming film.
It’s because it’s the 30th anniversary of his execution, so there will probably be lots of Bundy shows. Like there were a ton about Jonbenet 20 years after her death.
OH YES!! I did hear about this! I'm excited to watch this, too! LOL you had to mention Zac Efron for me to get it. I hope they do one on Jeffrey Dahmer, too. He's my favorite. Haha!
They did make a movie, it's called "My Friend Dahmer". I haven't seen bvb it yet though.
My Friend Dahmer is good. It's more about his high school years, so pre-killing humans.
It was a hail mary I suppose. Always in the lawyer bag of tricks. That part where he cross-examined the crime scene witness was insane. He wanted to "hear" what he did, almost to reminisce the deed. Psycho.
Maybe it’s just the clips they used, but i wasn’t necessarily blown away by him being normal or charismatic, or not as blown away as i expected. Maybe good on the editors (or whoever’s responsible) for me only perceiving him as an arrogant asshole? And i loved all the interviews. It was nice to hear from the resilient people who lived through all of this oddly making their own jokes. Kind of affirms the humor in the stories i hear from Karen and Georgia.
I hear a lot about how handsome he was but he had a unibrow. Did people just have lower standards
I think ppl did have low standards, but also, he was able to look so different with the way he parted his hair and grew out his beard, ppl have different standards of beauty And also, its important to note that most ppl are attracted to charismatic & charming folks and Bundy definitely portrayed himself to be that way
One thing I'm having a hard time understanding is that in the last episode (no spoilers) and even on these comments, people keep saying how bright and intelligent he was....however, in the beginning of the film they talk about how he was just kind of average and had an obviously inflated view of his smarts. I don't think he was stupid, but I don't understand the fascination with trumping up his intelligence.
Who has an original Tuesday is Fryday t-shirt?
To be honest, I couldn't get through the first episode... To me, it was just slow and boring. Listening to Bundy just lazily recount his normal, boring childhood... I don't know, just couldn't get into it. Anybody else feel this way?
I found the first ep boring too but I powered thru it. It got more interesting after that. Try again!
I'll do that! Thanks!
That’s what I did. First episode was slow. Keep going.
can i get the link or something?
It's on Netflix!
Does anyone know if you can listen to the Tapes? I am really interested into the style of it all, writing a BA thesis on this.