What is it about serial killers that inspires such fascination within the American psyche? Perhaps it’s the feelings of voyeurism inspired by learning their crimes’ lurid details, the case file mysteries that never fully close and questions that never get answered, or even our country’s obsession with violence and the general allure of the macabre…well, actually, that’s all probably at least part of it.
Still, most fans of true crime know where to draw the line when it comes to their interest in murderers which is, y’know, a pretty obvious line. We say most, because Twitter exists, and it’s here to ruin everything for us, including our (admittedly dark) love of the worst aspects of human nature.
Last week, Rolling Stone ran a piece delving into the strange Twitter war brewing between Charles Manson and Ted Bundy superfans—“stans” as the kids say—which all started from some relatively innocuous trolling about our tendency to take fandom a bit too far, especially for problematic public figures.
“Charles manson walked so that ted bundy could run bitch sit down,” one account tweeted with a link to a now-deleted video of Charles Manson footage set to Nicki Minaj’s “Roman Holiday.”
This prompted a few others to get in on the joke, which then unfortunately went viral, apparently catching the attention of actual Manson and Bundy superfans, and, well, the results are pretty much what you expect.
The article does a good job of laying out the whole weird story while apparently needing to reiterate that, no, these soulless manipulative monsters do not deserve any kind of real fan following or popularity contest. The Manson-Bundy stan saga is honestly exhausting, but after a summer of Tarantino spins and Netflix binging, it’s not exactly the most surprising of turns recently taken on Twitter.
How long until the Venom stans chime in?
38 Comments
Look, I’m never gonna not like someone employing this gif.
The darkest timeline continues.
1. Ted Bundy’s reputation as some sort of mastermind is overstated because people don’t want to admit how easy it is to get away with terrorizing women in this society.2. Ted Bundy isn’t even a little bit hot, so IDK where all the fangirls come from.
He had high IQ and wasn’t ugly. Thats as far as my compliments go.
Media needed a hook and he wasn’t a hideous pedophile clown so he became the serial killer next-door.
a fake feud you don’t care about, between loonies….quick run to the presses!
There are some funny ones on that thread.And also some scary ones.
Please stop saying “stan”. Thank you.
Why? You can’t STAN it anymore?I’ll show myself out.
Those who stan, do. Those who stan’t, teach.
This posting receives my stan of approval.
Why, I don’t understan?
Sorry, I just felt I had to take a stan on this.
Istanbul not Constantinople.
Better an overuse of stan than a lack of flan, I always say.
Stan, thank you.
Do you remember back when the AV Club would hire writers who weren’t just using the gig as a stepping stone on their way to being a staff writer at Tiger Beat Magazine? Me either.
Reminds me of Mindhunter where Edmund Kemper calls Manson out as a “charlatan” because he never personally killed anyone. Not even serial killers were among catty drama.
These people are fucking idiots. #teamfish4life #nonotreally #ihaveneverused#inaseriousway #banhashtags.
You Fishheads always gotta chime in, dotcha? H.H. Holmes runs these streets!#hhhomies
#ourthemesongbeatsyours #gohholmesalready
Fish ain’t got shit on Mistress of Murder Farm madame Belle Gunness!
I thought maybe this was a really dark ironic take on kpop/jpop stans and how awful they are on twitter that inevitably lost all trace of irony but then saw the original tweeter IS a jpop/kpop stan so…yeah….
Eh, they were both working for the worldwide satanic conspiracy anyway. Manson was a west coast operative for the Circe Order of Dog’s Blood and Bundy was in the Hand of Death camp in Florida, but they both answered to the same infernal masters.
For the record, Jeffrey Dahmer made fun of Ted Bundy once, saying i know porn didn’t make me do it. Jesus Christ this article is more depressing then I thought. I mean I find Myra Hindley fascinating but I’m not a fan. That bitch can burn in hell for all I care. Serial killer “”fans”” maybe be the worst fandom imaginable.
Stop saying “stans” you bandwagon hitching fucks.
Does Ed Gein have to step in and knock some heads together?
He only killed two people, although that is more than Manson killed personally.
Sure, but he was a pioneering recycler & repurposer whose methods were extremely environmentally sound for their day. And even factoring in Once upon a Time in Hollywood, Gein holds the crown for most franchises inspired AND cumulative franchise quality. Truly, a man for all seasons.
He is indeed the multiple murderer with the highest ratio of movies inspired to murder victims.
What. In. The. Ass.Can someone send me to another timeline? Or at least hit me with a bat until that’s what I think happened?
Has anyone said that the Internet was a bad idea yet?
I believe you are the first!
I feel like somewhere in the pits of hell, Jack the Ripper has read that “Charles Manson walked” tweet and is sharpening his knives.(… oh God, there are Jack the Ripper stans out there, aren’t there.)
Why does such desperate attention-seeking need validation? I know that serial killers and people who want to fuck serial killers are the big clickbait these days, but stuff like this just makes the site seem grotty to me.
They have a point, tho. But why WOULD you support a dirty Nazi when you could stan ted?