{"id":24682,"date":"2021-06-14T15:50:25","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T22:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lelandhale.com\/butcherbaker\/wordpress\/?p=24682"},"modified":"2021-07-16T15:32:42","modified_gmt":"2021-07-16T22:32:42","slug":"robert-hansen-myth-legend-archetype","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lelandhale.com\/butcherbaker\/wordpress\/2021\/06\/14\/robert-hansen-myth-legend-archetype\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Hansen as Myth, Legend, Archetype"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the conundrums true-crime authors eventually face is the prospect that their chosen criminal “subject” — in this case Robert Hansen — evolves in the public imagination. Becomes, as Hansen has become, a myth, a legend, an archetype. More Billy the Kid than Henry McCarty<\/a> [1]. This is the process by which we forget that Ted Bundy was a mediocre law student, instead buying full-stop into Ann Rule’s declaration of his absolute homicidal genius. The process by which Hansen has always been the man who hunted humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"myth\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After Ann Rule all serial killers had to be handsome, brilliant and suave.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Myth or Truth?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

With Robert Hansen the <\/em>legend now ascendent, I have to ask of my latest blog<\/a>: What if Robert Hansen just stayed home on that December night when Beth van Zanten disappeared? Is my persistent belief that Hansen was responsible for her death part of the myth — my particular contribution to the archetype? Does it add weight to the public perception that he hunted his victims like animals?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have I succumbed to the myth? Or am I one of its original creators?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"myth\"\/
Robert Hansen<\/strong> hides his face<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I’ve long thought that Bernard DuClos, along with Frank Rothschild, were the earliest propagators of the Hansen legend. Indeed, Frank Rothschild was the first to say it out loud. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He let them run a little bit and then he enjoyed a little hunt just like with his big game animals. He toyed with them, he wanted to scare them, he got a charge out of all of this. They weren\u2019t shot right where it all started, he let them run, he grabbed them and they\u2019d claw a little bit and he\u2019d let them run a little more and played with them.\u201d<\/p>Frank Rothschild at Hansen’s sentencing<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Walter’s Counter Declaration<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I remember asking co-author Walter Gilmour, early on, about the truth of these assertions. Did Robert Hansen hunt his victims, consciously releasing them in The Bush so he could run them down like wild animals? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walter’s pithy reply: “Hansen was a chicken killer.” Pressed on the issue, he added, “He was too afraid to kill himself. So he killed women.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Hansen was a chicken killer.”<\/p>Walter Gilmour on Robert Hansen<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This was, in retrospect, Gilmour’s attempt at an ironclad defense against mythologizing Robert Hansen. It’s worth noting, moreover, that I never got Glenn Flothe to fall for<\/s> use that characterization, although he was not shy in describing Hansen’s escalating violence in detail. (“It wasn’t enough for him to shoot them. At the end, he had to stab them over and over too.”) [2]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"myth\"\/
Robert Hansen<\/strong>, with trophy kill<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And Robert Hansen did have that chicken killer voice<\/em> (audio)<\/p>\n\n\n\n