The book that inspired three murderers and 'ended' Lennon's life

murder-of-john-lennon-corpse

Authorities removing the body of John Lennon.

Along the history many books have been regarded as cursed. Deaths in strange circumstances, serial killers or disappearances have undeniably been linked to various works or writers.

Perhaps one of the most famous cases is the one with the book "The Catcher in the Rye" by JD Salinger published in the year 1951. When the work was published in the US, it generated a stir among American society due to dealing with the issues of sexuality, alcoholism or prostitution in a provocative way and with a vocabulary not usual at the time.

Anyway, this controversy that turned after its publication the only thing that caused was an increase in the number of sales and in the popularity of the work. Even, during the following years, it became the second most studied compulsory reading book in schools. At the same time, during the 90s until 2005, "The guardian between the center" stayed in 10th place in the ranking Most Read Books in North America.

Despite this undeniable popularity, this book also has a certain mystery and controversy due to the fact that various murderers have involved or have been involved in this novel as the cause or trigger of their criminal acts.

The first of these cases is that of Mark Davis Chapman who, in 1980, shot dead John Lennon outside the building Dakota in Manhattan. After murdering the famous member of the Beatles, the murderer quietly sat down to read a copy of this novel until the security forces detained him without putting up any resistance.

Once the book was seized, the investigators realized that, on the inside of its cover, Mark Davis Chapman had written in pencil: "This is my statement." Apart from this, when a statement was taken a few hours after his misdeed, the murderer assured that he was convinced that most of him was Holden Caulfield (main character of the book) and that the rest of him must be from the Devil.

The second case related to the book happened just a year after Lennon's murder. On this occasion, the murderer's intentions did not come to pass to the approval of his victim, Ronal Reagan himself. John Hinckley Jr, who was the name of the individual in question, tried in 1981 to end the life of the American president by shooting him with a pistol.

The bullet fired by John Kinckley hit the president's body through his armpit and lodged a few inches from his heart. Finally, as we have already mentioned, Reagan managed to survive the attack. Anyway, the attacker repeatedly asserted throughout his life that he was truly obsessed with the book we are talking about.

Finally, the following case happened in 1989. Robert John Bardó murdered actress Rebecca Lucile Schaeffer at the door of his apartment after harassing her for three years. When the murderer was arrested He also held a copy of "The Catcher in the Rye".

If the book was directly related to these events is something that we cannot assure. Even so, what is clear is that its simple presence in these three cases forces us to think that in some way or another there is a relationship with the facts.

Without going into mystical or esoteric questions, we can simply affirm that sometimes, depending on which works and in which hands, a certain imbalance can be encouraged or encouraged that can cause, as we have seen, an assassination on the part of some of its readers.

This book is in my humble opinion, one of the most surprising that exist and not so much because of its plot, although it includes important aspects of adolescence and its psychology, but because of the circumstances that surround the book itself. Without any doubt, therefore, a good literary option for future nights of fear that, due to the dates in which we find ourselves and more so in the Anglo-Saxon world, are upon us.


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  1.   RICARDO said

    I HAVE READ IT AND IT IS NOT FOR THAT MUCH BUT YOU ALREADY KNOW HOW PEOPLE ARE IN THE USA BEING SHOTS

  2.   Edward said

    Interesting article, but the bottom line is that the book is called "The Catcher in the Rye" not as it is written here "during the following years, it became the second most studied compulsory reading book in schools. At the same time, during the 90s through 2005, “The Guardian Among the Center” remained 10th in the ranking of most read books in North America. "

  3.   Miguel Angel, said

    I do not see the direct relationship between the book and a murder, the protagonist does not have at any time the idea of ​​killing anyone