11 Famous Books That Actually Inspired People To Commit Horrible Crimes

Books always have some sort of influence on us. The kind of books we read often define our personality. But interestingly, it is not necessary that books will always have a positive influence on us.

Here are some famous books which did influence people, but in a negative way.

 

1. The Collector – John Fowles

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The book talks about a guy who doesn’t prefer the company of people but one day he kidnaps a girl called Miranda and it is their relationship that makes the book so intriguing.

Interestingly, this book has inspired quite a few people to do some really horrible deeds.

This book was found in the possession of a serial killer called Christopher Wilder. Another man called Robert Berdella, who killed at least six men also claimed to be inspired by the novel.

 

2. Rage – Stephen King

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This book has influenced so many people to commit crimes, that Stephen king himself asked the publishers not to publish this book anymore. Till date, as many as four shooters have drawn inspiration from this novel.

A guy called Cox got so inspired by the book, one fine day he entered his classroom with a rifle and started harassing everybody. Another guy got so inspired that he shot a prayer group at his high school.

 

3. Catcher In The Rye – J.D. Salinger

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Perhaps, the most famous assassination that is unfortunately associated with literature. Beatles’ man John Lennon was assassinated by a man called Mark David Chapman, who later claimed that it was the book that actually inspired him to kill Lennon.

A guy called John Hinckley Jr. also attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan after reading the book. But thankfully, Reagan escaped.

 

4. A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess

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The novel is often considered quite disturbing by many. The novel talks about a gang, which attacks the poor and helpless people. They not only steal from them but also rapes them. The book inspired a lot of violent acts. Numerous cases of attacks on the homeless were reported by the police.

Once a guy called John Ricketts assaulted a woman because she was taking up too much space on the dance-floor. His act was also inspired by the novel.

 

5. The Queen of the Damned – Anne Rice

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The book deals with myths about vampires and their origins. Believe it or not, but this too has inspired some horrible crimes.

A guy called Allan Menzies, once murdered his friend because he claimed that the Queen had promised him that she would turn him into a vampire if he did so.

He not only killed him but also drank his blood.

 

6.  The Foundation series – Isaac Asimov

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This famous science fiction series revolves around how a secret society tries to turn itself into a religion so that it can survive.

This influenced a cult group leader called Aum Shinrinko so much that he started to believe that it was the only way to make people of Japan believe in him and his philosophy.

 

7. The Turner Diaries – Andrew Macdonald

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The book deals with racism and politics. The book is said to have inspired the famous bombing of the Oklahoma federal building by Timothy McVeigh. The incident was extremely similar to an incident in the novel.

When McVeigh was arrested, the police found a copy of the book in his car.

 

8. The Secret Agent – Joseph Conrad

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This spy fiction tale by Joseph Conrad inspired a guy called Ted Kaczynski, an American domestic terrorist and anarchist.

The ‘Unabomber’ admitted to have read the book more than a dozen times.

 

9. Stranger in a strange land – Robert A. Heinlein

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This book is often considered as one of the best science fiction tale ever written. Unfortunately, this book too has inspired some unimaginable crimes.

The book was rumoured to be an inspiration for American criminal Charles Manson but reports suggest that he has never read it.

 

10. The Basketball Diaries – Jim Carroll

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This famous book which was later made into a famous film once inspired a guy called Barry Loukaitis.

He got so much influenced by the novel that he once entered his classroom wearing a black coat and killed three boys.

 

11. American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis

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A guy called Michael Hernandez got so inspired after reading the novel that he imagined himself as one of the characters from the novel and stabbed one of his friends to death.

Books make us and break us, it seems for these people it is the later that appears to be true.

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