It is a great myth in the Bundy case that young Teddy experienced or witnessed any abuse at the hands of his grandfather, Samuel Cowell. Bundy had no memory of such trauma; the second to last day of his life, his psychiatrist (Dr. Dorothy Lewis) tried to put him under hypnosis to extract some horror from his childhood, but Bundy still recalled nothing. The first accounts of Samuel Cowell's domineering, abusive, bad-tempered, bigoted character first became known in 1987, from interviews conducted by Dr. Lewis and Bundy's appellate attorney, Polly Nelson, with Cowell family members. That information was presented at Bundy's appellate competency hearing in '87, and then again in '89 for a Vanity Fair article (the writer of which also interviewed the Cowells).
What is never clear is the timeline of Samuel's tyranny. His other two daughters (besides Bundy's mother, Louise) offered some harrowing tales of Samuel's temper, but they never clarified if these episodes transpired before Teddy was born, or if they continued into his formative years. As we age, our anger becomes more subdued; so, Samuel may have matured out of his hot headedness by the time Teddy came along. Bundy had only loving memories of his grandfather during the first four years of his life he lived in the Cowell residence.
Bundy's upbringing was not unusual nor the causation of his developing into a serial killer. Everything with him seemed to be a brain issue. Yes, he experienced some hardship in childhood - moving away from his beloved grandfather, integrating into family life with his newly adoptive stepfather, not getting picked for some sports teams, a volatile and contentious relationship with his stepfather, and the teenage discovery of his illegitimacy. He also may have possibly experienced emotional neglect in his family - he was the oldest of five children (older by almost six years from the second child), and it seems a lot of responsibility was placed on him to take care of/babysit the younger children. But Bundy's biggest problem in childhood came when he started high school: he was inexplicably socially stunted and did not continue developing like his peers. Subsequently he kept to himself a lot, not knowing how to relate to other teenagers. I believe it was during this isolation that Bundy began heavily relying on his brand of porn - detective magazines - as well as fantasizing, to abate his loneliness.
Again, this obstruction in social development points to an underlying neurological issue or mental illness - (either of which could have resulted from the three months he spent in an orphanage of sorts when Louise initially put him up for adoption after giving birth) - and makes a much stronger case for the emergence of his violent psychopathy than unproven childhood abuse does.
This topic may be further developed on this blog at a later date.
Copyright © (2022) Cynthia Walker. All Rights Reserved.
