Creeptastic is taking a break this week so we can all get through these pesky holidays and start fresh with the new year! Join me next Monday 1/2 for a brand new episode on the ever-horrifying topic of: sleep paralysis! Have some Happy Holidays if that's the kind of thing you're into, or have a fabulous and Creeptastic week if not, and join me in the new year for some new creepy content!

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In today's episode, I am going to make you never want to go to a live concert or sports game again by telling you all about the numerous instances in human history when a crowd has killed – not because they were an angry mob or had any desire to hurt someone, but simply because there were just too many people in too small a space, and that led to what is typically known as a crowd crush. What exactly is a crowd crush, and what conditions are needed for one to happen? What are some of the more horrific examples from our history of crowd crushes, and what can we learn from them? How can you try to effectively manage a crowd so it doesn’t get into a crushing situation…and if it does, what can you as the individual do to try and protect yourself so you make it back out? I will provide some answers to all these questions, talk super briefly about crowd crushes in horror entertainment because spoilers, it doesn’t show up often if at all for some reason, and bring you a delightful little bedtime story about a crowd who doesn’t necessarily crush, but is menacing and murderous all the same. Why talk about happy, festive events which turn into horrific tragedies in which dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people can die? Because at some point in all our lives, we are going to be caught in a pretty thick crowd, and the very idea that it could end up crushing us to death (given the right conditions) is beyond horrifying, and terribly Creeptastic!

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In this episode I revisit the Murder and a Movie format with an examination of Alfred Hitchcock's underrated 1948 film Rope, and the so-called "crime of the century" which inspired it. The murder in question was that of 14-year-old Bobby Franks in 1924, by two affluent young men with genius-level IQs and an entirely dispassionate motive: the two young men simply wanted to prove that they were above traditional morality, and therefore, above everyone else. The murder of a child by a pair of wealthy, well-to-do white students, who claimed philosophical motives shocked the nation. The horror of the crime juxtaposed with the image of the criminals being anything but stereotypical made it all the more macabre and fascinating, inspiring works of film, theatre, and fiction, including the 1929 play Rope by Patrick Hamilton, which was performed on BBC television in 1939, and a film by the same name which was produced by none other than the master of the macabre himself, Alfred Hitchcock, in 1948. Why examine the history of this particular case and this particular movie? Because to many, this case is responsible for the trope of the “perfect crime,” one committed by self-professed geniuses just to prove that they could; a murder that was utterly dispassionate, cold, and calculated, and therefore Creeptastic!

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Support Creeptastic on Patreon!

Contact me and find links to social media at Creeptastic.com!