World renowned forensic psychologist Paul E. Mullen has sat alone with some of the most notorious mass killers in history but one chilling comment has always stayed with him
A forensic psychologist who has interviewed 10 of the most notorious mass killers in history has revealed the chilling question one murderer asked him just hours after his despicable rampage.
The killer was Martin Bryant who was responsible for Australia’s deadliest mass shooting. At the time he was a 28-year-old lonely misfit who slept with his pet pig for company.
Bryant, who struggled to form relationships, carried out the shocking massacre in 1996 when he murdered 35 people, including children, at Port Arthur, Tasmania.
Professor Paul E.Mullen interviewed Bryant just 48 hours later while he was strapped to a hospital bed. This was after he had been badly burned after setting fire to a guesthouse in a failed suicide bid.
It was during this interview that Paul received the most chilling comment ever from a killer – one that still sticks with him today.
And when asked what was the most chilling comment a mass killer had ever told him, Paul told the Mirror: “Early on in our first interview, he asked with a sly smile if I knew that he now held the record. I did not have to ask him what record.”
At the time, the disturbing “record” was that Bryant had massacred more people than any other single lone gunman in history. Bryant knew this because he had studied the others who committed similar atrocities.
Since then, the sick record has been surpassed several times, including the 2017 Las Vegas shooting where 60 people were gunned down.
Paul, who was born in Bristol but has spent several years in New Zealand and Australia, previously told us that all the lone killers he had spoken to shared the same trait – and he also spoke about whether he was scared of being alone with them.
He clarified: “When you are sitting alone in a room with someone who has committed terrible acts of violence they no longer have a gun in their hand, or a knife, or a bludgeon, nor are they reaching for your throat.
“You are facing a frightened individual, who may try to hide their fear by bluster, but for whom you may be a help but are unlikely to be harmful.”
Earlier this month, he released a book called Running Amok which explored the minds of mass killers. He delved into forces that unite them while giving guidance on spotting warning signs and making threat assessments better.
And asked what those warning signs are that society misses, he said: “Lone mass killers often communicate their intentions on for example the internet, in social interactions, and in essays at school and university.
“Far more communicate such intentions than ever act on their expressed plans.”
He then explained how joint policy and mental health units were being set up to respond to alerts of anyone expressing massacre ambitions.
The first steps would be to determine whether the person has access to guns, their criminal and mental health backgrounds, and their email and internet activity.
Based on those findings, a face-to-face interview may then be arranged before possible interventions are decided.
As for our own country, he added: “The UK is particularly fortunate in having one of the better organised and developed response services of this type in contrast to America and most other countries.”
Running Amok is available to buy now on Amazon.