[Thanks to Rob T. for suggesting this topic]Throughout human history, punishment by death has been used as disciplinary action against those convicted of gruesome or outrageous crimes. In the United States, unlike other countries, capital punishment is only utilized against those convicted of murder in the 1st degree. In a 2010 Gallup poll, 64% of Americans support the death penalty for those convicted of murder. In Florida, the electric chair has been used since the United States overturned its moratorium on capital punishment in 1976. Bundy committed several brutal murders in 1978 at on the Florida State campus and in Lake City, Florida. He was definitely eligible for the death penalty when taken to trial in 1979. When offered a plea deal in exchange for 75 years, he considered it. However, when he realized he’d have to plead guilty in front of a packed courtroom, he rejected the deal outright. The one thing Bundy couldn’t stand for people to think was that he had committed the murders. When a prisoner is strapped to the electric chair, a sponge wet with saline is placed on top of the prisoner’s head. Then a metal cap with an electrode is applied atop the sponge. Once everything is in place, two separate currents of 2,000 volts each are sent through the individual’s body for several minutes. The first jolt causes unconsciousness and brain death and the second damages vital organs causing death. In recent years the electric chair has had several mishaps where the sponge wasn’t wet and the prisoner’s head caught fire. Though not actively used in Florida now, inmates can request the electric chair as their method of execution. On Tuesday, January 24, 1989, Ted Bundy was prepared for electrocution after being dragged from his cell to walk “the green mile.” His head had been shaved and he was shaking as he was seated in the small room. Several relatives of his victims were waiting in a tiny room to watch him die while over 2,000 people waited to celebrate his death outside of the jail. Bundy gave his last words to his attorneys “I’d like you to give my love to my family and friends.” After he was blind-folded, the executioner (rumored to be a woman!) pulled the lever from another room to start the alternating current. After several minutes, the current was stopped and a doctor confirmed that Bundy was dead. Outside, the crowd cheered and sang while holding signs reading “Burn Bundy Burn” and “Tuesday is Fry-Day.” Inside the prison, the life of a brutal, yet broken man ended in smoke and regret. Have you ever wondered if any of your ex-lovers were psychopaths? What would you do if they were? Liz Kloepfer not only had very fulfilling sex with Ted Bundy, but she gushed about it in the book she published in 1981 called “The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy.” Ted and Liz met in a Seattle bar in 1969 and carried on a relationship for almost 5 years. She thought he was incredibly good-looking at would have done anything for him. The fact that she enjoyed sex with him was just icing on the cake. Ted Bundy as many women probably imagined him. According to Liz, sex with her psychopathic boyfriend was “tender and gratifying.” She was hopelessly in love with him after the clunky sex she had with 2 other men after her divorce. She relished all of the romance and excitement she experienced in the love-making with Ted and it clearly drew her closer to him. The fact that he asked her for what she considered “abnormal sex” (e.g. “anal,” “bondage”) was brushed off later because he never forced her to engage in those acts. Though we don’t have any information about Bundy’s sexual prowess with any other women, he clearly impressed his ex-girlfriend Stephanie when they reunited in the early 70’s for a short time. It’s conceivable to believe that other women enjoyed being with Ted, though it’s probably safe to say he was really only interested in what it represented to him. Sex with women who weren’t his murder victims was a way to make himself appear normal. He could get away with his abnormal behavior with cadavers and unconscious women while fooling those around him. What we know about Bundy’s abnormal erotic appetites can be determined from his Florida victims. The Chi Omega victims were found with bite marks on their buttocks and foreign objects inserted in their bodies. This occurred after Ted bludgeoned them into oblivion with a piece of wood he picked up on his way into the sorority house. When his final victim’s body was found in a hog shed on an abandoned farm in Florida, it was determined she had been brutally beaten and sexually assaulted. Florida victim’s bite mark later matched to Bundy’s dental impression. It’s interesting to see how very different the two sides of Bundy could be. On one hand, he was seen as a charismatic handsome man and on the other, he was clearly a violent criminal who viewed women as objects. I think it’s fair to say the violent side of Bundy is the true side. If nothing else, it’s the one that won out in the end. Bundy was arrested in 1978 and eventually confessed to murdering several women. No word was available about how those women felt about the sexual experience.