On the orthodox story, Rachel Scott and Richard Castaldo were first to be shot. Several more were shot (Daniel Rohrbough, Lance Kirklin, Sean Graves on or near the stairs, Michael Johnson and Mark Taylor in the grass, and Anne Marie Hochhalter) before Klebold descends the stairs and enters the cafeteria, then goes back up the stairs. Then Patti and Brian are shot at the west entrance.
However, Patti notices Harris is wearing his trench coat and something on his head. But Harris ditched his trench coat after shooting Rachel and Richard, and if he wore the balaclava at all, it was only at the beginning. We have a contradiction to reconcile.
It is easy to do so. Patti says it was around 11:20, which would fit being shot first. Strongest of all, Bree Pasquale, the most perceptive witness, very clearly says Patti ran into the library, then she looked out the window to see Klebold toss a dud of a pipe bomb into the parking lot, which is exactly what Richard describes happening before he was shot, then she witnesses the victims on or near the stairs shot.
This means there were 4 victims shot at near the west entrance to begin the massacre. Very clearly, the first priority was to clear the west entrance, and most likely because when the victims turned around and rap up the cafeteria stairs, after being shot for fleeing into the parking lot, Harris and Klebold would cut off their escape by utilizing the west entrance, which is exactly what they did.
It also means all the speculation about why poor Rachel was shot first, whether it was because they hated Christians, or because Klebold had a crush on her, has a false presupposition - she was not shot first. It also makes a bit of sense for an authority figure like a teacher to be the first target.
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Live Bait
As far as I am concerned, the biggest thing which upsets the usual narrative on Columbine, though there are several, is that both gunmen said several times the library was about to experience one of the cafeteria bombs. It simply cannot be written off, and sheds light on many other issues.
However, of course, since, to quote Eric, "everybody's going to die," when they "blow up the school"; then why, exactly, are they shooting people? No need to do that if they all die in the explosion. It could even be a waste of ammo. The only reason I can think of is hoping shooting people will make the cops rush in and have them die as well.
Indeed, witnesses seem to recount with surprise their confidence when they walked in to the library. Had they expected to have a bomb explode underneath them in five minutes, which seems to be the case, then they need not fear police. I think they wanted police to rush in and die too, for otherwise they would not have chosen to shoot people there.
One may also wonder though, why tell anyone about the bombs? Better to hush lest, say, a 911 call like Patti Nielson's picks up why they are in there. This could well just be cockiness or not caring about that with only 5 minutes time, but I imagine it has something to do with their wanting the students to "stand up", and, as everybody seems to agree, this was to shoot them once they did.
The first thing Dylan says after shooting Kyle, the first thing said to everyone in the library, according to our best witness Bree Pasquale, is that everybody needs to get up and they are about to blow up the library. Not sure why this would make them stand up, I guess to run away, but it is interesting they seem to say "get up" or "stand up" and not "run" when they seem to be threatening to shoot them. Also, it is interesting that in shooter video games, enemies are usually standing.
Of course, their original vision for the massacre was people fleeing the bombs being shot, and shooting the cops responding, and then almost certainly another bomb for those who rushed in to the cafeteria to help, perhaps the police responding.
Once the first bomb failed, it seems the real "plan B" was to make people run out of the library, shoot them as they try, and then die in the explosion along with the cops who rushed in. This may also explain why they shoot themselves in the library and not elsewhere, as they expected to die in there earlier.
And this may also partly explain why the cops stayed outside, along with fearing motion detection.
However, of course, since, to quote Eric, "everybody's going to die," when they "blow up the school"; then why, exactly, are they shooting people? No need to do that if they all die in the explosion. It could even be a waste of ammo. The only reason I can think of is hoping shooting people will make the cops rush in and have them die as well.
Indeed, witnesses seem to recount with surprise their confidence when they walked in to the library. Had they expected to have a bomb explode underneath them in five minutes, which seems to be the case, then they need not fear police. I think they wanted police to rush in and die too, for otherwise they would not have chosen to shoot people there.
One may also wonder though, why tell anyone about the bombs? Better to hush lest, say, a 911 call like Patti Nielson's picks up why they are in there. This could well just be cockiness or not caring about that with only 5 minutes time, but I imagine it has something to do with their wanting the students to "stand up", and, as everybody seems to agree, this was to shoot them once they did.
The first thing Dylan says after shooting Kyle, the first thing said to everyone in the library, according to our best witness Bree Pasquale, is that everybody needs to get up and they are about to blow up the library. Not sure why this would make them stand up, I guess to run away, but it is interesting they seem to say "get up" or "stand up" and not "run" when they seem to be threatening to shoot them. Also, it is interesting that in shooter video games, enemies are usually standing.
Of course, their original vision for the massacre was people fleeing the bombs being shot, and shooting the cops responding, and then almost certainly another bomb for those who rushed in to the cafeteria to help, perhaps the police responding.
Once the first bomb failed, it seems the real "plan B" was to make people run out of the library, shoot them as they try, and then die in the explosion along with the cops who rushed in. This may also explain why they shoot themselves in the library and not elsewhere, as they expected to die in there earlier.
And this may also partly explain why the cops stayed outside, along with fearing motion detection.
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
Questions
Any decent theory on a case should answer outstanding questions. There are several questions which the myth of Plan B simply punts on, or has such an obviously bad answer, and which I submit are only reconciled by recognizing there was no plan B, and that the two bombs were set for different times. If my theory is wrong, I would demand the alternatives provide satisfactory answers to these questions and others.
1) Why did they start shooting at 11:19?
2) Why did they start shooting on the stairs?
3) Why did they start shooting outside?
One must answer all three of these questions. "Because the bombs failed to explode at 11:17" is the orthodox answer to 1), though that hardly answers the question, as illustrated by questions 2) and 3). 1 minute to change plans by itself is absurd when it is at least admitted they had no pre-meditated plan B.
The orthodox answer to 2) is that for some reason, the bombs failing means you change plans from the parking lot to the stairs. I suppose because of elevation, though it is never explained why no elevation is ok if the bombs go off but necessary if the bombs fail.
3) exposes these two orthodox answers for what they are, as if plan B was engaged there would be no reason not to enter a cafeteria timed to be at its fullest and get maximum casualties by shooting there. Indeed, if you think they entered the library because of its number of victims, it becomes even more absurd why they did not begin shooting in the cafeteria.
Very obviously it seems to me, there are better answers, denoted with the a:
1.a) and 3.a) Because they thought the bomb was about go off at 11:20
Shooting because they think the bombs are about to work makes much more sense than shooting because they think the bombs failed, especially when it is admitted they had no contingency plans if the bombs failed and were confident they would work. The same answer for 3), which there simply is no answer for on the orthodox interpretation. All one can do is feign how mysterious the whole thing is and appeal to the sense of tragedy to avoid the non-answer.
2.a) Because they were shielded from the bombs up on the stairs, and could move either way the victims in the cafeteria went.
There simply is no answer for what they would do out in the parking lot when glass went flying into it or their victims turned around. The first is simply brushed off as somehow not an issue in Cullen's book, and the second issue is never even mentioned. Indeed as before the only reason I can think to pass it over is so Dave Sanders telling them to turn around was a stroke of genius instead of planned for from the beginning.
Further:
4) Why did Eric stay on top of the stairs and Dylan descend them?
5) Why did they enter the west entrance?
6) Why did they first shoot Rachel and Richard in front of the west entrance, and next shoot Daniel/Lance/Sean at the bottom of the stairs?
7) Why did Dylan shoot only 3 times with his TEC-9 outside, yet shot Lance in the face with his shotgun?
The answer to 4) on the orthodox interpretation will simply be "to check on the bombs", but that is not an answer. It's what Dylan apparently did after descending them, but that does not mean it was his reason for descending them, and given they acknowledge the plan was to shoot people fleeing the cafeteria, which you cannot do from the top of the stairs, it is easy to figure out he was supposed to shoot those fleeing the cafeteria once you disregard the myth that they knew the bombs failed.
Further, Eric could have gone with him. And as pointed out before, if they already knew the bombs failed, and had begun murdering because of this, as the orthodox interpretation says, it seems strange to need to check as if one wasn't already committed to their failure.
It also makes sense that Eric stayed on top when one realizes only Eric, not Dylan, shot at cops that day. It is also what Eric says "natural selection" (as his shirt read) refers to in his journal, being in an "Ultimate Doom" game, where you have to shoot monsters - or police, who can shoot back. And it is also Dylan, not Eric, who first mentions the idea of killing students and going "NBK".
Again for 5) and 6) on the orthodox interpretation one has to feign mystery; they were playing God and chose victims for their own bizarre peculiar reasons. They didn't like the look of Rachel and Daniel. It had nothing to do with where they were located. One I suppose can realize they entered the west entrance to cut off their victims escape, but that is already giving up a lot of the orthodox interpretation that they were improvising.
For 7) there is the "follower" interpretation of Dylan, where he only shoots when Eric is watching and barely at that. But then there is the issue of shooting Lance in the face. There is also Dylan's gun not being very good. This is at least plausible. TEC-9's do jam and he discarded a 50 round magazine outside apparently because of this. However, given the answers to the other two it seems apparent there is a better answer.
4.a) Dylan descended the stairs to shoot students fleeing from the cafeteria. Eric stays up on the stairs to cover Dylan's back and shoot police.
5.a) To cut off their victims escape from the cafeteria.
6.a) They needed the west entrance clear to enter when their victims in the cafeteria turned around. They needed the stairs clear for Dylan to descend and shoot those fleeing into the parking lot.
7.a) Dylan was to shoot people fleeing with his TEC-9, hence he did not wish to waste ammo and/or do more than test fire, but was fine with using the shotgun on Lance.
In the library:
8) Why did they keep saying in the library that the library was going to explode and kill everyone in it?
9) Why tell John Savage to run rather than just not shoot him?
10) Why was Bree told she would die in the explosion by Eric, John told to run if he wants to live by Dylan, but Evan Todd told by Dylan that he was letting him live?
11) Why was Corey the last to die at 11:35, and they leave the library at 11:36?
8) is the real doozy in my opinion. It kills the entire notion that they started shooting when the bombs failed, and thus kills that they were going to shoot from the parking lot and moved on to "plan B" as well as the notion that both cafeteria bombs were set for 11:17. There is no answer on the orthodox view. Again, mystery, they were lying, they were psychotic. Those are the kind of answers they have to give.
For 9) one can say they feared getting him with a pipe bomb or something, but they failed to even injure one person with a pipe bomb. Understanding that the library was supposed to explode and everybody in it die, which is exactly what they said, several times, is the only way to make this work. On the orthodox interpretation they just can't control themselves and avoid shooting him apparently.
10) and 11) again shows the strength of the second bomb interpretation and the weakness of the orthodox interpretation. The orthodox answer has to be mystery and to pretend I am reading minds by observing the facts.
8.a) They thought the second bomb was still in play. Very simply, because they thought the library was going to explode and kill everyone in it is why they said they library was going to explode and kill everyone in it.
9.a) Because if he stayed in the library, he was to die in the coming explosion.
10.a) Because between the talk with Bree and John, and the talk with Evan, the time had passed for when the second bomb was set to explode
11.a) Because the second bomb was set to explode at 11:35.
1) Why did they start shooting at 11:19?
2) Why did they start shooting on the stairs?
3) Why did they start shooting outside?
One must answer all three of these questions. "Because the bombs failed to explode at 11:17" is the orthodox answer to 1), though that hardly answers the question, as illustrated by questions 2) and 3). 1 minute to change plans by itself is absurd when it is at least admitted they had no pre-meditated plan B.
The orthodox answer to 2) is that for some reason, the bombs failing means you change plans from the parking lot to the stairs. I suppose because of elevation, though it is never explained why no elevation is ok if the bombs go off but necessary if the bombs fail.
3) exposes these two orthodox answers for what they are, as if plan B was engaged there would be no reason not to enter a cafeteria timed to be at its fullest and get maximum casualties by shooting there. Indeed, if you think they entered the library because of its number of victims, it becomes even more absurd why they did not begin shooting in the cafeteria.
Very obviously it seems to me, there are better answers, denoted with the a:
1.a) and 3.a) Because they thought the bomb was about go off at 11:20
Shooting because they think the bombs are about to work makes much more sense than shooting because they think the bombs failed, especially when it is admitted they had no contingency plans if the bombs failed and were confident they would work. The same answer for 3), which there simply is no answer for on the orthodox interpretation. All one can do is feign how mysterious the whole thing is and appeal to the sense of tragedy to avoid the non-answer.
2.a) Because they were shielded from the bombs up on the stairs, and could move either way the victims in the cafeteria went.
There simply is no answer for what they would do out in the parking lot when glass went flying into it or their victims turned around. The first is simply brushed off as somehow not an issue in Cullen's book, and the second issue is never even mentioned. Indeed as before the only reason I can think to pass it over is so Dave Sanders telling them to turn around was a stroke of genius instead of planned for from the beginning.
Further:
4) Why did Eric stay on top of the stairs and Dylan descend them?
5) Why did they enter the west entrance?
6) Why did they first shoot Rachel and Richard in front of the west entrance, and next shoot Daniel/Lance/Sean at the bottom of the stairs?
7) Why did Dylan shoot only 3 times with his TEC-9 outside, yet shot Lance in the face with his shotgun?
The answer to 4) on the orthodox interpretation will simply be "to check on the bombs", but that is not an answer. It's what Dylan apparently did after descending them, but that does not mean it was his reason for descending them, and given they acknowledge the plan was to shoot people fleeing the cafeteria, which you cannot do from the top of the stairs, it is easy to figure out he was supposed to shoot those fleeing the cafeteria once you disregard the myth that they knew the bombs failed.
Further, Eric could have gone with him. And as pointed out before, if they already knew the bombs failed, and had begun murdering because of this, as the orthodox interpretation says, it seems strange to need to check as if one wasn't already committed to their failure.
It also makes sense that Eric stayed on top when one realizes only Eric, not Dylan, shot at cops that day. It is also what Eric says "natural selection" (as his shirt read) refers to in his journal, being in an "Ultimate Doom" game, where you have to shoot monsters - or police, who can shoot back. And it is also Dylan, not Eric, who first mentions the idea of killing students and going "NBK".
Again for 5) and 6) on the orthodox interpretation one has to feign mystery; they were playing God and chose victims for their own bizarre peculiar reasons. They didn't like the look of Rachel and Daniel. It had nothing to do with where they were located. One I suppose can realize they entered the west entrance to cut off their victims escape, but that is already giving up a lot of the orthodox interpretation that they were improvising.
For 7) there is the "follower" interpretation of Dylan, where he only shoots when Eric is watching and barely at that. But then there is the issue of shooting Lance in the face. There is also Dylan's gun not being very good. This is at least plausible. TEC-9's do jam and he discarded a 50 round magazine outside apparently because of this. However, given the answers to the other two it seems apparent there is a better answer.
4.a) Dylan descended the stairs to shoot students fleeing from the cafeteria. Eric stays up on the stairs to cover Dylan's back and shoot police.
5.a) To cut off their victims escape from the cafeteria.
6.a) They needed the west entrance clear to enter when their victims in the cafeteria turned around. They needed the stairs clear for Dylan to descend and shoot those fleeing into the parking lot.
7.a) Dylan was to shoot people fleeing with his TEC-9, hence he did not wish to waste ammo and/or do more than test fire, but was fine with using the shotgun on Lance.
In the library:
8) Why did they keep saying in the library that the library was going to explode and kill everyone in it?
9) Why tell John Savage to run rather than just not shoot him?
10) Why was Bree told she would die in the explosion by Eric, John told to run if he wants to live by Dylan, but Evan Todd told by Dylan that he was letting him live?
11) Why was Corey the last to die at 11:35, and they leave the library at 11:36?
8) is the real doozy in my opinion. It kills the entire notion that they started shooting when the bombs failed, and thus kills that they were going to shoot from the parking lot and moved on to "plan B" as well as the notion that both cafeteria bombs were set for 11:17. There is no answer on the orthodox view. Again, mystery, they were lying, they were psychotic. Those are the kind of answers they have to give.
For 9) one can say they feared getting him with a pipe bomb or something, but they failed to even injure one person with a pipe bomb. Understanding that the library was supposed to explode and everybody in it die, which is exactly what they said, several times, is the only way to make this work. On the orthodox interpretation they just can't control themselves and avoid shooting him apparently.
10) and 11) again shows the strength of the second bomb interpretation and the weakness of the orthodox interpretation. The orthodox answer has to be mystery and to pretend I am reading minds by observing the facts.
8.a) They thought the second bomb was still in play. Very simply, because they thought the library was going to explode and kill everyone in it is why they said they library was going to explode and kill everyone in it.
9.a) Because if he stayed in the library, he was to die in the coming explosion.
10.a) Because between the talk with Bree and John, and the talk with Evan, the time had passed for when the second bomb was set to explode
11.a) Because the second bomb was set to explode at 11:35.
Thursday, May 16, 2019
Why the myth?
Given that I feel I've shown plan B is a myth, the question arises: Why is there the myth of plan B? I can't pretend to know with certainty.
However, it seems to me there are three options. First, either it is a genuine mistake, or it is an intentional lie. If it is a lie, I can see two possible reasons, either to deter copycats, or to cover for the police's mistakes that day.
With that in mind, I can sketch the possible reasons for making such a mistake, or for inventing such a lie. Simply the placement of their cars is often cited for why it is thought they would shoot from them, and maybe that was enough to fool investigators. I find this hard to believe, but it's possible.
Probably the best reason for why investigators may have been mistaken are the two separate, different timelines Dylan wrote for that day. One of these was on his own paper, and another was in Eric's planner. The former says "Go to outside hill, wait. When first bombs go off, attack", and the latter says "wait near cars, gear up HAHAHA".
Perhaps for some reason they trusted the latter over the former and assumed it meant shooting from the cars, though it doesn't say that, only 'gearing up'. The one in Eric's planner is a bit more specific on the pre-massacre activities, starting with waking up, and it being in Eric's planner may have made them think it was more accurate, being a joint effort of the two perpetrators rather than Dylan writing alone, or whatever. However, on this point they obviously followed the "go to outside hill" directions. Also, the former says the first bomb goes off at 11:17 and the latter say 11:16, and perhaps because of Eric's notes on the library, 11:17 seems to be accepted. So, they don't simply follow the timeline in Eric's planner for everything.
Also and most importantly these guidelines were obviously very rough. For instance Dylan says place the bombs at 11:09, obviously meaning "before 11:10", when as I recall fourth period let out; and to set the car bombs for 11:18, obviously meaning "after the cafeteria bombs", not literally one minute after.
For inventing a lie, there is the possible reason of dissuading copycats. I certainly hope this is the reason, as it's the most justifiable. For fear of copycats having a similarly intricate plan, lie to make Eric and Dylans plan quite silly, so that copycats will only have a silly plan to use.
The other reason I see for inventing a lie is I admit not the most robust theory, but I feel like either this or Dylan's notes are ultimately the reason. One big weakness of the "plan B" theory is it implies Eric and Dylan had no plan if people ran in a direction other than into the parking lot. I think they were very aware of the ability for people to turn around, and that's why they were on the stairs, and ultimately why Rachel and Richard were the first people shot, to have access to the west entrance to cut off those who turned around. Who made the students turn and run that way? Dave Sanders, and JeffCo took hours to get to him, letting him die. Why is he considered a martyr? Mostly because he told students to turn around.
I don't wish to completely trivialize Dave's martyr status. He almost certainly saved lives that day. However, he also almost certainly saved fewer lives than most think by telling people to turn around, if Eric and Dylan always expected people to turn around. If that's the case, then Neil Gardner possibly saved more lives by stalling their entering the west entrance in his shootout with Eric than Dave did.
And of course, they didn't shoot from the parking lot, so I'm not sure how that helps Dave's martyr status. At the same time, it obscures that they always knew they would turn around, and that does help Dave's martyr status.
Friday, May 3, 2019
Doom and Columbine
Both Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were avid fans of the video game Doom, and Eric especially. Playing Doom, along with listening to KMFDM and viewing Natural Born Killers, is probably a requirement for serious research into the massacre.
Eric noted the massacre is "gonna be like fucking Doom". He also noted it will be like "the LA Riots, Oklahoma City, WW2, Vietnam, Duke, and Doom all mixed together". Duke is Duke Nukem 3D, another first person shooter video game of the 1990s. They were also avid fans of Quake.
There is a long list of parallels between Doom, or first person shooters in general, and the Columbine massacre. First, let one note, this isn't saying video games motivated the massacre, though probably in part, in the sense of why they thought it would be 'fun', it is very superficial indeed to boil the motive down to that. Rather, this is about how elements of their modus operandi, not their motive, came out of Doom.
First, Eric carried his "berserk" in his pocket when he murdered and when he died. This was a piece of wood of some kind, maybe from one of the places he lived before Colorado which he seemed to remember fondly, shaped like a teardrop with a divot in the middle of it, which he carried as a kind of talisman. This is the most blatant reference to Doom. In Doom, there are white medkits which serve as health 'power-up's. There is also a black medkit, called a berserk, which is a special power-up which restores you to full health, and makes your punches kill the monsters for a short time.
Second, Eric shot at the bomb expecting it to explode. Surely because this happens in Doom and Duke Nukem 3D, e. g. with barrels of nukage in Doom.
Third, the fact that they each carried two guns, including a shotgun. This was obviously mimicking a first person shooter. In a typical "FPS" you switch between several guns. Like in Doom or Duke Nukem 3D, you start with a handgun, and the handgun stinks. It takes several shots to kill anyone. "Handgun only" is a special kind of handicap in a first person shooter to test your skills which one can find in several videos. You want to get rid of the handgun, and move on to the next gun, which is a shotgun. The next gun is a chaingun or in Quake a nail gun, something which fires quickly, in contrast to the stopping power of a shotgun. Next is a rocket launcher, and next after that is futuristic weapons that don't exist, like Doom's plasma gun, or Duke Nukem 3D's shrink ray. For the majority of the game, you are using either the shotgun or the chaingun, and if you play it properly, you switch between them depending on the monsters you face. This was obviously their idea with having a shotgun and a rifle in Eric's case, and a shotgun and a pistol in Dylan's
Fourth, each gun, or at least 3 of the 4, were 'straight out of Doom" as Eric said about his shotgun, which he named "Arlene" after a character in the Doom novels. Eric had a pump action shotgun, which you have in the original Doom. Dylan had a double barrel shotgun, which is the more powerful "Super shotgun" in Doom 2. Dylan also had a TEC-9, which is a version of the AB-10, which Eric referenced several times because its from the Doom novels. Arlene even uses it.
The only one remaining to explain is Eric's carbine rifle, but it seems plausible it was also from Doom given the others. In Doom, the "zombies" or "former human" is the first 'monster' or antagonist you face, and he had some kind of rifle which uses the same ammunition as your chain gun. The next antagonist is "shotgun guy" who is a bit harder to kill and has a shotgun of course.
In fact, given this, in all likelihood, they thought Dylan had the better weapons, even though Eric killed more and probably had the better ones, which says enough about Dylan as the possible mastermind.
Fifth, their outfits may have been inspired by former human and shotgun guy. Former human wears a tan shirt and shotgun guy a black one. Eric wore a white shirt and Dylan a black one. Again, if this is the inspiration, it suggests Dylan had superior rank.
Sixth, Eric says he will have to imagine his victims as monsters from Doom, either former humans or 'lost souls", flaming skulls
Seventh, Eric tried to make a kind of napalm flamethrower, probably his answer to Doom's rocket launcher. He even said it was "the suicide plan", and in Doom the quickest way to die is to shoot the rocket launcher too close to a monster or wall or some such.
Eighth, they told everybody in the library to stand up, and in a first person shooter your victims are all standing, not cowering under a table.
Nineth, they told everybody in "white hats" to stand up. The jocks wore white hats of course, but one wonders if this was because former humans, the Doom "zombies" have green hair, and this was a similar marker to them. "I see similarities between people and Doom zombies" wrote Dylan.
Tenth: Eric and Dylan called each other "indigo" and "green' respectively. Dr. Peter Langman speculates this was because Charles Manson's followers called each other colors. It may well have been, but why those colors is because when they played multiplayer, Dylan was player 1 and Eric player 2, and their colors were green and indigo respectively.
Eleventh, Eric mentions starting out at the bottom of the "food chain" at school, and this is used on the Playstation Doom poster.
Eric noted the massacre is "gonna be like fucking Doom". He also noted it will be like "the LA Riots, Oklahoma City, WW2, Vietnam, Duke, and Doom all mixed together". Duke is Duke Nukem 3D, another first person shooter video game of the 1990s. They were also avid fans of Quake.
There is a long list of parallels between Doom, or first person shooters in general, and the Columbine massacre. First, let one note, this isn't saying video games motivated the massacre, though probably in part, in the sense of why they thought it would be 'fun', it is very superficial indeed to boil the motive down to that. Rather, this is about how elements of their modus operandi, not their motive, came out of Doom.
First, Eric carried his "berserk" in his pocket when he murdered and when he died. This was a piece of wood of some kind, maybe from one of the places he lived before Colorado which he seemed to remember fondly, shaped like a teardrop with a divot in the middle of it, which he carried as a kind of talisman. This is the most blatant reference to Doom. In Doom, there are white medkits which serve as health 'power-up's. There is also a black medkit, called a berserk, which is a special power-up which restores you to full health, and makes your punches kill the monsters for a short time.
Second, Eric shot at the bomb expecting it to explode. Surely because this happens in Doom and Duke Nukem 3D, e. g. with barrels of nukage in Doom.
Third, the fact that they each carried two guns, including a shotgun. This was obviously mimicking a first person shooter. In a typical "FPS" you switch between several guns. Like in Doom or Duke Nukem 3D, you start with a handgun, and the handgun stinks. It takes several shots to kill anyone. "Handgun only" is a special kind of handicap in a first person shooter to test your skills which one can find in several videos. You want to get rid of the handgun, and move on to the next gun, which is a shotgun. The next gun is a chaingun or in Quake a nail gun, something which fires quickly, in contrast to the stopping power of a shotgun. Next is a rocket launcher, and next after that is futuristic weapons that don't exist, like Doom's plasma gun, or Duke Nukem 3D's shrink ray. For the majority of the game, you are using either the shotgun or the chaingun, and if you play it properly, you switch between them depending on the monsters you face. This was obviously their idea with having a shotgun and a rifle in Eric's case, and a shotgun and a pistol in Dylan's
Fourth, each gun, or at least 3 of the 4, were 'straight out of Doom" as Eric said about his shotgun, which he named "Arlene" after a character in the Doom novels. Eric had a pump action shotgun, which you have in the original Doom. Dylan had a double barrel shotgun, which is the more powerful "Super shotgun" in Doom 2. Dylan also had a TEC-9, which is a version of the AB-10, which Eric referenced several times because its from the Doom novels. Arlene even uses it.
The only one remaining to explain is Eric's carbine rifle, but it seems plausible it was also from Doom given the others. In Doom, the "zombies" or "former human" is the first 'monster' or antagonist you face, and he had some kind of rifle which uses the same ammunition as your chain gun. The next antagonist is "shotgun guy" who is a bit harder to kill and has a shotgun of course.
In fact, given this, in all likelihood, they thought Dylan had the better weapons, even though Eric killed more and probably had the better ones, which says enough about Dylan as the possible mastermind.
Fifth, their outfits may have been inspired by former human and shotgun guy. Former human wears a tan shirt and shotgun guy a black one. Eric wore a white shirt and Dylan a black one. Again, if this is the inspiration, it suggests Dylan had superior rank.
Sixth, Eric says he will have to imagine his victims as monsters from Doom, either former humans or 'lost souls", flaming skulls
Seventh, Eric tried to make a kind of napalm flamethrower, probably his answer to Doom's rocket launcher. He even said it was "the suicide plan", and in Doom the quickest way to die is to shoot the rocket launcher too close to a monster or wall or some such.
Eighth, they told everybody in the library to stand up, and in a first person shooter your victims are all standing, not cowering under a table.
Nineth, they told everybody in "white hats" to stand up. The jocks wore white hats of course, but one wonders if this was because former humans, the Doom "zombies" have green hair, and this was a similar marker to them. "I see similarities between people and Doom zombies" wrote Dylan.
Tenth: Eric and Dylan called each other "indigo" and "green' respectively. Dr. Peter Langman speculates this was because Charles Manson's followers called each other colors. It may well have been, but why those colors is because when they played multiplayer, Dylan was player 1 and Eric player 2, and their colors were green and indigo respectively.
Eleventh, Eric mentions starting out at the bottom of the "food chain" at school, and this is used on the Playstation Doom poster.
Wandering the Halls
After they have left the library, and try to make the second bomb explode, causing a fire in the cafeteria, Eric and Dylan walked around various parts of the school, tossing pipe bombs and firing their guns into lockers and ceilings, but killing nobody.
Much has been made of this time. Most e-sleuths and crime aficionados and other commenters on Columbine see it as either a sign of remorse, somehow, or a sign about how much they hated the school. They wished to destroy the institution itself. They wished to shoot the lockers against which bullies had pushed them. Something like that.
I think both interpretations fail utterly, and the one with the most potential to be correct is left off the table. As horrific as it is, one needs to put yourself in their shoes. You are a teenager who has just murdered several of your classmates in your school. In all likelihood, you were supposed to have committed suicide by now. You don't plan on getting out alive. What's on your mind? Police, surely.
Also, they planned on killing cops that day. Whether attempting to goad Eric into committing the massacre with him and thus forcing Dylan to commit suicide, or a genuine statement of his feelings, Dylan wrote in Eric's yearbook: "killing enemies, blowing up stuff, killing cops!! My wrath for January's incident will be godlike. Not to mention our revenge in the commons."
The commons is the cafeteria, and "January's incident" refers to their joint arrest for breaking into a van in January of 1998. It seems to have been a pivotal moment. In February of 98 Dylan is mentioning a massacre, going "NBK" with a girl, like in the film Natural Born Killers, and Eric is mentioning going NBK in April. They seem to have bonded a bit over the van incident, and the massacre seems in part to be revenge against police for this event. Others speculate it was also e. g. jocks doing worse but not getting in trouble. It's as good a date as any for the transition from no thoughts of a massacre to thoughts of a massacre. Dylan wore a shirt saying Wrath during the massacre, of course; though Wrath and Godlike are also both KMFDM songs.
There's also the issue that the evidence suggests Eric, not Dylan, shot at police that day. While Dylan, not Eric descended the stairs presumably to shoot at students, and Dylan, not Eric enters the library first; and Dylan, not Eric, is having the time of his life during the library massacre. It's also true that Eric was the one more into the video game Doom, which involved people shooting back at you. One can even interpret their t-shirts this way. Eric thought of "natural selection" as making people have to play Doom in real life, and while Dylan mentions wrath against police with Eric, in his private journal he talks about hating jocks for having girlfriends, not about playing Doom in real life. "The lonely man strikes with absolute rage" is what Dylan wrote to himself.
So, quite probably in my view, Dylan had gotten his wish (aside from suicide which he had wanted for years) with the massacre by this point. Several students have been killed as part of his wrath, but Eric has not gotten his wish of a shootout with police. They also probably hoped they wouldn't have to kill themselves with their own guns. They had already expected a bomb to kill them, in the library and when they try to make it explode in the cafeteria. They probably preferred suicide by cop.
They were also supposedly "bored" with killing students. They had mentioned maybe knifing people would be more fun, and wanted bombs not just shooting. Police are certainly "up a level" from killing students.
Therefore it seems apparent to me they were roaming the halls looking for police. People impose their knowledge on them that the cops did not enter, when everybody was shocked by that, surely including the perpetrators. Even if they were not around, you would think they were somewhere in the building. I think this is probably also why they were shooting and tossing pipe bombs.
Most interesting for all of this, when they return to the cafeteria, on video, the most infamous picture of the massacre happens, because they have their guns drawn.
Eric then seems to wave. He had written down hand signals for them to use during the massacre. Waving is the signal for "cops sighted". That ends the issue for me of what was on their mind when they roamed the halls.
Best clip of it I can find at the moment, 20 seconds into this:
"Remorse" is just silly. They had plenty of time to feel remorse before the library massacre. Eric was fond of quoting this line from the KMFDM song Anarchy, "Feel no remorse, no sense of shame". Also, while probably the thing about the massacre I would add but have the least confidence about, though there is a litany of things from the massacre which the pair got from video games; it was noted that Eric played the video game Postal. The "tagline" for Postal is "I regret nothing", and it's said when the main character shoots himself in the mouth, as Eric did.
At best, "Remorse" comes from the hero-worship all too common in this case and ill attempts to explain a tragedy; and not knowing about the second bomb set for 11:35, thus having to come up for some reason why they stopped shooting at 11:35, as well as forgetting that the cops not entering was anomalous. Though their actions after 11:35, such as Dylan taunting Evan and calling him a fat fuck and asking why he shouldn't kill him, and then trying to make the bombs explode, hardly signals remorse.
They also point to the fact that they didn't try to enter classrooms. It is perhaps curious. Eric mentioned doing so in an earlier version of a plan for the massacre. However, by that time, most classrooms were simply locked. It's also not at all clear they didn't try to enter some.
'They wanted to destroy the school itself" is at least better than remorse, though again seems to ignore the police, as if they weren't there. Also, if they wanted to destroy the school, they could have done a lot more. Instead of wandering they could have destroyed. They lit one gas can in the cafeteria when Dylan tossed his Molotov cocktail, but there were others in the cafeteria. They could have gathered one and spread gasoline through the halls if they wanted to do so. Also, it doesn't seem to me to make sense to get bored with killing students, and move on to shooting ceilings and lockers and trash cans. That seems even more 'boring', not less.
It's true of course their bombs would have destroyed the cafeteria and the library, and that would destroy the school in a sense. But that was also the front facing bit of the school, to be captured by television and all the rest, and where they had the most victims. Destroying the back of the school on the inside where there's nobody to see it and where there are no victims because you are bored seems to me curious indeed, and not close to the best explanation.
Much has been made of this time. Most e-sleuths and crime aficionados and other commenters on Columbine see it as either a sign of remorse, somehow, or a sign about how much they hated the school. They wished to destroy the institution itself. They wished to shoot the lockers against which bullies had pushed them. Something like that.
I think both interpretations fail utterly, and the one with the most potential to be correct is left off the table. As horrific as it is, one needs to put yourself in their shoes. You are a teenager who has just murdered several of your classmates in your school. In all likelihood, you were supposed to have committed suicide by now. You don't plan on getting out alive. What's on your mind? Police, surely.
Also, they planned on killing cops that day. Whether attempting to goad Eric into committing the massacre with him and thus forcing Dylan to commit suicide, or a genuine statement of his feelings, Dylan wrote in Eric's yearbook: "killing enemies, blowing up stuff, killing cops!! My wrath for January's incident will be godlike. Not to mention our revenge in the commons."
The commons is the cafeteria, and "January's incident" refers to their joint arrest for breaking into a van in January of 1998. It seems to have been a pivotal moment. In February of 98 Dylan is mentioning a massacre, going "NBK" with a girl, like in the film Natural Born Killers, and Eric is mentioning going NBK in April. They seem to have bonded a bit over the van incident, and the massacre seems in part to be revenge against police for this event. Others speculate it was also e. g. jocks doing worse but not getting in trouble. It's as good a date as any for the transition from no thoughts of a massacre to thoughts of a massacre. Dylan wore a shirt saying Wrath during the massacre, of course; though Wrath and Godlike are also both KMFDM songs.
There's also the issue that the evidence suggests Eric, not Dylan, shot at police that day. While Dylan, not Eric descended the stairs presumably to shoot at students, and Dylan, not Eric enters the library first; and Dylan, not Eric, is having the time of his life during the library massacre. It's also true that Eric was the one more into the video game Doom, which involved people shooting back at you. One can even interpret their t-shirts this way. Eric thought of "natural selection" as making people have to play Doom in real life, and while Dylan mentions wrath against police with Eric, in his private journal he talks about hating jocks for having girlfriends, not about playing Doom in real life. "The lonely man strikes with absolute rage" is what Dylan wrote to himself.
So, quite probably in my view, Dylan had gotten his wish (aside from suicide which he had wanted for years) with the massacre by this point. Several students have been killed as part of his wrath, but Eric has not gotten his wish of a shootout with police. They also probably hoped they wouldn't have to kill themselves with their own guns. They had already expected a bomb to kill them, in the library and when they try to make it explode in the cafeteria. They probably preferred suicide by cop.
They were also supposedly "bored" with killing students. They had mentioned maybe knifing people would be more fun, and wanted bombs not just shooting. Police are certainly "up a level" from killing students.
Therefore it seems apparent to me they were roaming the halls looking for police. People impose their knowledge on them that the cops did not enter, when everybody was shocked by that, surely including the perpetrators. Even if they were not around, you would think they were somewhere in the building. I think this is probably also why they were shooting and tossing pipe bombs.
Most interesting for all of this, when they return to the cafeteria, on video, the most infamous picture of the massacre happens, because they have their guns drawn.
Eric then seems to wave. He had written down hand signals for them to use during the massacre. Waving is the signal for "cops sighted". That ends the issue for me of what was on their mind when they roamed the halls.
Best clip of it I can find at the moment, 20 seconds into this:
"Remorse" is just silly. They had plenty of time to feel remorse before the library massacre. Eric was fond of quoting this line from the KMFDM song Anarchy, "Feel no remorse, no sense of shame". Also, while probably the thing about the massacre I would add but have the least confidence about, though there is a litany of things from the massacre which the pair got from video games; it was noted that Eric played the video game Postal. The "tagline" for Postal is "I regret nothing", and it's said when the main character shoots himself in the mouth, as Eric did.
At best, "Remorse" comes from the hero-worship all too common in this case and ill attempts to explain a tragedy; and not knowing about the second bomb set for 11:35, thus having to come up for some reason why they stopped shooting at 11:35, as well as forgetting that the cops not entering was anomalous. Though their actions after 11:35, such as Dylan taunting Evan and calling him a fat fuck and asking why he shouldn't kill him, and then trying to make the bombs explode, hardly signals remorse.
They also point to the fact that they didn't try to enter classrooms. It is perhaps curious. Eric mentioned doing so in an earlier version of a plan for the massacre. However, by that time, most classrooms were simply locked. It's also not at all clear they didn't try to enter some.
'They wanted to destroy the school itself" is at least better than remorse, though again seems to ignore the police, as if they weren't there. Also, if they wanted to destroy the school, they could have done a lot more. Instead of wandering they could have destroyed. They lit one gas can in the cafeteria when Dylan tossed his Molotov cocktail, but there were others in the cafeteria. They could have gathered one and spread gasoline through the halls if they wanted to do so. Also, it doesn't seem to me to make sense to get bored with killing students, and move on to shooting ceilings and lockers and trash cans. That seems even more 'boring', not less.
It's true of course their bombs would have destroyed the cafeteria and the library, and that would destroy the school in a sense. But that was also the front facing bit of the school, to be captured by television and all the rest, and where they had the most victims. Destroying the back of the school on the inside where there's nobody to see it and where there are no victims because you are bored seems to me curious indeed, and not close to the best explanation.
Thursday, May 2, 2019
Plan A: A Scenario
After dispelling the notion of Plan B with the fact that the gunmen at Columbine repeatedly said the library was going to explode with them inside of it, meaning it was never true that they "started shooting when the bombs failed", one is required to replace it with a better theory, a theory which says plan A was very much in play when they began shooting, meaning they never planned to shoot from the cars.
One also when challenging any theory is faced with the burden of replacing it with a better theory. I submit I have one, and feel it must be true in essentials, while I confess knowing everything they planned that day is probably impossible.
As best I can tell, here was their plan that day.
When the first cafeteria bomb goes off, they are shielded from the blast up on the stairs. Dylan was then to descend the stairs and shoot fleeing students with his TEC-9. Eric was to stay at the top of the stairs and shoot police with his carbine, covering Dylan's back. Eventually, those fleeing the cafeteria learn to flee into the parking lot is to be shot at, and turn around to run up the cafeteria stairs. When this happens, Dylan is to run back up the stairs, and Eric and Dylan will enter the west entrance and cut off their escape. All the while, they also have pipe bombs and crickets and Molotov cocktails to toss to kill, confuse, and cause fires, as well as just general carnage of more exploding corpses.
They would have spent some ammo and been much closer to people, so maybe this is where they use their knives as well as shoot. The second bomb goes off at 11:35. Perhaps it was simply a back up. Perhaps it was estimated 15 minutes until victims turned around, or maybe by then it would be killing those who have turned around a second time, realizing now to run up the cafeteria stairs is to die, as well as perhaps kill Eric and Dylan. Also perhaps any firefighters or police or paramedics who run into the cafeteria to help after the bomb.
One of the car bombs goes off at noon, and another probably some time after. Most likely to kill first responders and media and what is left of the students on live television. Maybe Dylan's is for the responders and media, being more or less across from the center of the cafeteria, and Eric's is for the students evacuating the school, being by the south entrance. Maybe Dylan's was to explode first causing victims to retreat to where Eric's car would again explode.
This is why they chose the stairs. This is why Dylan did descend the stairs, and why he shot only 3 times with the TEC-9 before that, but spent the shotgun into Lance. Dylan also relished the library massacre more, entered the library first, said he had always wanted to do this, was more vocal in general in the library. Indeed he wrote about going on a killing spree first, and was the first to write about going "NBK" (their code for the massacre, from the film Natural Born Killers). He had been suicidal for years at this point, and seemed to want others to feel his pain, his "Wrath" as his shirt said.
This is why Eric stayed up there. He could not see people fleeing out into the parking lot from his vantage point, and the only cafeteria exit he could fire at left the possibility of injuring Dylan, and they would probably be deterred from that one by Dylan's presence anyway. Eric and not Dylan was also the one to shoot at police that day. Eric also dreamed of putting everybody in a Doom game where they had to shoot at monsters shooting back at them, of "Natural Selection" as his shirt said.
This is why when Dylan enters the cafeteria from outside, and sees the bomb has not exploded and people are running up the stairs. He only smirks and turns around to tell Eric, and they then enter the west entrance.
This is why Rachel and Richard are shot first, blocking access to the west entrance, and Daniel and Lance and Sean shot next, for blocking Dylan's path down the stairs.
They did not use their knives, so many will say they were for show. But tying it to your ankle does not seem the best place "for show", and both and especially Dylan (who mentioned using his knife in the library) were interested in Charles Manson, who of course influenced a series of stabbings. Also, on the Basement Tapes, they both mention using their knives. It seems to me a theory incorporating use of the knives is better than one that doesn't. They could have also just been a contingency if anybody tackled them or some such.
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