A small number of people have "malicious intentions." There are people in the community who want to present the facts about Columbine, and others who want to place the shooters on a pedestal, she says. "Putting those together sort of represents the way a lot of young people are feeling." "You've got Eric, who was the more homicidal of the pair, and Dylan who was the more suicidal of the pair," she says. The two murderers were young, so people her age can relate to them. "It's human nature to want to know more about death," she says.ĭana says people who are depressed or suicidal can get pulled into the subculture. The story grabbed her "because it was unlike any other shooting." Not many Australians are interested in Columbine, she says, so most of her followers are in the US.ĭana first learned about Columbine when she was cast as a mass shooter in a school play and started researching the role. "James didn't represent the whole true crime community, I don't represent the whole true crime community," Natasha says.Īrt by school shooter Bobby Gladden, who was extremely interested in Columbine.ĭana is a 16-year-old Australian who runs a Columbine blog with 500 followers that's dedicated to the victims of the massacre. Not everyone in the community advocates murder or posts Nazi imagery. She thinks the posters have "displaced hate." "I see so many people doing it-not that I condone it. That's because the Columbine shooters were interested in the Nazis and Hitler, Natasha explains. His blog is also full of glorified Nazi imagery. On February 8, four days before Gamble's death, a commenter on his blog asked, "Do you have combat boots like Dylan?" He replied, "Indeed I do," and posted a photo of himself wearing the boots and holding a long gun and hunting knife. Others relate to the two Columbine shooters-known in the community by their first names Eric and Dylan-and want to copy them. Some are interested in the criminology surrounding serial killers and mass murderers. The true crime Tumblr community is a varied group. There are more extreme blogs than his, she explains. Gamble's death and the alleged shooting plot took the community by surprise, Natasha says. Like Gamble, a lot of them post about self-harm and suicide, but she says it's hard to know when it's just internet talk and when it's serious. Younger Columbiners often message her about suicidal thoughts they've had. (Though she sometimes posts about Columbine, she wouldn't call herself a full-blown Columbiner.) Her Tumblr, True Crime Hot House, is home to her obsession with murderers, and she posts letters and art that incarcerated serial killers send her through the mail. I should be clear about one thing up top: Unlike Gamble, none of the three bloggers I spoke with advocate murder, though like him, they have all struggled with suicidal thoughts.īased on the US West Coast, 26-year-old Natasha (not her real name) runs a true crime blog with 11,000 followers. Despite the creepy content they posted, they were fairly personable, and some were willing to talk. I was curious about this Tumblr community, so I Skyped a few of the so-called "Columbiners"-people who are obsessed with the shooting and Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the teens who did it-who followed Gamble's blog. Gamble and Souvannarath posted on Tumblr about their upcoming Valentine's Day plans under the "Columbine" tag, which is used by a dedicated global community of Columbine. Police say the alleged plotters met online.
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