Roaring trade in serial killer mementos spotlights morbid fascination

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2005

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — For sale: Hairs from the head of Charles Manson -- 100 dollars, boasts an online ad, offering a prurient peek at a roaring US trade in "murderabilia," items linked to history's grisliest killers.

The growing business of peddling murder memorabilia came to light after a US judge last month ordered that prosecutors sell personal items belonging to the "Unabomber," Ted Kaczynski, to the highest bidders to help pay off the 15 million dollars in restitution he was ordered to pay his victims.

Among the memorabilia, once owned by the man who killed three people and wounded 23 with 16 parcel bombs he sent during his 18-year reign of terror, were dental braces, shoes, a typewriter and rambling letters.

Items from the court-ordered sale are likely...