Herbert Mullin: The Killer Hippie (Part 1) | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this right here that you're listening to
in your car at this moment house. What did you say? At this moment. At this moment is Morbid.
I thought you said at a sporting event. At a sporting event. Why is somebody listening to Morbid at a sporting event?
You don't know. Speaking of sporting events, Elena took me to my first Celtics game.
Yeah. I had so much fun. It is. I love the Celtics. I had a real go sports moment.
Yeah, you did. You were jumping up and yelling about fouls by You were [ __ ] [ __ ] I was so
excited for you. I was like, look at her. She's she's into it. Yeah, it was fun. I liked it. I used to
like going weirdly. I never went to the basketball games in high school cuz I like didn't give a [ __ ] but in middle
school I loved it. That's amazing. In middle school I loved it. So hard in basketball. Hell yeah.
Yeah, it's fun. The Celtics are awesome um and I won't hear anything to the contrary about that. Never. I mean just
based off stats alone. Yeah. Listen to me. Look at that. Number two. Look at those stats.
Oklahoma, go [ __ ] yourselves. Go go [ __ ] yourself. Look at me talking trash. Talking trash
about sports. It's fun. Yeah. It's fun. Yeah. When you get to hear how gnarly Bostonians are.
Oh my god. The crowd at a Celtics game. The crowd at this one in particular, honey. It went it went off.
It went hard. It did go hard. It went hard in the paint, kid. Yeah, it's it's a lot of fun.
I know, I love it. got to do a um a little thing separately during a couple of games.
Um they got we like entered them into a thing where they got to high five the players.
Oh my god, that's so cute. [ __ ] loved it. It's the cutest thing in the entire world.
into that? Yes, you can high five the players. I want to high five the players. Is it for children only? Or is
it for new sports fans? For children. I could I could just crouch. Just crouch down. Like, good luck, guys.
Yay! They're like, what the [ __ ] is that woman doing? go sports. What a visual that paints. Lucky, I am
visualizing it right now. I just got banned from every Celtics event for the rest of the season. You just got put on
a list. They're like, no. No, we can't have that. No, I don't want to do that. But I do
want to go back. Uh, and I love it my kids call uh Jason Tatum Jay Jay Tatum. It was so hard to not yell that out
during the game. every time I see him I want to be like, Jay Jay Tatum. But I'm like, your name
is Jason. I'm sorry. Uh, but yeah, go Celtics and Um, and yeah, I don't think Is there any
other Bid nasty. Really, um I don't know. Uh, Ghost posted our episode yesterday unexpectedly. Like,
the actual Ghost account and I died a thousand deaths. So, Here I am. Hell yeah. A thousand deaths less than I
was yesterday. You only have How many more lives do you have? no idea how where I started.
than a cat. I am. It's so funny the different places that we were about to go with that. You were like, what else
do we have? And you went into Ghost and I was about to say, oh, Easter is coming
up. So, there's that. We are different people. Equally as important. It is. So, there you go.
Go paint some eggs. Yeah. Put some rabbits out. Yeah. Fake ones, though. Fake ones. Don't just
put your rabbits out. guys. People just walk outside and put their rabbits out. I don't know. You don't
know. I don't know your [ __ ] life. We really don't. And you know You know whose life I really don't know and
confirm whose. Herbert Mullens. Okay, so I don't is Here's the thing, I genuinely don't know
his life. I can recognize the name. don't. I genuinely don't know his life. I know the name and I know that I've
heard probably this case before, but I cannot remember the details. I cannot. It's a It's a wild one. Yeah.
So, it makes sense that you genuinely don't know his life, but that you've heard the name. Yeah. Because he's
definitely up there. He's very brutal. He's very prolific in his numbers and he was committing crimes at the same
time as Edmund Kemper. Oh. They got a little conflated. It's one of those things where it's like
everyone really knows Edmund Kemper's name for his crimes, but I think this one got a little pushed to the side,
which is When you hear this story, you're going to be like, "I'm sorry, what?" I almost
wonder, too, if you mentioned him when we did Ed Kemper. I think I did mention him
because I think there was some like confusion with with victims and like what was going on. They were committing
their crimes at the same time period in the same area. So, there was a lot of confusion over what the [ __ ] was going
He's like one of our earliest episodes. I think he's like number three. Yeah, he's very early and um
Herbert Mullin, though, is called the killer hippie, which is quite a moniker. That's such a bummer. Yeah, and he was
like You're not a hippie if you're a murderer. And he's a He's a gnarly guy. Oh, no.
but he's also um very, very mentally ill. Oh. Uh there's a lot happening in this. Okay. Um very scary stuff. And it
was exacerbated, as we'll see, by like psychedelic drugs and stuff. So, that's when you're already mentally ill, taking
psychedelic drugs can potentially be harmful. Yeah, just watch Yellowjackets. There you go.
You should cuz it's really good. I'm in season two. For once, I've turned Elena on to a show
and Mikey as well and I hold the power because I'm caught up and they're not. but we're we're coming up. We're coming
up to being caught up. Almost. We're getting there. So, in the minds of many, the 1960s was definitely a decade that
like you you know, you love a hippie. I do. The 60s was a time that was dominated by hippie culture.
Free love, baby. think Yeah, exactly. Free love. And there was a lot of like, you know,
advance trying attempts to advance progressive ideas and like, you know, this new generation of young people was
trying to make [ __ ] happen. And there's like a lot when you go back into the 60s, a lot of [ __ ] was happening. There
was a lot of cultural changes happening, you know. It's Move things. interesting decade for sure. But while
it is true that the heyday of the baby boomers was one of considerable social and cultural change, it's also an era
where some of the darkest parts of humanity became impossible for a lot of Americans to ignore.
Yep. Like it really was the time. Beginning in the mid-60s, violent crime and homicide rates were spiking in the
US and they were honestly reaching like kind of shocking heights at this point cuz remember, this is when suddenly it
became like, oh, maybe we shouldn't hitchhike as much as we are kind of thing. And it really reached shocking heights
in the 80s before starting like a little bit of a downward trend in the 90s. I miss the 90s.
Oh, I long for the 90s. The number of violent crimes and murders committed varied by city and state, but
few were struggling with the problem of violence more than Sorry, California. Yeah, it just happens. It was rough out
there. Beginning in the 60s, California and the Bay Area more specifically became a real
mecca for hippies and other young people that were drawn to the culture that rejected conservative standards and
morals in favor of more permissive behaviors. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before the
state who was, you know, which was once synonymous with free love became known for producing some of the nation's most
notorious serial killers. Yeah. Beginning in the mid-60s, a man who would eventually call himself the
Zodiac, um started out on a series of murders that would keep the region locked in a grip of terror for nearly a
decade. Mhm. And then they just simply vanished. As we know, to this day, we are the year
of our Lord 2025, and we still have no [ __ ] clue who the Zodiac killer is. Yep. A few years later, in 1968,
you might know this name, too, Charles Manson and his disciples committed a series of crimes that culminated in a
horrific mass murder, effectively ending the era of free love and bringing in, kind of ushering in an
era of fear, paranoia, and suspicion. Mhm. To the south, in the LA area, Juan Corona went on a 4-month killing
spree that claimed the lives of 25 men. Oh, wow. The same time that that was happening,
another serial killer who we just recently covered, Rodney Alcala, the Dating Game Killer,
Yep. committed the first of what would be many, many brutal murders. Mhm. And the so-called Southern
California Strangler, Randy Kraft, who we have not covered, set out on a rampage that claimed the lives of at
least 16 people. Wow. And this was all in like a very short period of time. It was just
mayhem. Over the course of the '70s, the list of LA area serial killers would grow to
include some of the most notorious in the nation's history. But maybe the most shocking and perplexing murders of the
era were taking place between the state's two iconic cities, in a largely suburban area, Santa Cruz County.
Mhm. Um Santa Cruz is also, I think it's supposed to be the, um influence of Santa Carla in
Oh, in um Yeah, definitely. murder capital of the world. Um that's Santa Cruz. Yeah.
So, located about 60 mi outside of San Francisco, Santa Cruz has long served as a more suburban commuter city for those
working in but not wanting to live in San Francisco. Mhm. In 1970, it was home to a wide range of
people from unemployed college students to the highest paid surgeons, essentially. Like and everything in
between. And within a few years, unlike nearby San Francisco, Santa Cruz was becoming very quiet, very peaceful. It
was But then, within a few more years, it feel it feels like it kind of just happened in like a slow burn at the
other end of the spectrum. It became known to many in California and the United States as the murder capital of
the world. Yep. Uh or Santa Carla. Now, for the most part, residents of Santa Cruz thought of crime as something
that happened, you know, elsewhere, in places like San Francisco. This is before it became known what it was known
as. Um you know, they were thinking San Francisco's where that happened, you know, where the
zodiac was killing young couples and terrorizing residents with, you know, threatening letters to the press and
cryptics and all that. But on the night of October 19, 1970, murder came right to Santa Cruz when Dr.
Victor Ohta, his wife, and their two young sons, and the doctor's secretary were found murdered in the family
swimming pool and their house was set ablaze. Oh my god. On the windshield of Ohta's
car was a typewritten letter threatening violence again, quote, against, quote, persons who misuse the natural
environment. And it was signed with several hand-drawn tarot symbols. What? Tarot symbols? Yep. Okay.
That is not at all where I thought we were going. No. And about a week after that, Santa
Cruz police arrested 24-year-old John Linley Frazier, a local man known for his very erratic behavior and a passion
for environmental causes and his obsession with the Bible. Ooh. And it would turn out that the murder of the
Ohta family was just the beginning. In the three years that followed, a number of young women from the Santa Cruz area
went missing and their bodies just were discovered months or years later showing
signs of extreme violence. The murder of these young women would eventually be attributed to Edmund Kemper. Mhm. Uh
this we know Edmund Kemper if you listen to the episode, but he was a local man who was, you know,
one of the things that was very interesting about him is that he was very friendly with the local police.
Yeah. Hung out with them at the bars, wanted to be a police officer, but he was literally too big to be a police
officer. stature is insane. Um but he also had a history of violent antisocial behavior
that eventually culminated in a horrific series of murders. Now in the cases of, you know, Fraser
and Kemper, each had a particular victim type that upon consideration made sense
given their pathology, when you could attribute it to that. This hardly made residents of Santa Cruz
feel safer, but it did kind of suggest that some people were safer than others. Yeah, that makes sense.
Which often happens with these things and it gave the illusion that as long as residents avoided certain behaviors or
activities, they could maybe avoid danger. It reminds you of um the uh Son of Sam case where girls were
going out and dying their hair. Yeah. If you see any kind of pattern happening, you want to try to get away
from it. Yeah. Now unfortunately, while Fraser was killing those he believed to be
polluters and harming the environment and Kemper was killing young women, there was another killer or, you know,
perhaps killers at work in the Santa Cruz area. And unlike the victims of Fraser and Kemper, these victims seemed
to be completely random. Okay. Like cho- chosen completely just like luck of the
draw. Although it would take time for investigators to realize they were dealing with more than one killer
because there were several going on at once. By early 1973, at least 13 basically unrelated murders committed in
Santa Cruz in the preceding year would be now attributed to 26-year-old Herbert Mullin.
26 years old. Yeah, 26 years old. so young. Right? Yes. Isn't that crazy? And that's
at least 13 were attributed to him that they thought were totally unrelated cuz it was there was no pattern here. It was
just mayhem. So, let's talk about Herbert Mullin a little bit. Born in Salinas, California on April
14th, 1947, he his early life was, by most accounts, fairly ordinary and unremarkable. Um the
most remarkable thing about his birth was that it occurred exactly 41 years to the day after the San Francisco
earthquake of 1906. Oh. Seems kind of like random to mention that and you're like, what?
Cool. Yeah. But it comes into play in a big, very big way in his behavior later.
Uh so, hold on to that little nugget. Okay. At home, the Mullin family seemed to be the picture-perfect conservative
American family. Uh the dad, Martin, was a veteran of World War II. He was stern, he was
strict, um definitely met the definition of, you know, mid-century American masculinity.
Oh, good. Yeah. Awesome. According to author Ryan Green, quote, "Martin did show his son affection where he could.
Okay. He shared stories with him about his experiences in the war, taught him how
to fire a gun, and even engaged in playful boxing matches with the young boy in the kitchen while their dinner
was being cooked." So, he sounded like he was like a pretty all right dad. Yeah.
Uh Oh. So, Martin Mullin was definitely the head of the household because that's
the way it was back then. Uh but Herbert's mother, Jean, was responsible for much of the children's
education and uh their spirituality. Okay. Jean Mullen was a devout Catholic and she took her faith very seriously
and she literally like she was one of those that I don't want to hear you questioning anything about my beliefs.
Yikes. Like don't question it, believe it, take what I say as the word and that's it whether you have questions or
not I want to hear it. That's just not the way to teach anybody anything. Yeah, that's not great. You have to let
you have to because if people have questions about something You should be able to answer them. Yeah. Now according
to Green she portrayed the outside world as a dangerous and unhappy place where anything could happen and she was
insistent upon bringing the children to church every Sunday. Okay. Which that you're like you know what She's you know
She's being she's being for real. Yeah and she's and she believes in in Catholicism so she's bringing the kids
to church every Sunday like okay. But you don't need to teach like your little tiny kids how unsafe and unhappy the
world is. That's the thing you got to get let them have a little bit of Imagination.
rose colored glasses on for a little while. Right. Um so young Herbert followed his
parents rules but he was also pretty smart. Like he was a very smart child. to happen.
Yeah and he also asked a lot of challenging questions because as a smart kid you ask a lot of questions about the
world around you because you want to understand more and he was really questioning when it
came to religion. Um the results of this challenging personality was almost always punishment
from his mother who deemed her son to be blasphemous for asking questions. I don't understand what's blasphemous
about that especially if he's trying to understand. It's not that he's questioning it like to be a dick. He's
just like I'm trying to get this. just trying to understand it better like you should have the answers for him and
help him understand. Mhm. According to Green this is where Mullen's kind of like
disordered and paranoid and conspiratorial thinking came from. I mean here is is her because he basically
says he had discovered the truth about the world and he was being punished for it.
Mhm. Like so him questioning things that he's seeing, he's being punished for that. So of course he's going to sit
there and be like, "What are you all hiding?" And of course that yeah, that's going to create paranoia.
Of course. Now, in truth, it's pretty unclear when he started showing signs of mental illness or paranoia. Like nobody
knows exactly when it started, but it does appear as though his personality definitely started
changing when he entered adolescence, which is pretty common. Yeah. Things really come out at that time.
Mhm. Um but particularly when it came to his relationship with his parents. So Herb started to believe his parents were
sabotaging his attempts at making friends. Uh he even believed so far that his parents were going door to door in
the neighborhood asking people to ignore him. Oh, that's really sad. Yeah. But and this is wild.
Things were very different at school. Because he was very well-liked by his peers and he was regarded as a generally
good student Huh. as by his uh teachers. So he was super successful at school. He
was even successful in after-school sports. And like so he was good at academics and sports.
Yeah. And he became one of the school's top athletes. Wow. So he's killing it at
school and doing really well in sports. His peers like him. And then he goes home
and he's being treated like an [ __ ] for asking questions. And he doesn't think anybody likes him even though he's
like having positive experiences. And I don't know if it's like he didn't think anybody liked him in the
neighborhood or like people like you know what I mean? Like but then he goes to school and gets like a little more
cuz I'm not really sure. That's interesting. But as he entered his teen years, his conservative world view that
he'd kind of been had been forced upon him by his parents started to fade a little bit and it was giving way to more
liberal and progressive perspectives of his friends. Like you know, he was becoming a hippie
in the '60s, you know? That was one of those. Um Um, and he attended San Lorenzo Valley High School in San
Francisco. Um, he had definitely always been a little suspicious of his parents'
ideologies, like as evidenced by him constantly challenging them and questioning them. And this new ideology
that he was starting to adopt was only leading to more fights at home. And in turn, this further fueled his belief
that even his parents disliked him. But his success at school did, you know, make these stressors at home a little
easier to cope with cuz he was starting to see like, I am getting positive stuff
at school. So like, I can't be all bad. And he can kind of escape at school. Yeah. And in fact, by the time he was 16
years old, he was voted most likely to succeed in school. Yeah. That's chilling. Isn't that wild?
Yes. Now, any pride that he had in his academic and social performance at school was cut short in 1965.
Um, and this is when his best friend, Dean Richardson, died unexpectedly. Oh, that's awful. He was only a
teenager. Yeah. During the last couple of years in high school, they had become nearly
inseparable. And they'd even been accepted to the same college. Then in early September, Dean, his best
friend there, was riding his motorcycle with his sister on the back when he was cut off by a driver who crashed into a
tree. The driver of the car and his girlfriend were killed instantly. And Dean was transported to the hospital,
but ended up dying of his injuries on a September 9th. That's really sad. Dean's sister, Mardine, would be the
only one that survived that whole crash. Which is lucky for her being on the back
of that bike. Yeah, that's not something that you would expect. No. Now, until Dean's death, Herbert had
only demonstrated, you know, some quirky tendencies and, you know, occasionally a
challenge what was seen as a challenging personality. Nothing that would really indicate any kind of a mental health
issue or anything like that. But after Dean died, his grief and inability to manage his emotions became very
apparent. According to Green, almost overnight his bedroom was converted into a vast shrine for his dead friend.
So, to me it sounds like he was just not given the tools to process this and was
not given like an open line of communication to process it. Well, it's probably hard, too, because
he's questioning his religious beliefs. like his spirituality. and he's probably just wondering like,
"Where is my friend?" Where do I Yeah, where do I put this grief? Where are they somewhere else?
Are they just gone?" That's hard. Yeah. Especially at that any age, but especially at such a young age.
Yeah, and well, in his inability to manage his grief and process it and just like move forward with his life was
taking a toll on his relationships with friends and even his girlfriend at the time. He had a girlfriend at the time,
who and she apparently, quote, complained about his obsessive behavior over some dead boy. That's like his best
friend. So, um so, rather than confront his ongoing difficulty in accepting Dean's death,
um Herbert explained to his girlfriend that he was, quote, becoming homosexual, Okay. It doesn't work like that.
in his mind, was the only possible explanation for his intense emotional reaction.
Cuz he just wasn't sad. taught differently. And you also wonder if that was like
projected at home. Well, that's I wonder if that was part of some of the uh things he would
challenge or question and wasn't getting answers for and was kind of being taught
that and And because he made his bedroom like a shrine, who knows how his parents
felt about that. Yeah, I think there was a lot of probably confusing things being
taught to him, so he was just like, "Oh, well, that's what's happening." Like, which is Because you can love somebody
but not be in love with them. But like, he was clearly confused about his feelings for Dean.
Exactly. And he wasn't getting somebody to sit him down and say like, "It's okay. Like, you loved him and that
doesn't mean you were in love with him unless, you know. And if you are, great. Feel your feelings, you know.
But in reality, he was a teenage boy who was forced to confront the existential crisis of death in a particularly cruel
and unexpected way. Like this came out of nowhere. And he was lacking the emotional tools or support that he
needed to manage this. So it's like of course he's going to come to some like random conclusions because of it. And so
his emotions just got away from him, basically. And within a few weeks after the funeral, he started seeking a
religious or spiritual path to understand death. So that really was part of the issue was like I just don't
understand this. That makes sense. Unfortunately, and much to his mother's disappointment, he
didn't turn to Catholicism. Instead, he turned to Eastern religions and New Age spiritual practices that were growing in
popularity with young people at the time. Right. Not surprisingly, the idea of reincarnation was particularly appealing
to him. Okay. Uh because of, you know, the recent loss. Yeah. In the mid-1960s, and honestly
like pretty much today too, Western audiences had minimal insight into non-Western religions and tended to
understand them through the lens of Christianity. The result was essentially a spiritual
practice that looked decidedly foreign and mystical, but was otherwise fairly Christian in practice. Um also the lack
of insight or any kind of like real information into these practices typically meant that white practitioners
of these took it upon themselves to just kind of like fill in the gaps with their
own ideas and beliefs. Which like, you know. Yeah. So for Herb, the lack of available
information simply meant that he needed to go to Asia to learn more about the practices that he had become so taken
with. Wow, okay. Yeah. Which like at this point you're like, okay, go to Asia. Yeah.
Learn about that. Like whatever makes you feel good. But his parents were not thrilled about
his interest in Eastern religions and refused to help him travel there or learn any more about it.
That's dumb. Instead, his father encouraged him to join the military. That will not help.
Cuz he was arguing, well, you could travel and learn more about the real world. But to Herbert, a hippie with an
interest in progressive ideologies, the idea of joining the military during the ramp-up of an immoral foreign war was
pretty incomprehensible. especially somebody already struggling with their emotional stability.
Yeah. That's not a great time to join the military. Definitely not. Um instead, he turned to drugs and started
experimenting heavily with LSD and other hallucinogens just to try to expand his mind, man.
Also not a great time to do psychedelic drugs. Yeah, I don't think that was the answer
that we were looking for here. No. Now, under the best of circumstances, hallucinogenic drugs are unpredictable
and can have lasting, very bad consequences. Mhm. For Herbert Mullin, a person who'd
been showing signs of an early-onset psychotic disorder, they almost certainly hastened his
downward spiral into complete instability. Mhm. Uh in the years that followed Dean's death, his behavior became
increasingly bizarre and inappropriate, all while his friends and former classmates put more and more distance
between themselves and Herbert. In one instance, following his breakup with his high school girlfriend, he
approached his older sister to ask for sex. Woah. Yeah. That So, there's a That happened so fast. Okay.
really it it just really off right there. So, What? Herbert's sister told their mother about
what had just been asked of her. And Jean Mullin refused to believe that such a thing could be true, and decided
her daughter was being spiteful and trying to get Herbert in trouble. That's not the stance you should take on
that matter. That's [ __ ] up in a way I can't even describe. Jean Mullen up that that happened to her
and that her her own mom was like, "You just want to get Herbert in trouble." It's like, "Damn, you really assume the
worst in people, girl." Well, and what's worse is in the months after that the scene repeated itself several times.
Oh, no. Herb would brazenly proposition his older sister for sex. And she would inform
her parents each time. And Jean and Martin refused to believe their daughter. "Why would she keep
saying this?" Right. "Why would she ever say that? Never mind continue to." And after so
long of this, she was like, "I can't handle this anymore. I can't be in this house anymore." So, she convinced her
boyfriend to marry her so she can move out with him and not piss off her parents, you know, the religious thing
of like, "You can't move out unless you're getting married." Oh my god, that's horrible. I got to get
out of here. her boyfriend, "Please marry me so I can get out of here." I got to get out of
here. That is so awful. Now, between his inappropriate sexual behavior, the increasingly bizarre thought patterns,
and his growing obsession with reincarnation, one would assume it would have occurred
to either one of his parents that like something was wrong here. Like, he's not entirely mentally sound right now. But
at no point did either parent up till this point attempt to get help for their son or even speak to him about the his
mental health. What the [ __ ] Despite him obviously like devolving and losing his mind and
sexually assaulting his sister. And in fact, it took until 1969 after 4 years of his obvious decline that anyone would
do anything to intervene. Wow. ignored him before that. One afternoon, in anticipation of
Herbert's older sister and her new husband coming back for dinner to the house Jean
Mullen asked him to help clean up the house before anyone arrived. And he mind this. Like he always liked doing that
stuff. Um he said he found it calming, like cleaning. Um I love a good tidy. and a not a lot of not a lot of things
were calming him at this point. Um so he was fine. He did his job. He was happy to do it. And when his sister and her
husband arrived a few hours later, at first he was totally fine, like very docile, very, you know, totally normal.
But then his demeanor totally switched. Because again, he was very polite in greeting everyone as they entered the
house. And then all of a sudden Martin noticed that while Herbert was acting normally with everyone else, it appeared
that he was perfectly mirroring his brother-in-law's behavior when they interacted.
Oh, that's so [ __ ] creepy. Isn't that like beyond chilling? yes. Oh, what the [ __ ] Later.
sister, first of all, his sister was probably losing her mind. And then the brother-in-law there is probably
He's probably like, "What the fuck?" "What is going on?" Yeah. And it's later Martin Mullen would
describe his behavior not as malicious or mocking, but as compulsive. And he said, quote, "Almost supernatural to
observe." Wow. Now, Herbert mimicked his brother-in-law's every move and mannerism, no matter how
small, with almost no delay. Like he could anticipate them before it happened. What? And over the course of
the dinner, everyone at the table was picking up on this. But it was his mother's reaction that seemed to snap
him out of it. Cuz unlike everyone else at the dinner table who reacted to the display like just kind of like nervously
Like they said like literally with like uneasy like chuckling kind of like, "Okay, like what What you doing?"
Uh yeah, if they if they even acknowledged it at all, cuz some of them were just not going to even bring it up.
Yeah. Jean Mullen went into a near hysterical panic and said her son was possessed. Girl.
Babe, he's mentally ill and he needs help. Sounds like she's also mentally ill. Yeah. Now the next day, Jean contacted
the family doctor and explained the symptoms that she had seen the night before. She said, "I think he's
possessed by the devil." Yeah, and what kills me is like she calls the next day and talks about the what had happened at
the dinner table the night before. And then she starts talking about like, "Yeah, actually you know, this has been
happening since his final year of high school." And like after his best friend died, it
really got bad. And it's like, "Why are you just telling the doctor So, you have
noticed?" Yeah. Like it's like, "So, you're not in this blind blur haze of like not seeing
it. You've seen it. You just didn't want to acknowledge it." love to ignore things.
did. The generation of ignoring. Uh the doctor agreed that this was this behavior was definitely strange.
Mhm. And he was like, "You know what? There's definitely a diagnosis here, but he said he couldn't be certain until
Herbert was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for observation and evaluation." Okay. Now, to Jean, the doctor's
suggestion was actually, which I was surprised by, it was a comfort to her. Because she was like, "You know what? A
solution to the problem. He's going to agree to the evaluation, we'll get him diagnosed and get him
medicated." Okay. And like every which I was like, "Okay." Yeah. Yeah. Okay, Jean.
have done this a little a little before this, but okay. Martin Mullen, on the other hand, was a much harder sell on
the idea of having his son brought to a hospital for somebody who is mentally ill. Mhm. How he saw it. Yeah. Um
in a relatively more conservative era, such treatments were heavily stigmatized. And those who are diagnosed
with a mental illness treated as completely dysfunctional by society. Yep. Um and you know, we still see that.
Yeah. For that matter, Martin wasn't even convinced that his son was mentally ill.
He definitely is. Which is like, "Babe, if he's copying your every [ __ ] move of your
son-in-law at the dinner table, something's up." Well, and you can see it in his response
later when he says that um the mirroring almost looks supernatural. Yeah, it was
not. religious way of looking at it where it's I think he was possessed and not he
is suffering from a mental illness and needs a lot of help. Right. Um and the thing is if Martin didn't believe
that Herbert was mentally ill, They were kind of getting at believe he was either. Cuz if his father
is saying he's not, he's not. Mhm. And his mom's just hysterical. Exactly. And and and in fact, as far as
Herbert could tell, he was the one person in the house with the greatest clarity.
While everyone else seemed to be the ones with the psychiatric issues. Oh, that's so scary.
Yeah. In the few years following his graduation from high school, his paranoia seemed to have kind of faded
for a little while, especially when he was doing well and had other stuff to focus on. He needed something to focus
on. Uh the talk of hospitalization, which was invariably, you know, heated and intense, brought the suspicion and
paranoia back with full force. It's this was not Whenever this got brought up, it
just made him more and more questioning everything around him. Yeah, that makes sense.
Um he quickly surmised that his parents weren't interested in his mental health and well-being, and instead they were
conspiring with his doctor to have him committed and removed from their home. That's that's how he viewed it.
Now, despite his suspicions, he did eventually consent to seeing a psychiatrist. Um basically, he was doing
it just to prove to his mother that he wasn't mentally ill, so she would leave him alone.
Um after all, he believed he was the more enlightened one and everyone else around him was just bonkers.
And as soon as the doctor saw that, you know, she was going to put Jean's mind at ease and we're going to put this all
behind us and everybody will be fine. But of course, things did not work out that way. Almost immediately, the staff
at um Mendocino State Hospital recognized that his behavior and disordered thinking were symptoms of
schizophrenia. I was wondering. And he was committed for observation. What followed was several years of very
frustrating treatment. Uh doctors were never certain whether Herb uh Herbert was trustworthy, like when he was
reporting things, or whether his paranoid personality was causing him to provide inaccurate information.
Okay. It was very difficult, especially at that time, it was difficult for them to like weed
through what he was reporting. Do you know what I mean? Like it they do become these
kind of patients can become an unreliable um narrator of what's going on, especially back then when it was
very like There's a limited understanding. Yeah, like it was unknown like the ins and outs and deep things
about this particular illness. Yes, that makes sense. Now, the extent of Herb's treatment
during this period is not super clear, but between 1969 and 1972, he was committed to five different hospitals.
Each time he would be discharged once doctors determined he was no danger to himself or others. Damn, that's a lot of
Yeah, hospitalizations. And you know, while we may not know exactly what transpired during all of these
periods of hospitalization, what is known is that while he was hospitalized at Mendocino State Hospital, he first
reported his concerns and paranoia around earthquakes. Huh. That's when it first came out. During
the first hospitalization, he casually mentioned his certainty that there would be another earthquake in California in
the near future. Mhm. At the time, hospital staff were like, "Okay, whatever." And like, you know,
"We're not going to pay attention to this." But years later, many would wish that they had.
Now, during and we'll get back to that, don't worry. During his period of repeated hospitalizations, um Herbert
Mullin was mostly compliant, um and he was pretty honest during most of those. Um but he also loathed being confined
and being accountable in any way, shape, or form to authority. And the longer he was hospitalized, the
more defiant he became. He started compliant, became defiant. Uh and the more experience he gained in
the hospital system, the more he learned about what he needed to say in order to
convince the psychiatrist that he was no longer a danger to anyone. Yep. This meant that while he continued
to describe symptoms of schizophrenia, he left out descriptions of command hallucinations, Oh. particularly any
that might result in a long hospital stay. That's really scary. Now, after being discharged in the later spring of
1972, he went to San Francisco and tried to join an art collective there, Mhm. but
his behavior made the others uncomfortable and he was asked to leave. Oh. Uh so, he went back home to his
parents' house in Felton, and everyone, you know, behaved as though nothing had ever happened to disrupt the family.
That's such a good way of like coping with things. Just pretend they never happened.
Just sweep that under the rug. Yeah. It always works. need to talk through it. It's cool.
Yeah. Um quietly, however, Herbert once again became fixated on mysticism and the concepts of reincarnation and
sacrifice. I hate that. Yeah. Reincarnation, great. Sacrifice is not great. So, what he believed was
the war in Vietnam had resulted in so much death and destruction that he believed the gods had been appeased by
that sacrifice. Oh, no. Thereby, that's how they had avoided any major natural disasters. Oh, wow.
kind of dis- like violence and destruction was stopping the natural disasters from happening again. That is
some disordered thinking right there. But by late 1972, the war was showing signs of slowing as the American public,
you know, grew weary of a losing battle. To Herbert, the end of the war meant the
end of voluntary sacrifice, and he became certain that unless more sacrifices were made, an earthquake
would wipe California off the map completely. Oh my god. So, you can see how he got there. Oh my
god. Now, it wasn't just fears that led Herbert to believe California was in danger of mass destruction, the voices
in his head had for some time been telling him that. Yeah. Uh from a very early age, Herbert was struck by the
fact that he had been born exactly 41 years after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which was a natural disaster
that destroyed nearly all of San Francisco and killed thousands of people. It was a horrible, horrible
disaster. Over time, that fascination of him being born at that like, you know, 41 years after
to the day, it became warped and worked into Herbert's delusion, so that he came to
believe that it was his responsibility to prevent earthquakes. Like it all fell on him cuz of when he
was born. I was like, dude, what significance would 41 have? That's and he and he believed in order
to do this, he had to make sacrifices. Oh, I hate this. Yeah. I've never Yeah, I've never heard
this case before. I like I know I've heard the name, but now I know I have never heard this case.
his killing spree was largely driven by, you know, delusions. Yeah. Mental illness. But that didn't
mean he didn't want at least some recognition for the quote-unquote project he was planning to undertake.
Not a project. Yeah. Uh however, Herb knew if he told his parents or doctors about his thoughts
and hallucinations, they would send him back to the hospital and he wouldn't be able to fulfill his mission.
Mhm. Which to me, like I have to wonder if that's shows some sense of he knows what he's doing is wrong and
that will he will be sent back to the hospital for it. I feel like it's so hard with like a case like that because
I think it's like he knows what he's doing is wrong by society's standards, but he doesn't hold himself to those
standards because he's here for a higher purpose. There you go. So that that's the thing.
That's why this is an interesting one. Yeah. So he didn't want to tell anybody about it and instead he started sending
rambling letters to anonymous recipients around California making vague allusions
to what he planned to do, and then would sign each letter, {quote} a human sacrifice, Herbert Mullin.
Huh. And like that that signature is definitely unsettling. Like a human sacrifice.
But apparently the contents of the letter must not have been too alarming because no one reported them to the
authorities. Anybody signs off a letter human sacrifice, you're getting reported.
Yeah, you're getting reported, buddy. Now, on the afternoon of October 13th, Herbert got in his car and went out for
a drive. And he wasn't headed anywhere in particular. But by then, he had spent months
thinking about his plan to save California, and it was finally time to put the plan into action. I hate this.
So he decided to just let the road take him wherever he was meant to go. Oh, Christ.
And he left Santa Cruz in the direction of the mountains, believing that his first sacrifice would definitely be
found there. And as he drove casually down Highway 9, the voices in his head grew stronger.
And by the time he entered Rin- Rincon, I believe it is, um they were practically shouting at him. Uh cuz
that's when he saw what he appeared to be in, you know, what he thought to be a homeless man walking down the side of
the road. To Herbert, who had let the voices and the, you know, fates guide him thus far,
there was no question that this man on the side of the road was his first sacrifice.
Oh, no. So he drove past the man on the side of the road, then rounded a bend in
the road, and pulled off to the side of the highway, got out, opened to the hood
of his car, and gave the impression of car trouble. Oh, man. Now, this man who was walking down the road
was Lawrence White. He was 55 years old, and that year had not been great for him. Yeah. Uh he had struggled to get
himself, you know, back on his feet, try to find somewhere to live, trying to find work. And he often found himself on
the wrong end of the law for one trivial reason or another. Uh just a few weeks earlier in mid-September, he had been in
custody at the Santa Cruz County Jail when a riot broke out among the inmates and you know, [ __ ] was destroyed,
mattresses were burned, it was a crazy riot and several of the guards and inmates were assaulted. Um, later uh
the County Jail representative George Foster told reporters, you get a young guy who shoots off his mouth and the
other inmates nail him. They take out their frustrations in the only way they know how, with violence.
Mhm. Now during that riot, Lawrence was struck in the head and lost consciousness. So he had spent the last
couple of weeks once he got out of the jail cuz he was in there for like trivial reasons. Yeah, not like a long
sentence, right. Um So he had spent the last couple weeks at a rehab center near
La Selva Beach before being discharged just back onto the street. Um, despite all his recent troubles
though, he wasn't one to turn away someone in need. Aw. So when he saw, you know, Herbert's old Chevy station wagon
pulled off to the side of the road, he approached and said, can I help? Like what's going on?
As it turned out, he actually knew a thing or two about cars and especially Chevys in particular, so it was helpful.
So he introduced himself and he's like, let me take a look under the hood. And you know, and so Herbert was like, you
know what? In exchange for your help, I'll drive you wherever you need to go. Oh, no. Now at first, Lawrence checked,
you know, all the usual spots, making sure the engine had enough oil, all that stuff. And while he was continuing to
look under the hood, Herbert crept around to the back of the car and got a baseball bat he'd stashed in the trunk.
His plan was to knock Lawrence unconscious then stab him in the heart. And the reason he was going to do this
was cuz that's how he saw sacrifices happen in movies or books. Stab him in the heart. Okay. That was
always his like, I need to stab them in the heart. Apparently, he wouldn't need to go
through all that trouble because when Herbert returned to the front of the vehicle, Lawrence had just about
finished under the hood and was, you know, about to tell him like, I didn't find anything wrong with it. And Herbert
struck him with the bat in the back of the head as hard as he could, knocking him to the ground.
Herbert struck him in the head three more times while he was on the ground. And uh the blows from the bat didn't
just incapacitate Lawrence White, they shattered the back of his skull. Oh my god.
and it actually pushed shards of bone into his brain and he was killed instantly. Oh my god. Now, with Lawrence
dead, Herbert had prevented apparently another catastrophic earthquake and in his mind saved millions of people. No.
So, he felt confident that he had done the right thing. Wow, this is insane. So, he threw the bat back in the trunk,
closed the hood, and then he dragged Lawrence White's body into nearby brush, and got back in the car and just headed
home. Jesus Christ. Now, a few days later, Lawrence White's battered body would be discovered in the
woods along the side of Highway 9. He was discovered by a passing driver who reported it to the police.
The death was labeled a homicide, the results of several blows to the head by {quote} a narrow blunt instrument, but
it would be several months before they learned any of the details of Lawrence's death. Um with no next of kin or state
to contact, Lawrence's remains were interred at Oakwood Memorial Park at the expense of the state.
That's so sad. so sad. Now, after Lawrence's murder, Mullen expected to feel some sense of relief.
You know, he had lived up to what the voices in his head were telling him to do. He had fulfilled his end of the
bargain to say, you know, to stave off the impending earthquake. But, he said he still felt a sense of unease and
dread that he couldn't shake. And then he realized why. He was like, "Oh, well, the Vietnam War
had cost hundreds of thousands of lives. So, it really doesn't seem reasonable that
one sacrifice is going to be enough to do this." Oh, man. And there was another new concern, too, because since killing
Lawrence White, his delusional thinking had become had come to include the frightening belief that the earth was
being rapidly polluted and then now he had to go after people for that. Okay. And he was believing that like people,
their bodies were polluting the earth. Dear God. Yeah. Which This next one is horrific. Okay. They
all are, but this one is particularly gruesome. On October 24th, just 10 days Yeah,
damn. after the murder of Lauren White, Herbert was out for a drive along May Avenue in Santa Cruz and he spotted
24-year-old Mary Gilfoyle hurrying down the sidewalk. Apparently, Mary had an appointment at the Cabrillo I think it's
the Cabrillo College Department of Human Resources and she was running late. So,
she was so relieved when Herbert pulled up beside her in his station wagon and offered her a ride.
It was becoming risky to hitchhike at that point, like known to be risky to hitchhike. But, he looked pretty
ordinary. He just looked like a hippie. Like he didn't look like particularly frightening.
Yeah. Um and you know, she she had taken rides before from like older men who had
stopped and those were much scarier. Yeah. So, she decided to take a chance. The two drove apparently in silence for
a short time and then she started to talk nervously. And you know, Herbert just kind of
continued to drive kind of appearing to like he said he was kind of like ignoring her and then he was fumbling
with something down by his side. Okay. And Mary had just opened her mouth to speak when his right hand shot up from
his hip towards her and he plunged a hunting knife into her chest and hit her heart immediately. Oh my.
Killed her instantly. Jesus. He continued driving as, you know, she's bleeding profusely in the cuz she
he had her heart. Yeah. Bleeding profusely in the front seat. And he pulled the knife out of her
chest and she slumped forward and he stabbed her twice in the back as well. Jeez. Uh and she fell to the floor.
Now, with Mary now dead, Herbert drove out to the mountains and found a turnoff where there appeared to be no cars and
no evidence that cars had been there for some time. After parking the car, he dragged Mary's
body out about 125 yd into a wooded area, laid her on the ground beneath a bunch of trees, and then decided that
sacrificing her would slow the rabbit rapid pollution of the world. So, he decided he needed to go a step further
to make sure that occurred because she was going to be the sacrifice that would stop the pollution of the world.
Mhm. So, to make sure that the sacrifice was correct, he sliced open her body expecting to find evidence of pollution
inside of her. What the [ __ ] When he didn't see any immediate traces of pollution, he began digging with his
hands. First into her intestines, then in her chest cavity. Oh my god. And eventually, he accepted
that there was no pollution. So, he stood up, wiped the blade of the knife clean, and returned to the car,
and thought, "Well, this'll keep us safe for a little while." Oh my god. Holy [ __ ]
Gruesome. Like so brutal. And didn't find any {quote} evidence of pollution, but still
felt like it was fine. Yeah. Now, for months, Herbert Mullen had been certain the voices in his head were
guiding him on a mission to save mankind from disaster, and no one could convince
him otherwise. But after the murder of Mary Gilfoil, he wasn't as certain in his divine guides as he'd once been cuz
again, he didn't find what he was thinking he would find. Right. Because if Mary had been the one
responsible for all the pollution in the world, should he have not seen evidence of that
in her body? Now, the tension between what he believed to be true and what he saw
around him was causing him to grow very anxious and frustrated and irritable. He
had killed two people, sacrifices to prevent the end of mankind. And though he was now less convinced that he
had done it correctly or done the right thing. Okay. So, those tensions and frustrations led to more arguments with
his parents cuz remember he's still living at at home. Right. Which in turn led to further drug
use which in turn led to worsening mental health. Yeah. When he asked his mother what she
thought he should do to calm his unrest, she gave the same answer she always gave
him, turn to the Lord. I don't think that will always help. This ended up being a statement that is so
chilling when you find out what happens. Oh, no. said turn to the Lord. And in the past,
whenever she would, you know, that sit she would give that answer, he would dismiss the church and Western religion
as another tool to control the masses. But, this time he decided yes, I will turn to the Lord.
Oh, god. Now, on the afternoon of November 2nd, just 1 week after the murder of Mary
Guilfoyle, Herbert went to Saint Mary's Catholic Church in Los Gatos. He later claimed he had gone to the
church simply to confess his sins. Uh-huh. But, he also went there with a hunting knife tucked inside his jacket
pocket. So, you take what you will from that. Probably not just confessing sins.
When he walked inside, he went through the Catholic routine he'd learned as a child, you know, dipping his hand in the
thing, crossing himself with the holy water, and then kneeling to pay tribute to the altar. Okay. After finishing this
whole routine, he noticed that there was a little light glowing above the confessional booth, and so he went
towards it. But, he was hesitant to go inside and, you know, take a seat opposite a priest. He was a little
nervous. Now, inside the confessional, Saint Mary's assistant pastor, Father Henry
Tomei, could hear like a little bit of what was going on. He's like somebody's out there. So, he was wondering what was
happening. Mhm. Father Tomei slipped the lock on his side of the confessional and
swung the door open to find a very disheveled Herbert Mullin standing before him.
Now, before Father Tomei could even open his mouth, Herbert pulled the hunting knife from his jacket and thrust it
upward into the priest's chest. god. of it sent both of them tumbling backwards into the open confessional
with Father Tomei desperately struggled to get out from underneath Herbert Mullin.
Now, Herbert didn't understand what was happening because he had stabbed this man in the chest.
Just like he had stabbed Mary Gilfoyle a week before and assumed he'd stabbed him
in the heart. But he didn't just die. Like, why is he struggling? So, he pulled the knife from the
priest's chest and Herbert lost his grip on the knife and it fell onto the floor.
And as he leaned down to pick it up, he felt something in his head. Because Father Tomei kicked him in the side of
the head as hard as he could just above his ear. But unfortunately, Herbert Mullin was too quick and as Father Tomei
tried to get up and flee, Herbert rushed at him again bringing the knife down for
a second time and then a third and then a fourth and finally, the priest was dead. Oh my god. Father Tomei lay half
in and half out of a confessional booth. Oh, that's so disturbing. So, Herbert tried to push the man's leg
into the booth to cover up his crime. And as he was struggling to get Father Tomei's body inside of the confessional
booth, he thought he heard a person scream. So, he turned around and no one was there. But he was like I he was certain
that he heard footsteps running out of the church. So, he decided he shouldn't waste any more time and he wiped the
blood from his knife, put it back where he had gotten it and he quickly ran out of the church and got to his car and
drove the 20 minutes back to Santa Cruz. Now, at the time Herb had wondered whether the scream
he'd heard followed by the footsteps had been in his head. Yeah. Cuz he knows that something is a
rye. Right. But what he had heard was a real scream of terror from Margaret Reed
who'd walked into the church and caught a glimpse of Herbert trying to force the
priest dead body back into the confessional. Oh my. Can you imagine seeing that?
Cannot, will not. The footsteps were because Reed ran the [ __ ] out of the church to the rectory where she pounded
on the door of the senior priest Father Richard Holly and Reed explained what she just seen and Holly instructed
his secretary to call an ambulance. While that was going on, Reed and Holly returned to the church and Father Holly
administered extreme unction which is last rites to Father Tomey. Um, who was his friend. You know, like which is
really sad. The ambulance arrived a few minutes later but it was too late. Father Tomey was pronounced dead a few
minutes after 4:00 p.m. He's just out here doing his job. Well, it's even worse because what we find out is that um I
don't even think he was supposed to be there that day. Oh my god. I hate when things like when
you hear something like that. awful. Now, in Southern California the unsolved murder of you know, this this man
Lawrence White who didn't have any next of kin had been dealing with like kind of like a tough time was in and out of
you know, incidents very trivial incidents with the law. Mhm. It didn't get a lot of attention with the press
unfortunately. And honestly, weirdly neither did the disappearance of a young coed college student. She had Mary
Gofoil has not been found. Right. Um, because a lot of people thought she had just run away.
Voluntarily. the time. Yeah. But the brutal murder of a priest in the day in a church
confessional I mean, that's got a lot of elements that's going to I get that. get
that. Um, it was it definitely caught everyone's attention. I mean, that's so that's one you're going to go, "What?"
Very sad that the other two things didn't, but you can very much understand why this uh Why this would. I'm not
saying the other two shouldn't, but like this one definitely makes sense. Right. The next day, the Associated
Press reported on the death of the 68-year-old French priest. According to Margaret Reed, she'd entered the church
just in time to see, quote, "A young assailant kicking and striking the priest."
Woah. Now, as expected, Father death prompted a large investigation as investigators combed the city looking
for anything that pointed to a suspect. According to Father Tomei's housekeeper,
like I said, he hadn't planned on being at the church that afternoon. He had only stopped in to see if anyone was
there waiting to give confession. Wow. So, this is both it's two things. It's very sad, and two, it made it clear that
the killer hadn't expected him to be there. So, this wasn't planned. Um, Detective Sergeant Jim Shay told
reporters, "So far, there does not appear to be any motive at all for this killing." And they also hadn't found a
murder weapon or identified even a potential suspect. And a few days later, detectives in attendance at Tomei's
funeral started scanning the faces and body language of more than 700 attendees at his funeral.
So, he was obviously well loved. Yeah. Um, and they were hoping that the man's killer might be among them cuz
that does happen. But they didn't find anyone suspicious. Like the murders of Lauren White and
Mary Gilfoyle, the murder of Father Henry Tomei appeared completely motiveless and baffled investigators who
simply couldn't fathom who would kill a priest in the daytime in a church and stuff him in a confessional.
But while they may not have understood the killer's motive, they did understand the dangers of having a killer on the
loose, and a vigorous investigation was then launched. At the same time, Mary Gilfoyle's parents had hired a private
detective to track their daughter down who was still missing. That's so sad cuz the police thought she
was a runaway. Yeah. Now investigator Bill Tubbs said it appears that she probably was picked
up as a as a hitchhiker. There's just no logical place she could have gone except
for her stated destination, but she just never arrived there. Now between the intensification of the
investigations and Herbert Mullin's growing discomfort with what he'd done now cuz he's still not feeling like he's
doing what he's supposed to he decided to slow down and develop a strategy. He knew he still needed to
offer sacrifices to hold off the impending disaster and gain the approval of the voices that guided him which had
come to include his father's voice. He said What? But he thought there had to be a more morally righteous way.
Other than murder? And we will get to that in part two. Alaina! Alaina! He is a scary mother [ __ ]
Yeah, this is scary. And it's also just really sad that this all could have been avoided had he been
properly medicated. He needed to be hospitalized, medicated. He needed intensive help. Yeah. For
sure. Yeah. Because also this entire time he's sitting here saying I don't know if I'm doing the right thing, but
he's still doing it cuz he has this like intense belief that there's voices telling him
this. It's It's such a It's a very interesting case because of how layered it is.
Right. It's so sad though. It is really sad. were just Lawrence White was just walking down the street and stopped to
help someone. Mhm. When he was down on his luck. That's the thing like he was down on his luck was
still going to help someone. And he still took time out of his while walking down the street not even
to a home to stop and help somebody. Yeah. And it's like Mary Gilfoil was just running late to an appointment her
whole life in front of her. And that's It's like we were saying it's so sad like when somebody's not supposed to be
there. It's like if she She was just running late. Like she shouldn't have been running there, you know?
And then Father Tomei, not even supposed to be at the church, but he stopped in case people needed confession. Wow. Ugh.
Like it's really sad. Awful. Yeah. It's awful. Well, we we'll hear more of the awful in part two.
Yeah. And we hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. You know not to keep it this weird.
Bye. Bye.

Throughout the early 1970s, California’s Bay Area was in the grip of terror as multiple serial killers operated at the time same time and in more or less the same space. In time, some of these killers, like Ed Kemper, would be caught, while others, like the Zodiac Killer, would remain unidentified. Yet it was the ones who appeared to kill at random, without any preferred victim, that would prove the most terrifying and most difficult to catch. Herbert Mullin was one such killer, and while he may have been active for a very short period, he managed to do a tremendous amount of damage in such a little amount of time.

Over a five-month period in late 1972 and early 1973, Herbert Mullin killed thirteen people, including a college girl, a Catholic priest, and a former high school friend and that friend’s neighbors. To investigators, Mullin’s victims appeared to be—and indeed largely were—chosen at random and the weapons used were chosen more out of convenience than pathology. Had Mullin’s final murder not been committed in full view of witnesses, there’s a very good chance he would have gone on to kill many more people before being caught, if he ever was.

Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!

References Associated Press. 1972. "Dragnet set up for Catholic priest's slayer." Los Angeles Times, November 4: 34.

Dowd, Katie. 2022. "'Murder capital of the world': The terrifying years when multiple serial killers stalked Santa Cruz." SF Gate, August 21.

Green, Ryan. 2024. I Hear Voices: A Descent into the Dark Half of Psychotic Killer, Herbert Mullin. Herefordshire, UK: Independent.

Honig, Tom. 1973. "Did Mullin slay fourteen." Santa Cruz Sentinel, August 10: 1.

—. 1973. "Mullin enters plea: innocent, insanity." Santa Cruz Sentinel, June 13: 1.

—. 1973. "Mullin explains his reason for killing." Santa Cruz Sentinel, August 15: 1.

—. 1973. "Mullin is found guilty." Santa Cruz Sentinel, August 20: 1.

—. 1973. "'Overtones' of drugs in five slayings." Santa Cruz Sentinel, January 28: 1.

—. 1973. "Slaying suspect called a 'quiet, regular guy'." Santa Cruz Sentinel, February 15: 1.

Lunde, Donald, and Jefferson Morgan. 1980. The Die Song: A Journey into the Mind of a Mass Murderer. New York, NY: Norton.

Santa Crus Sentinel. 1973. "Suspect charged in six shootings." Santa Cruz Sentinel, February 15: 1.

Santa Cruz Sentinel. 1972. "Another disturbance at SC County Jail." Santa Cruz Sentinel, September 14: 19.

—. 1972. "Body of slain transient is identified." Santa Cruz Sentinel, October 16: 10.

—. 1972. "Investigator hired to find Cabrillo coed." Santa Cruz Sentinel, November 26: 46.

—. 1972. "Priest slain in confessional box of church." Santa Cruz Sentinel, November 3: 2.

Smith, Dave. 1973. "Killer of killers? Town waiting for answer." Los Angeles Times, February 19: 3.

United Press International. 1973. "Friends claim man charged with 7 deaths used drugs." Sacramento Bee, February 16: 21.

Connect with Wondery http://wondery.com/shows http://facebook.com/WonderyMedia http://twitter.com/WonderyMedia http://instagram.com/WonderyMedia

Brief Summary

Herbert Mullin, the "Killer Hippie," committed brutal murders in the 1970s, believing sacrifices could prevent earthquakes.

Key points

Celtics Game Excitement. Ash shares her excitement about attending her first Celtics game with Elena.
Herbert Mullin: The Killer Hippie. Exploring the life and crimes of Herbert Mullin, a notorious serial killer.
Murder Comes to Santa Cruz. The shocking murders in Santa Cruz that changed its peaceful reputation forever.
The Tragic Accident. Herbert's best friend Dean dies in a motorcycle accident, leaving him devastated.
Herbert's Transformation. Herbert's grief over his best friend's death leads to a profound change in behavior.
A Disturbing Request. Herbert's inappropriate behavior escalates as he propositions his sister for sex.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

You're not a hippie if you're a murderer.

Discussion about Herbert Mullin's nickname, the 'killer hippie'.

5:05WatchApr 3, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

More from Morbid | Podcast

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.