By Chris Bartholomew
Terrorized: to fill with terror or anxiety: scare, a state of intense fear, a cause of anxiety.
Two Serial Killers acting independently, Terrorize Phoenix. The serial killer who terrorized New York City (Son of Sam). "The Phantom" has been terrorizing the city. Serial Killer Terrorizes Tri-State Area. A twisted killer terrorizes New Orleans. Serial child killer terrorizes Berlin. Danny Harold Rolling, Florida's most notorious serial killer since Ted Bundy, ... a 1990 spree that terrorized the college town of Gainesville, Florida. A vicious serial killer terrorizes the bustling city of New York. Were there several killers terrorizing the quiet area of Boston? The Zodiac killer terrorized Northern California in the late 1960s. "Little Old Lady Killer" terrorized Mexico City. A diabolical serial killer terrorizes the streets of Seattle. A sadistic serial killer terrorizes a couple driving on a rural highway in Texas. From 1974 to 1977 the serial killer terrorizes the city of Wichita. The devilishly handsome Satan-worshiping rapist and serial killer terrorized Los Angeles. In 1985 Serial killer terrorizes Connecticut. 'A.M. Rapist' Terrorizes Phoenix Area For 20 years. The Green River Killer terrorized the Northwest. "Genesee River Killer" terrorized Monroe County. A second serial killer once again terrorizes the European continent. The neighborhood is terrorized by a razor-toting slasher. A serial killer terrorizes an entire community. Between the summer of 1979 and the spring of 1981, a killer terrorized Atlanta.
Time and again we see these types of stories with a terrorized tag-line (something that gets you interested enough to read a story.) But are we really terrorized by knowing that there is a serial killer out there somewhere?
Growing up in California in the late '60's I was constantly getting telephone calls where the person would either breathe, or just hang up. Many times these calls would be death threats. I was being terrorized. I have never been so terrorized since.
In the movies when someone is terrorized, they are running away from something and screaming, or just screaming. I think terrorized might be the wrong word. In the media, terrorized is overused and under felt.
In Atlanta there is a serial rapist running around town. News media of the papers and television advise young girls and women NOT to walk alone anywhere at night. What you see driving all over Atlanta are women walking alone everywhere at all hours. They just don't seem to me to be terrorized. With the Daytona Beach serial killer killing prostitutes in a certain part of town, the media advised all prostitutes to stay off the streets, and they all say they have to make a living. They also vow revenge; they do not seem to be terrorized.
When there is notice of a serial killer operating, tourists don't go there, but they aren't terrorized, they just go someplace else for their fun.
Can a serial killer really and truly terrorize an entire community? I don't think so. If it were possible to terrorize everyone then where would the next victim come from? Most killings are at night, why is everyone still walking around alone? Hitch-hikers are at risk... why do people still hitch rides? Prostitutes are being killed, so why do they still hop into a stranger's car? Children are always at risk, so why aren't they watched more closely?
No, we are not terrorized, we are interested, curious, and fascinated, but we are not full of fear, otherwise we'd be more careful.
The serial killer doesn't terrorize the entire community, they only terrorize the victim. Terrorize is a violent word, and the violence is only toward the person the serial killer has decided to kill. We can say we feel for the family, we can empathize with the victim and the people who knew them, but we can only stand by, actually unharmed when the serial killer is at work.
Editor's note: this is a column rather than a case study, written in 2008 to 2009, and it is reproduced as written. The headlines quoted at the top are other people's, collected as examples of the word; the argument is the author's. Two of its asides were live cases at the time of writing and are not now. The Atlanta serial rapist and the Daytona Beach killings both belong to that moment; the Daytona Beach series has its own article in this archive. The piece is kept for its argument, which is unusual in this material: that the press word for a community reading about a serial killer is the wrong word, and that the proof is in what people go on doing.