Born Evil: A True Story of Cannibalism and Serial Murder

by Adrian Havill and Havil

Book Overview

Homeless and living in his truck, forty-year-old Hadden Clark often drew stares in Bethesda, Maryland. He also slept with a teddy bear, and, dressed as a woman, strolling through town, he carried 28 carving knives, a straight razor, and a gun in his truck. When the reclusive loner was arrested in 1992 for the stabbing murders of two local girls, no one was surprised. It was after his incarceration that the surprises came, popping up like half-buried...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312978901
• ISBN13: 9780312978907
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: St. Martin's True Crime
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

informative

I bought this book at my local bookstore after being intrigued at what I read on the back cover. I had never heard of Hadden Clark up until that point and was willing to learn about his crimes. I thought the book did a good job at supplying enough information. Yes, some of the scenes are gruesome, but it's a true crime book not a fairytale. I liked the fact that they went into Hadden Clark's past. This helped give me some more insight as to why he would commit these heinous crimes. I don't feel that this book was sympathetic towards Hadden Clark. I believe the author tried his best to be impartial. I feel deep sorrow for the victims families and Hadden Clark deserves to rot in jail for the rest of his life because he is a truly evil man. The book was able to portray how evil he was by giving some examples in various spots of the book. The only dissapointment was that the author didn't go into more detail about the other victims he killed. I thought there was some injustice there.

THE TITLE SAYS IT ALL

Hadden Clark is a truly evil man. The third of four children, young Clark was killing animals and abusing others in childhood. He claims he committed his first murder at age 14 of a young boy in 1965.Hadden's murderous appetite literally escalates. His older brother Brad, also seriously disturbed did not show signs of his mental illness until he had reached adulthood. In 1986, Brad had killed two women and cannibalized their remains.Geoff, Hadden's second oldest brother abused his wife and children. Once divorced, Geoff appeared to settle into a more mainstream lifestyle. Alison, the youngest appeared to be the most stable of the four in adulthood. Repeated episodes of running away from home and subsequent hospitalizations literally drove Alison away from her family.That left Hadden. Hadden, the overlooked. Hadden, the cruel to animals and violent with peers. Hadden of the bizarre non sequiturs. Hadden, who had found no real niche. An unsuccessful stint in the Navy did lead to what could have been a successful career as a chef. Trained at one of America's top cooking schools, Hadden did secure good jobs only to lose them within a few weeks after a display of bizarre and/or violent behavior.By 1986, Hadden, then 35 had literally divorced himself from reality. At or around the time his older brother faced legal consequences for the brutal murders he had committed, Hadden appeared to be following suit. He abducted and killed his niece's playmate because he was angry at his niece. He trashed a landlord's home by stuffing rotten fish heads in the piano and furniture in retaliation for some imagined wrong. He even went so far as to steal his landlord's daughter's Chinese language books. Even when confronted with evidence, he maintained his innocence.By 1992, Hadden was homeless. He lived in his truck and camped out in a wooded area. There he was able to continue his bizarre fantasies. He stabbed a young woman to death and stored her blood drenched linen in a storage shed. He wore women's clothing and insisted he was a multiple personality.The arrest of Hadden was ludicrous to the point of bizarre. Two female officers, Paula Hamill and Liz Cornett were also odious. For three hours, the women alternately upbraided and cajoled him, pretending to sympathize with his actions. At no time did Hadden cave and answer any of their questions. He kept insisting on speaking to his attorney and was denied each time. In fact, the behavior on the part of the police department in general was degrading and unconstitutional. The man was plainly mentally ill. He slept with a stuffed toy. He enacted bizarre fantasies involving murder and cannibalism. He expressed concerns about gender identity.Once provided with a court appointed defender, Hadden began confessing his litany of crimes. He even showed the police places where he killed his some 20 victims. He claimed he killed his "first woman," identified as "Debbie" in 1976, but his career i

Lighten up. This is True Crime

When a book is titled BORN EVIL and the front cover tells you it is about "a real-life Hannibal Lecter" and says it contains cannibalism and serial murder, well, you know it's not going to be chosen as Oprah's next selection. However, for the genre, this is one of the more satisfying efforts. The killer claims to have murdered and cannibalized more than a dozen women, has been convicted of two murders and wait, it turns out his brother is a cannibal and murderer too! On top of that, it's beautifully written with the author taking time to describe summer sailboats in Chesapeake Bay as being "as abundant as seagulls." Certainly a lot of the story is gory, grisly, and sensational. What would you expect? At least the author goes face-to-face with the killer and gets to the "why he did it" part rather than just how he did it. It held my interest until the final page.

Truly Bonkers

A confession to a one-eyed teddy bear? Assisting the police only when they provide this guy wigs and bras to wear on the walk through the woods for his hidden shallow graves?... All this and more in this truly unbelievable case that dropped my jaw on more than one occasion. Perhaps the first roller-blading serial killer. One chapter in particular shows the monstrously illegal interrogation by the MD police of this monstrous individual, which is a welcome change from most true crime where the law enforcement is often portrayed as incorruptible. A horrifying and fascinating read about the extremes of human behavior.

Havill gets right in the cell with them

The thing I like best about Adrian Havill's crime books is that he usually gains access to the killers and gets them to talk. So you get a book that has the viewpoint of the cops and the prosecutors but you also find out what was in the murderer's head and why he became that way. Havill was pretty gutsy to seek out this serial killer and his cellmate for one-on-one conversations. Most writers rely on transcripts but you can tell the author got right into this guy's head. This is an exciting read to be sure, but it's so detailed you know the writer did his homework. He's one of the best writers in the true crime genre today.