The Campus Killer.

1. Bundy thought his biological mother was his sister.

November 24, 1946, 22-year-old Eleanor Louise Cowell, known as Louise, gave birth to Theodore Robert Cowell at the Elizabeth Lund Home for unwed mothers. Initially, Eleanor thought about placing the baby up for adoption. Ted’s grandfather, Sam Cowell convinced her to join the family in Philadelphia, so they did. For years, Ted believed that his biological mother was his sister until he got old enough and was able to see through her lies. Bundy had told Ann Rule, author of The Stranger Beside Me that “Maybe I just figured out that there couldn’t be twenty years’ difference in age between a brother and a sister, and Louise always took care of me. I just grew up knowing that she was really my mother.”

2. Bundy had repeatedly claimed he came from a happy Christian family.

Bundy had consistently maintained that he came from a happy family, filled with love, stability, laughter, and happiness. The reality behind this was drastically altered, for Bundy’s grandmother had depression and agoraphobia, while his grandfather possessed a violent temper that he inflicted against anything from animals to employees and even his own family members. It is possible Bundy didn’t want to show how much of a cluster-fuck his childhood and family life was, therefore creating a false sense of what his reality really was.

3. Did Bundy’s grandfather rape his mother and sexually assault Ted?

Through research, experts have said they have reason to believe that Ted was a result of his mother, Eleanor being raped by her father. Eleanor had consistently maintained that she was seduced and abandoned by a war veteran after she became pregnant with Ted, claiming he was the young boy’s father. Though this has never been proven, nor disproven, Ted grew up never identifying who his father was. Furthermore, experts said that Bundy likely experienced physical and psychological abuse from his grandfather, though Bundy maintained that they had an excellent relationship.

4. Bundy displayed odd behavior as an adolescent.

Experts have allegedly said that on at least one occasion, Bundy’s aunt woke to find her nephew placing knives next to her while she slept. At one point Bundy’s aunt told Vanity Fair, “I remember thinking at the time that I was the only one who thought it was odd. Nobody did anything” Dr. Dorothy Lewis, a psychiatrist said“only in very seriously traumatized children who have either themselves been the victims of extraordinary abuse or who have witnessed extreme violence amount family members” as a convincing explanation of why Bundy’s actions would have occurred.

5. Bundy didn't get along with his stepfather and would often act out.

Bundy was three years old when he and his mother departed from his grandfather’s house in Philadelphia and heading for Tacoma, Washington. Before the move, however, his mother would give him the last name of Nelson so as not to draw attention to her son. The move itself was rather upsetting to the child, as he really missed Philadelphia and didn’t want to be in Washington.

Shortly after the move, Bundy’s mother, Eleanor met an Army Hospital Cook named Johnnie Bundy whom his mother married in 1951 when Bundy was 5 years old. Bundy became rather jealous of his foolish mother’s relationship so much so that he would frequently have tantrums in public, he began impulsively wetting his pants on purpose. These deliberate acts of petty jealousy did not stop his mother’s new husband from adopting her young son and changing his last name to Bundy.

Throughout the years, the contentious relationship between Bundy and his stepfather remained tense. Bundy had become rather materialistic, repeatedly asking for and demanding expensive belongings including clothes that his stepfather couldn’t afford no matter how hard he worked. It has been stated that Bundy often wished that he was adopted by Roy Rogers or Dale Evans because they’d buy the things he overwhelmingly wanted, that his mother and stepfather couldn’t. Bundy’s friends had allegedly said that they often had seen Bundy provoking his stepfather, making fun of his intelligence, and then crying to his mother when his stepfather lashed out at him out of frustration.