The entries blogged in this section are the opinions of the owners of
Serial Killers Ink
Friday February 17th 2012
Thanks to all for all the positive
support!
We want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for all the
supportive emails. Even though we declined appearing on the Anderson
show, we still felt the benefits of a national show on the murderabilia
industry and we are still receiving massive traffic to the site. Oddly
enough we have been receiving many emails in support of the website and
industry which is really good to see. Kahan and his tired old game of
attempting to outlaw this business is becoming just that - tired and
old. Kahan has been at his trickery for 15 years now, every proposed
bill has been shot down or they have never made it past the proposed
stage. He's fighting a losing battle - kind of like an old, worn out and
dying dog - who even though he can hardly move and is slow in his old
age, keeps trying to catch that elusive and lightning fast rabbit - a
rabbit that he will never catch. All Kahan is doing is bringing more
attention to an industry he will never conquer. Bringing more sales.
Bringing more people into the hobby. murderabilia is at an all time high
in popularity these days. So, I do at least owe him a thank you...
Thank you Kahan for propelling this industry out of the underground and
into the mainstream. Thank you for the increased sales and thank you for
all the media attention. You are a very large part of the reason I am a
success.
And thank you to all our friends fans and supporters! It's great to see
all the positive support and I'm sure Kahan is sitting naked on his
shitter, a bagel with lox in hand and a scathing grimace on his face
right about now.
We also want to let everyone know that in order to keep this up, we need
sales! We have added many new items in the store this last week and we
ask all our loyal customers to take a look and pick something up this
weekend!
Thanks to everyone for all the nice words!
Eric and Jessika Gein
serialkillersink.net
Thursday February 16th 2012
Do we donate a percentage of our sales to
victim advocacy or crime prevention groups?
We have no desire to “pay-off” victim advocacy groups,
victims family members or any of the hundreds of crime ‘prevention’
organizations. Doing so would seem to us that we were trying to ‘quiet
the storm’. We have no desire to quiet any storm. Reason being? We do
not go on massive marketing campaigns, we do not advertise on cable TV,
we do not spam thousands of email addresses advertising our company – We
do no solicit anyone at any time for any reason. The media does that for
us free of charge and in quite a few cases they have paid us for
interviews.
Why you ask? Why doesn’t a company who sells to the
public advertise their products publically? For one. We think that would
be in poor taste. We are fully aware that the items we sell are deemed
offensive by some. We are not in this business to hurt anyone. Shoving
our products down people’s throats would be insensitive. People
who are interested in purchasing true crime collectibles seek us out.
They look online and find us themselves. They read articles and see
stories done on us from news stations and news networks – since 2009
there have been over 150 stories done on us from news organizations
around the country and world. They find our items, they alert the victim
family members and have their story. People view these stories and it
amounts to free advertising for us. The stories when done on us always increase our
sales.
If the media had never done these stories - I can guarantee you that we would have closed the website long ago because we would have been forced to do so due to paying for the site out of pocket and losing a lot of money.
The media is the secret to our success and they are the ones who push these items on the victim’s families. Certainly not us.
People have been asking why I turned down the Anderson Cooper show
- Here is why straight from the horses mouth:
The story begins back in October 2011 when
I was flown to Houston for an on screen interview and short debate with
a crime advocate and public figure from Houston by the name of Andy Kahan.
This was
for a German television show called EXPLOSIV.
I learned from the network that was filming that the advocate's main concern
was if I was getting
paid for my part. That had absolutely nothing to do with the discussion
at hand. I was also informed from the network that he was originally
trying to persuade them to move the interview to Florida where I am based
so that he could use the time while here to visit relatives. Everyone
enjoys a free flight and hotel I suppose, but I found all this pretty
unprofessional because it was in regards to an
interview featuring me. Kahan was just a small part of the shoot and was
not the focal point, I was.
A few months later I found out that Kahan was snooping around calling
the cemetery where Dean Corll is buried seeing if anything could be done
about me scooping a handful of dirt from area around his grave. The
'scooping' of the dirt was purely for dramatic effect and never left the
cemetery. The advocate most likely knew this, however he contacted the cemetery
anyway. I also contacted the cemetery and was told by the owner that
there was no crime committed regardless if I took the dirt or not.
Asking a network about my finances, trying to have an interview moved
purely for personal reasons and contacting cemeteries with preposterous
claims -- I
can only imagine the demands he gave to the Anderson crew.
Therefore,
I refuse to share the national media spotlight with Kahan and have
to again deal with his childish tantrums and unethical way of trying to
push his weight around. I handle all of my business in a very
professional manner and I expect even those who advocate against me to
handle things in the same regard.
Furthermore,
I don't feel it's necessary for every interview or media spot that
I do to also include Kahan. I am still waiting for a neutral and FACTUAL
standpoint on this business to be done nationally. There has never been
and frankly there never will be, at least not on a major network. Any national television show is
going to give the crime advocate the spotlight and anything I would have said would
not have mattered and most likely would not have made it to the air
anyway. There is no way a show such as Anderson would have given
me a fair shot at defending my business. It would not have been in their
best interest and as a result boycotting the show was rightfully in my
best interest.
I informed the people at Anderson that if the advocate was doing the
show, then I would have to turn down the offer. They of course sided
with Kahan and
I gracefully bowed out.
Not appearing on the show certainly has not hurt business. I suspect you
are here and reading this from actually learning about 'Murderabilia' on
the Anderson show and googling the term. In fact I suspect that there
are
quite a few who watched the show and are now 'collectors of 'murderabilia'
themselves. Good for you and welcome to the club!
Andy Kahan needs me in order for him to be an outspoken opponent of
'murderabilia'. I certainly don't need him. My sales are fine and
business is booming.
Friday June 24th, 2011
A word on Murderabilia
Nowadays, everyone
and their mom own a piece of ‘murderabilia’.
Not my mom, although she’s been really
impressed by certain pieces in my collection.
When you can’t flip through the
channels on your television without catching a glimpse of one true crime
show or another, is anyone surprised that serial killer collectibles
exist and people are interested in at least looking at the items and
some even purchasing? What about true crime books.
Why do they always seem to have a big
advertisement on the cover that reads something like, “MORE THAN 8 PAGES
OF SHOCKING CRIME SCENE PHOTOS”? Murder sells, but who’s buying?
Recently, the
government set up an online auction for personal items that once
belonged to the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski.
Eric Gein of Serial Killers Ink was
lucky enough to have a private showing of the Kaczynski items and really
enjoyed what he saw.
He wasn’t the only one.
The items sold like crazy.
The final bid for his personal
journals was somewhere around $41,000. In all, the auctions made about
$232,000.
Not bad for a business that has many
people in an uproar over the fact that it is even in existence.
One person who has
been a critic of murderabilia and has even tried to make the items
illegal to obtain is Andy Kahan.
Andy works out of Houston as a
crime-victims advocate.
Andy’s most overused quote about
serial killer memorabilia is, “It’s blood money, plain and simple.”
That doesn’t stop Andy from having his
own murderabilia.
He claims the reason for his rather
impressive collection is to see how the murderabilia market really
works.
That’s all fine and well.
He found out how it worked.
He purchased his items many, many
years ago, but can you believe he still has the stuff?
He does.
He must take really good care of it.
Some of his many items include a lock
of Charles Manson’s hair, fingernail clippings from Roy Norris, Larry
Bittaker’s socks and a t-shirt swatch from one of John Wayne Gacy’s
shirts.
Not bad, Kahan.
There have even been pictures taken of
Andy looking proud with his big serial killer collection.
Mr. Kahan was asked what he thought of
the government auctioning off Ted Kaczynski’s items.
After all, he hates this stuff.
He said he was alright with it.
The money raised was going to go to
victims’ families.
Wait, what?
How can someone say they are okay with
murderabilia as long as the money goes to certain people?
I say you’re either down with it or
you’re not.
You can’t play both sides of the
fence, but what do you expect from a guy who is trying to make it
illegal while showing off his own collection.
Could he be one of the buyers of the
Kaczynski items?
I wouldn’t put it past him.
Another strong
opponent of murderabilia is none other than John Walsh, of America’s
Most Wanted fame.
At one time, John Walsh had his own
talk show.
One of the episodes was about
murderabilia and Mr. Walsh was very vocal about his thoughts regarding
one man’s hobby of collecting serial killer memorabilia.
In fact, before the commercial break
Mr. Walsh was introducing his next guest, the murderabilia collector,
and called him a pervert just because of his hobby.
After the commercial break, John
Walsh, along with Andy Kahan, teamed up to bully said collector.
Mr. Walsh really lays into the
collector about having items from people who did such heinous deeds and
asks the question, “How do I know you’re not going to be the next child
killer?”
Of course, John Walsh is also part
owner of the National Museum of Crime and Punishment.
I just visited their website.
I was pretty shocked to see the
heading of the website reads, “SO MUCH FUN – IT’S A CRIME”.
Wow.
Talk about disrespect to the victims’
families.
I don’t think we would even say
something like that on our website.
Apparently there are quite a few
serial killer collectibles in John Walsh’s museum, including but not
limited to Ted Bundy’s car and John Wayne Gacy’s original clown makeup.
You can pay John Walsh twenty bucks to
look at his murderabilia collection.
Kids five and under can get in for
free.
Fun for the whole family, huh?
Because I know if I had a five year
old there is nothing I would want more than a picture of him/her
standing in front of Ted Bundy’s Volkswagen.
I wonder if Mr. Walsh and Mr. Kahan
ever trade their serial killer memorabilia.
I wouldn’t doubt it.
I also wouldnt doubt it if Mr. Walsh
was one of the buyers of the Unabomber items.
The problem that Andy
Kahan and John Walsh seem to have with murderabilia is not its
existence, as they both own their fair share of items; it’s where the
money goes for the items.
To quote Andy Kahan again: “You just
shouldn't be able to rob, rape and murder and turn around and make a
buck from it.” People like us shouldn’t be allowed to sell it and
inmates shouldn’t get paid themselves.
I have a problem with that.
I’m sure John Walsh gets paid from his
museum.
It’s not all going to charities.
I don’t see any problem with people
buying and selling serial killer memorabilia.
It’s a hobby just like any other,
albeit a macabre one.
People have the right to free
enterprise.
I feel inmates do as well.
If an inmate has an artistic talent,
why shouldn’t he be able to sell his product?
Because he committed a crime?
Well, that’s why they are
incarcerated.
They are serving their time.
What are they going to do with all
that money they are making, buy a new car?
No.
They can barely leave their cells.
They are going to purchase some soap
and maybe a candy bar.
Why is that so wrong?
Most, if not all of the men and women
we correspond with will spend the rest of their lives behind bars
because of the crimes they committed.
They are in their cells 23-24 hours a
day.
Most of them do not have prison jobs
and most of them do not have any money on their accounts.
If a person wanted to throw an inmate
a few dollars for a nice drawing they did for them, no one should throw
a fit about it.
It’s not as if any inmate is making a
‘killing’.
And it’s not as if they could go on a
shopping spree even if they were making a lot of money.
Friday May 6th, 2011
A word from the owners of Serial Killers Ink
 As seen on the main page of lexingtonprosecutor.com |
Attention Serial Killers Ink visitors: How
did you arrive on this website? Did you read in the news that
people are disgusted with the thought of our website selling Michael Carneal's art? Maybe you heard about a murderabilia ban that
certain senators are trying to pass, for lack of important issues to
work on. Maybe you heard somewhere that some sick people are selling
Charles Manson letters. What ever the case may be, here you are.
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