Fact Check Cullen's book

I think this thread is definitely needed here. I see and hear a lot of people whom say that Dave's book is full of errors, and indeed I've listened to some people point out some of the most egregious ones. But we do not, as far as I know, have a dedicated thread going over every single factual error made in his book. I think any novice researcher or passerby would be greatly aided in learning a few new things, but if nothing else this could be a handy-dandy guide for the rest of us.

Please don't reply to this by saying "LOL EVERYTHING!", it's not funny or clever.

There was a blog who went chapter by chapter debunking. However it wa a tcc blog so I can try to find the links. There was a big purge on that platform

I think this thread is great. :-) Thank you for starting it

Screamingophelia wrote:

There was a blog who went chapter by chapter debunking. However it wa a tcc blog so I can try to find the links. There was a big purge on that platform

I think this thread is great. :-) Thank you for starting it

Just tag LPorter101 and call it a day! It will be brutal, accurate and funny as fuck.

ShadowedGoddess wrote:

Screamingophelia wrote:

There was a blog who went chapter by chapter debunking. However it wa a tcc blog so I can try to find the links. There was a big purge on that platform

I think this thread is great. :-) Thank you for starting it

Just tag LPorter101 and call it a day! It will be brutal, accurate and funny as fuck.

Yes! They need to be a part of this. But it would be kind of cool to have a lot of resources in one thread. Like the interview with Ann Marie where she says that a lot is inaccurate etc

Screamingophelia wrote:

ShadowedGoddess wrote:

Screamingophelia wrote:

There was a blog who went chapter by chapter debunking. However it wa a tcc blog so I can try to find the links. There was a big purge on that platform

I think this thread is great. :-) Thank you for starting it

Just tag LPorter101 and call it a day! It will be brutal, accurate and funny as fuck.

Yes! They need to be a part of this. But it would be kind of cool to have a lot of resources in one thread. Like the interview with Ann Marie where she says that a lot is inaccurate etc

Agreed. I would like to see what everyone had to say on the subject. Especially someone who was actually effected by it like Ann Marie.  I would also LOVE to have Amanda's([You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]) take as well.

Screamingophelia wrote:

There was a blog who went chapter by chapter debunking. However it wa a tcc blog so I can try to find the links. There was a big purge on that platform

I think this thread is great. :-) Thank you for starting it

If you can rediscover it that would be great, but since I think direct Tumblr links aren't allowed here could you PM the link?

Also thanks for the compliment, this thread was a long time coming.

QuestionMark wrote:

Screamingophelia wrote:

There was a blog who went chapter by chapter debunking. However it wa a tcc blog so I can try to find the links. There was a big purge on that platform

I think this thread is great. :-) Thank you for starting it

If you can rediscover it that would be great, but since I think direct Tumblr links aren't allowed here could you PM the link?

Also thanks for the compliment, this thread was a long time coming.

Sure! I think that it was backed up during the purge

Screamingophelia wrote:

Yes! They need to be a part of this. But it would be kind of cool to have a lot of resources in one thread. Like the interview with Ann Marie where she says that a lot is inaccurate etc

Here is the interview with Anne Marie. This was when Cullen was in talks with Lifetime to do a movie based on his book:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

“I was injured ad Columbine, and Dave Cullen’s book is inaccurate and sensationalized.”
Cullen never interviewed her; he got all of his information about what she and her family went through from news articles.
“It felt kind of violating, to be honest,” Hochhalter says of the experience of reading Cullen’s book. He got the part about how I was injured completely wrong. I couldn’t bear to read the whole thing.”
“The fact that this movie is in the works, based on what he wrote- I just feel sick over it,” said Hochhalter to SF Weekly.

Cullenbine was a terrible book filled with falsehoods. I'd skip over it if you're looking for a factual based book.

slippy123 wrote:

Cullenbine was a terrible book filled with falsehoods. I'd skip over it if you're looking for a factual based book.

Well this thread for pointing out those falsehoods. You're free to list as many as you like.

QuestionMark wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

Cullenbine was a terrible book filled with falsehoods. I'd skip over it if you're looking for a factual based book.

Well this thread for pointing out those falsehoods. You're free to list as many as you like.

In that case I would be here until next year  

It's been 5+ years since I've read it, so I don't remember all of them, but in general Cullen's portrayal of Harris and Klebold was wildly inaccurate.
He essentially created his own narrative, acting like he was inside of E & D's heads, spewing information that is pure speculation, such as what they were thinking or what was going through their minds.
The fact that he called Eric a "lades's man" speaks volumes.
Even survivors who were mentioned in the book like Anne Marie Hochalter came forward saying most things were factually wrong, or blown out of proportion.

As far as I know, he got all his information from the 11k, and didn't sit down with anyone to verify if the information was indeed true, and if he did, he did a terrible job.

If you want to find out more you can just read reviews from sites like this where people nit pick everything that wasn't true: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

As you can see, there are an overwhelming number of 1 star reviews from people who seem to have some knowledge about the massacre.

People who have no prior knowledge about Columbine would find it a good read, and probably give it 5 stars just as I did years back before I actually learned the facts and realized most of what I thought was true from reading his book wasn't.

I'm sure there is someone on here who has recently read it that would be able to recall more of the things that were factually wrong since I don't have the time or patience to re-read that mess of a book.

slippy123 wrote:

QuestionMark wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

Cullenbine was a terrible book filled with falsehoods. I'd skip over it if you're looking for a factual based book.

Well this thread for pointing out those falsehoods. You're free to list as many as you like.

In that case I would be here until next year  

Technically speaking next year is only a week away.

Anyways, I appreciate your contribution. I suppose it wasn't really obvious when I read the book for the first time but now that you mention it a shockingly large amount of the novel is made up of unfounded speculation.

what a needed thread.
i wonder if this thread will blow out when his parkland book will get released?

The only copy of Cullen's book I have is the original 2009 release. This includes all the Brenda Parker lies. He did, barely, do a mea culpa by taking her stuff out of subsequent editions but basically all he said was that he shouldn't have been so trusting, or some BS like that. It was clear to police in 1999 that Parker was lying, so Cullen acting like he was fooled when his book didn't come out until 10 yrs later is a lie, IMO.

Chapter 1-
Relates Mr. DeAngelis' talk to kids the Friday before the prom. Telling them to be careful, he loved them, etc.
The only thing that is probably questionable in this chapter is when he says the students "adored" DeAngelis. If you listen to interviews from E & D's friends, or others who complained about the bullying at Columbine, clearly not everyone adored him.


Chapter 2-
Eric the ladies' man:
- Cullen writes that dates were not a problem for Eric. That he was a "cool brain" and got invited to parties.

- He "got chicks. Lots and lots of chicks."

- "Eric outscored much of the football team."

- "He was a little charmer. He walked right up to hotties at the mall. He won them over with quick wit, dazzling dimples, and a disarming smile."

- His spiky hair "was edgy and it played well with his swagger. The smile was his trump card, and he knew exactly how to play it: bashful and earnest yet flirtatious. The chicks ate it up."


- Referring to Parker, Cullen wrote Eric "scored with a twenty-three year old at seventeen. He was damn proud of that one."

Parker was a lie, as we all know.
Eric had a handful of dates (3 or less) with a couple of girls. Tiffany Typher, Katie Thompson, and a girl he met at a soccer game in 1998 (pg. 10277). I believe there was also another girl he met at the mall in '97 or '98. And then the one date with Susan Dewitt.
He was with Sasha Jacobs for a couple of months. She said they went out 16- 20 times between October 1997 and January 1998, usually to a movie. She'd been to his house about 4 times and had dinner with his parents once. (pg. 13254).
Aside from Susan, he appears to have asked out just about every girl at Great Clips and was shot down. Not to mention being turned down by girls like Jen Lautenberg (sp?), Megan Minger, Sabrina Cooley, etc.
Eric was hardly Don Juan. No one has admitted to kissing him, but I'd guess he kissed Sasha a time or two. Beyond that, he likely got no action.

Minor quibble, but  Cullen describes Robyn Anderson as "diminutive". She's not particularly short for a high school girl and she was not excessively thin.
Why describe her this way? IMO, it's to make her seem all that more attractive to diffuse the myth that Dylan and Eric were losers.

He also said Robyn was "a month away from graduating as valedictorian".  I could be wrong on this point, but I thought Lauren Townsend was supposed to be valedictorian. Also, I remember reading that Jeanna Park was also in the running.

Cullen wrote that Dylan and Eric attended the football games, dances, and variety shows. I know Dylan did not attend dances; beyond that I don't know the truth in that statement but I don't think they participated that actively in those kinds of events. I'd assume they went now and again but nothing indicates they were regulars.

Cullen wrote that when Dylan was called to the Dean's office for defacing a locker that he "cussed the Dean out" and "acted like a nutcase". That's a gross exaggeration.
Dean Horvath said as they waited for Tom to come Dylan started cussing and was very upset about the way the school system handled people that picked on him and others. He said Dylan was very agitated but he did not direct any of the cussing at him personally. He said Dylan was a pretty angry kid and he had the impression that Dylan was upset with his dad and stuff at home. (pg. 5707).

Cullen wrote that in the videos Dylan and Eric made for class "Eric was so calm and even- tempered, he couldn't even fake intensity. In person, he came of charming, confident, and engaging, impersonating an emotional young man, he was dull and unconvincing incapable of emoting."
This is just stupid. Both Eric and Dylan were lousy actors, just watch their videos. Dylan's screaming in Hit Men For Hire was better than Eric's but not by much, and they are both pretty flat in the other vids. And no one who knew Eric described him as charming, confident, and engaging.  
In "Eric in Columbine" he seems pretty uncomfortable being on camera- fidgeting with the cell phone, touching his face and picking his hands. Awkward around Brandy. Yet, Cullen writes "Eric appeared entranced with his cell phone, aimlessly spinning it in circles." The implication, IMO, is this kid is so detached from everything. This is not at all the impression I get when I watch it. Eric seems acutely aware of the camera and often appears really awkward to me.

Citing the same video, he says, "A busty girl walked by. Eric waved her over and they hit on her."
First, busty she was not and ewww for writing this about a teenaged girl anyway. But clearly his goal was again to hammer home the Eric was a chick magnet theme (and who the hell still calls girls "chicks", anyway?).
Second, Mike called her over, Eric waved his hand but he didn't seem like he cared one way or the other.
Third, Mike and the others were making the suggestive comments to her, Eric was barely listening and I don't believe he said anything to her. The most you see him do is smirk a little after she left.  

Cullen wrote that Eric and Dylan both smoked Camel filtered cigarettes. "Eric picked it, Dylan followed." Um, how the hell would Cullen know?  How would anyone know who smoked what first? I call Shenanigans. The goal, obviously, was to make it seem like Dylan followed Eric in every little thing.

Chapter 3-
He talks a little about the Denver/Littleton area, how Mr. DeAngelis loved lunch duty, and about school shootings. He claimed "not a single shooter emerged" in the 1998- 1999 school year until Eric and Dylan.
Nothing that hit national news occurred but there were school- related shootings during that time that it shouldn't have been too difficult for a reporter to learn about:
12/10/98- Wayne State University- a doctoral student shot and killed his professor
1/8/99- a 15 yr old girl and 17 yr old boy died in a suicide pact in a girl's bathroom at a school in Carrollton, GA
4/16/99- a 15 yr old boy with bipolar disorder fired 2 shots in a classroom in Idaho. No one was injured.

Chapter 4-
Cullen wrote "Most Columbine parents were affluent enough to endow their kids with cars. Eric had a black Honda Prelude. Dylan drove a vintage BMW his dad had refurbished."
IMO, this is meant to imply that the Harris' and Klebold's were well off, especially in referring to Dylan's junky BMW as "vintage". Sorry, but the definition of vintage refers to something of "high quality"; old does not equal vintage.
Eric's Honda was a 1986-- a 13 yr old car does not indicate affluence. And to be picky, his car was gray, not black.
What's the motivation in implying they were wealthy?

Cullen wrote that when Eric spoke to Susan Dewitt the night before prom "he went on and on about one kid who had betrayed him."
Actually, what Susan (pg. 6196) said was that Eric "once mentioned some kids that he used to be friends with that he was mad at for making fun of him", and she specifically referred to Mike Dinkle. She told police that Dinkle was dating her friend, Megan. Which kind of seems like maybe Dinkle's name came up in reference to her friend and Eric told her why he didn't like Dinkle. She never says that he "went on and on". She told police they also talked about computers because she was at a friend's house trying to install AOL, and that Eric asked her out for Saturday. Susan said they only spoke for about 1/2 hr.  

Chapter 5-
This chapter gives background on Dave Sanders, Patrick Ireland, and Cassie Bernall and what they did in the days before the shooting. I try not to delve into the victims and those affected by Columbine much as I feel they deserve their privacy, so I can't attest to how much of this is true.
I do know that with regard to Cassie that his "At school she got attention, but strictly sexual" is false.
Zach Johnston (pg. 906-907) wrote some really nice things about what a great person Cassie was and how much he liked her on his blog.

Chapter 6-
Eric pressed his luck. He was crazy for a prom-nite date, but he waited until early evening to call Susan. He was confident. Girls liked him."
More of the Eric the ladies man garbage.

Minor point but after calling Event Horizon a "gore-fest" he says it was Eric's "all time favorite movie." Susan said Eric told her it was "one of his favorites."

Chapter 7-
Talks about how heavily religious the Littleton community is, and how the majority of kids at Columbine were devoutly Christian.

He mentions Dwayne Fuselier's role in the David Koresh/Branch Davidian mess (I don't know what's true or not there), as well as Tim McVeigh doing the bombing on the anniversary of that, April 19th.

Chapter 8-
Cullen claims that Harris came up with the idea of using bombs to "ease" a "reticent" Dylan into killing. Because he wasn't actively doing anything it wouldn't feel like killing and "Most of Dylan's murders would be over before he faced them."
There is no evidence to suggest Eric came up with the bomb ideas first. Heck, Dylan brought a pipe bomb to Blackjack once so he was definitely into making them. And in the Basement Tapes, it's obvious that Dylan is every bit as on board with the bomb idea as Eric.
Cullen is attributing thoughts and feelings to Eric and Dylan that he couldn't know and that are not supported by the evidence.

He also claimed they would wait outside by their cars to shoot those fleeing the cafeteria. But in Dylan's To Do List he specifically says, "Go to outside hill and wait" Cullen even references the list but leaves that line out- wonder why?
Cullen goes into elaborate detail how Eric and Dylan were establishing a US Infantry technique of       "interlocking fire lanes" for maximum kill and to make sure they could see each other and not hit each other.
There's no evidence to suggest that this was their plan.

Cullen claims Eric and Dylan had been "considering a killing spree for at least a year and a half"
Eric didn't write of it until April of 1998. If he was the mastermind, why is that?
Dylan was the one who wrote of it in 1997. If Cullen is claiming they were planning it for at least a year and a half, doesn't that mean he recognizes that pathetic follower Dylan thought it up first?

Cullen claims they finalized the date as April 19th, in anniversary of Oklahoma and Waco, but that it got pushed to April 20th because Manes didn't get the extra ammo in time.
I've heard this a lot and it may very well be true but I personally have not found definitive confirmation of this although I have searched.
I know Manes bought the ammunition Monday night, but still have found no evidence that this ruined their plan for the attack being on April 19th. Also, he only bought them like 100 rounds of ammunition when they already had something like 700. Doesn't seem like they would have cancelled a year's worth of plans for 100 extra bullets.
In early April on the Basement Tapes, Eric is still pondering whether to do it before or after prom, so when exactly did April 19th become "the day"? If someone can point me to something definitive that shows they were going to do it on Monday, I'd appreciate it.
[edited to add: I found that on the Basement Tape they did the night before prom, they talk about how snow is gay. Eric first says he hopes the snow clears by Tuesday and then he says, "no, Sunday" because he needs it to be dry for his fires. To me this indicates that at the time they made that video (early morning of April 17th) they had decided that Tuesday, April 20th was the date of the attack. So Manes not buying the ammunition until April 19th did not delay it]

That's it for tonight- more to come soon...

the brenda parker thing was OH LORD. the girl admitted she did it out of no life and he didn't even include it! just to push the idea he's a ""popular with the ladies"" deadass the man does anything to make eric look like a popular psychopath and a dylan a follower LMAO

Chapter 9-
Cullen writes of a heart-to-heart that DeAngelis had with Coach Sanders the day before the shooting. Both expressed regret at not spending as much time as they should with their families; Sanders told DeAngelis he would be cutting back on his coaching; he hadn’t told anyone else yet.
Guess you have to decide whether or not you believe DeAngelis that this is true.
Also wrote that on Tuesday morning Sanders and his wife were both in a hurry and forgot to kiss each other goodbye.


Chapter 10-
Cullen’s timeline is off. He wrote that they were running behind the morning of the attack and that they didn’t pull into the school until 11:10 am. He said the meeting with Brooks at Eric’s car occurred before he went inside and planted the cafeteria bombs. He gives a minute by minute account, saying that although the bombs were set for 11:17, they didn’t plant the bombs until just after 11:14. According to Cullen they then, somehow, got back to their cars, geared up and set their car bombs, with seconds to spare. He writes that the cafeteria surveillance video tape missed them planting the bombs because the custodian was late rewinding the tape.
As we know, the videotape DID catch them planting the bombs and they did it at just before 11 am. They had plenty of time to get everything set up.
Did it really make sense to Cullen that they would plan a large scale assault for “at least a year and a half” and then ruin their plan because they were late?!

He writes Cassie Bernall was “an Evangelical junior who had transferred to Columbine to enlighten nonbelievers.” Uhhhh, no. Her parents sent her to Columbine to get her away from friends that they felt were bad influences. Cassie didn't want to go to a Christian school because she wanted to be able to witness to the other students and that's not necessary at a Christian school. It wasn't like Columbine was her targeted school for witnessing.

Cullen writes that Robyn Anderson wanted to leave for lunch and she was so upset with her friends for making her wait for them for 5- 10 minutes that when they finally appeared “Robyn snarled at them.”
This is made up. Robyn went to lunch with Monica Schuster and Tammy Golden. Schuster had 4th hour with Anderson (pg. 1141- 1143) and suggested to Robyn, that day, that they go to lunch. She said Robyn seemed unusually anxious to leave and before getting her car to pick them up, told Schuster to hurry up. But Golden (pg. 821) said there was nothing different about Robyn’s demeanor, she wasn’t rushed and that everything was like it always was when they went out to lunch. Neither Golden nor Schuster say Robyn snapped at them when they got in the car and Robyn doesn’t mention feeling rushed at all. [edited to add: What's more, on any other day Anderson would not have even been at school. She had Independent Study German during 4th hour which meant that she only had to attend that class on Fridays. So, every day she left school at the start of 4th hour and didn't return until 6th hour because she had A lunch during 5th hour. On April 20, 1999 she was walking Monica to German class before leaving and the German teacher asked Robyn to stay because they were watching a movie for Earth Day. Robyn stayed. If Robyn was so anxious to get away from the school as Cullen implies (clearly meaning she knew something was going to happen), why would she agree to stay right up until the attack started when any other day it would have been normal for her not to be there?]

Cullen also mentions Dylan and Eric each waiting at their own cars for the bombs to go off. Which wasn’t the plan according to what Dylan wrote.

Chapter 11-
When the bombs failed to go off, “Either boy might have panicked but Eric was unflappable, the reverse of his partner. The physical evidence also points to Dylan. Eric apparently acted swiftly to retrieve his emotional young partner.” “Within two minutes, Eric had figured out the bombs had failed, grabbed his packs, crossed the lot to Dylan’s car, rushed with him to the building, and climbed the external stairs to the west exit.”
Again, this didn’t happen. They were already on the outside hill, just like they planned. In fact, someone saw Eric there without Dylan a few minutes before the attacj started which suggests Eric got their first and was waiting for him. If he was wiping the emotionally crippled Dylan's chin, why weren’t they together?

Cullen details the initial part of the shooting. I confess I am not up on all the ballistics stuff so while I know Dylan fired significantly less outside I don’t know the details. If anyone else knows, please fill this part in. I do know that a lot of witnesses mentioned seeing Dylan looking like he was firing his gun, so Cullen's depiction of him just standing around watching Eric is inaccurate.

Cullen writes that when Eric was engaged by Deputy Gardner “Dylan did nothing.” He then says, “Dylan fled into the school”. In truth, neither Gardner or Andy Marton saw Dylan when they pulled up, only Eric was outside at that time.

Thank you [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] for delivering! I never even bothered to read Cullen's book. Amazing to see just how much he actually got wrong.

Dylan before the library will always be interesting to me. It almost seems like he went from stoic to amazingly cruel

Screamingophelia wrote:

Dylan before the library will always be interesting to me. It almost seems like he went from stoic to amazingly cruel

It does. Didn't he shoot Lauren like 8 times?

"i wonder if this thread will blow out when his parkland book will get released?" omg I'm already cringing. How is he even allowed to continue write his fantasy books? ppl will boycott him someday...

thelmar wrote:

Chapter 3-
He talks a little about the Denver/Littleton area, how Mr. DeAngelis loved lunch duty, and about school shootings. He claimed "not a single shooter emerged" in the 1998- 1999 school year until Eric and Dylan.
Nothing that hit national news occurred but there were school- related shootings during that time that it shouldn't have been too difficult for a reporter to learn about:
12/10/98- Wayne State University- a doctoral student shot and killed his professor
1/8/99- a 15 yr old girl and 17 yr old boy died in a suicide pact in a girl's bathroom at a school in Carrollton, GA
4/16/99- a 15 yr old boy with bipolar disorder fired 2 shots in a classroom in Idaho. No one was injured.

Even still I'm puzzled about the relevancy of including this. In the years prior to Eric and Dylan's attack there had been multiple school shootings, such as shootings at Jonesboro Arkansas, West Paducah Kentucky, Springfield Oregon, and Bethel Alaska.


[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Glad to see you putting in a lot of work into this, BTW.

Not much wrong, to my knowledge, in the next few chapters. Here are brief summaries.


Chapter 12-
Cullen discusses how the news got a lot wrong in the early coverage because of the chaos of what was happening. He also discusses the early police response, how no one was really in charge, and how loads of law enforcement showed up, set up a perimeter but did not enter the school.

Chapter 13-
Introduces Cassie Bernall's parents and how her mother went to the public library to wait on word of her kids. Talks about the frantic search of parents for their kids and the places the kids went when they fled the school. Discusses the news reports.  
Discusses how Sheriff Stone was put in charge and the distrust and criticism of this decision amongst the different agencies. Also details Robyn Anderson's and Nate Dykeman's activities at that time- the details of this stuff came straight from the police reports; it's obvious Cullen did not interview them. But at least it's accurate.

Chapter 14-
Discusses how this was one of the first major crimes with cell phones available and how information from kids and adults within the school was getting to the outside. Cullen says that police were frustrated with contamination of the witness pool by reporters who were interviewing kids still within the building. Much of what the media reported was speculation and incorrect (oh, the irony!).

Chapter 15-
Writes that police knew who the suspects were early on. Describes how the Harris' and Klebold's reacted to the police coming to their houses. All of this is accurate to my knowledge.
Introduces Dwayne Fuselier and goes into his background. I don't know whether there are any exaggerations there or not.
Talks about how early on, the assumption was that there were accomplices involved, cites Chris Morris being interviewed and seen on TV in handcuffs. Also talks about how all the TCM talk took off.

More tomorrow...

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] you're doing gods work son. bless you.

Now that [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] pointed all those falsehoods out, I wouldn't mind listening to the audiobook to add to the list. If anyone would be kind enough to message me the audio book of cullenbine, or Sue Klebold's book, I'd love you forever. I have some extra free time around the holidays and wouldn't mind listening again to pick out even more falsehoods. I just don't have the time to read the physical book!

slippy123 wrote:

Now that [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] pointed all those things out I wouldn't mind listening to the audiobook. If anyone would be kind enough to message me the ebook of cullenbine, or Sue Klebold's book, I'd love you forever. I have some extra free time around the holidays and wouldn't mind listening again to pick out even more falsehoods. I just don't have the time to read the physical book!

Do you have Scribd? Sue's book is there and is read by her. They have Cullens book too I believe.

Screamingophelia wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

Now that [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] pointed all those things out I wouldn't mind listening to the audiobook. If anyone would be kind enough to message me the ebook of cullenbine, or Sue Klebold's book, I'd love you forever. I have some extra free time around the holidays and wouldn't mind listening again to pick out even more falsehoods. I just don't have the time to read the physical book!

Do you have Scribd? Sue's book is there and is read by her. They have Cullens book too I believe.

I don't, but I will look into it for sure, thanks for letting me know!

You can find almost everything in the Columbine Master Archive

click the link below in my signature for access

sororityalpha wrote:

You can find almost everything in the Columbine Master Archive

click the link below in my signature for access

Awesome collection! Do you have the audio book of Cullenbine?
I used to have it but, I think I deleted it by accident. I was able to open the the mobi file, with kindle for PC.
I guess I could just copy and paste it into one of those text to speech sites.

*added Columbine by Cullen pdf & audiobook

Enjoy!

sororityalpha wrote:

*added Columbine by Cullen pdf & audiobook

Enjoy!

Thanks!

np anytime

STK wrote:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] you're doing gods work son. bless you.

Chapter 16-
Cullen writes of Mr. DeAngelis' actions when the shooting started, and of Pat Ireland's parents and Dwayne Fuselier and his wife waiting for word on their kids.

He also writes about Ireland's injuries and his rescue. While fact checking what he wrote of Ireland, I found something interesting:
From Cullen's book-  "paramedics cut off patrick’s bloody clothes- everything but his undershorts.” “He was not wearing shoes.”
On pg. 35 of the 11 K- “They cut off all of his clothes except his undershorts.” “He was not wearing shoes.”
Had he changed "undershorts" to something else I probably wouldn't have noticed it, but that's not a term I hear much so it stuck out.
It's not exactly plagiarism, I guess, but he sure didn't change much. I'm guessing if I took the time to compare other witness statements to what he wrote about them, I'd probably find a ton of this.

The rest of the chapter details Ireland's surgeries, how his parent's felt, and SWAT's evacuation of the rest of the school.

Chapter 17-
Discusses what SWAT found in the library and the rescue of Lisa Kreutz (which is a few pitiful sentences). Cullen wrote that Paramedic Troy Laman went into the library with SWAT and it was his job to figure out who was alive and who was not. He did this by looking at their faces and if he couldn't see a face, he touched them.
"Twelve were cold. One was not. Laman touched a girl, felt the warmth, and rolled her over to get a look at her face. Her eyes were open, tears trickling out. Lisa Kreutz was carried down the stairs and rushed to Denver Health Medical Center."

Lisa Kreutz reports things differently, pg. 64- 65 Upon hearing SWAT near the library, "She heard them come in and she called for help. One of the SWAT officers came over to her. This officer told her she was the only one alive in the Library. They did not take her immediately out of the Library and one SWAT officer stayed with her. The next thing she remembers is a paramedic coming in and talking to her about whether she was hurt. The paramedic rolled her onto her shoulder to look at her back and she remembers excruciating pain"

Cullen writes about Kate Battan figuring out the Dylan and Eric were in the system for the van break in and finding the complaint from the Brown's about Eric's death threats to Brooks and how she used this to get search warrants for the Harris and Klebold homes. He also wrote about Sheriff Stone's misinformation-filled press conference. The chapter also talks about the Sanders' family waiting for word.

He writes that police interviewed Robyn's best friend Kelli, and that the night of the attack Robyn asked if Kelli remembered the favor that she (Robyn) had done for Eric and Dylan in November. "Kelli remembered. It had been a big secret. Robyn had told Kelli repeatedly about this big favor she had done for the guys, but she would never divulge what it was."
This is a gross exaggeration.
Kelli actually told police (pg. 677 and 679) "Kelli Brown stated that at this time, Robyn Anderson reminded her that back in December or January, she told Kelli that she had done a favor for Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, but at that time could not say what it was.”
Cullen makes it sound like Robyn brought it up over and over, like she was bragging about it, when in truth they had a single discussion about it.

Chapter 18-
Discusses the parents of the murder victims waiting for word. I don't know how accurately the different people mentioned (the Tomlin's, Misty Bernall, Dan Rohrbough's parents) were portrayed but nothing struck me as ridiculously off.

Chapter 19-
Details the Sander’s and Bernall families waiting for word and the strange things people think of when overwhelmed by tragedy.

Chapter 20-
Details how the Rohrbough’s, Curnow’s and Bernall’s learned of their kids; how everyone was coping and DeAngelis’ speech at Light of the World church the day after.
There is then some pretty shameless ass-kissing of Dwayne Fuselier and Kate Battan (“a brilliant detective”) and the exhaustive, thorough investigation they put together.

Chapter 21-
Details of Eric’s childhood are very superficial and most of what Cullen gleans from Eric’s behavior comes from the stories he wrote for his classes.
Cullen claims Eric was “exhibiting telltale signs of a particular breed of killer” even before adolescence.
Apparently Eric’s fascination with fireworks and playing soldier as a boy held some sinister meaning, despite the fact that he was engaged in these activities with several other children. None of whom, I presume, tried to blow up their high schools.
Cullen gives no explanation as to what "breed" Eric was nor how his play as a child was influenced by it.

Chapter 22-
Discusses some of the memorials, the way the churches handled the attack, and the errant rumor that Daniel Rohrbough died while holding the door open for others to escape. Discussed the investigation into who provided the weapons, Robyn’s confession, and the discovery of the bombs and the intended scope of the attack.

Back on the horse...

Chapter 23-
Summarizes Dylan's childhood.
He calls Judy Brown "the neighborhood mom". I've always gotten the feeling that Judy was not well liked so while I don't have proof this is wrong, it doesn't seem right.

He writes that Sue Klebold is Jewish. Technically, her mother was NOT Jewish and her father was. From what I understand about Judaism, if your mother is not Jewish than neither are you UNLESS you actively convert to Judaism. Less technically, Sue may be considered 1/2 Jewish and appears to participate in some Jewish practices but she, Tom, and the kids also went to a Lutheran church.

Chapter 24-  
He writes of Dylan's funeral service and how the attendees discussed what happened and the questions they had.
Again he writes that Sue is Jewish. "Dylan was half Jewish". Since only Sue's Dad was Jewish, she's either not truly Jewish (if we're being technical) or she's half Jewish. This makes Dylan either not Jewish or 1/4 Jewish.

Chapter 25
He writes that Dylan, Brooks, and Eric went to the football games as freshman. "Eric was practically a celebrity because his brother was a starter on the varsity team."
Of course, this is a stand alone sentence- he offers no examples of Eric's "celebrity".

He mentions the incident with Tiffany Typher when Eric faked his suicide.
Cullen says "But it wierded her out. She refused to date him again."
Below is a news article written THREE DAYS after the murders which CLEARLY states that Typher had ALREADY BROKEN UP with Eric and that she thought, "He was doing that so maybe I'd come back to him and say I'm sorry."
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Cullen mentions Eric's "I Am" poem written for a class in 1995. I am posting the poem here and Cullen's comments. I feel that he is really trying to influence the perception of reader, knowing that most people will probably never read the poem and therefore will assume his interpretation of it illustrates the full story.
IMO, the poem is not nearly as narcissistic as he tries to make out.

I AM
I am a nice guy who hates when people open their pop cans just a little
I wonder what my soccer team will be like in the Spring
I hear myself turning on the ignition of an F-15
I see myself flying above everyone else
I want to fly
I am a nice guy who hates when people open their pop cans just a little

I pretend I am walking on the moon
I feel that I will get straight A's again
I touch the sky
I worry that I will have a fire in my house
I cry when I see or hear a dog die
I am a nice guy who hates when people open their pop cans just a little

I understand how to play soccer
I say that a sport is something that you have to break a sweat in
I dream that I am the only person on Earth
I try to be as nice as I can
I hope there isn't another OJ trial
I am a nice guy who hates when people open their pop cans just a little.

Cullen's interpretation of Eric's poem-
"His selfportrait informed the reader five times in eighteen lines how nice he was." He writes that he ended each stanza with the pop can line.
"He described himself flying above all the rest of us, bragged about his straight A's, and demonstrated his emotional depth:'I cry when I see or hear a a dog die.'"
He fails to mention Eric wrote about flying above us because he wanted to pilot an F-15. Cullen's implication is clearly that Eric is saying he's better than "us". And apparently knowing you will get good grades is considered bragging.

Cullen also writes:
"He kept much of the work he produced in high school. Apparently, he was proud of it. 'I dream I am the last person on Earth,' he wrote in 'I AM'." Eric was always a dreamer, but he liked them ugly:bleak and morose, yet boring as hell. He saw beauty in the void. Eric dreamed of a world where nothing ever happened. A world where the rest of us had been removed."

Guess it's not ok to be proud of the things you do. I must be a psychopathic narcissist because I still have stuff I did in college. And I didn't throw out my high school stuff until I moved out of my mom's house.

Cullen then goes on to trash Eric's other stories, saying they were bleak and gloomy, and nothing ever happened. He writes that Eric liked it best when nothing happened and nobody's ever around. I'm sure you've all read Eric's writings- this is a gross exaggeration of them.

He writes of Eric and Dylan making friends with Zach. "They cruised the mall to pick up chicks. Eric did the talking. Zack and Dylan hung back and followed his lead."
Eric the ladies' man again. How come of the 3, Zack was the only non-virgin?

He writes that Zack and Dylan grew close. "They were snarky, clever, and seething with teenage anger, but way too timid to show it. Dylan and Zach needed Eric. Someone had to do the talking. Eric needed an audience; he also craved excitement. He was cool and detached, tough to rattle. Nothing seemed to faze him."
Untrue. There are tons of examples of both Dylan and Zach getting into plenty of trouble without any association with Eric at all. Stealing locker combos was Zach's idea and he left the threatening note in Devon's ex-BF's locker, Dylan scratched up a kid's locker all by himself. Zach was a super angry kid and acted out in school a lot, just like Dylan. Several people say this in the 11k. Eric wasn't openly disrespectful to the teachers. And Dylan and Zach were tight- Eric was the third wheel in that relationship; there is no way that he called the shots.
Also, how can he write in one paragraph that Eric preferred it when "nothing happened" but then in the next paragraph say that he "craved excitement." Those things seem mutually exclusive.

Cullen again cites one of Eric's school assignments, this time the one comparing himself to the god, Zeus.
Cullen writes, "He hailed both of them as great leaders, finding no fault in their pettiness or malice by identifying common inclinations. 'Zeus and I also get angry easily and punish people in unusual ways," he wrote."
Again, I think he picks out a fragment of Eric's writing because he knows most people are not going to track down and read the thing themselves.
So he conveniently leaves out that Eric also said that he and Zeus "try to solve things in a mature, non-violent manner", that he is "always asking questions or double checking myself to be sure I completely understand something so I am in control" like Zeus, and "we are both kind to other animals or people."

His whole set up is so obvious. Get people to think Eric is super-confident, full of himself, thinks he's better than everyone. Get people to think Eric craves excitement and is cruel to people. Get people to think Eric is purposely writing about his "emotional depth" as a cover for not actually having emotional depth.
He's digging through a 9th/10 graders creative writing assignments and making up the interpersonal dynamic between Dylan, Zach, and Eric in order to sell the reader on all of the psychopath traits for when he presents them later in the book.

I haven't read the book but from what you have posted it seems Cullen's book is shaped by his confirmation bias. He formed a theory about Dylan and Eric, then looked for the evidence that it was so.

That is something we've talked about about before- Zach's anger, he was in trouble a lot and had a lot of anger too. I think his senior quote was "I hate this school" Even when he had a girlfriend Zach was acting out... I doubt Cullen talked to Zach, I think most of the things he said after were pretty nasty towards eric and dylan... which I mean you can't really blame them. At that time the only 2 people who really admitted friendship with them were Nate and Devon. Zach had some sort of line that he would never cross, he had maybe "normal" teenage anger and Eric and Dylan had something else..

I always looked at Zach as more of Dylans friend and Chris, the other super angry one was closer to Eric. Chris calmed down a lot. I actually don't remember reading his 11k interview... I wouldn't mind revisiting it. Chris and Zach acted out far more than eric and dylan did.

I imagine when they started planning it, they probably realized if they didn't keep on the straight and narrow they may be caught. So I think most of the real planning probably started after the van break in.

Pixie13 wrote:

I haven't read the book but from what you have posted it seems Cullen's book is shaped by his confirmation bias. He formed a theory about Dylan and Eric, then looked for the evidence that it was so.

Bingo! Agree with this 100%.

Also, I neglected to mention for Chapter 25 when he talks of Zach being "timid". In her book, Sue Klebold writes that Zach was "friendly and outgoing" and that she was happy about Dylan and Zach's friendship "because of how gregarious and outgoing Zach was. He didn't mind being the center of attention, which drew Dylan out a little."
I think Sue would know a bit more about Zach's personality and his interactions with E & D than Cullen would.


Chapter 26-
Most of this chapter deals with Dave Sanders death and the poor police response. All of it accurate from what I can tell.

Chapter 27-
"Most of the girls who knew Eric described him as cute. he was aware of the consensus but didn't quite accept it."
I will try to find the 11k page number for it, but Cullen based this statement on Eric's response to one of those questionaires where under 'Looks' he wrote "skinny but handsome, some say."
Apparently in Cullen's mind this translates to "most" girls finding Eric cute. I've read all reports by everybody who knew Eric, male and female, "cute" was not a descriptor I found.

He also talked about how Eric had begun to change his look in his sophomore year. "older kids and bigger guys razzed him sometimes, but nothing exceptional. And he was talking back now and provoking confrontations. He'd shaken off his silence along with the preppy uniform."
This isn't true either. There were lots of kids who made fun of his clothing; I think Cale Kennedy did it almost daily, among others. And people who knew or had run-ins with Eric don't report Eric becoming very confrontational until the last year of his life- probably the time during which they had begun planning for NBK.

Cullen writes,
"Dylan remained quiet right up until the end. He wasn't much for mouthing off, except in rare sudden bursts that freaked everyone out a little."
Not true. He and Zach frequently mouthed off and were disruptive in French class and even got kicked out for a while because of it (pg. 5036, pg. 7214).
Note- Eric didn't take French, yet Dylan and Zach were causing trouble in his absence. But Dave? I thought Eric was the ringleader for the two quiet sadsacks?

He also wrote that Dylan "followed Eric's fashion lead but a less intense version so he took a lot less ribbing."
Apparently Dave is unaware that Dylan wore his trench coat much more frequently than Eric. Standing 6'3" is going to make him stick out, standing 6'3" and wearing a full length trench coat is definitely going to attract attention.
Also, I think we've already established that it was Eric who had copied Dylan's look initially, not the other way around.

Cullen writes,
"Eric and Dylan had very active social calenders, and far more friends than the average adolescent."
Um, no. They did do things and go places with a small core group of friends, but far more friends than average? No. More importantly, neither of them felt like they had friends- Eric really only felt close to Dylan and Dylan only felt close to Eric, Zach, and Nate. This is another example of Cullen's confirmation bias. If one of them writes something that supports the point he wants to make, he waves it around like a flag. But if something in their writing refutes his point, he totally ignores it, and since most people haven't read the 11k or their journals, Cullen's failure to mention it implies to the average reader that no such statements exist.

Now get this, Cullen, writing about Eric Dutro, says:
"He had a hard time at school. Kids at Columbine picked on him. Kids would ridicule him relentlessly, calling him a freak and a faggot. Eventually he fought back the only way he knew how: by upping the ante. If they were gong to call him a freak, he was going to give them one hell of a freak show. The trench coat made a nice little addition to his freakdrobe."
Sooooo, let me get this straight. Cullen admits that Eric Dutro, a member of the TCM, was bullied relentlessly and called freak and faggot. Yet when it's claimed that E & D were subjected to the same thing, Cullen is sure that never really happened? Dutro was only an acquaintance of E & D but they ran in the same circle of friends, were into the same kinds of things, dressed similarly. And we're to accept that Dutro was bullied and E + D were not?

Cute/adorable ? Eric would probably hate that word he would be like: "I'm not cute /adorable I'm not a freaking stuffed animal!"

Chapter 28-
Chapter 28-
Summarizes how the media blew things out of proportion with regard to the TCM. Cullen makes the claim that after listening to the media, the majority of the students became brainwashed into thinking the TCM was responsible. His claim is that instead of the media getting TCM info from students, the students were getting TCM info from the media.

This is inaccurate. A lot of the police statements were taken weeks, even months after the attack. Despite Cullen’s claim, there are very few students who thought the TCM, as a group, was involved. A lot of kids weren’t even aware the TCM existed at Columbine, let alone believed that they staged the shooting. Of those who were familiar with the group, most couldn’t say who was in it but they didn’t feel like they had anything to do with the massacre. The TCM is mentioned in a large number of interviews only because the police brought them up as one of their standard questions; it’s not like all these kids were just randomly talking about the group.

He goes on to say that within 2 days of the attack, everyone’s shock had turned to anger and because they were angry they started making up things about Eric and Dylan and the TCM like that they were outcasts and “fags”. But according to Cullen, this wasn’t true.
So, despite the fact that tons of witnesses who ACTUALLY knew E & D say they were called fags and treated as outcasts, and despite the fact that members of the TCM CONFIRM that this ACTUALLY HAPPENED to them personally, we are supposed to believe Cullen that these rumors started only AFTER the massacre and that this stuff didn’t really happen.

Cullen says that the reason Mr. DeAngelis never saw any bullying was because the students loved him so much that they were on their best behavior around him.
Excuse me, let me finish gagging. Ok, I’m done. I think he’s forgotten that DeAngelis was the PRINCIPAL and in high school, everybody knows you have to be on your best behavior when the PRINCIPAL is around, whether you like the guy or not. For God’s sake, the principal is supposed to be the ultimate disciplinarian in a school, who in their right mind is going to shove a kid into a locker when he’s standing right behind you?!

Cullen goes on to say that the bullying “myth” about Columbine took off because of the media accounts. Then he discusses that with regard to the culture at Columbine “a tremendous amount of data was gathered in those first few days, while students were naïve, before any developed an agenda.” “the data is there.”
His implication is that it was found that bullying was not a real issue at Columbine. Not surprisingly, he doesn’t supply any of that “data” for the reader that supports his claim.

thelmar wrote:

Chapter 28-
Chapter 28-
Summarizes how the media blew things out of proportion with regard to the TCM. Cullen makes the claim that after listening to the media, the majority of the students became brainwashed into thinking the TCM was responsible. His claim is that instead of the media getting TCM info from students, the students were getting TCM info from the media.

This is inaccurate.  A lot of the police statements were taken weeks, even months after the attack. Despite Cullen’s claim, there are very few students who thought the TCM, as a group, was involved. A lot of kids weren’t even aware the TCM existed at Columbine, let alone believed that they staged the shooting. Of those who were familiar with the group, most couldn’t say who was in it but they didn’t feel like they had anything to do with the massacre. The TCM is mentioned in a large number of interviews only because the police brought them up as one of their standard questions; it’s not like all these kids were just randomly talking about the group.

He goes on to say that within 2 days of the attack, everyone’s shock had turned to anger and because they were angry they started making up things about Eric and Dylan and the TCM like that they were outcasts and “fags”. But according to Cullen, this wasn’t true.
So, despite the fact that tons of witnesses who ACTUALLY knew E & D say they were called fags and treated as outcasts, and despite the fact that members of the TCM CONFIRM that this ACTUALLY HAPPENED to them personally, we are supposed to believe Cullen that these rumors started only AFTER the massacre and that this stuff didn’t really happen.

Cullen says that the reason Mr. DeAngelis never saw any bullying was because the students loved him so much that they were on their best behavior around him.
Excuse me, let me finish gagging. Ok, I’m done. I think he’s forgotten that DeAngelis was the PRINCIPAL and in high school, everybody knows you have to be on your best behavior when the PRINCIPAL is around, whether you like the guy or not. For God’s sake, the principal is supposed to be the ultimate disciplinarian in a school, who in their right mind is going to shove a kid into a locker when he’s standing right behind you?!

Cullen goes on to say that the bullying “myth” about Columbine took off because of the media accounts. Then he discusses that with regard to the culture at Columbine “a tremendous amount of data was gathered in those first few days, while students were naïve, before any developed an agenda.” “the data is there.”
His implication is that it was found that bullying was not a real issue at Columbine. Not surprisingly, he doesn’t supply any of that “data” for the reader that supports his claim.

You're doing an amazing job with that. Thanks

AmeliaDK. wrote:

You're doing an amazing job with that.  

Thanks!

Chapter 29-
In this chapter, he discusses the Rebel Clan missions. The entire chapter is predicated on showing that Eric’s psychopathy is building, that he’s starting to take action on all of his violent urges. “His extinction fantasies progressed steadily, but reality held firm and was completely separate from his fantasy life. Then one day, midway through sophomore year, Eric began to take action.” “They would meet at Eric’s house mostly, sneak out after midnight, and vandalize houses of kids he didn’t like. Eric chose the targets, of course.”
It must have been a great conversation Cullen had with Eric, Dylan, and Zach to know that the missions were all Eric’s idea and the boys targeted the people Eric wanted to target.
How can he, in good conscious, make statements like this? He has no idea who thought up the missions and the only one we know for sure that Eric personally targeted was Brooks. Dylan made fun of Nick Baumgart, too, according to Brooks. And Eric mentions that they got revenge on kids who shot Dylan’s bike. As for the rest, we don’t know who was on the receiving end of the Rebel Clan missions, so how in the hell can Dave know they were only people Eric didn't like. We all know Dylan and Zach were pretty vindictive people, I'm sure they singled out a few kids they wanted revenge on.

Next is an example of how grossly Cullen distorts Eric's school assignment writings to paint him as a nutcase. Please bear with me- I think you'll agree just how utterly ridiculous this is.
Cullen writes,
"he had just gobbled up John Steinbeck's The Pastures of Heaven, which includes a fable about the idiot savant Tularecito. The young boy had extraordinary gifts that allowed him to see a world his peers couldn't even imagine- exactly how Eric was coming to view himself, though without Tularecito's mental shortcomings. Tularecito's peers failed to see his gifts and treated him badly. Tularecito struck back violently, killing one of his antagonists. He was imprisoned for life in an insane asylum. Eric did not approve. 'Tularecito did not deserve to be put away,' he wrote in a book report. 'He just needed to be taught to control his anger. Society needs to treat extremely talented people like Tularecito much better.' All they needed was more time, Eric argued- gifted misfits could be taught what was right and wrong, what was acceptable to society. 'Love and care is the only way,' he said.
Love and care. Eric wrote this at the very moment he started moving against his peers. Sometimes he attacked their houses to retaliate for perceived slights, but most often it was for the offense of inferiority. "
 
Here is the actual story of Tularecito. It's only 12 pages, I encourage you to read it so that you can see how Cullen twisted the essence of the story to fit his agenda.
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A quick summary-
Tularecito was found in the brush as a baby and was taken in by members of the village. His name means Little Frog, because of how grotesquely deformed his body was. He was severely mentally challenged but had a talent for drawing, sculpting animals. If people accidentally broke one of his sculptures he flew into a rage and attacked them. He grew very strong very young and was doing man's work at the age of 5, but he was incapable of learning. Nevertheless, at the age of 11 he was forced into school by village officials.
The teacher recognized that he could draw so she let him decorate the blackboard after school. The following day, they tried to erase the board for lessons. Tularecito didn't understand and became violent, fighting the entire class and winning. The teacher was afraid of him and eventually quit. A new teacher gave him a pad to draw on and he did this instead of listening to lessons. One day, the teacher was talking about fairy tales and gnomes. Tularecito became convinced that the gnomes were his people and that if he dug into the ground, he could be reunited with them. The teacher thought this was harmless and encouraged his belief. He began digging deep holes and tunnels  at night, callling for his people, calling for his father. A local man, not knowing who dug the tunnels or why, filled them in. Initially Tularecito thought the gnomes had done it. So he dug more tunnels and stayed around the next morning hoping to see them come out of the holes. But the next day, the man came by again and began to push the dirt back in. Tularecito became enraged and attacked him. He hurt him badly but did not kill him, and the villagers put him in an asylum.

First of all, it was not a book report. It was literally a single paragraph written in answer to the question "Do you think Tularecito deserved to be put into the insane asylum?" This is a common discussion question for students about this particular story.
Second, the villagers did not fail to recognize Tularecito's gifts nor did they treat him badly. In fact, the teachers both recognized his talent and encouraged it, the first teacher just regretted it.
Third, Tularecito did not strike back at people for treating him badly or not for recognizing his talent. He was a mentally handicapped individual incapable of understanding how people could accidentally drop one of his statues or that they would need the blackboard for school lessons.
Fourth, he did not kill the man and the man was not one of his antagonists. Tularecito thought that the man was filling up the holes from which his family, the gnomes, were going to welcome him back home.

Who, but us, would take the time to actually read the story and realize that it has ABSOLUTELY NO BEARING ON ERIC HARRIS' PERSONALITY!

There's more to this chapter, I'll continue after dinner...

Edited to add: the rest of the chapter talks about the snowball incident with Brooks Brown. Most of it seems factual but Cullen makes statements from the point of view of Wayne Harris that he couldn't possibly know.

Chapter 30-
Discusses Jeffco using the info the Brown's had brought to them the previous year in order to get the search warrant for the Harris house, then denying that they had known Eric was potentially violent. Also discusses the issues the Brown's had with Jeffco accusing Brooks of being a co-conspirator.
He discusses Jeffco tracking down the link between E& D and Mark Manes and Phil Duran; not very detailed but everything accurate.
It also talks about Fuselier trying to figure out why they did it.

Chapter 31-
This chapter discusses Dylan and his journals.
Cullen writes that Dylan "was a profoundly religious young man. His family was not active in any congregation, yet Dylan's belief was unwavering."
Dylan did write about things like good and evil, cleansing, an afterlife, etc. but to take from that that he was profoundly religious is a huge overreach. Read Rachel Scott's journals- THAT is profoundly religious.

Cullen writes, "Dylan's anger would flare, then fizzle quickly into self-disgust, Dylan wasn't planning to kill anyone, except, God willing, himself." Cullen intimates that it was his profound faith that prevented Dylan from killing himself. "But suicide posed a problem. Dylan believed in a literal heaven and hell. He would be a believer right up until the end. When he murdered several people he knew there would be consequences."
Soooo, he couldn't kill himself because it was a sin but he got around that by murdering people and then killing himself? Huh?
I especially like how he doesn't tell Mr. Average Reader, who probably hasn't read Dylan's journals, just how many times Dylan mentioned killing someone or going on a killing spree. Yet, when he writes about Eric's journals, you'd think that was the only thing in them!

Cullen writes that Fuselier believed Eric started his journal knowing NBK was endgame. Eric's journal was "not about self-discovery but self-lionization. Dylan was just trying to grapple with existence."
To me, this indicates that Fuselier recognized that Eric was writing for an audience. My question is, if he recognized that, wouldn't he then know that maybe this isn't exactly the window into Eric's soul that he needed to find all the answers? It's kind of like- yeah, I know that he's writing this to make himself look a certain way but I'm going to take most of it at face value anyway because all this angry stuff helps me explain why he did the bad thing. Oh, but I'm not going to factor in any of the stuff that shows any other kinds of feelings, I'm going to assume THAT is the made up stuff because it doesn't fit.

Chapter 32-
Discusses the Cassie martyrdom stuff. Also discusses how most of the Evangelicals used the tragedy almost as a recruiting format. No major errors as far as I can tell.

Chapter 33-
In this chapter he tries again to show how religious Dylan was just because he often spoke of good vs evil, etc.
He also says "Dylan took to referring to humans as zombies. That was a rare similarity to Eric. But pitiful as we zombies were, Dylan didn't want to harm us."
He neglects to mention that Dylan mentioned getting a gun and going on a killing spree, and talked about NBK with his crush. The journal entries he sites are from 1997 to early 1998, so I'll overlook him not mentioning all the things Dylan said about "zombie fags being forever suffering and mournful", as this was written later.

He mentions that Fuselier believed Eric's You Know What I Hate posts showed his contempt for everyone as inferior.
He talks about Eric making bombs and while he acknowledges Dylan was around then and would detonate the bombs with Eric, he does not indicate that Dylan is anything more than an innocent bystander.
Chris Morris said that it was Dylan, NOT Eric, who brought a large pipe bomb into Blackjack one day. In his journal Dylan talks about blowing himself up with one of his pipebombs ("Atlanta") strapped to his neck. Somehow it's obvious to everyone but Cullen that Dylan was also participating in the bomb making way before NBK.

Cullen claims that the "missions" suddenly ended when Zach and Devon began dating.
That's the only time I've seen that claim. Anyone know if this is accurate? I always assumed they just fizzled out as stuff like that usually does.

Cullen excuses Dylan's threat against Devon with "Who he wouldn't mind killing? Dylan tossed out the comment in passing and presumably it was just a figure of speech. Presumably. But he had verbalized the idea- a big step."
Now let's imagine what he'd say if Eric wrote the same thing...

He discussed how Fuselier went about classifying Dylan's mental illness. He was a classic depressive but they don't usually hurt others. He then expanded that a "tiny number" of depressives will make a single tormentor pay for their hurt; "a few lash out into a wider circle" with specific targets, and "the rarest of these angry depressives... want to lash out randomly and show us all, hurt us back and make sure we feel it. This is the gunman who opens fire on a random crowd." But Fuselier concluded that Dylan didn't fit any of these things because he "was not a man of action. He was conscripted by a boy who was."
Again, they ignore how Dylan wrote of "going on my killing spree against anyone I want" or going NBK with his crush. If he had to be drafted into doing this by Eric, why was he writing about doing it alone or with a girl well before he and Eric ever began making plans for the attack?

Chapter 34-
It discusses Patrick Ireland's recovery. I don't know this information so can say whether it is accurate.
It also discusses the controversy with the 15 crosses, which is accurate.

I have a minor tidbit of info to share about Eric's poem that explains why he used the adjectives he did, and why he ended each stanza with the pop can line.

My high school English class had the same assignment freshman year (1995). Someone (don't remember who) wrote a poem titled I AM, and we read it in class. The assignment was to write our own I AM poem, using the original as a template.

I am a (blank) who (blank)
I wonder (blank)
I hear (blank)
I see (blank)
I want (blank)

Pretend, feel, touch, worry, cry, understand, say, dream, try, hope... (blank)

All of those beginnings to the lines were part of the original poem. Students had to create their own lines for each.

Eric didn't write about crying when he hears or sees a dog die because he was trying to make people think he was sensitive. He didn't come up with the "crying" part. He had to come up with something that would fit the existing start of "I cry when."

Since he was a dog person, that was probably the first thing that came to his mind.

Did anyone else have that assignment? I recognized it right away when I read it in the reports. Thought it was interesting that it wasn't just an assignment for my class!

Found a template here. Apparently it's a popular thing:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Maybe there was no "original" poem and all it is, is a prompt. Either way, that's a poem assignment many of us 90s kids got in high school...

EthanEmerson wrote:

I have a minor tidbit of info to share about Eric's poem that explains why he used the adjectives he did, and why he ended each stanza with the pop can line.

My high school English class had the same assignment freshman year (1995). Someone (don't remember who) wrote a poem titled I AM, and we read it in class. The assignment was to write our own I AM poem, using the original as a template.

I am a (blank) who (blank)
I wonder (blank)
I hear (blank)
I see (blank)
I want (blank)

Pretend, feel, touch, worry, cry, understand, say, dream, try, hope... (blank)

All of those beginnings to the lines were part of the original poem. Students had to create their own lines for each.

Eric didn't write about crying when he hears or sees a dog die because he was trying to make people think he was sensitive. He didn't come up with the "crying" part. He had to come up with something that would fit the existing start of "I cry when."

Since he was a dog person, that was probably the first thing that came to his mind.

Did anyone else have that assignment? I recognized it right away when I read it in the reports. Thought it was interesting that it wasn't just an assignment for my class!

I totally had to do the same assignment when I was in school!

It sounds like something I would’ve done in school too!

EthanEmerson wrote:

Found a template here. Apparently it's a popular thing:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Maybe there was no "original" poem and all it is, is a prompt. Either way, that's a poem assignment many of us 90s kids got in high school...

Excellent find!

Chapter 35-
In this chapter he's trying to demonstrate Eric's progression into crime- the first sentence is "Eric was a thief now". He brings up the theft of the Rent-A-Fence signs Eric wrote about in one of the Mission logs. But the way Cullen presents it, Eric stole the signs. Zach and Dylan must have been innocent bystanders.
He says this gave Eric the thirst and he wanted more and then talks about hacking the locker combos. Again he presents it as though this was Eric's idea despite the fact that they specifically targeted Devon's ex-boyfriend because Zach hated him. Cullen doesn't mention that part.

He talks about how they used NBK to reference their attack. "It also captured the flavor of Eric's egotistical, empathy-free attitude, but it bore no relation to Dylan's psyche. It certainly wasn't where he saw his life headed, at least not until the final months."
Complete and utter BS. Dylan wrote of going on his own killing spree on 11/3/97. He was the first to write of NBK, using that term specifically, on 2/2/98, saying he would do it with his crush, NOT Eric. This was a full two months before Eric wrote of going NBK WITH Dylan. So, tell me Dave, how do you know the massacre was not Dylan's idea? He coined the phrase for it, he mentioned it first, he spoke of doing it with somebody other than Eric. We're supposed to believe that Eric magically thought up the same thing with the same code name independently of Dylan months later?!

Lol!
Cullen talks of Dylan getting a new room after Byron was kicked out and how Dylan decorated it. "posters of baseball heroes and rock bands: Lou Gehrig, Roger Clemens, and Nine Inch Nails. Also, some street signs and a woman in a leopard bikini."
Also some street signs- yet no commentary on how Dylan was a thief now, no discussion of his escalating criminal behavior, his need for stimulation and excitement. Just "also some street signs" like he bought these in the store like the good, devoutly religious boy he was.

Cullen's second time excusing Dylan's mention of murder-
He says Dylan wrote of suicide "Then he weighed the other option: he named a friend and said he 'will get me a gun, ill go on my killing spree against anyone I want.' It was Dylan's second allusion to murder. The first had been ambiguous; this was overt. And now it was a spree. He changed the subject immediately. That was unusual. As a rule, Dylan hammered ideas relentlessly. He would drill for two straight pages on the 'Everlasting Struggle' or his destiny as a seeker. Murder was different. For the second time, he tossed in a single line, at the peak of despair, and promptly returned to his own destruction. The idea was germinating, a year and a half out. Dylan appeared to be exploring a spree. With Eric? Probably. But the details of this critical moment are lost."

First, there is nothing ambiguous about saying he wouldn't mind killing Devon. Second, even when Dylan writes that SOMEONE ELSE will get him a gun and he will go on "MY killing spree against ANYONE I WANT", somehow from this Cullen gets that Dylan was thinking of a killing spree with Eric.
Eric, of course, "was building bigger bombs. Coincidence? Unlikely. Eric's thinking had been evolving steadily in one direction since freshman year."

He mentions the paper Eric wrote on school shooters in 1997. Eric handed in this paper on 12/10/97 and in it mentions a shooting a few weeks before. Although he said it was in TX, the reference to a kid shooting into a prayer circle and killing 3 has to be Michael Carneal in KY. This shooting occurred on 12/1/97, just 9 days before Eric handed in his paper. It was a huge deal, all over the news at the time. Very major current event and I'd bet Eric was not the only one who wrote of it as a class assignment.
I very much suspect, but have no way of proving, that the majority of the topics that Eric wrote about (like the I AM poem and the Tularecito prompt question) were provided to the students as part of the course. Like, here are current event topics X, Y, or Z, choose one and write about it. I do not believe that he chose this topic solely on his own. Also, later, when he wrote about the Brady Bill and gun control laws. I believe this was also up for discussion in some class because Daniel Mauser also brought up the very same points to his dad shortly before his death. I don't believe that was a coincidence, I believe it's something they were discussing at school.
In hindsight it all seems prophetic, like look what the school shooter wrote about, he's been planning this all along. But I think a lot of it was just coincidence.

This chapter also includes the lies that he met Brenda Parker and they were dating. And that Dylan hung out with them sometimes but the poor sadsack was "too shy to speak."

He talks about Eric and Dylan getting into more trouble at school, the locker incident, etc. When describing the van break-in he wrote "Eric took guard duty and gave Dylan the dirty work" and then he says that Dylan kept going back to get more stuff from the van but "Eric had grown wary. 'That's enough!' he ordered, 'Let's go.'" He also said that Eric claimed it was Dylan's idea to break into the van and told police that "Dylan kept pestering him and eventually wore him down."
Funny, I didn't know that Cullen was with them that night to know that Eric was bossing Dylan around that way.
Also, Eric did say the break in was Dylan's idea (which I actually believe because, of the two, Dylan was definitely the impetuous one). But he absolutely never said or even implied in any way that Dylan pestered and pressured him to do it. He said Dylan brought it up, he said no, but after about 5 minutes he decided to do it.
Presenting it any other way is a complete lie.