Eric Buying Propane (impressions)

I've asked this before  but I think the thread must've been deleted. Anyone have any thoughts on the "Eric Buying Propane" video. I've watched it many, many times. My feeling is that he looks sad and defeated like maybe he was having 2nd thoughts. Of course he could have just been trying to look as casual as possible to avoid arousing anyone's interest...

Quality is low and he's wearing dark glasses. No way can I get any facial expression out if it. He could be sad, hapoy, concentrated, angry, calm, depressed, lost in thought, amused... seriously, can't judge. Not with his glassess.

His overall body posture is very typical of someone at a counter, lookign down at the change annd his wallet.

Yeah. I watched it probably 20 times before I started to see just the hint of a defeated posture in his body language. Particularly when he is waiting for his change. Just as likely is he is trying to remain as low-key as possible. It is a perpetually fascinating but frustrating clip to watch for me personally.

Dunno, everyone is slumped forward and lookign down at the counter when counting change etc. I don't think we can get any info on Eric's mood from this. We do know he was pretty hyper during the shooting though.

Really? I saw Eric more as determined than "hyper" during the shooting. Dylan was the hyper one. Eric seemed pretty level-headed throughout.

But yeah everyone sort of looks like that when they are waiting for change. He does not appear to be nervous or agitated. He looks (to me) a bit deflated. In other videos he seems a bit more cocky in his movements.

I think maybe too much is being read into this. To me, his body language is of a typical shop customer, it seems he was trying to appear normal and unsuspicious more than anything. It is very hard to detect his mood, especially with glasses and such a bad/non existent view of his face/facial features.

eli27 wrote:

I think maybe too much is being read into this. To me, his body language is of a typical shop customer, it seems he was trying to appear normal and unsuspicious more than anything. It is very hard to detect his mood, especially with glasses and such a bad/non existent view of his face/facial features.

Prob. true. And yet....

I have to agree with the ladies on this. You're looking a little too much into it.

Personally, I really believe Eric DID have 2nd thoughts about it, but as he said before, "I have to turn off my feelings". Even in the Basement Tapes transcripts we have of them Eric really sounds remorseful, and the detective even wrote down that when they were saying good bye Eric was taking forever. He took a long pause, and finally said "That's it. Goodbye."

Dylan, on the other hand was snapping his fingers ready to get the hell out of there. It's interesting.

It wasn't deleted. Here is a link to that thread.

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lol wrote:

I have to agree with the ladies on this. You're looking a little too much into it.

Personally, I really believe Eric DID have 2nd thoughts about it, but as he said before, "I have to turn off my feelings". Even in the Basement Tapes transcripts we have of them Eric really sounds remorseful, and the detective even wrote down that when they were saying good bye Eric was taking forever. He took a long pause, and finally said "That's it. Goodbye."

Dylan, on the other hand was snapping his fingers ready to get the hell out of there. It's interesting.

Like I said, it is just a hint and I never noticed until I'd watched the clip again and again. But, yeah, he could just be playing it low key for sure.

It is a very weird thing this clip, particularly with the music and all...

Jenn wrote:

It wasn't deleted. Here is a link to that thread.

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Ah ha... Thanks, Jenn.

I can definitely see some hesitation in his body language. His body is slumped over just like the cafeteria shot of him and Dylan. On the other hand Eric was an awkward dude and he thought he was about to kill hundreds of people. Its kind of hard to know what a "normal" reaction is for someone about to commit mass murder. I do believe that Eric at least had second thoughts. I've never believed him to be too excited with the thought of dying. He did hate himself but not nearly as much a Dylan. Death was a byproduct of NBK to Eric. To Dylan it was the grand finale.

Nirvana92 wrote:

I can definitely see some hesitation in his body language. His body is slumped over just like the cafeteria shot of him and Dylan. On the other hand Eric was an awkward dude and he thought he was about to kill hundreds of people. Its kind of hard to know what a "normal" reaction is for someone about to commit mass murder. I do believe that Eric at least had second thoughts. I've never believed him to be too excited with the thought of dying. He did hate himself but not nearly as much a Dylan. Death was a byproduct of NBK to Eric. To Dylan it was the grand finale.

Well said.

That's EXACTLY why I think the killer who said to the 2nd killer saying,
"Are you still with me? We're going to do this right?" was Dylan asking Eric if they're still going to this.

You can obviously argue that Eric could have said this as well to Dylan, but IMO it was Dylan saying this to Eric.

lol wrote:

That's EXACTLY why I think the killer who said to the 2nd killer saying,
"Are you still with me? We're going to do this right?" was Dylan asking Eric if they're still going to this.

You can obviously argue that Eric could have said this as well to Dylan, but IMO it was Dylan saying this to Eric.

Well that makes a lot of sense, actually.

Does anyone know where was this shop located? I also wonder how the clerk felt afterwards...

Nice, LPorter. Great street view -- I clicked right up to the store, just like driving in...  Never saw the receipt before.

Yes, great information, but why does the clock on the video say 7.56 a.m. and the time on the receipt says 9.12 (a.m.)?

P.S. I wonder where that change of 61 cents went. Does anyone know where did they find Eric's wallet? In his car? In his home?

Here is another receipt from that morning. Apparently Eric and Dylan visited several different gas stations that day. Perhaps neither of these receipts are for the place that that Eric was caught on camera. Either that or the time on their security camera was off.

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Interesting that Ms. McGinnis said he "seemed very serious." Thanks for this!

Jenn wrote:

Here is another receipt from that morning. Apparently Eric and Dylan visited several different gas stations that day.

It's odd that they still had at least one propane tank to buy on the morning of NBK. Gas I can understand because its smelly and they wouldn't have anywhere good to store it. I wonder if the propane tank Eric bought was for one of the car bombs or for the cafeteria?

I think by that point he and Dylan were like "this is for real and we're ready to go",so it's predictable that he showed no sign of hesitation.

Considering how Eric was hesitating in the basement tapes in the last 30 minutes before the attack on the Basement Tapes makes me reconsider....

The fact that the officer himself stated that detail that Eric *eventually* said goodbye, and Dylan snapping his fingers at him while Eric was pausing shows hesitation.

Again, we've never seen the tapes and probably never will but the officer went into good detail on that.

CaptainMidnight wrote:

I think by that point he and Dylan were like "this is for real and we're ready to go",so it's predictable that he showed no sign of hesitation.

I agree that it's arguable whether or not Eric was showing "hesitation" (I think he was a little), but it seems pretty likely that he was less psyched up and eager to go than Dylan. At least at first.

lol wrote:

Considering how Eric was hesitating in the basement tapes in the last 30 minutes before the attack on the Basement Tapes makes me reconsider....

The fact that the officer himself stated that detail that Eric *eventually* said goodbye, and Dylan snapping his fingers at him while Eric was pausing shows hesitation.

Again, we've never seen the tapes and probably never will but the officer went into good detail on that.

Eric also wrote in his journal that he could call off NBK if people gave him more compliments.  Eric never said he hated life; he said he hated "being left out of so many fun things." He wanted a girlfriend and he wanted respect. I don't think Eric's suicide emerged out of depression; I think it emerged out of self-loathing.

I wonder what would have happened if Eric tried to call it off. How Dylan would have responded. IMHO once they had the shotguns in hand, it was almost certain that some kind of shooting spree would take place.