Why the Journals?

I read up on one of the old threads here back in 2014 but figured i'd start fresh since this topic is a little different.

To both Eric & Dylan, why have a journal? If i'm a serial killer, mass shooter, school shooter, bank robber, etc. I would want to leave as little evidence as possible in fear of getting caught before I commit the crime.

I know Eric's therapist recommended to start writing one, but even so to include all the weapon gathering, how to create pipe bombs, planning for combine workings? Seems kinda foolish to me, unless this was another attempt at purposely getting caught before committing the act to save himself from himself kinda thing. Or maybe his ego wanted to use these as a mark left on this earth and to boost his pride knowing these would get released after he was dead.

And did Eric suggest Dylan to write one as well or was it just a coincidence that both wrote in journals and that they were recovered after the event.

They do give insight to both minds, but still so many unanswered questions about them. I just find it interesting both wrote journals.

Dylan had been writing to himself since 97, more than a year before Eric started writing. Eric started writing in the journal rather than the website shortly after the van break in. Eric in general talked a big game. Indeed, why talk about pipe bombs on your website or about the massacre in your journal?

Eric left his journal for the cops to find, and on the day he got the guns wrote e. g. "Well folks, today was a very important day in the history of R," so he was definitely writing for an audience at some point.

I think both of them had a cathartic relationship with journaling. It allowed them to express how they felt without having to openly vocalize it. For someone like Dylan who was very depressed it might have been too much for him to go to someone and talk to them about it, but a journal can sometimes make it seem like someone is listening even if no one is.

I am very much this way. Writing is an escape.

Lizpuff wrote:

I think both of them had a cathartic relationship with journaling.  It allowed them to express how they felt without having to openly vocalize it.  For someone like Dylan who was very depressed it might have been too much for him to go to someone and talk to them about it, but a journal can sometimes make it seem like someone is listening even if no one is.  

I am very much this way.  Writing is an escape.

I've never tried it as I was always afraid someone would find it and realize how much of a nut I really am haha

As a 90s kid who was 17 at the time of the shootings I can say that journaling was really really really popular with both guys and girls.

They both were gifted writer’s in their own right l too.

Devon had read some of Dylan’s poetry and called him a gifted poet. I don’t believe we’ve ever seen any of those. I would love for Devon to top a little more about Dylan one day . Also I would love for someone to talk a little more about Eric. But I don’t think a lot of people talk about him or want to talk about him....

As far as writing too. When people say they don’t think Dylan cared as much as Eric as he did for Dylan as a friend I always think about all the things that Dylan wrote in erics yearbook. And then it kind of makes me sad because probably no one else wrote anything in Eric’s yearbook.... which is how Dylan had so much room to write all that

Dylan started way before Eric did so I really think they didn't have the same reasons for having them plus Dylans wasn't really a journal if I remember correctly it was at least partly in different books that they put together, right? At least some.

munchkinphone wrote:

Dylan started way before Eric did so I really think they didn't have the same reasons for having them plus Dylans wasn't really a journal if I remember correctly it was at least partly in different books that they put together, right? At least some.

Yes Dylan's was mostly scraps of paper found around his room

Lizpuff wrote:

munchkinphone wrote:

Dylan started way before Eric did so I really think they didn't have the same reasons for having them plus Dylans wasn't really a journal if I remember correctly it was at least partly in different books that they put together, right? At least some.

Yes Dylan's was mostly scraps of paper found around his room

Yeah Sue said that, and she would know, but then why that "Book of existences" with a mysterious force keeping people out as a cover, if it wasn't even a collection of some kind?

cakeman wrote:

Lizpuff wrote:

munchkinphone wrote:

Dylan started way before Eric did so I really think they didn't have the same reasons for having them plus Dylans wasn't really a journal if I remember correctly it was at least partly in different books that they put together, right? At least some.

Yes Dylan's was mostly scraps of paper found around his room

Yeah Sue said that, and she would know, but then why that "Book of existences" with a mysterious force keeping people out as a cover, if it wasn't even a collection of some kind?

There was a book too. But it just wasn't ALL in a book

Do we know where their journals were found? Did they keep them hidden?

Reminder : Dylan wrote his journal in' 97 before Eric.
Im not blaming Dylan, but I can see that he could have told Eric to write too.

Neah wrote:

Do we know where their journals were found? Did they keep them hidden?

I remember part of Dylan's was found inside his headboard and scattered around his room

I don’t think A lot was found in Dylan’s room right? Just his journals, a few pipe bombs and a sawed off BB gun

Because his vengeance one wasn’t at the school it was in his room, right?

Screamingophelia wrote:

I don’t think A lot was found in Dylan’s room right? Just his journals,  a few pipe bombs and a sawed off BB gun

Because his vengeance one wasn’t at the school it was in his room, right?

Yeah, I think it was in his room.

Screamingophelia wrote:

As far as writing too. When people say they don’t think Dylan cared as much as Eric as he did for Dylan as a friend I always think about all the things that Dylan wrote  in erics yearbook. And then it kind of makes me sad because probably no one else wrote anything in Eric’s yearbook....  which is how Dylan had so much room to write all that

Is there a picture of this?

Yes. Let me get you the link. I know it’s in the last part of the 11k too

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

Thanks Lizpuff, that makes sense.

Pretty sure Eric's journal was on his bed for police to find.

Six pipe bombs were found in Dylan's room, four more than in Eric's. Vengeance and Atlanta were both in Dylan's room. Dylan talked about tying Atlanta around his neck and lighting it to kill himself.

Of course, Eric probably had fewer of them because he took them with him, but I suspect Dylan was more a bomb guy than is usually surmised. He's the one to check on the bombs outside. He's the one to go up to them on the cafeteria footage. He's the sound engineer, etc.

The fact that they use different words and ideas to describe their situation to me shows they didn't talk much to each other about writing, maybe mentioned it.. I realized that Dylan used the word zombie to describe the people around him while Eric used the word robot. If they would have talked a lot about it I think they would have used a more similar set of words to describe their situation.

Something interesting I've picked up is that Dylan often wrote on Mondays while Eric often wrote during the weekends. Actually Dylan never wrote on the weekends and Eric never wrote on a Monday. To me that's an interesting fact for some reason. You'd think their need for an outlet would correlate more if they had the same reason for writing... I don't think they had.

munchkinphone wrote:

The fact that they use different words and ideas to describe their situation to me shows they didn't talk much to each other about writing, maybe mentioned it..  I realized that Dylan used the word zombie to describe the people around him while Eric used the word robot. If they would have talked a lot about it I think they would have used a more similar set of words to describe their situation.

Something interesting I've picked up is that Dylan often wrote on Mondays while Eric often wrote during the weekends. Actually Dylan never wrote on the weekends and Eric never wrote on a Monday. To me that's an interesting fact for some reason. You'd think their need for an outlet would correlate more if they had the same reason for writing... I don't think they had.

I never realized WHEN they wrote, that’s interesting!



I noticed and I’ve never compared dates but Eric would write something like “we are not gods” then Dylan would write “I’m a God compared to these people” then Eric would write “me and V are gods... “

Then Dylan wrote about his self awareness and Eric would write in his journal “v and I are the only ones with self awareness!”