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Author Tiddy Smith Tells Why He Wrote About The Kathleen Peterson Case

Get DEATH BY JTALONS

book coverI have always been intrigued by claims of the strange and unusual: Things like ghosts, extraterrestrials, sea monsters and sinister conspiracies. ghosts, extraterrestrials, conspiracy, Ira Levin, Rosemary's Baby, The Boys from Brazil

For this reason, perhaps, my favourite fiction writer was always Ira Levin. I remember reading Rosemary's Baby for the first time, and having to put it down for a week to allow my frayed nerves to settle. A tale about a demon baby scared me witless. The Boys from Brazil was another goody—a tale of NAZI cloning and a dark, global conspiracy.

What makes Levin's books so special is his ability to write about darkness and evil in a way that exposes our own darkness and our own evil. At the conclusion of Rosemary's Baby, Rosemary herself must face the decision of murdering her infant child. If she kills the demon spawn, then isn't she the evil-doer? She must decide one way or the other. The Boys from Brazil ends by posing the very same problem. The chief NAZI hunter must decide whether to track down and slaughter hundreds of children who are clones of Hitler himself. Who would be the evil-doer here?

Levin shows how the problem of defeating evil often forces us into positions where we must perform evil.

This was what always endeared me to his writing. He reminds us that where evil is concerned, things are not always black and white. All of us must face choices that see us exchanging a little evil for a greater good. And how should we act when we face such choices?

When I first heard about the Michael Peterson case and the so-called “owl theory” of Larry Pollard, my imagination was instantly captured. This was like a book by Levin himself! A woman killed by an owl?! How strange and unusual! Could this really be true?

The more I investigated this troubling idea, the more I found that the truth was far from black and white. Instead, it seemed that all the parties in this strange legal saga had faced the sorts of moral dillemas that Levin was always writing about. The truth in this case was hidden behind a tangled web of lies, which seemingly came from both the defense and the prosecution alike.

  • Why had Michael lied about receiving two Purple Heart awards from the US military?
  • Why had a crucial piece of evidence seemingly vanished mid-trial?
  • Why did Michael’s alibi change between 2001 and 2003?
  • And why had the police neglected to collect into evidence the presumed murder weapon as well as each and every object surrounding Kathleen’s dead body?

Untangling these secrets and lies became a near obsession for me. Who was obscuring our view? Why were the facts so difficult to collect? What had happened here? I began to get a glimpse into the depth of the conspiracy that surrounds this troubling case. And there remains much to be uncovered.

Filed Under: Blog, DEATH BY TALONS, Tiddy Smith, True Crime Tagged With: Conspiracy, crime scene, Durham, Ira Levin, Kathleen Peterson, Larry Pollard, Michael Peterson case, new book, North Carolina, owl theory, Rosemary's Baby, scalp, Staircase, theory
January 27, 2023 By Tiddy Smith Leave a Comment

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DEATH BY TALONS by Tiddy Smith

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Read More From Tiddy Smith

Death By Talons Book Cover

Author Tiddy Smith Explores ‘Owl Theory’ and North Carolina’s Infamous ‘Staircase Murder’ in DEATH BY TALONS: Did An Owl ‘Murder’ Kathleen Peterson?

It was not enough to suggest that Kathleen began to bleed outside. It was not enough to point to prior owl attacks on humans. Larry needed a smoking gun. And he would find it. —from DEATH BY TALONS by Tiddy Smith On December 9, 2001, Kathleen Peterson was found dead at the bottom of a […]

Featured Image with owl for new author blog post

A Fatal Owl Attack Has At Least One Historical Precedent, Says Author Tiddy Smith

Get DEATH BY JTALONS The unusual death of Kathleen Peterson in her home in Durham, North Carolina has attracted a tremendous amount of media attention since it occurred in December, 2001. It was first brought to international prominence by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s docuseries The Staircase, released in 2004. It was later rereleased in extended form […]

Author Blog Quote "It's not science fiction any more; it's science fact."

Author Tiddy Smith On ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘The Boys from Brazil’

In 1996, a sheep called Dolly was born. She was the first mammal in history to be cloned from an adult. For this reason, Dolly had three mothers: the one who provided the egg, the one who carried her to term, and the one who provided the DNA. It was a remarkable leap from science […]

Featured Image

Scholar and DEATH BY TALONS Author Tiddy Smith Answers “Who Is Larry Pollard?”

Get DEATH BY JTALONS Thomas Lawrence Pollard, better known as Larry Pollard, was born in Durham, North Carolina in 1948. He was the son of Julia Davis Pollard and Forrest Pollard sr. Studying law at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, he would go on to work in some of the most prestigious legal […]

Tiddy Smith, Author of DEATH BY TALONS, Gives Background Information on The Owl Theory

The Owl Theory and the Michael Peterson Case It was a couple of weeks before Christmas in 2001 when Kathleen Peterson was found dead at the bottom of her Durham, North Carolina property. She had bled terribly from deep slices in her scalp. Her husband, Michael Peterson, claimed that she must have fallen down the […]

Author Tiddy Smith, PhD

Blog Posts by Author Tiddy Smith

Author Tiddy Smith Explores ‘Owl Theory’ and North Carolina’s Infamous ‘Staircase Murder’ in DEATH BY TALONS: Did An Owl ‘Murder’ Kathleen Peterson? March 14, 2023 A Fatal Owl Attack Has At Least One Historical Precedent, Says Author Tiddy Smith March 1, 2023 Author Tiddy Smith On ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘The Boys from Brazil’ February 27, […]

Author Tiddy Smith

Meet Author Tiddy Smith

Author Tiddy Smith I am a New Zealand philosopher of religion who has always been fascinated with the strange and unusual. I hail from the town of Dunedin, a Scottish settlement in the lower portion of the South Island, where I earned my PhD from the University of Otago. I presently live in Jakarta with […]

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Author Tiddy Smith Tells Why He Wrote About The Kathleen Peterson Case

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