Themes Becoming the Boogeyman Richard Chizmar

The Copycat Effect: When Media and Monsters Multiply

Defining the Thematic Claim

In Becoming the Boogeyman, the copycat effect is not merely a forensic term for imitative crime—it becomes a self-perpetuating cultural feedback loop. The novel argues that when a society obsesses over a serial killer, the resulting media frenzy, public fascination, and commercial exploitation directly spawn new violence. The line between documenting evil and inspiring it dissolves, and everyone—journalists, readers, the author, and even the original killer—shares a measure of complicity.

The Copycat Effect Across the Plot

Part 1: The Cult of Joshua Gallagher

Before the copycat strikes, the novel establishes Gallagher's celebrity status. The evidence describes a thriving ecosystem around the Boogeyman:

  • Popular websites, message boards, and social media accounts updated daily.
  • The podcast The Boogeyman Lives with live panels, audience calls, and a biannual contest awarding a limousine tour of Edgewood.
  • Commercial merchandise: T‑shirts, bumper stickers, and “authentic” burlap masks.
  • An Arizona teenager arrested with a kill list, duct tape, and a homemade burlap mask—a pre‑copycat imitation.

This environment breeds the copycat. The killer does not emerge from a vacuum; he is nurtured by the same pop‑culture obsession that turned Gallagher into a macabre icon. The novel’s narrator, Richard Chizmar, notes that Gallagher lacks the charisma of Bundy or Ramirez, yet the nickname “the Boogeyman” and the constant media exposure create a mythological figure ripe for cloning.

Part 2: The Imitation Murders

The copycat’s methods are explicitly borrowed from Gallagher’s 1988 spree:

  • Hangman drawing: The killer draws a hangman figure on Peyton Bair’s palm with a fine‑point Sharpie.
  • Number seven: He writes the number seven, echoing Gallagher’s victim‑numbering system.
  • Ear removal: Postmortem, he slices off Peyton’s left ear—a signature Gallagher used on his victims.
  • Mannequins: The copycat hangs mannequins in Chizmar’s tree, one wearing Anne Riggs’s severed head. This theatrical display mimics the showmanship of Gallagher’s original crimes.

The media amplifies every detail. Channel 2 broadcasts the hangman image exclusively; CNN leads with “Edgewood’s Dark History Repeats Itself.” The image goes viral within an hour. As Lieutenant McClernan tells Chizmar, the killer is “incredibly resourceful”—he exploits a security blind spot, steals a roof camera, and uses the media’s own timing to strike when the guard is absent. The copycat has watched, waited, and learned from the coverage.

Part 3: The Author’s Guilt and Public Accusation

After the mannequin episode, the story turns inward. Richard Chizmar becomes a suspect in the court of public opinion. During a press conference, a voice shouts: “IS IT TRUE THAT YOU’VE BEEN EXPECTING THESE MURDERS?!” Online forums accuse him of collaborating with Gallagher or profiting from the deaths. A post reads: “It makes me sick how girls keep dying and he keeps making money.”

Chizmar internalizes this guilt. He immerses himself in research on copycat killers, asking: “How much of the responsibility for what was happening was my own?” His earlier true‑crime book, Chasing the Boogeyman, and his recent visit to Gallagher in prison feed the conspiracy. The novel forces the question: Does writing about a monster help catch him, or help create the next one?

Part 4: Gallagher’s Continued Influence

Even from maximum security, Gallagher maintains a grip on the narrative. He calls Chizmar directly, offers to name a fourth victim if police rerun his DNA, and mentions Carly Albright by name—proving he knows what happens outside his cell. Later, Chizmar discovers that Gallagher used online crossword puzzles to communicate with followers, leading police to Daniel Kelly and Alicia Fetterman. This reveals that the copycat may have been directed or inspired by the original killer himself. The feedback loop closes: Gallagher, the source, still controls the story, while the copycat is merely his echo.

Character and Symbol Connections

Characters

  • Richard Chizmar – The author‑narrator embodies the ethical dilemma. He is both chronicler and potential catalyst. His guilt reflects the novel’s critique of true‑crime voyeurism.
  • Joshua Gallagher – The original monster whose fame seeds the copycat. His continued manipulation shows that the copycat effect is not merely imitation but orchestration.
  • The Copycat (Sean Phillips) – The imitator who takes the myth literally. His attack on Chizmar at the novel’s climax is the logical endpoint of fan obsession turned violent.
  • Carly Albright – The journalist who helps decode the investigation, she represents ethical reporting. Her gait observation leads to the killer’s identification, contrasting with the sensationalist media.
  • Henry Metheny – The backstory of a different monster (chapter 13) shows how early trauma and violent fantasies are shaped by isolation, not media. But Metheny’s explicit connection to Chizmar’s past (the “soundproofed garage”) suggests that personal history, too, can become a kind of copycat template.

Symbols

  • Burlap mask – Worn by the copycat and by the Arizona teenager. It represents the commodification of the Boogeyman identity. Anyone can buy or make one.
  • Mannequins – Lifeless bodies used for theatrical display. They symbolize the dehumanization of victims in the media spectacle—real people reduced to props in a horror show.
  • Hangman drawing – A game turned into a murder signature. It literalizes the idea that killers “play” with the public’s fear.
  • Number eight – Gallagher’s original victim count. The copycat’s use of numbers ties the new crimes directly to the old mythology.

Complexity and Contradiction

The novel complicates its own critique. Chizmar profits from true‑crime writing, and the book you are reading is itself a product of that same fascination. The author’s note (chapter 1) states that Becoming the Boogeyman is fiction, yet it uses real names, places, and events—including staged photographs. The metafictional frame means that the reader is complicit too. We consume the horror even as the story condemns consumption.

Furthermore, the copycat is not merely a media victim. Sean Phillips (or the unnamed killer in the early chapters) is a resourceful, cunning predator. The novel refuses to let him off the hook by blaming “the media” alone. He chooses to kill. The ethical question is not whether coverage causes crime, but how much our culture feeds the conditions under which such crimes flourish.

Finally, the original killer Gallagher is both villain and anti‑hero. He cooperates with the investigation when it suits him, and his fans include “middle‑aged women with romantic… aspirations.” The novel suggests that the monster is never purely external; we invest in his mythology, and that investment has real consequences.

Study Questions and Answers

  1. How does the novel use the Arizona teenager (described in chapter 5) to foreshadow the copycat effect?
    Answer: The teenager, arrested with a kill list, duct tape, and a homemade burlap mask after participating in Boogeyman message boards, shows that imitation begins long before murder. He is a failed copycat, a warning of what might happen when obsession meets opportunity.

  2. What role does the media play in enabling the copycat, according to chapter 11?
    Answer: The media broadcasts the hangman drawing and ear‑removal detail, creating a blueprint for the killer. The anchorwoman’s “exclusive” revelation triggers a viral frenzy that the copycat can exploit. The novel suggests that sensational reporting gives the killer exactly what he wants: fame and instruction.

  3. Why does Richard Chizmar blame himself, and is his guilt justified?
    Answer: Chizmar blames himself because his true‑crime book and public profile make him a target of conspiracy theories. He researches the copycat effect and wonders if his writing inspired violence. The novel leaves the question open: his guilt is partly a reflection of survivor’s shame, but it also highlights the ethical responsibility of authors who profit from real tragedy.

  4. How does Joshua Gallagher’s prison communication (via crossword puzzles) complicate the copycat effect?
    Answer: If Gallagher deliberately sent clues to his followers, the copycat is not a spontaneous imitator but a directed agent. This complicates the idea that media alone causes imitation—here, the original killer actively cultivates his legacy. The copycat effect becomes a deliberate strategy.

  5. What does the mannequin symbol say about the copycat’s view of victims?
    Answer: Mannequins are plastic, hollow, replaceable. By using them to display Anne Riggs’s head, the copycat treats her as a prop in a macabre display. The symbol reinforces the theme that media coverage turns real people into abstract icons of fear, stripping them of humanity.

Further Exploration