Nothing Is Strange With You

NOTHING IS STRANGE WITH MR NORTHCOTT, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT.

As I imagine most people will be drawn to this book after watching Clint Eastwood's film Changeling, I'll start with a heartfelt recommendation: if you want to know what the real events were, BUY THIS BOOK NOW. You will surprisingly find out that most of what you've been shown in the movie Changeling, is fiction.
The reading is very engaging to say the least, including the trial transcripts, because Stewart Northcott ia an absolutely hilarious, one-of-a-kind character, with his boyish bravado, his defiant smile, his sarcastic wit, his posing for the camera, and his insistence on living life as he sees fit.
Stewart Northcott is not a serial killer. He didn't have a urge to kill. He was a young man who would engage in sexual, and possibly romantic, relations with young boys. He would spend time look out for boys (don't your 'normal' guys just do the same with girls?), bring them back to the ranch or to a hotel, and them bring them back home. A serial killer would have killed them all. I personally believe the murders of the Winslow boys (and Walter Collins) were committed out of panic. Hastily committed and out of fear of discovery. Northcott had realised that he had kept the children at the ranch for too long, and people were starting to look for them. There was no chance of letting them go without them revealing where they had been all along. For this reason, they died. Some Amazon reviewers seem to enjoy filling their mouths with 21st century political correctness & hysteria: 'monster', 'nutcase', 'predator', and bla, bla, bla. Forgive me if I was not able to find 'monster' as a synonym for 'paedophile' in the dictionary. It's just not there. It is far to easy, gentlemen, it is too much a convenient way out to label someone 'crazy' only because they are 'different'.
I do NOT condone the murders. But I am not blind before the complexity of human nature. I understand the dynamics. I understand the feelings. Even Northcott's remark to Sandford, his nephew, upon leaving the ranch in the mornings - 'I am going away for fresh meat!' - is, in a way, comical. If you want to find something disturbing in him, you have to go for his childish selfishness, his focusing on gratifying his own desires and his alone, his fits of temper, his puerile disregard for the feelings and well-being of others. This type of personality, when confronted with fear, when confronted with panic, saw murder as the only possible escape.

'Go away for fresh meat' are not the words of a 'monster', rather the amused words of a self-centred, and sometimes naive, boy who decides to eventually feel ALIVE, and REFUSES TO LEAD A LIFE OF LIVING-DEATH, which society wishes to impose on him.
Isn't this a perfectly 'human' demand?
A legitimate 'human' desire?
Are you so sure you would have wanted differently in his shoes?

I feel like I have learned more about human nature from this single book than from a whole shelf of my university books.
Do yourself a favour: BUY THIS BOOK. And read it with an open mind and a compassionate heart.

Gordon Stewart Northcott was hung on October 2, 1930, at just 24 years of age.
24 YEARS OF AGE!
And denied a second chance in life.
It took him 12 minutes to die.

'CAN YOU LOOK AT ANY MAN AND SAY WHAT HE DESERVES?'
There is no Good, and there is no Evil. There is only human nature, its powerful drive, its mysterious force. Ultimately, there is only what we are and the million different things we can be.

4 out of 15 people found this review helpful.

Disgusted!!!

I am adding to my previous statement. To the January post: I am also appalled that his age and how long it took for him to die saddened you. It's a shame that it ONLY took 12 minutes. He should have been tortured beyond recognition and in a perfect world it would have taken way more than a measley 12 minutes for every last breath to be taken from him. I can't imagine the final thoughts his poor helpless victims endured, I wish they would have been evenged by Gordon Northcott getting the same death sentence they did.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Disgusted!!!

To whomever wrote in January,
You are absolutely wrong about any of this story being "comical" How do you sleep at night when you consider this monsters actions entertainment? And yes he is a monster, anyone who would do the things he did to these little boys has no other name that fits so perfectly. It is not "human nature" to want to molest, torture and kill innocent children who cannot even defend themselves. How do you explain saying he had "romantic relationships" with them???? They weren't consentual or wanted and if any of them lived they would have felt the same way. You should be ashamed of yourself for even thinking that way. I hope you sleep at night because I can guarantee none of these children's parents did.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

To the one who "does not condone" the murders

Anyone who thinks that this monster is just a silly man who has a romantic interest in little boys and desires to have just a little fun with them is just as crazy as he is. To the one who wrote about him in Jan: If you seriously believe everything you wrote, maybe the police should keep an eye on you. As far as human nature goes everyone may have a moment of anger but the ones who act on their anger are the ones you have to look out for. As well as the ones who think it's ok. You say you do not "condone" the murders yet you condone his actions by defending him. Hello, It's the same thing as condoning the murders. Clearly you have just as many mental issues as he did in thinking that it's the same as a man looking on a woman. The fact that he kidnapped, raped, tortured, and murdered children goes against human nature. May God keep your family safe from "a man who has romantic interests" in little boys and girls.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

The thought of the review below makes me sick!

A review below basically says that what Northcott did was not wrong. That makes me sick to my stomach. Someone who would kidnap children, molest them and murder them is not "normal". It's not simple human nature. To know that there are still people out there that find this "okay" is beyond me. I will never understand how someone could harm a child in any way. Whether it be through kidnapping, molestation, abuse or murder. It's downright evil! A child is so helpless and unaware of the harm that surrounds them. As a future teacher I know I will come into contact with children who have been abused. I plan on helping those children along the way. My heart breaks for kids who have to endure these criminal acts. So to the person below who defended this murderer's actions, I don't know how you can sleep at night. Children are our future......not "items" that can be used, abused and tossed aside for personal pleasure. I don't think you would feel the same way had it been your son, nephew, cousin, brother, etc. Don't defend people who perform sick and twisted criminal acts! It's up to everyone else to protect these children from harm!

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Sick

This book is sick. The review before me is sick. Gordon Stewart Northcott is sick. How you can think he's not, you're sick.

1 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Disturbing history, but true history

The fact that the events are true are very disturbing, but it is TRUE!! Gordon Stewart Northcott was a demented human being. For me, this is local history. It may not be pretty but it is what it is. He got what he deserved and is no longer a menace to anyone. The author did a spectacular job at showing the truth behind who Northcott was and the research on Mr Paul's part is amazing.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Pass this one by...

This book is, without fail, one of the most difficult volumes I have ever tried to read. While the topic itself is quite disturbing, that isn't the trouble for I knew what I was buying... The issue is that this book is made up of the actual trial reports, newspaper clippings, police reports, etc. Originally I thought that this approach would garner a more accurate depiction of the actual events. Sadly, the documents are so poorly collated as to make necessary an incessant flipping back and forth, rereading passages, sometimes more than once, in order to understand who is speaking and what they are trying to convey. I made it nearly half way through this book before deciding that it just isn't worth the effort. Bottom line: Nothing is Strange with You is a confusing, muddy, hodgepodge that reads like a scrapbook pasted together by a distracted child. Not recommended.

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