Ding Dong Ditch: Folie à Deux -- Three Cases of Shared Delusions
09/05/22 • 22 min
There are countless examples in true crime of the psychiatric phenomenon Folie à Deux, also known as shared delusion or shared psychosis. In this short episode, Allison goes into three very distinct cases.
In 2016, an Australian family, the Tromps, took an extremely bizarre impromptu road trip that ended with all of them separated and in various states of mental agitation and catatonia.
In the late 1970s, two men were incarcerated together and spent all their spare time feeding a shared fantasy of raping young girls. Once paroled, they set about putting their plans to work. Only it soon escalated to murder. Eventually becoming known as the Toolbox Killers, Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris were eventually arrested, but not before raping, maiming, and killing upwards of a half dozen young women and girls.
Finally, learn about Mr and Mrs A, a couple who became entrapped in one of the partners' psychotic states, feeding a series of delusions that eventually led to the death of their infant son.
Additional Info:
Folie à Deux Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folie_%C3%A0_deux
Excerpt on Folie à Deux re: Toolbox Killers:
https://books.google.com/books?id=uM5SDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA198&lpg=PA198&dq=lawrence+bittaker+and+roy+norris+folie+%C3%A0+deux&source=bl&ots=gKeolktW3s&sig=ACfU3U0NHI1d8VSCrUmTd3TCm9nDTGeEfQ&hl=en&ppis=_c&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjS68Xx_LDoAhVZCc0KHSjoARkQ6AEwAnoECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=lawrence%20bittaker%20and%20roy%20norris%20folie%20%C3%A0%20deux&f=false
The Story of Mr and Mrs A:
https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.13010027
The Mystery of the Tromp Family:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-37293494
https://www.mamamia.com.au/tromp-family/
Famous Folie à Deux Murder Cases:
https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/folie-a-deux-murders
Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Intro Music -- Spencer Morelock
Background Music -- Ken Dickson: https://soundcloud.com/kenjamd
Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]
Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson
Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]
There are countless examples in true crime of the psychiatric phenomenon Folie à Deux, also known as shared delusion or shared psychosis. In this short episode, Allison goes into three very distinct cases.
In 2016, an Australian family, the Tromps, took an extremely bizarre impromptu road trip that ended with all of them separated and in various states of mental agitation and catatonia.
In the late 1970s, two men were incarcerated together and spent all their spare time feeding a shared fantasy of raping young girls. Once paroled, they set about putting their plans to work. Only it soon escalated to murder. Eventually becoming known as the Toolbox Killers, Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris were eventually arrested, but not before raping, maiming, and killing upwards of a half dozen young women and girls.
Finally, learn about Mr and Mrs A, a couple who became entrapped in one of the partners' psychotic states, feeding a series of delusions that eventually led to the death of their infant son.
Additional Info:
Folie à Deux Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folie_%C3%A0_deux
Excerpt on Folie à Deux re: Toolbox Killers:
https://books.google.com/books?id=uM5SDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA198&lpg=PA198&dq=lawrence+bittaker+and+roy+norris+folie+%C3%A0+deux&source=bl&ots=gKeolktW3s&sig=ACfU3U0NHI1d8VSCrUmTd3TCm9nDTGeEfQ&hl=en&ppis=_c&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjS68Xx_LDoAhVZCc0KHSjoARkQ6AEwAnoECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=lawrence%20bittaker%20and%20roy%20norris%20folie%20%C3%A0%20deux&f=false
The Story of Mr and Mrs A:
https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.13010027
The Mystery of the Tromp Family:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-37293494
https://www.mamamia.com.au/tromp-family/
Famous Folie à Deux Murder Cases:
https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/folie-a-deux-murders
Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Intro Music -- Spencer Morelock
Background Music -- Ken Dickson: https://soundcloud.com/kenjamd
Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]
Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson
Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]
Previous Episode
Ding Dong Darkness Time Trailer
Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson
Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]
Next Episode
Ding Dong Ditch: Humans Consuming Humans -- Mummy Edition
Let's talk about cannibalism! Specifically medical cannibalism.
Humans have been using corpses medicinally for centuries. A little ground up skull for a headache. A sip of blood for the spirit. A slather of human fat for a wound. But around the 12th century, they went particularly nuts for Egyptian mummies, and for the next 500 years, it was available at any town apothecary.
Learn all about ground up mummies, whether unearthed from Egyptian tombs, or locally sourced from the neighborhood executioner and made in-house, and how people used them to treat various ailments, and even made paint pigment out of their ground-up remains.
And that's only a little of what's packed into this 20-something minutes. Come for the primer on curative cannibalism and cultural exploitation. Stay for the always timely reminder as to why incest is bad.
Additional Info:
Smithsonian Magazine Article on Corpse Medicine
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-gruesome-history-of-eating-corpses-as-medicine-82360284/
Modern Antiquities Smuggling
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-21/egypts-3-billion-dollar-smuggling-problem/10388394
Peruvian Gang Harvesting Human Fat
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/20/peru-gang-killing-human-fat
Mummy Brown Pigment Wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummy_brown
History of Consuming Human Remains
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/mumia-the-strange-history-of-human-remains-as-medicine#A-controversial-practice
Mummia Wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummia
Mummy Craze of the Victorian Era
https://theconversation.com/why-did-people-start-eating-egyptian-mummies-the-weird-and-wild-ways-mummy-fever-swept-through-europe-177551
Show Credits:
Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Intro Music -- Spencer Morelock
Background Music -- Ken Dickson: https://soundcloud.com/kenjamd
Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]
Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson
Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/ding-dong-darkness-time-215996/ding-dong-ditch-folie-%c3%a0-deux-three-cases-of-shared-delusions-24221799"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to ding dong ditch: folie à deux -- three cases of shared delusions on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy