compiled by Patrick H. Moore

Let me first say that I am not a necrophiliac nor do I have any desire to be one. I do not have to fight off aberrant impulses to seek out corpses and sleep with them. I find the topic interesting, however, probably because it is just so darned strange.  The following passages, which are readily available online, are taken from an interview with one of America’s better-known necrophiliacs, Karen Greenlee, conducted by a man named Jim Gordon. The incident in question occurred in 1979.  (Note: Before you read any further, you should realize that this is not quite your everyday crime stuff. For the sake of gentle minds, I have cut certain disturbing passages.)

THE UNREPENTANT NECROPHILE:

An Interview with Karen Greenlee

By Jim Morton

Karen Greenlee is a necrophiliac. Five years ago she made national headlines when she drove off in a hearse and wasn’t heard from for two days. Instead of delivering the body to the cemetery she decided to spend some time alone with the corpse. Eventually, the police found her in the next county, overdosed on codeine Tylenol. She was charged with illegally driving a hearse and interfering with the burial (there is no law in California against necrophilia). In the casket with the body Karen left a four-and-a-half page letter confessing to amorous episodes with between twenty to forty dead men. The letter was filled with remorse over her sexual desires: “Why do I do it? Why? Why? Fear of love, relationships. No romance ever hurt like this … It’s the pits. I’m a morgue rat. This is my rathole, perhaps my grave.”

The letter proved to be her downfall. For stealing the body and the hearse, she got eleven days in jail, a $255 fine, and was placed on two years probation with medical treatment recommended. Meanwhile, the mother of the dead man sued, claiming the incident scarred her psyche. She asked for $1 million, but settled for $117, 000 in general and punitive damages.

The press had a field day, the lawyers got rich, and Karen lost her career and source of sexual satisfaction. Karen is now more comfortable with her sexuality. “When I wrote that letter I was still listening to society. Everyone said necrophilia was wrong, so I must be doing something wrong. But the more people tried to convince me I was crazy, the more sure of my desires I became.”

The following interview was held in Karen’s apartment, a small studio filled with books, necrophilic drawings and satanic adornments.

Back during the trial, from what I read in the newspapers, it seemed like you got very little support.

A: No, none whatsoever. The newspapers were the worst. To this day I hate reporters. One of them even compared me to Richard Trenton Chase, “The Vampire Killer!” What support there was was like family obligations. One of my brothers refused to have anything to do with me. He said, “I just want to remember her as she was.” He came up to me later and apologized, but he still isn’t comfortable around me. My other brother was more supportive, but even he had to ask, “How’d you do it?”

Before the trial I had a boyfriend who found out about it. He got mad and slapped me around. He said I wasn’t even a woman… I was surprised. He knew! Apparently a lot of people knew and I don’t know how they knew.

With guys, they always felt I went for the bodies because I was hard up, and if I went to bed with them then that would change me and they would be the one who would give me such satisfaction I wouldn’t need those old corpses anymore. I’ve run into that a lot. Sometimes I had guys come on to me for just that reason.

The question I am most often asked is, “How does she do it?”

Yes, that’s the question! People ask questions like that– even people who seem pretty cool, seem to have open minds– then when you tell them, they say, “That’s very interesting,” then don’t want to have much to do with me. I don’t mind telling people how I do it. It doesn’t matter to me, but anyone adept sexually shouldn’t have to ask. People have this misconception that there has to be penetration for sexual gratification, which is bull! The most sensitive part of a woman is the front area anyway and that is what needs to be stimulated.

Besides, there are different aspects of sexual expression: touchy-feely, 69, even holding hands. That body is just lying there, but it has what it takes to make me happy. The cold, the aura of death, the smell of death, the funereal surroundings, it all contributes.

The smell of death?

Sure, I find the odor of death very erotic. There are death odors and there are death odors. Now you get your body that’s been floating in the bay for two weeks, or a burn victim, that doesn’t attract me much, but a freshly embalmed corpse is something else.

Did you usually attend the funerals of your corpse-lovers?

Yeah. It was convenient working in the funeral homes. I’d get to drive out to the cemetery with the family. I’d get to mourn right along with the family at the loss of that loved one. Except I was groaning in a little different tone! People can’t really tell if you’re grief stricken or passion-stricken. I’ve had members of the families put their arms around me and say, “We’re so glad you could come!” Then you have to spin this big old yarn, “Yeah, I knew him in school….” If the guy didn’t have a girlfriend in life they think you were … “Oh, she’s the one!”

When did you first become aware of your necrophilia?

It’s something I’ve been attracted to all my life. I used to hold funeral services for my pets when they died. Had a little pet graveyard. I lived in a small town and the fireman’s barbecue was next door to the funeral home. To go to the bathroom you had to use the facilities in the funeral home. I’d find any excuse I could to go to the bathroom, then I’d take side trips and wander around the mortuary.

It didn’t scare you like the other kids?

No, I loved it! I was real curious. I’d wander around the halls….

Do you miss working in funeral homes?

Yes, terribly! Even if I wasn’t a necrophile, I like mortuary work. I enjoy embalming and everything.

You said something previously about “The Vampire Killer,” Richard Trenton Chase. He was from Sacramento, wasn’t he?

Yeah, the second funeral home I worked for– I wasn’t working there at the time — got the bodies of Chase’s victims, a man and a woman and their child, so I hear the gory details of what the bodies looked like. They were really butchered. They were disemboweled with ___ stuffed in their mouths. Chase started by killing animals and drinking their blood and when he wasn’t satisfied with that he graduated to people. He killed this couple, then kidnapped their child, killed it and later threw it in a trash can. The mortician who embalmed the bodies said he hardly ever got queasy about anything, but he got sick when he saw those bodies!

How about the most unusual funeral?

One time this bunch of religious fanatics held a funeral for one of their members. They didn’t want her embalmed, they just wanted her dressed and in the casket. We usually didn’t do that, but we decided to be nice and put her up in the stateroom. We were standing outside of that stateroom and we heard someone saying, “Rise in the name of Jesus!” They were preying and slapping the body. They were talking in tongues. That was weird!

There seems to be a strong camaraderie between morticians. Almost like a secret society.

Very much so. Morticians are very tight with each other because most people won’t have anything to do with them. I used to find if I went to a party I’d always be introduced like, “This is Karen and she’s a mortician.” But they don’t say, “Here’s Karen– she’s a secretary,” or “she’s a veterinary assistant.” A lot of people are under the misconception that morticians are very straight, very somber. If they ever went back into the prep room and heard all the jokes that are cracked it would blow that theory right out the window.

Did any of those morticians ever testify for or against you at the trial?

One funeral director testified on behalf of funeral practices. He was asked how often necrophilia occurs. He said, “It’s almost unheard of in this profession.”

That’s a major lie!

Yes, definitely … necrophilia is more prevalent than most people imagine. Funeral homes just don’t report it. There was one place that I broke into, and I know that they knew something was wrong. They actually caught me in the act and let me get away.

At another place I was working, this guy came up to me and said, “Someone’s been messin’ with the body. It looks like they were trying to ____ the body!” I said, “Oh my goodness! Really?” I think they figured it out later. I know they know now.

You say you were once caught in the act of necrophilia once?

Yeah… I was on the prep table having a good old time, when all of a sudden I felt like there was somebody nearby. Next thing, I heard people walking down the hallway. I quietly jumped off the table and threw the sheet back over the body. My clothes were in quite a state of disarray, and I had blood on me and everything else– it had been an autopsy case. There was a casket with the lid open in the side casket-room, so I ran and hid behind it. The casket was on a church-truck so they couldn’t see me, but they could see my legs. It was a man and a woman. There were standing there saying, “Who are you? What are you doing here?” One of them said to the other, “you go get the gun and call the cops and I’ll stay down here.” I knew I only had one chance then, so I busted out and ran. I knew the layout of the place, so I just ran down the hall and out of the place and out of the cemetery.

That was the last time I got very close, except for I’ve broken into a few tombs.

Have you seen any changes in people’s attitudes towards necrophilia?

Yeah, when I came out here I noticed it. It’s almost a fad! They’re not really necrophiles, but pseudo-necrophiles. Like a death cult! But there are probably a lot of people who would do it if they had the opportunity.

It must be frustrating when people say, “we have to cure you,” or “you’ve got to be more like us.”

It is. For a while I found myself thinking, “Yeah, this isn’t normal. Why can’t I be like other people. Why doesn’t the same pair of shoes fit me just right?” I went through all that personal hell and finally I accepted myself and realized that’s just me… After 1979, when I was put on probation, part of the probation requirement was that I seek therapy. I had a really nice social worker. She was cool. Very nonjudgmental. The more I talked to these people, the more I realized necrophilia makes sense for me. The reason I was having a problem with it was because I couldn’t accept myself. I was still trying to live my life by other peoples standards. To accept it was peace. These people who are always trying to change me only helped me get myself more in touch with my feelings. I used to go from the therapist’s office to the funeral home.