Eric Edgar Cooke Essay

Abstract

Eric Edgar Cooke the ‘Night Caller’ has struck Perth with murder, stabbings, hit-and-runs and burglaries which during 1931-64 until his death. Due to a neglected childhood with a alcoholism father and bullying Cooke’s murderous out take on the world and random killings not only make his next target difficult to find but also Cooke himself. Studies on Cooke have shown his psychopathic styles of killing are not only unique but also the work of a ‘Nedland monster’ in Perth district. As Cooke was physically and emotionally abused from childhood he discovered his getaway through disassociation and imagination, obtained in order to boost his low self-esteem through self-aggrandisement, fumed against the society that ostracized him, thus

As he was the only male and oldest of his two younger sisters unfortunately he received a large amount of physical abuse from his father from a young age. Due to his father suffering from alcoholism Cooke constantly got beat throughout his childhood, which his father didn’t show passion towards him and more often than not did his father have no apparent reason for his beatings. Reasons for Cooke being beaten by his father were a result of trying to protect his mother from his father’s outbreaks of anger. Cooke would hide underneath the house or even roam the neighborhood streets to escape his drunken father’s

Cooke’s desire and drive to join the military forces didn’t give him the chance to do good due to his previous incidents with the law and as a result he was once again rejected and psychologically this would have taken a great toll on Cooke which contributed to his later life ‘job’ as the Night Caller. The Drive Theory is an excitatory state where there is a need for power of driving the behavior of an individual and as Cooke continued to drive he wasn’t allowed to continue this path and thus turned him down a murderous path instead. This theory is based on the principle of where the psychological need and that of the negative state of tension is created when we are not satisfied and in Cooke’s case that was occurring at this