In the early nineteen seventies the sleepy college town of Santa Cruz, California, previously famous for surfing and a boardwalk, was plunged into chaos when a mass killer and two separate serial killers began leaving corpses and body parts strewn throughout the beaches and redwoods, earning the town the monicker of The Murder Capital of the World.

Today we take a look at mass murderer John Linley Frazier, how psychosis and drugs abuse led a wannabe hippie on a crusade to save the earth to annihilate the family of an esteemed eye surgeon.

We also examine the history of Santa Cruz and how it mimicked the social upheavals of the nineteen sixties as the culture shifted from conservative nineteen-fifties thinking to more liberal ways and the violence that erupted with this clash, including the murder spree of the Manson Family.

Hop aboard, as we take a trip to Santa Cruz, California, Murder Capital of the World Part One: John Linley Frazier THE KILLER PROHPHET!!!

MURDER COASTER PODCAST

Hosted by Christa Carmen and Matthew Brockmeyer

Website: www.murdercoasterpodcast.com

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Creepy Amusement Park theme by Brandon Fiechter and Derek Fiechter, used by permission and with many thanks.

References:

MURDER CAPITAL OF THE WORLD: The Santa Cruz Community Looks Back at the Frazier, Mullin and Kemper Murder Sprees of the Early 1970s by Emerson Murray READ THIS BOOK! IT’S AMAZING.

Serial Killers of Santa Cruz by Aubrey Graves

Murderville USA The Santa Cruz Serial Killers by Les MacDonald

'Murder capital of the world': The terrifying years when multiple serial killers stalked Santa Cruz (sfgate.com)

John Linley Frazier, the Killer Prophet and Hippie Murderer — The Year of the Hippie Murders — Crime Library