Actually, ma’m I believe Dylan Klebold first started using his trench coat in 10th grade. Eric started to wear it the year after. Now that I think about it Eric followed Dylan way more than vice versa and even copied his style.

Well, first off, no need for the ma’m? 🙂 And, hmm, I place Dylan acquiring his “trench coat” Australian duster in 1997 though, not as a sophomore, since this would’ve been in the Fall of that year and starting his Junior year at Columbine. I get the sense that he’d been wanting it quite a while and had it on his list of desirables since the original TCM was in it’s heyday that very year and so his parents bought it and gifted it to him for his sixteenth birthday in Sept ‘97. Eric, by comparison, would’ve gotten his after Dylan and in ‘98. Though, he also had to work hard and earn those paychecks to buy his trench.

As for Eric following Dylan’s style and whatnot: I tend to think they both influenced one another pretty equally. While the trench was Dylan’s big thing, Eric got Dylan into KMFDM and Rammstein and so Dylan took to wearing KMFDM t-shirts whereas before he was mostly doing the Chemical Brothers rainbow shirt or DJ Spooky and whatnot. You’d never catch Eric wearing any of those. Oh hell, no! Too chill for his tastes. 😉 Eric didn’t grow his hair long like Dyl either – quite the opposite, he buzzed it military short. I tend to see their cultural, musical and fashion tastes rubbed off on one another in a ‘hit or miss’ fashion like any close friendships tend to do.

Do you think if Dylan was homeschooled, would his life and mental health have been better? Or was his depression more deep rooted and was bound to happen?

That’s a very interesting question! I think Dylan would have definitely been more intellectually engaged with homeschooling in which subjects could be elevated to a level that would be challenging and interesting enough to hold his attention. Part of the problem with public school is that cookie cutter curriculum which is geared towards the median average for each grade. Dylan was gifted and surpassed the level of your average Columbine student. So, he was way under challenged and pretty much bored with the way subjects were so uninspiringly taught.

Everything must have seemed so plodding and easy. He’d finish reading assignments weeks before the report was due, he was so disengaged from subjects being taught which he already knew, so he’d goof off. He’d procrastinate to the last minute on completing calculus homework, read other books not class-related and got in trouble for it or just nodded off from sheer boredom..and, well, also from staying up too late playing Quake with Zack then stumbling out of bed at 5 am for morning bowling.

Homeschooling might have been a way to educate Dylan in an unconventional manner so that it would keep him engaged, interested and so. motivated enough to work that much harder because he was getting something out of it personally. As a result of that, his better grades would just be the icing the cake. Though, this style of education is quite a commitment for parents. Dylan’s parents worked full-time: his dad worked real estate from home and his mom at the local community college miles away. There would need to be sacrifices made on either or both of his parent’s part to be present and involved along side their son, to be mutually engaged in his academics whether it be through online learning programs or some combination method. They would also have to brush up on subjects they were perhaps rusty on and know enough themselves in a variety of subjects so they could be primed for the task of working with him each step of the way and also a couple steps in front of him which would be no easy feat. Optionally, they might have been able to acquire a homeschooling tutor for Dylan if that was a financial possibility. These days, you can do the entire classroom thing online with various instructors that keep in touch and closely connected with parents to monitor their kids educational progress. However, I’m going to say that online education options were likely much more limited if not non-existent in the nineties.

While, homeschooling might have kept Dylan more stimulated, engaged and much more intellectually satisfied, the drawback would be that it would keep him within a sheltered environment of the homestead. In CHIPS, Dylan was interacting with a bunch of kids much like himself, with that commonality of being gifted, however, being home schooled would mean he’d have well, pretty much no one to relate to or compare notes with. Again, with the online learning now, it’s very effortless to interact online with other students but again online interaction is just not quite the same thing as being in the company of other people. Schooled at home, Dylan could completely bypass the risk factor of exposure to any toxic bullying that is the regularly hazing in the social hierarchy of your average public middle/high school. In theory, not dealing with bullying might have helped to keep his self esteem higher for not having to experience the sense of being ostracized or degraded socially by snobs, jocks and such.  Given that Dylan was shy and sensitive from a very early age yet not having the opportunity to experience much of any social experiences, the good as well as the bad, come cause him to become more socially stunted and inept.

Homeschooling would absolutely have to provide the opportunity of field trips – small ones to museums or historical locations or even cross-country for some subject he was researching. This would give Dylan the opportunity to expand his universe and broaden his horizons while being given opportunity to interact with people within the realm of his learning so not only is their an intellectual learning process but also a connection with others being made. Both combined would’ve really helped him soar on many levels.

Dylan might have been happier and more comfortable avoiding experiences that would expose him to both positive and negative social anxiety reactions – and yet, I think part of what made him so depressed was that sense of isolation from the world and feeling separate from people in general. Just think of his large, uniquely-unusual home which is very sequestered away from the close-knit neighborhoods/communities of his friends and classmates.  It symbolically represents how physically separated and distanced he was on many levels in his existence. 

Ultimately, unfortunately, I tend to think that the type of homeschooling available to Dylan back then have him cooped up at home that much more and staying in his little bubble of his bedroom even more than he already did after his day in a public school setting.  Being home constantly equates to not being exposed to as many potential friends his own age to share commonalities with or the opportunity to learn socialization period. So, he might have receded into deeper shyness with even more insecurity around people because of having less experience with them. Homeschooling would make him feel academically confident and quite intellectually capable as evinced by his consistently high AP grades.  Unlike at Columbine, where he was struggling with C’s and D’s, he would feel more superior in his performance and more in control of all that realm.

As for the rest, the building of social skills and emotional intelligence would suffer as a result of schooling individually at his parents or a tutors side. So, the more isolated Dylan would become in a home-schooled environment, it would seem that he might be even more inclined towards chronic, deep depression take a foothold on him. I tend to think, too, that Dylan had some sort of genetic disposition, somewhere along his family lineage, for depression. Though, homeschooling seems like it might be the perfect solution to circumvent Dylan’s exposure to unpleasant experiences at run-of-the-mill public schooling, ironically, it seems an individual-based schooling method might possibly have only exacerbate his tendency toward depression by underscoring his sense of loneliness and the lack of opportunities for building human connection.

in the photos of the evidence display it looks like there is white powder on most of the weapons and stuff do you know what it is

everlasting-contrast:

“in the photos from the evidence exhibit at the fairgrounds it looks like there is white powder or something on a lot of the stuff. what is it?”

You asked this before didn’t you ^^?  😉 I know what you mean but I am not sure what the white powder might be from.

c0atimundi any ideas what the white powder residue is from exactly?

Well, duuh, I suppose that makes total sense.  Thought it might be some sort of residue related to ammo or something along those lines. They dusted the hell out of everything pretty much.  Thanks for the rather simple explanation. 🙂 

But I thought Dylan said weed was dumb or a waste of money?

Dyl was answering questions asked as part of the Diversion Program.  He pretty much downplayed everything on that questionnaire form by not volunteering he was depressed or suicidal and by not letting on that he thought weed or drinking was something he didn’t mind indulging in.  Though, I think overall, Dyl in his own mind, thought himself to be careful, mindful and self reliant as to how often he got high or what he thought was his ‘occasional’ drinking binges simply because his brother Bryon was such an addicted pothead. Dylan saw how drugs had messed up his older brother in not amounting to anything worthwhile by the age of 20.   Of course, according to Zack, Dylan already had a potential drinking problem. So, Dylan thinking he was in control of his recreational weed habit too was probably not a given considering his need to relax and control the anxiety or lift his spirits and forget his deep sadness was enormous..

What kind of alchohols did dylan drink

Well, number one on Dyl’s list here would be VODKA, of course. So, any and every mixed concoction one can throw together with his signature liquor of choice.  We know that Dyl liked to mix a pretty easy one, the Screwdriver
(oj and vodka). A quick sneak down to the kitchen to throw a dash of orange juice in his glass and back up into the privacy of his room to pour the good ole Vodka in for those late nights while IRC chatting, hacking AOL, playing DOOM or Quake with his buds or while in a somber mood lamenting in his journal. Nothing like feeling buzzed and blissfully numb in all his misery. He also would dabble with concocting mixed drink experiments at friend’s weekend parties. Dyl, Brooks and Zack attempted to make a mad scientist approximation of a ‘Tom Collins’ while watching those great and terrible movies. It was nasty apparently.

Dyl also had a Shooters poster hanging in his bedroom which had a variety of recipes for mixed drinks.  I think he’d have enjoyed the hardcore variety with The Vodka (of course) like a Kamikaze, Black Death or Anthrax with some whisky, JD preferably or just straight Aftershocks.  Plus, gotta have Triple Sec, and rum as a standard mixer for a lot these. The more bad ass the name the more tempting it’d be to dare trying it out. Oh, and there’s Tequila, gotta have that in a nod of inspiration to movie favs, From Dusk Til Dawn and Desperado. Some flavored schnapps varieties like peppermint, cinnamon and peach for a bit of fun around the chicks. Course, the straight old Heineken or Miller would do to unwind with a mellow buzz and help Dyl loosen up with the challenging social mingling around potential girls at parties. Not that they’d give him the time of day or anything..

image

Do you know what was the problem Isaiah Shoels had with the shooters ? I read somewhere that he had a problem with them …

Eric and Dylan were friends with TCM member Brian Sargent who also had a volatile temper like Chris Morris.  Leigh Patterson [6,996] and Tyler Pearce [7,002] stated that Brian Sargent got into fight with Isaiah Shoels last year (’98). Rumors was that Isaiah Shoels supposedly won the confrontation. E & D themselves did not have an actual personal beef with Schoels other than likely knowing about Sargent and Schoels confrontation and potentially backing Sargent as their friend.  

Yes, he was also a football team jock as one-winged-falcon pointed out..and of course, black, on top of all of that.

Thank you for clearing the incidents up! I had a feeling Dylan wouldn’t cry while In HS because guys typically don’t cry and will hide. Okay so there’s two ketchup incidents. When do you think the tampon ketchup incident occurred to only Dylan? If the other ketchup incident with jocks squirting ketchup on them in Jan ’98, where would you put the tampon incident for Dylan? Sophomore year?

Well, I’m not entirely certain that Tampon Ketchup Incident 2 and Ketchup Incident 3 (Jan ‘98) are separate happenings?  It’s possible that tampon covered ketchups and just plain ketchup squirting took place at the same time and at both Dylan and Eric.  It’s possible that Chad Laughlin only mentioned Dylan being the target of tampon doused ketchups because, well, maybe he showed up on the scene just as it was all ending and so he only witnessed Dylan get hit?   Chad also went to the restroom with Dylan and consoled him and probably tried to help him wash off the ketchup (good luck with that!) On the other hand, if Eric was also a target, he also would’ve been cleaning up in the restroom – so why did Chad not mention that both Dylan and Eric were cleaning up in the restroom as he consoled Dylan in his account as well? And we know that Chad liked Eric as equally as Dylan; he was friends with both. Chad did not have any problems or falling outs with Eric that would make him favor taking care of Dylan after the attack.  Yet, in his account it distinctly seems as though Chad was only helping/consoling Dylan.  If the two ketchup Incidents are separate, and Dylan was the sole target of such an attack, I would say that it had to have occurred in his (once again) late Junior or certainly even Senior year.  This was the toughest time for the boys and when Dylan was constantly standing out in school wearing his trench, combat boots and sunglasses. Dylan was still a bit on the preppy look with short hair in his Sophmore year.

And, no, you’re absolutely right in your senses: older Dylan in high school would’ve been far more careful about letting loose and having an ugly cry in his bedroom. I highly doubt he’d be so obvious as for his mom to peek him sobbing and clutching his childhood stuffed Koala bear. What next? A binky in his mouth and his baby blankie? And younger Dylan in Jr. High only dumped the stuffed animals over himself just as if he was symbolically burying himself away from the world. I’m not saying that older teen Dylan didn’t cry, oh no, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. It’s just that Dylan was careful about not letting anyone see his vulnerability. He would’ve allowed himself to break down late at night when his parents were off to bed. May have nursed a few sips from a screwdriver to loosen himself up and let the emotions begin to surface into jagged tears.

Hi. Did the tampon ketchup incident really happened? Did this happen at columbine high school or middle school? I heard susan said Dylan came in and cried in his room holding stuffed animals. Is she getting confused with dylan in 7th grade who hid with his stuff animals? What year did this happen? we need more details about this incident. I dont understand why eric or dylans friends spoke of it besides chad and dylans mom

everlasting-contrast:

There is a lot of confusion over this so-called incident. In actuality, this story is two (possibly three) separate accounts that happened to Dylan in Jr. HS and then HS. Basically, someone made a Tumblr post and combined the separate incidents all into one melodramatic post for the “Oooh, Dyl feels” reactions.

Here’s what actually happened:…

Factual Incident One – happened to Dylan at Ken Caryl Jr. High School:

Mr. Klebold advised that the transition from Governor’s Ranch Elementary to Ken Caryl Junior High could be described as from “cradle to reality.” Mr. Klebold said that Dylan was sheltered at his classes at Governor’s Ranch. The Klebold’s perspective in that Dylan seemed well adjusted. Mrs. Klebold then stated the only time she ever saw Dylan cry was once when he came home from school and went to his bedroom. Dylan then took a box of stuffed toys from the closet and buried himself and fell asleep underneath the stuffed toys. Mrs. Klebold said that she checked on what the problem was, however, Dylan would never tell her what had caused him to cry. The Klebolds indicated that they monitored everything about Dylan and Mr. Klebold said that based on his own experience, Dylan seemed normal. Mr. Klebold went on to state that he asked Dylan in the past if people were picking on him and Dylan would tell him no, and would point out that he was 6’4" so people wouldn’t pick on him, however, Dylan did indicate that people picked on Eric (Harris).[source]

Factual Incident Two – Happened to Dylan at Columbine High School

“A lot of the tension in the school came from the class above us,” Laughlin insists. “There were people fearful of walking by a table where you knew you didn’t belong, stuff like that. Certain groups certainly got preferential treatment across the board.

I caught the tail end of one really horrible incident, and I know Dylan told his mother that it was the worst day of his life.”  That incident, according to Laughlin, involved seniors pelting Klebold with “ketchup-covered tampons” in the commons.

(For another version of the incident, which Klebold may have been referencing when he wrote in Harris’ yearbook of taking “our revenge in the commons,” )  

Source

“They did feel isolated and they were definitely “bullied” – people don’t want to believe they were but we have mutual friends who have described many incidents to me that they witnessed first hand. Tampons dipped in ketchup being thrown at Dylan, for one.

My friend (Chad Laughlin) found him in the bathroom and was consoling him from that incident. But they did have friends.”  [Source – website is gone]

Version 2 of Incident Two? (Might be Incident Three because it sounds as though he would’ve been a Junior with this happened)

In this incident, harassment happened to not only Dylan but also Ericwith the distinction of Ketchup packets and not ketchup-covered tampons being thrown at both of them in January (Sounds like Jan‘98 according to Brooks, same month as the van theft)

Brooks Brown believes that the “January incident” was one of two events at Columbine that month rather than the van break-in. The first was an unfounded accusation that Harris and Klebold had brought marijuana to school, prompting a search of their property that enraged them. The second was even more humiliating, exactly the kind of thing that would focus their hatred on the “commons,” the school cafeteria.  “People surrounded them in the commons and squirted ketchup packets all over them, laughing at them, calling them faggots,” Brown says. “That happened while teachers watched. They couldn’t fight back. They wore the ketchup all day and went home covered with it.”  

By itself, the ketchup-dousing explains little. [Source]

Unbeknownst to the Klebolds, Dylan had experienced significant humiliation at school, though he was six feet four and not easy to push around. He had come home one day with ketchup spots all over his shirt, and when his mother asked what had happened, he said he’d had the worst day of his life and didn’t want to talk about it. Months after his death, she learned of an incident in which Dylan and Eric had apparently been shoved and squirted with ketchup by kids calling them fags. “It hurt so much that I’d seen the remnants of that day and hadn’t helped him,” she (Sue Klebold) said [Far From the Tree]

One and only mentioning of Dylan’s (stuffed) Koala:

Every year on Dylan’s birthday, Tom goes up to the place where the two used to hike and takes a Dr Pepper, because Dylan loved Dr. Pepper, and the stuffed koala that was Dylan’s childhood favorite. [Far from the Tree]

Yep, that is the post ^^ I was referring to up top.  It’s disinformation that someone craftily slapped together using a conglomeration of a combo of the 2-3 factual incidences mentioned above.  They then constructed a false accounting to what happened in a fanfic fashion: “her son came in and began to storm off towards his room without saying “hello” and “she went to check on him and could hear him sobbing” (wtf?)  plus, throwing in the “he was hugging the (stuffed) koala that Tom Klebold had gotten” and “remnants of the day” – all nabbed from ‘Far from the Tree’ by Andrew Solomon-  for good measure to jack up the “awwww…” factor from bloggers.  Dylan sobbed into his stuffed koala as a 17 year old Senior just months before the massacre because of the ketchup incident. Uh, NO?  His mother only witnessed him cry in Jr. High and Dylan never told her why he was upset/crying and she never went into great detail on it either in her factual account.  Every time I see this load of bullshit floating around and ‘liked’ as emo truth it makes me cringe.  It’s reblogged and coo’d over as that laughable made-up Dylan phrase: “I’m full of love and no one wants it.” *roll*  

This is the fake accounting of pre-massacre Dylan hugging and sobbing into his stuffed koala:  lol
Susan Klebold recalls months before the massacre, her son came in and began to storm off towards his room without saying “hello”. She said he was covered in either blood or ketchup and when she asked him what happened, he told her, “Just had the worst day of my life.” She states that she went to check on him and could hear him sobbing, she didn’t open his door or bother him. That night when she went back to check on him, he was hugging the koala Tom Klebold had gotten him when he was a child and was asleep. She says, “It hurts so much that I’d seen the remnants of that day and hadn’t helped him.

I wonder how wrote the letter to him while she was hiding. This pisses me off that girls actually liked him omg… If only if only if only

Yes, I wonder how she had a pad and pen to write it too while in hiding – perhaps from her backpack.  A little too late on her part, hm?

 Such is High School and not taking the chance to say anything for feeling too awkward or worrying about any sort of rejection. All the same, he’s guilty of that too. He simply could not bring himself to do it and face the rejection. The reality of actual rejection would’ve been far worse for him to bear than the not knowing at all if she actually returned his feelings. The perpetual mystery seemed more manageable.

I have a non-columbine related question: Do you sometimes delete a few asks without answering? Kinda happened to me a few weeks ago and I’m not sure if you just didn’t feel like answering or if you never got it in the first place.

Generally, I do try to answer most of the asks that come in..unless they’re super *eye rolling* obnoxious. 😛    I get quite a few Asks on a regular basis.  Sometimes I go in order of asks while other times, I just pick and choose what looks interesting or what strikes ‘my’ mood.  Chances are I will get to your ask eventually if not right off the bat.  You can always send me a regular mail msg (or another anon if you want to stay as such) and let me know which one was your previous anon ask, and I’ll have a look and see if I give it a whirl.   Again, no intent to just delete or ignore on purpose – just balancing my life along with E-C and can only answer so much at a time. 🙂

fuck FUCK fuck FUCK I just found out about marla foust and that she may have liked Dylan BACK!?!? I’m just completely destroyed right now, fuck, imagine if they only would have got to know each other and if he would have persevered and fffffuuucckk… my heart.. the tragedy just got even more tragic to me. like all these chances just blown up… FUCK

Well, Marla was not the only girl who harbored a secret affection for Dylan Klebold.  Ironically, there may have been a few girls who didn’t say anything to him just as much as he refrained from sharing his own secret feelings of love for his ‘her’. See Guardianin

What do you think Dylan would have done if he had a girlfriend and she was being picked on?

I think Dylan’s typical way of handling things that upset, threatened or pissed him off would be to go for that sneaky, passive-aggressive style of attack as his first line of defense to protect her.  He’d drop a death threat note in their locker of whoever was bullying his girlfriend or he’d try to hack their AOL account or hack into their website and send them a computer virus.  I think he’d want to give that impression of “I’m an omnipotent mastermind here so you’d better think twice about going after my girl;  watch your back if you continue on this way.’  If Dylan was in the hallway and came across his girlfriend being harassed, I don’t think he’d be able to sit on his temper in the moment.  He would stride over all towering and intimidate those picking on his girlfriend with some well chosen expletives in that trademark booming voices of his. I think even just his presence alone simply standing protectively nearby her with a contemptuous sneer would put a stop to the harassment more than anything else.

Would it be fair to say that Dylan was more liberal and Eric was more conservative? (I’m kinda guessing and basing this off their personalities)

depressioners:

everlasting-contrast:

Yes, that’d be a fair assessment. 🙂 Good part of that due to their family upbringing. Dyl’s parents were liberal-minded probably democrats, and Eric’s family most definitely seem to fit as that military family that is conservative republican.

I would venture to say that Eric was out of step with his family’s political ideals, though. His nihilistic views run more in opposition to the standard capitalistic views of the upper-middle class family which he belonged to. The vestiges of conservatism that he expresses could be easily explained by the environment he was raised in, i.e. being a military brat and living in a conservative state… but I think a primary source of his frustration was feeling out of place with people with a conventional mind-set. Being trapped by the status quo, which is almost always justified and bolstered by people in a conservative party.

Very true. Eric was chugging along within that preppy conservative mold for most of his life and only began to rebel within the last two plus years of his life. He still pretty much maintained that conservative façade

on the surface but underneath that cracking veneer, began to question and reject everything that equated to all things mainstream and conservative which personally, I think a good bit of it stemmed from within his family climate and most especially the rules and rigidity laid down by his military father. He was raised within ‘the box’ which he began to wake up, question and knee-jerk reject.

He hated the idea of authority of being told how to think, live and be and yet he gravitated towards the Nazis ideology which is the epitome of a system of extreme right-wing control. He was conflicted both embracing the rules as that respectful, good student, on-time hard worker yet simultaneously rejected that part of himself that assimilated all too effortlessly within the conservative system.  If he had managed to graduate and gotten through his passionate teenage rebellious/questioning authority phase, I think the adult Eric Harris would’ve eventually capitulated to the right-wing roots he was raised within. He’d be that conservative, most likely a military dad, following in his father’s footsteps, supporting the NRA and the 2nd Amendment, with that milk-toast suburban home, two car garage, that Chevy Silverado, a conservative wife with two-three kids. I suppose he hated and tried to disown what he knew he’d eventually become over time. Family environment conditions  and even in trying to run from the culture he was raised within he would eventually find himself re-adhering to those values.