There’s arguably no car less threatening than the Volkswagen Beetle. Even from a design perspective, its rounded, curved features are nothing like those typically associated with aesthetic appointments considered to be intimidating or scary — like sharp corners and jagged edges — but throw Ted Bundy behind the wheel of anything and it becomes exponentially scarier.
According to All That’s Interesting, Bundy’s Beetle was not just a means of transportation; he used it as a tool in his horrific crimes. He was known to have faked injuries to garner sympathy from victims, going so far as to don a sling or hobble around on crutches. Once an unwitting victim took his bait, he’d knock them out and push them into the car. This trait would inspire a similar methodology used by the fictional serial killer Buffalo Bill in the 1991 Oscar-winning movie “The Silence of The Lambs.”
The interior of Bundy’s Volkswagen Beetle was heavily modified to suit his deranged needs. The passenger’s seat and the door handle were both removed, allowing Bundy a place to lay an unconscious victim out of sight and not giving them any means of escape should they wake up. It’s believed that as many as 11 of Bundy’s victims met the unfortunate fate of seeing the inside of one of history’s most notorious cars, reports Scripps Howard Foundation Wire.
