Last Podcast On The Left
Last Podcast On The Left
"She's a fucking animal. She's a, honestly, she is an uncontainable, truly a Tasmanian devil." — Ben Kissel (Describing Catherine Knight's volatile nature)
"Peter Laylor points out in Bloodstain that the Knights were legend and Aberdeen long before Catherine was even born. And not legendary in a good way." — Marcus Parks (Highlighting the family's notorious reputation)
"The family is rotten to the cat, it's rotten to the cat, like an animal. The family is rotten to the core, it's rotten to the cat." — Ben Kissel (Quoting Catherine Knight's half-brother on the family's depravity)
This episode delves into the early life and psychological landscape of Catherine Knight, an Australian woman whose descent into extreme violence is explored from her childhood in Aberdeen. The narrative highlights her upbringing in a family with a history of notoriety, characterized by violence and what her half-brother described as being "rotten to the core." Her early experiences, including exposure to domestic abuse and a dysfunctional home environment, are presented as foundational influences on her subsequent behavior. The podcast emphasizes her formative years working in slaughterhouses, detailing how the environment and the nature of the work, specifically in the "awful room" and "boning room," may have contributed to a desensitization towards violence and an embrace of brutality.
The discussion further explores Knight's relationships, beginning with her first husband, David Kelet. The hosts detail how her manipulative tendencies, coupled with her physical presence, allowed her to coerce him into marriage. Her increasing violence, including acts of assault and domestic abuse against Kelet, is laid out, with the narrative pointing to her difficulty in controlling her temper and her history of erratic and dangerous behavior. The episode touches upon her alleged childhood molestation and how she later used such claims as a defense mechanism, displaying traits of narcissism and potentially borderline personality disorder, though the podcast's experts emphasize that these conditions do not inherently lead to her level of criminality.
The narrative also highlights Knight's deep connection to knives, stemming from her work in the meat industry, and how she viewed them as extensions of herself. Her severe mental health struggles and repeated breakdowns are recounted, including incidents where she endangered her infant daughter, leading to hospitalizations. Despite these crises and the evident danger she posed, the system's inability to provide effective long-term solutions is noted. The episode sets the stage for further exploration of her life and the events leading up to her most notorious crime, emphasizing the "nature and nurture" combination that contributed to her extreme actions.