Dr. Fenton
speaker
189 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard May 2025
last heard May 2025
Dr. Fenton’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children.
Movies have been a safe haven for over 100 years. They can make us feel sad, happy, scared, hopeful. They can make us cry and laugh and feel connected to those around us. It's a way to escape reality for a bit. jumping into a whole different world, which was exactly the case for nearly 400 people in Aurora, Colorado on July 20th, 2012.
It was the midnight premiere of the highly anticipated Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises. Everyone in the theater grabbed their popcorn and their candy, and as the lights turned out, they completely immersed themselves in the film before them. But soon enough, they would all witness something horrific. except it wouldn't be on a screen.
It would be right there in front of them in that very theater. About 18 minutes into the movie, a 24-year-old named James Holmes would enter the theater through an exit door. And before anyone even realized what was happening, he would unleash a hail of bullets into the crowd. By the time he was finished and the smoke cleared from the room, the dark floors were drenched in blood
popcorn, shoes, and bodies. In the end, more than 70 people were injured and 13 people would lose their lives. And this horrific act was not only a tragedy, but a cultural shift because one day movies were a safe place and then they weren't. So this is the story of the Dark Knight Rises mass shooting.
In this episode, we are going to tell you everything that led up to this tragic event, including the life of the shooter, James Holmes. But if you don't want to hear about that, make sure to join us next week. In that episode, we will walk you through everything that happened that day. We will talk about the victims, the aftermath of the shooting, and the fate of the man responsible.
But I'm Courtney Browen,
For most of the mass shooting episodes we cover, we start the episode off by telling you about someone's unfortunate upbringing. A lot of times, the men who go on to commit these shootings come from broken homes. Their childhoods are riddled with trauma, abuse, and neglect. And from an early age, the warning signs are right there. Sometimes these children will hurt animals. start fires.
They'll draw bloody pictures of people being killed. Then, when they grow up, you'll often see them posting concerning things online. They'll cause problems in school. And finally, when that person commits the shooting, most people who knew them aren't surprised. In fact, sometimes the people around them will tell you that they saw it coming all along.
But the story we have for you today isn't like that. The childhood of James Holmes was so incredibly normal, which in itself is unsettling. As humans, we find comfort when we can place blame on something. Not that a shitty childhood is ever an excuse for why these people go on to commit such atrocities, but at least we can look into their past for answers.
However, in the case of James Holmes, we can't really do that. Sometimes parents can do everything right. They can give their children a good education, put them in therapy, and give them all the advantages to live a good and productive life. But still, something goes wrong.
Following their marriage in 1986, Robert and Arlene moved to San Diego. Arlene began to write for the Imperial Beach Star News, and her husband, who usually went by Bob, worked as a statistician for the Navy Personnel Center. They had a really great life together. They were successful, they had a nice house on the beach, and plenty of money. The only thing missing from their lives were children.
Both Bob and Arlene always knew that they wanted to be parents, and they fulfilled that dream on December 13th, 1987. Arlene went into labor and ended up needing a C-section. It was definitely not an easy birth, but after several long hours, their son, James Egan Holmes, had finally made his way into the world. Many parents recall the first time they held their baby, and looked into their eyes.
You experience a love that you never thought possible. And in that moment, you vow to love and protect them for the rest of their life. I'm sure Bob and Arlene experienced this exact same moment with James. However, they could have never imagined the life he would go on to live.
When James was five years old, Bob and Arlene had their second child, a daughter named Chris. And according to his family, he absolutely loved his little sister. One day, shortly after her birth, he even approached his mom and asked if she could help him write a letter. It read, quote, Dear Chris, I love you, Chris. I wish you could play basketball and soccer with me.
I wish you could play light bright. You have soft, cute skin. You're a happy baby. I wish you could play marbles with me. You can when you grow up. You need four more years. Love, Jimmy, your brother. According to Arlene, right after the letter was written, James insisted on feeding her a bottle and reading it to her.
It was the kind of relationship every parent hopes to see between their children. And in the beginning, the Holmes family was so happy. Later on, when asked what he remembered about his childhood, James' response was, quote, lots of hugs. It was clear he was growing up in a good, stable, and loving home. But like with any child, there were some bumps along the road.
For instance, in his early childhood years, James had a few irrational fears. But what kid doesn't? The first fear of his were that, quote, thugs were going to sneak into his window at night and kidnap him. And his second fear is what he referred to as nail ghosts. According to James, they were ghosts that would hammer nails through the wall by his bed at night, trying to poke him.
And he was so scared of these ghosts poking him with these nails that he would sleep in the middle of his bed, far away from the wall.
At their new home in Salinas, they spent a lot of quality time together. Every single night they sat together and ate dinner at the table, no matter what was going on in their lives. One of James's fondest memories was when his mom would cook spaghetti. Arlene and the kids would throw wads of noodles at the cabinets to see if it was ready. If the spaghetti stuck, it was al dente.
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