The story of a notorious Canadian serial killer was told by MSSU’s Dr. Mike Hulderman Oct. 24 in the Anderson Justice Center Auditorium.
This narrative brings a bizarre perception to the Canada semester because it told the story of Robert Pickton, one of Canada’s most notorious serial killers. Adding to the eerie eccentricity was the fact the presentation was held just before Halloween.
Hulderman started this presentation by explaining the definition of “ripper.” He then went on about the context of the word, how it is “a tool used to tear or rip apart.” Pickton, a pig farmer in the province of British Columbia, was charged with six counts of second-0degree murder in 2002, although he was suspected to be associated with at least 20 other deaths.
Pickton earned the moniker of the “Pig Farmer Killer” and “The Butcher,” due in part to his use of his family’s pig farm to dispose of the bodies. In 2007, Pickton was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 25 years, the longest possible sentence under Canadian law. Pickton died in 2024 following an assault by another prisoner while incarcerated at the Port-Cartier Institution in Quebec.
This presentation added to MSSU’s Canadian semester not only by bringing entertainment to the students, but by bringing awareness as well.
“[There is value in] just getting a glimpse of different social components, not just entertainment components or food components, but what goes on in real life,” Hulderman said.
Student Amber Livingston came to this lecture because she is “really interested in true crime.”
“I felt like this one was really up my alley,” Livingston said. “Having an eccentric topic in the Canadian semester helps those who wouldn’t normally come and participate in the learning … it adds another thing that people can be interested in while still being a cultural event.”
The next Canada semester event is Nov. 1, “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This: A History of Maple Syrup Making in North America.” The lecture, hosted by retired surgeon and Carl Junction syrup-maker Dr. Alan Buchele, will be held at 11 AM Friday, Nov. 1, in the Billingsly Student Center’s Phelps Theater.