East Carolina professor films Eric Rudolph documentary
Eric Rudolph
Rudolph, a “domestic terrorist” responsible for bombings at the Atlanta Olympics, abortion clinics and gay nightclubs, is a western North Carolina native. An outdoosman, he took to the back woods near Murphy to avoid capture, and was able to do so for many months.
Rudolph was captured rooting through a dumpster in Murphy in 2003, but not before he became somewhat of a folk hero. Wyatt’s goal was to learn something about that phenomenon, and the people of Cherokee County in general.
Here’s an excerpt from a story in the East Carolinian:
“The film will include where he is from, but the film is really not about Eric, it’s about the people in the area where he grew up. The film is about my neighbors. Who am I living amongst? I went to townspeople and did interviews. It is a beautiful area,” said Wyatt. Wyatt’s goal is to expose people to Western Carolina through his eyes. “I was on a journey to find out about my new neighbors, share this with an audience all around the world,” said Wyatt.
<snip>
“I learned a lot about my neighbors and North Carolina. I think people should be more willing to meet people face to face rather than going off of stereotypes. If we all did this, it will be a better place to live. North Carolina is really diverse,” said Wyatt.
Tags: abortion clinics, atlanta olympics, east carolina university, east carolinian, eric rudolph, Film, North Carolina, Western North Carolina
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Sounds like an interesting film-I’ll be interested to see how he portrays folks from Cherokee County-cause thats where I’m from. I know during the whole Rudolph hoopla people here were often accused of helping hide him-when in reality most people thought what he did was horrible.
Well, I don’t think it is as simple as that. I don’t think it is even a choice as to pro-Rudolph or anti-Rudolph.
Mountain people who always had a tendency to admire outlaws and experience has taught them to be very skeptical of anything that is associated with the Federal government. I heard a great deal of discussion of Eric Rudolph while he was a fugitive, and many mountain people could condemn his crime by being delighted by the F.B.I.’s failure to find him. My grandfather admired Jesse James and Pretty Boy Floyd. I found myself admiring the outlaw, Lewis Redmond. I could say a great deal more, but perhaps that is enough for the present.
Let me clarify a poorly worded statement in the previous post. I meant to say that “Many mountain people can condemn Rudolph’s crime, but they were still delighted by the F.B.I.’s failure to find him.”
Gary