My costume for this halloween was Pauline Rieper/Parker, one half of the notorious Parker-Hulme teenage murdering duo, found guilty in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1954 for the murder of Pauline's mother, thus providing the basis for Peter Jackson's 1994 film Heavenly Creatures.
Together they created an elaborate fantasy realm, 'The Fourth World', and hoped to sell their epic tales of adventure for adaptation to Hollywood films.
Pauline is best remembered for her detailed diaries, hatred of Orson Welles, and her love of Mario Lanza and Juliet Hulme.
Pauline's mother was viewed as the one stumbling block in the two girls' relationship, as both sets of parents began fearing the friendship bordered on homosexuality, and had decided complete separation was the only way to cure this 'mental illness'. Pauline and Juliet reasoned the only way they could be assured of staying together would be to bludgeon Mrs Rieper with half a brick in a stocking in a secluded part of Victoria Park.
Excerpts from Pauline's diaries:
We have decided how sad it is for other people that they
cannot appreciate our genius . . .
. . . but we hope the book will help them to do so a
little, though no one could fully appreciate us.
To think that so much could happen in so little time,
caused by so few. A terrible tragedy has occurred . . .
Mother woke me this morning and started lecturing me
before I was properly awake, which I thought was somewhat unfair. She
has brought up the worst possible threat now. She said that if my
health did not prove I could never see the Hulmes again. The thought is
too dreadful. Life would be unbearable without Deborah . . .
I rang Deborah immediately as I had to tell someone
sympathetic how I loathed Mother.
One thing Deborah and I are sticking to: through
everything, we sink or swim together.
Anger against Mother boiled up inside me as it is she who
is one of the main obstacle in my path. Suddenly a means of ridding
myself of this obstacle occurred to me. If she were to die . . .
