Ted Bundy's childhood home

This is the childhood home of Ted Bundy.

It is located at 658 North Skyline Drive in Tacoma, Washington.

The serial killer spent most of his childhood and teenage years living at this address.

In 1953, Bundy's family left their home on South Sheridan Avenue and moved to this house in Tacoma's West End. At the time, he was only six or seven years old.

For the next thirteen years, he lived here with his mother, stepfather, and half-siblings.

Bundy's path to becoming a serial killer started in this neighborhood

Serial killers often engage in voyeurism, fetishism, and auto-eroticism during their formative years. They are also sometimes exposed to sensitive materials or distressing sexual experiences.

During interviews, Bundy recalled how he used to roam around this neighborhood late at night. At the time, he liked to steal things, peer through windows, and search through people's trash cans for detective magazines.

His interest in detective magazines had little to do with their articles about crime. Instead, he was fascinated by the photographs and illustrations of sexual violence against women.

It is likely that Bundy's continuous exposure to these images at such a young age played a significant role in the development of his deviant fantasies.

By repeatedly seeking this material out and associating it with pleasure, he was essentially conditioning himself to become aroused by sexual violence.

By the time he reached his teenage years, he was a voyeur who liked to sneak out of his house, creep around in the darkness, and peer through women's windows.

Shortly before his execution, he told a psychiatrist about one of the deviant activities that he engaged in when he was just 13 years old.

Bundy said that he liked to go into the woods at the back of his house, take off his clothes, and then run around naked. In his opinion, this particular activity marked the beginning of his "problem."

Haunted

A property flipper named David Truong purchased the house in 2017. However, he did not learn about its history until after the sale went through.

During remodeling work, contractors claimed to experience several strange events. They were so spooked by these events that they eventually called in pastors to bless the house.

On one occasion, a large piece of furniture reportedly fell over and moved across the hall. One of the contractors also claimed that they saw the word "leave" written in sawdust.

Silas High School

During his time in Tacoma, Bundy attended Woodrow Wilson High School.

In February 2021, the school changed its name to Dr. Dolores Silas High School.

Bundy's parents sold his childhood home in 1968

Bundy lived at this address up until September 1966, when he moved to the McMahon Hall dormitory building at the University of Washington campus in Seattle.

Two years later, in 1968, his parents sold the property and moved to 3214 North 20th Street.

Photos

Photos of the house and other related images.

658 North Skyline Drive

This Google Street View image of 658 North Skyline Drive was taken in August 2012.

Basement

This is what the basement looked like before it was refurbished.

Louise and Johnny Culpepper Bundy

This is a colorized photograph of Bundy's mother, Louise, and his adoptive father, Johnny Culpepper Bundy.

Bundy did not get along with his stepfather and would often try to provoke him into confrontations. He also told friends that his stepfather wasn't bright and that he resented him for not being wealthy.

North Skyline Drive

This is a Google Street View image of North Skyline Drive, where Bundy lived as a teenager. The house, with its red-brick chimney, is visible over on the right.

3214 North 20th St

After selling their house in 1968, the Bundy family moved to 3214 North 20th Street in the North End area of Tacoma.

This house is close to the University of Puget Sound, which is where Bundy studied Chinese for a year after he graduated from high school.