Ted Bundy's childhood home

Ted Bundy's childhood home 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.

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

For the next thirteen years, he lived on North Skyline Drive 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 trashcans for detective magazines.

His interest in detective magazines had very little to do with their articles about crime. Instead, he found the photographs and illustrations of sexual violence against women to be fascinating.

It is likely that Bundy's continuous exposure to these images at such a young age played a huge 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. In his opinion, this particular activity marked the beginning of his "problem".

Haunted

In 2017, the property was purchased by a man named David Truong, who planned on remodeling it and then flipping it. It was only after Truong bought the house that he learned about its history.

During the remodeling work, the contractors reportedly experienced a number of strange events. These events spooked them so much that pastors were eventually called to bless the house.

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

Ann Marie Burr

Although Bundy's first confirmed murder did not occur until 1974, he is considered a suspect in the 1961 disappearance of 8-year-old Ann Marie Burr.

Burr lived at 3009 North 14th Street, which was about five miles from Bundy's childhood home on North Skyline Drive. Bundy, who was 14 years old at the time, reportedly worked as a paperboy in the area. Furthermore, police found a footprint outside of Burr's window that fit the profile of a teenager.

It is also worth noting that Burr's house is close to where the Bundy family previously lived.

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 family 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 this house 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.

Backyard

This is the backyard that Bundy would have played in as a kid.

2015

This photograph of the backyard was taken by crime author Kevin M. Sullivan in 2015.

Childhood photo

Bundy had four stepsiblings called Linda, Glen, Sandra, and Richard.

Richard was born after this photograph was taken.

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.

Living room

The photograph above shows what the living room looked like before it was remodeled.

Note that the house was also renovated in 1996.

His family sold the property back in 1968, which was over 50 years ago. Therefore, it is extremely likely that this room has seen a number of changes over the years.

Aerial photograph

This is an aerial photograph of the neighborhood. Highway 16 is visible at the top. You can also see the footbridge over the highway.

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.

1957

This aerial photograph of Bundy's childhood home was captured on May 28th, 1957.

At the time, he was 10 years old. His family had moved into this neighborhood just four years prior.

During an interview with a psychiatrist, he recalled how he used to take his clothes off and run around in the woods behind his house.

As you can see, there was a wooded area just behind the property.

The neighborhood that is present today wasn't built until after the 1960s. Highway 16 also didn't exist.