My Friend Dahmer

In 1977, the boys amused with Dahmer—now a senior—create a “Dahmer Fan Club” as their way of breaking the monotony of school life, sneaking the latter into class photos in which he doesn’t belong, including that of the National Honor Society. A teacher spots him in a photo and blots out his face (Backderf shares the real photo with Dahmer’s face scratched out). During a party, the boys decide to collect money to pay Dahmer for a “command performance” at the Summit Mall. They offer him 35 dollars and he agrees, already drunk at 7:45 am.

Derf calls himself “the official minister of propaganda” (118) for the Dahmer Fan Club, and shares his school art, most of which features Dahmer in some way. Meanwhile, the real Dahmer “was either in character, or drunk, or both” (119).

Dahmer sleepwalks through the days, with no one paying attention to him, except for bullies—but he never fights back despite his height and strength. He carries a briefcase to smuggle alcohol, but he never drinks at home, only in school. Derf recalls a particularly strange encounter in which he dressed as Hitler for a drama class skit, only for Dahmer to greet him as a German decorator having a fit.