Vampires, Gators and Wackos: A Newspaperman’s Life

From a teen vampire cult that killed one member's parents to naked people who tell cops, "nothing to see here," Frank Stanfield has seen it all in thirty years as a newspaper editor and reporter, mostly in Florida.

Vampires, Gators, and Whackos: A Newspaperman's Life recalls rustlers hiding ranchers' bodies in a bottomless pit and a Jane Doe so mauled people believed it was a bear attack. It exposes cops who bungle murder cases and praises those who are heroes. There are tales of bears, sharks, snakes, alligators, and potbellied pigs. There is the teacher who was too pretty to go to jail despite having sex with a middle-school male student. Hurricanes lash out, tornadoes spin a blender of death, and sinkholes swallow homes, roads, and people. All of this takes place while newspapers-with their own zany characters-are fighting for their survival.

Author Frank Stanfield is a veteran newspaper journalist who worked in the field for more than thirty years. For most of his career, he was based in Central Florida, where he covered thousands of criminal cases. His memoir, Vampires, Gators and Whackos: A Newspaperman’s Life, recounts some of the bizarre and heinous acts that took place during his tenure, while it also explores how the real lunatics just may be the journalists themselves.