The kidnapper had some familiarity with the house and knew that the doorbell camera was there. This is not about kidnapping Nancy Guthrie for money. Kidnapping for money is very rarely successful. Unfortunately, it is not likely that she is still alive or evidence would have been provided that she was. She may have been killed right there, since her blood was found.
The black glove that was found some distance from the home was a false clue.
Everything about this says "Batman". The kidnapper was not an "amateur", as described in the news. This wasn't at all about the kidnapping. It was all about the brief doorbell camera video. Nancy Guthrie actually didn't have the subscription required for the doorbell camera but the kidnapper didn't know that. Technicians were later able to retrieve the video that we see anyway but likely not as much video as the kidnapper planned. The kidnapper was well aware of the camera and focused on it as soon as he walked to the door. What was the point of putting his hand over the camera?
This was all about being a movie star, and playing Batman, even if only for a few seconds. That is why the victim was the mother of a television celebrity. This would ensure that the crime would get national attention. The kidnapper expected the doorbell video to be longer than what was retrieved.
The demand for ransom, which the kidnapper didn't seriously expect to collect, the blood, the search for the victim, and the black glove found some distance from the home were all props to make it into a real-life movie which the whole country would be watching.
The kidnapper would be starring in the movie as Batman, and was dressed as close as he could get to being Batman without making it too obvious. He even stands like Batman. But he couldn't order or buy a Batman costume because that would possibly identify him.
Someone who had carefully planned all of this could have brought a simple piece of tape to cover the camera. But he wanted it to record his backpack as he turned to get a piece of plant to cover the camera.
The backpack represented Batman's cape. The kidnapper would have certainly took the victim away in a vehicle. So what was the point of wearing a backpack up to the house? The backpack would just slow him down. When have you ever heard of someone wearing a backpack to commit a crime?
This isn't about the kidnapping or the ransom. It is about a nobody becoming a movie star that plays Batman with the whole country watching.
It turns out that Richard Nixon, with his black hair combed backward, bore a resemblance to the cowl worn by Batman. Image from the Wikipedia article "Richard Nixon". The white "eyebrows" on Batman's mask looks just like Nixon's hairline.
Batman wore a cape. Image from the Wikipedia article "Batman (TV series)".
and Nixon had this gesture of spreading his arms wide with peace signs, which evoked Batman's cape, which I cannot see that he used in any earlier campaigns. Image from the Wikipedia article "1968 U.S. Presidential Election".
Incredibly, the televised Batman of the late 1960s, the 1966-68 series and the accompanying 1966 movie, was to be a pre-enactment of Nixon's future presidency. The show was made to hold the interest of children, but was really aimed at the parents watching with their children. Batman represented Nixon and the actor chosen to play Batman, Adam West, was of the same height and similar build as Nixon. This is the reason that the Batman of the late 1960s couldn't be too muscular, because then he wouldn't resemble Nixon.
Nixon was a Republican, but was not elected for economics. He was a very moderate Republican. He added to the Great Society programs of his Democrat predecessor, and started the Occupation Safety and Health Administration, to protect workers while on the job, actions that most Americans of today would not expect from a Republican.
What Nixon was elected for is simply law and order. To the generation before the Baby Boomers, the 1960s was an unfamiliar new world. Moral standards were dropping as fast as crime was rising. Young people were taking drugs and engaging in mass protests against the bizarre war in a jungle on the other side of the world. Black people were rioting, for equal rights, and American cities were in flames. Time Magazine summarized 1967 as "that long, strange year".
Batman was like a throwback to the world that the children's parents knew, or at least thought that they knew. There were scenes on Batman that emphasized the importance of diligently doing one's homework, and eating a balanced diet. There was cool technology on Batman that would get the interest of most children, and encourage them to prepare for the future, particularly the Batmobile with it's rocket-like engine and the Bat-computer in the Bat-cave.
Batman's real identity was Bruce Wayne, a very wealthy man who lived in a mansion called Wayne Manor. But, unlike the image that Democrats present of the wealthy of seeking out tax shelters and finding ways to squeeze more money out of the less-fortunate, and finally crashing the economy with their greed, Bruce Wayne uses his wealth to start the Wayne Foundation to try to make it a better world for everyone. More importantly, he uses his wealth to set himself up as Batman, joined by his nephew Robin, to risk his life on a regular basis to battle the criminals who prey on society.
The thing that I want to point out here is that Batman stood for exactly the same set of principles that Richard Nixon campaigned on.
If voters would just elect Republicans like Nixon to office, there would be generous and benevolent wealthy people like Bruce Wayne, a throwback to the wealthy philanthropists of old, and society would be a much better place once these Democrats, who had let things descend into the mad world of the 1960s, were out of the way.
Without being too forward about it, Batman's costume of black and grey are the same colors as a police uniform. This is to sub-consciously convey that the Republican "establishment", that was so reviled during the 1960s, was really on your side.
The logo on the much-admired Bat-mobile also sub-consciously evokes a police car, and the fins on the vehicle evoke the decade before, the 1950s, the "good old days" before the crazy world of the 1960s, when Nixon was vice-president, and which he would bring back if elected as president. But at the same time, the car had a most definite "cool factor", which would keep children and teenagers watching. Image from the Wikipedia article "Batmobile".
The bat symbol, which represented everything about Batman, was easily rendered on t-shirts and other items. Everyone could wear or have something with the bat symbol on it. But, at the same time, it was sub-consciously reminiscent of the eagle that was the symbol of America without, once again, being too forward about it in the anti-establishment 1960s. Image from the Wikipedia article "Bald Eagle".
Also notice how Batman in his cape resembles the eagle symbol of America. Image from the Wikipedia article "Batman (TV Series).
The whole subliminal message was to ignore what the "liberal media" tells you, "the establishment", the Republicans, are on your side. Get some law and order into this mess by getting them back in charge of the country by voting for Nixon.
Batman's costume, with it's serious gray and dark colors, evoked that of a police uniform. But this was also the era of color television, and Batman had to have some color. This was accomplished by the colorful uniform of Batman's assistant, Robin.
Some of the troubling aspects of the late 1960s are conspicuous on Batman by their absence. There are no guns. The modern era of senseless mass shootings began in the same year as the first season of the Batman television series, 1966, with the University of Texas Tower Shootings. But Batman brings parents, watching with their children, back to the "good old days" when such things didn't happen, or at least not in our country.
One thing that also must be said about Batman is that there do not seem to be any black people, even though it was filmed as race riots were taking place across the country. In the final season of the show Eartha Kitt did come in, but as the villain Catwoman.
Neither does there seem to be many ethnic names. The real identity of Batman is Bruce Wayne, and Robin is Dick Grayson. The police commissioner is Gordon, all nice, traditional Anglo names.
In the heyday of Rock Music while the series is being filmed, there appear to be no references to any such music on Batman, at least until the final season. Once again, bringing back the "good old days" to parents watching with their children.
One thing that many people found unusual about this show is that it was a half-hour show, but each episode was shown in two separate parts within one week. Often Batman was in a dire situation, or about to be killed, and readers were implored to tune into the second half, shown a few days later, at the "same bat time, same bat channel".
But if this entire show was a pre-enactment of the Nixon presidency, then the second half would represent Nixon's future second term as president. U.S. presidents serve four-year terms, and are allowed to be reelected to a second term. It also represents Nixon's "coming back from political near-death". A few years earlier, he had resigned from politics stating that "You will not have Nixon to kick around anymore". But that was only the end of the first half of Nixon's show, he was still to come back for the second half.
Batman involved a lot of actors and it is difficult to keep all of them together year after year. In the third season, 1968, many of the cast had moved on to other things and had been replaced. The show was less successful than it had been in the first two seasons, and was cancelled. But the reruns would seemingly last forever. The show just happened to conclude just as Nixon took the presidency.
One great mystery about the Batman television show is why the filming set, which had cost a lot of money to construct, was almost immediately destroyed when the show was cancelled. It could have been preserved as a Bat-museum. ABC owned the rights to the show. Upon learning that it was being cancelled, rival NBC offered to buy and continue it, but withdrew the offer upon learning that the set had already been destroyed. The iconic Batcave had been put to the bulldozers.
But if the show was really a pre-enactment of the Nixon presidency, then this makes sense. The Republican sympathizers who came up with the idea of Batman as Nixon didn't want anyone else taking over, and possibly changing the meaning of the show, in the mind of the public. They might even make Batman into a Democrat. Neither did they want the show to continue if it wasn't going to be as popular. It had already accomplished it's mission.
Batman had four major arch-enemies, as well as several minor ones. These villains represented the social ills in the late 1960s that Richard Nixon was campaigning against.
The Riddler had a maniacal laugh and wore a green suit covered with question marks. Images from the Wikipedia article "Riddler".
He was played on Batman, in the first two seasons, by Frank Gorshin,
The Riddler stood for several issues. The first was drugs. Even though illegal drugs were not referenced on the show, the first thought of an adult upon seeing the Riddler would be to question how much LSD it would take to get a person to walk around in a costume like that and to laugh like that. Hippies were questioning the entire social order, and this is what the Riddler's question marks could have represented. Part of the anti-establishment movement of the late 1960s was environmentalism, and this is reflected in the Riddler's green costume.
Another issue was feminism, the disruptive advance of women out of their traditional roles. This was represented on Batman by another villain, Catwoman. Image from the Wikipedia article "Julie Newmar".
The gaudiness of the late 1960s fashion, tye-dyed t-shirts and striped bell-bottom pants, was represented by the gaudy colors of another villain, The Joker. At left in the following photo was yet another villain, The Penguin. By the 1960s, it was being understood how bad it was for the health to smoke cigarettes. The Penguin, usually seen with a cigarette in a cigarette-holder, thus stood for smoking. The top hat worn by The Penguin could have conveyed that, unlike Bruce Wayne who was a good wealthy man The Penguin, in sharp contrast, was an old-style robber baron. Image from the Wikipedia article "Joker (Character)".
If everything else on this show was so loaded with political and sociological meaning then what about Robin, Batman's assistant and Bruce Wayne's nephew?
Voters would, at this time, still remember Nixon's loss in the 1960 election to John F. Kennedy. It would be wise to incorporate a sub-conscious representation of Kennedy into this scenario. Assassinated in 1963, he was still very popular, and so could not be a villain. But he could come back, this time as Nixon's (Batman's) junior partner. Kennedy would be sub-consciously represented in the series by Robin.
Look at the way Robin (left) has his hair combed in this photo. Image from the Wikipedia article "Batman (TV Series)".
Compare it to the way Kennedy combed his hair. Image from the Wikipedia article "John F Kennedy".
You can also see in this image of Robin how he tries to have his hair combed like Kennedy. Images from the Wikipedia articles "Robin (Comics)" and "John F Kennedy".
Robin is clearly Batman's junior partner. Batman is the older and wiser of the two, and sometimes corrects Robin. The two are referred to as "Batman and Robin", never as "Robin and Batman". Robin is also significantly shorter than Batman. This, with Robin representing Kennedy and Batman representing Nixon, is to portray the late Kennedy as living on but this time as Batman's (Nixon's) junior partner.
The name of "Robin" evokes Robin Hood, who was a legend for "stealing from the rich to give to the poor". This left no doubt that Robin was a Democrat but was now working with Nixon so that even Democrats should support Nixon.
The famed Batmobile, Batman and Robin's very special car, has a flame exhaust like a rocket. When "taking off" in the Batmobile, Robin would first recite "Atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed". As if the two were about to take off in a rocket.
Now, why would a car have to resemble and be handled like a rocket in such a way? Also, if Batman was in command of the two, why would Robin recite the launching checklist rather than Batman?
Because it was Kennedy, during his presidency, who initiated the Apollo Space program of the time by making a speech with the goal of putting a man on the moon, and bringing him safely back, by 1970, a goal which was achieved. This design of the Batmobile, and Robin's recitation of the "takeoff" checklist as if it were a rocket takeoff countdown, reinforces the image of Robin representing Kennedy as Nixon's (Batman's) junior partner, even though Kennedy had defeated Nixon in the 1960 election.
One thing about the Batman television show that didn't seem to make sense was the Batman movie that was released after the first season, in 1966. The movie certainly harmed, rather than helped, the television series. The movie was too long for many children, and much of the content would be beyond their understanding. The movie was less-than-successful, and the show began to fade in popularity.
I saw the movie when I was a young child, but was used to seeing Batman in half-hour intervals. The movie was too long, and I didn't watch all of it. But I did like it when I saw it again, a few years later.
But now I realize that the Batman movie of 1966 was made not so much for children, but for voting parents who were watching it with their children. While the series focused on domestic social issues and crime, the movie brought Batman onto the international stage. The four major villains had joined forces, and the Penguin had a submarine which could fire missiles. Nuclear technology was introduced with the nuclear reactor in Batman's Batcave. Catwoman, masquerading as a Russian journalist in the movie, brought international politics and espionage into Batman.
But remember that Batman represents Nixon, and the show was a pre-enaction of his future presidency. Nixon was not campaigning only on domestic issues and crime, which was portrayed in the series, but also on international relations, which had to be conveyed by this movie.
Nixon indeed turned out to be a renowned master of foreign policy during his presidency. He visited China, and then Russia, in 1972. His opening of relations with China certainly changed the course of the world. Nixon visited Pierre Trudeau in Ottawa, and predicted that Trudeau's four-month-old son, Justin, would one day be prime minister of Canada.
One of Kennedy's campaign points against Nixon in the 1960 campaign was the so-called "Missile Gap". This was the allegation that the Eisenhower Administration, in which Nixon had been vice-president, had allowed the Soviet Union to close the "missile gap" with the United States, and thus give away America's former lead in nuclear missiles.
Nuclear missiles may be fired from submarines, and this movie showed that the public had nothing to worry about that Batman (Nixon) was very capable of dealing with a world of nuclear missiles and submarines.
Kennedy had handled the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis a few year before. The U.S. Navy had dropped a depth charge, which forced a Soviet submarine to surface. It wasn't a real depth charge, which could crush the hull of a submarine, just one with a small explosive charge that was used for training, but would send powerful sound waves through the water.
In the movie, circling the Penguin's submarine in the Bat-boat, Robin uses a "sonic weapon" that he fires like a bazooka, to force the submarine to surface. This, and the missile that the submarine fires, evokes the Missile Crisis of 1962. This is to sub-consciously convey to the public that Nixon (Batman) could have handled such a crisis also. The fact that Robin, rather than Batman, is the one that handles the sonic weapon further links him as representing Kennedy, who is now resurrected as Batman's junior partner.
So that explains why this apparently unproductive movie was made. Batman was representing Nixon. The series showed him battling domestic social issues and crime, but he had to be shown on the international stage as well, and Nixon indeed turned out to be best-known for his foreign-policy accomplishments.
One mystery about the Nixon presidency is his choice of running mate and vice-president. Spiro Agnew had been governor of Maryland, and was initially popular. But his relationship with Nixon soon began to deteriorate, he resigned the vice-presidency due to tax-evasion charges, after which he and Nixon never spoke again, and was even disbarred from practicing law.
But this scenario here explains it. Ten years before the Batman series and movie, there had been another hero in Superman. The introduction to each episode described Superman as battling for "truth, justice and, the American way". The Superman television series was from the 1950s, when Nixon had been vice-president, and the good times that he would take the voting public back to, if he were elected. Like Batman, Superman had worn a cape and had a logo, while he did battle with a nasty array of villains. Image from the Wikipedia article "Superman".
Batman was already rallying the voters in support of Nixon, it would be a very good thing if Superman could be brought in too.
Spiro Agnew, it turns out, bore a striking resemblance to Superman. Images from the Wikipedia articles "Spiro Agnew" and "George Reeves".
How could America go wrong with the team of Batman and Superman running the country?
But the real mystery of the Nixon presidency is Watergate. If you have never heard of Watergate, it was a massive scandal in the United States during the second Nixon presidential term, after he was reelected in 1972. During the 1972 campaign, against Democrat George McGovern, a team of burglars broke into the Watergate Building in Washington. They were looking for incriminating evidence against Democrats, to help to get Nixon re-elected. My understand is that were looking, in particular, for documentation that Democrats had received funding from Communist Cuba.
The burglars had entered the building during the day, while it was open. There were doors that had latches which could be opened from the inside, but not from the outside. They put tape over a latch, so that they could come back at night and enter the building. A security guard in the building noticed the tape and called police. The burglars were caught and the ensuing scandal brought about the resignation of Nixon, the only such time in American history that a president has resigned. Spiro Agnew had been replaced with Gerald Ford when he earlier resigned, due to the tax evasion charges, and Ford took over as president when Nixon resigned.
Nixon easily won re-election in 1972, it was one of the most one-sided elections in American history. Out of fifty states, George McGovern won the vote in only one, the Democrat bastion of Massachusetts. But yet this ridiculous and absurd burglary would destroy that presidency. It was like a sports team that was ahead in score 49-1 cheating to be absolutely sure that it would win, and then getting disqualified for cheating. It did not make the slightest bit of sense.
But remember that we are dealing with Batman here. Nixon's was the presidency of Batman, and just couldn't help reenacting Batman. Batman did not have super powers, like the ability to fly, he relied on ingenuity and some special devices. This cleverly putting tape over a door latch sounds like something right out of Batman. Never before or since has anything like this happened in any other presidency. Scotch Tape even sells a line of tape called Bat-Tape, with the logo of Batman on it. It is easy to imagine Batman telling Robin to "Put a piece of Bat-Tape over the door latches so we can get back into the building later".
This tape over the door-latch fits perfectly with the secretiveness of the Bat-Cave. There is a hidden button in Wayne Manor, which slides away a bookcase, revealing the elevator to the Bat-Cave. When the Bat-Mobile enters or leaves the Bat-Cave, a wooden traffic entrance barrier temporarily drops down.
Nixon's notorious tape recordings of conversations are also like something out of Batman, who had a Bat-Tape Reader, and a special Bat-device to analyze sounds on tape recordings.
I think that we can conclude that Batman, in his greatest quest of all, came to the rescue and, with a little bit of help from Superman, saved the presidency for the Republicans.
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