While Stalking the Bogeyman, David Holthouse Finds Healing Through Storytelling

By Robert Simonson
30 Oct 2014

David Holthouse finds catharsis behind anger in by sharing his traumatic childhood story Stalking the Bogeyman.

"Honestly, my original intent was to try and destroy the guy's life" with the story, Holthouse admits. "Because I could no longer get away with doing this guy harm. I couldn't shoot this guy anymore. But I could destroy his life." However, after meeting with the man who abused him, the revenge instinct subsided. He did not use his name.

Holthouse's traumatic story garnered new attention when he was invited to read it on public radio show "This American Life." That's when Potter heard it. He soon after tried to get in touch with Holthouse with a proposal to turn the story into a stage work. Potter's vision immediately appealed to Holthouse. "He did not use the words 'dark thriller,' which everyone who approached me from Hollywood wanting the movie rights to the story had," he explains. "They were all saying 'dark thriller' or 'love interest' — the main character is going to need a love interest. The answer to that was not only 'No,' but 'Hell no.'"
Potter, in contrast, was interested in "the conflict between the instinctual desire for revenge versus the higher consciousness of forgiveness."
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