Almost Home is a message to you from a faraway place. It is a message from a 12-foot by 9-foot cell in a cinderblock building surrounded by coils of razor wire in the middle of a dirt field in Arkansas. It was written by a young man named Damien Echols, and it chronicles his life and his experiences in a way that illuminates him, not as a monster, but as a human being. For over 10 years Damien has been an inmate on death row for a crime he did not commit. He, along with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, have become known as The West Memphis Three, and though the story of their arrest and conviction is widely known, most people don’t know the real people behind the sound bites and the TV news segment clips. Damien has spent much of his time behind bars diligently maintaining his integrity and his sanity by writing. Almost Home is the product of that self-discipline, and in it, you will meet someone who has survived an ordeal many of us would find impossible to live through. killer, but as time passes and more facts rise to the surface, it becomes even more clear that he is the victim of a peculiar species of hysteria. Read this book and know the truth about him. It is an urgent message from death row; the whole story of who Damien Echols is.
True Crime Books Review: Almost Home
I have been fascinated with the West Memphis Three ever since I saw the HBO award-winning documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills so many years ago before true crime became so popular. It was a horrific and baffling case about three boys who were mutilated and murdered in a small town in West Memphis, Arkansas. My initial thoughts upon watching the documentary were that I don’t know who committed these murders. The three accused and found guilty (Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jesse Misskelley) certainly could have done it. I mean, in this day and age, nothing surprises me. They were pegged as trouble-makers and satan worshippers because of their fondness for listening to heavy metal, and horror movies and wearing black attire. If that is all it took to be condemned to death row then I am as guilty as this trio.
Years later, I, again, became intrigued with learning about the occult, and having done some preliminary research on the ‘tubes (YouTube, that is) I happened upon a video with an interview with a man named, Damien Echols. Where did I know that name from? And that face, it looked eerily familiar. I continued down the path and endless pit that is YouTube and, again, I stumbled upon another video interview with Damien Echols. The guy had interesting things to say about the occult and so, I looked him up. Holy Crap! That is where I know him from, the West Memphis Three! It has been such a long time since I heard the name and the aftermath of the documentaries.
Fast forward a couple of months, Christmas, and my wife, knowing that I am interested in learning more about the occult purchased me a book entitled, High Magick: A Guide to the Spiritual Practices That Saved My Life on Death Row by, wait for it, Damien Echols. I was amazed! Certainly, this could not have been a coincidence. Excited, I explained to her that this person and his story had been on my mind and how amazed I was that she just so happened to gift me this book. But, I was not ready to engage in any of the magick practices detailed in this book. no, I need to learn more, to understand more. And so I sought out more information and learned that he has, indeed, written numerous books. But, I wanted to learn about him and his journey. I wanted to understand where, and how, he learned about magick and his it helped in his journey to overcome his trials and tribulations having been found guilty for the murders of three boys, and his experience on death row. And so, I found Almost Home: My Life Story.
Almost Home is hardly Echols’ life story, rather, it is merely a small portion of his story that highlights moments of his life as a youth and the moments that led to his eventual incarceration for the murders. It was a brief glimpse, in Echols’ own words, of what his life was like pre-murders and provided insight into his psyche and trials and tribulations as a kid and a teenager and the whirlwind that landed in hot water and his struggle to survive against the authorities, the media and the misconceptions of people who prejudged him even prior to his trial. Now, of course, this is autobiographical and it only makes sense that he will paint a picture of his innocence to the reader so make of it what you will. But, I read it differently in that he wanted to get his point of view for others to read and have a better understanding of who he is.
In Almost Home: My Life Story, there is little mention of the actual case and the murders themselves. One day, he is taken into custody for a reason unknown to Damien, he is accused of these murders, goes to trial is found guilty, and is whisked off into the system where he is mistreated and left to rot in prison until he is executed. I could only have imagined what it must have been like for him to be living a semi-normal life when everything is taken away from him. Of course, this might pale in comparison to the death of the three young boys for which he was accused of murdering.
Almost Home is good, not great, read riddled with grammar errors that can be distracting at times. Still, it is a fascinating read from a young man who, at the time, was sitting on death row and how he was able to cope and manage while doing so. It helped me understand him more as a human being and I could not help but see a lot of me in him and how that could have been me. I will continue reading more about his case with Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three followed by Life After Death – the Echols trilogy. I will also be revisiting the Paradise Lost documentary films.