492: Dr. Gilmer and Mr. Hyde

This American Life

Society & Culture, News, Politics, Arts

4.6 • 88.8K Ratings

🗓️ 12 April 2013

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A doctor named Benjamin Gilmer gets a job at a rural clinic in North Carolina. He’s replaced another doctor named Gilmer – Dr. Vince Gilmer – who went to prison after killing his own father. But the more Benjamin’s patients tell him about the other Dr. Gilmer, the more confused he becomes. Everyone loved Vince Gilmer. So Benjamin starts digging around, trying to understand how a good man can seemingly turn bad. Sarah Koenig reports.

As Benjamin settles in at the clinic, and people got to know him, something interesting happens. Vince’s former patients – who are now Benjamin’s patients – start talking to him about Vince. What he finds out surprises him. (6 minutes)
Act One: Benjamin starts to get very curious about the murder Dr Vince Gilmer committed, so he begins asking questions and poking around. Soon he develops his own theories to explain the murder, that never came up at Vince’s trial. (25 minutes)
Act Two: Sarah Koenig’s story about the two Dr. Gilmers continues. This question lurked throughout Vince’s initial incarceration and court appearances: Was he crazy? Or was he crazy like a fox? Benjamin decides to visit Vince in prison. (23 minutes)

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0:28.8	Benjamin Gilmer was finishing his training to be a doctor and he was applying for jobs.
0:32.9	And there was this one job that he was really excited about at a small rural clinic in North Carolina, a place
0:38.4	called Cain Creek, about 15 miles outside of Asheville. But there were two slightly strange
0:44.2	things about this job. The first was that his predecessor at the position, who was the guy who
0:49.3	started the clinic, had left the job after murdering his own father, strangling him and sawing off his fingers.
0:57.2	And the other strange thing?
0:58.6	At first, I didn't make the connection that his name was the same as mine.
1:03.6	This is Benjamin Gilmer.
1:05.0	And then during my interview, they reminded me, well, his name was actually Dr. Gilmer.
1:11.3	That's right. The murderer was Dr Dr. Gilmer. That's right.
1:12.0	The murderer was Dr. Vince Gilmer.
1:14.5	He was Dr. Benjamin Gilmer.
1:16.5	No relation at all.
1:17.9	And there was concern from the board.
1:21.1	My presence out there might potentially even be harmful because I shared the same name.
1:29.1	You know, whether certain patients would just like not to come. I mean, there was confusion. People think it's strange, just very,
1:36.1	it's very strange. This is Robin Whiteside who works at the clinic. Benjamin and Gilmore must be a
	...

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