Foxcatcher: The Unhinging of an American Heir

Imagine growing up in a spectacular mansion, with access to the
kind of wealth and connections most of us can only dream of. But
although you’re surrounded by material riches, you’re in a social
vacuum—eating alone in your bedroom every night, wandering the
grounds of your family estate with only the wildlife as company.
This was the life of John Du Pont, the youngest heir to the
famously wealthy family who founded the DuPont chemical company. He
grew up cut off from the kind of social warmth most of us take for
granted. His solution to that was to immerse himself in the sport
of Olympic style wrestling—and to gather some of the world’s
greatest athletes in a little utopian community he named Foxcatcher
Farms. His dream was to create the best team of wrestlers in the
world. They lived on the property, trained on the property, became
like family to each other…all under the watchful eye of their
wealthy benefactor, John. To the athletes, it sounded like a dream
come true. But they didn’t realize that John DuPont was already on
a paranoid downward spiral that would leave everything he’d built
in ruins—and take the life of one of wrestling’s most beloved
champions.

Sources:
Time Magazine, 1996: "Blood on the Mat" by John Greenwald:
https://time.com/3586290/blood-on-the-mat/
Documentary "Team Foxcatcher," 2016. Directed by John
Greenhalgh
All That's Interesting, Mark Oliver: "John DuPont, Dave Schultz,
and the True Story of 'Foxcatcher'":
https://allthatsinteresting.com/john-du-pont-dave-schultz
Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_du_Pont#:~:text=John%20Eleuth%C3%A8re%20du%20Pont%20(November,the%20murder%20of%20Dave%20Schultz.


Follow us, campers!
Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an
extra episode a month, and a free sticker!):
https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire
https://www.truecrimecampfirepod.com/
Facebook: True Crime Campfire
Instagram:
https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079
Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire
Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com
MERCH! https://true-crime-campfire.myspreadshop.com

Become a supporter of this podcast:
https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support.