Infamous serial killers

[Disorder]

This is a little controversial, since serial killers aren't supposed to be liked. But who is your favorite serial killer? And why did you find him or her so interesting? My personal favorite, at this moment, is jeffrey Dahmer. Why? Just read the following and it'll explain why I find him fascinating:

Before any clean up began, Dahmer reached for his Polaroid to capture the entire experience so that he could remember each and every murder. Then he cut open their torsos.

He was fascinated by the color of the viscera and sexually aroused by the heat that the freshly-killed body would give off. Finally, he would dismember the man, photographing each stage of the process for future viewing pleasure.

That is one twisted fuck. He had a troubled childhood, such as most, if not all serialkillers. As an 8 year old he spent lots of time gutting small animals. Kids avoided him because he had a short temper. He started to avoid his social problems by drinking heavily. He became addicted to alcohol as a youth and he started drawing the outlines of dead bodies in the classroom. People started noticing he was more than just a little different. Well, most of us know the rest of the story.

Look here and here for some notorious examples. Or use google for more pages about serial killers.

[Sharessa]

I dunno. There has been many serial killers that I have found interesting.

Charles Manson is of course one...its eerie how many connections he had to Holywood and how infuetial he was.

Ted Bundy is kind of intresting. For one, he was great at picking up chicks. He also was a local, and started his 'career' at the University of Washington, though some believe he started killing even before then. There were many unsolved homicides and missing persons cases of you females around the time he was a teenager.

Jack the Ripper is another. He really didn't kill many people, but the terror and intrigue left in his wake was amazing. Also adding to the mystery is the fact that his identity has never been fully solved (though there are 1 or 2 really likely candidates). From Hell was an excellent movie about the whole thing.

One of the most interesting serial killers I've read about is so obscure I can't even remember his name. But anyway, this guy was alive back in the 1800s in Europe somewhere (England I believe). He decided to open a barbershop and he rigged the chair to tumble over, and dump the victim into an underground room, usually killing them or injuring them enough so he could quickly finish them off. Lucky for him, the shop's underground tunnels were connected to some catacombs, so the bodies were easily desposed of. Adding more horror to the mix, he had a female accomplice who opened up a meat pie shop nearby that was also connected to the tunnels. He woudl give her the meat from his victims to use in her pies. Eventualy, a clever detective was sent in to investigate after so many people went missing and he discovered the fresh remains in the catacombs, and he got the two arrested. In a morbidly humerous ending to the story, he went in to the woman's store while it was full of diners when he laid out the charges to her. Heh.

EDIT: Oh yeah, also Robert Yates. My parents know some people who live like a block away from where he lived. We went by his house last time we visited them and we got to see his dug-up yard and all. Pretty interesting.

[pritch]

Wtf? I don't have a favourite serial killer.

Like, what, in your opinion, was the most piquant moment of genocide in human history?

No, I can't fathom a reply within the confines of this question.

[Russell_P]

the_Danarchist said:

One of the most interesting serial killers I've read about is so obscure I can't even remember his name

I guess you may be refering to Sweeny Todd.

Can a government be defined as a serial killer? If so i nominate the American government. But then that would be saying they were my favourite, and if I did have a favourite it certainly wouldn't be them.

[Naked Snake]

Albert Fish, because he was the inspiration for Hannibal Lector.

[insertwackynamehere]

Brrr..... Just looking at him sends shivers up my spine ;-)

EDIT: Oh yeah, insertevilserialkillerhere...wacky just doesn't work

[Ichor]

Yes, that Tripod is certainly scary.

[Fredrik]

pritch said:

Wtf? I don't have a favourite serial killer.

Like, what, in your opinion, was the most piquant moment of genocide in human history?

No, I can't fathom a reply within the confines of this question.

Seconded.

[Use]

the_Danarchist said:

Jack the Ripper is another. He really didn't kill many people, but the terror and intrigue left in his wake was amazing. Also adding to the mystery is the fact that his identity has never been fully solved (though there are 1 or 2 really likely candidates). From Hell was an excellent movie about the whole thing.

yup, that's my personal fav.

[jute]

the_Danarchist said:

From Hell was an excellent movie about the whole thing.

the movie version of from hell fucked a lot of the facts up. a more accurate telling can be found in the book it's based on.

[Grogglogobofink]

pritch said:

Wtf? I don't have a favourite serial killer.

Like, what, in your opinion, was the most piquant moment of genocide in human history?

No, I can't fathom a reply within the confines of this question.

Fredrik said:

Seconded.

thirded

*shudder* i'm actually agreeing with fradrik on something!

[dr_qui]

Don't have a favorite real killer, but I think in fiction it's got to be Francis Dollarhyde , the "tooth fairy" from "red dragon / manhunter". Good films both if you haven't seen them.

[Janderson]

Is Jack The Ripper a serial killer, if he is I guess it's the fact that there was only one person who survived his murders and that he was never caught.

[boris]

My favourite serial killer is the Doom guy. LioloLOloLOLolollloLOLOlol!!!!!!!!!!!!111

[darknation]

Adolf Hitler stole my grandad's balls. Adolf Hitler is by far my favourate mass murderer of all history.

[Manc]

Janderson said:

Is Jack The Ripper a serial killer, if he is I guess it's the fact that there was only one person who survived his murders and that he was never caught.

How do you survive a murder?

[boris]

Mancubus II said:

How do you survive a murder?

Maybe you get murdered and then reanimated by medics? :P

[SmellyOgre]

Mancubus II said:

How do you survive a murder?

Archy helped him!

[Sharessa]

pregnant with worms said:

the movie version of from hell fucked a lot of the facts up. a more accurate telling can be found in the book it's based on.

Yeah, but it was a great movie, and I think the person who they had as the killer was right. I always figured he was the one from all the stuff I've seen/read on Jack the Ripper.

[Murdoch]

I agree the question is a bit odd but I think I get what Disorder means - who is the most interesting serial killer?

First for me would be the "original" - Jack the Ripper. I'm 23 and I accidentally read about him when I was about I recommend anyone interested read "The Cases That Haunt Us" by John Douglas. His from the ground take on the case is interesting and more than likely accurate. However, anyone who's read "Jack the Ripper - The Final Chapter" would agree that the James Maybrick diary is not the cut and dry forgery it appears to be. Even if Maybrick wasn't the Ripper, which from a profiler's perspective is almost certain, it's still a hell of a mystery unto itself. The detail is extraordinary.

Yeah, but it was a great movie, and I think the person who they had as the killer was right.

Gull is interesting from a dramatic standpoint and I liked the movie too, but anyone who's done serious research into serial killers would discount him immediately. There is absolutely no concrete evidence against him, and killers like Jack don't happen overnight. You don't just wake up and decide to be a serial killer. There's no way Gull could've functioned in his prominent position without someone suspecting something. There's a lot of BS around about Jack the Ripper - the chief being he had medical training. This is just not true. Many killers since have done much more damage to their victims with no such training.

Is Jack The Ripper a serial killer

A serial killer is defined as someone who kills three or more victims with an emotional "cool off" period between each.

only one person who survived his murders

Not really part of the serial killer definition. What do you mean exactly here? There were almost certainly dozens of close calls for other women. Or are you talking about the legend that Mary Kelly actually survived and someone else's body was in her room? This is not as farfetched as it sounds - several friends claim to have seen her after her "death".

the movie version of from hell fucked a lot of the facts up. a more accurate telling can be found in the book it's based on

The From Hell graphic novel is based on a book by JK Stephen, which originally put forward the Gull theory and many of the other elements used in the novel. As I said, it's since been discredited. While the victims may've been passing acquaintances, but there is no evidence to suggest the close friendships proposed by Stephen. So to say it fucked the facts up is not really true; they were already fucked up :)

Can a government be defined as a serial killer?

No.

Charles Manson is of course one

Manson never actually killed anyone - it was all his followers.

[BlueSonnet]

Vlad the impaler i think, cuz he had some role in dracula (my favourite horror story).

[Disorder]

BlueSonnet said:

Vlad the impaler i think, cuz he had some role in dracula (my favourite horror story).

That's not a serial killer either, since he told other people to get out there and impale the Turks. But he is an interesting character, yes.

[BlueSonnet]

Disorder said:

That's not a serial killer either, since he told other people to get out there and impale the Turks. But he is an interesting character, yes.

I suppose he did have grunts to do the dirty work, though IIRC he did went out into the battlefield himself. Ah it's been so long since i read into that.

[deathbringer]

I forget his name now, but that truck driver who killed loads of people (prostitutes mostly, i think) and the police kept getting letters from "the killer" with tapes where the taunted them, and they had people driving round playing the tapes from vans with "do you know this voice?" written on the side, except when they actually caught the guy that was doing it it turned out he never made the tapes XD. There was a TV movie made about it called "This time its personal"

[Disorder]

deathbringer said:

I forget his name now, but that truck driver who killed loads of people (prostitutes mostly, i think) and the police kept getting letters from "the killer" with tapes where the taunted them, and they had people driving round playing the tapes from vans with "do you know this voice?" written on the side, except when they actually caught the guy that was doing it it turned out he never made the tapes XD. There was a TV movie made about it called "This time its personal"

Wasn't that the Zodiac killer? The Zodiac killer never got caught. He kept playing games with the police like you'd see in a movie.

[doomedout]

Albert Fish was perhaps the most disturbing killer ever. Only his story gave me chills down my spine. Sticking nails up your ass isn't what you call "nice".

Gacy the killer clown, son of sam, Rostov Killer and Richard Ramirez are others that haven't been mentioned.

[doomedout]

the_Danarchist said:

Ted Bundy is kind of intresting. For one, he was great at picking up chicks. He also was a local, and started his 'career' at the University of Washington, though some believe he started killing even before then. There were many unsolved homicides and missing persons cases of you females around the time he was a teenager.

No, his killing started when his career was flourishing. Also, he was never any good with chicks as he was shy and too withdrawn. His only love was a girl called Stephanie who ditched him on the excuse that he did not have a future. He did go to Udubb though, and oddly enough that is where I am headed.

[Sharessa]

JoelMurdoch said:

Manson never actually killed anyone - it was all his followers.

True, but since he was so involved in it, and those people probably would have never done anything without him around, it was pretty much by his hand, and he has gone down in history as a serial killer. Though I guess the 'serial' part of it is a bit inaccurate too, since there were only 2 incidents and only about 8 people killed.

doomedout said:

No, his killing started when his career was flourishing. Also, he was never any good with chicks as he was shy and too withdrawn. His only love was a girl called Stephanie who ditched him on the excuse that he did not have a future. He did go to Udubb though, and oddly enough that is where I am headed.

Yeah, I was using a bit of sarcasm there. My main point was that he's probably the closest serial killer to the place I call home. Actualy, if you think about it, the whole northwest has a history of serial killings: Bundy, the Green River Killer (who they finaly recently caught after 30 years or so), Robert Yates, that guy in Vancouver with the pig farm. Hell, even the whole 'D.B. Cooper' debacle happened here. Though he didn't actualy kill anyone, that guy remains one of the biggest criminal mysteries in the history of the world.

[dsm]

I have no favorite serial killers - I hate them all beyond words and would like nothing better than to hear that they suffered from some terribly painful demise themselves.

To be quite honest, I think it's really sick to have favorite serial killers. You can have favorite stories about serial killers though, but that's a different matter imo.

[Fredrik]

dsm said:

I hate them all beyond words and would like nothing better than to hear that they suffered from some terribly painful demise themselves.

Heh, some of them would probably enjoy that :P