The serial killers, monsters hidden behind a human appearance, made the subject not only for the horror events that took place while they were active, but for a general awareness that these kind of people can walk and talk among us. History knows a lot of these men and women who left behind a trail of blood and despair, and while psychology and psychiatry still tries to understand what drove them into mass-murder, today we will take a look only over ten of these terrible characters that frightened generations and whose legacy is still vivid in our minds.
1. The Hanovra Butcher
Fritz Haarmann left a trail of blood and dismembered bodies in the times of the First World War. He assaulted, raped and mutilated around 30 – 40 young boys and teenagers, although he was found guilty only for 24 murders. In 1925 he was guillotined and it is one of the most notorious mass-murderers in the German history.
2. The Monster of the Andes
Pedro Alonso Lopez can almost be accused of genocide, as he killed over 100 Peruvian women, and by 1978 he was connected to around 300 women killings. By far one of the most dangerous killers of his times, Lopez was betrayed by his own acts, when a heavy rain unraveled the bodies buried into a common hole he dug, in order to hide them.
3. The Brooklyn Vampire
Albert Fish terrorized the population in the early 1900 America by molesting over 100 children and being suspected for at least five murders. He enjoyed drinking the blood of his victims and eating their body parts and organs.
4. The Confession Killer
America will always remember Henry Lee Lucas, as he claimed to have killed over 3000 people, while he was convicted for only 11 murder cases. Lucas’s confessions are still puzzling the authorities, as he is known for his statements and restatements, while he enjoyed harassing the police force at that time. From 1960 – the time of his first proved murder to 2001 – when he died in prison from natural causes – Lucas kept everyone eyes upon him.
5. The Butcher from Rostov
Andrei Chikatilo is one of the most famous serial killers, not only for the impressive number of murders, over 50, but for the incredible violence he used in performing his acts. He stabbed with gruesome pleasure his victims, as this was his only way of reaching orgasm. In 1994, Chikatilo was executed with a bullet in the back of his head, after the Russian President Boris Yeltsin refused his last call for clemency.
6. The Milwaukee Monster
Jeffrey Dahmer doesn’t even need a presentation, as America remembers him well. He is guilty of numerous atrocities, such as sodomy, necrophilia, cannibalism and so on, being charged with at least 17 murders against young boys and men. He is known for dismembering his victims and having a criminal record since the age of 18.
7. Bundy. Ted Bundy
A legend in the American forensics and profiling, Ted Bundy has a body count of at least 30 murdered women, although they seem to have been many more. Bundy impressed the media of that time and horrified the public opinion by what it seemed a total lack of compassion towards his victims, while his personal life was that of a man capable of loving and being loved.
8. The Zodiac Killer
He is the only one in this list whose identity still remains unknown. Associated to 5 confirmed murders but 37 claims, the Zodiac is still an open case in California since 1969. He is known of taunting the police, sending the authorities four cryptograms, from which only one is definitely deciphered.
9. The Vampire from Bucharest
Ion Rîmaru terrorized the Romanian capital between 1970 – 1971, being charged and executed for four murders, six attempted murders, five rapes and ten agravated assaults. His profilers described him as being a fundamentally ill individual, manifesting symptoms of sadism, vampirism, cannibalism, fetishism and sexual aberrations.
10. Dr. Death
Sometimes it seems that all the famous serial killers lived and left a trail of bodies and suffering in ancient times, in eras we can only find out about from the TV or documentaries. But monsters still lurk among us, masked as humans, and one of the best examples is the British medical doctor Harold Frederick Shipman, considered the greatest contemporary serial killer. In 2000 he was accused of killing 215 patients, while the real number is said to raise to 400. He was condemned to 15 consecutive life sentences, but he committed suicide in prison in 2004.
