What is worse than serial murder? The fact that there are so many that a list such as this can be created. These are all killers who are not as well known as many of the serial murderers, but they are equally evil.
In all, there are eleven women either dead or missing that are linked to John Robinson. All of these women either vanished or were killed over a 16 year period. Robinson, a married middle-aged father of four, had a hunger for murder and money. Robinson was a sadomasochist, and met some of the women though his internet identity as the “Slavemaster.” Others he met through personal ads and other means.
His secrets were uncovered when two metal 55-gallon barrels were located on his property in rural Kansas and each barrel contained a female body. A few days later, three more female bodies were found in barrels in a storage locker rented by Robinson in Missouri. Robinson was convicted of the murders of the two women found in Kansas, and a third woman who’s body was never found. He was given the death penalty.
Unbelievably, Robinson gave the baby of one of his victims to his brother and sister-in-law to raise, telling them it was a legal adoption. He even charged his own brother $5,500 in bogus adoption fees. Robinson also cashed about $43,000 in social security and alimony checks meant for three of his victims.
Born in 1952, Larry Eyler became known as the “Highway Killer” after some of his victims were found alongside highways. In his early 30’s Eyler started picking up men under the guise of consensual sex, with a bit of bondage thrown in. Once he got the victims to a secluded area and handcuffed them, Eyler would brutally beat the victim, and then kill them. Most of his victims were found disemboweled, with their pants pulled down.
Eyler was connected to one of his crimes by a tire track he left at one of the scenes, and was later observed dumping 8 trash bags in a dumpster. Police found the remains of a 15-year-old boy inside. Eyler was sentenced to die by lethal injection. Eyler confessed to the attorney handling his appeal that he had committed 21 murders. He offered to give information on these murders if his sentence would be commuted to life. The state refused to make a deal. Eyler died in 1994 at the age of 41 of AIDS-related complications. Two days after his death, the attorney handling his appeal went public with the details of the 21 murders Eyler claimed as his own. His confessions matched the physical evidence at the scenes, and the 21 cases of serial murder were closed.
Starting in the summer of 1929, Kurten held the city of Dusseldorf, Germany, in a grip of fear. Almost every week a fresh corpse was found, horribly slashed or bludgeoned to death, sometimes sexually assaulted. Most of the victims were young women, although men and children were not excluded. This unassuming killer sent police friendly letters explaining where undiscovered corpses lie, even going so far as to draw them a map. His atrocities continued for 15 months totaling over 30 murders. Kurten told authorities he liked to kill, “the more people the better. Yes, if I had had the means of doing so, I would have killed whole masses of people — brought about catastrophes”. He prowled for victims nightly finding sexual gratification in the slayings. The one way he achieved the ultimate satisfaction in killing was to catch the blood spurting from a victim’s wounds in his mouth and swallow it. Hence, Peter Kurten became known as the Vampire of Dusseldorf. Kurten was guillotined in Cologne, Germany on July 2, 1931. In his last moments, he said he wondered if he would hear his own blood spurting after his neck was severed.
Arthur Shawcross (born June 6, 1945) is an American serial killer, also known as The Genesee River Killer. He claimed most of his victims after being paroled early following a conviction for murdering a child. He was born in Maine, but the family moved to Watertown in New York State when he was young. Shawcross dropped out of school in the ninth grade, and when he was 19 he enlisted in the army. He fought in the Vietnam War where he was to later confess he had murdered and cannibalized two young Vietnamese girls, although there is nothing to back up this claim.
Back in civilian life, living in Watertown once more, Shawcross married four times, but his wives invariably left him after a short time because of his violent and erratic behavior. It was there, in May 1972, that he murdered 10-year-old Jake Blake. He lured the boy to some woods where he assaulted and strangled him. Four months later, he raped and killed an eight-year-old girl named Karen Ann Hill. Arrested for these crimes, Shawcross confessed to both murders but was later able to obtain a plea bargain with the prosecutors. He would plead guilty to killing just Karen Ann Hill on a charge of manslaughter, instead of first-degree murder, and the charge of killing Jake Blake would be dropped. With little evidence to go on, prosecutors went along with this, and the self-confessed double child killer was given a 25-year sentence. Shawcross served 15 years before he was released on parole in March 1987. He had difficulty settling down as he was chased out of homes and fired from workplaces as soon as neighbors and employers found out about his criminal record. Eventually he settled in Rochester, New York, and lived with a woman named Clara. Starting in March 1988, Shawcross began murdering prostitutes in the area, claiming 11 victims before his capture less than two years later. They were usually strangled and battered to death, and were often mutilated as well. After the last victim’s body was found in January 1990, the police decided not to remove it and instead keep surveillance on the area, based on a psychological profile that suggested the killer would return to the scene. Shawcross was spotted masturbating as he sat in his car on a bridge over the creek in which the body of his final victim was floating. He was arrested and eventually confessed in custody.
Bobby Joe Long, a distant cousin of Henry Lee Lucas, viciously raped and murdered at least nine women from May 1984 to November 1984 in Tampa, Florida. He was born October 14, 1953, in Kenova, West Virginia. While he was quite young his mother left his father and took Bobby Joe to Tampa, Florida. They moved around Tampa frequently, staying with relatives or in rented rooms. He and his mother slept in the same bed until he was 13. His mother tended to be overly protective and dramatic, but still Bobby Joe Long managed to suffer a series of severe head injuries beginning at age five, when he was knocked unconscious in a fall from a swing and had one eyelid skewered by a stick. At 6 he was thrown from his bicycle, crashing headfirst into a parked car, with injuries including loss of several teeth and a severe concussion. At age 7, he fell from a pony onto his head and remained dizzy and nauseous for several weeks. He also seemed to have gotten into countless fist fights with relatives and classmates.
Between 1980 and 1983, Long terrorized the Florida communities of Miami, Ocala and Fort Lauderdale as the “Classified Ad Rapist,” preying on housewives in mid-day attacks. Dropping by while their husbands were working, Bobby Joe Long typically produced a knife, bound his victims, raped them violently, and robbed their homes before he fled. Between May and November 1984, Bobby Joe Long strangled, stabbed and shot at least nine victims, with a tenth suspected but never charged against him. In early November, he abducted a 17-year-old girl off the street and raped her, but let her live. Two days later he raped and killed one last victim, before being arrested and charged. The girl who had been spared was able to describe him and his car to police. He was sentenced to death for raping fifty women and killing nine.
Carl Panzram was one of America ’s most ferocious, unrepentant serial killers. Embittered by years of torture, beatings and sexual abuse both in and out of prison, Panzram evolved into a man who was meanness personified. He hated everyone, including himself. “I was so full of hate that there was no room in me for such feelings as love, pity, kindness or honor or decency,” he said, “my only regret is that I wasn’t born dead or not at all.” He lived a nomadic existence, committing crimes in Europe, Scotland , the United States, South America and once killed six men in a day in Africa and fed their bodies to hungry crocodiles. In 1920, at the age of 29, Panzram committed his first murder, killing some sailors in New York he lured away from a bar, shooting them and dumping their remains into a river. Panzram also shot a man dead for trying to rob him. He later raped and killed two small boys, beating one to death with a rock and strangling the other with a belt.
Beginning in July 1975 with his first attack, Sutcliffe killed thirteen women and left seven others for dead. The seven survivors were told how lucky they were, but with physical, emotional and psychological scars that would never completely heal, they didn’t feel very lucky. Some would even believe that they would have been better off if the man they had known for so long as The Ripper, had succeeded in killing them. Sutcliffe committed his first known assault in Keighley on the night of 5 July 1975. He attacked a 36 year old woman who was walking alone, striking her unconscious with a ball-pein hammer and slashing her stomach with a knife. Disturbed by a neighbor, he left without killing her.
Dennis Andrew Nilsen (born November 23, 1945) is a Scottish serial killer who lived in London. During a murderous spree lasting five years, he killed at least 15 men. Nilsen did not fit the standard profile of a serial killer. As a child he was repulsed by cruelty to animals. As an adult he worked to help the downtrodden at his job with the Manpower Service Commission. Even in his murders, Nilsen killed out of a grotesque form of love. He “killed for company.” Nilsen was a homosexual and experienced a series of failed relationships. In 1978, he picked up a boy in a pub and brought him back to his London apartment. Afraid the boy would leave him in the morning, Nilsen killed him in his sleep. He kept the body around his apartment for days, posing it bathing, eating dinner, watching T.V., sleeping in bed, and in other activities as though it was his boyfriend. This pattern continued, with Nilsen recruiting “companions” at local pubs, until a plumber found bones and rotten flesh in the apartment’s sewer system. Nilsen was sentenced to life in prison in 1983 after confessing to fifteen murders.
Haarmann had begun his crime rampage in September 1918, a time in which Germany was suffering economic depravation and severe food shortages. A young runaway by the name of Friedel Roth disappeared from home on the 25th, writing to his mother only to say that he would not return home until “she was nice again.” Various friends of the boy were forthcoming with information and eventually led the police to no.27 Cellerstrasse, the home of a man they claimed had seduced Friedel. A detective surprised one Fritz Haarmann in bed with a young boy and he was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment for seducing the juvenile. Unbelievably, the rooms were not searched and, upon interrogation five years later, Haarmann confessed that the “murdered boy’s head was stuffed behind the stove wrapped in newspaper.”
This homicidal Broward County, Florida, ex-policeman, though convicted in 1973 of only two mutilation murders, is believed to be responsible for at least thirty more killings. A sadistic sex-beast by nature, Schaefer would lure young women off the roads with the help of his badge to rape, torture, mutilate and murder. He enjoyed tying his victims to trees and leaving them there while he went to work as a police officer. Teeth, jewelry and clothing from several missing girls and young women were found in a trunk in his mother’s attic.
Contributor: rushfan
























January 16th, 2009 at 1:24 am
Serial killers are fascinating, in a bad way.
January 16th, 2009 at 1:27 am
True that. I wonder who Jack the Ripper was??
January 16th, 2009 at 1:37 am
I Wiki’d Bobby Joe Long and said his name is written as Bobbie.
January 16th, 2009 at 1:53 am
peter sutcliffe is quite well known…….in the U.K. anyway
January 16th, 2009 at 2:27 am
mikey: he is the only one I knew and I like to think I am rather well versed in serial killers
January 16th, 2009 at 2:30 am
I’d heard of Kurten before.
Nice list, bad people on the nice list.
January 16th, 2009 at 2:31 am
Very informative list, but i have a question; how were these killers placed on the list? I would have figured Panzram or Kurten to be number one.
January 16th, 2009 at 2:48 am
Happy, happy, HAPPY!!!! New Year, rushfan.
January 16th, 2009 at 2:58 am
Nr three disturbed me the most. I wan’t to say nice list Rushfan, but I feel horrible right now.. Geez. Well done though. How about a list about rainbows,puppys and unicorns next time.
January 16th, 2009 at 3:02 am
jfrater: Thats a nice hobby
January 16th, 2009 at 3:17 am
I’m fascinated by serial killers so I knew most of these. Is Haarmann actually a serial killer because only one victim is mentioned.
For some crazy reason, some people believed Carl Panzram (I think) was innocent and were attempting to get him released from prison. He said of them: ‘I wish they all had one neck and my hands were around it’ (or something to that effect).
Also, check out the Brass Eye episode about ‘Peter Sutcliffe: The Musical’.
January 16th, 2009 at 3:41 am
#3 is a sad case… if that guy had gotten some help, he wouldn’t be where he is now.
January 16th, 2009 at 3:57 am
Sutcliffe is one of the UK’s most well known killers though normally under the name of ‘The Yorkshire Ripper’ Nilsen is also quite well known
January 16th, 2009 at 4:20 am
i was scrolling down pretty fast and really freaked out (in a silent way) when number 1’s pic appeared.
Sick, sick, siiick individuals.
January 16th, 2009 at 4:24 am
what’s really creepy is that many of them look so ordinary!! can’t imagine what it feels like to know that someone you used to see at the grocery store or something everyday spent his night raping and killing people…urgh!
January 16th, 2009 at 4:31 am
Do you think Travolta’s son went to heaven or some kind of fucked up Scientology planet?
January 16th, 2009 at 4:59 am
thatotherguy: probably some scientology planet, maybe this one’s behind a planet…
January 16th, 2009 at 5:03 am
Nice list, serial killers are very fascinating to me. I read a great book about Jeff Dahmer, and I’ve come to almost have sympathy for that man. Maybe if we read books about these people we’d see them in a more sympathetic light too, I dunno. Of course I do not condone murder however, and I’m a man of peace. But it sure is interesting hearing about just what turned these people into the killing machines they’re known for being.
January 16th, 2009 at 5:17 am
It’s a very creepy list but amazing and fascinating too.
I personally don’t mind stories of horror and i don’t mind our fascination in them because i feel we can all learn from them and it helps us work towards a world where these things are almost unimaginable.
January 16th, 2009 at 5:23 am
I am your fan but cant u keep more lists on positive aspetcs of please ! I mean why in the world we keep on reading about killers, evil people, haunting places and so on !!!!
January 16th, 2009 at 5:23 am
Serial killers fascinate me alot. I once watched an entire John Wayne Gacy documentary on Youtube at 3 at night. So scary but so interesting. For some reason I can really put myself in the scene of a crime just by imagining the way it would have gone. That sounded very weird, there’s no way of explaining that.
January 16th, 2009 at 5:30 am
Ack. 10 is almost the worst in a way- brutally killing a woman, stuffing her body in a barrel, then calmly caring for her baby until its sale is final. Idk exactly what it is but that disturbs on so many levels. Double ack.
January 16th, 2009 at 5:37 am
ligeia ~ According to Wikipedia, “From 1919 to 1924, Haarmann committed at least 24 murders.” Sorry if the list seems a bit scattered, I submitted it before I was really happy with it. And it’s in no particular order. Oh, and I promise the next list I write will be cutest breeds of puppy or best flavors of snowcone or best Willie Nelson songs or something.
January 16th, 2009 at 5:38 am
Sorry for the double- but does anybody else think Bobbie joe long looks like a low rent teleevangelist? And did ya ever notice how many killers have double 1st names? Says carrie lynn lol!
January 16th, 2009 at 5:44 am
I’d heard of 4 & 3 before. I had family who used to live near Sutcliffe during the time of his murders, so I’ve heard all about the fear, which was really widespread. The book ‘Somebody’s Husband, Somebody’s Son’ is really interesting too.
January 16th, 2009 at 5:47 am
Also, regarding Sutcliffe, it’s amazing to think that he could have been caught so much earlier as he was interviewed loads of times (9 according to Wikipedia) and was only arrested for a traffic offence. The police got loads of criticism for their investigation.
January 16th, 2009 at 6:09 am
Rushfan im begging you do not make a list of anything cute or in anyway shape or form “nice”. We like depressing just look at the previous list to see how we feel about that. I can already see your puppy list being rip to shreads. “what no dalmations?” “there is a mistake in number 2 you have mistaken a poodle for a pitbull” “omg this list sucks”
Just stick to depressing for your own good (and the poor puppies)
January 16th, 2009 at 6:11 am
Most of these guys are actually worse then most of the ones that are more well known. Its horrible to think that these people could commit such horrible acts and not really care. Dennis Nielson in a way, is just a sad lonely disturbed man. The others seem more sinister, they did it for a sexual thrill. *Shivers*
January 16th, 2009 at 6:15 am
oh sorry double post. Are there any modern female serial killers and i dont mean helped a male serial killer but actually killed on their own?
January 16th, 2009 at 6:38 am
rushfan: thanks for that, although I could have looked at the wiki article myself, d’oh!
lily_89: Aileen Wuornos, is the only one I can think of that acted independently.
January 16th, 2009 at 6:38 am
I too am a ‘fan’ of the morbid curiosity of serial killers. I have not heard of most of these, but had read about Kurten before. I liked this list.
For others that enjoy this type of history, check out http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/index.html
January 16th, 2009 at 6:45 am
there was that chick from Monster
January 16th, 2009 at 6:53 am
Barbara Louise Huxley is a female serial killer. You can read about her here:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/female_serial_killer_has_to_work
January 16th, 2009 at 6:53 am
Interesting work rushfan.
I think we’re all a little worried about what you do in your free time. Sorta wondering how this came about. Like you were sittin around one day and thought “Hey, everybody knows about Charley Manson and Ted Bundy, let see if there’s any other dudes out there that like rape, torture and murder.”
I’m kinda scared of you right now.
January 16th, 2009 at 7:01 am
Thanks, buclimshady! I actually do have a lot of free time here at work and I think I was just reading over the old serial killer list and thought about more of them, just as cruel, but not as famous. Do you remember Richard Speck? These people just fascinate me. They do unthinkable things but they’re people just like you and me. I actually have a harder time dealing with animal cruelty than I do serial killers.
And on a serious note, here’s a real list of female serial killers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Female_serial_killers
January 16th, 2009 at 7:13 am
I was only unfamiliar with #s 1 and 10 on the list..the rest I recognized their names by sight…I never thought Kurten and Sutcliffe would be “lesser known”.
January 16th, 2009 at 7:26 am
So No. 7 bothers me more than any of the others and not so much the nature of his crimes but the fact that he only spent 15 years in prision for murdering 2 children. Also for the guy who feels sympathy for the serial killers I don’t know. I mean there are a lot of people that have had some horrible things happen to them but that is no excuse to take the life of another human. They could be someone’s mother, father, brother, sister, child, etc…. You destroy a whole family with one person. I don’t think we have the right to choose who lives or dies. I don’t even believe in the dealth penalty. I think a person should just spend the rest of their life in jail. In complete confinement. No outside contact, phone calls, etc….To many people have been put to death to later discover that they were innocent. There are 35 exonerations to date from just the state of Texas alone.Check out wwww.innocenceproject.com….P.S. Great List!!
January 16th, 2009 at 7:27 am
Wow, I knew all of these guys. Ive even read nielson’s and sutcliffe’s biographies. Chalk it up to wanting to be a crimminal phys. and not a total freak.
January 16th, 2009 at 7:28 am
Great list rushfan. I vaguely remember descriptions on some of these, not necessarily the names. Very informative. I loved the list, so please don’t stop writing these types!
January 16th, 2009 at 7:31 am
Great list, as always, rushfan!
I too am fascinated by serial killers and such. Must be a lot of us out there!
January 16th, 2009 at 7:32 am
richard speck should not have been categorized as a serial killer. he was a mass murderer.
here are my fav’s
edmund emil kemper III
dahmer was classic
chikatilo (movie citizen x is outstanding)
h.h. holmes
leonard lake & charles ng
albert fish
peter woodcock- very interesting, the day he was released from a mental hospital, he killed someone within an hour, on the hospital grounds
they make nice reading, i suggest doing so before going to sleep :O)
January 16th, 2009 at 7:37 am
I’ve heard of Peter Sutcliffe, He’s very well known in Britain…
January 16th, 2009 at 7:48 am
I actually know a man who was taken for questioning over the Yorkshire Ripper (Sutcliffe) murders. Needless to say he does look quite similar to Sutcliffe. Lucky they found the real murderer!
January 16th, 2009 at 8:01 am
I was wondering if #1’s brother gave up the baby voluntarily, or was forced too? Good list, rushfan!
January 16th, 2009 at 8:01 am
Hm. I’ve heard of most of the people on this list. Then again, I have an interest in serial killers…
But I was very surprised of the inclusion of Kurten, Nielsen, Haarmann and Panzram on the lit of “lesser known killers”. They are among the better documented an studied cases, and are familiar to just about anyone with a passing interest in crime!
And why is only one single crime of Haarmann’s described? He is not even described as a serial killer in the list, when he did kill more than 20 people. Some more detail could be added?
January 16th, 2009 at 8:05 am
thanks on all the info on female serial killers
What no long rant today bucslim? Dang
January 16th, 2009 at 8:07 am
fyi charles manson was really not a serial killer. more of a cult leader, if he did kill, it would have been maybe 1 or 2 people. no doubt he’s disturbed, narcicistic and criminally insane, but he’s no serial killer
January 16th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Enough, of the morbid Bullshit already.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:15 am
if you don’t like this blog someonelse, simply don’t participate, it’s not only morbid, it’s fascinating.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:15 am
Why is Haarman even on there if he only killed one person??
Am I missing something…
January 16th, 2009 at 8:16 am
“Samsam -
I’ve heard of Peter Sutcliffe, He’s very well known in Britain…”
Dennis Nilsen too.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:22 am
And where is Lajos Soós, the famous Hungarian serial killer in the 70s?
January 16th, 2009 at 8:27 am
actually, haarmann killed quite a few people
From 1919 to 1924, Haarmann committed at least 24 murders
January 16th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Freca
i can’t find anything on Lajos Soós, and i consider myself to be somewhat of a serial killer afficionado. could you please direct me to a site where i could find more info on him??
January 16th, 2009 at 8:32 am
At what point do you say to yourself “I think I’ll go out and torture someone then slap a ball peen hammer upside their head and drop their lifeless corpse on the side of the road?”
I know some folks out there have been dealt some brutal cards in while growing up and that life can be a motherfucker. But I guess being sane most of the time, I’m wondering when the thought of unabridged carnage seems logical and true. Oh yeah, and blood spurting from the jugular gives me a boner, yeah, I want that. How exactly does a person come to that conclusion? OK so Mom and Dad weren’t paying attention to you when you were on the high board at the pool. You didn’t get the Hungry Hungry Hippos for Christmas. How come ya gotta go all Tazmanian Devil on decent people? In the words of Margie Gunderson “Well I just don’t understand.”
Sorry pal, the Coo-Coo for Cocoa Puffs thing only works for the bird in the commercial.
If you’re reading this and you’ve become so twisted, so confused and broken that raping and killing another human, especially a kid, seems like a tall glass of Sunny D to you or you feel a tightness in your loins, then you’ve got to promise us to kill yourself first. Sure, it won’t be the same rush you feel when you’ve duct taped little Johnny and tossed him in the back of your Trans Am, but you’ve got to take one for the team.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:33 am
(54) Jeff
I promise I’ll try to find some resources is English.
As far as I remember, Soós killed five people, including one policeman.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:34 am
lily_89 – Dorothea Puente in Sacramento, CA. She killed a bunch of her boarders for their pension checks and buried them in her backyard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Puente
I’ve heard of all of these. I once wrote a paper on Peter Kurten for a class on serial killers I took at college.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:42 am
And Timea Faludi (the “Black Angel”) of Hungary as a hospital nurse gave lethal injections to eight patients.
Is this kind of criminal a serial killer?
January 16th, 2009 at 8:45 am
The Yorkshire Ripper is a lesser known serial killer??? Well, I guess tastes change over the years.
Looks like it was Kurtens for #8’s victims!
January 16th, 2009 at 8:50 am
A good guy was reverend Andreas Pandy, a priest in Belgium (but of Hungaran origin) who killed his family during the years one by one and dissolved the corpses in a tub filled with acid.
Don’t you remember? It was a big scandal in the late 80s.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:51 am
bucslim, i think you are confusing things. for example, i have no desire to kill, rape, mutilate, etc, however, i do find people that do fascinating. that’s not to say i envy them, or idolize them. what i find interesting is the psychology of it all. these are not “normal” people. these are generally people without remorse, empathy, etc. there is a tripod of characteristics that are common among most, but not all serial killers. excessive bedwetting, arson, animal abuse. what drives a person to torture an innocent animal?
January 16th, 2009 at 8:54 am
I’d like to nominate David Ray Parker, otherwise known as the Toy Box Killer. He used to abducted, rape, sodomize, and kill women in his trailer called the Toy Box.
I hear about this guy almost every summer. The lake, Elephant Butte, NM, that we frequently go to during Memorial Day, as well as random weekends during the summer is the one where he supposedly dumped some of the bodies!
I googled it after reading this, because I never knew the whole story, but I do now!
January 16th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Great list…I think the morbid lists are the most interesting ones! Good job!
January 16th, 2009 at 9:10 am
david ray parker, outstanding, he had a tractor trailer that he converted into a torture chamber. his victims would be blindfolded, strapped to an obgyn chair, and a recording of his voice, with instructions and threats would be played. he had an accomplice as well. torture killer
there is an excellent series on tv called Most Evil
January 16th, 2009 at 9:12 am
I just wanted to clarify one thing. I love lists like this and would never want you to stop making them (all though I would love it if people stopped killing each other). Anyway all that about puppys and unicorns was a joke. Still I wouldn’t mind a ‘top ten ways to make chocolate appear out of thin air’ list. What do you say to that Jfrater?
January 16th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Puppies* I meant puppies! both times D:
January 16th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Love the list. very interesting. scary but interesting.
January 16th, 2009 at 9:24 am
I am all for eye for an eye for these sick f**ks! I also would have no problem plugging them in and watching them dance! A little payback is always nice!
January 16th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Excellent, excellent list. Now I have even more morbid, sick trivia to frighten my friends with. Good job, and keep this sweetness coming, please!
January 16th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Excellent job, rushfan! I actually fin this type of list fascinating, and have studied the serial, and spree, killer myself.
I have met John Douglas, one of the FBI’s founders of the “profiler” unit, and I know Joseph Wambaugh, who knows the system and how to implement it, quite well…to be perfectly frank, I know Joe as an author and friend, not a profiler. The general consensus is that the groundwork for serial-killers is laid in childhood.
There is a triad of symptoms that virtually every serial killer has exhibited in childhood; bed-wetting past the usual age, fire-starting, and cruelty to animals. Any child exhibiting these three symptoms should be put into therapy immediately.
Would that help? Would that stop them? It hasn’t been determined yet, but why take a chance?
January 16th, 2009 at 9:41 am
There is a movie about Fritz Haarman called “The Deathmaker”, it is based on notes taken by the psychologist who interviewed him to determine his sanity.
It is slow paced and in German with English subtitles but very good.
January 16th, 2009 at 9:50 am
WarningDontReadThis ~ I was just joking, too. I couldn’t write a list about puppies if I tried.
Segue ~ Thanks, and I agree, if kids show signs they should be helped early in case early intervention would help. The thing is, many kids aren’t in a healthy environment where people are looking out for them, so they’re likely to fall thru the cracks. I guess school counselors have the best access to kids, but I don’t know how much interaction they really have with kids, I don’t remember ever even meeting a school counselor when I was a kid. Also adults are probably hesitant to “profile” kids for fear of upsetting parents.
January 16th, 2009 at 9:59 am
You think of these guys would be dissapointed to know they made the “lesser known” serial killer list?
January 16th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Parents should definitely see these warning signs in their children. The only problem is that you can create witch-hunt like hysteria among parents and law enforcement which could damage more kids than it ’saves’ (if its even fixable).
Also,
#4 has a striking resemblance to Charlie Manson
#3 has a passing resemblance to Jeffrey Dahmer
#’s 10, 9, 8, 6, and (especially) 1 have what Maddox would describe as the “pedosmile”. Google it and you’ll see what I mean.
January 16th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Best of all was Pipás Pista ( = Steve with the Pipe) in Hungary in the 1930s.
This person operated between people living in separated farmhouses.
When women of the familes got bored of the terror from the husband, or wished to herit the properties, called Steve with the Pipe.
The husband’s death was masked as if it had been a suicide by hanging. Or as if it had been a heart attack, while in the reality a big dose of poison had been used.
The tariff for one operation was usually a gammon ( a ham).
Steve with the Pipe was arrested only after more than 30 (thirty) suspicious death cases.
In the prison it turned out that Steve with the Pipe was a WOMAN who dressed into men’s clothes.
January 16th, 2009 at 10:43 am
i lived up in rochester during arther’s reign of terror. there was another serial killer in rochester too. had a passion for killing girls who’s first and last names started with the same letter!
January 16th, 2009 at 10:51 am
Due to occupational reasons I have heard of these men. Sorry just needed to share that.
January 16th, 2009 at 11:02 am
People like these are among us. Many.
For example, the mayor of the town where I live is something like these.
Fortunately he is coward at the same time.
January 16th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Freca ~ The mayor of your town is a serial killer? Are you just being dramatic or do you live in Louisiana or something?
January 16th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Which one of these ten would you choose to become your neighbor?
(I’d choose #1 Schaefer, he looks to be a cool guy)
January 16th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Funny how such a large majority of serial killers are homosexual. Can’t imagine why that is or what it tells us. . . Nope, not at all. . .
January 16th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Which one would I choose to be my neighbor? WTF? What kind of question is that?
Neighbor? Where, like in prison? Hell?
(I’d probably take the guy who’s got a nice set of tools I could borrow from time to time. Then after he was arrested, I wouldn’t have to bring them back)
January 16th, 2009 at 11:31 am
81. Bob -
whatever doubts i may have had about you being a troll or other similar kind of idiot…have now been resolved w/ such a homophobic and totally unjustified comment.
January 16th, 2009 at 11:33 am
When are we going to have a list that includes the Williams Burke and Hare?
January 16th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Interesting list. I’d only heard of 8,4 and 3 before so I learnt a lot. It’s scary how “normal” some of these guys look.
January 16th, 2009 at 11:42 am
It is sad that there are so many serial killers in the world that a list can be made of the ones that are not well known!
And WOW! Cyn, at least bob made a comment pertaining to the list. So, who exactly is the Troll?
January 16th, 2009 at 11:55 am
bob, the reason that a lot of the killers are homosexual is relatively obvious. if you look at their family history, you will find that a lot of them grew up with domineering parents (mothers more specifically) who pushed religion. as homosexuals, they hated who they were themselves, and this inner self-hatred, along with a psycho/sociopathic personality pushed their “immoral” fantasies to reality. once reality hit, they had to eliminate the means to their ends, the men that filled their fantasies. they often mutilated genitalia, further supporting their own self hatred. they wanted to see their lover as a woman, going so far as to cut off their petzes.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
86. mattayeaux -
have you read his comment history? no…well, i have. and as an admin monitering comments, i don’t have to comment pertaining to a list.
as for ‘troll’ ..google it.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Do you have any top list of people convicted of crime they didn’t commit and was later found innocent when they discovered the real criminal? Just curious…and good list btw.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
I too am interested in reading lists like these. You can learn alot just by reading these lists. It does however make me want to go home, lock my door and never come out again. As some of you have said, how “normal” these men look, makes you think about that guy that stood behind you in the supermarket with the plastic baggies and garden gloves just might be a serial killer.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
where are the intelligent LV commentors?
January 16th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
They’re over at the High School Movie list making sure Dazed and Confused is noted and that plot points were mixed up.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
That’s rude Cyn. Especially being an Admin? Aren’t you supposed to be unbiased towards commenters and just find comments that do not pertain to the list? I really think that was uncalled for.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
buc -
funny. not!
actually just meant where are the witty comebacks to the blatant homophobia in some of these recent comments.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Hey Bob, try doing research before you make yourself out to be an idiot. The MAJORITY of serial killers are heterosexual.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
(Sorry for double post.)
I find serial murderers very fascinating because I study psychology quite a bit. These people didn’t just turn to raping and killing because they had crappy childhoods. Their brain chemistry is entirely different. They have no concept of right and wrong, so it’s really pointless to go on and on about how terrible you think they are.
I want to see a movie made about Kurten. He had some badass moments!
January 16th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
As far as women serial killers go, there were two elderly sisters who used to lure men into their house with a “Room to Let” sign, then give them poisoned wine to drink. Their brother, who thought he was Teddy Roosevelt, would bury them in the cellar. Then Cary Grant found out and… ooops… wait a minute, I think that was a movie…
Never mind.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
93. marykerbie -
you’ve really not been paying attention if you think i’m supposed to be unbiased. i am very biased about this site and he has made extremely unflattering comments about this site in the past as well as other comments that were…well, unfortunately there is no comment filter for being a dick.
constructive criticism of a list or even of this site is one thing but simply attacking a list, a list contributor or this site..is something entirely different and uncalled for.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Attention:
I don´t know if anyone noticed that in yesterday´s list Pretty In Pink is listed under Sixteen Candles!!!
January 16th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Great list! Love the serial killer stories..Thanks!
January 16th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Dazed and Confused!
Dazed and Confused!
January 16th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
ewww..that is disgusting. cross list commentary contamination. now i need to rinse the comment section w/ bleach…….
so stop that children!
January 16th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Sorry, Cyn -
I was just trying to make Bucslim laugh… you know, return the favor… He cracks me up!
January 16th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
January 16th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Boo-
*clean up on aisle 3*
and yeah, i get it
January 16th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Far be it from me to jump in here and make a serious comment, but I don’t know that the whole homosexual angle, and the reasons why they’re homosexual is going to hold much water. There’s plenty of reasons why these sad bastards did what they did, and there’s plenty of people who aren’t homosexual who are just as messed up and have murder on the mind.
Crazy has no preference. I’m sure the victim doesn’t give a shit what side of the fence the perp is on. Probably ought to leave it there.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Boo – tee hee!
January 16th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
80. Freca – January 16th, 2009 at 11:10 am
“Which one of these ten would you choose to become your neighbor?”
On the premise that foxes don’t shit near their own earth, one might not necessarily be in personal danger. And perhaps not wishing to draw attention to themselves, they might be more model neighbours than several we have suffered at one time and another. On second thoughts I’d settle for the guy who plays his ghetto blaster at full vol. for 24 hours, blocks your drive, chucks his waste food over the fence and paints his house vermillion. But otherwise is gentle as a lamb. (Er sorry, bad choice of metaphor. It might be that character played by Anthony Hopkins.)
January 16th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Good list…. but some of the blurbs are a little scant on their information.
Why was number 9 a serial killer… only one murder was even mentioned in the blurb.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
106. bucslim -
“Crazy has no preference.”
no shit!
think there is a ton of scientific evidence on file now to refute any connection between sexual orientation and increased incidence of serial killing whether gay or straight.
gay or straight …if you’re a sick fuck who kills for thrills..you’ll kill.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
something that bothered me ever since i saw it was a quote christian bale said in american psycho
he stated that ed gein had once commented that when he sees a pretty girl, he thinks 2 things, what it would be like to date her, take her out, the other, what her head would look like on a stick
this quote should have been given to the person who really said it, edmund emil kemper III (coed killer) 6′9″ with an IQ near 160
cut off his own mothers head and stuffed her larynx down the garbage disposal (it popped out; to which he stated that was just like her, she never shut up)
also, when asked by the judge what he thought his own sentence should be, he said “death by torture” was for a while at the atascadero state mental hospital ( i believe linda hamilton was there in one of the terminator movies)
January 16th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
I read an article yesteday that said jack the ripper might have been a woman! Great list!
January 16th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
rushfan!!! Love this list! Thanks for your always interesting and bizarre contributions!
I always wanted a Barbie perfume maker for Xmas when I was a kid and I never got one. . . .and I turned out ok. . . I think. . . .
January 16th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Cyn, I understand now what you are saying about being biased and I do truly accept you explaination. I wasn’t saying you were being rude to Bob, I too hate reading comments such as that. Ignoring these “trolls” is the best way to get rid of them. I felt you were rude to all the other commenters on here when you stated “where are all the intelligent LV commenters.” I read this site everyday and I usually never comment just because of comments such as yours. I didn’t realize that you had to have a “PH-d” or even a college degree to comment on here. I come here to learn new stuff because you should learn something new everyday! I love reading the comments as well after the list just to see the debates and other peoples opinions. Comments and debates should be made about the subject of the lists, not on the level of intelligence of the other commenters.
January 16th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
(54) Jeff
Sorry, I couldn’t find material about Lajos Soós in English, only in Hungarian language.
January 16th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
np freca, thanx though
January 16th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
#29. lily_89 – Are there any modern female serial killers and i dont mean helped a male serial killer but actually killed on their own?
==================
We just had this famous case about the “Mataviejitas” (old lady killer) down in Mexico City, at first, the police thought she was a man due to the brutality of the murders. With 30+ kills I think (sadly) that she´s a serious contender for this list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mataviejitas
January 16th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
my grandad was involved in the Peter Sutcliffe case. it was one of his friends/co-workers who eventually found him. hes quite well known actually, but i dont live far from where he was so its not surprising haha
January 16th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Rushfan: so this list is a double bluff is it? I know you’re just doing this as research for your own crimes
No, but on a sensible note, how about making of list of the 10 ten ways to get rid of a body. You know, acid baths, fires, making kebabs – just a thought
January 16th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
actually, you’d want to skin the body first
then get rid of all the muscle and meat, bleach the bones for a few days, so they become extremely brittle, then break them, and grind them to dust with a mortar and pessel
January 16th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
great list, have this kinda fascination/curiosity about serial killers for a while now, havent heard of any of these before so thanks
January 16th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
I grew up in Rochester then recently moved down to Florida, where I reside now and Arthur Shawcross was a big thing. He was an absolute monster. Too bad I already moved to Florida before he died, I would have loved to see him get bashed on the news.
January 16th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Anon (108)
I just looked into their eyes here in the photos.
Some radiate madness, some on the contrary.
January 16th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Is it just me or does Peter Kurten look pretty much like Hitler?
January 16th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
You can see how twisted they were by how their eyes express in the pictures.
January 16th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
114. marykerbie -
no you don’t need a PhD to comment here but it is helpful to be able to follow the flow of comments so you can understand the context of each comment in relation to previous comments. its called reading preceding comments prior to your own comment. then you get the context.
81. Bob – stupid comment
83. Cyn – my smartass response
86. mattayeaux – stupid comment
87. jeff – stupid comment
88. Cyn -informed response
91. Cyn -my un referenced lament about intelligence of comments on this list
93. marykerbie -your un informed interjection
98. Cyn -my *whoosh over your head* explanation
114. marykerbie – your failed attempt at sarcasm
now i can appreciate the use of numbering comments as reference. i still say given issues w/ comments being out of numerical sequence sometimes ..best to use # and name. my lament about the need for intelligent comments was intended for this list only and oh, i know the complexity of that maybe overwhelming given most often my comments are more general but i’d assumed, naively apparently, that given the nature of preceding comments on this list..that it was a given it was specific to this list not the general LV commenting population.
now has this been a sufficent explanation..enough detail…do you ‘get it’ now? or should i beat this dead horse some more for ya?
this is the reason i go on and on about people making drive by comments. context context context. and you only get that by reading something other than what you’ve written. and yes, that is a generalized not specific to this list comment. i moniter all comments so forgive me if i forget that sometimes. reading comments in time sequence on a single page as opposed to per list ..you see things a lot differently. like patterns. anyway…this wore me out.
btw…generally speaking, as anyone who has spent time on other sites that allow public commenting…this community can not be beat in terms of intelligence and humor. another reason i get so prickly about the kinda asshattery evident in this list’s comments.
January 16th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
the vampire one i think u got wrong, or i may be confusing him for another “vampire”. the one im thinking of would stalk women and find out their menstrual cycle, eat their blood and kill them.
January 16th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
brittany ~ I think you may be thinking of the “peach skoal vampire of Nebraska.” He enjoys the smooth blend of peach and blood and makes delicious smoothies which he then “eats.” The menstural cycle part is just a coincidence.
January 16th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Ahh, yes, rushfan. . . .his names escapes me at the moment. . . .
January 16th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Rushfan (79)
I meant that guy is a genuine psychopath who could even kill – but fortunately he is too coward to do it.
There are many odd creatures among us.
January 16th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Freca ~ Trust me, I know. I recently befriended a guy and I had no idea he wants to kidnap Shakira and do dirty peach skoal-related things to her, like teach her to fish.
You should go to the forums, I started a thread about the fact that many of us have probably met or interacted with killers in our lives without knowing it, but nobody commented on it. Sounds like a few people who’ve commented on this thread would have cool things to say about that topic. Y’all should check it out.
January 16th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
check it, i meant commented on this “list”
January 16th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Some might say that I was an odd creature – but I assure you that I seen perfectly normal to me.
I’m sure that’s how it works psychologically, what a person does seems perfectly normal introspectively.
January 16th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
rushfan – good idea, as a matter of fact I have more than one story i could relate
January 16th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
(131) Rushfan
I would not mistify the pure fact that someone has committed a murder.
I know several people who are too coward to kill but are evil and mentally terrible.
And I had co-worker in a factory where I worked once who was a really good guy and I did not know (only later) that he had spent nine years for killing his wife. But he was not evil!!
Evilness and being a killer are two different things in practice.
(Serial mureders are a different thing again…)
January 16th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
I seen #10 & #7 on Cold Case Files which is one of my favorite shows. When someone is raped or murdered 5,10 or 20 years back and get`s caught with modern forensic methods like DNA or CODIS , well I think that`s the bee`s knee`s. Another excellent & creepy list.
January 16th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Freca ~ You’re right. There is evil in practice and evil in spirit. And not all who are violent or have mental problems are evil. I was just pondering the fact that John Wayne Gacy was very active in his community before he was discovered. Any of us could interact with evil such as that and not know it. We may get a weird or bad feeling when we meet someone like that, our instinct trying to tell us something.
January 16th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Cyn – asshatery? Is that an adverb?
No, that’s probably asshatedly. Like “The troll spewed bile asshatedly.”
Retartedly?
January 16th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Bobby Joe Long looks like Jessica Simpson’s dad. Just saying…
January 16th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Rushfan, great list. Forget about the cute puppies list, how about the most dangerous puppies (dogs) list!?! And forget about rainbows, how about world’s most deadliest lightning strikes??? Unicorns … bleh. How about worst ridihng accidents. Keep them coming.
January 16th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
It really gave me some idea on your rules for what we can and cannot say on this site.
January 16th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
128. rushfan : I dont know what this means and I`m not sure I want to….. *where is the grossed out smiley when you need it?!?*
Anywho, there was one in Colombia (I think) who used to kill little kids and set their bodies up at a table for “tea time”. Cant remember the name (I read it on another list so if it was on this site, whoops!
)
January 16th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
awesome
January 16th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
one more thing….
Cold Case Files did a show for the BTK killer. HE.IS.FUCKING.NUTS
January 16th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Are there only English, American and German serial killers? What about people from other parts ? Is this something genetic ?
January 16th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
What about Robert Pickton? I guess he’s pretty well known here (in Canada), but I imagine that a lot of people outside of Canada haven’t heard of him. And he’s pretty recent too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Pickton
I know someone who used to serve him coffee at the cafe she worked at…
January 16th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
oh, Mr. Fusk..
be ever so careful of what you speak.
this comment 2 for the price of 1 given your comment elsewhere.
not to worry my sense of perspective and humor are firmly intact. just sometimes a point must be made. even if only for my own sense of order.
January 16th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
ah..buc…you used 2 of my fav LV words in one comment. asshat and retart. you get a gold star!
January 16th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
I used to work with the sister of one of the victims of #10, effen crazy.
January 16th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
asshatery is a noun.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
krchuk ~ You obviously haven’t wandered over to the badass guard dog list. Holy shit, there’s drama over there. I’m not touching dog lists without a badass guard dog to protect me. Possibly, say, an attack poodle. Or possibly a pomeranian.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Ages ago, back in the 80’s, I worked for the premier film processing house in Hollywood. Most of the top photographers in the business used the lab.
One of the photographers was a weird guy who creeped all the women out. Since I was the top film tech (I have 4 color cones, so am extra color sensitive, a major help in photography), I’d often find myself alone with him in the client room. It was always a weird experience.
After I’d left the lab and had gone into the film biz, there was a big news story in the paper; a model had been reported missing under very suspicious circumstances. The photographer?
The same one who creeped everyone out: Charles Rathburn.
He’d killed the girl, buried her body in the desert, and gone home.
Now, here’s the weird part. When all that was known was that a model was missing and presumed dead, I said, as did several other women who had worked with him, that he was the killer!
He just radiated evilness.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Interesting list.
What about about Luis Alfredo Garavito:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Garavito
January 16th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Luisa ~ Wow. 140 victims, that’s fucked up. I’ve never heard of him. Sadly, there could be untold numbers of lists of serial killers, each more disturbing than the last.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Oh that is spooky Segue!
January 16th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
I was thinking about Robert Pickton too. Its so shameful, those women were missing for a long time. When I was out west in university there was talk about those women and if the police were ever going to do anything about it, that was 4 years before the place was even searched, there was already so many women missing.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Maybe you could make an asian serial killer list in the future.
January 16th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Cant believe the guy at no 1 was smiling when the his pic was taken by the police
January 16th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Not sure how well know he is, but I worked (not closely) with someone who was later convicted for 38 murders. His name is Donald Harvey, aka “Angel of Death” because he killed most of his victims in a hospital. He probably killed at least 68. You would never have guessed it from his demeanor: very quiet, soft spoken and mild mannered. I am hoping he is as close as I ever come to a serial killer.
January 16th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Segue- I think I saw that guy on Cold Case Files… Not the kind of guy you’d want to go alone into the desert with!
January 16th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
152. rushfan -
*shudder* yup, i gave up on that one. do not need a rabies series thank you. who knew that topic would elicit that kinda vehemence? *ugh* maybe they’ll work off some steam there that would’ve been directed into real life? vicarious therapy of sorts? *shudder*
stay away from the doggie list. far, far away.
January 16th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
I saw Robinson’s story on an episode of Forensic Files. very creepy.
January 16th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
@willbear..it was years after the first disappearance before police started to investigate why women were disappearing from the Downtown East Side…not until they were missing by the dozens. And then only because their families were clamoring (literally) at their door, and to the media. Why? Because they were for the most part impoverished, drug-involved prostitutes, and as such, it seems, were considered disposable, not worth the effort. I wonder how many women would have to disappear from any other neighbourhood in Vancouver before police would pull out all the stops to find out what happened.
My guess is exactly one.
January 16th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
wow . . disturbing
January 16th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
rushfan – Awesome list! Thanks!
January 16th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Tron (147)
You joke, but I actually found that an interesting fact when I read this list. Forgive my ignorance, but have their been any serial killers that belonged to a visible minority? Caucasian being the majority in this case of course.
Serial murderers seems to be predominantly “white” males. I wonder if a study has ever been done as to why.
January 17th, 2009 at 1:12 am
Ya, I’m going to go find a happy list now, this one wasn’t very pleasant. I really don’t like reading about these people
January 17th, 2009 at 7:18 am
The only one I knew was John Robinson, and the only reason for that is because it was local to me. My dad used to work a couple miles away from where the first two bodies were found.
January 17th, 2009 at 7:40 am
Good list Rush. It’s very entertaining and informative. Arthur Shawcross is very well know here in the US however.
January 17th, 2009 at 8:30 am
people,
you don’t need to read the list if the topic offends you. Duh!
January 17th, 2009 at 11:49 am
161. Nicosia: Segue- I think I saw that guy on Cold Case Files… Not the kind of guy you’d want to go alone into the desert with!
****
No kidding! He once offered me a “modeling” opportunity (he knew I’d been a model in my younger years, and still had the body to do so), but my vibes and common sense said “NO!”
January 17th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
I agrree with comment 1, serial killers are fascinating, in a bad, weird kinda way…. :/
No. 8 = sick. Thats well grosse.
With no.7, how the hell was he let out anyway?
No.3 seems a little, you know,….crazy!!
January 17th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
174. The_Patient: No.3 seems a little, you know,….crazy!!
****
You get the prize for the “most obvious statement” of the list!
Of course he’s crazy! All of them are crazy! They’re psychopaths. That is pretty much the definition of crazy.
January 17th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Man! I am spooked the fuck out.
January 17th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
No, it’s not. Crazy, is an old term that is over used to describe mental patients…
The kind of Mental Patients it describes are generally the ones that live on the streets, and display the signs and symptoms of Schizophrenia, or some other form of Psychoses, not Sociopathic behaviour…
These people are the type that would not fit the medical definition of Crazy but perhaps the legal one: The Legal Definition of Crazy being the way these people are…
The Medical definition, is more like what you would find in DSM under the entries for Schizophrenia, of Schizoid Disorder…
Bipolar Disorder or Manic Depression could also be considered “Crazy”…
January 17th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
The Australian nut-case Milat killed back-packers. He used to cut off their spines, and “play” with them. One guy (Englishman) who fled in a hail of bullets years earlier went back to Australia when they finally caught Milat, and helped sentence him.
Moses Sithole (African) is another guy who is kind of unknown. He took simple village-girls on a walk, promising them work. He attacked and killed them savagely when they where alone out in the bush.
Haarman was a serial-killer, and Kurten’s hero to boot, if I remember correctly.
January 17th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Wow, I only knew three of these, and I know an unsettling amount about serial killers.
January 17th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
What does it say about me that I have heard of 7 of these 10 serial killers.
Must have been that span of time I spent reading on the courttv.com’s crime library.
This kind of thing has always fascinated me. Not the gore or the horror but how people end up being capable committing these kinds of horrors. Trying to understand I guess.
January 18th, 2009 at 5:53 am
Fritz Hartmann may also have been something of a Sweeney Todd/Mrs. Lovett. You see, in addition to killing young men, he also ran a butcher shop, which seemed to keep in stock despite it being 1920’s Germany.
There was a 1930s movie inspired by Peter Kurten- “M” with Peter Lorre. They toned it down though and made him “just” a child-killer. Also, the Sigourney Weaver film “Copycat” has the serial killer they’re hunting take the alias “Peter Kurten”.
January 18th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!
(Oscar Wilde)
January 18th, 2009 at 10:13 am
I’d put Joel Rifkin on this list.
January 18th, 2009 at 10:54 am
How about Albert Fish?
January 18th, 2009 at 11:39 am
“M” was terrifying! Peter Lorre was such a good actor!
January 18th, 2009 at 11:40 am
173. segue- Ack! That little voice in your head usually knows best!
January 18th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
187. Nicosia: That little voice in your head usually knows best!
****
I’ve come to trust mine explicitly…part of the whole Mom thing, I think.
January 18th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
33.rushfan
that article about the female serial killer (the nurse) sounds like a fucking joke!
January 18th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Serial killers are awesomely interesting
January 18th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
CynthiaCity ~ Good for you. It is a joke. I posted a link about real female serial killers after that.
January 18th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
# 145 LunaticMoon- I don`t know where your from but im sure the English,German and American people would gladly loan you some serial killers if your lacking.
January 19th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Thank you 141 Mikey for the back up. I wasn’t trying to be sarcastic or anything else other than stating I was offended by the intelligent comment. Regardless if it were directed at anyone, it is still a comment that need not be made. Cyn has definitely made my opinion of this site lessen since she is a moderator. Her/his dribble was unnecessary. I will no longer comment on any list for fear of retribution from people like her/him.
January 19th, 2009 at 9:11 am
193. marykerbie. I will no longer comment on any list for fear of retribution from people like her/him.
==============
Good for you, following that principle you´ll get really far in life.
January 19th, 2009 at 10:41 am
192. marykerbie -
you’ve nothing to fear but fear itself
any complaints about my comment moderation should be directed to J.
as for you or anyone not being able to follow the line of logic of my comments on this particular list..
if you don’t get it, then i can’t explain to ya.
January 19th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Cyn – You do a might fine job here, from what I’ve seen. I think marykerbie is one of those malcontents who assume that their particular interpretation is the only correct one and that if you don’t fall down licking their boots you ought to be shot, violated by dogs, and keelhauled. (Not necessarily in that order.)
Then again, I guess “marykerbie” doesn’t get that they, like the rest of us, are a guest here. You, on the other hand, “work” here. marykerbie ought to try to pull some of this type of crap where *I* work. The very moment she suggested that she “has the right not to be offended” a rather hilarious series of events would take place: The first thing we’d do is laugh at her, then we’d make fun of her, then we’d chuck her out for attempting to violate another’s right to free expression with her imagined right to “not be offended”.
January 19th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Cyn is the ultimate is superior moderators! She does an almost impossible job with more grace and level headedness than almost any of you could pull off.
Sure she blows a gasket now and then. So what? She gets more than sufficient provocation, and usually reacts with wit and style.
Give the woman a break!
January 19th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
@ Kate and segue.
thing that comes to mind for me is a scenario like..
you’ve just sat down to family dinner and some stranger bursts in, interjects themselves into the conversation already in progress, eats your food and then complains about the main course or that your kid is too chatty.
reason i harp on context. either you take the time to familiarize yourself w/ a website ‘culture’. know the players..especially the mods or admins. actually have read the topic and at least skim prior comments or you are just engaging in masturbatory comment dick waving. in which case…go set up your own website. either code it yourself. pay someone to do so. or even go w/ a free site/host. contend w/ advertisers. generate traffic. establish a reputation over time.
then tell me where it is and i’ll come make nontangential, nonsensical or inappropriate or outright obscene comments at your place.
and see how much you like it.
m’k?
January 19th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
well, fuck me! ;-D
January 19th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Cyn: I think that’s the most appropriate scenario you could have possibly come up with. It’s exactly like what happens here.
January 19th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
An interesting case where the serial killer escaped:
http://militaryhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/serial_killer_who_escaped_in_war
January 19th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Another reference to the Moster of Cinkota:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9la_Kiss
January 19th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Arthur Shawcross looks like a creepy version of Robert de Niro, in a way
January 20th, 2009 at 11:49 am
If memory serves, I believe the Peter Kurten case is what inspired the story for Fritz Lang’s “M”. And I believe I read at one time that #2, Haarmann, would peddle the meat of some of his victims on the black market as pork.
Jeesh.
What the hell have I been reading?
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:20 am
Wow, Number 1 lived in the same county as me D: That’s so creepy… Makes it hard to trust BSO.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:32 am
rushfan – AWESOME list – I have spent the last two days reading this list alone. I have to go look up more info on each person – fascinating stuff (does that make me sick??). Love lists like these!
January 23rd, 2009 at 8:10 am
Really informative list, have to wonder at the placings of some of them though, I don’t think I’d have had this same order.
I’d heard of Arthur Shawcross, The Yorkshire Ripper (Peter Sutcliffe) and Denis Nilsen but isn’t it odd to think there are people who have killed so many others and they hardly even get spoken about :/
January 23rd, 2009 at 8:37 am
This is an extremely US centered lsit.
Where is the Russian guy who killed about 50-60 people a couple of years ago?
January 24th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
They all look like they could be another normal person in the store. Albeit some of them look kinda like jerks.
January 24th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
I’ve known (to my knowledge) one killer in my lifetime, and he *looked* like a bad guy, and put out bad guy vibes…see my post # 153.
I’ve also known FBI Profilers and they say that there is a coldness in these people, a blankness, something missing that you can sense if you are so attuned.
January 27th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
# 10 lived walking distance from my aunt in Olathe, Kansas. I remember her pointing out his house. She said they found some more barrels at his parents home too. Crazy!
January 30th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
What about Pickton from Canada? He had a whole farm of pigs chewing the slain bodies of prostitutes and drug dealers. It took two years to dig up the farm to put some of the bodies back together.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Not sure if he appears on another list as i’m new here (only my second post), but i would of thought that Harold Shipman may have been worthy of a mention.As described in wikipedia “He was the most prolific known serial killer in history with 236 murders being ascribed to him,though the real number may be much higher, perhaps over 450.” Sorry if link not done correcly dont know how to do them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Shipman
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:04 pm
ooh link works i did it for me clever stuff this interweb thingy
February 4th, 2009 at 11:40 am
213. I know nothing: I’m starting to think you’re John McCain!
February 4th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
segue: Is that the guy who makes frozen food i love his chips lol
February 4th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
I know nothing, you are thinking of either Clarence Birdseye or the Jolly Green Giant. Your choice.
February 18th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Peter Sutcliffe is pretty well known in the UK, being the Yorkshire Ripper.I cant believe it tbh, but on the news today, they were suggesting that he COULD be released, because hes a low risk now.Erm, i dont think so.Sure, hes probably aged a lot but at the end of the day, he killed thirteen women and tried to kill seven others.
February 27th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
bob berdella killed 6 fellows. he’d picked up mostly degenerates, though not exclusively, then chain them up and torture them for about a week or so before burying them in his backyard. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Berdella the legend here in town is that he’d cook parts of his victims to share either at the burger joint he’d sell stuff at or in the chili he frequently took to neighborhood gatherings. bob bordella was on the neighborhood watch as well as a drug counselor (despite being a pothead) which is how he obtained one of his victims.
February 27th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
216. reelbigfishiefan: bob berdella killed 6 fellows.
****
Eh!
6 of one, half a dozen of another…
February 28th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
215. Nikki: Peter Sutcliffe…COULD be released, because hes a low risk now.Erm, i dont think so…
****
You’re right, Nikki. I know one of the original FBI profilers, and one of the things I learned from him is that these guys, these psychopaths or sociopaths , don’t change. EVER. They haven’t the capacity to change, nor the will.
The only way he’ll be less dangerous is if he is fully…FULLY…incapacitated. Or dead.
March 1st, 2009 at 3:54 am
Segue: I totally agree.Just the thought they re even considering it bothers me no end.
March 1st, 2009 at 7:01 am
Nikki, I don’t know what the rules are where you live, but here we can write letters of protest to the parole board. You might want to consider that.
March 1st, 2009 at 7:07 am
Segue: I live in the Uk, but im 16 so im not sure not myself to be honest
March 1st, 2009 at 7:08 am
*not sure myself
March 1st, 2009 at 7:39 am
Nikki, I’m sure your mum will know. Or the gaol where he is held.
April 10th, 2009 at 4:35 am
I knew about several from this list.
I can highly recommend the German movie “Der Totmacher” (7.9 stars at imdb). It’s basically a three-person piece that re-enacts the protocols of the cross-examination. The persons playing in this intense intimate play are a psychologist, a minute taker and Fritz Haarmann.
If you want to feel really uneasy then you have to watch Götz George as Fritz Haarmann. George is at least as good as Anthony Hopkins in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, if not a lot better. He should have got an Oscar for his performance.
April 28th, 2009 at 10:47 am
I think it’s time for ”Another 10 lesser known serial killers”, where you could put Dayton Leroy Rogers, Gerald Stano and Patrick Kearney.
May 5th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
I am a huge serial killer and true crime fanatic. I find the behavior of these monsters interesting. I don’t idolize them or want to be them. I just find the psychology of it interesting. This is a good list. I knew most probably because I have a huge serial killer library and have true tv, bio or another crime documentary on 24/7. Another person commented on Albert Fishe and I wanted to respond to them with he is not one of the most famous but he is pretty well known. Harrold Schechtor actually has a few books about him. They are great reads. The character Hannible Lector is actually based on him. Have a great day to all…
June 5th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
serial killers may be facinating to some but in truth they are just vile worthless scum,theres nothing facinating or romantic about these fucking scum bags.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
I think Hannibal Lecter was based on several serial killers — as was Buffalo Bill. Albert Fish seems like a weird choice to base Lecter on — Fish was a cannibal of children, extremely religious, liked to poke sharp things into his own body and was just not the kind of “super genius” suave serial killer Anthony Hopkins portrayed. but, hey, I’m not a filmmaker, what do I know?
I’ve heard of all these killers because I am really interested in reading about crime, killers, etc. I grew up with one guy who killed two people with poisoned Kool-Aid. And I was a reporter and covered the execution of a child-killer in my state. (didn’t witness the execution, just talked to the crazies, er, observers outside the prison, talked to those who had witnessed the execution and then talked to one of the victim’s mom the next day. Pretty weird experience.
And everyone keeps mentioning serial killers who didn’t make the list — isn’t it the 10 LEAST known? makes sense to me that there’d be a bunch of people (Bundy, Gacy, Ramirez) who wouldn’t make the list. However, I don’t necessarily agree with all these SKs being not very well known.
And yeah, there are lots of minority serial killers, but for whatever reason, it just seems like there’s a lot of white guy serial killers. There are females too!
sorry, I’m running on and on.
Interesting list and discussion
June 15th, 2009 at 3:54 am
Re: Peter Sutcliffe, he is not actually in jail. He is in Broadmoor hospital which I have had professional experience of and such a decision to release him would be made by doctors. The notion of him being ‘freed’ is only an aggravated rumour brought about by a discussion that he may be suitable for moving to a medium secure unit where he would be prepared for reintegration and be allowed out alone on occasions. Not saying that’s right or wrong either way but he’s not being freed from prison
June 15th, 2009 at 8:38 am
I am amazed that Fritz H. was #2 instead of #10 or something…
June 15th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
The only 1 ive heard of is Peter *AKA The Yorkshire Ripper* Sutcliffe. But i think there all crazy pyscopaths that need killing themselfs!!!!
June 27th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Cool list. Oddly, I like the gruesome lists.
July 13th, 2009 at 1:17 am
Yeah I have this thing called a book (google it) its about serial killers. So I have read about most of these. Albert Fish I believe his name anyway he was another that was just INSANE. Decent list yeah!
September 4th, 2009 at 10:23 am
I find these serial killers dispicable. Ending that cornflake’s life like that, it makes me sick!
November 4th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Albert Fish wasn’t a serial killer,he only killed one person.Same with Ed Gein.
A list of lesser known serial killers should be made up almost entirely of black serial killers since they get almost no attention compared to white serial killers.
February 5th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
@paul x
actually, albert fish was only convicted of killing one person, but he confessed to killing to much more than that after his capture, two being billy gaffeny and francis mcdonnell.