“I was born with the devil in me…”
By Gigi Malone

I have this odd fascination with death and those who at times bring it to others. Not just the average killing of one or two people but the killings of serial killers. I grew up in a time where I heard of Son of Sam, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy and so on. We all know these names. We hear their stories growing up. They are our warnings not to trust the unknown man. Even though the term “serial killer” was only coined in the late 70s when was making his mark on New York City those doing the killings have been around for centuries before him. And in truth there are some much more fascinating killers then the ones we know. Maybe because we hear of them so much who knows but their stories just don’t stimulate my mind as some of the others that make me think “what the hell is wrong with this person/these people”. I have brought together a small list of some of the more fascinating killers from around the world and throughout history. While some you may have heard of some you may not have heard of but they mad their mark and they still make people wonder.

First I need to define for you what exactly a serial killer is-mainly because nowadays anyone who kills more then one person is a serial killer but this is not always true. It won’t take long so don’t worry but here we go. There are 3 main types of killers who kill more then once.

Mass Murderer: This is the person we hear about on the news that walked into a Luby’s or a post office. Killing a “mass” of people. I.e. Timothy McVeigh or the Columbine Killings

Spree Killer: This is a person who kills over a short period of time a quantity of people and over a period of different places. Sloppy killers with no thought of what they are doing. I.e. the Vampire of Sacramento, .

Serial Killer: incredibly intelligent, planned killings. They happen over a period of months and years. They will have moments of killings and then sometime back off and then kill again. There is usually a trigger or something that these killers look for in their victims. They will usually have a signature to the killings. They are not sloppy killers; they know what they are doing and are meticulous about it. >From the capture of the victim to the disposal of the body.

So, those are the differences. Today is a little harder maybe. Since the number of serial killings is on the rise, especially here in America and the blurry profile of a killer in the past (mid-20s to late 40s white male) has gotten even blurrier over the years. The number of women serial killers is on the rise as well. It makes you wonder why but unfortunately I do not have the time or energy to go into that today due to the fact that it would be all speculation on my side and I am the farthest thing from the expert in the field of serial killers. Only a friendly observer.

So, here is my list of killers that fascinate me and a little about them. Some have obviously been solved but a few have not.

Paul Bernardo & Karla Homolka Early 1990’s, Canada. Considered one of the most notorious killers in modern times-right after . Their first murder victim (though by accident) and their first mutual rape was her younger sister 2 days before Christmas after a family dinner in Karla’s parents’ home. They went on to rape and murder several other young girls over the next few years. An interesting twist-they video taped all the rapes Paul committed (Karla video taped) as well as the murders and rapes they committed in their own home.

Dr H.H. Holmes The United States very first (known) serial killer. Late 1800’s, Chicago area. Born under the name Herman Mudgett. He moved to the Englewood area, changed his name and took a job as a pharmicist for an older woman whose husband was dying. After the husbands’ death and the “disappearance” of his wife, Holmes took over the business and began building across the way a small hotel-which was actually a hotel of horrors. With false walls, rooms with gas jets, greased chutes that led to the basement where he kept his dissection table a tub filled with acid, hidden passageways, and secret rooms this was a hotel that one would probably not want to stay at. Over a period of time he killed over 150 people including his partner in crime, his partners’ wife and their 2 children.

New Orleans Axe Murderer Early 20th century, New Orleans of course. It started with the murder of an Italian grocer named Joseph Maggio and his wife Catherine. Over the next year more grocers and other members of the New Orleans citizenship were killed as well as their family members. At first it was thought to be the job of the mob-but women and children had been killed (not something the mob did) or the work of a demon. Still no one knows who the killer was.

The M.O. of the killer: he would chisel his way into the house thru the back door; commit the murder with the households’ wood chopping axe-which was then left behind. There was only one survivor-a woman whose child was killed when she was trying to protect it.

Andrei Chikatilo 1980’s, Russia. Victims: male & female, children & adults. He would lore the victims away from the mass-transit system, attack them, most of the time gouging out their eyes (did not do this only a few times), some times they were raped but most of the time there were body parts missing. On almost all the victims the sexual organs were cut out. It was later confessed that most of the time he did consume the pieces of the body he cut off or bit off. His actual first murder took place in 1978 and he was caught finally in 1990.
The number of killings he confessed to was 56 but only 53 were confirmed. 31 of the victims were female, 22 of them were male-of the confirmed slayings. It is known that Andrei was once brought in for questioning but then let go when his blood type did not match the semen found at the killings. It was later confirmed when he was arrested again in 1990. Andrei Chikatilo was executed in 1991 by a gun shot to the back of his head.

Elizabeth Bathory Countess, 16th Century, Hungry. Renowned through out history as the Blood Countess. She would murder young, virginal village girls and then after torturing them, she would bath in their blood so that she would stay young over several decades. This also led to her consuming their blood as well. She was not brought to justice as quickly as another killer would of due to her station in the Hungarian Royalty and the fact that the peasants she plucked her victims from had absolutely no rights at all.

Her punishment was to be walled up in one of her rooms in her castle and lived in darkness as well as alone until her death several years later. Number of her victims over 200 hundred is speculated but the actual number will never be truly known.

The Sawney Bean Family

15th Century, Scotland. Bean and his family (42 members estimated) lived in a cave on the coast of Scotland. Most of the offspring were thought to be from incestuous relations (since they made no regular contact with the outside world). They would attack their victims while they traveled (causing many innocent pub owners to be executed for murders they were thought to have committed). The period of time of their killings was at least several decades (when their cave was found they had several generations living there) and was numbered in the hundreds.

While this has only been a small list of some of the more fascinating true horror stories (sometimes the true is scarier then the false) there will always be more. It is said that at this exact moment there are anywhere from 35 to 90 serial killers on the move in the US. Something to think about.

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