The 8 most cruel (and famous) serial killers in History

Although more and more is known about criminal behavior, the truth is that crimes of murder continue to occur, unfortunately, in all parts of the world. A murder is a despicable act, and even if the offender is convicted and punished, the damage is irreversible, as the life of the victim will never be recovered. In this sense, there are many debates on the table regarding the reintegration of criminals. Thus, there are those who believe that certain criminals, including murderers, are not capable of living in society without committing a crime again.

One of the most controversial profiles when it comes to reintegration is that of serial killers. A serial killer, also called a serial killer, is an individual who murders three or more victims in a minimum period of 30 days.. Between the successive crimes there are periods of calm or cooling, which makes the difference with other criminal profiles such as mass murderers.

Criminological studies have determined that the primary motivation for serial killers is psychological gratification that they feel when committing the crime, since they feel lust for power and even compulsions of sexual character. Furthermore, these types of murderers tend to choose their victims selectively, so it is common for all of them to share certain attributes (race, sex, profession…).

Although the murders are a reality that has happened since the origins of history, the truth is that The term "serial killer" was coined by John Douglas, an FBI agent, in the 1970s. Douglas's desire to know what could lead one person to end so many lives led him to meet with some of the most famous murderers in history. If you want to know more about who have been the most bloodthirsty murderers in history, in this article we are going to present a list with their respective stories.

• We recommend you read: "The 9 most famous (and disturbing) unsolved crimes in history"

What have been the most famous and cruel serial killers?

Next we are going to see the most famous serial killers in history.

1. Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper is one of the best known serial killers in history. Actually, this name was an invented nickname, because the true identity of this sadistic criminal has never been revealed. At the very least, Jack the Ripper is known to have committed 5 murders in the London borough of Whitechapel.

As is often the case with serial killers, Jack the Ripper always followed the same procedure in his crimes and attacked victims with a very specific profile. He always murdered women who were prostituting themselves on the street, mutilating their genitals and cutting their throats. The British press even made fun of the police, since they were unable to capture such a criminal.

This led the residents of the neighborhood to organize themselves to find him, although they never achieved their objective. The story of Jack the Ripper and all the mystery that has surrounded him have given rise to many fiction films and books that have related this widespread legend.

2. Charles manson

Charles Manson is another of the murderers who, sadly, have gone down in history for his crimes. Manson became the leader of a sect dubbed The Manson Family, which originated in the California desert.. Manson has been convicted of several murders, participating in some indirectly and others directly. Manson is a well-known figure in the United States, where he has emerged as an icon of extreme violence.

One of the crimes that have had the most repercussion was the one for which Manson and his followers broke into the home of the director Roman Polanski, murdering all those present, who were his pregnant woman and some friends. Manson has been a prisoner since the 1970s and has never been granted parole. In fact, he has not been executed because the death penalty is not allowed in the state of California.

3. Jeffrey Dahmer (The Milwaukee Butcher)

Dahmer positioned himself as one of the most sadistic murderers in history after murdering 17 men and young men over thirteen long years. In addition to ending the lives of his victims, his nickname is due to the fact that he was also accused of necrophilia, cannibalism and dismemberment. Dahmer was captured because one of his victims managed to escape and reach the police. Upon arriving at the criminal's home, they discovered that Dahmer had made a terrifying creation with the united remains of all of his victims. In the 1990s he was tried and eventually murdered in a Columbia prison.

4. Ted Bundy

Ted Bundy went on to rank among the serial killers best known for kidnap and murder 30 women in the United States in the 1970s. In addition, it is suspected that he may have been behind numerous disappearances that to this day remain unsolved.

Bundy's strategy consisted of impersonating someone else, even pretending to be some kind of disability and even impersonating a socially reputed individual. Bundy murdered his victims, but not before raping and torturing them. Once he had finished with his lives, he proceeded to dismember them, managing to keep in his possession some parts, especially heads, for his memory. He managed to arrest him in the late seventy-ten years after he was sentenced to the electric chair.

5. Romasanta

This murderer, whose full name is Manuel Blanco Romasanta, was born in Galicia, Spain, at the beginning of the 19th century. This criminal psychopath is the confessed author of up to thirteen murders of women and children. His case is the only documented clinical lycanthropy, mental illness for which the individual believes to be a wolf and behaves as such. When he was finally arrested he alleged that he suffered from a curse by which he was possessed, which led him to behave like a wolf attacking his victims mercilessly.

6. The vampire of Düsseldorf

The real name of this German criminal was Peter Kürten. He is known to have murdered about nine people, although he has tried to end the lives of a few more people without success. His record not only includes homicides, but also sexual assaults on nearly 80 different victims. This brutal murderer raped, stabbed and slaughtered his victims, who were mainly women and children.

She finally managed to capture her in the early thirties, being sentenced to the guillotine. It is said that she requested a period of silence after his beheading in order to hear how his blood fell to the ground, which can give us an idea of ​​the psychopathological features of this criminal.

7. The bloody countess

The one known as the bloody countess, whose real name is Isabel Báthory, was a Hungarian aristocrat who has gone down in history for breaking a sad record: she is the woman who has committed the most murders throughout history, claiming the lives of 630 people.

If you wonder what terrifying motivation can exist behind a murderer of this caliber, the truth is that you will be surprised. This countess was afraid of getting old, and she believed that in order to avoid it she should drink blood and take baths with this scarlet liquid. In addition, she believed that she did not serve any type of blood, but only that coming from her virgin maidens. She died at the beginning of the seventeenth century, as she was sentenced to live in her castle.

8. Aileen Wuornos

The story of that murderer is full of traumatic events from her childhood. Aileen spent a childhood full of abuse and in her teens she became pregnant and became a mother. She came to have a relationship with her brother and as an adult, she began to practice prostitution. It is at this time that Aileen begins to murder several men, killing seven in total, between 1989 and 1990. In 1991 she was arrested and she herself acknowledged the murders she had carried out. Finally, in 2002 she was sentenced to die by administering a lethal injection.

Conclusions.

In this article we have reviewed those most famous serial killers in history. Serial killers are criminals who end the lives of several people, since they commit successive crimes with temporary separation between them. Generally, murderers of this type are unlikely to function within society as normal individuals.

Many of them have suffered serious mental problems that have led them to adopt inhuman behavior towards others. In addition, these types of criminals have existed for centuries, although today they are more widely known. in depth the way these killers act and think and how to handle their detention and stay in prison.

Most are never released from prison again or are sentenced to death if the government of their country considers this option, since they are people repeat offenders with a distorted vision of reality and serious emotional deficits that prevent them from relating to others in an adaptive and without violence. All of them show preferences in their ways of acting and the victims they choose, so after several unsolved crimes with similarities between them may indicate the authorship of a murderer serial.