The Reality of Evil

[Alan McDougall]

Evil is an attribute only found in humans? Do you agree or Not?

[theotherguy]

Depends on the scale. Humans are alone in planning the total destruction of a group they don't like. On the other hand, many species of ants use other ants as slaves, lions kill their rivals' children, and chimpanzees will happily create distractions to steal food. How are you defining evil?

[+OverSword]

Evil is an attribute only found in humans? Do you agree or Not?

Of course. You can't be evil if you have no concept of what good or evil are.

[Davros of Skaro]

Am I evil? I am Man. Yes I am.-Metallica

[Mikko-kun]

I wouldn't say so, seen some "evil" cats and well, seriously, what "good" is there when an animal plays with their prey torturing them? Animals are prone to human influence, behavior-wise, so I'd say it's a tied issue too.

And I dont think ignorance makes things right, as in "I didn't know it was wrong, I didn't know my prey suffers a lot". Of course you know. Everybody knows what pain is. If ignorance would make it right, there would be absolutely no evil.

Edited August 19, 2014 by Mikko-kun

[StarMountainKid]

"Good" and "Evil" are just words and definitions we apply to behavior. There exists no "good" or "evil" outside these mental concepts, there is just behavior.

Hitler is considered evil, but to Adolf, he was just doing the right thing according to his worldview, behaving normally. Many of his followers did not consider him evil, or themselves evil.

Only those who disagree with Hitler's behavior believe him evil. In this sense there is no personal evil behavior, only behavior others consider evil.

[dryrain]

Evil has no real meaning any more people use it so widely appartently I am evil for finishing the last piece of chocolate in a chocolate bar.

[Bendy Demon]

I agree that the term "evil" is a label we slap on anything we don't approve of. Sadly this same label has also been used as a justification for the atrocities and torture we visit on that which we call "evil". Sadly we often call those actions "justice" or justified force.

You cannot fix "evil" with the same sort of mentality that you are being confronted with.

[Paranormalcy]

I agree with Star Mountain Kid and most others here, in the idea that "evil" is a man-made concept, resulting in this:

Evil is a man-made categorization about the actions or nature of some entity, which is maliciously detrimental to some one or some thing or multiples thereof.

The "evil person" in question must be aware and share the common definition of evil, to see any of his own deeds as potentially evil.

Witnesses/victims must believe in "evil" and share that concept, and also categorize other people to have this attribute.

The evil attribute only applies to living, sentient beings because only they have intelligence to perform actions with intent beyond nature or instinct or side effect.

...

Therefore, evil is an attribute that can be found only in someone that someone who believes in "evil", is willing to saddle that person or thing with. Taking the last of the candy is not really evil in the common legitimate sense of the word "evil". Evil seems to exist as a personified nature of an action or occasionally a person's own nature (Hitler, to some). The only exception to this is possibly supernatural entities like demons, which some people believe in.

[Alan McDougall]

No such thing as evil, what a load of nonsense, would you invite the @#&%$ listed below to take your daughter on a date, you teenage son on a picnic, or baby sit your children, etc. ?

Serial Killers from Around the World

http://http://daddu.net/25-seriously-disturbing-serial-killers-from-around-the-world/

I would like to point out to those #@&%* that insist there is no such thing as evil, that many of these depraved evil reprobates returned over and over again to the rotting dead bodies of their innocent victims and engage in all sorts of hideous sexual acts with the decaying corpse of their innocent victims bodies.

One particular unimaginably evil murderous serial killer cut off his own mothers head, and stuck his ??? into its skull mouth to have oral sex with the rotting head of his mother.

Jeffrey Dahmer did this also and ate part of his victims to get a sexual high, Ted Bundy also returned to the corpses to enjoy sex with the now dead and absolute compliant bodies

The serial killers profiled below are listed in alphabetical order (by first names) — not in any order based on how “disturbing” I might find them, by race, nationality, etc. Also, understand that the definition of “serial killer” is heavily debated. For example some definitions simply state there must be a break between killings to separate serial killers from mass-murderers. Other definitions give a specific length that break must be in order to qualify as a serial killer rather than a spree killer. We’re not going split hairs about that here.

1. Ahmad Suradji

The idea of ritualistic serial killers on one hand baffles me and on the other hand fascinates me. They’re a reminder that the world is full of different cultures where different practices are considered acceptable than here in the West.

But Ahmad Suradji doesn’t seem to be following any kind of cultural norm. Instead he just sounds deranged. At the same time, I have to admit it’s one of the more “interesting” excuses or motives I’ve ever seen. Here’s more on Indonesian serial killer, Ahmad Suradji.

Victims: Suradji murdered 42 females between the ages of 11 and 30. The killings took place over 11 years.

Kill Zone: Medan, Indonesia

Methods: Suradji buried his victims up to their waists and strangled them with a cable.

Motives: Suradji conducted ritual killings. He claimed to be told by his father’s ghost in a dream that by killing these women and drinking their saliva, he would become a mystic healer.

Outcome: Ahmad Suradji was found guilty on April 27, 1998 of his crimes and was executed by firing squad on July 10, 2008.

Additional Information: One of Suradji’s three wives (Tumini) was tried as an accomplice. Often Suradji’s victims were women who came to him seeking his services as a healer.

3. Alexander Pichushkin

Alexander Pichushkin is a Russian serial killer known as “The Chessboard Killer.” Unlike some killers who have almost understandable motives (such as being abused or tortured themselves in some way — not that it excuses anything), Pichushkin is a whole different level of crazy. He killed for the competition of it.

Victims: Pichushkin has 48 verified victims. While not all, most of them were elderly homeless men.

Kill Zone: Moscow, Russia

Methods: Most of Alexander Pichushkin’s victims were killed with hammer blows to the head. He preferred to strike them from behind supposedly to avoid spilling blood on himself. He then threw some of his victims into the sewers.

Motives: It is believed Pichushkin considered himself to be in competition with another serial killer — Andrei Chikatilo. At one point he mentioned that his “goal” was to kill 64 victims — enough to fill the squares on a chessboard, hence his nickname.

Outcome: Pichushkin was convicted on October 24, 2007 to life in prison, including 15 years of solitary confinement.

Additional Information: Pichushkin has been quoted as saying “For me, life without killing is like life without food for you…. I felt like the father of all these people, since it was I who opened the door for them to another world." He was kept in a glass cage during his trial.

. Andrei Chikatilo

You’ve already seen the name Andrei Chikatilo mentioned, because he was at least partially the inspiration for another Russian serial killer — Alexander Pichushkin. Chikatilo was known by two nicknames — “The Red Ripper” and “The Rostov Ripper.”

Victims: Chikatilo killed 53 women and children (of both genders).

Kill Zone: Rostov Oblast, Russia

Methods: Chikatilo didn’t kill all of his victims in the same way. Most were stabbed, but a few were strangled or battered to death. All were mutilated.

Motives: Chikatilo killed for sexual satisfaction — he could only become aroused by committing violent acts against women.

Outcome: Andrei Chikatilo was shot and executed on February 14, 1994.

Additional Information: Chikatilo was impotent due to a childhood illness, yet had two children of his own. His son Yuri was charged with the attempted murder of a man.

5. Carl Eugene Watts

One thing I find particularly disturbing is when killers start young and no one “notices” or stops them before they can escalate. According to Watts, he was one of those kinds of killers.

Victims: Watts killed females between the ages of 14 and 44. Twelve victims are confirmed, but it’s expected that there were more — possibly dozens.

Kill Zone: Texas and Michigan, United States

Methods: Watts wasn’t faithful to any particular method of killing his victims. He use strangulation, stabbing, drowning, and beatings.

Motives: While his motives aren’t believed to be sexual in nature (as with many serial killers), they aren’t known.

Outcome: Watts died of cancer on September 21, 2007 shortly after being sentenced to life in prison. Prior to this, he had been serving time in Texas.

Additional Information: Watts is believed to have had an IQ of just 68, and he may have killed his first victim at the young age of 15.

. Carlton Gary

I won’t say that I do or don’t believe Carlton Gary is guilty of being “The Stocking Strangler.” But for all that we know, that’s who he is. Others disagree, and believe it’s a case of poor evidence. What do you think?

Victims: Carlton Gary is believed to have killed 7 elderly women.

Kill Zone: Georgia, United States

Methods: Victims were beaten, raped, and then strangled to death.

Outcome: Gary was convicted of murder on August 26, 1986 and then sentenced to death. He is still on death row. He was supposed to be executed on December 16, 2009 but the Georgia Supreme Court stopped his execution the day it was supposed to happen to allow for a hearing on the DNA evidence.

7. Dana Sue Gray

Have you ever seen an “outfit to die for?” Apparently serial killer / shopaholic Dana Sue Gray has. This has got to be one of the most screwed up motives for murder I’ve seen. But really, greed is one of the oldest I guess.

Victims: Gray killed 3 elderly women age 57 – 87, and a fourth victim survived.

Kill Zone: California, United States

Methods: Two of the victims were strangled with telephone cords (the survivor was one of them), one was beaten, and one was stabbed.

Motives: Gray’s motives were financial. She said she killed her victims to support her overwhelming need to shop. She stole cash and credit cards from her victims to help support her lifestyle.

Outcome: Gray was convicted and sentenced to life without parole on October 16, 1998.

8. Dean Arnold Corll

Child molester / serial killer, Dean Arnold Corll — known as “The Candy Man” — received a fate rather deserved (at least in this writer’s eyes). I won’t even share what I think should be done to people who abuse and kill children. This is the kind of killer nightmares are made of.

Victims: He killed 27 or 28 young boys.

Kill Zone: Texas, United States

Methods: Victims were raped / sexually assaulted, tortured, and then strangled or shot.

Outcome: He was killed by one of his accomplices.

Additional Information: He had two accomplices who found his victims for him — for $200 each. Apparently that’s the price of a little boy’s life.

9. Elizabeth Báthory

the “Blood Countess” Elizabeth Báthory.

Victims: Although she was never personally tried, hundreds of female accomplices were convicted for 80 murders.

Kill Zone: Kingdom of Hungary

Methods: Victims were treated to torture, mutilation, and beatings.

Outcome: The accomplices of Elizabeth Báthory were executed. She, on the other hand, was bricked into rooms of her castle for house arrest. She was found dead on August 21, 1614.

Additional Information: Legend has it that she killed and then bathed in the blood of virgins to try to maintain her youth.

10. Gary Leon Ridgway

Gary Leon Ridgway — “The Green River Killer” — makes my list of one of the most disturbing serial killers for the sheer volume of victims he had. It’s a reminder that sometimes awful people really can evade the law for quite some time. And that is something I find terrifying.

Victims: Ridgway was convicted of 48 murders, although he confessed to killing 71 women. He generally killed prostitutes that he would pick up and have sex with before committing the murders.

Kill Zone: Washington, United States

Methods: Strangulation

Outcome: Ridgway pled guilty to 48 counts of murder on November 5, 2003. He was then sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Additional Information: Ridgway is said to have an IQ of 82.

11. Gregorio Cárdenas Hernández

When I think of violence in Mexico, I tend to think about drug-related instances and deaths — not serial killers. But I guess we all have our “outstanding citizens” don’t we? Gregorio Cárdenas Hernández — also known as the “Strangler of Tacuba” — didn’t have a lot of victims. But what he did with them is disturbingly strange.

Victims: Cárdenas Hernández killed 3 teenage girls — two 16-year-old prostitutes and one 19-year-old student.

Kill Zone: Mexico City, Mexico

Methods: After having sex with his victims, he strangled them and buried their bodies in his garden.

Outcome: He was arrested and given a life sentence in 1942, but escaped from prison in

1947. After being re-arrested he stayed in prison until 1976 when he was pardoned, cited as a great example of rehabilitation. He died in 1999, of natural causes.

Additional Information: He studied law and psychiatry while in prison, and practiced law after his release. He also wrote three books.

12. Huang Yong

Apparently “because I wanted to” is a good enough motive to become a serial killer for some. I don’t know about you, but in my mind that’s even worse than killing people for their money because you like to spend too much.

Victims: Yong killed at least 17 teenage boys (but based on a survivor’s account, it was 25).

Kill Zone: Henan province, China

Methods: He drugged, rapes, and then suffocated his victims.

^{Motives: Huang Yong was quoted as saying “I’ve always wanted to be an assassin since I was a kid, but I never had the chance.”}

Outcome: He was both sentenced to death and then executed by firing squad December 2003 — apparently the Chinese don’t wait around. And in this case and the admission, really, I can’t say I blame them.

Additional Information: Yong was a migrant laborer, and he kept his victim’s belts as souvenirs. He claimed that killing females wouldn’t make him as much of a “hero” as killing males.

13. Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper might be famous, but he’s still relatively unknown. His identity has never been discovered. In fact, the murders attributed to him might not have even been committed by the same person. But Jack the Ripper makes my list of some of the most disturbing serial killers in the world because, real or not, the lore surrounding those White chapel killings went a long way towards solidifying the image of the sinister serial killer in many of our minds — an image that might even be dangerous, given the socially charming nature of others.

Victims: Jack the Ripper was believed to have killed at least 5 prostitutes from 1888-1891.

Kill Zone: London, England (White chapel District)

Methods: Victims’ throats were slit and their abdomens were mutilated.

Additional Information: A letter supposedly sent to the media from the killer ignited a media frenzy around the image of Jack the Ripper.

14. Jeffrey Dahmer

Yes, Jeffrey Dahmer is another one of the more famous serial killers, but I didn’t promise to leave them all off. Let’s just say there was precious little Dahmer did that didn't make him disturbing enough for this list. Eating your victims is more than enough for me.

Victims: Dahmer killed 17 young men and boys. His victims were of Asian or African descent.

Kill Zone: Wisconsin, United States

Methods: Dahmer was guilty of rape, torture, **********, and cannibalism.

Outcome: Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to 15 terms of life in prison in 1992, and he was killed by a fellow inmate on November 28, 1994.

Additional Information: Apparently on May 27, 1991, a 14 year old victim got away. But when he went to police and Dahmer claimed he was his 19 year old boyfriend, police returned the boy to the killer. The boy was murdered that night.

15. Luis Garavito

“La Bestia,” Luis Garavito, is one of the most prolific serial killers on our list. He’s another one who preyed on young boys, making him doubly disgusting — both for his choice in victims and the number of people he killed.

Victims: There are at least 138 confirmed victims of Luis Garavito — young boys.

Kill Zone: He committed his murders across 59 counties in Colombia.

Methods: Victims were raped, had their throats slit, and were then dismembered.

Outcome: Garavito was convicted on April 22, 1999, and is serving the maximum sentence available in Colombia. Although that sentence is only 30 years, he could still possibly be tried for other crimes he wasn’t yet convicted for, keeping him in longer. That said, there’s also the possibility he could be released early.

16. Mary Ann Cotton

Mary Ann Cotton is a prime example of the “black widow” type of female serial killer. She tended to kill husbands, lovers, or those in her way. Well, you know what they say about a “woman scorned” — or in this case just a woman who wants something from you.

Victims: Cotton had 21 victims including husbands, lovers, and “competitors” (other women who were involved with her male victims).

Kill Zone: Durham, England

Methods: Cotton poisoned her victims.

Motives: She killed her victims for two reasons: financial security (collecting on life insurance policies) and jealousy.

Outcome: Cotton was hanged in March 1873.

Additional Information: At the time it was assumed many of her victims died of “gastric fever” rather than poison.

17. Moses Sithole

Moses Sithole is a South African serial killer. What makes him most disturbing isn’t even how he killed his victims, but rather the fact that he would call and taunt his victims’ families.

Victims: Sithole killed 30 or more women before he was tried.

Kill Zone: Johannesburg, South Africa

Methods: Victims were raped and strangled.

Outcome: He was convicted on December 5, 1997 and sentenced to 2410 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole after 930 years — 2927. That’s an oddly comforting, if not almost amusing, thought.

Additional Information: Sithole is believed to have posed as a businessman offering jobs in order to gain the trust of the women he murdered.

18. Peter Kürten

When you think of vampires, what era do you think of? I certainly don’t think of the 1900s… unless we’re talking about movies. But around 1930 the world met serial killer Peter Kürten, labeled the “Vampire of Düsseldorf.”

Victims: While he was only charged with 9 murders and 7 attempted murders, Kürten actually confessed to 79 killings.

Kill Zone: Düsseldorf, Germany

Methods: He intentionally chose to use a variety of killing methods to keep police in the dark about the connection between the murders.

Motives: His motive was of the good old “can’t get it up” variety. He killed for sexual stimulation, needing to see blood to become aroused.

Outcome: I’m sure he would have been pleased by the blood on display July 2, 1931 when he was executed by guillotine.

+Aditional Information: Kürten claimed that he committed his first murders when he was just 5 years old, drowning two friends.

19. Robert Hansen

Robert Hansen took advantage of the Alaskan wilderness when he killed his victims. All in all he isn’t much different than other serial killers. What caught my attention about Hansen was his seeming addiction to “the hunt” — and I don’t just mean finding new victims.

Victims: Hansen is believed to have killed somewhere between 17 and 21 young women, with a particular emphasis on prostitutes.

Kill Zone: Alaska, United States

Methods: Hansen’s victims were kidnapped, raped, then released. Hansen would then hunt his victims around his cabins like hunting game, and they were ultimately killed with a hunting knife or a rifle.

Outcome: Hansen pled guilty to 4 of the murders, and has served in various federal prisons since June 13, 1983.

Additional Information: Hansen took jewelry from his victims.

20. Robert Maudsley

Robert Maudsley — “Hannibal the Cannibal” — makes the list not only for the belief that he ate part of the brain of one of his victims, but because of the types of people he killed.

Victims: Maudsley had 4 victims, but 3 of them were murdered while they were in prison.

Kill Zone: Berkshire, England

Methods: One victim was killed by strangulation, another by torture, and two others by stabbings.

Outcome: Maudsley initially went to prison in 1974. But after killing 3 fellow prisoners he was placed in solitary confinement in 1983.

Additional Information: Three of Maudsley’s 4 victims were actually child molesters or sex offenders. Honestly that makes me dislike him just a wee bit less.

21. Robert Pickton

Here’s another killer who didn’t make this list because of how he killed his victims, but rather for something he did with their bodies after the fact. Robert Pickton fed the bodies of his victims to pigs. Yeah.

Victims: Pickton was convicted of killing 6 people, but charged with the murders of 20 others. He murdered prostitutes.

Kill Zone: Vancouver, Canada

Methods: Pickton killed his victims by strangling and mutilation. Details are largely unknown about victims he wasn’t convicted on, but there were also possibly gunshot victims.

Outcome: His conviction on 6 counts of second degree murder happened on December 9, 2007. He’s serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years.

Additional Information: Robert Pickton’s story was loosely used in an episode of TV’s CSI and also served as the basis for an episode of Criminal Minds.

22. Saeed Hanaei

I don’t know which is worse… killing people because you are morally depraved, or killing people because you think you’re cleansing that depravity or corruption. Apparently Iranian serial killer Saeed Hanaei — the “Spider Killer” — had no problem with the latter.

Victims: Hanaei killed 16prostitutes, with an emphasis on prostitutes who were drug addicts.

Kill Zone: Mashad, Iran

Methods: Hanaei strangled his victims.

Motives: He killed his victims because he believed he was eliminating their moral corruption.

Outcome: Saeed Hanaei was hanged on April 8, 2002.

Additional Information: Hanaei was called the “spider killer” because he lured women to his home before having sex with and murdering them, similar to the way a spider lures prey into its web. Hanaei was a high profile and controversial figure in Iran. Some fundamentalists even praised his actions (although I can’t quite see how sleeping with prostitutes before killing them is any kind of moral high ground — but hey, that’s just me). Hanaei’s murders were the inspiration behind Alice Cooper’s 2008 “Along Came a Spider.”

23. Ted Bundy

Credit: Wikimedia

Okay. So Ted Bundy is another pretty well-known serial killer. But cutting off and keeping the heads of victims definitely puts him in my list of seriously disturbing serial killers.

Victims: Bundy confessed to over 30 murders of white middle-class females between the ages of 15 and 25.

Kill Zone: Washington, Oregon, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, and Florida, United States

Methods: Bundy’s victims were beaten then strangled. He was also guilty of rape and **********.

Outcome: Bundy faced execution by the electric chair in Florida on January 24, 1989.

Additional Information: Bundy tended to kill women that resembled his fiancé and had similar hair styles. But because they were physically different in other ways, Bundy denied a resentment towards here was part of his motive.

24. Tsutomu Miyazaki

Well, when someone’s known by names like the “Little Girl Murderer” and “Dracula,” it just can’t be good. I’m guessing the “Dracula” title would be a hint that Tsutomu Miyazaki drank blood from his victims. But here’s the even more disturbing part. (And yes… it gets more disturbing than drinking the blood of little girls.) He was also known to have eaten hands of a victim. Oh, and just for good measure, he went out of his way to torment his victims’ families. I literally can’t read about this man without feeling physically ill.

Victims: Miyazaki killed 4 little girls between 4 and 7 years old.

Kill Zone: Tokyo, Japan

Methods: Bodies were mutilated and corpses were molested.

Outcome: Miyazaki was sentenced to death April 14, 1997 and hanged June 17, 2008.

Additional Information: Miyazaki was born with deformed hands fused directly to his wrists, and contacted family members of victims with cryptic, taunting messages (and even the cremated remains of one victim). At one point, anime and horror films were cited as the reason for his crimes.

[+OverSword]

Am I evil? I am Man. Yes I am.-Metallica

Actually that was by Diamond Head and covered by Metallica years later

http://youtu.be/mbgv587ooNM

[+OverSword]

"Good" and "Evil" are just words and definitions we apply to behavior. There exists no "good" or "evil" outside these mental concepts, there is just behavior.

Hitler is considered evil, but to Adolf, he was just doing the right thing according to his worldview, behaving normally. Many of his followers did not consider him evil, or themselves evil.

Only those who disagree with Hitler's behavior believe him evil. In this sense there is no personal evil behavior, only behavior others consider evil.

That's what they would like you to believe.

[StarMountainKid]

No such thing as evil, what a load of nonsense, would you invite the @#&%$ listed below to take your daughter on a date, you teenage son on a picnic, or baby sit your children, etc. ?

These serial killers you list are certainly evil in the conventional use of the word. I'm pointing out that the motivation of these people is psychological in origin, There is no separate "evil" quality in them, they are psychotic, a functional disorder of the mind.

That's what they would like you to believe.

What do you mean by "they"?

[ellapenella]

Evil is an attribute only found in humans? Do you agree or Not?

Love and evil are revealed morally. Evil is moral rebellion , against God. God is Love.

[+OverSword]

These serial killers you list are certainly evil in the conventional use of the word. I'm pointing out that the motivation of these people is psychological in origin, There is no separate "evil" quality in them, they are psychotic, a functional disorder of the mind.

What do you mean by "they"?

Just being funny.

But I do believe that evil is a real thing and not just some moral judgement variable from individual to individual. Maybe I'll be able to articulate it when my attention span feels longer.

[DecoNoir]

I don't believe in a definitive "good" or "evil". There are thing that you ethically agree with, and those you don't. On mans "evil" could be everyone elses "salvation".

As to whether or not this is exclusive to humans: Well if animals have ethics...

[Alan McDougall]

These serial killers you list are certainly evil in the conventional use of the word. I'm pointing out that the motivation of these people is psychological in origin, There is no separate "evil" quality in them, they are psychotic, a functional disorder of the mind.

What do you mean by "they"?

There have been medical and psychological, physiological tests on many of these killers and no brain abnormalities have been found. Physically they are as normal as you or I, but something inhabits them or they are just intrinsically evil from childhood.

Ted Bundy as an example was very good looking highly educated and intelligent, yet did the most despicably acts on innocent young woman, Jeffrey Dahmer had a normal childhood etc.

There are countess men (Woman too of course) who grow up in the most dysfunctional family, even with a psychopathic father or mother who abuses (Sometimes sexually) them constantly, yet grow up to become valuable normal law abiding people. I am not saying their childhood did not affect them negatively, just that they had the ingrained intrinsic morality to overcome the evil they accounted in early life.

[StarMountainKid]

There have been medical and psychological, physiological tests on many of these killers and no brain abnormalities have been found. Physically they are as normal as you or I, but something inhabits them or they are just intrinsically evil from childhood.

Ted Bundy as an example was very good looking highly educated and intelligent, yet did the most despicably acts on innocent young woman, Jeffrey Dahmer had a normal childhood etc.

There are countess men (Woman too of course) who grow up in the most dysfunctional family, even with a psychopathic father or mother who abuses (Sometimes sexually) them constantly, yet grow up to become valuable normal law abiding people. I am not saying their childhood did not affect them negatively, just that they had the ingrained intrinsic morality to overcome the evil they accounted in early life.

I agree with your statement, except for your phrases "something inhabits them" and "intrinsically evil from childhood". I don't know why some young children enjoy torturing animals, for instance, when most children cherish animals. What exactly is the cause of this difference in personalities? It may be some genetic predisposition, but I wouldn't say a predisposition for evil, I would say in part a sociopathic predisposition.

Of course, not all sociopaths become serial killers. There must be some added psychological trait that bypasses or suppresses their intrinsic sense of morality, or perhaps this sense of morality does not exist in them at all. In my view, their behavior is due to some complex psychology, perhaps genetic, within their minds, and is not due to some external "evil" influence.

I don't think a person's psychology can be revealed by physically examining their brains.

[ellapenella]

In commenting on the question asked by the OP - I gave the question originally asked a little more thought .

I strongly feel that only God knows if evil exist in other species, such as other life forms, seen and unseen. We as humans are able to measure good and evil morally . I don't deny that we are created in the image of God, the image of is not a depiction based on our physical form as humans,but the image is of a moral intelligence. This moral intelligence is more than a material physical aspect of who we are as beings.

[Rafterman]

Depends on the scale. Humans are alone in planning the total destruction of a group they don't like. On the other hand, many species of ants use other ants as slaves, lions kill their rivals' children, and chimpanzees will happily create distractions to steal food. How are you defining evil?

I don't think there is intent other than survival for any of those examples. So they can't be called "evil".

[Ben Masada]

Evil does not exist as one has to make it. This is based on Ecclesiastes 7:9 that man is born perfect and only by ill-using his free will, evil appears in the horizon. Evil is akin to darkness which shows only in the absence of light. By the same token, ignorance is only the absence of education which is the agent to obliterate ignorance.

[Alan McDougall]

Evil does not exist as one has to make it. This is based on Ecclesiastes 7:9 that man is born perfect and only by ill-using his free will, evil appears in the horizon. Evil is akin to darkness which shows only in the absence of light. By the same token, ignorance is only the absence of education which is the agent to obliterate ignorance.

This is really a stupid idea, like saying "Good is just the absence of Evil" but you can reverse that quote and say "Evil is the absence of Good" and both are equally logical.

[Paranormalcy]

The examples given do not refute the assertion that there is no independent evil, nor does it provide any basis for the existence of evil as its own objective presence. This isn't to say there aren't horrible, malicious people with inclinations to do things that simply are beyond all bounds of civil or even common natural behavior - there sadly are very clearly such people, and they obviously are a constant danger and menace.

You can call these people "evil" in the common connotation of that word, as doing horrible things. in that context, yes, there is "evil" and these people are "evil". But are they possessed, inhabited or influenced by some independent influence? No evidence, even anecdotal exists, to support this. These people have, through whatever means or reason, received horribly miswired brain chemistry and signals and impulses and conditioning. What they do makes their actions horrible, but it doesn't change them from being human or guided by anything other than what is in their natural body and mind (no matter how messed up).

Also, while it may be possible, I do not blindly accept this:

There have been medical and psychological, physiological tests on many of these killers and no brain abnormalities have been found.

The brains of psychopaths and various other disturbed or differently functioning types of brains have been studied with cutting edge technology since at least the 70s, and very clear and documented and identifiable indications exist that DO indeed show very real, physical and mundane evidence that "evil" behavior is a physiological or thought process abnormality, especially highlighted by more modern technology such as brain scans that can show the level of activity in different parts of the brain during various experiences or exposure to stimuli. I would recommend that you read or listen to the audiobooks of "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" and "The Wisdom of Psychopaths" to start you on your way to understanding the perhaps disappointing mundane reality of "true evil".

[Alan McDougall]

The examples given do not refute the assertion that there is no independent evil, nor does it provide any basis for the existence of evil as its own objective presence. This isn't to say there aren't horrible, malicious people with inclinations to do things that simply are beyond all bounds of civil or even common natural behavior - there sadly are very clearly such people, and they obviously are a constant danger and menace.

You can call these people "evil" in the common connotation of that word, as doing horrible things. in that context, yes, there is "evil" and these people are "evil". But are they possessed, inhabited or influenced by some independent influence? No evidence, even anecdotal exists, to support this. These people have, through whatever means or reason, received horribly miswired brain chemistry and signals and impulses and conditioning. What they do makes their actions horrible, but it doesn't change them from being human or guided by anything other than what is in their natural body and mind (no matter how messed up).

Also, while it may be possible, I do not blindly accept this:

The brains of psychopaths and various other disturbed or differently functioning types of brains have been studied with cutting edge technology since at least the 70s, and very clear and documented and identifiable indications exist that DO indeed show very real, physical and mundane evidence that "evil" behavior is a physiological or thought process abnormality, especially highlighted by more modern technology such as brain scans that can show the level of activity in different parts of the brain during various experiences or exposure to stimuli. I would recommend that you read or listen to the audiobooks of "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" and "The Wisdom of Psychopaths" to start you on your way to understanding the perhaps disappointing mundane reality of "true evil".

Yes there are madmen but there sane men/woman who are consumed with lust hate and violence.

Below copied from my Google account!

Saintly life my soul demands; I’ll more ascetic be. A vow I’ll take, albeit late; from evil I will be free. Joseph R Taylor

A wisp of evil can lure the vulnerable into a miasma of evilness. Michael Shaw

The combative instinct is a savage prompting by which one man’s good is found in another’s evil. Santayana

Even the gates of Hell shall stay closed when Ted Bundy and Charles Manson come a knocking, for even Satan fears they would glory themselves above him. Quote source Bishop R. Baits

The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it. Albert Einstein

Our repentance is not so much regret for the evil we have done, as fear of its consequences. Rochefoucauld

Roses are red, violets are black; you’d look better with a knife in your back. Anon

The judge should not be young, he should have learned to know evil, not from his own soul, but from late and long observation of the nature of evil in others. Plato

When true evil has reason on its side, it becomes proud and displays reason in its entire splendor. Pascal

The devil when he purports any evil against man, first perverts his mind. Anon

If I wanted to kill somebody, I'd take this book and beat you to death with it, and I wouldn't feel a thing. Charles Manson

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it conscientiously. Pascal

Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all; the apathy of human beings. Helen Keller

So far as we are human, what we do must be either evil or good: so far as we do evil or good, we are human: and it is better, in a paradoxical way, to do evil than to do nothing: at least we exist. T S Eliot

He said that there was one only good, namely, knowledge; and one only evil, namely, ignorance. Socrates

Such evil deeds could religion prompt. Titus Lucretius

In law, what plea so tainted and corrupts, but being seasoned with a gracious voice obscures the show of evil. Shakespeare

A good man would prefer to be defeated than to defeat injustice by evil means. Sallust

The lack of money is the root of all evil. Mark Twain

An evil conscience is often quiet, but never secure. Syrus

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for men to do nothing. Edmund Burke. Or (Evil flourishes when good men do nothing)

He who does not punish evil, commands it to be done. Leonardo da Vinci

Profit is divine but greed is evil. Proverb

Evil men by their own nature cannot ever prosper. Euripides

To great evils we submit; yet we resent little provocations. William Hazlitt

Every evil to which we do not succumb is a benefactor. Emerson

No notice is taken of a little evil, but when it increases it strikes the eye. Aristotle

Submit to the present evil, lest a greater one befall you. Phaedra

The greatest evil which fortune can inflict on men is to endow them with small talents and great ambitions. Vauvenargues

Anecdote: Year 1890. Having become wealthy and elevated in status, a man grew embarrassed by his wife’s lack of erudition. In order to improve her intelligence, against her will he sedated and trepanned her eight times on successive full moons. She did indeed improve and became an apothecary. In time she concocted a unique poison; soon after she became a widow. Quote source: Unsolved by Vernon Grace

It is not my evils that I regret, but those which I have had no occasion to oblige. Thor Gideon

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Proverb

Cato requested old men not to add the disgrace of evilness to old age, which was accompanied with many other evils. Plutarch

For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Paul of Tarsus. Quote source: (St. Paul)

I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man’s being unable to sit still in a room. Blaise Pascal

It is the evil that lies in ourselves that is ever least tolerant of the evil that dwells within others. Maurice Maeterlinck

One man’s evilness may easily become all men’s curse. Syrus

Money is the root of all evil, and man needs roots. Anon

Peter woodcock, admitting to having strangled three children during 1956 and 1957, stated during a BBC interview: “I regret that children died, but I felt like God. It was the power of God over a human being. … I got very little pleasure from anything else in life. But in the strangling of children I felt a sensation and degree of pleasure and of accomplishment. Because it was such a good feeling, I wanted to duplicate it. Peter Woodcock

No evil can happen to a good man either in life or after death. Plato

A belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every evilness. Joseph Conrad

There is this of good in real evils; they deliver us, while they last, from the petty despotism of all that were imaginary. Charles Caleb Colton

The man who does evil to another does evil to himself, and the evil counsel is most evil for him who counsels it. Hesiod

Evilness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curious attractiveness of others. Oscar Wilde

Man’s life is warfare against the true evil of men. Balthazar Grecian

True evil often takes the garb of truth. William Hazlitt

A evil book is the eviler because it cannot repent. Anon

There is no odor as bad as that which arises from goodness tainted. Thoreau

The devil was a great loss in the preternatural world. He was always something to fear and to hate; he supplied the antagonist powers of the imagination, and the arch of true religion hardly stands firm without him. William Hazlitt

He that will not suffer evil must never think of preferment. Thomas Fuller

Trouble makes every sad accident a double evil and contentedness none at all. Thomas Fuller

The question of good and evil remains in irremediable chaos for those who seek to fathom it in reality. It is mere mental sport to the disputants, who are captives that play with their chains. Voltaire

Satan is the spiritual head of most of the human race, its political parties and most of the religions. Theodore Hawk

Evils in the journey of life are like the hills which alarm travelers upon their road; they both appear great at a distance, but when we approach them we find that they are far less insurmountable than we had conceived. Charles Caleb Colton

For where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel. Martin Luther

The evil their own desires. Gore Mather

Evil swallows the greatest part of its own venom. Jerome

Spite is our unjust reaction to the exposure of our incapability’s. Jacob Franks

Meekness is the mask of evil Ingersoll

The ignorance of the world leaves one at the mercy of its evil

To see and listen to the evil is already the beginning of evilness. Confucius

The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be either good or evil. Hannah Arendt

A club hurts the flesh, but evil words hurt the bone. Quote from (American Shaolin by Matthew Polly)

When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading. Henry Young

Death is not the worst evil, but rather when we wish to die and cannot. Sophocles

We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from the machinations of the evil.

Hardly any man is clever enough to know all the evil he does. Rochefoucauld

Evil is uncertain in the same degree as good, and for the reason that we ought not to hope too securely, we ought not to fear with to much dejection. Samuel Johnson

Praises from evil men are reproaches. Thomas Fuller

More harm is done by fools through foolishness than is done by evil-doers through evilness. Prophet Mohammed

Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before. Mae West

The very first essential for success is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence. Hitler

An evil conscience is often quiet, but never secure. Unknown

We excuse our own acts of evil by justifying the evil deeds of others. Clayton T Grassant

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root. Thoreau

The oldest and best known evil was ever more supportable than one that was new and untried. Montaigne

It is so stupid of modern civilization to have given up believing in the devil when he is the only explanation of it. Ronald Knox

Depend upon it; from every condition of distress or evil, there is a great reaction, and the greater the distress or evil, the greater the reaction. Theodore Dreiser

There is no such thing in man’s nature as a settled and full resolve either for good or evil, except at the very moment of execution. Nathaniel Hawthorne

The devil can cite scripture for his purpose. An evil soul producing holy witness, Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, A goodly apple rotten at the heart: O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath! Quoted cited from: William Shakespeare

Evil can be condoned only if in the beyond it is compensated by good and god himself needs immortality to vindicate his ways to man. Somerset Maugham

Evilness with beauty is the devils hook baited. Thomas Fuller

White shall not neutralize the black, nor good compensate bad in man, absolve him so; life’s true evil being just the terrible choice. Robert Browning

One may understand like an angel, and yet be a devil. Thomas Fuller

Believe me; all evil comes from the old. They grow fat on ideas and young men die of them. Jean Anouilh

May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house. George Carlin

Truly it is an evil to be full of faults; but it is still greater evil to be full of them, and to be unwilling to recognize them. Pascal

There is nothing in itself which is wrong or evil not even murder. Henry Miller

The twin conceptions of evil and vindictive punishment seem to be at the root of much that is most vigorous, both in religion and politics. Bertrand Russell

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit true evill. Voltaire

Sometimes to convict the devil you have to go to hell to get your witnesses. Quote from: Bluegrass by William Van Meter

Repudiating the virtues of your world, criminals hopelessly agree to organize a forbidden universe. They agree to live in it. The air there is nauseating. They can breathe it. Jean Genet

Only after the kill does man know the true ecstasy of love. Count Zaroff

Edited August 23, 2014 by Alan McDougall

[Paranormalcy]

Well, I'll give you this: the above post definitely fulfills the "philosophy" part of this "philosophy and psychology" forum category.