Worst Serial Killer Of All Time

[Oubli]

NO ONE mentioned Charles Manson yet?

You guys are nuts.

I'm not sure if I would consider Manson a "serial" killer or not. After all, he was too much of a coward to do it himself. But, seeing as he could order the brutal murder of an eight-month pregnant woman, I would agree he is a horrible monster.

[Infrazael]

Well, give the definition "serial-killer" some liberty, and Charles Manson fits perfectly IMO.

He was insane, he was ingenius, he reveled in bloodshed and the absolute corruption and destruction of innocence.

I think we can label him as one of those people, perhaps he is even WORSE then the serial killers who do the job themselves.

[Barnacle Battlefront]

The story of Ed Gein was particularly disturbing when I first read it. He was the inspiration for Leatherface (from Texas Chainsaw Massacre), I believe.

I'm not sure that Ed Gein would count as a 'Serial Killer'. I think he only killed 2 people, and the rest of the bodies he robbed from graves.

I think that The Burnies were horrible. Thy only killed about 5 people, but what they done was terrible

[Yelekiah]

That would be too much liberty. There is no evidence that Manson killed anyone. Although he is considered the mastermind. He talks and let people do the walking for him.

[Perfect Imperfection]

Dunno if mentioned yet but how about Alexander 'Sawney' Beane?

IT was a scene straight out of hell. Hanging from improvised butcher's hooks in the dank underground cave were row upon row of severed human limbs. Hiding in the shadows of the subterranean lair was Sawney Beane and his hideously deformed family who had killed and eaten more than 1,000 people during a 25-year reign of terror.

Now the true story of the Scottish cannibal is set to terrify cinemagoers with the release of a new film inspired by his atrocities. The Hills Have Eyes, out today, tells the story of a family of maneaters who prey on unwary passers-by.

While the film features scenes of shockingly graphic violence, the story of Beane and his twisted clan is infinitely more chilling - a twisted tale of incest, robbery and murder.

Alexander 'Sawney' Beane was born eight miles east of Edinburgh at the start of the 15th century, during the reign of James I of Scotland. While his parents earned a living hedging and ditching, their son developed into a lazy delinquent who despised authority. Sometime during his teens, he left home with a woman of an equally devious character - reputedly a suspected witch called Black Agnes Douglas - to live in a dank cave just north of Ballantrae in what is now Ayrshire.

With a strip of sand in front, their home was a giant network of elaborate passages that had been eroded almost a mile into the rock. Twice a day, the high tide would flood the first 200 yards of their home, making it an ideal hiding place.

It was from this underground lair that the couple began one of the most infamous chapters in Scottish folklore. By cover of night, they would hold up passing travellers, rob them of their possessions and then, to ensure they couldn't be identified, murder them.

Their plan was to live on the proceeds, but with people reluctant to travel with much money in their pockets, the couple began to starve. Their solution was to eat their victims, pickling leftover limbs in sea water.

Soon, the Beanes were thriving and had so much food they took to throwing unwanted bodyparts into the sea. As they washed up on nearby beaches, panic spread. Spies were sent to investigate the disappearances but, of those that returned, none were able to find the culprits.

Meanwhile, the Beane family was multiplying. Sawney and his wife produced 14 children and, in an horrific twist, the family interbred to produce 18 grandsons and 14 granddaughters.

But it was inevitable that the Beanes would make a mistake. It came one night when they ambushed a husband and wife riding back from a fair. The family dragged the woman from the back of the horse and disembowelled her. As her husband fought back, more riders from the fair arrived prompting the family to disappear into the woods.

When the King was told of the attack, he resolved to take charge of the manhunt personally, assembling an army of 400 men and packs of bloodhounds. And it was the persistence of the dogs which eventually unearthed the Beanes' lair.

A mile into the catacombs, the search party was confronted by a sight of unimaginable horror. Along the damp, dripping walls were the arms, legs and hands of men, women and children, hanging like the cuts in a butcher's window. Nearby were bundles of clothes, and piles of trinkets and bones.

Transported to Leith, the bandits were shown no mercy. The men had their legs and hands cut off and were left to bleed to death in front of the female members of the clan. The women and children were then burned alive in three fires.

Although historians have questioned parts of the story - some even claiming it's no more than a myth - the legend of the Beanes continues to fascinate and appal.

In 1977, 500 years after Beanes' executions, horror director Wes Craven used the tale as inspiration for the low-budget horror film The Hills Have Eyes.

[~TheBigK~]

Ed Gein was the inspiration for physco

Although he might not be counted as a serial killer, he's definitely one of the most well known, and his story is very twisted but interesting.

They might not be the worst ever but for most recent, I'd say Gacy or Dahmer. But The Zodiac Killer, and Jack the Ripper have always been the most interesting to me because of the mystery surrounding them.

That Alexander Beane story creeped me out, I had no idea The Hills Have Eyes was inspired by that.

[Lycan]

Kratos- I completely agree with you for Elizabeth Bathory! She was insane.

My other choices are Vlad the Impaler (basis for Bram Stoker's Dracula), estimated to have killed over 100,000 people, often through his form of impalement, which is..well..there is NO way to put it lightly. Up the rear and out the mouth.

The Green River Killer, (I forgot his real name) killed/raped about 60 people.

Jack the Ripper and the Zodiac Killer as well, simply because they really did get away with murder; no one knows who they really were!

[Yelekiah]

Well Vlad usually had people do that for him. But he is considered a mass murderer, not a serial killer.

[Hans Dolbrook]

i think lopez was released from prison in south america a few years ago.manson is just a truly evil fish oil salesmen that could sell you a trip to hell,and make convince you you would enjoy it!!!

[Doughnut Destroyer]

Peter Sutcliffe (The Yorkshire Ripper) I think is one unhealthy individual, yet I find him strangely interesting.

Definately a brutal and vicious individual. *shudders*

He is one of the most famous around in England.He is pure evil and is a true monster.But I have to agree, he is interesting.

[__Kratos__]

Well Vlad usually had people do that for him. But he is considered a mass murderer, not a serial killer.

Yeah, he was one cruel son of a .....! He did some of his own handy work and ordered men to do the rest.

Also, what he did could be considered war crimes which the thread excludes.

[Twisted_Dragon]

I found this guy pretty disturbing

HERMAN MUDGETT (AKA H. H. HOLMES)- 200+ murders

Place: Chicago Date: 1890s Victims: Boarding house guests

'Dr Holmes' started out stealing corpses from the University of Michigan and moved onto Chicago, where he made o fortune with a chain of drug stores. He used his wealth to build a 100 room house full of gas chambers, trap doors, acid vats, lime pits and secret doors. During the 1893 World Fair he rented rooms and killed most of their occupants, moving on to attracting women to his home, forcing them to sign over their savings and then throwing them down an elevator shaft before gassing them. When plice rumbled him, he burned his torture castle down. The remains of over 200 victims were found in the ruins. Mudgett became the first celebrity psycho in the US after a sensational trial. He was hanged on 7 May 1896.

[IhartU]

Andrei Chikatilo gets my vote for the worst serial killer ever. There is an excellent book about him- Camrade Chikatilo The Psychopathology of Russia's Notorious Serial Killer by Mikhail Krivich and Ol'gert Ol'gin. This man was just sick!

I also think that the Green River Killer is perhaps one of the worst- after all , it took how many years to catch him? Dennis Nilsen was a pretty inventive serial killer, cutting up his victims and flushing them down the toilet. Ted Bundy started off as a pretty smart killer, but got pretty sloppy as he escalated. Gacy was stupid for keeping the bodies in his house, he should have kept dumping them in the water, how did he live in that house? THE SMELL!! Dahmer- what can I say? One of the worst most deffinately, drugging people, drilling holes in their heads and pouring acid in the wound, keeping flesh in the freezer and a skeleton in his shower-insane!

There are soooooo many notorious killers. How sad!

[Yelekiah]

I forgot about Holmes. that guy was...creative.

[ValkyrieVoice]

I think the worst killer of all time was the Zodiac.

[Space Suit]

Richard Chase. You can read about him on wikipedia because I don't have the stomach to repeat his atrocious crimes on here.

[BKB]

My vote would go for Gille De Rais, Marshall of France during the early 15th century, Abused, raped and killed hundreds of young boys in his castle. By all accounts he was a lunatic

Edited March 30, 2006 by BKB

[Yelekiah]

Richard Chase the schizophrenic blood drinker?

He had problems.

But the worst ones imo are the psychopaths that are driven for other motives. Chase, if I'm not mistaken, was paranoid that if he didn't drink blood, his would turn into powder.

[theGhost_and_theDarkness]

I had forgotten about the Beanes until I read the story on here. I remember going out and renting the original version of the movie (The Hills Have Eyes) right after reading about it. . .it's amazing and disturbing that they lived like that. . .

I do like Elizabeth Bathori (aka the blood countess). . .but the Zodiac Killer would have to get my vote, mainly because of the mystery around him and the fact that he was never caught. . .

Edit: I had forgotten about "HH Holmes", also. . . That was an extremely fascinating case. ..I was just trying to remember his name the other day when my husband and I were talking about strange murder cases. . .

Edited March 31, 2006 by Sweetsalem82103

[portez]

Are you kidding me I don't understand why nobody has said Henry Lee Lucas & Ottis Toole. You could even say that jimmy jones was the worst killer of all time but the person that just scared the people to death was charles manson. But out of all the people talked about the only one that ever used dead bodies to get money holmes has to be the weirdest he is already rich and he pulls insurance scams must be something wrong with that fellow. And to top it all off how bout Pee Wee Gaskins who was said to be the meanest killer of all time...can't be easy getting that tittle.

Edited April 4, 2006 by portez

[LostLittleGirl]

Serial killers rarely kill themselves. And yes, I agree that that is a bad thing. Actually I can't recall a serial killer that committed suicide. I know there's one but the name totally escapes me.

Harold Shipman and Fred West killed themsleves. They were both serial killers.

As for my vote I say Pedro Lopeez, AKA, The Monster of the Andes. He is suspect of killing over 300 girls.

Edited April 19, 2006 by LostLittleGirl

[najaesouljah]

The story of Ed Gein was particularly disturbing when I first read it. He was the inspiration for Leatherface (from Texas Chainsaw Massacre), I believe.

I just read a book about Ed Gein. I think he has my vote for worst serial killer of all time.

[najaesouljah]

I think my favorite serial killer would have to be Jack the Ripper . There was also a pretty disgusting serial killer in my home town called " The Zoo Man".

Edited April 20, 2006 by najaesouljah

[colorless]

John Wayne Gacy gives me the creeps.

[LostLittleGirl]

John Wayne Gacy gives me the creeps.

The clown killer gives alot of people the creeps. I heard of this on guy who has some paintings by him. Gacy did a portiat (sp?) of his son for the kid's 3rd birthday.