1. H. H. Holmes
HH Holmes, also known as Herman Webster Mudgett, was the first known serial killer in the United States. But the time he was caught, the word serial killer hadn't been invented yet so people called him the "mass murderer."
He renovated a three story hotel specifically to kill people. The hotel contained stairways to nowhere, windowless rooms, vents where he could drop poisonous gasses while his guests were sleeping, air ducts where he could let one of his guests suffocate or starve to death, among other things. He talked many of his guests/victims into taking out insurance policies, killing them, then taking the money. He made even money donating the bodies to medical schools.
It is estimated that he killed up to 200 he was given the death penalty by hanging. I think what's most interesting is that one of his relatives that are still alive, turned in a letter he wrote to handwriting experts they concluded there is a 98% chance he and Jack the Ripper is the same person.
2. Jeffrey Dahmer
Also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal, he killed and dismembered 17 boys and men. He was caught when a would be victim overpowered him and was able to alert police. He also committed necrophilia and cooked the ate parts of his victims. He was convicted for 15 of those murders and sentenced to 15 terms of life imprisonment. However just two years into his sentence, he was beaten to death by a fellow inmate.
3. John Wayne Gacy
Clearly my fear of clowns is justified.
John Gacy sexual assaulted and murdered 33 teenage boys. He lured them into his home with the promise of work before strangling them to death. He was convicted for all 33 murders and was on death row for 14 years before he was killed by lethal injection.
4. Countess Elizabeth Bathory
It is believed she killed 650 teenage peasant girls. She lured them to the castle with the promise of a prestigious job, people became suspicious when girls never came back.
She came from an incredibly influential family and for a while they turned a blind eye to what she was doing. Eventually she ran out of girls to kill. She then started killing the daughters of the nobility, mainly those who made less money. Her family ordered her capture and put her on trial. Testimony came from over 300 people. She was convicted for 80 murders and was forced to stay in her castle with a brick wall around her bedroom walls.
5. Genene Jones
She was convicted for the death of a baby; however, it is thought she has killed at least 60 babies. She injected them with digoxin and heparin to induce sickness then revive them in hopes she receives praise for saving the babies. However many of the infants didn't survive.
When the hospital noticed many babies dying under her care, rather than investigate, they just asked her to leave. She got a job at a new hospital and resumed what she was doing. The second hospital she worked at investigated the deaths of babies under her care, and she was convicted for poisoning 6 babies. She is still being held in a prison in Texas. She is thought to be in the inspiration for Annie Willkes in the book, Misery by Stephen King.
I wrote this my take today because I couldn't wait for Halloween and while I think serial killers are interesting, I will now be looking at puppies and unicorns for the next hour. Thanks for reading my creepy my take all the way through. Here's a unicorn to make you feel better.
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