World’s Cruelest Killers
Dear friends,
I have always been very interested in human psychology which has compelled me to read and learn more about different types of people and personalities, especially those who do not conform to normal societal conventions. One such group of people is serial killers. It is their psychology that fascinates me because I want to know, how did they become serial killers? What made normal people do such horrible things? In my research, I have found that some of these murderers experienced something horrible in life one way or another, which led them to doing wrong things to release their pressure or tension.
One general trait that serial killers share is that they are incapable of empathy, which means they lack the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Instead, they usually enjoy seeing others in pain, which is also one of the qualities of psychopaths. Most serial killers take pleasure in torturing and murdering their victims because of the reactions they receive from their “prey”. Below are a few examples of murderers who killed for pleasure and took pride in killing.
It is extremely important to teach our children to value the correct things in life. It is the parents’ responsibility to encourage the children to develop compassion and empathy from a young age so that they do not dwell in negative behaviours and get involved in anti-social behaviours when they are older.
Anyway I hope you find this information below interesting. It is a look at some members of society who are so highly anti-social, they have murdered because of it. This article contains explicit contents, therefore viewer discretion is advised. I would like to thank Pastor Jean Ai for editing this article.
Beatrix Ooi
Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer
Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer
Name: Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer
Date of Birth: May 21, 1960 to November 28, 1994
Location: Wisconsin, U.S.
Victims: 17
Died: November 28, 1994 (aged 34)
Cause of Death: Homicide (severe head trauma; beaten to death by a fellow inmate)
Dahmer’s victims were mostly rendered unconscious before they were murdered. Some died as a result of having boiling water and or acid injected into their brain. Almost all the murders he committed involved a ceremony of posing the victims’ bodies in evocative positions, normally with the chest thrust outwards prior to dismemberment.
Dahmer further admitted that he had performed necrophilia with his victims’ bodies. According to his description of how he dismembered his victims’ body parts, he would first remove the internal organs then suspend the torso so blood would drain into his bathtub. He then continued with dicing organs he did not wish to retain and paring the flesh from the body. He then furthered pulverised and acidified the bones he wished to discard with Soilex, and bleach solutions were used in the preservation of the skeletons and skulls he wished to keep. Furthermore, he also confessed to having consumed the hearts, livers, biceps and some portions of thighs of several victims.
Dahmer was found guilty of four counts of murder on July 25, 1991 and during subsequent trials, was found guilty of further murder charges. In total, he was sentenced to 16 terms of life imprisonment. He would only live to serve three years of this. On November 28, 1994, Dahmer was attacked by his fellow inmate Christopher Scarver with a metal bar. He was found alive and was rushed to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead an hour later.
Edmund Emil Kemper III
Edmund Emil Kemper III
Name: Edmund Emil Kemper III
Date of Birth: December 18, 1948
Location: California, USA
Victims: 10
Edmund Kemper, also known as “Co-ed Butcher” or the “Co-ed Killer” is a serial killer, cannibal and necrophile who is known for murdering both of his grandparents and his mother, as well as killing a few women in the early 70s. Born to an extremely abusive and alcoholic mother, Kemper had a very tough childhood during which later he murdered his grandparents at the age of only 15. He was then diagnosed as being psychotic.
After his release from the Atascadero State Hospital, he continued doing what he was doing before. He only targeted female hitchhikers during his killing spree, luring them into his vehicle and later murdering them in isolated places before bringing their corpses back home to be dismembered. Before turning himself in, he murdered his mother and one of her friends. He was then found sane and guilty at his trial. Although he requested the death penalty for his crimes, instead he received eight life sentences. Standing at 6 foot 9 inches (2.06m) tall and weighing over 114 kg, Kemper is known for his huge body build and high intelligence.
He was imprisoned on November 1973 and has been serving in prison ever since. In 2007 and 2012, Kemper was eligible for parole. During his parole hearing, he told the parole board that he was not fit to return to society and he was therefore denied parole. Kemper has also specified that he is uninterested in attending his next parole hearing in 2017.
Ian Brady / Ian Duncan Stewart and Myra Hindley
Myra Hindley (left) and Ian Brady/ Ian Duncan Stewart (right)
Name: Ian Brady/ Ian Duncan Stewart and Myra Hindley
Date of Birth: Brady (January 2, 1938) and Hindley (July 23, 1942)
Location: England
Victims: 5
Died: Hindley (November 15, 2002; aged 60)
Cause of Death: Bronchial pneumonia caused by heart disease
In what became known as “The Moors Murders”, Brady and Hindley murdered five children, but not before sexually assaulting four of them beforehand. These murders became known as “The Moors Murders” because Brady and Hindley buried most of their victims’ bodies on Saddleworth Moor.
Hindley made a few appeals against her life sentence, convinced that she would no longer be a danger to society but she was never released from prison. In 2002, she died of a heart disease at the age of 60. Brady, on the other hand, was declared criminally insane in 1985 and has been confined in Ashworth Hospital since then. He has stated clearly that he wishes never to be released and has repeatedly asked for death row.
One of their victims was 16-year-old Pauline Reade. She was lured into the van by Hindley after Hindley told her that she needed help to look for her missing glove which Reade agreed to help her look for. When they arrived at Saddleworth Moor, it was claimed that Brady took Reade onto the moor while Hindley was waiting in the vehicle. About 30 minutes later, Brady returned alone and took Hindley to the spot where Reade lay dying, her throat having been cut with a large knife, twice. One of the larger wounds was a four-inch cut across her voice box. Brady told Hindley to stay with the body while he brought a spade he had hidden to bury the body. Hindley noticed that Reade’s coat was undone and her clothes were disorganised, and guessed that Brady had sexually assaulted her.
However, Brady’s account of the same incident differed from Hindley’s. He claimed that Hindley was there at the scene and assisted him with the sexual assault on Reade.
After their crimes were discovered, the couple were arrested. Brady was arrested on October 7, 1965 and Hindley on October 11, 1965, four days after Brady was taken in. As of today, Brady remains incarcerated in Ashworth Hospital.
Kenneth Alessio Bianchi and Angelo Anthony Buono, Jr.
Kenneth Alessio Bianchi and Angelo Anthony Buono, Jr.
Name: Kenneth Alessio Bianchi and Angelo Anthony Buono, Jr.
Date of Birth: Bianchi (May 22, 1951) and Buono (October 5, 1934)
Location: United States
Victims: 10
Died: Buono (September 21, 2002; aged 67)
Cause of Death: Heart attack
Nicknamed “The Hillside Stranglers”, this unfortunate name was based on the fact that most of their victims’ bodies were found on the slopes of the Hollywood Hills. It was revealed that the two men were cousins. They were convicted of kidnapping, torturing, raping and murdering ten females.
They started out with murdering three prostitutes who were found strangled and dumped naked on the hillsides. Later, it captured the media’s attention when the deaths of five young women who were not prostitutes were found dead. Prior to death, most of the victims were tortured, raped and strangled, and ligature marks were found on their bodies.
Up to this day, Bianchi is still serving a life sentence at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. Bueno, who was also serving a life sentence, died of a heart attack on September 21, 2002 in Calipatria State Prison.
Donald Henry Parrott, Jr.
Donald Henry Parrott, Jr.
Name: Donald Henry Parrott, Jr.
Date of Birth: March 13, 1933
Location: United States
Victims: 9 (convicted) and 100+ (self-proclaimed)
Died: September 6, 1991 (aged 58)
Cause of Death: Death by electric chair
Donald Henry Parrott, Jr. or Donald Henry “Pee Wee” Gaskins, Jr. was born to a neglectful mother. At one years old, he drank a bottle of kerosene which caused him to have convulsions until he was three years old. He used to receive regular beatings from his various “step-fathers” which his mother did not seem to take interest in. Parrott was petite for his age, leading to his nickname “Pee Wee”. His mother had neglected him so much that the first time he learnt his given name – Donald – was when it was read out in his first court appearance. Later he was sent to reform school.
When he was there, he was repeatedly raped by his fellow inmates. After escaping from the school, getting married and voluntarily returning to complete his sentence, he was released at the age of 18 in 1951. Later he was arrested again in 1953 and charged with attempted murder after using a hammer to attack a teenage girl who he claimed had been insulting him. When he was serving his sentence in prison, he was raped again by a fellow inmate except this time he fought back and cut the throat of his attacker.
Following his release from prison, Gaskins reverted back to his old self and committed several burglaries and fencing stolen property. He was rearrested again for raping a 12 year old girl. After serving only eight years in prison, he was released again and not long after that, he tortured and murdered a hitchhiker before sinking her body in a swamp. He has admitted that he killed solely for pleasure and his victims were both male and female. He would torture and dismember his victims’ bodies while attempting to keep them alive for as long as possible. He confessed to killing these victims with multiple methods, including dismemberment of the bodies, stabbing, suffocation and even claimed to have cannibalised some of them. He later confessed that he had killed 80-90 people although it’s not been confirmed.
Gaskins was charged with eight counts of murder on May 24, 1976. He pled guilty and was sentenced to death. On September 6, 1991 he was executed. He was the fourth person to die in the electric chair after the death penalty was reinstated in South Carolina in 1977. Hours before he was escorted to the electric chair, Gaskins tried to commit suicide by slitting his wrists with a razor blade which he had swallowed the previous week then coughed up.
Sources:
- http://list25.com/25-most-evil-serial-killers-of-the-20th-century/
- www.wikipedia.org
For more interesting information:
- The Secrets of Ukraine’s Shameful ‘Holocaust of Bullets’
- The Unwanted Widows of India
- My Strange Addictions
- Sleep Paralysis – Medical or Paranormal?
- Why Non-Attachment Is One of the Keys to a Happy Life & Relationship
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While reading this article I tried to imagine the pain and scare that the victims have gone through. It is unimaginable, the amount of torturing during that period. The worst reason is that the killer did it for pleasure. I couldn’t understand why will it bring pleasure when all their actions are amounting to pain and suffering to the victims . While some could be due their previous experience and hence expressing it out by doing the same to others, it is indeed a very scary mindset. Just how sick out mind can be. I hope dharma can reach out to all so everyone can have the right mind and prevent all the killing, abuse, torturing, rape and all the negative intentions towards others. Thank you Beatrix for sharing this article.
I do hope these beings who have hurt others, can find a way to realize what they did not have any benefit to it whatsoever.
May they have peace and not desire to hurt and harm others, for their pleasure or to fulfill their wants and desires.
It was an interesting yet heavy read for me!
I was visualising the scenes how victims were tortured and suffered before their last breather – and thinking how could one be possibly enjoy such scenes where victims were crying for help and begging hysterically for their lives? And i wonder what was on their mind at the point of committing crimes – were they merely find victims’ pain as pleasure or that the murderers were trying to prove something to someone at some point? Either way, building your own happiness based on others’ suffering is impermissible.
Our mind is truly a very powerful weapon – we need to cultivate it right, instil with the correct values – in that case when outer environment has changed to a least favourable situation for us, with the correct values and mindset, one will strive for success even in the most unfavourable situation, just like how our precious guru Tsem Rinpoche has strived despite all the unimaginable hardships He had to go through during his childhood and teenage! I’m truly grateful to have at least a sound mind and merits to even listen and learn Dharma from such qualified teacher!
Thank you Beatrix for producing this article, may we all never be separated from a qualified teacher and Lord Manushri! _/\_
I tend to relate this group of people to be kind of distorted really. Distorted in the sense the way they were brought up, the way they experienced life, the way they perceived things in life.
I believe most of them must have been through a lot especially during their childhood which led to the “end product” of deadly killing machines. My feelings towards them will be “pity” for what they have to go through, current life and lifetimes to come bcos it is going to be worse.
Thank you for highlighting this issue Beatrix. This is one issue which warrants indepth studies to find ways to help them. This reminds me of the famous villan Joker as in Batman’s nemesis. Fiction as it is but these highlighted cases certainly resembles to what Joker does.
This also highlights just how much religion can play a part into one’s life and especially in their early age. We see many are turning to violence venge their anger and we can argue if serial killers actually turned to this sinful actions due to that.
Thank you Beatrix Ooi for sharing this write up with us. As I reading this article if you really analysis all these serial killer that are mostly born in a very abusive family , you might said is their karma why they have to be born in such a situation but is kind of sad because most of these killer they are highly intelligent how good if they can use all this gifted intelligence to do something beneficial for the society . As for all these killer they mentally suffer a lot as they died they not only suffer during their this life they will continue to suffer for their next rebirth and next next rebirth is really no end, hence we need the Dharma to help us to overcome all these negative imprint that we have in order for us to reduce all out mental and physical suffering .
Thank you Beatrix for sharing this. Actually I am quite interested in the serial murder cases and stories, like Sweeney Todd, Jack the Ripper, Robert Maudsley… actually i feel sad and pity for them instead. Most of them came from difficult childhood, meaning that, something in their life change their perception and some even cause them to be insane. I’m interested, when they were doing it (killing the victims), is their mind clear? Or maybe influence by drugs? From the Dharma point of view, can we say that, actually they didn’t wish to be like that? Is it because of their karma? And those people who they killed, are because of karma, and they’re meant to be killed by this particular person?
That’s why I feel sad for them rather than feel sad for the victims. Of course, I feel sad for the victim also lah, cause, can you imagine, what kind of torture they went through before the killer ended their life. But overall, I feel sad for both party, if it is because of both party karma and this happen, it is really saddening. Cause I am thinking, when is this going to end? 🙁 This life Donald Henry Parrott Jr killed 109 people, next life he need to face this 109 people coming back to him. If his karma not purified, or manifest, another life he will go after the 109 people again and again and again…… never ending. Really hope that sentient beings be benefited by Dharma, understand and look through this, stop the karma from continue on. So that there’s no hatreds in the world, no anger, no jealousy, no revenge, no killing and no other negative feelings. All love.
Thanks again Beatrix for the sharing. It is really interesting. _/\_
I felt heavy while reading this… the methods of these serial killers used to end someone’s life are beyond abusive. The killer’s blunted emotion and inability to feel guilt and remorse are the traits of a psychopath. Actually what causes psychopathy? Bad parenting, abusive or traumatic childhood/adulthood could be one of the reasons and i do think that there are more than these external causes. Studies suggest that psychopathy is 60% heritable, meaning this trait is born with them..
I guess, linking the genetic point of view with a dharma point of view, killers have very negative karma that they were reborn in such a way they have to repeat such actions they did in their previous lives? In other words, the habituation of killing is so strong that they couldn’t exhaust this negative karma with virtuous actions but enforcing this habituation due to the lack of merits? To be able to collect merits, first we also must have the merits to be able to meet the Dharma and a Guru to guide us.
Thanks Beatrix for sharing this article.
Throughout time and even to date, people have been trying to answer the million-dollar question of “what makes a serial killer tick?” Essentially, what exactly goes on in the mind of a person who finds calm even high satisfaction in sadistic murder?
There are even different categorisations of serial killers developed over the years for ease of reference. From the visionary killers who suffer psychotic breaks and hear voices compelling them to kill (some have even claim “God made them do it”); to mission-oriented killers who deludedly claim that they are obligated to kill as it’s their duty to rid the world of a certain population; to the hedonistic killers who form the majority of serial killers. Likely due to the vast numbers, this third category is further broken down into three subcategories: comfort killers, lust killers, and thrill killers.
Comfort killers don’t necessary enjoy killing but have no qualms of doing it as means to achieve their main goals. Lust killers are driven sexually to kill. Last but not least, the thrill killers who are basically the most heinous and terrifying of all as they kill just for the fun of it. They take much pleasure in the planning the kill as well as the actual execution. This brings to mind the Zodiac Killer who chillingly wrote “I like killing people because it is so much fun” to the police.
Yet after numerous interviews with staggering numbers of various serial killers, their families and loved ones, many DNA researches with such killers’ genes (including sticking slabs of their brains under microscope slides), we are nowhere near scientifically concluding on the real cause.
Many theories are branded about but none as lasting and prominent as childhood abuse or a traumatic past. However, for every serial killer who says they have been tortured or abuse as a child, there are many who had terrible childhoods but didn’t resort to murder. Some even turn such traumatic experience into a beautiful motivation to benefit others. What is being challenged is not the fact that such killers were abused but rather whether such abuse can be a valid excuse for their actions. Such “abuse excuse,” can be dangerous because it takes the responsibility away from the individual and even bordering an argument for self-defense.
In this sense, the Buddha’s teachings particularly on karma and imprints provide a clearer picture of things. It is nothing personal against such killers to say they had been born into such difficult and harsh environment due to their karma created in their previous lives. The inability to see the gravity of real situation and stop or prevent their innate imprints to take over again in actuality give rise to the perpetuity of such heinous acts which brings them more and more sufferings. It is indeed scary that any reinforcement of negative karma will create cause for it to repeat itself over and over again with compounded impact. The silver lining is that Buddha has also compassionately gave us the means to liberate ourselves ultimately from the shackles of samsara. As such, it behooves us to always be guided by Dharma and to accordingly apply it.
i think most of these serial killers are insane, and has a very traumatic childhood life. Most likely they were heavily beaten, tortured when growing up. With that constant abused and nightmare, i believe they have developed lots of hatred and anger. I can see from this article that killing becomes their method of taking revenge and releasing their anger. Its unfortunate that in their society, they don’t know any dharma knowledge. If they were taught differently, or at least exposed to dharma knowledge when they were young, know where to find help, growing up will be much more different and easier for these people.
Thank you Beatrix for this interesting article that raised questions of why they became what they did. Many of these serial killers professed terrible growing up time and was driven to kill either as revenge for their sufferings or they just plain enjoyed the kill. Buddhism has taught us karma and imprints. I would say that they had been born into their terrible growing up life due to karma created in their previous lives and during the traumatic events, their innate imprints arise to take over their minds again in this life. It is scary how when you look at these examples of why we should never given into creating negative karma as it will repeat itself over and over again with worse reinforcement each time it plays out. In this, we will always be mindful to keep our Guru’s precious teachings and apply it to difficult situations faced in our daily lives. Having said that, we can see how enlightened our Guru is as he too had faced such tremendous traumatic expriences in his growing up and yet had risen above these, never allowing them to blot his true nature of kindness and compassionate. In his wisdom he spreads the Dharma to help many people out of their sufferings. He has given us the way to control our lives and beyond, it is really up to us to overcome or give in to karma.
Thanks Beatrix for writing this article. Out of all these profiles, I found Edmund Emil Kemper III’s profile the most interesting, as it appears that he has a morale conscious but have poor self control in terms of his urges to kill. However, he found a way around it, turning himself in to the authorities and even declared himself as unfit for parole twice. The fact that a person who killed 10 people is able to get a parole… he must have behaved very very well in prison. But he would have known himself best, that perhaps if they let him go loose he would murder again.
There are various conditions that give birth to a serial killer. If we look at various profiles, we will see serial killers come from all walks of life, and with variable background and upbringing. Not all serial killers experienced bad parenting, but of course it’s easier to turn into a ‘bad apple’ without proper guidance, and even if they don’t turn out as murderers, they have a higher chance of growing into a difficult adulthood or involved in vices.
But the world is so screwed up, I’d be surprised that there are no one in this world that have gone wrong. Take for example, a soldier at war easily would have killed more than any of these serial killers, and yet be celebrated for bravery. I know some people would have a long debate with me regarding this as the so called motivation is ‘different’, but the action and result would be the same… to think about it, to plan, to execute the action and rejoice for pacifying the ‘enemy’. It’s a sad world we live in 🙁
Different people react to traumatized childhood different. For these serial killers, I reckon for the traumatizing experience trigger the deep murderer and violent imprint in them. Coupled with the environment that was helpless in nurturing morale values and bringing out their empathy and kindness nature, these people turned to harming another person(s), and see it as a cogent expression of their inner desolation. What is disturbing is the degree of brutality and violence exerted on the victims whether they were dead or alive that reflects how severely they have no control over their action and mind. Thank you Beatrix for this article.
All these serial killers do have one or two things in common .Many reasons which could lead them to become a killer They might have experienced traumatic events during childhood time they either been abused very badly so much so just feel like doing something different,How the killers been brought up also affect them too. ..They just do not any feeling for others …no compassion at all which lead them to killing others,They killed,tortured, raped and strangled, their victims for pleasure,i do feel sorry and sad for those victims.Its very important to teach our children to value the correct things in life. As a parent we should encourage our children to develop compassion from a young age.
Thank you Beatrix Ooi for sharing this article.
It is interesting to read how the minds of killers work. While I am no expert in the field of psychology, reading about the gruesome work of these killers, I noticed that one of the things that all of them have in common besides the lack of empathy is that they do not have any of compassion. They are similar to butchers who carry out the acts of killing without any feeling that there is anything wrong with what they are doing.
Thank you for this interesting read.
Wow, great material for a Hollywood blockbuster.
In my opinion, the traumatic or abusive childhood cannot entirely be blamed for turning them into psychopaths or serial killers. Their bad past experiences were most likely the trigger factors for some innate negative imprints from their previous lives to manifest.
While most are likely to condemn the criminal and pity the victim, both are in fact victims and both have their negative karmas violently ripening up, i.e. to kill or be killed are but 2 sides of the same coin.
It is interesting to note that in some of the cases, the criminals even choose to refuse parole, acknowledging themselves to be unfit to return to society or even turn the knife on themselves. They seem to know their own actions had been despicable.
It seems that serial killers are both born and nurtured. It is the combination of these 2 factors that make a serial killer. The same with sexual preference and many diseases. Geneticist usually study these using hundreds if not thousands of pairs of twin, both identical and fraternal; family trees, environment factors and demographical data to arrive at this conclusion.
Interestingly, the law of cause of effect is also similar, as according to the law of cause and effect, we have throwing karma and habituated karma (encompassing but not only manifesting via genetics), environmental karma (nurture factor) and effect similar to cause (serial killers being killed like in the case of Dahmer).
In your introduction, you seem to suggest that serial killers were nurtured by traumatic childhood or a certain experience. I don’t quite agree because there are thousands who experience the trauma but do not resort to such sadistic torture and murder of their victims.
Some of these killers don’t really have much of a traumatic past but one thing they all have in common is the lack of empathy for another person’s suffering. They seemed to be wired differently and I think that the personal trauma just brought it out to the foreground. Hence, many of these killers of one or several forms of psychosis.
Unfortunately, there is no treatment or cure for these people. Their imprint for killing is that strong that it somehow compels these people to commit horrible acts. Each each act, embolden them to commit even worser, more ghastly acts. Actually, psychiatrist had already determined that those who kill and torture the neighborhood stray dogs and cats are always those that would graduate to committing the same acts on people.
The question that comes to my mind is “are serial killers nurtured or insane?” I also wondered if they were helped earlier with their experiences of such extreme trauma could they be helped, so that there are no such sad consequences of the uncontrolled mind.
Is it their karma? What could have been such that they create even more negativities when given the chance of the precious human life?
Serial killers are still around and mass killings are still current events, may the Buddhas have mercy on them and their victims.
Interesting post!
On Earth, there are serial killers who are located on different spots with different preferences. Etc, randomly picked victims, specific characteristics of the victims, kill for fun(pleasure), for purpose, methods of killing and more.
What’s make them kill? There are various factors which could lead an individual to become a murderer or a person who tend to harm. Etc., parenting style of the caretakers of the murderer, experienced traumatic events, and more.
Oh, generally, almost every human beings on Earth are serial killer! We slaughter chickens, cows, goats, pigs, dogs, cats, rats, snakes and I will not name them all, for meats, for their fur, feathers, skins and more to fulfil what make us a “HAPPY” person.
Are we acting a little bit selfish? Let’s think.