The
term ‘serial killer’ was coined by FBI agent and criminologist Robert K.
Ressler. As a profiler, he determined that many who commit multiple murders, mainly
white males in their 20’s or 30’s, had dysfunctional or absent parents. Most
people have heard stories about serial killers John Wayne Gacy and The Boston
Strangler.
Hailing
from Wisconsin, my interest lies in the likes of Ed Gein, loosely portrayed in
the movie The Texas Chainsaw Massacre; and Jeffrey Dahmer, notorious not only as
a killer, but as a cannibal.
Jeffrey
Dahmer began his gruesome journey in 1988, one century after Jack the Ripper
sliced his way into the record books during the autumn of 1888. It is reported
that Dahmer was young and charming like Ted Bundy. While Bundy used his charms
to lure young Caucasian women, Dahmer preyed on young black men. Dahmer boiled
his victims. Ed Gein used a technique most often applied to the carcass of a
deer.
Ed
Gein’s construction of human-skin lamp shades so dehumanized him that it was
difficult to take the horror of his actions seriously. What I never understood
was the taxidermy thing.
Do
you think serial killers are born, or that they evolve?
Hello. I'm one of those people who are fascinated by serial killers. (Does that make me strange? LOL!) Maybe I should say, I'm fascinated with true crime tales. (That sounds better. LOL!) I believe serial killers are born, not made. It takes a bad seed to become a serial killer. When Ted Bundy was a child, one of his relatives woke up to find herself surrounded with knifes. I don't know very many kids who would do something like that, but Bundy did. He was evil from the start.
ReplyDeleteEd Gein certainly was evil to the core. I think that serial killers evolve for the most part, but there are kids who have just no connection whatsoever to the world around them.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe in evil, but I believe in some people being more sensitive than others and not getting the necessary tools to cope with the nasties of this world. That, I think, it's a consequence of an individual evolving into a killer.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to know more, check LaeLand out http://laemonie.wordpress.com/ :)
Hi Gail! I've dropped here from Tracy's blog and I am fascinated!
ReplyDeleteI'm an avid reader and (self-made) student of psychology and psychiatry, particularly fond of personality disorders and perceptive distortions, and I'm incorporating as much of my knowledge as I can in my fiction.
To your question whether serial killers are born or evolve, I'd say both.
Some serial killers are definitely born -- in that two of the most prevalent preconditions for becoming a serial murder is psychopathy (characterized by the absence of the ability to feel empathy and guilt), or sociopathy (absence of respect for authority, ethics and morality, and inability to feel sympathy or responsibility). To become serial killers, all these two types usually need is opportunity.
Other serial killers evolve, mostly having only mild personality or affective disorders, and requiring a trigger such as a traumatic experience or terrible loss, to launch into a killing spree. These serial killers, however, don't display the methodic approach and ingenuity psychopats such as Jack the Ripper do.
I've followed your blog and will definitely snoop around, once I have some time. It's great meeting you!
I love reading about serial killers and have a few books profiling the famous ones.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if they are born or made. You can take two people, give them the same circumstances in life and have one become a cold killer and the other a policeman with no idea how they both ended up that way.