So...Anyone Else Read About Serial Killers?

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

And if so what do you find to be some of the more interesting cases? I'm always interested in the Richard Chase murders. So much of it seemed to stem from SEVERE mental illness yet I can't understand how he could have got away with not just murder, but multiple murders (at least for a time). I mean the guy thought Nazis were turning his blood into powder! Of course plenty of killers play the crazy card, but if you look into the Richard Chase case it gets really tough to argue that the guy wasn't deeply, deeply distanced from reality.

[lucas_lee]

I read a lot about serial killers, some of them are perverse

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Dec 17, 2013 13:26:52 GMT -5 lucas_lee said:

I read a lot about serial killers, some of them are perverse

Absolutely, that's part of the reason why I didn't put enjoy reading about serial killers. After all I don't think most people enjoy reading about them so much as their just intrigued by what can cause people to sink so low, how society can let murders like these continue to happen and questions like these.

As for perverse killers I think Jeffrey Dahmer was the first one to really get me interested in reading about serial killers through true crime pieces. He was a much more layered character than a lot of others out there in addition to just being a sick f***. As far as sick f***s go I remember than reading about Albert Fish and he kind of blows Dahmer out of the water. From there you can find guys even much, much worse.

I think all the news of the Ian Watkins trial in part got me interested in looking into this subject again. I'm curious if anyone with any background in examining serial killers has looked into Watkins yet. It seems like anyone that is that absent of morals could have eventually evolved (or devolved) into a serial killer especially given how sex and substance abuse have played such a significant role in so many serial killer cases.

[Deleted]

I find serial killers quite interesting, I mainly find it fascinating at how the mind can get to such a dark and twisted place. A big part of why they're so interesting I think is that they almost always are just the average guy that lives down the street that has a dark secret.

[Push R Truth]

I tend to only read about the more political ones (AKA a who's who of bloody dictators/Kings throughout human history)

I tried reading about Dahmer once and it really got to the point where I had to stop. While I'm fascinated about how people do what they do, I can only go down a dark path so far before I long for something lighthearted.

[Kayfabe FAN don't want none]

Yup, read and curse at them

["Gentleman" AJ Powell]

Yeah, I'll usually end up going on a Wiki-journey about various ones. I think the most interesting is Zodiac, as there's so many theories. Son of Sam and BTK are interesting too.

[Sephiroth]

There is a book called "The Cases that Haunt Us" that I am partial to. It was written by a man named John Doyglas, who is legendary as the founder of the FBI'd criminal profiling unit. He analyzes famous unsolved crimes like Jsck the Ripper and the Lundbergh Kidnapping using modern psychological methods to suggest what the motivations probably were and what strategy he would have used to solve them.

There is also a more recent book called The Monster of Florence that is interesting because it is actually the inspiration for Hannibal the Cannibal Lecter. It's about a serial killer who terrorized the city of Florence, Italy in the 70's and 80's and was never caught. Among the many theories about the killer was the suggestion that he was a hired gun working for a secret society of wealthy aristocrats and politicians. Thomas Harris was vacationing in Itsly at the time and read headlines about the investigation and was fascinated by the idea of a cultured blue blood who is secretly a crazed killer. Its a good read.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

Dec 17, 2013 14:25:36 GMT -5 Push R Truth said:

I tend to only read about the more political ones (AKA a who's who of bloody dictators/Kings throughout human history)

I tried reading about Dahmer once and it really got to the point where I had to stop. While I'm fascinated about how people do what they do, I can only go down a dark path so far before I long for something lighthearted.

That's me. It can be fascinating sometimes, but there are some cases like George Banks and Judith Barsi's father where it just leaves me depressed for the rest of the day.

[thetower52]

I have a serial killer Encyclopedia.
I want to be a criminal profiler as a back up to wrestling so I want to figure out what goes on in these people's minds

[Brood Lone Wolf Funker]

I have read about them for a very long time, I own a lot of books. The Snowtown murders, Andrei Chikatalo, and the Ax Man of New Orleans are some of my interesting favorites

[SEAN CARLESS]

I'm too busy being one.

[Deleted]

No, but my Momma went through a phase where she was all about it.

I get the appeal. It's never the creepy guy, it's the dude at the absolute opposite end of the spectrum. It's intriguing psychology.

They disconnect so far from the concept of morality that their lives become a game of "okay, what is the smartest way to kill these people?"

Then there's always the why? What does it mean to them? What made them like that? How were they able to evade the police for so long?

But at some point, it doesn't matter. At their base level, they're just broken humans making the World worse.

[onetruemisfit]

I'm really interested and read about them often. aileen wuornos is pretty interesting and crazy. I love the movie monster.

[J is Justice]

I do. I find them really interesting. Like, what causes someone to do something so horrific?

Jeffrey Dahmer is probably the most interesting one. The craziest has to be the guy who drank his victims blood... can't remember his name.

[Deleted]

I've read a lot about them and watch a lot of shows about them over the years. They just fascinate me so much because I can't even fathom the mindset of someone who could pull the kind of stuff that people like Richard Ramirez or the Zodiac did.

[Evilution E5150]

only on wikipedia, i fell down that hole once and couldnt get out for a week, just one to another

at the end i wasnt the same person

[Deleted]

Dec 17, 2013 16:08:14 GMT -5 Brood Lone Wolf Funker said:

I have read about them for a very long time, I own a lot of books. The Snowtown murders, Andrei Chikatalo, and the Ax Man of New Orleans are some of my interesting favorites

Yeah, he was one of the first serial killers that I really "got into" for lack of a better way of putting it.

Rodney Alcala is another, um, interesting one. Here he is on The Dating Game. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Uf95INZmWI

Agree with KAMALARAMBO about Albert Fish. Just horrifying and really upsetting stuff there.

[tigermaskxxxvii]

Dec 17, 2013 13:46:34 GMT -5 KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! said:

Dec 17, 2013 13:26:52 GMT -5 lucas_lee said:

I read a lot about serial killers, some of them are perverse

Absolutely, that's part of the reason why I didn't put enjoy reading about serial killers. After all I don't think most people enjoy reading about them so much as their just intrigued by what can cause people to sink so low, how society can let murders like these continue to happen and questions like these.

As for perverse killers I think Jeffrey Dahmer was the first one to really get me interested in reading about serial killers through true crime pieces. He was a much more layered character than a lot of others out there in addition to just being a sick f***. As far as sick f***s go I remember than reading about Albert Fish and he kind of blows Dahmer out of the water. From there you can find guys even much, much worse.

I think all the news of the Ian Watkins trial in part got me interested in looking into this subject again. I'm curious if anyone with any background in examining serial killers has looked into Watkins yet. It seems like anyone that is that absent of morals could have eventually evolved (or devolved) into a serial killer especially given how sex and substance abuse have played such a significant role in so many serial killer cases.

As far as Dahmer goes, I highly recommend reading the graphic novel My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf. John "Derf" Backderf is a former newspaper cartoonist and created the graphic novel Punk Rock & Trailer Parks. He was an acquaintance of Jeffrey Dahmer in middle school and high school. So it acts as a memoir of their sort of friendship. It also kind of reads as an "origins story" of Jeffrey Dahmer. Which makes sense seeing as how biographies of real life murderers is kind of like a comic book villain's origin story.

Dec 17, 2013 16:04:21 GMT -5 thetower52 said:

I have a serial killer Encyclopedia.
I want to be a criminal profiler as a back up to wrestling so I want to figure out what goes on in these people's minds

Criminal profiler gimmick. Book it!

[angryfan]

My undergrad was in criminal justice and forensic psych, my MS (in progress) is behavioral analysis. I have a LOT of interest in the subject. Just started a job in a state prison mental facility while I do my grad work.