Vlad The Impaler
Dracula's myth is based on this Transylvanian ruler of the 15th century. He was known for his brutality and a marked interest in impaling people, which is why he was nicknamed Vlad the Impaler. Vlad was the Voivode of Wallachia three times in the 15th century.
According to some documents, Vlad had two monks impaled that helped him to reach heaven. It's said that Vlad impaled his donkey because the animal was annoying him. Historians agree that Vlad was an absolute monster who used violence and cruelty to reign.
The Monster Of The Andes
Pedro Lopez is connected to at least 300 murders in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. He's one of the most dangerous serial killers that might still be out there.
He was convicted for the murder of 110 girls, and he confessed to another 240 murders, 1/3 of which were tribal women, and more than 50 were preteens. He was released for good behavior in 1998, and his whereabouts are still a mystery to this day. It is chilling to think that he is living his life like any other average person, given the things he has done.
John Wayne Gacy
A construction worker known by his suburban neighbors as outgoing, John Wayne Gacy was involved in politics and even acted as a clown for birthday parties. However, he was no clown. Gacy came under suspicion in 1978 when a 15-year-old boy, last seen with him, went missing.
This wasn't the only time families of missing boys had pointed fingers at Gacy. Still, it was the first time authorities took them seriously. Soon after, a search warrant granted access to the Gacy home, which stank of nearly 30 bodies buried in a four-foot crawl space under his home. He was convicted of 33 counts of murder, with additional counts of rape and torture, and was executed by lethal injection in 1994.
Earle Nelson
Do you have a free room in your house? Be wary of who is your next roomie. From 1926 to 1927, Earle Nelson killed more than 22 people in America. What was his modus operandi? Nelson often contacted landladies that had free rooms to rent in their homes. After making the first contact, he strangulated them and often raped the victims after death.
Nelson was arrested in June 1927 in Canada after the husband of his last victim, Emily Patterson, found her under their bed. The serial killer was arrested and sentenced to death, and in January 1920, he was hanged.
Luis Garavito
For many months, Colombian authorities were looking for The Beast, a serial killer responsible for murdering more than 145 homeless boys. The man behind the nickname was Luis Garavito, a man that killed, tortured and raped more than 300 people. When the police caught him in 1999, he confessed to only 170 of those murders, and the police were able to find the dead bodies thanks to a map he drew in his cell in prison.
According to Colombian law, Garavito could only be sentenced to 30 years, but his sentence was reduced to 22 years since he had helped the police to find the victims. Garavito is nowadays in prison, waiting for his day to come out.
Charles Manson
Charles Manson was known for his manipulation that earned him renowned popularity as a cult leader around 1960. Both Manson and every person in his cult committed the most atrocious murders in the United States. He was charming and manipulative and managed to get a whole group of people to do everything he told them to.
The group was known as the "Manson Family," and they earned international fame after killing Roman Polanski's wife, Sharon Tate. What was more horrifying is that Tate was eight months pregnant. Manson served his life in prison at California State Prison and died at 83 in late 2017.
Anatoly Onoprienko
From 1989 to 1996, Anatoly Onoprienko killed 52 people in Ukraine, and that's why he earned his nickname as The Beast Of Ukraine. After a massive manhunt, Onoprienko was found and sent to prison.
During trial, Onoprienko claimed that inner voices told him to kill people. Luckily for him, Ukraine was just entering into the Council Of Europe, which prohibited the death penalty for its members. Instead of that, he was sent to life in prison. In 2013, Onoprienko died of a heart attack.
Jack The Ripper
Although his identity remains unknown to this day, London's Jack the Ripper is one of the most (in)famous killers in the whole world.
His attacks took place in the late 1800s in Eastern London, and his preferred victims were prostitutes. After he killed them, he used to remove their sex organs. Nowadays, Jack The Ripper is part of English folklore.
The Zodiac Killer
Another unknown serial killer in history is The Zodiac Killer. The one reason his killings were so sensational was that he would reach out to media outlets and send them codes and riddles. The Zodiac Killer frightened Northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was linked to at least 10 murders at that time.
At present, the police could only solve one of the cryptograms sent from the serial killer, and the California Department Of Justice still has an open case on this subject. Since the crimes were committed so long ago and nothing about the killer was ever discovered, it is very likely that he will never be caught.
Albert DeSalvo
Between 1962 and 1964, the city of Boston in Massachusetts was terrorized by the serial killer Albert DeSalvo. He killed women by strangulation, and according to The Boston Globe, he used a fairly simple ruse to get through women's front doors.
When authorities caught him, he confessed he was the "Boston Strangler." DeSalvo was sentenced to life imprisonment but, in a confusing episode with an inmate, he died by stabbing at the age of 42 in 1973.
Elizabeth Báthory
One of the most prolific female serial killers is Elizabeth Báthory. She killed around 600 young girls between 1590 and 1610 in the belief that drinking and bathing in their blood would help her retain her youth. This earned her a spot in the Guinness World Records.
Báthory is often compared to Vlad The Impaler. Because of the importance of her family, she escaped from execution but was sentenced to life imprisonment at Castle Of Csejte in Slovakia.
El Mataviejas
José Antonio Rodriguez Vega, aka El Mataviejas (The Old-lady Killer), killed more than 16 victims from 61 to 93 years old in Santander, Spain. His modus operandi was pretty straightforward: he was charming and loving to the old ladies, enough to earn their trust to enter their homes. Then, Vega raped, tortured and suffocated his victims.
Some of his kills were attributed to natural causes as they were very old ladies. But when the police searched his home, they found several mementos from his victims, like a plastic flower bouquet in a red room. Vega was sent to 440 years in prison in 1991, but in 2002 he was killed by a group of inmates.
Charles Ng
Perhaps Charles Ng is one of the most dangerous and sadistic serial killers of all time. Together with his partner in crime, Leonard Lake, the couple tortured and killed more than 25 people at a Lake's California cabin that included a dungeon where they killed most of their victims. They often recorded their crimes in videotapes where you can see Ng laugh and joke around while he was torturing one of his victims.
What is most incredible is that the pair were caught after a theft because they were using a fake ID, which belonged to one of their victims, Robin Stapley. Nowadays, Ng is on death row at San Quentin State Prison, California.
The Casanova Killer
Good looks could do the most horrible things that we can imagine. Paul John Knowles was known as the Casanova Killer due to his beautiful face, but Knowles was everything but nice. Between July and November of 1974, Knowles killed more than 35 people in America.
Knowles was caught while using a stolen car in 1974, but he managed to escape and killed the trooper. A civilian caught him near Florida, and he was taken by police. When the police officers Earl Lee and Agent Ronnie Angel were taking him to prison, Knowles tried to escape again. Agent Angel shot him without hesitation, and he finally died.
The Butcher Of Hanover
Between 1918 and 1924, Fritz Haarmann, A.K.A The Butcher Of Hanover became the nightmare of many teenage boys. Haarman was found guilty of the murder of 24 boys in Germany. Police discovered who the serial killer was after finding Haarman arguing with a man called Karl Fromm at a train station.
Fromm told the police that Haarman had raped him. Soon after, the police went to Haarman's home and found parts of bodies and evidence related to many other crimes, supporting the fact that Haarman used to mutilate and dismember his victims. Haarman was beheaded in Hanover in 1925.
Dean Corll
Between 1970 and 1973, Dean Corll tortured and murdered more than 28 young boys and men in Houston, Texas. Corll, together with accomplices David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley Jr., became responsible for the Houston Mass Murders.
Corll was known as the Candy Man because his family had a candy factory, and he often offered candy to his victims. Things ended tragically for Corll when he tried to kill Brooks and Henley. According to Henley's declaration in court, he knew Corll was going to kill him and decided to kill him first.
Andrei Chikatilo
Andrei Chikatilo suffered from impotence his entire life. The man could only find pleasure through the violence. Chikatilo became a serial killer in 1978, and since then, he tortured, raped and killed 52 people. In 1984, he was caught after trying to molest a young girl in a bus station, but the test blood results didn't match the type of semen it was found at the scene of his crimes. He was released.
After 10 years and many murders, Chikatilo was found in the forest with his hands full of blood. After a blood test, it was revealed that he had different types of semen and blood. Chikilato was sent to death row and executed by a gunshot in 1994.
Karl Denke
Do you know that Hannibal Lecter is not merely the fruit of someone's imagination? From 1903 to 1924, Karl Denke killed a number of travelers and homeless people. What was his modus operandi? He literally ate his victims. What is creepier is that he sold the flesh of his victims to unsuspecting local butchers.
In 1924, Denke tried to attack a homeless man, but he couldn't do it. The police noticed this behavior and decided to investigate Danke. When the police searched Denke's home, they found a terrible collection: 120 toes, bones and a ledger accounting for at least 31 victims. Danke wouldn't resist prison, and he decided to hang himself before the trial.
The Trash Bag Killer
Patrick Kearney was responsible for several crimes that were committed in California from 1965 to 1977. Kearney was known as the "Trash Bag Killer," as he used to throw away his victims' body parts in trash bags. Kearney lured young male hitchhikers in Redondo Beach, and before he killed them, he mutilated them and put the remains in trash bags.
In 1977, Kearney changed his modus operandi and killed an acquaintance of his. Unfortunately for him, people saw the victim with him before the murder. Police caught him and, to avoid the death penalty, he confessed to 35 murders. Nowadays, he's spending his time in prison.
Ed Gein
Fictional horror characters like Norman Bates, Leatherface and Buffalo Bill have been inspired by one and only one man: Ed Gein, or The Butcher Of Plainfield as he was also known.
The body snatcher was found guilty of two murders that he committed in Plainfield, Wisconsin. The police discovered bones and skin in his house that he kept as trophies. Gein was declared legally insane and was sent to a mental institution. Gein died at the age of 77 of liver cancer at Mendota Mental Health Institute.
Larry Eyler
Larry Eyler dedicated his life to painting houses in Indiana, and he had a quick temper, according to people who knew him. Eyler was arrested after the police found him guilty of the murder of 15-year-old Danie Bridges, thanks to some eyewitnesses who saw Bridges entering Eyler's car one afternoon.
What the police and many people didn't know is that Eyler was responsible for the murders of other 17 young men. The truth was revealed after Eyler died in prison in 1994, and his lawyer showed the list of the other victims.
Randall Woodfield
After being cut from the Greenbay Packers because of indecent exposure, Randall Woodfield felt very ashamed of it and decided to take revenge. Woodfield started to sexually assault and rob Portland women. He was sent to prison for 4 years, and everything went worse.
Woodfield became known as I-5 Bandit due to the crimes he committed along the Interstate 5 highway running through California, Oregon and Washington. The police couldn't find a piece of evidence that linked Woodfield to the murders until a witness said his name in a lineup. Woodfield was found guilty of only one murder, but ultimately DNA and evidence linked him to more than 44 deaths. Nowadays, he serves time in prison.
The Freeway Killer
According to the jury at his trial, perhaps William Bonin was the evilest person that ever existed on earth. Bonin became famous between 1979 and 1980 for killing more than 30 people. Still, to this day, the authorities don't know the total number of victims. He was known as The Freeway Killer because he dumped his victims' bodies along the California freeway. Bonin was arrested in 1980.
What is most incredible is that he was first convicted for sexual assault and murder of a young hitchhiker, but because of a clerical error, he was released. Bonin died in 1996 via lethal injection.
Irina Gaidamachuk
Ladies could be serial killers — and very rough ones — like the case of Russian Irina Gaidamachuk. Between 2002 and 2010, Gaidamachuk used to pretend she was a social worker and went into the homes of very old women. When she was in, she killed the ladies with a hammer or ax and stole everything from them. Also, when she left their homes, she set them on fire.
The police found Gaidamachuk by chance when a victim that managed to escape told the police about the characteristics of the killer. At that time, the police didn't know that this was the case of a female. In 2012, Gaidamachuk was sent to 22 years of prison for 17 murders. Nowadays, Gaidamachuk is known for her nickname "Satan in a Skirt".
Aileen Wuornos
Known for being one of the most famous female serial killers in the United States, Aileen Wuornos was completely intriguing because of her eccentric and outgoing personality. Between 1989 and 1990, Wuornos killed seven men in Florida by shooting.
When Wournos was arrested, she declared she killed those men because they raped her while working as a sex worker. Wournos alleged all the crimes were in self-defense, but she was sentenced to death and died by lethal injection in 2002.
Albert Fish
Another ferocious serial killer that struck the United States in the 1900s was Albert Fish. He was one of the first killers to cannibalize his victims, especially children. Fish had many nicknames like Gray Man, the Brooklyn Vampire or The Boogey Man.
His number of victims reached almost 100. Fish was apprehended in 1934 and confessed to three murders. The serial killer was sentenced to the death penalty and was executed by electric chair in 1936 at 65.
Randy Kraft
Randy Kraft had once the highest score of killings back in the 1970s; that's why he was known as the Scorecard Killer. He was found guilty of the murder of 67 young marine men between 1971 and 1983. Kraft often drugged his victims, tortured, raped and finally strangled them.
The police caught Kraft after he was driving drunk with another victim in the passenger seat. Believe it or not, the victim was already dead. In 1989, Kraft was found guilty of 16 murders and sentenced to death in a prison in California. Nowadays, he's on death row.
Robert Hansen
Robert Hansen used his experience to commit the most horribles crimes in Alaska. Hansen was an expert hunter with low self-esteem that haunted his victims with a knife or gun in the woods of Alaska. Hansen pointed his victims' locations on an aviation map.
Hansen was already responsible for 17 murders before Agent Roy Hazelwood decided to investigate him. When the police went to Hansen's home, they found objects and jewelry that belonged to his victims. Hansen confessed to murdering 17 people but added 12 more that police didn't know of. Hansen showed them his map to locate the bodies. In 2014, he died in prison.
Andrew Cunanan
Perhaps one of the most famous serial killers in America is Andrew Cunanan. His case shook America so much there's even a TV series about him. Who is Andrew Cunanan? The killer of the Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace. But Versace's assassination was not the only murder Cunanan committed.
For three months, in the mid-1997, Cunanan was accused of murdering five people, mainly older gay men from high society. Still to this day, the reason behind Versace's murder is unknown. After a massive manhunt, Cunanan shot himself in an apartment in Florida.
Gary Ridgway
Gary Ridgway's first victim was a six-year-old boy who lured into the woods and decided to kill with a knife. At that time, Ridgway was only 16 years old. During his life, he's killed so many women —many of whom were prostitutes and runaways— that to this day, he doesn't how many; he's lost count.
Ridgway is known as the Green River Killer because after killing his victims, he threw away their bodies near the areas of King County. What is grimmer is that he often came back to rape the dead bodies. Nowadays, Ridgway is spending his life in prison in Florence, Colorado.
Ottis Toole
To this day, authorities find it hard to ascertain if Ottis Toole was actually a serial killer. From the 1970s and 1980s, Toole and his accomplice and lover Henry Lee Lucas were considered the authors of at least six murders in Jacksonville, Florida.
There wasn't specific evidence showing that Toole was responsible for all those deaths. Still, the police could unequivocally attribute him one murder: that of Adam Walsh, a six-year-old who was decapitated. The man was sent to death row, but he died earlier, in 1996, of cirrhosis in prison.
John George Haigh
John George Haigh was an everyday man who bought a small workshop in Sussex, England. The nightmare that took place in that workshop was kept behind closed doors. Haigh would lure wealthy people to his place, who he then killed for the money. But Haigh became famous for a grimmer thing: he soaked his victims in acid to disintegrate them. Haigh became to be known as "Acid Bath Murderer".
Haigh's last victim Olive Durand-Deacon was key to the police. During an investigation, the police decided to search for his workshop. What they found was terrible: human gallstones and parts of dentures. High was arrested, and he pleaded insanity during the trial. High's plan didn't work, and he was sentenced to death. On August 19, 1949, he was hanged at Wandsworth Prison.
David Berkowitz
In the mid-1970s, serial killer David Berkowitz made the entire city of New York go into a panic after he started randomly shooting people, especially young women with long brown hair with a .44 caliber revolver. While the number of victims was increasing, police started the biggest manhunt that ever existed in New York.
When authorities caught him in 1977, it seemed that he was enjoying all the media attention and pleaded mental insanity. Nowadays, he is a prisoner for life at Shawangunk Correctional Facility.
The Chessboard Killer
Alexander Pichushkin, aka The Chessboard Killer, is a Russian serial killer that murdered between 49 and 60 people. Pichushkin became one of the most famous serial killers in Russia. Pichushkin often used the excuse of free vodka to invite people to his home. When the victims were at his place, he ended their lives. But where did he get this strange nickname?
Well, this famous killer loved chess almost as much as he loved murder. After suffering from an accident that damaged his brain, he became highly impulsive and violent. Chess was his way of coping with his aggression, but it wasn't enough. In 2006, police caught him after seeing the killer with his last victim, Marina Moskalyova, through subway footage. Nowadays, Pichushkin is in prison for life.
Harold Shipman
Harold Shipman, A.K.A. "Dr. Death," practiced in London between 1972 and 1998. Nobody was able to catch him until several people started to get suspicious, including an undertaker who was surprised due to the number of cremation certificates signed by him.
It is believed that he killed between 218 and 250 people. Shipman was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1999, but in January 2004, he committed suicide by hanging himself at Wakefield Prison.
H. H. Holmes
The first serial killer of the United States (that we know of) appeared in the late 1800s. Known as H. H. Holmes. He was a doctor and the architect of a huge Chicago Hotel that would later be known as the Murder Castle.
At the hotel, it's believed that Holmes killed more than 200 people with different techniques of torture. At the trial, Holmes only confessed to 27 murders, but evidence at the hotel linked him to many more. The doctor was executed in 1896, nine days before he turned 35.
Richard Ramirez
Richard Ramirez, also known as The Night Stalker, was a serial killer that struck Los Angeles around the 1980s. He had had a hard upbringing and had his first contact with death at the age of 11 when his cousin murdered his wife and asked Richard to help him clean up.
Ramirez used a variety of weapons to torture and kill his victims, such as handguns, knives, tire iron and hammer. When he was at the trial, he said he had no regrets about his crimes. Ramirez was waiting for the death sentence when he died from lymphoma at 53 in 2013.
Jeffrey Dahmer
According to The New York Times, psychopath and serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer evaded police detection for several years, as they assumed that every excuse he gave them was true. He was very polite and unassuming in appearance, but Jeffrey Dahmer was actually an absolute monster.
He was found guilty of the murder and dismemberment of at least 17 young boys and men. Also, body parts from his victims were found in his house. Dahmer was sentenced to life imprisonment, but he died from head trauma in a fight with a fellow inmate. Dahmer was 34.
Dennis Rader
Dennis Rader, also known as the BTK killer (bind, torture and kill), was a serial killer known for playing with the press like the Zodiac killer. Between 1974 and 1991, Rader sent the police taunting letters explaining his crimes. Police couldn't catch Rader until 2004 when he sent another letter to the authorities.
Rader was found guilty of at least 10 crimes, and he was planning more for 2005. Nowadays, he is serving life in prison at El Dorado Correctional Facility in Kansas. Rader's case was so famous in America that it has a special episode on the Netflix series Mindhunter.
Ted Bundy
One of the most notorious serial killers known for his body count is Ted Bundy. He killed approximately 30 people in the US, the vast majority of which consisted of women. He was a very charming and good-looking person, which was how he attracted all of his victims. He charmed his way through life, and nobody ever suspected him. He even managed to escape police custody twice.
When the police caught him, Bundy confessed to 30 homicides between 1974 and 1978. However, before his execution, he revealed that he had committed more murders. The jury and his own lawyer considered him as the most dangerous and evil man that ever existed.