The stories of notorious serial killers are certainly chilling since they are, on the surface, people like us yet capable of doing so much worse. Learning more about them can certainly help us understand what prompts people to commit such horrendous crimes. So, let’s get into the list of the 10 most notorious serial killers in the world and see what grave crimes they committed against humanity.
The 10 Most Notorious Serial Killers:
1. Ted Bundy (1946–1989)
Bundy was an illegitimate child and was raised by his abusive grandparents. He spent a lot of his high school years in isolation from other students his age. Although he was adept at “faking it,” he seemed incapable of comprehending the social behavior of teenagers, suggesting a tendency toward psychopathy. During this period, Bundy became obsessed with stealing and shoplifting.
Afterward, he killed, sexually abused, and raped the corpses of multiple young ladies. Despite his eventual confession to 30 deaths, his friends maintained that he was likely accountable for hundreds of murders. In 1989, Bundy was executed by electric chair in Florida.
2. Harold Shipman (1946–2004)
Shipman’s mother, Vera, was afflicted with lung cancer when he was barely seventeen years old. Shipman watched intently as the doctor gave her morphine to relieve her agony as she lay dying in the hospital. This could have been the period of inspiration for his heinous murders.
After graduating from medical school, he exploited his position to become a serial killer, becoming one of the most successful in English history. Shipman would give his patients fatal doses of diamorphine after first diagnosing them with ailments they didn’t have. About 250 people are said to have perished at his hands between 1975 and 1998, making him one of the worst serial killers in medical history. On January 13, 2004, the day before his 58th birthday, Shipman hanged himself in his cell at HM Prison Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
3. Andrei Chikatilo (1936–1994)
Andrei Chikatilo was born in Ukraine during Stalin’s made-up famine. When he was only five years old, his mother told him about his brother, who had disappeared even before his birth. In addition, during his adolescence, Chikatilo discovered his persistent impotence, and this only increased his social awkwardness. He later directed his self-loathing toward crime.
He is now known by the nickname “The Butcher of Rostov,” and he is thought to have killed, mutilated, and sexually abused at least fifty women and children between 1978 and 1990. He was found guilty on 52 charges of murder in 1992 and was finally given the death penalty, cementing his place among the world’s most dangerous serial killers.
4. Jeffrey Dahmer (1960–1994)
When Jeff was a young child, his mother made many suicide attempts, and his father was a very busy man. As a result, Jeff was neglected. He hated being abandoned and alone, even though he eventually grew accustomed to it. His experiences resulted in him being known today as one of the worst serial killers in American history.
In and around his native town of Milwaukee, he brutally murdered seventeen young men and boys between 1978 and 1991 and also mutilated and cannibalized several of them. He even used to store their body parts like skulls and fingers. Then, in 1994, Christopher Scarver, another prisoner, fatally beat him to death.
DID YOU KNOW? Netflix has released a series titled ‘Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’, a chilling biography of his heinous crimes.
5. Albert Fish (1870-1936)
Fish came from a family where mental illness ran deep. At an early age, his parents abandoned him, and he was taken to an orphanage, which he remembers as a cruel environment where he was subjected to frequent beatings and vicious deeds by sadists. Fish gave the impression of being nice and trustworthy, but when he was by himself with his victims, the monster inside of him came out to play, a beast so nasty and perverted that his crimes seemed unreal.
Also Checkout – Top 10 Serial Killers In Animes That Will Terrify You
6. John Wayne Gacy (1942-1994)
Gacy worked hard to make his father proud of him throughout his early years, but he rarely got his approval. Rather, this parent mistreated him verbally and physically. Gacy was an ordinary student who had few friends and was occasionally the object of bullying and mockery. Soon enough, he turned out to be the Killer Clown: an American serial killer and rapist.
He was found guilty of committing a lot of murders, which included the sexual assault and killing of at least 33 teenage boys and young men. On March 13, 1980, Gacy received a death sentence for 12 of these killings. Before being put to death by lethal injection, he was on death row for 14 years.
7. Jack the Ripper (Unidentified Serial Killer ∼1888)
One of the most notorious serial killers in history was Jack the Ripper. For more than a century, people have been fascinated by the murders of at least five women by Jack the Ripper, who stalked the streets of London’s Whitechapel neighborhood during the 1888 “Autumn of Terror.” The identity of the Whitechapel murderer is still a mystery, even after numerous investigations. Though many theories and suspects have been put forth over the years, there has never been a formal agreement on who Jack the Ripper is. All we know is that, after a while, he disappeared.
8. Luis Garavito (1957-2023)
Luis had a rough upbringing, as he was abused by his father and other neighbors, so, he only briefly attended school. Afterward, he turned to become a serial killer and was called “The Beast”. He was a Colombian serial killer, sex offender, pedophile, and necrophile, widely considered one of the worst in history.
He sexually assaulted 200 victims and confessed to murdering 140 boys, typically from impoverished homes. He abducted and abused them while disguising himself as a monk, a homeless person, or a street seller. He eventually died in a hospital in 2023.
9. Ahmad Suradji (1949-2008)
After having a dream in which he believed his father had commanded him to drink the saliva of seventy women to gain higher spiritual powers, Ahmad Suradji, an Indonesian cattle herder, went on to become a serial killer. The infamous serial killer was a wizard who performed dark magic in addition to herding animals. Records state that he was able to use a cable to strangle 42 women to death in cold blood. Eleven years passed during his killing rampage before his final capture and execution in 1997.
10. Alexander Pichushkin (1974)
Another name for Alexander was the “Chessboard Killer.” He used alcohol to entice homeless people to his house, making them his targets. He is thought to have killed 49 people, the majority of whom suffered repeated strikes to the head from hammers. He would also put a vodka bottle inside their open skull wounds. At first, he declared his intention to murder 64 individuals and fill all the squares on a chessboard.
Furthermore, it’s thought that he was up against Andrei Chikatilo, a fellow Russian serial killer who was found guilty of 53 murders in 1992. That was the year Alexander began his murderous rampage. 2006 saw Pichushkin’s eventual capture following an attempt to murder a woman who escaped. After being taken into custody, he admitted to 64 killings.
Final Words…
These 10 most notorious serial killers have left their darkest marks in history. Even from a distance, it’s hard not to think of them as belonging to a completely different, almost devilish, species. However, they were once just like us, and then, they transformed into these hideous beasts. We don’t excuse their actions because no life trauma can justify such brutal killings, but we hope this article gives you some insight into their criminal psyche.
Also Checkout – The 8 Best True Crime Podcasts | Murder, Conspiracy And More…
