by Nick Hsu
Not until the 1970s did law enforcement officials feel the need to define this burgeoning phenomenon as a major category of crime – the serial killer. However, by reviewing the history of serial killers it remains difficult to know exactly when this phenomenon began, since the characteristics that underlie serial killing are probably as old as human beings themselves. From the official definition given by the FBI, a serial killer is a person who murders three or more people over a period of more than thirty days, with a “cooling off” period between, and whose motivation for killing is largely based on psychological gratification. Although it may sound unbelievable, statistically there are more than sixty serial killers still on the loose from justice. To know these people more, maybe we can discover something from the most two famous murderers in US history—Ed Gein and Albert Fish. Gein was born August, 1906 in Wisconsin. From childhood he had been uncertain about his sexual tendencies and even considered having transsexual surgery, but he gave up because the process cost too much money. Perhaps that’s why he thought of being a woman on a “part-time” basis. Between 1950 and 1954, Gein opened about nine graves in raids at midnight, stealing corpses back to his house. At his home, he used body parts as domestic decorations. Skulls were used as bowls, human skins were utilized as the upholstery of chairs; noses, lips and nipples were around his house. Sometimes, Gein even danced under the moonlight wearing these “ornaments” imagining he was a woman. However not until a 58-year-old woman disappeared from her hardware store did the police notice this monster. Police deputies found a small shed behind Gein’s house. What they saw in the shed haunted them for the rest of their lives, including a headless body hung from the rafters, a human heart in a saucepan and other organs in a big box in the corner. Gein was arrested on the spot. “I just have the impulse…” Gein said to the judge. Gein confessed to only two murders and three grave robberies. The judge deemed him insane and sent him to Central State Hospital in Wisconsin, where he died in 1984. Nonetheless being one of the most famous serial killers in US history, Gein’s story has been repeatedly put on the big screen, in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and more recently in The Silence of the Lambs. No matter how scary Gein’s story is, people still seem to be interested in him. Our second example is Albert Fish, the most notorious cannibal of the twentieth century. Born into a respected family in Washington D.C., when Fish was five years old his father died, and his mother sent him to an orphanage in order to support herself. There, Fish was treated roughly. Records showed that Fish was a problem child who “ran away every Saturday,” and persistently wet the bed until he was eleven. In 1898, Fish married his first wife and had six children before she had an affair with another man. Maybe this is why, thirty years later, Fish was arrested for “eating” children. “I choked her to death and cut her in small pieces,” Fish said in count. “It took me nine days to eat her, but I didn’t do anything bad to her; she died a virgin.” He confessed to fifteen homicides over a period of thirty years. Surprisingly, Fish was released many times since he “looked so innocent,” but in the end he was sentenced to death and was involved in the disappearance of more than one hundred children. After reading the stories above, do you still think Hollywood movies are more scary than the real world? Psychologists have spent decades trying to sum up “the origins” behind such serial killers, but surely they will remain a permanent mystery. Little Box: In 1984 FBI special agent Robert K. Reseller listed the following “general characteristics” of serial killers: 1. Most of them are white males. 2. They may be smart, having high IQ scores. 3. But in spite of high IQs they don’t do well in school, can’t work stably, etc. 4. Their family often has a criminal history or alcoholic habits. 5. They hate their parents. 6. They are often abused in childhood. 7. Many of them have records of early psychiatric problems. 8. They have a high rate of suicide attempts. 9. From an early age they are interested in voyeurism, pornography, etc. 10. They are anti-social and live in an anti-world. a
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The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
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