serial killer top 5

am i the only person fascinated with serial killers??? no, i didnt think so. its so interesting to read about them. the motives, murder weapons, modus operadi, body disposal, psyche, i find it all so interesting. so i have compiled a list of my top 5 favourite serial killers for you all.

5: Ed Gein.
Gein was born in 1906, and was considered by many to be america's first serial killer, despite the fact that he was only trialed for the deaths of 2 people. after the death of his mother in 1945, Gein began robbing graves of middle aged woman he thought resembled his mother, and fashioned many ornaments from their bone and skin. he as arrested in 1957 for the murder of bernice worden. her body was found decapitated and strung up from a tree, with her rib cage split open and her torso empty. cause of death was a bullet from a .22 rifle. in confesion, Gein also admited to shooting mary hogan, who had been missing since 1954. he was also found to have skinned the faces off his victims, and wore them as face masks. Gein was found guilty of murder, but due to legal insanity, was sentenced to life in a mental hospital. Gein died in 1984 due to heart failure brought on by cancer.

4: Charles Manson.
Manson was born in 1934, and although he never technically killed anybody, he started a cult known as the manson family, who were responsible for over 7 murders. Manson and his family believed that "helter skelter", an apocalyptic race war, was aproaching, and that the beetles were speaking directly to Manson through the white album, and that the album held key details as to when and were helter skelter would break out. believing that he and his followers would be spared in the apocalypse and rise to a god like status amongst the few survivors, Manson instructed and conspired several murders that he believed would fasten the aproach of helter skelter. trialed in 1970, Manson and several family members were found guilty of 7 counts of murder and one conspiracy to commit murder, thanks to the joint-responsibilty rule, which makes each member of a conspiracy guilty of crimes fellow conspirers have commited in furtherance of the conspiracy's goals. Mansons family were found to have shot a man called bernard crowe, stabbed gary hinman to death, the shooting of steven paret, stabbing sharon tate, wojciech frykowski, abigail folder, and jay sebring, and stabbing leno labianca and his wife to death with a bayonet.

3: Elizabeth Bathory.
Countess Elizabeth Bathory was born in 1560 in Hungary, and is widely regarded as the most prolific female serial killer of all time. in 1610, she was aprehended regarding the dissapearances of several young girls in the area. an investigation of her castle found at least one girl on the verge of death. she was arrested and accused of the murder and torture of 80 young virgin girls, although official claims estimate that Bathory may have been responsible for the deaths of well over 600 girls. some of her described atrocities include severe beatings, burning of body parts, biting off flesh, freezing to death, often fatal surgery on living victims, starvings, sexual abuse, and legend claims that she bathed in the young girls blood in order to keep her youthful appearance. four of her servants were sentenced to death as co-conspirers, and had their nails ripped out before being thrown into a great fire. Bathory herself was never trialed officially, as the king Matthias said it would negatively affect nobility. she was put on house arrest for four years, and was walled inside a series of rooms. she died of self induced starvation in 1614.

2: Alexander Pearce.
Alexander Pearce was an irish bush ranger born in 1790. he was sent to the Macquarie Harbour Penal Settlement on tasmania in 1882, a notoriously inescapable prison for bushrangers and convicts. he soon escaped with 7 other convicts and an axe, and he was recaptured later on near hobart, but the other men were never found. he claimed to have killed and eaten them, but the authorities disbelieved him and assumed the other men were still at large. Pearce was sent back to "inescapable"prison, but within a year escaped again with a man named thomas cox. Pearce was found 10 days later, with human meat in his pockets, wich was later identified as belonging to cox. he was hanged in 1824, soon after his second escape, for cannibalism and murder.

1: Gilles de Raise.
born in 1404 in france, Gilles de Raise joined the french royal army at a young age, and by the time he was 23, was promoted to comander. he fought in the hundred years war alongside joan of arc in 1429 against the english. some legends claim Gilles de Raise was even joan of arcs lover at some point, though this remains uncomfirmed. sometime in the year 1432, Gilles de Raise began his grizzly murder spree, mainly preying upon children and young children between the ages of 12 and 18, of both sexes. he would first get his servants to kidnap children from neighbouring villages, and dress and pamper them for a night, before inviting them to a great feast. afterwards, he would rape them, then torture and kill them. accounts from his servants claim that de Raise decapitated, hung, slashed the throats, dismembering, strangled, and sometimes broke the necks of his victims to kill them. de Raise was captured in 1440, and under torture, also confessed that he often cut the dead body's open and played with their organs, before disposing of the body's in a slow burning fire that minimised the smell of flesh. he was hanged later that same year. reports vary as to the numbers of his victims. he was accused in court of 80, but modern estimates range between a grand total of 200 and 600 victims.

and so concludes my gruesome list. 5 people the world is a better place without, but 5 people who continue to fascinate people to this day, and who hold a cult status amongst the most haneous criminals the world has ever known. hope you enjoyed it, and i hope you can at least appreciate why i find these people so fascinating.