Serial Murder: International Incidence

History and Extent of Serial Murder

Not only is serial murder found outside the United States, it existed long before America was known as such. During the late Middle Ages and Renaissance period, Europe spawned a number of notorious serial murderers. One of the most infamous was onetime French hero Gilles de Rais, who is thought to have sexually tortured and murdered hundreds of children over 8 years in the early 1400s. Around the same time, Walchian prince Vlad Tepes III (also known as “Vlad Dracul” or “Vlad the Impaler”) was torturing and killing thousands of people in Transylvania. Vlad and his horrendous acts are thought to have been the inspiration for Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.

Many early cases of serial murder are thought to have provided the basis for folk tales of vampires and werewolves. In 1572, citizens of a small village in France believed a werewolf was killing and eating their young children. Gilles Garnier was later tracked down and identified as the killer. Garnier was convinced that he was a werewolf and confessed to killing and eating four young children in the area. A similar 16th-century case is found in Germany, where for 25 years, Peter Stubb raped, killed, and ate citizens of Cologne. Stubb also believed he was a werewolf. In fact, several offenders were prosecuted for similar crimes in France and Germany in the 16th century.

The belief in the ability of an individual to turn into a wild beast is referred to as therianthropy. Therianthropy has been given as an explanation for deviant behavior throughout history and throughout the world. Such belief systems may still distort the reality of serial murderers today. For example, in 1998, a tribal chief in the Congo confessed to killing and eating five people. Villagers and the police believed the tribal chief had the ability to transform himself into a crocodile.

Another serial murderer thought to have influenced vampire lore is Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory (1560–1614). She claimed to have sadistically killed more than 600 victims and bathed in their blood during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Bathory's case is also an early illustration that serial murder is not confined to males. Other female serial murderers of the 17th century included Elizabeth Ridgway in England, Marie de Brinvillier and Catherine Deshayes in France, and Hieronyma Spara in Italy. In 1719, a female offender named La Tofania was executed for poisoning hundreds of victims in Italy.

Curiously, the literature offers few examples of serial murder in the 18th century, male or female. Documentation of serial murders appears to have grown in the 1800s, however. Early cases of serial murder in the 19th century include those of the “Bavarian Ripper,” Andreas Bichel, the English “Resurrection Men,” William Burke and William Hare, and German poisoner Gessinna Godfried. Toward the latter end of the 19th century, cases included those of Helena Jegado, in England, Pierre Voirbo, in France, and Vincent Verzeni, in Italy.

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