Life
Most people are familiar with the big-name serial killers: Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and the ever-notorious Jack the Ripper. For those of us who can't get enough of that kind of thing, though... well, we have a tendency to stay up reading about lesser-known serial killers. Who needs sleep anyway? (Of course, whether you're happy that you know all about these gruesome crimes is an entirely different story; reasonable people probably prefer to go about their days without that kind of knowledge lurking in the back of their minds. Oh well.)
Serial killers, not to mention the true crime genre as a whole, have fascinated the public for ages, even though the odds of encountering one in real life are super slim. (Although maybe not as slim as you'd hope.) Maybe the appeal is in the adrenaline-pumping shock value, or pure psychological curiosity. As criminology professor Scott Bonn wrote in TIME last year, "The stories of real-life killers are often for adults what monster movies are for children."
No matter the reason, the fact remains that plenty of people are drawn to tales of serial murderers. If you know the famous cases inside and out (pardon the expression) and are looking for something new to learn, here are six serial killers you might not have come across before. But first, a word of warning: That doesn't mean they're any less terrifying.
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Henri Landru
Henri Landru, a French man living during the turn of the 20th century, is often compared to the legend of Bluebeard, and for good reason. After being swindled by his own employer, he took to conning people himself, usually focusing on elderly widows. In the early 1900s, he began placing personal ads in newspapers to lure in widows; once he convinced them to hand over access to their money, he would kill them and dispose of their bodies in an oven. He was found guilty of 11 murders in 1921 and executed by guillotine in 1922.
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Fred & Rosemary West
Responsible for some of the most brutal murders taking place in the '60s and '70s in England, Fred and Rosemary West killed numerous girls and young women together, including their own daughter. The case details are disturbing even for a particularly disturbing subject, so tread with caution here. Fred West died by suicide while awaiting trial in 1995, and Rosemary West was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment for 10 counts of murder.
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The Genesee River Killer
Arthur Shawcross, also known as the Genesse River Killer, claims to have had a troubled childhood growing up in upstate New York. In 1972, he was arrested and confessed to the murder of two children, but that's not the only reason for his notoriety. After being released on parole 15 years later, he returned to murder; between 1988 and 1990, he killed 11 women. Near the end of that year, he went on trial for the 10 murders he committed in Monroe County, New York. Found guilty on each count, he passed away in 2008 while serving his 250-year prison sentence.