The fascination with serial killers is one that is common in many pop culture junkies. A number of podcasts, books, and films have been written with this in mind, to which countless people have devoured.
Some of the facts of these killers will fascinate you, others might have you closing this tab and running to watch some sort of palate cleanser (like cat videos!). Read on, if you dare.
zimmy9921 asked: What are some serial killer facts/facts about serial killers that you find extremely interesting?
This guy is always one step ahead.
"The serial killer Bela Kiss liked to pickle people in barrels stored in his basement. Someone figured it out but they couldn't get him because he was fighting in World War I. By the time they tracked him down he had disappeared and left a dead guy in his hospital bed.
He supposedly joined the French Foreign Legion and deserted that too, and I think history loses track of him after that, with the exception of one possible sighting as a janitor in New York. The janitor disappeared before anyone could confirm it."
As if the freeways weren't bad enough.
Giphy"Mack Ray Edwards, he was a serial killer who worked for CalTrans. He'd kill his victims and then bury the bodies in places he would later help build the highways over.
Not all his victims have been found, and many are very likely still under some of the California highways you may have driven over countless times."
Cheater!
"Dennis Rader, aka BTK (Bind Torture Kill) started communicating with police after years of silence in like 2004ish? He had gone decades without being caught and once again started sending taunting letters and items to them.
He asked them if he could be traced if he sent them his writings on a floppy disc and they assured him through a communication in a newspaper that no, they couldn't trace him. He sent them a floppy disc and they found metadata linking to his church. He was arrested shortly thereafter.
He was hurt that they would lie to him because he thought they had developed a rapport."
Seems a little on-the-nose.
"PeeWee Gaskins, most prolific serial killer in SC drove around in a hearse with a bumper sticker that read "I haul dead people." He told people that he needed it to take the bodies of people he killed to his private cemetery.
He claimed to have killed between 100 and 110 people."
How horrifying.
Giphy"I am surprised we don't hear more about Robert Hansen in popular culture. He would kidnap women and turn them loose in the Alaskan wilderness, where he would then hunt them down like animals and kill them.
He didn't have the highest number of victims, but his method of hunting them for sport is absolutely insane."
Pretty logical on their part.
"The Hillside Stranglers picked up a young woman to murder. Then they discovered that her father was Peter Lorre, a legendary Hollywood character actor.
They let her go because they feared that killing a celebrity's daughter would bring too much attention down."
Wonder why he disappeared....
"Pedro Alonso Lopez plead guilty to the murders of 100+ girls and only received a maximum sentence of 16 years as that was the maximum possible sentence in Ecuador.
He was released despite promising to continue killing but disappeared shortly after."
Hell no.
"Jeffery Dahmer tried to make "sex zombies" out of some of his victims by drilling holes in their heads while they were alive and pouring acid into the holes.
The twistedness and desperation of such an act is fascinating and truly goes to show how disturbed he was. Makes you wonder too what would have happened if he was successful, like would he stop killing or would he just amass a growing harem of slaves?"
Nope.
Giphy"There's a network of serial killers currently active that the FBI are trying to track down.
They're truckers that target prostitutes and addicts across the United States and actively help each other by transporting bodies and communicating with each other about what cities have been visited by one other in recent times. FBI.gov has a page dedicated to it."
One of the most famous killers.
"When police eventually came to the house of Ed Gein they found an absolute pigsty. Gein had been living alone since the death of his brother in a barn fire (it's speculated that Gein may have killed him) and had let much of the house go into disrepair. They found countless body parts from his various grave digging excursions, including a bag of wilted vaginas and, of course, the infamous skin lampshade and half-finished woman suit made of human skin. There were maggots living in old dishes in the kitchen. It was the type of disorganized mess that you would expect from a man who spent his nights completely disconnected from reality.
All except one room. His mother's room upstairs remained pristine, except for dust that had collected, and seemingly untouched from the time of her death years earlier. He had such a fear or respect for his mother that he was afraid to set foot in her room long after she had died. He claimed to hear her voice criticizing him from time to time.
This was the central experience that inspired Norman Bates' character to maintain his mother's home/image in Psycho.
Also a fun fact about Gein:
In Taxi Driver, Travis Bickle makes an off-hand comment when leaving a diner that he had a cup of coffee and a slice of apple pie with cheese on top. In exchange for details to investigators after his capture, Gein requested the same meal."
What do we really know about famous people?
Not much if we're honest.
But that doesn't stop us from prying into their lives and dissecting and destroying it.
It feels like society needs to have people to build up and tear down.
Is it that we all need an enemy?
Or is it just another form of reality tv?
So many people, celebrity and non-celebrity have been heaped on with vitriol.
Their lives often take a downturn.
Then in hindsight, upon re-examing, we learn maybe society went too far.
And those people too were just trying to survive.
Redditor wild-wolf-woman wanted to name the people we all may owe a few apologies to, so they asked:
"What famous person didn't deserve all the hate that they got?"
As a Madonna fan.
I'm livid with many people.
She didn't deserve any of the trash thrown at her.
Kevin
Screaming Macaulay Culkin GIF by Home AloneGiphy"Macaulay Culkin."
"For Redditors old enough to remember, the young Home Alone star got a bunch of hate for being a spoiled brat when he sued to divorce his parents."
"The truth of the matter is his father was a physically abusive a**hole, and his parents were going to take the $15-20M he earned from acting and leave Macaulay with nothing."
happy_snowy_owl
In Vienna
"Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis"
"He was a Hungarian physician and scientist, described as the 'savior of mothers.' He proposed the practice of washing hands with chlorinated lime solutions in 1847 while working in Vienna General Hospital's First Obstetrical Clinic, where doctors' wards had three times the mortality of midwive's wards."
"Some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands and mocked him for it. In 1865 he allegedly suffered a nervous breakdown and was committed to an asylum by his colleagues. In the asylum, he was beaten by the guards. He died 14 days later from a gangrenous wound on his right hand that may have been caused by the beating. His findings earned widespread acceptance only years after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory."
SuvenPan
She Deserved Better
"Lindsey Lohan- overworked and used by her parents."
HRPurrfrockington
"Was looking through the comments to see if Lindsey Lohan would be mentioned. not to mention the disgusting behavior of the media and the public in regard to her addiction issues. that one David Letterman interview with her is almost unbearable to watch. she deserves a huge apology from the world."
clownteeth222
Good Guy
"Guy Fiere is in the same vein. His entire career is giving small businesses a national platform and boosting them up, hiring folks most others won't, and being a huge advocate for LGBTQ rights (including officiating gay weddings) but because his shirt is on fire and it looks like he got electrocuted by mountain dew that spun his glasses around, everybody is so mean to him."
A_giant_dog
"He also goes out to disaster areas and serves food to emergency workers. He was here in Santa Cruz County during the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire serving free food. Genuinely cool guy."
adventureremily
Chill
f. murray abraham amadeus GIF by MauditGiphy"Salieri. Pretty chill dude. Mozart's biggest supporter. Lent him his librettist so he could write Figaro. Took care of Mozart's kid after he passed away."
veriverd
"That's a damn good movie, though. But it also does him dirty as well."
MajoraOfTime
That movie. That play. Those people.
The best and worst of drama.
Let her sing...
friday rebecca black GIFGiphy"Rebecca Black got death threats for her song Friday. It's just a song, an annoying one, but just a song guys."
EMdesigns
Shocking Truth
"Parents of Azaria were ridiculed and hounded by the press and the grieving mother's statement became a pop culture reference. They were accused of murdering their child. Many years later it was finally proven that a Dingo had, in fact, eaten their baby."
Stinkyminge123
"Lindy Chamberlain was, in fact, found guilty of murdering her child and sent to jail for a number of years. Her conviction was overturned, and it's now accepted that a dingo was responsible."
"However, jokes about it are still made. I can't imagine how awful it must be to have the world laugh for decades over your child's horrific death."
brownhedgehog
Blame it on the Rain
"Milli Vanilli. They were a late 80’s R&B duo who were 'exposed' for lip-syncing their music during a live performance on MTV. In reality, the two members Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus were capable singers and performers, but their record label didn’t allow them to sing on their records or during live performances. They had signed their record contract in German, a language neither of them spoke, and actively fought with the label behind the scenes to sing and perform their own songs."
"After being 'exposed,' they were forced to relinquish their Best New Artist Grammies, and their label toured the actual singers as 'The Real Milli Vanilli.' The media backlash was severe, and Rob Pilatus fell victim to addiction. He overdosed and died in the late 90’s."
"Rob could speak German. Most of this information is from a Fab Morvan interview, and when he said he couldn’t speak German, I wrongfully assumed neither of them could. My mistake."
HomePlastic
Poor Mama...
"Mama Cass Elliot."
"She was an absolutely beautiful, intensely powerful voice. But because she was... gasp fat, in the 60s-70s she was bullied relentlessly by the media."
"She died of heart failure and a random doctor said she 'could’ve died choking on a ham sandwich.' The media just dropped articles that that is how she died. If there is any reason for me to despise older generations it’s how they treated Mama Cass."
holyerthanthou
They Tried...
anakin skywalker GIFGiphy"Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin and the child actor of Anakin. They both got sooo much hate... and I still don't get why."
TheDudeOnHisRug
We really need to do better as a people.
So much judgement.
People Explain Which Everyday Things Are Actually Deadly That Most Folks Don't Know About
Every time we wake up... it's a MIRACLE!!
Nothing is promised.
Not one day.
Not one breath.
The hazards are everywhere.
There are foods we shouldn't eat.
People we should avoid.
And health regimes we may really need to try.
Life is booby-trapped.
It's time to make a survivor's how to list.
Redditor gaudiergash wanted to warn everyone about all the simple things that threaten our lives on the daily, so they asked:
"What are some everyday things that kill people because most don't know about it?"
Danger is all around.
Be alert!
Don't Forget
Warning Sign GIFGiphy"Carbon Monoxide is something everyone knows about but everyone also seems to forget about."
bottomless-bs
"Knew a girl from school, she and her family were all killed from carbon monoxide poisoning while staying at a cabin on New Year's weekend 2017. Her husband and two young kids. I still think about them going to bed, never to awaken."
hookersince06
Reach the Brain
"Poor dental hygiene and gum infections hit the brain fairly quickly and can be fatal before you even knew something was happening. So brush your teeth and talk to a dentist, most will try to work with you on the money side if you don't have insurance. If not try contacting a dental school near you, they are often looking for test subjects, I mean patients to work on for training."
SomeRandomUser00
"True stuff... this just killed my cousin."
FLAMES
"I know of a few things, all fire-related..."
"1. Pinched electrical wires - having, for example, a table leg or something on top of a wire creates a hot spot that can eventually start a fire."
"2. Toasters under cabinets - if you have a toaster on your countertop, and have cabinets mounted above that countertop, leaving the toaster directly under the cabinets while in use is also a fire hazard. be sure to pull it out from beneath the cabinets before use."
"3. Not sure if this one is still unknown by most people, but I'll add it just in case - water does not put out a grease fire, it makes it worse because the grease/oil is less dense and floats on top of the water and continues to burn, so pouring water on a grease fire is likely to just spread the grease and fire around. baking soda, a lid/cover of some kind, or of course a fire extinguisher will all smother the fire without spreading it around."
designer_sheets
In Defense
"Stress. Stress is a state when your body feels threatened and produces a hormone to defend yourself, which will typically boost your muscle and reduce to minimum other functions, like digestion, your kidneys, and overall all organs that aren't involved in fighting off a bear."
"If you're always stressed (Chronic stress), you will damage your organs. All of them. At once. Chronic stress is a poison, you must avoid it."
"Note that 'normal, episodic' stress like you're taking an exam today or you have 13 missed calls from mom isn't going to kill you. Well, not the stress at least."
Dahns
Drink Up
Season 7 Nbc GIF by The OfficeGiphy"Once read about someone who died when they had the flu - they were medicating with over-the-counter cold and flu medicine and drinking multiple cups of lemsip, one after the other, not realizing lemsip also contained painkillers. they died of an overdose."
StrikeOk9626
I never knew the flu was so dangerous until COVID.
It only takes a sneeze.
The BIG Bullet!
Driving Action Movie GIF by James Bond 007Giphy"People are not nearly careful enough driving vehicles. you are operating a 2,000lb bullet, please stop texting and pay attention."
BigMoney5594
No Bleach
"Mixing cleaning supplies. Cleaners are usually dangerous chemicals, mixing certain chemicals can create dangerous gases. One of the common cleaner mistakes people make is dish soap and bleach, a lot of dish soaps have ammonia in them, and you don’t want to be around the gas that ammonia and chlorine make. Also, don’t clean your kitty litter with bleach, use chlorine-free disinfectants instead. Cat pee naturally has ammonia in it and can cause a reaction too."
SegaNaLeqa
Too High
"High blood pressure."
Ultimatelee
"High BP also presents as just a headache for some. I had preeclampsia and after the baby was born I kept getting these headaches, to be honest, they weren't that painful but I felt foggy and just, off. Come to find out my BP was so high I needed 3 rounds of magnesium to bring it back to normal."
deckpumps_n_deldos
Small Evils
"Bites from the wrong flea/mosquito/tick have been decimating mankind since forever."
Midas_Artflower
"If your tick bite gets a bullseye shape around it, go to the doctor, possible Lyme disease."
"If your spider bite gets raised and white, go to the doctor, possible necrotic lesions from recluse."
"Don't live in fear of these things and squash everything with crawly legs. Do some research (tons of bug info online free from many universities, tons of insect/spider/etc subreddits), and be smart. Wear tall socks in long grass and check yourself and your pets."
BirdsLikeSka
Red Puke
season 9 berries GIFGiphy"Elderberries are poisonous until you boil them. My mom works at a school where a teacher lets some kids eat them because she didn’t know they were poisonous. Red puke everywhere. I also had a friend post a picture on Facebook of her son eating them."
CoffeeCactus92
Why are berries so dangerous?
I love them. Darn it!
Life is complicated, but there are so many things that are worth being thankful for, even in the day-to-day.
But of course, there are some things that we would love to see in our lifetimes that would make living that much sweeter.
Redditor moltingtoupee asked:
"What is something you hope to witness in your lifetime?"
Not Even Gonna Lie...
"An Armored car spilling a sack of money in front of me and not noticing."
- explodingladybugs
Nature's Beauty
"An aurora."
- RedStradis
"I once met a British couple who were camping in the Canadian Rockies for their 25th wedding anniversary. We had a few beers around the campfire. At some point, the woman said the only thing she was a bit sad about this trip was not seeing northern lights. She always wanted to see one."
"We keep chatting and at some point after a few beers, nature called. I went to do my thing and as I was out of the fire’s light, I looked up and could see that great northern light dancing in the sky. I came back to the fire and took the couple away in the dark to show them. She was soooo thrilled."
"So you never know when it will happen to you."
- prplx
The Lives This Would Change
"A treatment for Alzheimer's. That s**t is terrifying."
- doobydoobydobap
"This is my pick, too. Watching my grandmother succumb to it, and it broke my heart. I’m afraid my mom is next, followed by me or one of my sisters."
- crispypotatocake
Cheering Our Loved Ones On
"All of my daughter's milestones in life. Until it's my time to go, I hope I get to see her grow up to be a beautiful smart caring woman."
- FlaccidWeenus
Infinite Possibilities
"Faster than light travel (minus any relativistic effects that make it impossible to come home at the sameish time, etc)."
"I know it's weird, but I find the thought of being confined to our little solar system a bit depressing when there's a whole universe out there."
- postitsam
Halley's Comet
"To see Halley's comet for the second time in 2061."
- craigoth
"If I can't live to see Halley's Comet (I should be 76), then I'd die happy knowing I get to see the total solar eclipse next year as my runner-up."
- curbstomprey
Who's Out There
"First contact."
- Minute-Loan7057
"Sometimes I think I'd like to see that too... But the way the last few years have been going, we'd expect the Vulcans and get Xenomorphs instead."
- coffee_cats_books
"Or the Vogons."
- Reddit_Hitchhiker
...What's That Like?
"My life full of happiness with no stress."
- HappinessSeeker7
Unrealistic Expectations
"I hope to witness the day when autocorrect finally stops turning 'F**king' into 'Ducking.'"
- Daily_Burnin12345
Ocean Views
"To see the Pacific Ocean, early morning, crispness to the air, wrapped in a blanket, sitting alone on the beach..."
"I am in central Kentucky, and this seems so far away to me. I can only imagine what the peace and tranquility would be to stare out and see nothing but water, clear to the horizon."
- Saltriverjohnny
One Small Step For Man...
"For man to walk on Mars..."
- Effective-Craft-1173
Outside the Box
"A US President elected from a third party."
- CatacombsRave
Flight MH370
"To find out what truly happened to Flight MH370."
- desperatelingling123
"I'm pretty sure it will appear back on the radar in 10 years and none of the passengers will have aged or be aware of the time jump and Stephen King was the reason for it all."
- ALIENAND
"I legit looked this up last night to see if there have been any advancements in the theory or new evidence. I hadn't thought about it in a couple of years. (I know that I'm lucky to not think about it all of the time. There are so many poor families that don't have this luxury and they still don't have concrete answers, which is heartbreaking.)"
- SparklesVibe
Supernovas
"A supernova event that lights up the sky. Even if it’s extremely unlikely, the most likely would be Betelgeuse or Antares."
- _Goose_
Time to Unite
"The middle class, working class, and poor realizing that they have more in common than the Upper class and super wealthy."
- Diverswelcome
It's always heartwarming to see when people are asked what they would most like to see changed, or want to see in their lifetime, they're less concerned about gainful wealth or arbitrary things, and more so in nature's wonders and cures for diseases.
Life might not always be perfect, but there are absolutely things to keep looking up for.
When people are wanting to get out of various situations and withhold from telling the truth so as not to ruffle feathers, they fabricate wild stories.
Because this tends to happen most of the time–whether it's an employee wanting extra time off or a date who is too afraid to say they're "not interested"–we've become conditioned to be skeptical when hearing excuses.
So it's surprising then that the one time we rejected a person's excuse to decline participation, it turned out to be true.
How embarrassing.
Curious to hear from strangers online, Redditor RadPs77 asked:
"What's the most bull**** excuse you've heard that turned out to be true?"
If somebody yelled, "fire!" there probably was one.
The Emergency Call
"My dad had to call and say he was going to be late on take your kid to work day, because the guys building a house in the lot next to ours set all the extra supplies on fire at 5am, and he called the fire department because it was a huge fire and the firetrucks were now blocking our driveway. He took a video."
– kingftheeyesores
The Blazing Car
"Couldn't make it to work because someone set his car on fire. Sure enough, it was mentioned in the local paper a day or two later..."
– res30stupid
Accusations of lying are especially hard on those who are grieving.
Proof Was In The Ashes
"Not really sure if this counts but... I worked at a mcdonalds years ago and I called in sick one day because I was having my dog put down, this was my childhood friend I'd had since I was 6. The day after the manager pulls me into the office and gives me a rant about how I need to come up with a better excuse for a sick day. In anger I ended up bringing his ashes into work with me several weeks later with receipts proving dates of attending vets etc."
"Then a good few months after all this, the same manager is moving house and isn't allowed to take her two dogs with her (no pets allowed at the new address) so she let's her friend adopt them who lives on the next street to where she's going to be living then proceeds to take 10 days off 'to say goodbye.' "
"It's been more than a decade but I'm still salty af about this."
– SolaWrex
"Unexcused Absence"
"Had this but when my brother died, took 2 weeks off because of obvious reasons."
"I was on probation at the time and they didn’t believe me, they wanted a death certificate - but where I live those can take some time."
"At the end of my probation I had an exit interview - my dad was able to sit in with me, so he did. He brought my brothers ashes and put them on the table while they tried to say it was an unexcused absence."
– tictactowbar
There are the odd circumstances.
Nature Strikes
"I couldn't go into work for a few days because a tree totalled both vehicles. My boss was pissed because I had requested the day off but was denied. I had to send pictures as proof."
– hotcookin53
The Gamer
"I injured myself badly enough I couldn't go to work for a few days, the night before World of Warcraft was released. Since I'd been talking about it so much, my boss assumed I was lieing to stay home and play it on opening day. Not only was I not lieing, but it meant I was unable to get to the store to pick up my pre-order."
– shontsu
A Birth Anomaly
"One of my guys didn't come into work he said that his unborn triplets had absorbed each other and he had to console his wife that she was gonna have twins not triplets."
– ShItllhappen
Repeat Offender
"I had the same teacher for trig and 2 years later Calc ii. Both times my house got hit by a car right before an exam. The second time she said 'you've already made this excuse" and asked for a police report. I happily obliged and gave her both. Literally could not believe it.'"
– Electronic_Soil5934
Animals are unpredictable.
That is all.
Kitty Bite
"Kid in high school was absent one day because he'd been 'bitten by a cougar.' Yeah, right."
"Turns out, he'd been bitten by a cougar. He thought he wanted a pet cougar, found some place he could buy one, and went over a weekend to pick one out. He was playing with a cute baby cougar, cuddling and wrestling on the ground, just having a great time. Then that cute little baby turned on him, bit down hard on his foot, and sent him to the hospital with numerous deep punctures that needed chunks of Nike shoe pulled out of them. He was on crutches for weeks."
– twothirtysevenam
Kid's Track Record Didn't Help
"Had a kid come into my class one day that was late and he had been a pain in the butt the whole year so I was like 'alright, what is it this time, house burnt down. No no, you went to the forest and got lost, not you used that last time.' He just stood there with a straight face and said, a bear slashed our tires so I had to walk. I looked at him with an as if that happened face and low and behold after school his mum comes up apologising that he was late again and told me that a bear had slashed their car’s tires. She showed me the ring video and everything. I was speechless."
"Edit for those of you complaining that I was mean, this kid was consistently late and rude throughout the whole year and was constantly giving me bs excuses that turned out not to be true. That’s why I was mad and didn’t believe him."
– cryptic_cookies
The next time you hear someone giving a wild excuse, you might want to take it with a grain of salt.
You never know if the person has actually gone through a terrible ordeal.
The truth always comes out eventually, whether it works in the person's favor or not.