Revealing The Myths About Serial Killers
“We’ve all got power in our hands to kill, but most people are afraid to use it. The ones who aren’t afraid, control life itself. ” - Ted Bundy, an infamous serial killer.
A serial killer is a person who murders several people at different times, different than a typical killer, serial killers have a period of time where they have no new victims, this is called a cooling off period. There are many type serial killers, plenty of reasons why they kill and tons of myths about them. There are 4 general types of serial killers. There is mission-oriented, visionary killers, power seekers, and thrill seekers. Mission-oriented killers kill people that are making the world ‘dirty. ’ They kill prostitutes, the homeless, and the people who are different from the killer in terms of race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.
The killers claim they are making the world a better place. A real-life mission oriented serial killer is Joseph Paul Franklin, he killed 12 young colored males that had caucasian girlfriends. Visionary killers have psychotic breaks, sometimes believing they are a different person or think they are compelled to kill by entities such as the Devil or God. These types of killer are also referred as “demon mandated” or “God mandated. ” David Berkowitz is a visionary serial killer, he claimed there was a demon possessing his neighbors dog, confessed to eight murders and is a suspect of many arsons. Power seekers just want a feeling of power over the victim, as they most likely did not have power over a lot or any as a child or young adult. Most of them only kill because they want to feel the power of being in charge of the victim’s life.
The famous Ted Bundy was a power seeker, he kidnapped, stalked, raped, and killed his victims. The last generic type is a thrill seeker, the killers in this category fancy the feeling of the process of taking someone else’s life. Although, once the victim is dead the killer almost immediately loses interest with the victim. The Zodiac Killer, whose identity is still unknown, has 5 confirmed deaths, 2 injured, and possibly 20 to 28 dead; although he claimed to have killed 37. In other words, serial killers are not all just a person’s mind that is not thinking normally. Many things take part of creating a serial killer. Past abuse, their social status prior to becoming a killer, the fear of rejection, wanting to have control over something could all be factors in the killer’s background. Alcoholic parents or abusive parents can be a huge reason the killer became what they are, Aileen Wuornos was birthed from a 16 year old who had divorced her father 2 months before her arrival. Her father had schizophrenia and had previously been found guilty of sex crimes against children, he later hung himself in prison. As Wuornos turned four her mother abandoned her and her brother, their maternal grandparents adopted them. It just so happened that her grandmother was an abusive alcoholic and her grandfather were both sexually and physically abusive to both children, they would force her out of her clothes and beat her. In about 7 years, she started to try and make friends by selling her body for cigarettes, at age 14 she had a child and he was adopted. The hospital discharged her and she then turned to prostitution once again, to survive.
Having a poor social status would mean they got bullied or harassed, their anger most likely boiled up until they snapped. These killers would be disorganized killers because they would only take a life because they were furious at the person and they wouldn’t care too much about the connection between them and the victim. Rejection can take a toll on anyone, but some take it more often and harder than others. For example, Ted Bundy, the notorious serial killer and rapist, stole the lives of many women because he couldn’t get over the fact his first girlfriend who broke his heart. Serial killers may use the aggression against someone who hurt them emotionally to take the lives of other people. The final reason why people may become serial killers is the need of power over something, most killers that seek power only kill because they more than likely had no power over much if anything at all when they were young or their life may be chaotic. Studies say that more than often serial killers only kill to have the feeling that they are regaining some control in their life or over something. In an FBI study of 36 confessed serial killers, there was an extensive history of abuse repeatedly.
Being abused earlier in life means someone else was always in control, the came to be killer never was. So not having control makes the person want it even more, leading to them being a serial killer. Killers are normal people who took their feelings down the wrong path. There are an extreme amount of myths told everyday and believed about serial killers. A few of the myths are that they’re dysfunctional loners, they usually get caught by DNA banks, that they will never stop killing until their last breath, and that they are incredibly smart. Serial killers are rarely introverted and dysfunctional. They are usually seen as a normal person, the person you passed by on the sidewalk this morning or the person you sat next to on the bus could be a serial killer, serial killers are seen as normal people until the world finds out what the killer has done.
Another myth is about how they are caught, they are not caught by DNA banks all of the time, being caught by the banks means they already have your DNA and many serial killers don’t have their DNA in a bank. Serial killers are usually caught by luck, Ted Bundy was arrested for driving a stolen car, Albert Fish got caught through a letter sent to one of the victim’s mothers about how he kidnapped, murdered, and cannibalized her daughter with the address of the boarding house he was staying in and Andrei Chikatilo, who walked out of the woods with blood on his face, while the police had undercover agents onto his case, and the police department later found a girl’s body in those very woods. An often said myth is that serial killers will never stop killing, serial killers will often stop killing after 3 to 4 victims. Once they are satisfied with getting the victims off the planet, they will most likely stop killing.
The last myth is that they are incredibly smart, serial killers have the usual IQ scores. The average IQ of a serial killer is 94. 7, while the range of normal IQ is 90 to 110, so most killers have average intelligence. Many myths are spread and believed by the people in our world. There are lots of myths about serial killers, plenty of reasons why they are serial killers, and many types of them in our world. Lots of unique types of serial killers exist in the world today, serial killers are not just a group of people that kill because they feel like it.
Myths about serial killers, they’re all around the world, being said over and over and they’re being believed. People may become serial killers for a ton of reasons, it just depends on the person’s way of thinking and the situation around them. If all the people in the try and make Earth a better place, maybe all serial killers will cease to exist.
