Kind of a grisly question, but who is more or less reconized as the first serial killer? I was wondering if it might be Jack the Ripper, but didn’t Sweeny Todd predate him? Is there someone even earlier that I might just not have heard of?
Vlad the Impaler predated both of 'em, and I’m pretty sure someone we’ve all heard of came long before him.
You might be interested in this page which has a whole bunch of crazy historical killers.
The problem with old cases is that they happened before the concept of the “serial killer” was invented. That only came about in the fifties (?) for Ed Gein (again ?). These old crimes were not investigated using modern tecniques, so we just don’t (and can’t) know what really happened.
Cecil Adams on Did Dracula really exist?
Oh, I understand that. The concept is reletivly new, even if the actions are not. I’m certain that serial killers have been around us all through history. I wouldn’t doubt for a moment that they existed in placed like ancient Rome or Babylon. In those times and places, though, they wouldn’t have been easy to spot. And even if found and proved, records certainly no longer exist.
But it is possible to look back on ancient crimes we do know about, and I was just curious how far back this dark side of human behavior could really be traced.
Sawney Beane and his cannibalistic family are the first listed in my wife’s book of serial murderers. From the seventeenth century, although I’ve yet to come across a web site listing actual years. Some sites seem to think this is a folk tale where others say it’s been authenticated.
We’re guessing that Vlad did not actually slaughter 40K to 100K people with his own hands. If he did, his strength and stamina are impressive to say the least.
The stories about Elisabeth Bathory are poorly documented at best, so it’s hard to know if she killed anybody herself.
The definitions of serial killer that I’ve seen (we’re not talking official here, just generally accepted) have something to do with
a) doing the killing yourself
b) taking a break between killings (otherwise you’re a “spree” killer)
c) doing them one or two at a time (otherwise it’s “mass” murder)
IMHO, Jack is the earliest, best known “true” serial killer.
There are distinctions between different types of multiple murderers, according to methods and motives. Jack the Ripper’s motives remain unknown. Serial killers tend to repeat the same murder over and over, upping the stakes a little each time to recapture the sexual thrill of the first time. This behavior certainly goes back centuries, but the term was coined in the 70s by Robert Ressler, an FBI profiler. The term caught on with the public in reference to Son of Sam.
Spree killers are more about racking up a large body count in a short amount of time (Beltway Snipers, Texas Tower Sniper) and lack even a serial killer’s marginal personal connection with their victims. A lot of people get called “serial killers” who aren’t.
You can torture the definition to exclude a lot of earlier serial killers, although I don’t see your point. What about H.H. Holmes? His crimes began two years before Jack the Ripper’s.
I didn’t have a point, we’re just having fun here–aren’t we?
Couldn’t follow your link and I’m not familiar with this particular Holmes. Details?
Here’s a link for Holmes at the site Tapioca suggested:
http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/history/holmes/index_1.html
Seems Walloon types faster than I do. LOL
Well, on another site I volunteer at (Distributed Proofreading – preserving the world’s literary heritage, one page at a time) we were recently processing a book titled Beowolf, which featured a serial killer called Grendal. Refered to as a ‘monster’, but then so are many of those in the reference given by Tapioca. And as this book is reporting on events a thousand years or so BC, (one of the earliest written works ever), she (Grendal) may well be the earliest serial killer.
Actually, doesn’t this question just devolve into “what is the earliest recorded human history?” Since the earliest stories still extant are those of kings or heroes, and they usually became king or hero by killing off a bunch of the ‘enemy’. So whomever is listed as such in the earliest written work we still have is probably the “earliest serial killer”.
If we’re allowed to get into mythical territory, some of the criminals Theseus encountered on his way to Athens, particularly Procrustes and Sinis the Pine-Bender, sound like serial killers in their choice of murder by a distinctive and sadistic MO.