# The Most Evil People Poll - trying again **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 10, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-people-poll-trying-again/538861 "2010-05-10T01:57:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-people-poll-trying-again/538861/21 "2010-05-22T02:06:20Z")
I vote for/against the following. I am exposing my ignorance here, but it only came to 155 this time around. I will attribute my lack of knowledge of serial killers to a guess that many of them are American (ditto gangsters), and I am not American. I think I recognised the British killers, though. I have no excuse for lack of knowledge of historical world leaders: Akhenaton (14th Century BC) Pharoah of Egypt Sennacherib (8th century BC) King of Assyria Pheidon of Argos (7th century BC) Tyrant of Athens Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (535–496 BC) “Tarquin the Proud” King of Rome Polycrates (6th century BC) Tyrant of Samos Qin Shi Huang (259–210 BC) Emperor of China Valeria Messalina (c.18-48 AD) “Empress” of Rome Domitian (51-96 AD) Emperor of Rome Fredegund (6th century AD) Queen of the Franks Wu Zetian aka Wu Hou (625-705) Empress of China Harun al-Rashid (763-809) Caliph of Baghdad Olga (890-969) Regent of Russia Basil II (958–1025) “Basil the Bulgar Slayer” Byzantine Emperor Peter (1334-1369) “Pedro the Cruel” King of Castile Timur (1336-1405) “Tamerlane” Ruler of Samarkand Gian Galeazzo Visconti (1351-1402) Duke of Milan Gilles de Rais (1404-1440) Serial killer Catherine de’Medici (1519-1589) Regent of France Ivan IV Vasilyevich (1530-1584) “Ivan the Terrible” Tsar of Russia Grainne Ni Mhaille aka Grace O’Malley (c.1530–c.1603) Pirate Toyotomi Hideyoshi (c.1536-1598) Ruler of Japan William Kidd (c.1645–1701) Pirate Elizabeth Bathory (1560–1614) Countess of Transylvania serial killer Aurangzeb (1618-1707) Mughal Emperor of India Francois l’Olonnais (c.1635-c.1668) Pirate Henry Every (c.1656-c.1699) Pirate John “Calico Jack” Rackham (1682-1720) Pirate Bartholomew Roberts (1682-1722) Pirate Edward Low (c.1690–c.1724) Pirate Nader Shah (c.1693-1747) Shah of Persia Frederick William I (1688–1740) King of Prussia Anne Bonny (1702-1782) Pirate Edward England (birth unknown - died c.1720) Pirate William Lewis (birth unknown - died 1727) Pirate Tipu Sultan (1750-1799) Sultan of Mysore Paul I (1754-1801) Tsar of Russia Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia (1766–1840) Dictator of Paraguay Jean Laffite (c.1776–c.1823) Pirate Ranavalona I (c.1782–1861) Queen of Madagascar Agustin de Iturbide (1783–1824) Dictator of Mexico Cheng I Soa (1784-1844) - Pirate Ludwig I (1786–1868) King of Bavaria Juan Manuel de Rosas (1793-1877) Dictator of Argentina Benito de Soto (1805-1830) Pirate Ferdinand II (1810–1859) King of Naples and Sicily Hong Xiuquan (1814-1864) “Heavenly King” Warlord of China Francisco Solano Lopez (1826-1870) Dictator of Paraguay Antonio Guzman Blanco (1829-1899) President of Venezuela Grace Marks (born 1828 death unknown) Murderer Porfirio Diaz (1830-1915) President of Mexico Mary Ann Cotton (1832-1873) Serial killer Cixi (1835-1908) “Tzu-hsi” Doweger Empress of China Charles Guiteau (1841-1882) Assassin Ludwig II (1845-1886) King of Bavaria Jane Toppan (1854-1938) Serial killer Theodore II (1855-1868) Emperor of Ethiopia H.H. Holmes aka Herman Webster Mudgett (1861-1896) Serial killer Mwanga II (1868-1903) Kabaka of Buganda Henri Desire Landru (1869-1922) Serial killer Albert Fish (1870-1936) Serial killer Leon Czolgosz (1873-1901) Assassin Mehmed Talat aka Talat Pasha (1874–1921) Leader of Turkey Syngman Rhee (1875-1965) President of South Korea Fritz Haarmann (1879-1925) Serial killer Ismail Enver aka Enver Pasha (1881-1922) Leader of Turkey Peter Kurten (1883-1931) Serial killer Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) Ruler of Republic of China Antonio de Oliveira Salazar (1889-1970) Ruler of Portugal Frank Costello (1891-1973) Gangster George “Bugs” Moran (1891-1957) Gangster Carl Panzram (1891-1930) Serial killer Rafael Trujillo (1891-1961) Dictator of the Domincan Republic Francisco Franco (1892-1975) Dictator of Spain Dean O’Banion (1892-1924) Gangster Anastasio Somoza Garcia (1896-1956) Dictator of Nicaragua Louis “Lepke” Buchalter (1897-1944) Gangster Charles “Lucky” Luciano (1897-1962) Gangster Earle Nelson (1897-1928) Serial killer Marcel Petiot (1897-1946) Serial killer Jake Bird (1901-1940) Serial killer Ngo Dinh Diem (1901-1963) President of South Vietnam Sukarno (1901-1970) President of Indonesia Meyer Lansky (1902-1983) Gangster Dutch Schultz (1902-1935) Gangster Joseph Bonanno (1905-2002) Gangster Ed Gein (1906-1984) Serial killer Ilse Koch (1906-1967) Nazi Sam Giancana (1908-1975) Gangster Bruno Ludke (1908-1944) Serial killer John George Haigh (1909-1949) Serial killer) Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) Leader of Ghana Kim Il-sung (1912-1994) Leader of North Korea Alfredo Stroessner (1912-2006) Dictator of Paraguay Howard Unruh (1921-2009) Spree killer Efrain Rios Montt (born 1926) Dictator of Guatemala Marie Noe (born 1928) Serial killer Pol Pot (1928-1998) Leader of Cambodia Mobutu Sese Seko (1930-1997) Dictator of the Congo Albert DeSalvo (1931-1973) “The Boston Strangler” serial killer Paul Biya (born 1933) President of Cameroon Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins (1933-1991) Serial killer Joachim Kroll (1933-1991) Serial killer Than Shwe (born 1933) Dictator of Myanmar Richard Kuklinski (1935-2006) Contract killer James Porter (1935-2005) Priest, child abuser Andrei Chikatilo (1936-1994) Serial killer Henry Lee Lucas (1936-2001) Serial killer Choummaly Sayasone (born 1936) Ruler of Laos Audrey Marie Hilley (1937-1987) Murderer Mengistu Haile Mariam (born 1937) Ruler of Ethiopia Islam Karimov (born 1938) President of Uzbekistan Charles Starkweather (1938-1959) and Caril Ann Fugate (born 1943) Spree killers Dean Corll (1939-1973) Serial killer Ali Khamenei (born 1939) Leader of Iran Saparmurat Niyazov (1940-2006) President of Turkmenistan Richard Speck (1941-1991) Serial killer Charles Whitman (1941-1966) Spree killer John Wayne Gacy (1942-1994) Serial killer Hissene Habre (born 1942) Dictator of Chad Hu Jintao (born 1942) Leader of People’s Republic of China James Oliver Huberty (1942-1984) Spree killer Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (born 1942) Dictator of Equatorial Guinea Frederick Cowan (1943-1977) Spree killer Gary Heidnik (1943-1999) Serial killer Omar al-Bashir (born 1944) President of Sudan Isaias Afwerki (born 1945) President of Eritrea Sammy Gravano (born 1945) Gangster Leonard Lake (1945-1985) and Charles Ng (born 1960) Serial killers Edmund Kemper III (born 1948) Serial killer Pedro Lopez (born 1948) Serial killer Mark Essex (1949-1973) Spree killer Gary Ridgway (born 1949) “The Green River Killer” serial killer Kenneth Bianchi (born 1951) and Angelo Buono Jr. (1934-2002) “The Hillside Starnglers” serial killers Samuel Doe (1951-1990) Dictator of Liberia Gerald Stano (1951-1998) Serial killer Nikolai Dzhurmongaliev (born 1952) Serial killer Thomas Hamilton (1952–1996) Spree killer Bobby Joe Long (born 1953) Serial killer Aleksandr Lukashenko (born 1954) President of Belarus Meles Zenawi (born 1955) Ruler of Ethiopia George Hennard (1956-1991) Spree killer Aileen Wuornos (1956-2002) Serial killer Anatoly Onoprienko (born 1959) Serial killer Joel Rifkin (born 1959) Serial killer The Zodiac Killer (circa 1960’s) Serial killer Michael Ryan (1960-1987) Spree killer Richard Ramirez (born 1960) Serial killer Westley Allan Dodd (1961-1993) Serial killer Paul Bernardo (born 1964) and Karla Homolka (born 1970) Serial killers Marc Lepine (1964-1989) Spree killer Bashar al-Assad (born 1965) President of Syria Martin Bryant (born 1967) Spree killer Mswati III (born 1968) King of Swaziland Susan Smith (born 1971) Murderer ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-people-poll-trying-again/538861/22 "2010-05-22T02:12:35Z")
Zhang Xianzhong was a Chinese warlord who ruled Sichuan during the fall of the Ming and did the following: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang\_Xianzhong](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Xianzhong) > [@](#): > > According to Chinese chronicles[citation needed], many scholars rejected that claim, so he had them massacred. After killing the scholars, he went after the women, merchants, and all the officials. Then he had his soldiers kill each other and the officers’ wives’ feet cut off and put on top of a mound. > > Zhang Xianzhong was obsessed with ears and feet[citation needed], so he had his own personal guards retrieve the ears and feet of the people killed in the outlying districts in order to count how many people they killed there. After the massacre was over, he ordered this inscription in a stone to be placed in an important part of Chengdu: > 天生万物以养人 Heaven brings forth innumerable things to help man. > 人无一德以报天 Man has nothing with which to recompense Heaven. > 杀杀杀杀杀杀杀[citation needed] Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. > > But thoses Zhang stone found have different inscription on it.[2] Zhang Xianzhong’s rule devastated Sichuan. The population of Sichuan dropped from 3,102,073 at 1578 to 18,090 at 1685, and the number of residents in Chengdu decreased from 400,000 to 20[citation needed]. A massive resettlement called Huguang fill Sichuan (湖廣填四川) lasted more than a century during the Qing Dynasty, which triggered another massive resettlement: Jiangxi fill Huguang. Few said he did not kill so many people.[3][4] Some other militia also massacred.[5] Lu Xun said he did that as he knew he is going to lose.[6] ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-people-poll-trying-again/538861/23 "2010-05-22T02:56:40Z")
Curtis, most people seem to have felt the initial list had too many names not too few. So I didn’t see any reason to open it up for additional nominations. As I posted, I did not create the list, I just compiled the existed lists I mentioned. I appreciate those who posted but I have to concede this idea just doesn’t seem to be taking off. And as I mentioned this was not the first attempt and the previous ones also collapsed. Under the circumstances, I don’t plan on continuing. If anyone else wants to take over, feel free. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-people-poll-trying-again/538861/24 "2010-05-22T05:00:50Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Curtis, most people seem to have felt the initial list had too many names not too few. > I appreciate those who posted but I have to concede this idea just doesn’t seem to be taking off. And as I mentioned this was not the first attempt and the previous ones also collapsed. Under the circumstances, I don’t plan on continuing. If anyone else wants to take over, feel free. Subtract about thirty or so not really evil people from the list and add a few. ---
**Author:** ![Mislav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mislav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mislav)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-people-poll-trying-again/538861/25 "2014-07-05T21:29:17Z")
Slightly off topic, but I remember reading about Donald Gaskins-he was sentenced to Reform school for assault with a deadly weapon and intent to kill. Victim came after him with an axe after catching him burglarizing her home, he took an axe away from her and hit her once. Sure he later ended up being pretty bad person but wasn’t that case kinda self defense? Wasn’t he supposed be convicted of burglary only? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-people-poll-trying-again/538861/26 "2014-07-06T01:07:36Z")
You should categorize the various people into 4-5 groups, then have people vote for least evil of each group until you end up with 1. When all groups are done, then you have an evil-off. You divide them up into groups just to make it a bit easier on the participants. I ran a “greatest person in history” game thread with this format and it seemed to have worked well. ETA: Just noticed this one was from 2010. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-people-poll-trying-again/538861/27 "2014-07-06T01:54:31Z")
I smell rotting flesh… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-people-poll-trying-again/538861.md?page=1)