Which serial killer are you?

[Doctor Cringelord]

Which Famous Serial Killer Are You? - Crime Museum


I got Bundy.

 

[Saturnal Snowqueen]

Delphine LaLaurie

You got...Delphine LaLaurie! LaLaurie was a New Orleans socialite who tortured and killed many of her slaves in the early 1800s. LaLaurie was never arrested, and likely fled to Paris. Her New Orleans mansion is still standing and is a historical landmark. It is considered to be one of the most haunted homes in North America. In 2013, Delphine was portrayed by Kathy Bates on American Horror Story. You can learn more about Delphine LaLaurie by visiting Delphine LaLaurie - Crime Museum.

 

[Lexicon]

I got Manson.


After playing with the quiz a bit, I think the test bases the results largely on the location choice. But Manson was my original result. Probably selecting ‘music’ as my college major choice influenced it, as well.

We both find Scientology “too crazy,” so sure... it tracks.

I got Bundy.

If you ever use Bundy as a Halloween costume avatar, I must insist you make your User Title simply ‘poopbutt.’

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I got Manson.


After playing with the quiz a bit, I think the test bases the results largely on the location choice. But Manson was my original result. Probably selecting ‘music’ as my college major choice influenced it, as well.

We both find Scientology “too crazy,” so sure... it tracks.

If you ever use Bundy as a Halloween costume avatar, I must insist you make your User Title simply ‘poopbutt.’

I was hoping for the zodiac killer although I’m not even sure that’s a potential result.

 

[Lexicon]

I was hoping for the zodiac killer although I’m not even sure that’s a potential result.

Yeah, that one never came up for me when I was playing around w/the answers. Since he was never caught, we don’t have much to go on about his everyday preferences, so I could see him being omitted from this kinda test. Just a guess.

 

[Totenkindly]

Uggh, just looking at the test setup, this looks to be pretty craptastic.

I will just cut to the chase -- while I don't identify as a serial killer nor ever plan to kill or even beat up another human being, probably Ed Kemper is the most interesting one to me in terms of mentality. Basically he felt like an outsider or loner much of his life, like he didn't fit in. he did time as a juvenile I think after shooting his grandparents.

His IQ is pretty high for a serial killer, I think it's been tested at 145? (I think Bundy might be the other "smartest" one in terms of raw intelligence, but Bundy was pretty manic / extroverted and had a huge chip on this shoulder.) What I've read in recent years is actually most serial killers are only a slight bit above average intelligence at best. Then again, while Kemper did kill multiple victims, his mentality always seemed a bit different than the ones regularly kill strangers.

Kemper basically lived with his mom for awhile and absolutely hated her, she was naggy and abusive. he ended up killing a few coeds, doing bad things with the bodies, then burying their heads in his backyard, then realized he actually just wanted to kill his mom and was projecting (eep). So he immediately just killed her and then turned himself in; at first they didn't take the call seriously and he had to wait for some hours to get picked up, but then has been in jail ever since. That might have been the late 70's. He actually has been somewhat productive in jail, recording thousands of audiobooks. He also was a standard interview source with Douglas when they were building the FBI serial killer methodology / psychology. I had heard he's been in poor health.

In conversation, he scanned like some kind of low-key ISTP, I could definitely track his overall logic. it's also ironic how he basically figured himself out after the first awful crimes, resolved his anger (by killing the one person he really wanted to kill), and then just turned himself in to be locked away as a logical conclusion to his crimes, then basically became an information source (ITP style). IOW, if he wasn't emotionally stoic/schizoid, a big guy (6'9"), and a known killer, he might be the local fire-fighter guy or police scanner dude in a small town you saw regularly at the local pub.

I'm not sure how widely known he was, except for book readers, until Mindhunter got big on Netflix.

 

[Lexicon]

Uggh, just looking at the test setup, this looks to be pretty craptastic.

I will just cut to the chase -- while I don't identify as a serial killer nor ever plan to kill or even beat up another human being, probably Ed Kemper is the most interesting one to me in terms of mentality. Basically he felt like an outsider or loner much of his life, like he didn't fit in. he did time as a juvenile I think after shooting his grandparents.

His IQ is fairly high for a serial killer. (I think Bundy might be the other "smartest" one in terms of raw intelligence, but Bundy was pretty manic / extroverted and had a huge chip on this shoulder.) What I've read in recent years is actually most serial killers are only a slight bit above average intelligence at best.

Kemper basically lived with his mom for awhile and absolutely hated her, she was naggy and abusive. he ended up killing a few coeds and burying their heads in his backyard, then realized he actually just wanted to kill his mom and was projecting (eep), so he immediately just killed her and then turned himself in and had to wait for some hours to get picked up but then has been in jail ever since. That might have been the late 70's. He actually has been somewhat productive in jail, recording thousands of audiobooks. He also was a standard interview source with Douglas when they were building the FBI serial killer methodology / psychology. I had heard he's been in poor health.

In conversation, he scanned like some kind of low-key ISTP, I could definitely track his logic. it's also ironic how he basically figured himself out, resolved his anger (by killing the one person he really wanted to kill), and then just turned himself in to be locked away as a logical conclusion to his crimes, then basically became an information source (ITP style). IOW, if he wasn't emotionally stoic/schizoid, a big guy (6'5"), and a known killer, he might be the local fire-fighter guy or police scanner dude in a small town you saw regularly at the local pub.

I'm not sure how widely known he was, except for book readers, until Mindhunter got big on Netflix.

I’m a giant weirdo, so I’ve picked up near-encyclopedic knowledge about serial killers, ever since they’d piqued my interest at 17ish (Discalimer: not because I think they’re cool/relatable or anything dysfunctional like that— I just find abnormal psych interesting, & they certainly fit that bill. Dissecting aberrant behavior/thought processes interests me to no end). Ed Kemper definitely stands out, and not just for his imposing stature. Along with his high IQ, he seemed to have the highest degree of insight into how his own mind worked, compared to other infamous serial killers (as you’ve said, he recognized his victims were a proxy for his mother— which, isn’t unique in itself, as Bundy’s victims were proxies for the ex who’d dumped him— but the level of awareness seems rather rare). His interviews are probably the most fascinating to me (sidenote: that actor who played him in Mindhunter freaking nailed it, imo. His skill was a damn pleasure to watch). I agree that Kemper vibes as Ti-dom.


It’s always annoyed me that the media portrays serial killers as genius-tier masterminds. In reality, most of them range from “unremarkably average” to “about as brilliant as a clump of dryer lint.”

I mean, take BTK, for instance.... he took decades to be caught, and he was painfully average in every way. And how he was caught was the icing atop his dumb-cake. Communicating with law enforcement via the newspaper: “Gee officers, you *SURE* sending you a floppy disk won’t be traceable?” Then he’s actually offended that LE lied to him about that.

Gary Ridgway, another prolific one, only went uncaught for so long because he picked high-risk prostitutes who often went missing/unreported due to the lifestyle. His IQ is probably on par with Forrest Gump’s. And a great many other serial killers evaded capture just because their victims were picked at random, which was rarely by conscious, intelligent planning on their part (like with Israel Keyes— and even his IQ was only estimated to be average to slightly above), and more often attributed to poor impulse control (*cough* Richard Ramirez, Ottis Toole).


Even with a higher degree of intelligence, as in Bundy’s case, the poor impulse control eventually gets ‘em in the end, it seems. I think, if Kemper hadn’t killed his mother & his mother’s friend/subsequently turned himself in, he likely never would have been caught. At least, not until forensic science caught up with any trace evidence potentially left on any of the victims’ recovered remains.

*reels in my macabre rambling/ranting*

But I get why the media clings to that trope. It makes for more complex storytelling.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

this thread is a 5 wet dream lol

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I always found Dennis Nilsen fascinating. He is often labelled the British Jeffrey Dahmer, even though he was caught first (though their active periods did overlap)

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I think the reason most serial killers test above average in intelligence is because the dumber ones tend to get caught before they have a chance to commit multiple murders after their first or second kills.

 

[Lexicon]

I always found Dennis Nilsen fascinating. He is often labelled the British Jeffrey Dahmer, even though he was caught first (though their active periods did overlap)

....is that the one who flushed his victims’ body parts down his toilet?

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

....is that the one who flushed his victims’ body parts down his toilet?

Yeah. A plumber reported it when they found what appeared to be bones clogging a pipe, IIRC. Grisly stuff

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Yep, serial killers rank up there with mafia/mob history as one of my interests.

We tend to speak of serial killers as a recent phenomenon, but I assume they've always existed. Probably was much easier to get away with it back then, and it was likely harder for authorities in ancient and medieval times to tie together various crimes and pinpoint a pattern. Lack of speedy communication between various towns and provinces, et al, would have made it nearly impossible to track. Also just considering how police detective agencies and forensics are very recent developments.

 

[Lexicon]

Yeah. A plumber reported it when they found what appeared to be bones clogging a pipe, IIRC. Grisly stuff

As if that job weren’t gross enough. How the hell did that guy think the pipes would handle that? *shakes head*

Yep, serial killers rank up there with mafia/mob history as one of my interests.

Yeah,I fell down some reading rabbit holes on the mob few years ago. I blame finally binging on The Sopranos.

We tend to speak of serial killers as a recent phenomenon, but I assume they've always existed. Probably was much easier to get away with it back then, and it was likely harder for authorities in ancient and medieval times to tie together various crimes. Lack of speedy communication between various towns and provinces, et al, would have made it nearly impossible to track.

Yeah, I think the speed of communication plays a huge role in our collective perception that the these crimes are more prevalent than before. They’re not. The trees fall in the woods, regardless if anyone hears.

There’s something like 50 serial killers active in the US at any given time, iirc. I think their activity may actually be decreasing now (at least slightly), due to advances in forensic science, and people leaving digital footprints nearly everywhere they go, by various means.

I do wonder if spree killings (ie mass shootings & the like) have been steadily rising more, since it’s harder now to get away with leaving a trail of victims. But, I’m probably oversimplifying it, as motivations (particularly sexual components) and individual psych issues are huge factors in how this sort of thing manifests to begin with. There’s some overlap w/homicidal ideation, obviously, but everything else probably varies too much, now that I think about it...

 

[Totenkindly]

Ed Kemper definitely stands out, and not just for his imposing stature. Along with his high IQ, he seemed to have the highest degree of insight into how his own mind worked, compared to other infamous serial killers (as you’ve said, he recognized his victims were a proxy for his mother— which, isn’t unique in itself, as Bundy’s victims were proxies for the ex who’d dumped him— but the level of awareness seems rather rare). His interviews are probably the most fascinating to me (sidenote: that actor who played him in Mindhunter freaking nailed it, imo. His skill was a damn pleasure to watch). I agree that Kemper vibes as Ti-dom.

Yeah, Cameron Britton was pretty good. (He was also in Season 1 of The Umbrella Academy on Netflix, if you want to see him in something else.) It helps that he's a similar build but he also seems to have the right demeanor for the role too. (low key, matter of fact, quietly pleasant, etc.) Kemper had been considered a model prisoner both times he was incarcerated and often managed to wrangle positions of some responsibility because of his intelligence and demeanor, lol.

It’s always annoyed me that the media portrays serial killers as genius-tier masterminds. In reality, most of them range from “unremarkably average” to “about as brilliant as a clump of dryer lint.”

I mean, take BTK, for instance.... he took decades to be caught, and he was painfully average in every way. And how he was caught was the icing atop his dumb-cake. Communicating with law enforcement via the newspaper: “Gee officers, you *SURE* sending you a floppy disk won’t be traceable?” Then he’s actually offended that LE lied to him about that.

Yeah, BTK was the other one that I thought of, that I had to reject as being smart. (I could have mentioned Dahmer, who was another of the rare smart ones along with Bundy.) He had seemed highly intelligent because of his early communications + his managing to just disappear without ever getting caught. Then when he was caught, it was rather shocking because he was mostly a mean and petty bully and not actually that smart at all on the IQ chart. A grumpy, old, surly man with a domination fetish. (Which actually makes sense if you revisit BTK's crimes. Should we have expected anything else? But there was a certain mystique about them.) I remember rolling my eyes when he got caught because he didn't realize the header information in word processer programs embeds the author of the document in it. What a dumb-ass. I mean, I guess he wouldn't know, he's of a generation that grew up without computers, but someone more adept would have picked up on that... I learned it just through using such programs, because my brain likes to understand a lot of context. It suggests he's only interested in learning the obvious.

Ridgway was actually way under normal IQ wise, as you note, and yeah it was more his victim selection pool + dumping locations that made him really hard to pinpoint.

Even with a higher degree of intelligence, as in Bundy’s case, the poor impulse control eventually gets ‘em in the end, it seems. I think, if Kemper hadn’t killed his mother & his mother’s friend/subsequently turned himself in, he likely never would have been caught. At least, not until forensic science caught up with any trace evidence potentially left on any of the victims’ recovered remains.

Yup. I do think it's a different ballgame nowadays based on our forensic approach and capabilities + the powers of computer networking. At this point, a criminal's goal is (1) not to leave trace evidence if at all possible or (2) make sure your DNA is never included in any widely used database. Even when they get DNA, it only matters if the criminal has submitted DNA for some reason to a wide network or if a family member (which has partial DNA matching to the criminal) has done so.

But I get why the media clings to that trope. It makes for more complex storytelling.

Yeah, it's not nearly as interesting to investigate a dim-witted or dull killer, unless it's a parody of some kind.

Yeah, I think the speed of communication plays a huge role in our collective perception that the these crimes are more prevalent than before. They’re not. The trees fall in the woods, regardless if anyone hears.

I think overall it's that way for many things, involving the news.

A lot of social groups people think are new (like trans) are not new at all, most people just were not exposed to the concepts before, but there's documented cases out there going back decades if you're a reader. Same thing for a lot of crimes and conflicts and social problems and whatever else -- it just seems new because people hadn't received the information in the past, now we can be crushed under a tidal wave of information shortly after any event around the world occurs.

I do wonder if spree killings (ie mass shootings & the like) have been steadily rising more, since it’s harder now to get away with leaving a trail of victims. But, I’m probably oversimplifying it, as motivations (particularly sexual components) and individual psych issues are huge factors in how this sort of thing manifests to begin with. There’s some overlap w/homicidal ideation, obviously, but everything else probably varies too much, now that I think about it...

Sure, it is complex, but your theory sounds fairly likely. Again, we are more liable to hear about shootings because our social fixation and the increased ease of getting guns capable of such things into the hands of nuts. But it's kinda like steady quiet damage (stabby rogues!) versus AOE burst damage (machine gun harry!), especially if the point is to make a splash.

 

[yubih]

Charles Manson

You got...Charles Manson! In the late 1960s, Manson led a commune known as the Manson Family in a murder spree in the California desert. Manson believed that there would be an apocalyptic war of the races, known as Helter Skelter- the name of which was taken from a song by the Beatles. Manson was convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in 1971 and was sentenced to death. His sentence was reduced to life in prison when California temporarily eliminated the death penalty in 1972. Though the death penalty has since been reinstated, Manson remains incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison. You can learn more about Charles Manson and the Manson Family by visiting Charles Manson and the Manson Family - Crime Museum.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

The similarities between Nilsen and Dahmer are interesting. They both seemed to kill out of love, due to extreme loneliness and wanting to keep their victims with them forever. That isn’t to say that what they did wasn’t vile and cruel, just that their motivations were different from Bundy and Gacy who both seemed motivated more by a desire for power and control. Bundy and Gacy both seemed to suffer delusions of grandeur, imagining themselves as important, influential men.

 

[Totenkindly]

The similarities between Nilsen and Dahmer are interesting. They both seemed to kill out of love, due to extreme loneliness and wanting to keep their victims with them forever. That isn’t to say that what they did wasn’t vile and cruel, just that their motivations were different from Bundy and Gacy who both seemed motivated more by a desire for power and control. Bundy and Gacy both seemed to suffer delusions of grandeur, imagining themselves as important, influential men.

yeah, as you note it doesn't change the gross results of their actions (i.e., lives tortured and destroyed), but it does suggest that any route to reformation would be different -- and maybe they would have better chance to change, versus the pure megalomaniacs who get off on power and almost sadistic. I guess too the specific psychology of whether they view others completely as objects (and not people) would impact any attempt at positive transformation.

Being a little more specific, maybe you have more to work with if someone longs for connection. That need can be met in other ways that are more productive, if trust can be developed. But the need for power and control isn't really something you can replace in a positive sense in relationships.

 

[Pessimistic Hippie]

LOL Aileen Wuornos.

The movie made about her -- 'Monster' with Charlize Theron -- was one of my favorites/I've seen it countless times. Fucking figures.

 

[Morpeko]

Another Bundy.