Who Was The Worlds Most Prolific Serial Killer?
by Joel Hendon(756)
There are known to have been at least two individuals who purportedly killed more than anyone else, yet the records are so incomplete, or inaccessible, verification of any of their totals is virtually impossible.
The oldest of these that I have been able to find is one Christian Gniperdoliga, an outlaw of the Holy Roman Empire whose activities were from 1568 to 1581 who is supposed to have killed 964 people. This is listed in Wikipedia but further details seem to be missing.
Another similar to the one above, Tefilo Rojas Varn, a Columbian bandit active from 1948 to 1963 who confessed to killing 592 people but was accused of approximately 3500. Further details concerning him are also missing.
As for as the United States is concerned, our worst killer on record is Henry Lee Lucas whose operations lasted from 1960 to 1983 who had 189 solved murders attributed to him. However, the full figure is unknown but is thought to be more than 300 with some estimating it to be as high as 600.
Lucas confessed to being involved in about 600 murders but details of many are not know and he later recanted all his confessions. He had a pitiable young life which probably attributed to his killing later in life.
He was born in 1936 in Blacksburg Virginia. His father was an alcoholic, formerly employed as a railroad hand, who lost his legs when he was hit by a freight train. His mother was also an alcoholic prostitute, who reportedly beat her children and her husband as well.
Lucas also accused her of making him watch as she had sex with her clients. His father died in 1949 from hypothermia, after walking home drunken in a blizzard and collapsing before he got to the house. (Note: This account does not mention how he was walking after he had lost his legs. He perhaps had wooden legs and used crutches.)
The first known murder by Lucas was his mother in 1960 whom he said was beating him and he struck her in self defense. None the less, he was found guilty of second degree murder and was sentenced to 20-40 years in prison but was released in 10 years due to overcrowded prisons.
He and an associate, Ottis Toole, drifted and killed, approximately 1 person per week for several years. There was much controversy about whom he had killed and how many, after he recanted his previous confessions but was given the death sentence in Texas.
Due to the many questions that were not solved and because Amnesty International put pressure on the authorities until the then Texas governor, George W. Bush commuted his sentence to life in prison where he died from heart failure in 2001 at age 64.
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Article submitted Saturday, April 11, 2009 & read 714 times.
Leave Your Comments:
» left by Chiradeep - The Candles (333 days 7 hours ago.)
Good article ...very informative...Wishing you Happy easter...Respond to this comment
» left by joel Hendon (333 days 7 hours ago.)
Thank You Chiradeep. I hope you also have a nice day today.Respond to this comment
» left by Nancy Daniels (333 days 7 hours ago.)
Joel,Interesting article. I am confident that if you look at the developmental years of all these serial killers you will always find the cause.Thanks for sharing,NancyRespond to this comment
» left by Joel Hendon (333 days 6 hours ago.)
Thanks for reading and commenting Nancy. Yes, I imagine you are right. This Lucas fellow had plenty of experiences that would likely damage one's mind. But, on the other hand, it just some so far removed from normalcy, that I can hardly imagine it. I think if I killed one person, even accidentally, I'd probably go crazy from that.When I was drafted into the army during the Korean war in 1951, I prayed earnestly that I would not have to kill anyone, and of course, that I would not be killed. I'm thankful that it turned out just that way.Respond to this comment
» left by Connor Davidson(1) (332 days 6 hours ago.)
Great article. Well done.Here is two serial killers which caught my interest. Have you ever heard of the chessboard killer?Alexander Pichuzkin is known as the chessboard killer as he marked every kill with a token on a chess board. He had the ambition of being Russia’s worst serial killer.The other could be thought of as a serial killer was Tsar Ivan the terrible. He was responsible e for the deaths of 50,000 in his torture dungeon. He personally killed several thousand by torturing them to death personally. His victims included his own son!Respond to this comment
» left by Joel Hendon (332 days 5 hours ago.)
Hi Connor, thanks for reading and commenting. No, I had not heard of those two. I have been reading about some though, starting with the oldest I could find. It makes one wonder, just what is snapped in these people who seem to get pleasure from killing. I can think of nothing more unpleasant.Respond to this comment
» left by Connor Davidson(1) (332 days 5 hours ago.)
For Alexander Pichuzkin it was a head injury, being bullied, then the death of his granddad and dog.As for Tsar Ivan you could read my article "Tsar Ivan - the man behind the monster"Respond to this comment
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