The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

I was always of the opinion that most serial killers in particular commit their acts out of the need for the ultimate control and power over others. They receive gratification from feeling the "god-like" power of controlling the fate of another. But there are several different scenarios and reasons as to why people commit the act of killing another human. Yeah sure, people say "ALL those who kill are evil monsters" without ever considering the situation behind why they killed in the first place. Take for example, Theodore Edward Gein, yeah he did some pretty macabre things such as going to the local Plainfield, Wisconsin cemetery to exhume the corpses of women who reminded him of his mother. He also was also convicted of killing a local tavern owner and the local hardware store owner, both women. When police raided his home they discovered his house to be a horrific scene of dismembered body, skeletal remains and human skin all made into decoration, furniture, and clothes. But what the media didn't focus on is the fact that he was mentally handicapped as well, or "very slow" as some said. They also didn't focus on the fact that he was born to an abusive alcoholic father and overbearing religious zealot mother who believed all women were whores of the devil with the exception of herself. And she literally beat these fanatical religious views into Ed and his brother all their lives. Once his father and brother died (which their is suspicion that Ed may have killed his brother), it left him and his mother alone. His mother had a stroke that left her bedridden, her health deteriorated and she died. Given his impressionable childlike mental state, his obsession with horror comic books, and magazines about south sea headhunters and cannibals of the jungles and Nazi war crimes, along with his mothers fanatical religious abuse and his deep love/hate relationship for his mother, his life just spiral out of control. He started living out his obsessions thinking that somehow he could resurrect his dead mother. Yeah, Ed Gein liked what he was doing, but he had the mind of a child, so one can't really say he truly knew what he was doing. Perhaps had he had a higher IQ, it could have had an entirely different perspective on it all and he may not have done the things he did at all.

Now on the other hand, not ALL serial killers are this way, some have high IQs and know full well what they are doing and take pleasure in it. Take for example, Ted Kazinsky "the unibomber" or the Zodiac Killer (who some believe was Ted Kazinsky, but it has never been proven). Both had very high IQs and knew exactly what they were doing, but they did it anyway because it was gratifying to them. So I can see why their are categories for different killers, and I can see how in some instances mental state coupled with childhood experiences could give birth to a serial killer.

The point is, some are driven to killing for whatever reasons and some simply take pleasure in killing.

"I was always of the opinion that most serial killers in particular commit their acts out of the need for the ultimate control and power over others. They receive gratification from feeling the "god-like" power of controlling the fate of another. "

Some actually do, but not killers are the same nor are they all a slave to patterns.

Ted was considered more a terrorist than a serial killer I believe but yeah, I heard he was a suspect.
The Zodiac was never caught and the other favorite suspect Arthur Leigh Allen died, but even if he didn't; the handwriting and dna did not match. Score another for the killers.

The categories are visionary, mission orientated, power and hedonistic. The latter has three sub-categories, lust, thrill and comfort.
Now not killers are enslaved to these motives, indeed a good killer would make sure not to be.

Pride and the need for media attention is something an intelligent killer must avoid if they hope for a long sporadic "career". It is pride and the desire to be known for their work is what ends up getting them caught. Of course, some actually do want to be caught....which I find idiotic even if I do understand their reasons.

Jack the Ripper is one case I always found must of been intelligent. To this day they have no clue who he was. Sure there was no ways back then for gathering DNA at crime scenes of his back then like today. But even today unless the person is in some crime data base already dna does nothing to catch them. It only benefits to have it after the person is caught. As far as are some a product of there childhood, like they killed puppies... I don't think they really know what makes one a Killer. Some just decide to do it; so they do it.