Why We Love Serial Killers

by Scott Bonn

  Richard Ramirez died in prison of natural causes while awaiting execution on death row in 2013. He had a strange magnetism, similar to Charles Manson, and was keenly aware of the public’s fascination with him. He skillfully manipulated the press and aggressively promoted his demonic public identity as the Night Stalker. His broad appeal among serial killer aficionados, particularly women, has continued and perhaps even increased since his death. His great popularity is manifested in bizarre fashion by fans and groupies who collect his personal artifacts and mementos, including his clothing, original paintings, and writings. (I explore the strange hobby of collecting the so-called murderabilia of Richard Ramirez and other killers in chapter 11.)

  There is no more infamous serial killer “brand name” in the world—with the possible exception of Jack the Ripper—than the Son of Sam. As explained in chapter 6, David Berkowitz introduced his legendary moniker to the world in 1977 when he communicated directly with his pursuers for the first time by leaving a handwritten letter addressed to the NYPD near the body of one of his victims. In the poorly written note, which was partially incoherent and full of misspellings, Berkowitz used supernatural and satanic terminology to define himself. He wrote in part:

  I am the “Monster”—“Beelzebub”—the “Chubby Behemouth.” I love to hunt. Prowling the streets looking for fair game—tasty meat. The wemon of Queens are z prettyist of all. I must be the water they drink. I live for the hunt—my life. Blood for papa . . . “Go out and kill” commands father Sam. Behind our house some rest. Mostly young—raped and slaughtered—their blood drained—just bones now . . .

  David also drew an occult symbol on one of his letters which became part of the Son of Sam legend and his signature. He was delighted to see his threatening letters published in the New York City newspapers throughout his killing spree. The letters caused widespread panic and helped to establish the Son of Sam legend. Although he is now a born-again Christian and very remorseful for his crimes, David realizes that he is still considered to be the epitome of evil by many people. He also knows that there is nothing he can do to change that popular perception. From his perspective, society is obsessed with evil and murder which explains why the Son of Sam is an enduring demonic icon in the popular culture. At the same time, however, David takes responsibility for his own actions. He fully recognizes that he facilitated the construction of his public identity by committing his savage crimes and defining himself as a monster in his taunting letters to the press and police.

  Many infamous criminals have a knack for attracting a following but David Berkowitz is unique in that he has been aggressively reinventing himself in prison as the Son of Hope through his letter-writing ministry and the global exposure he has received as a redeemed serial killer. With the help of an odd assortment of Christian ministers, evangelists, social workers, followers, and even victims’ rights advocates, David is receiving what amounts to a highly unusual public relations makeover. However, the bulk of the attention he has received has been confined to the religious community so his new identity is largely unknown to the general public. Moreover, as discussed in chapter 6, many people scoff at David’s claim of spiritual transformation. In particular, the mainstream media have been skeptical of his born-again Christian status. Perhaps it is a testimony to the news media’s preoccupation with the macabre and the destructive power of the labels “evil” and “monster” that the Son of Sam moniker will likely forever eclipse the Son of Hope in the public consciousness.

  Perhaps no serial killer ever relished or participated more heavily in the construction of his own public image than the BTK Killer. Dennis Rader was determined to establish a brand name for himself and attract public notoriety like the Boston Strangler and the Son of Sam, so he brazenly contacted the news media in the fall of 1974 and left a letter for authorities at the local public library which instructed his pursuers to call him “Bind, Torture, Kill.” Similar to the first letter to authorities from the Son of Sam, the first letter from BTK included supernatural descriptions of himself. In particular, Dennis used the word “monster” as a descriptor on several occasions. He introduced himself to authorities in his first letter with the following words:

  . . . I’m sorry this happen to society. They are the ones who suffer the most . . . Where this monster enter my brain I will never know. But, it here to stay. How does one cure himself? If you ask for help, that you have killed four people, they will laugh or hit the panic button and call the cops . . .

  Dennis’ expression of concern for society in this letter is laughable in its insincerity. Contrary to his written statement, his actual goals in writing to authorities were narcissistic and self-gratifying—that is, to create terror, gain notoriety, and demonstrate intellectual superiority. In addition to his desire to instill public panic and gain attention, Dennis was particularly driven by a need to show off his ability to outsmart his pursuers. He taunted law enforcement authorities for years to satisfy that need. As explained in chapter 7, Dennis has an antisocial personality disorder known as malignant narcissism which affords him a grandiose sense of his own abilities and accomplishments. He simply cannot get enough attention or notoriety to satisfy his inflated ego.

  An example of this need for attention and notoriety, Dennis openly bragged in one of his letters to me about a particular time that he outsmarted his police pursuers. It involved him having to go to city hall to receive a permit when he became a city compliance officer. City hall was also the home of the BTK command center which had been established by the Wichita Police Department to oversee the hunt for the unknown killer. After receiving his permit, Dennis was escorted around the facility by a member of the BTK task force and incredibly given an update on the latest progress in the investigation. Dennis described this incident as a tremendous “rush” for him and I believe it was one of the great highlights of his life. He had the police completely fooled. I believe that the ego gratification Dennis received from outsmarting the police and demonstrating his intellectual superiority over them was an even greater thrill for him than killing his victims.

  I asked Roy Hazelwood why, in his experience, some serial killers contact the news media and law enforcement authorities and take credit for their crimes. His answer to me points directly to the personality disorders of psychopathy and narcissism. Hazelwood told me that such contact satisfies four significant needs for a serial killer:

  1) It allows him to brag. Up to this time he was the only one who knew what he did. BTK had three secrets (what actually happened during the crime; whether the killer was alive or dead; and who committed the crime). Having a secret is no fun unless you can share it, but then it is no longer a secret. In Rader’s case, he shared two of his three secrets: The killer took pictures [of his victims] and the killer was still alive and in the area. What remained a secret was the identity of the killer.

  2) It validates his superiority over society in general and the police in particular.

  3) It re-ignites the fear and emotional trauma in the community, giving him a tremendous sense of power.

  4) It allows him to read about himself on almost a daily basis as the media revives the case by re-writing old stories, re-interviewing friends and neighbors of previous murder victims, and interviewing experts from the mental health, law enforcement, and academic professions.

  These important insights provided by Roy Hazelwood support my contention that many serial killers derive great pleasure from being actively involved in their public identity construction. While not every serial killer contacts his pursuers or assigns a brand name to himself, it is clear that many serial killers do relish their criminal celebrity status and enjoy fueling the public panic they create. It is also very fitting that Hazelwood used BTK as his example because no serial killer was ever more concerned about his public image and legacy than Dennis Rader.

  Another serial killer who loved his public image as a celebrity monster and helped to construct it was the Zodiac Killer who operated in Norther
n California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Although the killer’s identity remains unknown to this day, he originated the name “Zodiac” in a series of taunting letters he sent to the Bay Area press containing a hand-drawn symbol that became his iconic signature. Some of the letters also included cryptograms or ciphers—that is, coded messages. On August 1, 1969, three letters prepared by the killer were received at the Vallejo Times Herald, the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner. The nearly identical letters took credit for two very recent shootings. Each letter also included one-third of a 408-symbol cryptogram that, according to the killer, contained his identity. The unknown killer demanded the letters and cryptogram be printed on each paper’s front page or he would “cruse [sic] around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend.” The Chronicle published its third of the cryptogram on page four of the following day’s edition. The murders the killer threatened did not occur and all three parts of the cryptogram were eventually published by the newspapers. Similar to BTK and the Son of Sam, the Zodiac Killer received tremendous notoriety by contacting his pursuers and just like them he would go on to murder again. Ultimately, however, the Zodiac stopped killing for unknown reasons and vanished.

  The Role of the Public

  In chapter 9, I stated that the public is the most important set of actors in a moral panic drama—even more important than the folk devils that are the alleged source of the panic. It is the concern of the public over an alleged threat posed by the folk devils that represents the central element of a moral panic drama. In fact, the success of politicians, law enforcers, and the news media in precipitating and sustaining a moral panic is ultimately contingent upon how successfully they fuel concern and outrage toward the folk devils among the public. Although the societal reaction to serial killers does not constitute a moral panic in the US per se, the moral panic concept provides a useful frame of reference for analyzing the role of the public in the social construction of serial killers. Consistent with the tenets of moral panic, the public comes to perceive serial killers as celebrity folk devils due to the combined efforts of law enforcement officials, the news media, and the killers themselves.

  The role of the public leads to the central question of this book: Why are so many people fascinated (or even obsessed) with serial killers? When I posed this question directly to self-described serial killer fans I received responses such as, “They are so crazy and violent” and “I can’t believe they do those terrible things.” After a time, a common sentiment emerged from among the serial killer aficionados I queried. That is, the incomprehensible nature of serial killers and their crimes make them morbidly fascinating to many people. Although this finding made perfect sense to me, I wanted to get feedback on it from professionals who are actually involved in the social construction of serial killers. Therefore, I approached experts in criminal justice and the news media in order to gain their insights into what the public had told me. I solicited the thinking of academic scholars on this topic as well because I believed that they could offer unique, insightful interpretations of what I had learned.

  Serial Killers Are Exciting and Addictive

  My research has revealed that the appeal of serial killers is quite complex. For example, many people are drawn to serial killers because they elicit excitement similar to disasters like train wrecks and earthquakes. Former FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood explained that people are attracted to extreme violence in many forms, including accidents and natural disasters, because of the thrill it gives them. He said, “There is a true sense of excitement in violence. I refer you to what happens when there is an [automobile] accident involving fatalities. Many people stop. Some to help but most want to actually see the carnage. I know because I was in the Military Police in the Army.”

  Like Hazelwood, I believe most people are compelled to watch an accident or disaster that unfolds before their eyes. This is due to a morbid sense of excitement that such events generate. Serial killers provide thrills and chills that are very similar to a catastrophic accident. In fact, the public’s fascination with serial killers can be seen as a specific manifestation of its more general fixation on violence and calamity. In other words, the actions of a serial killer may be horrible to behold but much of the public simply cannot look away due to the thrill of the spectacle.

  Perhaps most importantly, the public audience receives a jolt of adrenaline for witnessing the deeds of a serial killer. Adrenaline is a hormone which produces a powerful, stimulating, and even addictive affect on the human brain. If you doubt the addictive affect of adrenaline, think of the thrill-seeking child who will ride a roller coaster over and over until he or she becomes physically ill. I believe that serial killers have a visceral appeal that is linked to the release of adrenaline.

  Serial Killers Are Enigmatic and Could Be Anyone

  The extreme brutality of serial killers’ murders and related crimes also fuel the public’s fascination. The average person who has been properly socialized to respect life and who possesses the normal range of emotions such as love, shame, pity, and remorse cannot comprehend the workings of a pathological mind that would compel one to abduct, torture, rape, kill, engage in necrophilia with, or eat another human being. Most people have never been exposed to anything in their lives like the actions of a serial killer, and their lack of familiarity with such things causes morbid curiosity. Stated differently, the incomprehensibility of their crimes makes serial killers enigmas in the minds of the public. Our fascination with serial killers is based in part on a need to understand why anyone would do such horrible things to other people, particularly complete strangers.

  Another important aspect of the public’s obsession with serial killers has to do with the fact that prolific serial killers often blend into society very effectively and for long periods of time. The reality of a mild-mannered and stone-cold psychopath such as John Wayne Gacy is nothing like the serial killer stereotype generally presented in the news and entertainment media. In person, killers like Gacy come across as average guys, even charming, not like predatory monsters. This unexpected contradiction is both intriguing and terrifying to people. As noted by Dr. Jeffrey Walsh, a criminal justice professor at Illinois State University:

  They [serial killers] tend to blend into society relatively efficiently . . . that’s another thing people are disturbed by. Because of how horrible their acts often are, we sometimes think they look different than us or that we would recognize them. The fact is, many of them have regular lives and blend in, so they don’t meet the stereotypical views of what a monster would be like.109

  The fact that serial killers can blend in so effectively is horrifying to many people because it means that anyone could be a serial killer. Because of their uncanny, chameleon-like skills at blending in, several high-profile serial killers have been dubbed “the killer next door” by the news media over the years, including Ted Bundy and Dennis Rader.

  Serial Killers Are Natural Born Predators

  Roy Hazelwood told me that the public’s fascination with serial killers is not surprising because people are drawn to all sorts of predators in the world, and serial killers represent a particularly enticing category of predator. He said:

  People are fascinated with dangerous natural predators—human and animal. Danger has an allure for people. Consider the zoo . . . The most visited exhibits are not the giraffes or aviary, but the snakes, lions and tigers. These are among the most dangerous predators in captivity and one can get very close to danger without actually being killed.

  Hazelwood astutely observes that serial homicide represents a rare and exotic form of predatory behavior that exists, paradoxically, right out in the open. He speculates that the relative scarcity and extreme violence perpetrated by serial killers, similar to attacks by great white sharks, make them very intriguing to the public. Interestingly, the BTK Killer also believes that people are fascinated by predators such
as sharks, snakes, and scorpions. Dennis Rader personally identifies with such creatures and sees himself as a natural born killer like a shark. Similar to Hazelwood, Dennis believes that the extreme brutality of his crimes and his apparent lack of remorse led to the public’s intense interest in his BTK alter ego. I believe that Hazelwood and Rader are both correct in their observations. Their insights suggest that a serial killer zoo, if such a thing existed, would be immensely popular, indeed.

  Serial Killers Are Really Scary

  My research also suggests that the public is drawn to serial killers because they trigger the most basic and powerful emotion in all of us—fear. Numerous laymen have told me that serial killers are terrifying because their murders seem to be motiveless and they usually target victims who are complete strangers to them. Dr. Nick Maroules, a professor of sociology at Illinois State University, also commented on the powerful link between serial killers and fear when he said:

  People are driven by fear. They’re afraid of it [serial murder]. They’re shocked and they want to understand it [because] it seems so out there, so intense. They don’t have any way to explain it . . . I think people are particularly scared when they think “this can happen out of nowhere, anywhere. It can happen to me.”110

  The disregard for human life and the suffering of others that is exhibited by serial killers shocks the collective consciousness of society and causes people to question their safety and security. At the individual level, the thought that you might be the next victim of a serial killer is both incomprehensible and horrifying. The absence of logic that seems to define serial homicide is too much for many people to grasp. From the serial killer’s perspective, however, the fear they instill in others is like an aphrodisiac to them. They love it and want more, so they continue to kill and relish in the terror they cause among the public.