How Do You Make a Serial Killer?

The recent conviction in the UK of a serial killer has raised my interest in what makes these sort of people ‘tick’.

How do they get through a day?

Do they sleep soundly at night?

Do they stick out in a crowd – you know there is always one person who you have met and whom you have a creepy feeling about and you just wonder what does go on inside their heads?

Some research seems to point towards early signs or common factors in the early lives of children which points to possible problems at a later stage of development.

The three factors are bed-wetting, violence or torture towards small animals and assault by an adult at an early age.

Unfortunately, we cannot legislate against children becoming monsters in later life but it may allow us to spot them earlier if we know a whole lot more about them.

Looking at pictures of serial killers ( look at some of the pictures of related HUbs on right and you will see what I mean - one is even a Doctor of Medicine) the surprising thing is how ordinary and unremarkable they look. I expected to see serial killers to have loads of tattoo’s all over their bodies. I also expected them to have broken, yellow teeth and straggly greasy hair. Not finding these features or horns anywhere on their heads may explain how they get away with killing so many people as they do not stand out in a crowd and are non-descript and innocuous so as to fade into the back ground.

And I think this is the very reason why they get away with fooling their victims because they look so ordinary.

I find - I think like most people- that if I cheat on my bill in a restaurant or do someone an injustice at least the pangs of guilt and on most occasions will try to put things right.

If I drink to much and insult my friends I must phone and appologise the next day as the light of day has this affect or is it sobering up.

These feelings of doing wrong and trying to put it right are part of my upbringing and personality now as I certainly wasn't born with these traits.  Incidentally that is why children or babies appear to be so selfish and if they need feeding they sure let you know in the most vocal fashion that they need food or a nappy change - it's a self-preservation tactic and it works extremely efficiently as well. 

I distinctly remember my mother asking me to respect others and to imagine what others may think of me if I took a particular course of action.

These lessons to understand and appreciate what others may be thinking are important lessons for a developing child and are one of the earliest forms of putting oneself in someone else's shoes or developing a form of empathy for others.

I suspect that the early upbringing of serial killers misses out on these lessons or some other motivation guides their behaviour to commit such savage crimes. They are consumed by other forces of motivation which does not see a victim but a target, they seem to enjoy humiliating their victims and also violence goes hand in hand with sexual motivation in their lives.