The Makings of a Psychopath – 8 Characteristics Of A Serial Killer

What is it about Serial Killers that make them so obsessed with human organs and gruesome scenes?

The truth is, nobody can comprehend a pathological killer’s twisted mind. However, there are a bunch of theories that suggest similarities among those deranged lunatics.

What triggers a serial killer? (god I hate that word) What emotions do they feel if any? At some point do they become addicted to killing? Are they just high thrill seekers?

Here are 8 common characteristics of a textbook serial killer.  

1. They Think They’re Superior And Can Outsmart Everyone

supierior being

Image Credits:

Serial Killer after Serial Killer, we’ve seen these boogers display delusions that they can outsmart not just their victims, but law enforcement.

Serial killers are mentally capable of engaging in the risk of pathological murder, because in their mind set, it is simply not possible for them to get caught.

However, a couple of these sons of @#$&%* were never brought to justice.

Here are 4 notable examples of egocentricity in serial killers:

Jack The Ripper

jack the ripper

Jack the Ripper, a man who literally got away with murder. So much so, he would send conniving letters to police taunting them that he is slaughtering more prostitutes.

Jack The Ripper Himself

Needless to say, he was never caught.

And of course, the one and only:

Zodiac Killer

zodiac killer

This man is the go to example for serial killers everywhere who need to assert their immortality.

Much like the infamous Ripper, he would taunt police officials with chilling letters detailing not only his vicious plans, but the gruesome underpinnings of his merciless crimes. He would also use his notoriously bloody reputation to try and force society to act in his image.

While these 2 pieces of sh!#s got away with their crimes against humanity, this egocentric and self-centered genius did not:

Dr. Death

harold shipman

Harold Shipman, otherwise known as Dr. Death, or Harold Shitman, was an English Surgeon and General Practitioner . His methods of murder? Large injections of morphine on his trusting patients..

After he was arrested, investigators recall sensing extreme arrogance from him; he literally requested to speak ONLY with the head of the task force, “because his intellectual mind was too complex to acknowledge some random interrogator”.

To our blessings, he was sentenced to life in prison, and hung himself about a year later.

Egocentric Quote By Richard Ramirez   

richard ramirez

We’ve all got power in our hands to kill, but most people are afraid to use it. The one’s who aren’t afraid control life itself – Richard Ramirez

2. Smooth Talking, But Not Genuine 

ted bundy smooth talking

If sociopaths aren’t smooth talking, how do they catch prey? 

They won’t, and that is why they have to manifest an uncanny ability to charm not just their poor victims, but the jury as well.

The Bloody Charming Ted Bundy

ted bundy charming

I introduce you to Ted Bundy, a charming and handsome young man who can smooth talk his way into any social encounter. But deep underneath that facade lays a deranged and blood-thirsty animal who will surprise even the most ‘suspecting’ women with a streak of torture and inevitable death.

I bring to you this famous courtroom footage, which presents the best example of Bundy’s insincere smooth talking talent.

On the contrary, this is the true face underlying that facade:

bateman mask

Here’s another baffling example:

Rodney Alcala

rodney alcala 

Rodney Alcala, aka, The Dating Game Killer, was by far the most charming serial killer to have ever terrorized our society.

He made a surprising appearance in The Dating Game not long before he was arrested for murdering several women. Look how ‘smooth’ he was..

This is about as charming as a man can get; only with Alcala, he had dead bodies in the closet..

Alcala’s favorite place to charm young girls was at the beach.

rodney alcala beach girls

Girls found him to be “sweet & handsome”, needless to say, they were wrong, and they payed dearly for their vulnerability.

3. No Remorse Or Feelings Of Guilt

patrick bateman your not terribly important to me

This goes without saying, a man who is capable of butchering women and children is not capable of experiencing any emotions; if he would have, he would not have been able to take that first step into pathological murder.

Here are 2 infamous examples:

Joel Rifkin

joel rifkin

Joel Rifkin may seem like a nice guy, but it was painfully obvious that he showed no signs of remorse or guilt towards the grieving families he ‘strangled’.

You think of people as things… As much as I say I wanted to stop, there probably would’ve been others – Joel Rifkin

Jerry Brudos

jerry brudos

If there’s one man you DO NOT not want to cross, it’s Jerry Brudos, aka, The Lust Killer.

It had been made disturbingly clear from his recorded interviews that there is not a shred of guilt inside his twisted mind.

Watch this if you wish to see his chilling personality for yourself; it is shown right around 00:46.

4. Not A Shred Of Empathy After They Gruesomely Kill Someone

patrick bateman smoking cigar

Every serial killer that existed under the sun had absolutely no empathy in their veins, after having murdered someone in an unthinkable fashion.

To these psychos, murder is a day-to-day errand they just have to get off their system, or “get it over with”.

Here are 2 chilling examples:

Andrei Chikatilo

Andrei Chikatilo

If you encountered Andrei Chikatilo on a dark ally somewhere, that meant your liver, well, more than that actually.

A 19 year-old lady by the name of Anna Lemesheva sure did, and this poor innocent woman was stabbed multiple times and had her uterus removed by this satanic twat. 

Anna Lemesheva
Anna Lemesheva

Despite murdering a human being who had her whole life ahead of her, Chikatili, just like any textbook serial killer, simply brushed it off as an errand that was long overdue.

Another innocent victim, this time an 11 year-old boy by the name of Alexander Chepel, was strangled, castrated, and had his eyes removed by this deranged lunatic.

Alexander Chepel
Alexander Chepel

This poor kid didn’t get to find out what Junior High’s like, and Chikatili goes on with his senseless and violent murder spree, as if it never happened.

Rudolph Pliel

Rudolph Pliel

Rudolph Pliel, a German serial killer, was notorious for killing women in the most heinous of ways, and had shown no remorse for these gruesome crimes against humanity.

So much so, that he made this chilling statement:

What I did is not such a great harm, with all these surplus women nowadays. Anyway, I had a good time – Rudolph Pliel

A Cringe-Worthy Quote By Serial Killer Gary Lee Sampson 

gary lee sampson

I switched from stabbing to strangling because I was tired of getting blood on myself – Gary Lee Sampson

5. They Are Deceitful And Manipulative

patrick bateman manipulative

Almost every documented serial killer had exhibited a highly manipulative personality.

These murderers are capable of masking their true intentions, and are very calculated when it comes to luring their victims; anything from pity, charm, professional meetings, hell, even responding to classified ads.

They have the unique ability to lure their prey into a vulnerable position via a seemingly “sincere encounter”, all in the while having those twisted plans at the top of their head.

Here are 2 examples of such calculated deception:   

John Wayne Gacy

john wayne gacy

John Wayne Gacy was THE Dumbledore for the “Serial Killers School of Deception”.

His favorite method of luring unsuspecting high school boys? A contracting service for construction work.

john wayne gacy pdm contractors
PDM Contractors – Gacy’s ‘front’ for hiring oblivious high school boys.

Basically, Gacy would post classified ads requesting contractors for construction work. As time goes by, Gacy would hire young high school boys looking to make some money on the side.

Needless to say, these boys disappeared one after the other, and their bodies were eventually discovered, buried underneath Gacy’s home.

‘Boys-for-hire’ wasn’t Gacy’s only method of blood-thirsty deception; he would also work as a clown as a means to lure young boys into trusting him.

john wayne gacy clown
John Wayne Gacy – ‘The Killer Clown’

As a ‘side job’, Gacy would work as a clown, where he would gain the trust of vulnerable boys and lure them into a dark and isolated corner (well I’m actually not sure he did that with his clown gig).

creepy clown

A clown can get away with murder – John Wayne Gacy

Ted Bundy

ted bundy deceitfullness

Ted Bundy was great at calculating schemes to gain a woman’s trust, only to kidnap her when nobody’s looking.

One of his favorite methods of getting women into vulnerable situations was through the art of ‘pity’.  On a couple occasions, Bundy would pretend to be injured, and then proceed to ask women on the beach to help him carry stuff to his car. He would of course go on to kidnap and torture them.

‘The Deliberate Stranger’ shows a clear depiction of him doing it.

On several occasions, the deceitful Bundy went as far as posing as a police officer, telling women they must to accompany him to the police station for parking violations.

The ‘Ted Bundy’ film illustrates this method of deceit quite accurately.

6. They Are Impulsive And Have No Control Over Their Bloodlust

american psycho killer addiction

Pretty much every serial killer has a debilitating urge to kill; they find it impossible to resist the urge to inflict harm on another human being.

This twisted impulse tends to build up over time, as the blood-thirsty killer murders more and more people; they become accustomed to this lifestyle, and once they enter that vicious realm, which neither you nor I can possibly comprehend, the killings never stop.

Here are a few notable examples:

Tommy Lynn Sells

Tommy Lynn Sells

Tommy Lynn Sells, a man who allegedly murdered dozens of people, came across a woman in a convenience store. A debilitating impulse drove him to follow that poor woman to her home.

This grizzly ass quote by Sells himself details the incident:

I went into this house. I go to the first bedroom I see…I don’t know whose room it is and, and, and, and I start stabbing – Tommy Lynn Sells

The indigent individual who got stabbed dozens of times by this deranged psychopath was not the woman he followed home, it was her young son..

This man had a bloody compulsion, driven by the Devil himself, and it resulted in a string of honest people suffering the wrath of this crimson obsession.

Joel Rifkin

joel rifkin strangeling a woman

Joel Rifkin started off as a seemingly harmless individual; but his introduction to the world of prostitution was the starting point for what would eventually become the most horrific bloodbath in Long Island.

One night, Rifkin couldn’t pay the prostitute for her services, so he decided to strangle her to death and dump her body in an isolated area.

He was startled at first, but this non-impulsive murder produced a rush of adrenaline that fueled a sense of control in Rifkin’s vulnerable psyche. And from that night, Rifkin’s female victims piled in and around the seemingly peaceful premises of Long Island. Rifkin’s obsession with murder grew stronger and stronger.

If you have the stomach to watch this, here’s an interview showing how murder-impulsive this sociopath was.

A Statement By The Infamous David Alan Gore

David Alan Gore Quote

This further validates my point on serial killers who stumble upon a pathological path of bloodshed, with no impulse control.

7. An Overwhelming Need For Excitement

charles manson

Serial killers don’t just have a nightly bloodlust; more than anything else, they have a lust for excitement.

Typically, when an ordinary person feels that something is missing in his life, he may commit petty crimes like shoplifting, or, he may turn into some buzzkill activist, just to get that rush of adrenaline. Difference is with serial killers, only bloodshed gives them that ‘dose’ of adrenaline they so desperately seek.

Here are some obvious examples:

Jeffrey Dahmer 

jeffrey dahmer

Jeffrey Dahmer tried everything normal his mind could possibly fathom, to no avail. The reason for this isn’t shortcoming intelligence, rather that he simply did not find any excitement in ordinary things; career, school, hobbies, friends, dating, etc.

This feeling of emptiness, probably combined with an already twisted psyche, led to him discovering his true source of motivation; bloodshed.

Albert Fish

albert fish

Albert Fish was a pathological cannibal who indulged himself in sexual thrills so dark that Bundy himself wouldn’t be able to assimilate.

Fish once cut, cooked and ate a young woman, and proceeded to send an eerie letter to her mother detailing the heinous acts he inflicted on her daughter.

What makes him a textbook thrill seeker?

This statement right here:

Going to the electric chair will be the supreme thrill of my life – Albert Fish

David Berkowitz 

david berkowitz

Perhaps the most chilling quote made by a serial killer highlighting the blood-fueled thrill they lust for, is this statement made by David Berkowitz, aka, ‘The Son of Sam’.

berkowitz quote

8. Early Behavioral Problems 

killer child

Not all, but most serial killers grew up socially awkward. A lot of them recall not having any friends, spending most of their days playing with themselves.

Perhaps this could be a warning sign regarding their sociopathic personalities.

Here is a great example:

Joel Rifkin As A Child 

joel rifkin as a child

Since the age of 6, young Joel Rifkin had a horrendously difficult time fitting in with his peers; he was frequently the target of vicious school bullies.

Rifkin suffered from a sloping posture and slow gait, a problem that got him excluded from team sports and neighborhood games.

Even in his early teens, Rifkin desperately tried to fit in, to no avail. He tried joining the track team, but all he got from that experience was peer torment.

Rifkin got sick of the jocks, so he joined the yearbook staff, but his camera was stolen almost immediately after he got it, and as a result, he was brutally excluded from the wrap party at the end of the year.

Eventually, the torment and isolation got to him, and he would react to it by skipping classes and seeking prostitutes whom he felt gave him a sense of control.

And, well, eventually this happened..