Serial killers are not normal – actually they’re the least normal people in the world. But everything in life is relative, and some serial killers are just beyond strange. Here are four of the weirdest serial killers you could ever hear of.
The Weepy-Voiced Killer
In the state of Minnesota is a disgusting city called Minneapolis. As if living there wasn’t bad enough already, an especially disturbed serial killer once plagued the community. It was the early 1980s, and the public were becoming more aware of serial murderers. So perhaps the most shocking thing about this killer was what he did after the murders. Following each attack, police would receive mysterious phone calls. In them, the killer would admit his crimes, and lament that he can’t stop killing. And so, he came to be known as the Weepy-Voiced Killer.
New Year’s Eve of 1980 saw his first attack take place – when 20 year old Karen Potak was severely beaten and left for dead in the snow. Later that night, police received the first of many phone calls from a crying man. He directed them to where Potak might be found in the snow, and against the odds, she survived. The next attack, however, was more definitive. Six months later, 18 year old Kimberly Compton was stabbed to death. The murder weapon was an ice pick, but police had no leads. Then suddenly, they received an anonymous phone call. Little came of it, so two days later, another call came in.
It is unknown why exactly the killer made these calls. At face value, he felt guilty about his crimes, and almost unable to control his violent impulses. But some believe it was just a cry for attention – or even to simply waste police time. Either way, it’s highly unusual. And either way, his drive to kill was only increasing. Soon after, he took his second life. This time it was a home invasion, kathleen Greening being drowned in her own bath tub.
Spiraling
With this kill he established his cool down period of around a month. So on the 6th of August 1982, yet another body was found. Discovered by a paperboy, it was a bloody mess – probably traumatizing that dumb kid for life. The victim was Barbara Simons, and she had been stabbed more than 100 times. Not only were the attacks now more frequent, they were more brutal. But at least police now had a lead. While looking into Simons last actions, they found out she’d spent the previous night at a local bar – and while there she met and left with a man called Paul Michael Stephani.
This was discovered by showing mugshot photos to bar staff, based on their description of him – and luckily, he had a criminal history. With that, Stephani became the prime suspect. Yet there was still no hard evidence against him. The phone calls were something, but since he was crying during them, his voice was distorted. So instead of arresting him, police watched and waited. But one evening he went out and police lost track of him. And while he was out of their sight, the weepy voiced killer made his final attack. It was against a ‘lady of the night’, who was tougher than she looked. After being stabbed 15 times with a screwdriver, she smashed a bottle on his head and ran away.
End
Considering it was an attempted murder, he got off lightly. But he wasn’t called the weepy voiced killer for nothing. So in a panic he called for an ambulance – and with him being so upset, his voice matched previous calls. Police finally made the decision to arrest him, and during interrogation, they noticed he was easy to upset, prompting his voice to match the phone calls. Even better, Paul Michael Stephani’s own family turned on him, his sister, ex wife and room-mate all agreed he was the weepy voiced killer. He would later die in prison, having spent 16 years behind bars. The weepy-voiced killer has not since lost much notoriety, being a derranged murderer, who chose victims at random, and repeatedly called the police on himself. Indeed, he remains one of the weirdest serial killers of all.
Richard Trenton Chase
Most people today do not believe in vampires, but there was once a murder so bloodthirsty he was known as The Vampire of Sacramento. It’s a killer nickname, literally. From a young age, Richard Trenton Chase showed signs of a disturbed mind. Even so, few could have predicted he’d become one of the weirdest serial killers. On the less distressing side, he was a hypochondriac, obsessing over the possibility of disease. But on the other side, he enjoyed starting fires and harming animals. Even in those days, cruely to animals was a warning sign – and as he grew older, he only became more cruel and more deluded. He came to believe his health concerns were caused by a lack of blood, and that maybe by drinking the blood of others, he might be rejuvenated. He was also a heavy drug and alcohol user, which I assume didn’t help things.
Going into his 20s, he was repeatedly arrested for possession, And as his mental state became more apparent, he on multiple occasions found himself institutionalized. After an especially bad incident in 1976, he was sent to a mental hospital, where his bizarre health practices showed themselves. By this point he was regularly killing animals and drinking their blood, sometimes mixing it into soda. Injecting rabbit blood into his veins is what got him locked up this time. Hospital staff jokingly called him a vampire, for obvious reasons. At one point he lured some birds through the window of his room, broke their necks and drank their blood. He also found a syringe and extracted blood from a therapy dog. Richard Chase was clearly a threat to society – but the genius doctors soon released him into the public. Just one year later his murder spree would begin.
Bloodletting
One night in 1977, he was found by police wandering around covered in cow’s blood. But as with everything else, this was not enough of a red flag, so no charges followed. Then the 29th of December, he murdered 51 year old Ambrose Griffin in a drive by shooting. It is unclear why he chose Griffin, but it was just the start. The following month he broke into a woman’s house and stabbed her dead. He then engaged in necrophilia while stabbing the corpse. After gathering her gushing blood into a bucket, he disappeared into the night. But the blood did nothing for his health, so just days later, he again took to murder. Calmly walking into a strangers home, he shot a man, three children, and a woman. He mutilated the woman’s body just as he had days before.
He then escaped in her car, taking the body of one child with him. After mixing the kids internal organs into a smoothie, he left what was left at a local church yard. These crimes were so horrific that they limited themselves. A crime spree so brazen could only go on for so long, and police soon identified the killer. Richard Trenton Chase was formally arrested on January 27th of 1978. At his apartment, investigators were shocked by what they found. The floor and walls were covered in blood. The kitchen was especially bloody, with all signs pointing to cannibalism. Human brains and other organs were found, as well as the remains of animals. But one of the most bizarre parts of the Vampire of Sacramento case only happened a year later, when Richard Chase was put on trial.
At Trial
As always with especially disturbing killers, there was the question of culpability. Any good lawyer would enter a plea of insanity. But somehow, Chase was deemed sane by psychologists. And so he was sentenced to execution by gas chamber. But that was too straight forward a way for Richard Chase to die. While apparently being fearful that prison guards wanted to poison him, he stockpiled medication and took a massive overdose. I don’t know how he thought that would help, but to be fair, he was insane.
Herbert Mullin
One serial killer believed murder was the only way to save millions of lives. That killer was Herbert Mullin, a paranoid schizophrenic who just wanted to do good. The problem began when heavy LSD use worsened his mental health, causing him to believe all kinds of strange things. Many of his beliefs involved earthquakes. His birthday was April 18th, anniversary of the 1906 earthquake that devastated California. So when Mullin began hearing voices, he mistook this for fate. It was 1971, and the voices in his head told of a coming earthquake. They said he could save California – but only through human sacrifice. Kill enough people, and the earthquake would apparently be held back. So on October 13th of 1972 he began to murder, beating a homeless man to death with a baseball bat.
The victim was hitchhiking, and apparently resembled the biblical figure Jonah. So of course Herbert took this as a sign to kill. The murder did not hush the voices in his head, so just two weeks later, Herbert Mullin picked up another hitchhiker. She was Mary Guilfoyle, a local student in a hurry. She never made it to her appointment, Herbert stabbing her in the chest. He then disemboweled her. For some reason he believed a secret message would be found inside her. It’s unclear if he found one. As he killed her in a fairly remote location, it was several months before her body was discovered. By that point he believed his father was communicating with him telepathically. Yet he began to doubt the message. Twice he had killed, but still they told him of a coming earthquake.
Unholy Crimes
As doubt crept in, so did guilt, and for months Herbert Mullin was in a state of emotional turmoil. On November 2nd he went to a church to actually confess his sins. But this did not go well. During the confession, he interpreted what the priest was saying as volunteering to be a victim – so while still in the confessional, he beat and stabbed the priest to death. But this only made him feel more guilty, which is what killing a priest will do to you.
In January of 1973 he tried to join the marines. His logic was simple. If he had to kill, he should try to do it legally. But no. Since he was obviously crazy his application to join was rejected. So back to regular murder it was. He quit drugs, deciding they were satanic. In fact, he blamed much of his personal turmoil on them. So in revenge, he decided to track down the person who first introduced him to Cannabis. That unlucky man was Jim Gianera, but he had since moved away, and a woman called Kathy Francis was in his old house.
She gave him the new address of Jim Gianera, unknowingly sealing his fate. Heading to the new address, Herbert shot Jim and his wife, but not before giving a long lecture on how drugs ruin lives. He then returned to the former address, killing Kathy and her two children. In a frenzy he stabbed each victim several times after death. So you’d expect police to catch him pretty quickly after this spree. After all, it wasn’t exactly well planned. But police thought it was a random, drug related crime – which it kind of was, but not in the way they believed. No link was drawn between this and previous slayings.
Weirdest Serial Killers
To be fair to police, investigating serial killers in those days was not exactly a streamlined process. And to make things worse, another killer was active in California at the time. He was Edmund Kemper, who despite having less victims overall, is much more infamous. So for now at least, Herbert Mullin was free to continue his spree. In February 1973 he encountered four teenagers illegally camping on a state park. They ignored his demands to move on, which in hindsight was a mistake, because he soon came back and shot them. This massacre brought his death toll to 12, far higher than mine.
Before the week was over, Herbert found his final victim. While driving through a residential area, he saw a 72 year old man doing gardening. For some reason this angered him, so he did a u-turn and got out. In plain view of the old man’s neighbors, he pulled out a rifle and shot him dead. That was a mistake, as his licence plate was later recalled by a witness. So at long last, police finally arrested Herbert Mullin. Charged with ten of his 13 murders, he pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to life in prison. Since that day in 1973, he would spend the remainder of his life locked up, being denied parole 11 times and dying in 2022.
Amazingly, an earthquake did hit California just 8 days after he was arrested – but it was only a 5.8 in magnitude and nobody died. To Herbert Mullin, this was no coincidence. He always insisted it would have been worse if not for his killings. Thankfully, Edund Kemper was apprehended just 2 months later, putting an end to the chaos of the time. He and Mullin were even sent to the same prison.
Albert Fish
There was once a serial killer so obsessed with cannibalism, he was known as the werewolf of Wysteria. Some consider him the worst and most disturbed man to ever live, and for good reason. Born in 1870, Albert Fish was unusual from the start. His father was 75 years old, and soon died. What the old man left behind was a deeply impoverished family, one with a history of mental illness. So the young Albert was sent away to an orphanage. His brother was also sent away, but to a mental hospital, as was an uncle.
Life was harsh at the orphanage, the boys regularly being stripped naked and beaten. At age 9 his mother was in a better position financially, and was able to take care of her son. But the damage had been done, and for the rest of his life, Albert Fish was mentally scarred. He enjoyed pain – both receiving and giving it, especially to young boys. Even as an adult, when he married and had children of his own, he would continue to attack boys. At one point he even boasted that he’d “Had children in every state”. But as time went on, he would somehow grow more disturbed.
He developed an interest in torture, and after his wife left him for another man, began to murder. By 1924 his mental health had declined significantly, and he believed god wanted him to attack children. So on July 11th he tried to lure an 8 year old girl away from her family farm. Luckily, her parents noticed the creepy 54 year old, and chased him away.
Abduction
Just 4 days later, another 8 year old was less lucky. He was later found, determined to have been strangled and beaten. Locals described a strange man they saw with the victim shortly before they went missing – an old man with a grey mustache. The boys own mother then recalled seeing a man matching that description, saying “Everything about him seemed faded and grey”. And so Albert Fish came to be known as The Grey Man. It was 3 years before the grey man returned.
In 1927 two young boys disappeared while playing together. One of them was later found, and when asked what happened to his friend, said “The Bogeyman took him”. No trace of the missing child was ever found, but Albert Fish later admitted to killing and eating the child, consuming his flesh over a four day period. Interestingly, yet another serial killer was active in the area. So investigators initially blamed the attack on him. But once again, locals described a grayish old man lurking.
The profile was changed, yet it would still be another 7 years before Fish was apprehended. As well as causing pain to others, he enjoyed inflicting pain on himself. A favorite hobby was pushing needles into his own flesh. This x-ray was shown at his trial, showing more than 20 needles inside his pelvic region. He would also beat himself and set his skin on fire with lighter fluid. But these pastimes could only keep him occupied for so long.
Madness
There is much debate over how many people Albert Fish killed, but his next confirmed murder was in 1928. After viewing a classified ad, he visited the home of Edward Budd, ostensibly to offer employment to him. The plan was to lure the young man away, tie him up, cut him open, and leave him to bleed out. But his attention was immediately drawn to Edwards sister, ten year old Grace Budd. Claiming his neice was about to have a birthday party, he convinced the parents to let him take the girl with him. And just like that, he’d gotten away with another abduction, easy as it was.
Taking Grace to an abandoned house, he strangled the girl. He then carved her up to be cooked and eaten. As he gave a fake name, her parents could only give police a physical description of the killer. Another man was arrested and put on trial for the killing, but eventually found innocent. Then 6 years later, the girl’s parents received a mysterious letter. Though anonymous, it was clearly from the killer, describing in exact detail what he did to Grace Budd.
Like so many of the serial killers that would follow in his footsteps, this communication was his undoing. Even in those days, police were often able to track mail to it’s origin, and in 1934 Albert Fish was finally apprehended. He was sentenced to death, being found guilty of 3 murders, and sent to the electric chair. According to rumor, he needed to be electrocuted twice, the metal needles in his body causing the chair to short circuit. Fish wrote a final statement onto paper. But his lawyer refused to publish the document, calling it “the most filthy string of obscenities that I have ever read”.