From Cain and Abel to Serial KillersJeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Mark Allen Smith, Richard Chase, Ted Bundy, the list goes on. These five men alone are responsible for at least ninety deaths, and many suspect the number of their victims could be double that. They are serial killers, the most feared and hated criminals. What deep, hidden secret makes them lust for blood? What could possibly motivate a person to kill again and again, without guilt, without remorse, without any trace of human compassion? What makes a serial killer? Serial murders are not a new phenomenon. In 1798, for example, Micajah and Wiley Harpe roamed the forests of Kentucky and Tennessee on a violent, year-long killing spree that killed at least twenty and perhaps as many as thirty-eight men, women, and children. dead. Their crimes were particularly frightening because they seemed to particularly enjoy grabbing young children by the ankles and smashing their heads against trees (Holmes and DeBurger 28). However, in modern society, serial killings have reached near epidemic proportions. Ann Rule, a respected author and serial murder expert, told a serial murder seminar at the University of Louisville that between 3,500 and 5,000 people are victims of serial murders each year alone. in the United States (cited in Holmes and DeBurger 21). ). Many others estimate that there are currently nearly 350 serial killers in our society (Holmes and DeBurger 22). The fascination with murder and murderers is not new, but researchers have made great strides in recent years in determining the characteristics of criminals. Looking back, we can see how naive the early experts were in their assessments; in 1911, for example, the Italian criminal...... middle of paper...... words of Ted Bundy, one of the most ruthless serial killers of our time: "Most serial killers are people who kill for the pure pleasure of killing and cannot be rehabilitated even by some of the killers themselves” (quoted in Works Cited Biondi, Ray and Walt Hecox. New York: Simon, 1992. Davis, Ron. The Milwaukee Murders. New York: St. Martin's, 1991. Holmes, Ronald M. and James DeBurger. Newbury Park, California: Sage, 1988. Lunde, Donald. T. Murder and Madness. San Francisco: San Francisco Book, 1976. Markman, Ronald and Dominick Bosco. New York: Doubleday, 1989. Ressler, Robert K., Ann W. Burgess and John E. Douglas. Sexual Homicide - Patterns and Motives. Lexington, MA: Heath, 1988. Taylor, Lawrence. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood., 1984.