The idea of a monster as a killer stalking people began in 1888, in one of London's poorest neighborhoods, Whitechapel, with the fiend known only to history as Jack the Ripper.
The phenomenon of serial killing moved to America late in the 19th century with two of the country's most brutal killers: Chicago's Dr. Death, H.H. Holmes, and a Boston nurse, Jane Toppan.
Learn about the demented life of Albert Fish, who earned his ghoulish nickname "the Vampire of Brooklyn" by preying on America's most innocent: children.
Serial killing took a holiday during the Depression and WWII, but following the war, it once again terrorized America with despicable killers given lurid names by the media, like the Lipstick Killer and the Boston.
In the '60s and '70s, Son of Sam, Charles Manson and Ted Bundy became grisly reminders of just how dangerous America's streets had become.
Serial killing's homoerotic aspect is revealed though the grisly exploits of the clown killer, John Wayne Gacy; Atlanta's child killer, Wayne Williams; and the highway killers, William Bonin and Randy Kraft.
Ron Meyer
Director
