Gruesome Serial Killers

Are you afraid of things that go bump in the night? Don't look now, but some of the most gruesome serial murders occurred in your neighborhood.

Fourteen-year-old Jesse Pomeroy had a long history of terrorizing and brutalizing young boys around Boston, then his thoughts turned to murder. Meet America's youngest serial killer. When asked why he did it, all he could say was: "I don't know. I had to."

The Servant Girl Murders in Austin, Texas during 1885 puzzled investigators. Three black servant girls, and one of their boyfriends, were brutally beaten and raped in the dark of the night. Texans didn't take it seriously until two white women lost their lives on Christmas Eve. The killer was never found, but many speculate he went on to fame as Jack the Ripper, London's famed Whitechapel killer.

Henry Bastian, a Milan, Illinois farmer devised a unique method of getting cheap labor. He paid his farmhands a few dollars up front and promised them big money at the end of a year's service. Then he killed them, instead of paying them. At least nine young men lost their lives to his scheme.

Belle Gunness, the La Porte, Indiana serial killer, lured men to her murder farm by advertising for a husband in Scandinavian Matrimonial Magazines. As many as forty-two men fell victim to her wiles.

The Sunday Night Murderer rode the rails in the Midwest spreading terror in his wake. Twenty-five men, women, and children fell victim to his ax between 1911 and 1912. He slipped into homes in the middle of the night, bashed his victim's heads to a pulp, and moved on without leaving a clue to his identity.

The Dayton Strangler took six victims between 1900 and 1909. He lured them away to a quiet area, choked them nearly to death, then assaulted them. When he finished, the strangler dumped his victims in outhouse vaults.

Henry Spencer, Chicago's "Tango Murderer," killed upwards of thirty men and women. "I became cold-blooded," he said. "For five cents, I would kill a man and drink his blood." After his capture, he reveled detectives with stories about how he took his victims.

Bertha Gifford was a typical grandma, except for her tendency for homicide. She poisoned at least nineteen people she was charged with nursing back to health. After her arrest, she told detectives, "Arsenic helped me. I thought it might help them, too.