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For years, much discussion has been about what causes a person to go out and kill someone else. It’s the age-old argument of nature versus nurture. Sometimes, there has been an abusive background, suffering emotional and physical trauma. For example, Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole were forced to dress as young girls before being beaten; Aileen Wuornos was often sexually abused throughout her childhood. Some killers had a mental illness. David Berkowitz was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Charles Manson with antisocial personality disorder, and Jeffery Dahmer with borderline personality disorder. And some killers suffered head injuries.
The University of Glasgow published a study in the Journey of Violent and Aggressive behaviour. It looked into the ‘neurodevelopmental and psychosocial risk factors in serial killers and mass murderers’. It was reported that ‘our findings tentatively indicate that these extreme forms of violence may be a result of a highly complex interaction of biological, psychological and sociological factors. Potentially, a significant proportion of mass or serial killers may have had neurodevelopmental disorders such as ASD (autism spectrum disorder) or head injury’. 21% of the 239 killers used in the study had a ‘definite or suspected’ head injury. Today, I want to discuss ten serial killers who received some damage to their heads. Please note, I am not making excuses for what they did, instead trying to find some reason, and I am certainly not saying that everyone with a head injury and/or neurological disorders will go on to murder someone!
Before I get into the main subjects of today’s article, I want to talk quickly about Phineas Gage. Phineas was born in 1823 and was described by physician John Martyn Harlow as a ‘perfectly healthy, strong and active young man’. An employer described him as ‘the most efficient and capable foreman in their employ’. Phineas was working as part of a work gang blasting rock to prepare for a railway being built when he was hit with a tamping iron (similar to a crowbar). This metal bar passed through his lower jaw, behind his left eye, through the left side of his brain and out the top of his skull. Miraculously, he survived. However, after the accident, the hardworking, gentlemanly Phineas became ‘gross, profane, coarse and vulgar, to such a degree that his society was intolerable to decent people’. Phineas’ accident may well have been the first case to demonstrate the brain’s role in personality and the changes that can occur when it becomes damaged, greatly helping psychologists and neurologists in future research. Through this accident and the subsequent research, it became apparent that certain functions, such as social cognition and behaviour, can depend on the brain's frontal lobes. Phineas recovered and lived a relatively normal life until he died in 1860. Could brain trauma be a partial explanation for the following people’s behaviour?
Albert Fish – The Werewolf of Wysteria
Hamilton Howard Fish was born on 19th May 1870 in Washington D.C, US. He was nicknamed Albert after a brother who had previously died (I’m not entirely sure if this is better or worse than his school nickname of ‘Ham & Eggs’). A history of mental illness ran throughout the family, including his mother who had ‘aural and/or visual hallucinations’. At the age of 7, Fish fell from a cherry tree, resulting in severe head trauma; he suffered painful headaches and dizzy spells for the rest of his life. When his father died, his mother placed Fish in an orphanage, where he was mercilessly abused. However, he began to enjoy the physical pain and started to associate it with sexual pleasure. At age 20, he moved to New York City, working as a prostitute and raping young boys. In 1898, his mother arranged for him to marry Anna Mary Hoffman, and they had six children together. In 1910, Fish tortured 19-year-old Thomas Kedden for two weeks, even cutting off half his penis; Thomas survived, but what happened to him afterwards is unknown. In 1917, his wife left him, and he had to raise his children alone. Around this time, Fish began to self-harm (after his arrest, X-rays showed at least 29 needles stuck in his pelvis that he had placed there), and he developed an obsession with cannibalism. Fish tortured and murdered between 3-8 victims (3 definite, five suspected). At his trial, he pleaded insanity, and his defence counsel, James Dempsey, noted that Fish was a ‘psychiatric phenomenon’ and there were no records of anyone possessing as many sexual abnormalities as he did. He was executed via electric chair at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, New York, on 16th January 1936.
Nannie Doss – The Giggling Granny
Nancy Hazel (who was to become Nannie Doss) was born on 4th November 1905, in Blue Mountain, Alabama (now a part of Anniston), US. She lived with her brother, three sisters, mother, and father. Doss and her mother hated her father; he ruled the household with an iron fist and wouldn’t allow the children to attend school, forcing them to work the family farm instead. When Doss was seven years old, the family travelled on a train to meet some friends when it suddenly stopped. Doss was slammed forward and hit her head hard on a metal bar in front of her. This left her with a lifetime of depression, blackouts, and horrific headaches; Doss later said that her mental uncertainty directly resulted from this accident. During her first marriage, 2 of her children died of ‘food poisoning’, but her husband was convinced she had deliberately poisoned them and left her. Around the same time, her overbearing mother-in-law died. Doss married five men, later telling interrogators, ‘I was searching for the perfect mate, the real romance of life’. She murdered 11 people, including her children, grandchildren, husbands, sister, and first mother-in-law. Doss wasn’t given the death sentence due to being a woman but was sentenced to life imprisonment. She died on 2nd June 1965, at 59, from leukaemia, in Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Mc Alester, Oklahoma.
Ed Gein – The Plainfield Butcher
Edward Theodore Gein was born on 27th August 1906 in La Crosses Country, Wisconsin, US. His father, George, was an abusive alcoholic, and his mother, Augusta, was a religious extremist. The family bought an isolated farm in Plainfield, Wisconsin, and Gein could only leave to attend school. At home, Gein was heavily influenced by his mother, who would preach to him about women being instruments of the devil and read to him from the Bible every day. Young Gein wasn’t even allowed to make friends, being punished if he attempted to. Gein later claimed that as well as his mother’s distorted religious views being forced upon him, his father would fly into alcohol-induced violent rages, beating his son around his head ‘so hard my ears would ring’. When his father died, he showed little emotion but cried hysterically at his mother’s funeral. Gein went on to kill two women, Mary Hogan in 1954 and Bernice Worden, in 1957. Most disturbingly, when police entered the property, they found various body parts; Gein had been removing them from graves. They even found bowls made from human skulls, a lampshade made from human skin, a mask made from Mary Hogan’s actual face and Bernice Worden’s decapitated head. There were attempts at a ‘woman suit’ so he could emulate his deceased mother. Every room in the house was a mess, apart from Augusta’s room, which had been kept immaculate. Gein was found ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’ and spent the rest of his life in a mental hospital. He died in the Mendota Mental Hospital, Madison, Wisconsin, of respiratory failure on 26th July 1984.
Fred West – The House of Horrors Murderer
Frederick Walter Stephen West was born on 29th September 1941 at Bickerton Cottage, Much Marcle, Herefordshire in the UK. West claimed that when they were growing up, his father would have incestuous relationships with his daughters (West’s siblings) and that his mother took his virginity when he was 12 years old (although his brother, Doug, later claimed this was a lie). His sister, Kitty, had told her mother that Fred had been abusing her and, at the age of 13, had got her pregnant. When questioned about his sexual abuse of young girls, west asked the police,’ Doesn’t everyone do it?’ (no, no, they don’t, Fred). The case was later dropped as Kitty wouldn’t testify. Just after his 17th birthday, West bought a motorcycle and shortly afterwards was in an accident whilst riding it. The accident left him unconscious for seven days and with a fractured skull, arm, and leg. The impact had split his motorcycle helmet in two, seriously damaging his head. When he awoke, he claimed it was like returning from the dead. The accident permanently changed his appearance and left him with a limp. The family claimed that his personality changed after the accident, and some experts believed it affected his prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for impulse control. West caused further damage to his head when he fell off a fire escape at a youth club. West went on to commit at least 12 murders, some alongside his wife Rosemary. All his victims were young women, including his daughter. West killed himself in his cell while on remand at HM Prison Birmingham on 1st January 1995. Rosemary West is still in prison.
John Wayne Gacy – The Killer Clown
John Wayne Gacy was born on 17th March 1942 in Chicago. His father was very controlling, an alcoholic who would beat his wife and children. Gacy would be beaten with a leather belt and a razor strop (used to sharpen a blade) and was often repeatedly hit over the head with a wooden broom until unconscious. His father would also emotionally abuse his only son, Gacy, calling him a ‘Mama’s Boy’ who would ‘probably grow up queer’ during 4th grade (9-10 years old). Gacy began having seizures and would occasionally end up in hospital. Even then, his father accused him of looking for attention. Later in life, he married Marlynn Myers and soon began working for his father-in-law. He became a successful businessman and family man, having a son and a daughter. His father even apologised, shaking his hand and saying, ‘Son, I was wrong about you’. Gacy had never been so happy. On 7th November 1968, Gacy pleaded guilty to sodomy and was sent to the Anamosa State Penitentiary. His wife divorced him, and he never saw her or their children again. He exited prison and married Carole Hoff (although this wouldn’t last). Gacy became a model citizen, holding huge summer parties, even dressing as a clown, Pogo, to entertain the children. Gacy went on to kill at least 33 young men, burying 26 of them in the crawl space in his house. He raped and tortured these men before, typically placing a rope around their necks and tightening it with a hammer handle. He was sentenced to death and was on death row for 14 years before being executed via lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill on 10th May 1994. His brain was removed from his corpse to be examined, but the studies showed no irregularities.
Gary Heidnik – The Monster Preacher
Gary Michael Heidnik was born on 22nd November 1943 in Cleveland, Ohio, US. His parents divorced, and his mother raised him for four years before being raised by his father and his new wife. He claimed his father abused him; Heidnik was a lifelong bed wetter, and he told how his father would make him hang out his wet sheets for all to see, to humiliate him. His father disputed this, but his brother, Terry, confirmed they were abused. At the age of 6, Heidnik fell 20 foot out of a tree, landed on his head and damaged it that badly it was permanently misshapen (to the point that he was cruelly nicknamed ‘Football Head’ by schoolmates. Every millennial reading is now thinking of Hey Arnold!). Terry said it was after this accident that Heidnik’s personality changed. He joined the army at the age of 17, and whilst in the army, he was diagnosed in a military hospital with schizoid personality disorder, resulting in him being honourably discharged. Over the next few years, he would be in and out of hospitals and attempted suicide 13 times. Heidnik even started his own church branch, The United Church of God, and became a self-appointed bishop. He married in 1985, but his wife left him only months after amid claims of rape, assault and adultery; the same year, he went on to abduct six women, keeping them in the basement of his house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He chained his victims, raping and torturing them; he even dug a pit in the middle that he would place the women in and cover with a wooden board if they misbehaved. The women were humiliated, and forced to eat dog food and perform degrading tasks. He became angry with one victim and hung her by her wrists for two days as punishment, and she sadly died. He electrocuted another woman in a pit filled with water. Heidnik was finally caught when a victim tricked him into letting her see her family briefly, with the promise of returning, and she alerted the police. On 1st July 1988, he was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, rape, aggravated assault, and involuntary deviant sexual intercourse. On 6th July 1999, Heidnik was executed via lethal injection at the State Correctional Institution in Centre County, Pennsylvania. He was the last person executed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as of 2021.
Dennis Rader – BTK Killer – Bind – Torture – Kill
Dennis Lynn Rader was born on 9th March 1945 in Pittsburg, Kansas, US. His parents didn’t pay him much attention, leaving him feeling neglected, especially by his mother, whom he resented more than his father. Rader later told an interviewer that his mother had dropped him on his head as a baby. He had stopped breathing and even turned blue, but his mother never bothered to take him to the hospital to be checked out (I’m not sure if this is because she didn’t care or because of the cost of health care). Even as a child, he developed a fetish for bound women and started torturing and killing small animals. Rader attended university but dropped out and joined the United States Air Force. Once discharged he worked in a supermarket and married Paula Dietz, having two children with her. He eventually completed university and started work at ADT Security Services, installing alarm systems in houses in the local area. Rader was a Cub Scout leader and president of his church council, an all-around wholesome guy by appearances. On 15th January 1974, Rader murdered for the first time, wiping out a family of 4. He murdered the parents in front of the children before killing them, too. He would tie his victims up, torturing them before killing them (hence the nickname he gave himself). His final victim was killed on 19th January 1991. The case was considered cold by 2004, but Rader couldn’t help himself and wrote to local media, teasing them. His ego would not let the murders be forgotten. He was caught after sending a floppy disk with his writings; a deleted file with his name was recovered, leading to his arrest. Imagine thinking you’re so intelligent and then being caught out by a floppy disk. Rader was charged with ten murders; he pleaded guilty and spoke about them in detail. he received ten consecutive life sentences. As of 2021, Rader is still at the El Dorado Correctional Facility, Kansas; he remains in solitary confinement for his safety.
Ed Kemper – The Co-ed Killer
Edmund Emil Kemper III was born on 18th December 1948 in Burbank, California, US. Even as a child, he showed worrying behaviour, such as burying the family cat alive, waiting for it to die, digging it back up, decapitating it and placing the head on a stick. His eldest sister, Susan, would tease him, and when she asked Kemper why he didn’t try to kiss his teacher, he replied, ‘If I kiss her, I’d have to kill her first’. His mother was a domineering alcoholic who abused and humiliated Kemper, with him later describing her as a ‘sick, angry woman’. As a teenager, he went to live with his grandparents; at 15 years old, he killed them both. The court psychiatrists diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia (although this was later disputed), and he was sent to a maximum-security facility for mentally ill criminals. On his 21st birthday, he was released into the care of his mother. Later that year, he was hit by a car whilst riding a motorcycle, suffering head trauma and a broken arm (later successfully suing for compensation from the car driver). Kemper went on to murder eight people in total. He killed six young female students (5 college and one high school) by picking them up while they were hitchhiking, then either shooting, stabbing, smothering, or strangling them before dismembering them and performing sex acts with the corpses. He also killed his mother and her friend (there is more detail in the article 10 Notable Necrophiliacs). Kemper is still behind bars in the California Medical Facility; he has numerously refused his parole hearings and is considered a model prisoner.
Richard Ramirez – The Night Stalker
Ricardo Leyva Muñoz RamÃrez was born on February 29th, 1960, in El Paso, Texas, US. At age 2, a heavy wooden dresser fell on top of Ramirez, nearly killing him and leaving him needing 30 stitches. He was unconscious for over 15 minutes before he was taken to the hospital. A few years later, at age 5, a swing knocked him out, triggering epileptic seizures throughout his childhood. Ramirez’s father would fly into violent rages, with his son often being a target. To escape, young Ramirez often ran to a local cemetery to sleep. His cousin, a Vietnam War veteran, greatly influenced his young life. His cousin would show Ramirez, who was just 12 years old, photos of Vietnamese women he had supposedly raped, tortured, and killed. Soon after, young Ramirez saw the same cousin fatally shoot his own wife. His first known murder was in June 1984, killing a 79-year-old widow. He went on to attack, rape and kill numerous people, including men, women, and children. He was caught on 31st August 1985, and on 20th September 1989, he was convicted of all charges, including 13 murders and other crimes including rape. He died of cancer in 2013 whilst on Death Row at San Quentin State Prison.
Alexander Pichushkin – The Chessboard Killer
Alexander Yuryevich Pichushkin was born 9th April 1974 in Mytishchi, Moscow, Oblast, USSR. He was a happy, friendly child until he fell backwards from a swing he was playing on. As it swung back, it hit him with force in his forehead. A child’s skull doesn’t provide the same protection as an adult’s, and the accident has been speculated to have damaged his frontal cortex. After this accident, Pichushkin changed, becoming aggressive and with little thought to others. Because of his behaviour change, his mother thought it better to transfer him to a school for those with learning disabilities. Pichushkin was a brilliant boy, and his grandfather recognised this, encouraging him in various pursuits, with chess being Pichushkin’s favourite. He was a sharp chess player and would often channel his emotions into playing instead of lashing out. Sadly, his grandfather died, and Pichushkin turned to vodka, although he continued to play chess. He committed his first murder at 18, killing a former classmate. Between 2001 and 2005, he would choose elderly homeless men to drink with, plying them with vodka before throwing them down sewers to their deaths. This wasn’t enough for Pichushkin, so between 2005-2006, he would attack people in the head with a hammer before pushing a vodka bottle into the head wounds. He had stopped giving a damn at this point and was attacking men, women, and children. It’s believed he killed 49 people, although it could be as many as 60. After his arrest, psychiatrists declared him sane but diagnosed him with antisocial and narcissistic personality disorder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, including 15 years in solitary confinement. This is where he remains, at the Polar Owl penal colony in the Arctic North of Siberia.
And that is today’s article. What do you think – do head injuries contribute to someone’s willingness to kill another person? Some, such as Heidnik and Pichushkin, seemed to suffer a dramatic change in personality after their accidents, which may have been a cause. However, others like Kemper and West showed signs of deviance and violence before their head injuries. It’s worth noting as well that many of these murderers had rather hellish childhoods, leaving me to believe it was very much a mixture of biology and environment that created these serial killers. Thanks for reading; as always, please let me know what you think in the comments, take care of yourselves, and I will see you soon!
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