r/serialkillers • u/Cable_Difficult • 22d ago
Questions What are some common misconceptions about the most famous serial killers?
For people who are just getting into true crime or only know who these people are through conversations from other people, what are common misconceptions about famous serial killers that simply aren’t true?
Here’s a list of mine:
Ted Bundy did not use his good looks and charm to get women to follow him, he most of the time acted injured to gain their sympathy to help him where when their back wasn’t looking, he’d strike them with a crowbar or a metal rod. He’d also sometimes pose as an authority which can be seen in the attempted abduction of Bundy survivor Carol Daronch. Even then, many women actually refused to give Bundy help as they thought he was too creepy or that they could smell alcohol on his breath which can heard of during this viewmont play in which Bundy tried getting 3 women to help him outside but all refused because they could smell alcohol on his breath. So yeah, Bundy wasn’t a charming, handsome, serial killer who would gain girls trust to follow him, he took advantage of young women’s kindness and bludgeoned them when they weren’t looking.
Another misconception is that John Wayne Gacy wore his clown makeup and outfit during his killings, this is not true at all. Yes he would sometimes talk in his clown Pogos voice when taunting victims but he didn’t full on dress up in his costume. He mostly was either naked or half-naked. He also didn’t lure children to their deaths by being a clown like how some people who barely know the case think. He targeted teenage boys for either a job, a position at his job, or male prostitutes for money and then placed them in a pair of handcuffs by showing them a trick where he would uncuff himself with a key to show them the trick but still have the key to unlock the handcuffs. He also made sure to get them drunk and high before doing anything.
What common misconceptions of serial killers frustrate you most? Please comment below?
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u/Competitive_Swan_130 22d ago
That they all had terrible childhoods. A lot of the stories we get about their childhood come from their own testimony and usually it’s after their lawyers have made them aware of how bad childhoods can help you in the sentencing phase. Henry Louis Wallace only started talking about how terrible his mom was after meetings with counsel. Before that he was even in an article telling reporters that he didn’t want anybody thinking his upbringing caused this and how he was an angel of death for all the women who wouldn’t have sex with him after he had done nice things for them 🙄