The Spectre of the Serial-Killer: An Introduction

The spectre of the serial-killer is pertinent in contemporary society. However, relatively little consideration has been given to the philosophical nature of the serial-killer and the philosophical ‘consequences’ of their functions as serial-murderers. Throughout the following series entitled The Spectre of the Serial-Killer, it will be argued that the category of serial-offender commonly defined as serial-killers is further elucidated and developed by the subject of philosophy alogisde, and potentially superseding, the contribution of the biological sciences.Rather than restricting the following to a largely methodical discussion the eludes debates surrounding the interaction of science and philosophy, I opt, rather, the contribution that various branches of philosophy presents to the study of serial-killers. I contest that whilst the contest of the biological sciences is not negligible, philosophy expands the categorical and typological understanding of the serial-killer and considerably widens our understanding of the function of the serial-killer – serial-murder. In addition, the adoption of a plethora of philosophies to the study of the contemporary phenomenon of serial-killer fascination expands our understanding of the role the aforementioned play in the media. In order to make these arguments, the first post in this series will function on the use of philosophy to further develop our categorical and typological understanding of serial-killers. The second post will focus on philosophical interpretations of serial-murder and the third, and final post, in this series will analyse the role of the serial-killer in the contemporary media.

This series is dedicated to the members of and those supported by the Families and Friends of Missing Persons and Violent Crime Victims.  The principle of studying serial-killers, alongside the academic value per se’, is to further develop our understanding of them as individuals in order to prevent their abhorrent crimes. The number of victims is difficult to approximate, however the National Centre for the Analysis of Violent Crimes estimates that less than one per-cent of murder victims are victims of serial-killers. The relavitve rarity of serial-murder does not does not delinate the anguish and grief expereinced by friends and family of the victims and it for the victims and their freinds anf family in which we deviate this attempt to further understand, and subsequently prevent, serial-killers and their actions. I highly encourage my readers to donate to this more than worthy organisation. 

The Spectre of the Serial-Killer: Typologies and Categories

In the first post in the series, entitled Typologies and Categories, I will use a plethora of philosophical approaches to develop our understanding of serial-killers. Firstly, we will move towards a definition of serial-murder as opposed to mass murder. Secondly, I will explore the relationship between serial-murder and sex with an emphasis on the ‘hidden’ history of female serial-killers. I will demonstrate that female serial-killers tend to fall into three separate, yet related categories being: ‘Angels of Death’, ‘Black Widows’ and ‘Killer Couples’.  Thirdly, and finally, I will explore the category of psychopath and demonstrate a traditional definition of psychopathy and illustrate the five ‘defining’ characteristics of a psychopath being: ‘Superficial Charm’, ‘Unreliability’, ‘Insincerity’, ‘Remorselessness and Shamelessness’ and ‘Deviant Fantasies’. I’m particularly grateful to the authors and editors of Philosophy For Everyone for their meaningful and insightful contributions to this post and the series as a whole. 

Serial-murder, as the act perpretrated by the serial-killer, is commonly defined as an act committed by one or more individuals and the number of victims is equal to, or exceeds three. In addition, serial-murder is seperated from mass murder by a temporal distance that allows the offender to recharge and for an emotional ‘cooling-off’ period. Furthermore, the specific acts of murders are suggested to share common characteristics such as a common murder weapon or a shared category of victim. For example, the murders committed by the individual commonly referred to as ‘Jack The Ripper’ can be considered as an example of serial-murder as the muders of Mary Ann Nichols and Annie Chapman occurred within a temporal distance of one week and both victims had their throats cut twice. As juxtaposed to serial-murder, mass murder is considered as a number of murders – usually four or more – that occours in a singular location with no temporal distance. For example, the San Ysidro McDonald’s masscare can be considered as a mass murder as the perpetrator, James Huberty, shot and killed twenty-one people and wounded a further nineteen people in the space of approximately eighty minutes before being fatally shot by a police officer. Therefore, the diffrences between serial-murder and mass murder can be reduced to a quaulititive temporal distance in which the offender is presented with the oppoturnuty to consider their actions, to recharge and reaffirm their fantasies – usually through masturbation – and to select their idyllic next victim. As Deal and Waller note in Philosophy for Everyone: Being and Killing: “the serial killer is, at last in our collective common sense, qualitatively different from other kinds of killers” (Deal and Waller, 2010: p3). For example, we recognise that Ted Bundy’s actions are more sinister than the ‘flash in the pan’, yet nevertheless repulsive, actions of James Huberty, as Bundy’s crimes extend over a period of time and involve the specific torture and mutualtion of indvidual victims.Hubrerty, who had a history of domestic violence and who “frequently slapped and punched his daughters” (Time-Life Books, 1993: p118), represents a singular and isolated threat to the sane order of society, whereas Bundy functioned as a consitent and ever-present spectre that haunted the society in which he lived. The gun unleashed on unsuspecting McDonald’s customers and the strangling and subsequently mutilation of individual women is qualitatively different. 

Male and female serial-killers commit their crimes in vastly different manners. Initially, this difference is highlighted in the methods through which serial-killers of different sexes select their victims. Male serial-killers tend to target individuals who represent an idealised version of a fantastical victim at great personal effort. For example, John Wayne Gacy, commonly referred to as the ‘Killer Clown’ “toiled for his victims” (Schechter and Schechter, 2010: p118) whereas Jane Toppan, a private nurse, “preyed on family members and friends” (ibid). The target seeking behaviour of the two aforementioned serial-killers reflects established genders norms for the sexes: male serial-killers toil and overpower their idealised victims, whereas female serial-killers tend to target those within the family unit and within their immediate vicinity  which subsequently appears as a “grotesque, sadistic travesty of intimacy, nurturing and love” (Schechter and Schechter, 2010: p118-119).Society presents with us with a spectral image of the female as an idyllic mother which is a unified, singular and arborescent in it’s presentation of expected behaviours. In contrast, the female-serial killer demonstrates and represents Deleuze and Guattari’s statement in A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia: “We should stop believing in trees, roots and radicles. They’ve made us suffer too much” (Deleuze and Guattari: 1988: p15). The female serial-killers selection of victims highlights a sinister process of becoming. In addition, the modus operandi of female serial-killers varies greatly from their male counterparts. For example, Dennis Rader, the B(ind), T(ortute) and K(ill) killer was aptly named as he had a protensity to bind, torture and kill his victims and the brutuality of his metholology was revealed upon the victims flesh. On the other hand, Jane Toppan murdered her family members and friends by “poisoning them slowly and deriving voluptuous pleasure as she watched them subside into agonising death” (Schechter and Schechter, 2010: p118). In Killing with Kindness, Schechter and Schechter note:

“Relatively few female psycho-killers have conducted their homicidal sprees with guns or knives. Nor are there any known examples – at least in modern times – of female mutualitation murderers who have engaged in the kind of horrors perparetarted by the legendary Whtechapel monster” (ibid). 

Aside from their misguided, and uncharacteristic use of the term ‘psycho-killer’, Schechter and Schechter correctly assert that the modus operandi of serial-killers tends to follow established gender norms. Male serial-killers tend to butcher, garrot and mutualte the gentalia of their victims, whilst female-serial killers tend to poision and suffocate their victims in what may be concieved as a ‘gentler’ murder.

 As a result of their modus operandi, female serial-killers usually fall into three, separate, yet interrelated categories. Firstly, ‘Angels of Death’ are usually employed in the medical profession who intentionally murders paitents under their care when operating under the assumption that the subjects of their murder would be better dead. For example, Kristen Gilbert was convicted of the murders of four veterans whom she induced an artificial heart attack through an injection of epinephrenie and subsequently attempted to artificially resuscitate them. ‘Angels of Death’ can be divided into three sub-categories whose categorical limits are often unclear – the mercy killer, the sadist and the malignant hero. Gilbert’s actions present her as a mixture of a mercy killer and a sadist as she frequently attempted to resuscitate  her victims, which demonstrates the capacity for control – and potentially regret, whilst it has been concurrently suggested that Gilbert killed for little more than thrill. The ‘Angel of Death’ resists a formalistic reduction to a singular sub-category. Secondly, ‘Black Widows’ refers to female serial-killers who “murder a string of husbands” (Schechter and Schechter: 2010: p122). For example, Betty Neumar was accused, but never convicted, of the murder of five subsequent husbands. Neumar was accused of hiring an assasins to murder her first two husbands, inciting her third husband to commit suicide, her fourth husband was found to be victim of a series of unexplained gunshot wounds and her fifth, and final husband, died of apparent natural causes. Neumar evaded justice as she passed away from complications from cancer, but a BBC documentary entitled Black Widow Granny? identified her as a ‘Black Widow’. ‘Black Widows’ demonstrate aspects of sadism and psychopathy and their actions reveal a marked and violent disregard for any individuals whose role within a social unit may be an inconvenience to themselves. As an example of the aforementioned, Lydia Sherman “killed three husbands in succession, as well as six of her own off-spring and two step-children” (ibid). The final sub-category of female serial-killer functions as a part of a ‘killer couple’ who engages in serial-murder as a form of twisted erotcism. For example, Carol Bundy (no relation to the infamous Ted Bundy) fell under the spell of the violent sadist Doug Clark and “became an eager participant in his increasingly depraved activities” (ibid) that would onbserve the couple coming to be labelled as the Sunset Strip Killers. Whilst Clark actively seduced, raped and subsequently murdered the victims, Bundy prepared the servered heads of victims for Clark to perform another “bout of necrophillia” (Greig, 2005: p42) upo. Bundy indulged Clark’s increasingly violent sexual fanatasies to the extent in which she agreed to the purchase of two pistols to be used by Clark in the murders. The ‘killer couple’ represents a perverse version of the stereotypical heterosexual – the male acts with overtly aggressive and controlling manner whilst the female remains unquestionably loyal and and encourages his behaviour irrespective of any consequences. 

It may be convieved that as serial-murder perpretated by females tends to follow established gender, that this behaviour is reinforcing of those particular behaviours. However, as Schechter and Schechter note “in the female serial-killer, we see a dark and distorted of truths that have traditionally been associated with women; fatal care-taking, lethal nurturing, depraved romantic devotion” (Schechter and Schechter, 2010, p124). The female-serial inverts traditional norms associated with the spectral image of the female, and reveals them to be contingent upon the particular  experiences of individuals. A female that develops in a ‘normal’ social and economic environment may adhere to the traditional norms of behaviour that are expected of women, whereas a female who developed in a ‘distorted’ social and economic environment, as Jane Toppan did, may choose to invert these norms to reflect her own experiences of them. In addition, considerable philosophical tension exists between the function of  female serial-killers and many of our expectations surrounding occupations that are traditionally conceived of as ‘woman’s work’. We commonly perceive women as tending to the ill, maintaining the family unit and preparing meals with a great deal of care of attention, however the female serial-killer is perceived as undertaking the aforementioned “without possessing any of the basic emotional traits that we want to believe motivate those behaviours in the normal case” (Schechter and Schechter, 2010: p125). To briefly summamrise this sub-section, the spectral image of female serial-killers delinates the stereotypical typical portrayal of females and the gentler sex. 

Many ‘Angels of Death’, ‘Black Widows’ and the female member of a ‘killer couples’ are revealed to carry a number of behavioural traits that are commonly associated with psychopathy. The term ‘psychopath’ has a complicated medical and philosophical history. As a medical category, psychopathy refers to a specific set of behavioural characteristics that have been previously labelled as “moral insanity, moral idiocy or moral imbecility” (Vargas, 2010: p69). Whilst no current diagnostic label exists for the category of individual commonly referred to as ‘psychopath’ in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), the term is commonly used by agents of the criminal justice system. The second post in this series will focus on the ethical ‘history’ of psychopathy and explore questions surrounding their guilt. As Cleckley notes, in a timeless definition that adopts dated language:

“The psychopath’s disorder or his difference from the whole or normal or integrated personality consists of an unawareness, and a persistent lack of ability to become aware of what the most important experience of life mean to others. By this is not meant an acceptance of the abbitary postulated values of any particular theology, ethics, esthetics or philosophy system, or any special set or mores or ideologies, but rather common substance of emotion or purpose, or whatever else one chooses to call it, from which the various ideologies of various groups and various people are formed” (Cleckley, 2016: p395)

Therefore, psychopathy can be very briefly defined as a marked lack of empathy that results in antisocial behaviour that is commonly, but not always, criminal. Psychopathy and psychosis are often confused in the discourse pertaining to serial-killers. This confusion arises from the common conception that serial-killers must be insane to act as they do – we assume that one cannot carry out a series of ruthless murder and be ‘sane’. However, many serial-killers lead passably ‘normal’ and mundane lives that are disrupted only by their functions as serial-killers. For example, John Wayne Gacy was a successful building contractor who “did side jobs as a clown” (Gray, 2010: p191) and whose family were completely unaware of his deplorable actions. Outside of his life of crime, Gacy was relatively unremarkable and pedestrian. Evil, for both Nazi funcionaries likes Adolf Eichmann and serial-killers like John Wayne Gacy, has lost its defining charecestic through we have traditionally recognised it.. As Arendt contests in Eichmann in Jerusalem: “the implication being that the coexistence of normality and bottomless cruelty explodes our ordinary conceptions” (Arendt, 2006: p210). Gacy, among others, conforms to Arendt’s vision of the ‘banality of evil’. Eichmann in Jerusalem was lambasted for it’s presentation of Adolf Eichmann, a key architect of the Holocaust, as a completely normal indviudal whose only motivation was personal advancement – an unknowing agent of instrumental violence. However, we can observe the ‘banality of evil’ in some serial-killers.  In addition, as Gray notes in Psychopathy and the Will to Power, “the linguistic confusion also arises because until the middle of the twentieth century the word psychopathy was often used genetically to describe any form of mental illness” (Gray, 2010: p192). Psychopaths have a number of wide-ranging, yet interrelated, behavioural traits: Firstly, psychopaths are, in some cases, superficially charming. For example, Ted Bundy was an intelligent, good-looking and an up-and-coming member of the Young Republicans: “He was alternatively confident and childlike and able to win the confidence of almost anyone. It is said that he was a natural salesman” (Gray, 2010: p194). On the other hand, Dennis Rader, lacked Bundy’s likeable personality, however he was a widely recognised member of his community – a local Cub Scout leader and the Chairman of his Church. As Gray notes, “scientific analysis reveals that psychopaths most readily learn what pleases” (ibid). Consequently, psychopaths more readily learn topics and behaviours that are immediately associated with reward. Superficial charm in psychopaths, could therefore, function as an expression of their capacity to recognise that non-psychopathic individuals value and seek charming individuals in interpersonal situations and consequently learn this behaviour more readily. 

Secondly, psychopaths tend to be unreliable. A notable failure of psychopaths is their inability to “consider future consequences” (Gray, 2010: p195) of failing to deliver upon promises. An understanding of the aforementioned requires the ability to conceive of how others react when we fail to deliver on our promises. For example, a non-psychopathic individual recognises that promising one’s partner a meal in an expensive restaurant and subsequently taking them to McDonald’s is likely to be met with disappointment and anger, whereas a psychopathic would fail to conceive of the source of the reasons driving this disappointment and anger. In psychopathic serial-killers, this behaviour may manifest itself in an inability to conceive of society’s repulsion towards their actions.

Thirdly, we can state that psychopaths tend to be insincere – a deficit that originates in their inability to “differentiate between emotional and non-emotional words” (Gray, 2010: p196). In response to emotional terms and words, non-psychopaths respond to emotional terms and words more quickly as compared to other words and experience a “marked increase in skin conductance” (ibid).  On the other hand, psychopaths are unable to differentiate between emotional and non-emotional words which illustrates their inability to perceive the true meaning of words. To return to our previous example, a non-psychopathic individual recognises the true meaning of the word ‘promise’ and is subsequently aware of the set of expectations that such a word creates with the individuals partner, whereas a psychopath does not understand the true meaning of ‘promise’ and subsequently does not understand the set of expectations created when the word is used. Furthermore even when the psychopath is caught in a lie, they tend to press on rather than admitting the fallacy of their previous statements. As Gray notes, “recent research has confirmed that humans tend to believe confident narratives over coherent narratives” (Gray, 2010: p197). Psychopathic serial-killers like Ted Bundy were incredibly confident orators and many ‘normal’ individuals perceived him as both confident and persuasive. For a visual demonstration, I highly recommend Zac Effron’s excellent portrayal of Ted Bundy in the film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. Insincerity is the hallmark of an individual who does not understand language. Our social contract with society demands that we recognise the true meaning of the laws prohibiting murder, and a failure to recognise the true meaning of this language results in a life charectersied by insincerity.

Fourthly, psychopaths are renowned for their lack of remorse and shame. In order to experience both remorse and shame, the psychopath must be able to conceive of the emotional and physical pain that they have inflicted upon others and the consequences of their actions. “Psychopaths can do neither” (Gray, 2010: p198). In one of many court appearances, Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer, demonstrated the aforementioned deficits. Standing before the court, families and friends of his victims, Rader heard the details of his crimes without any significant change in body language or facial expression which are frequently considered key indicators of remorse and shame. Moreover, Rader frequently interjected the presiding judge to “correct some minor detail” (ibid) pertaining to the record and nature of his offences. Rader’s court appearance exemplifies psychopaths infamous capacity to demonstrate both remorselessness and shamelessness. 

Finally, fantasies function in different manners in psychopaths when compared to non-psychopaths. In non-psychopaths, fantasies create patterns of actions that an individual can follow in order to reach an idyllic scenario. To return to the example of the promised date at an expensive restaurant, a non-psychopathic individual may fantasie about the date progressing soundly or the blossoming of a healthy and functioning relationship post-date. Also, fantasies in non-psychopathic individuals tend to be superseded by the demands and pressures of life in contemporary society. For example, our non-psychopathic romantic may fantasise about their promised date during their downtime at work or on a train, and then find that demanding moments in their life overwhelm the fantasy. In contrast, psychopaths, particularly psychopathic serial-killers, fantasies tend to be characterised by idealised sequences of “hunting, capturing, torturing, killing and disposing of the victim” (Gray, 2010: p199). These deviant fantasies begin in childhood as an emotional response to developmental stressors, and in their adolescence, the psychopath, fails to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate fantasies – a failure, which in part, may be attributable to the psychopaths inability to recognise the true meaning of words. In contrast to non-psychopathic individuals who frequently become distracted from their fantasies, psychopaths tend to be highly focused and motivated. As Gray has contested, “psychological tests have found them to be very difficult to distract from a task once they have begun” (Gray, 2010: p201). However, not all psychopaths who have fantasies of domination evolve into psychopathic serial-killers. Psychopathic serial-killers tend to reinforce their murderous fantasies through masturabtion and the act of ejuclation begins the assocation of violence and pleasure. 

 It must be noted that not all individuals who display psychopathic behaviour are serial-killers or violent, as Vargas notes in Are Psychopathic Serial Killers Evil?: “Rather than killing, they inflict pettier miseries on people around them” (Vargas, 2010: p66).  For example, it has been suggested that a number of leading Chief Executive Officer’s display psychopathic behaviours as the hyper-competitive nature of their occupation allows them to inflict petty miseries on their competitors in a peaceful and socially acceptable manner – in fact, in some circumstances, psychopathic behaviour may be encouraged in this economic sphere. Considerable debate exists around the types of violence committed by violent psychopaths. In an article entitled In Cold Blood: Characteristics of Criminal Homicide as a Function of Psychopathy Woodroth and Porter sampled one hundred and twenty five Canadian psychopathic offenders who had committed violent acts and hypothesised that violent acts committed by psychopaths (homicides) are primarily instrumental. Instrumental violence is a form of goal-oriented aggression which observes the perpetrator commit a violent act in order to achieve an ulterior goal. For example, the acts of genocidal violence committed by the SS Einsatzgruppen during the Second World War were designed to achieve the ulterior goal of ‘cleansing’ Hitler’s Third Reich of ethnic minorities and other ‘undesirables’ in order to allow adequate ‘living-space’ for the Aryan race.  Woodroth and Porter  subsequently concluded: “the results confirmed these predictions: homicides committed by psychopathic offenders were significantly more instrumental than homicides by nonpsychopaths” (Woodroth and Porter: 2002: p436). Impulsive violence demonstrates a considerable lack of behavioural control and awareness, whereas instrumental violence demonstrates a lack of empathy, desensitisation to  achieving goals through violent means and impaired moral reasoning. Therefore, we can conclude that violent acts committed by psychopaths tend to be characterised as acts of instrumental violence. For example, Ted Bundy used a series of intricate ruses such as the adoption of a fake cast or by walking on crutches in order to achieve and fufill his psycho-sexual desires. To briefly summarise, psychopathic serial-killers employ violence as a means to an end, much as a normal individual uses money to buy coffee or hugs another person to feel better. The psychopath stands before us as a real example of an individual who fails to conceive the conventional rules of morality as a result of factors, which may be, beyond their control. 

To conclude, we have observed that the contribution of philosophy to the study of serial-murder and serial-killers expands our understanding of them as a typolocial and categorical phemomen alongisde, and potentially beyond, the biological sciences. It has been demonstrated that alongisde possesing practical differences to mass murder, serial-murder posseses a marked quailitiative difference. In addition, we saw that the categorisation of female serial-killers reflects an inversion of the stereotypical expectations of a female’s role within the family, the workplace and society generally. Finally, it was shown that the category of individual commonly referred to as a psychopath functions as an example of Arendt’s ‘banality of evil’ alongside a philosophical portrayal of their psychological deficits. I’m left pondering one question on the matter: how do we action philosophies contributions to the study of the typologies and categories of serial-killer in order to prevent future serial-murders?

Bibliography

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Cleckley, H., (2016)., ‘The Mask of Sanity: An Attempt to Clarify Some Issues About the So-Called Psychopathic Personality – The 3rd Edition’’., Hauraki Publishing., p395

Deal, W and Waller, S., ‘Introduction: Meditations on Murder, or What is so Philosophical about Serial Killers’ in Waller, S., ‘Philosophy for Everyone: Being and Killing’ (2010)., Blackwell Publishing., p3

Deleuze, G., and Guattari, F., (1988) ‘A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia’’., Bloomsbury Academic., p15

Gray, R., ‘Psychopathy and Will to Power: Ted Bundy and Denis Rader’ in Waller, S., ‘Philosophy for Everyone: Being and Killing’ (2010)., Blackwell Publishing., p191, 192, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199

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Porter, S., and Woodroth, M., (2002).,  ‘In Cold Blood: Characteristics of Criminal Homicides as a Function of Psychopathy’., Journal of Abnormal Psychology., Vol 111., No.3., p346-445

Schechter, E and Schechter, H., ‘Killing with Kindness: Nature, Nurture and the Female Serial Killer’ in Waller, S., ‘Philosophy for Everyone: Being and Killing’ (2010)., Blackwell Publishing., p118, 119, 122, 124, 125

Time-Life Books., (1993)., ‘Mass Murderers’., Time-Life Books., Available at https://archive.org/details/massmurderers00time/mode/2up ., p118

Vargas, M., ‘Are Psychopathic Serial Killers Evil?: Are they Blameworthy for What They Do?’ in Waller, S., ‘Philosophy for Everyone: Being and Killing’ (2010)., Blackwell Publishing., p66, 69