Fact or Fiction?

As more and more serial killers are being discovered, more and more myths and truths are being made about them. Many people believe the typical stereotypes about serial killers. Even though some of those stereotypes might not be true at all, some might be true to some extent. Some of the most common myths and truths about serial killers will be discussed in this blog post. You'd be surprised at which ones are actually true and which are not.

Serial killers are all white males.
This is one of the most common misunderstanding about serial killers. This is only true to some extent. Statistically, most serial killers are white males, but saying that ALL serial killers are white males is a very broad generalization. There is always going to be your outliers and in this case there are some too. The usual counterarguments for this statement are that there was Charles Ng, Coral Eugene Watts, and Miyuki Ishikawa. Charles Ng was a Hong Kong native and possibly killed about 25 people. Coral Eugene Watts was an African American man that killed 17 people in Michigan and Texas. Miyuki Ishikawa, a Japanese midwife, is thought to have murdered about 100 infants.

A Serial killers are people that commit mass murders.
This is not true according to the FBI's definition of a serial killer. By definition, a serial killer is one who has murdered three or more people over the span of over a month. From killing just one person, one cannot be considered a serial killer, they are just a killer. Most people do not know the exact definition of a serial killer so they assume if someone kills a whole family at once, that they are a serial killer. That is not true either. To be considered as a serial killer, one would need a so-called "resting period" between each murder.

Serial killers are all dysfunctional loners.
Serial killers try to blend into society just like everyone else, so this statement is not necessarily true. Only some serial killers were dysfunctional loners. A lot of them had regular lives like regular people. The BTK Killer, the Green River Killer, and John Wayne Gacy had normal lives and blended in to seem like any other person. The BTK Killer (blind, torture, kill) killed about 10 people but was married with two kids. The Green River Killer confessed to killing 48 women but was married, had a job, and even went to church regularly (kinda ironic don't you think?). John Wayne Gacy murdered 33 boys and young men but his alter ego was "Pogo the Clown" (now I get why clowns are so creepy).

These are only a few myths about serial killers. For the most part they are true which is why so many people assume them to be fact. But, there are always exceptions.

Citation: Bonn, Scott. "5 Myths about Serial Killers and Why They Persist [Excerpt]." Scientific American. N.p., 24 Oct. 2014. Web. 06 May 2016.