Serial killers fascinate; extreme cases even more so.

From John Wayne Gacy to Jeffrey Dahmer, many of America's most famous murderers have entered into the collective cultural consciousness. They have become pop culture figures, famous for their crimes and the violent nature of their acts. People feel compelled to understand more about these dark and twisted crimes, even when they disgust. For audiences everywhere, the very idea that these people can exist and operate in day-to-day life becomes an issue of abject terror and interest. That your neighbor, your boss, or your gas station attendant might be in the midst of a killing spree taps into something primal and very hard to imagine. It reflects the darkest side of the human psyche.

"Serial killer" as a term can be difficult to define. Different criminal investigation units typically require two, three, or more attributable killings over a period of time before an individual can be considered to have joined the ranks of the serial killers. However, it is not really the numbers which can interest so many people and scare others. Instead, it is the often random nature of the killings. Rather than crimes of passion, crimes of financial reward, or instances when an individual has reached their end of their emotional tether, the crimes of serial killers have often been planned days, weeks, or months in advance. Targets can be random, but the killings are often planned in great detail. From cannibalism to mental health concerns, from ritualistic witchcraft to a simple interest in violence, learning what motivates these people can offer both insight and further confusion. The cases presented in this book are extreme cases and display to what extent a serial killer can go.

Hear the stories of little known serial killers that went beyond the limit of our imagination to perpetrate vile unremorseful murders in the blink of an eye.