Born on 23rd November 1947, in the remote coastal village of Fraserburg (Scotland), Dennis Andrew Nilsen spent his formative years alone; with no friends to play with, no father (having been abandoned at birth) and being the youngest of seven children to a single mother, Nilsen would forever feel abandoned by anyone he ever loved, or would love. In November 1975, having recently left his career as an Army chef (the one constant in his turbulent life), Dennis Nilsen stopped off at his regular haunt - The Champion public house in Bayswater - for a much-needed rum and coke. A full psychological profile of Nilsen can be read here. 

​It was as he approached the doors that he saw a blond man in his early twenties, with stud earrings, rouged cheeks and a hint of lipstick, being assaulted by two older men. Nilsen - who stood at an imposing six foot two with a striking glare and a rough Aberdeenshire brogue - intervened, and a few hours later found himself getting cosy in a corner snug at The Champion with the man he’d saved – David Gallichan - who can be seen here in Dennis Nilsen's home videos, taken at their home in Melrose Avenue. Two complete strangers whose lives would be immeasurably changed forever as they bonded over a few light libations (rum & coke), who’d both found what they were looking for; a moneyed father-figure in Nilsen and a youthful soul-mate in Gallichan, who Nilsen would later nickname “Twinkle”.

Believing he had finally found “the one”, Nilsen used his inheritance (a surprising gift from his recently deceased Norwegian father who he’d never met) and rented a one-bedroomed flat in North London’s Muswell Hill, so the two could settle down like an old married couple. They decorated, dined and even adopted a stray cat called Dee-Dee and a mongrel collie-cross called Bleep… but it was not to be. As Nilsen slipped into the easy comfort of “marital bliss” by staying in, snuggling down and generally being a bit of a homebody, Twinkle’s wayward ways – of drinking, flirting and sleeping around - were only exacerbated by Nilsen’s middle-aged traits, as the playful and flirtatious Twinkle decided to move on to the next meal-ticket. One who was less domineering, jealous or prone to outbursts of anger. 

In 1978, a few short (but turbulent) years since they had met, Twinkle walked out on Nilsen forever. Bitter, angry and rejected, Nilsen began to drink until he blacked out, and as his anger towards Twinkle swelled, he’d go in search in many of West London’s local pub for young men, who just like his ex’, many would often be blonde, slim and vulnerable, who he hoped would fill Twinkle’s place. But once these potential boyfriends got inside his flat, drank his rum and flaked out; Nilsen - wracked with an uncontrollable streak of jealous paranoia - knew there was only one way to stop them from rejecting him (as so many had done before) and that was to kill them, so they would stay forever.  And often, he’d relive his sordid fantasy of a happy home life, by watching telly, having a meal, taking a bath and even having sex with their corpses, as if it was a supposedly normal and loving relationship.

In November 1975, Dennis Nilsen - a mild-mannered man who had never killed before - met David “Twinkle” Gallichan at The Champion (Bayswater). Exactly four years later, Twinkle’s rejection of Nilsen’s affections would lead him down a deadly road of murder spanning five years and leaving fifteen young men dead, making Dennis Nilsen one of Britain’s most prolific serial killers.

Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten quirky & unusual things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totalling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.

If you love true-crime podcasts, subscribe to the Murder Mile true-crime podcast on iTunes, Soundcloud, Podbean, Pocketcast, Stitcher, Acast, Tune-In, Otto Radio or Libsy

On 26th May 2012, Rudy Eugene (31) viciously attacked and began to eat and digest the face of homeless man Ronald Poppo (65) by the side of the MacArthur Causeway in Miami, Florida. The incident was caught on The Miami Herald's security camera which witnessed both men, naked and bloody, thrashing around on the floor, until Eugene was shot and killed by the Police. Having survived, Poppo has received facial surgery and counselling. See the video here. 

March 2001, Armin Meiwes of Essen* (Germany) posted an online advert requesting a young man for him to kill and eat. Amazingly, Bernd Jürgen Brandes replied, met with Armin, offered himself up, died by being stabbed in the neck and was chopped up and served with garlic and olive oil. In total, Armin ate 20kgs of Brandes' flesh, having frozen the remainder to eat later. In 2004, Armin was convicted of manslaughter but in a 2006 retrial was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Watch a full documentary here. *Oddly, "Essen" in German means "food" or is also the verb meaning "to eat". 

In 2009, chef David Viens murdered his wife (Dawn), slow-cooked her corpse in a 55 gallon drum over four days at his restaurant - The Thyme Contemporary Cafe near Long Beach - he then "...let her cool, I strained it out", ate some of her flesh and then dumped her remains of her corpse in the bin. Watch a full documentary here. 

On the evening of 30th July 2008, 22 year old Canadian Tim McLean was asleep on a Greyhound bus near Manitoba, when the man sitting next to him - Vincent Li -  an untreated schizophrenic, repeatedly stabbed McLean with a large knife in the neck and chest, beheaded his victim and began to devouring some of McLean's flesh. Now known as Will Baker, Li was found not guilty on the grounds of diminished responsibility, was granted an absolute discharge and currently lives at home, under minor medical supervision. Watch new clip here. 

July 2002, three men and one woman, all resident of Zhytomir in west of Kiev (Ukraine) were arrested for killing and cannibalising an eighteen year old girl, having lured her to a forest on the outskirts of town. Black magic book's were found at the couples flat and this murder is believed to be part of a satanic ritual. Read more here. 

In February 2004, 39 year old paranoid schizophrenic Peter Bryan walked out of a psychiatric unit in Newham (East London) and visited his friend Brian Cherry. A few hours later, Police were alerted by neighbours to screams coming from the flat, and as they entered the kitchen, they discovered Bryan frying Cherry's brain in a pan with a small knob of butter. Read more about Peter Bryan here. 

In July 2013, Police in Salerno (Italy) were alerted by neighbours to a foul odour emanating from the flat of 45 year old Lino Renzi; inside they found him cooking some intestine chunks on the grill, which belonged to his 73 year old mother - Maria Pia Guariglia. She'd been beaten to death, chopped up with a saw and a butcher's knife, and popped into various pots or bagged and placed in the fridge for further meals. Read more. 

April 2011, in Darya Khan (in the Punjab Province, Pakistan), two brothers Farman & Arif Ali were arrested for grave-robbing and cannibalism and served two years in prison. Upon release, they were re-arrested just a few months later when Police caught them in their kitchen making a curry out of a human corpse... this time, a two year old child. Although their relatives deny this, there's a BBC interview here. 

8th October 2008, the Mexican Police (FPP) attempted to arrest Jose Luis Calva Zepeda for the suspected disappearance of his girlfriend - Alejandra Galeana - but upon entering his home, they found him eating a bowl of human flesh which he'd seasoned with lemon. On further inspection, various parts of Alejandra's dismembered corpse were found in the refrigerator, in a frying pan and some of her bones (gnawed clean) were found in a cereal box. Read more in this Newsweek article. 

In May 2009, in Bakersfield (California), PCP "Angel Dust" addict Angelo Mendoza Senior was charged with torture, child cruelty and inflicting an injury to a child having eaten his 4 year old son’s left eye and attempted to eat the other. Upon his arrest, his son - Angelo Mendoza Junior -  stated to the Police, “my daddy ate my eyes”.  Mendoza Snr was found guilty by reason of insanity and Mendoza Jnr has regained some sight. Read more. 

On 13th April 2012, Tokyo-based activist and artist - Mao Sugiyama - cut off his nipples and genitals as part of a stunt to promote gender equality and asexuality, and served his testicles and penis at a public event, which were served with button mushrooms and parsley. 70 people turned up but only 5 people ate his genitals. They'd each paid 100,000 Yen. Read more. 

Other incidents of cannibalism include South Korea's Yoo Young-Chul aka The Raincoat Killer, rap artist "Big Lurch", Indian child serial-killer Surinder Koli, Turkish serial-killer Özgür Dengiz, Russian serial killer Alexander Bychkov, and Chinese serial killer Zhang Yongming. As well as a few instances where couples and friends have eaten each others face off, including Florida's Austin Harrouff and South Wales' Matthew Williams. ​

If you "enjoyed" this blog post, why not take a peek at my other articles: such as serial killers and their diets, favourite drinks, height, IQ, star signs, lunar cycles, dates of birth, reasons for killing, music, nicknames, last meals and whether they're alive or dead... to name but a few. ​​

Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, podcaster, crime historian and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten curious, quirky, unusual and different things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totalling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.

If you love true-crime podcasts, subscribe to Murder Mile true-crime podcast on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podbean, Pocketcast, Stitcher, Acast, Tune-In, Otto Radio or Libsyn

What differentiates a serial-killer from a murderer? Both of them kill... but both kill for very different reasons; with murderers their actions are either a crime-of-passion, an act of aggression, or a spontaneous action in a fit of jealousy, need or greed, where-as although serial killers are also compelled to kill, they have an innate ability to blend into their surroundings, to pre-plan, to find order amidst the chaos and (sometimes) - if needed - the ability to bottle-up their volatility, where-as for the rest of their days, they can appear like just a regular person, just like one of us. 

What follows is the first part of a series of interviews with some of the world's most infamous serial killers so you can get a better sense of how they were perceived by their victims and followers as either powerful, alluring and messianic, or intelligent, caring and compassionate, even when they were not, which is what makes serial killers so fascinating. 

Part two of television interviews with infamous serial killers and murders will appear here soon.  If you "enjoyed" this blog post, why not take a peek at; Killers As Kids, Killers By Age, Birth Name, Diet, Drink, Height, IQ, Job, Lunar Cycle, Motive, Music, Name,  Nickname, Star Sign, Dead Or Alive?, Last Meals, Last Words, Not Caught, On TV and even their Pets 

Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, podcaster, crime historian and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten quirky & unusual things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totalling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.

This is Denmark Street , also known as “Tin-Pan Alley”, it is here that many of Britain’s most infamous musical artists (such as The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Elton John, The Sex Pistols, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Lionel Bart) either lived or recorded many of their most famous hits. Today, number 1 to 3 Denmark Street is a branch of Fernandez and Wells, but up until 2016, this was the Charring Cross branch of the job centre, earlier dubbed The Labour Exchange. 

In May 1974, a tall (6 foot 2 inches) yet pleasant man, who was both stern but surprisingly shy, by the name of Dennis Andrew Nilsen walked through the main door of the job centre looking for employment, having recently finished a fifteen year stint as an Army chef and six months as a trainee Police Officer in Wilsden, who was desperate for a new career and a renewed sense of camaraderie. Being hard-working and intelligent, Nilsen was offered a job on the spot, and after many years of diligence, he progressed to the lofty position of acting executive officer.

Although a staunch Labour supporter and a fierce union negotiator, Dennis was widely regarded by his colleagues as someone you could trust if you had a problem; he was a good boss, a strong ally, an excellent cook (who’d often come into work with treats, his speciality being a traditional curry), who also had a real soft spot for the homeless men, vulnerable boys and injured animals. 

On one occasion, Nilsen rescued an injured sparrow which he found outside of these very offices, he nursed it back to health in a makeshift nest that he constructed in his office drawer (from cotton wool and shredded newspaper) and fed the struggling bird with Fish Fingers that he had masticated in his own mouth first, like he was the bird’s mother. But then again, as his colleagues would say, "that was Dennis (or Den' as he was known)", a little bit odd, but an alright bloke with a big heart, who loved his little dog "Bleep". . 

But what his colleagues at the Denmark Street job centre didn’t know was that Dennis Nilsen, their acting executive officer, had a dark side.

In 1978, his 21 year old homosexual lover – David Gallichan; a pretty, blonde, thin and small-framed man who he’d nicknamed “Twinkle” – walked out off their one year relationship, leaving Nilsen to fester and fume in a drunken rage. Having already been abandoned so many times (first at birth by his Norwegian father, then by his over-worked single mother, then his beloved grandfather) and now by “Twinkle”, Nilsen was lonely and on the look-put for someone to replace him.

Having a penchant for “slim, attractive but vulnerable young men”, and with his sensitive and caring side also stretched to the waifs and strays of London’s homeless community; Nilsen would lure various young men back to his flat for drink, food, warmth and sex, but also (Nilsen hoped) a long-lasting relationship. All of whom he knew only wanted him for his money, most of whom would end up dead, and many of whom oddly resembled his former lover “Twinkle” (or, if they didn’t, he’d shave them, bathe them and dress them so that their corpses resembled his ex-lover).

Over a five year period, as he worked at the Denmark Street job centre (later briefly in Kilburn), Dennis Nilsen murdered 15 young men and attempted to kill 7 others. And none of his co-workers ever had a clue that he was one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers… until he caught.

Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten quirky & unusual things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totalling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.

Profile #4 - Ed Gein: Dubbed the "Butcher of Plainfield" (Wisconsin), Ed Gein was grave-robber, murderer, necrophile and (possible) serial killer, who exhumed the corpses of freshly deceased women to fashion himself a "woman suit" and re-animate his beloved dead mother. 

PERSONAL DETAILS

• Birth Name: Edward Theodore Gein
• Date of Birth: 27th August 1906
• Place of Birth: La Crosse County, Wisconsin (USA)
• Weight: 9 stone 8lbs (60kgs) * estimate based on height & frame
• Height: 5 foot 7 inches (1.7 m)
• Hair Colour: Brown
• Eye Colour: Blue
• Nickname: Dubbed by the press as “The Butcher of Plainfield” and “The Ghoul of Plainfield”, he was known simply as “Ed” or “Eddie” by his few friends and family. Growing up in a troubled and isolated 155-acre farm in middle of rural Plainfield, Ed doesn’t appear to have been blessed with an affectionate nicknames.
• Star Sign: Virgo
• Disabilities: Although not a disability, Ed Gein had a non-malignant fleshy growth on the corner of his left eyelid which caused this eye to droop, and for which young Ed Gein would be bullied and ridiculed by the kids at school. And although not pronounced, Ed has a lesion on his tongue which caused him to have a mild speech defect as well as a slight stammer.
• Health Issues: None known, although there is no record of Ed Gein visiting a hospital for his own medical needs before his committal to the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in 1957. 
• Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual, although as a child Ed would often imagine what it would be like to be a woman, to have female genital parts, a fascination which would continue into his adulthood. Aged 12, Ed’s mother caught him masturbating in the bath, to punish him she grabbed his genitals, squeezed them and called them “the curse of a man”.
• Personality: Shy, quiet and socially awkward, Ed was punished whenever he tried to make friends (as his mother was desperate to protect her boys from outsiders who she saw as sinful). Being just 5 foot 7 inches tall and of a slight build, Ed had effeminate mannerisms for which he was mocked, and was a consummate daydreamer who would laugh at his own thoughts. That said, as a handyman and babysitter, he was regarded by the townsfolk as honest and reliable.

FAMILY HISTORY

• Parents: George Philip Gein (1873–1940) and Augusta Wilhelmine (née Lehrke) Gein of German heritage were married on 7th July 1900 and remained unhappily wed for forty years, living in remote isolation. George was a violent alcoholic who struggled to hold down a job, whether as tanner, carpenter, insurance salesman or even his own grocery store and was seen as useless by his domineering wife Augusta. She was a strict Lutheran who abhorred drink, sexual deviance such as masturbation, believed that all women – excluding herself – were whores sent by the Devil to tempt men, and she didn’t believe in divorce.
• Siblings: One older brother, Henry G Gein.
• Sibling Order: Second of two boys, youngest.
• Traumatic Event as a Child: Two events preceded the death of Ed’s beloved mother; Ed’s violent father died of heart failure caused by alcoholism on 1st April 1940 (aged 66) and on 16 May 1944 his older brother Henry died of asphyxiation whilst stemming a crop-fire at their farmstead, this left Ed alone in the house with just his mother. By this point, Augusta had suffered two strokes, was physically disabled and required daily support from Ed to achieve even the simplest tasks, and although Ed cared for her deeply, she never showed any affection for him, which he craved so deeply. Unfortunately, on 29th December 1945, Ed’s entire world collapsed when his beloved mother died aged 67, leaving him alone and grief-stricken over the loss of “his friend, and one true love”.
• Divorced or Deceased Parent or Sibling: Ed was unemotional at the death of his father and brother, and although the death of Henry G Gein, Ed’s older brother was deemed “accidental asphyxiation” caused by smoke inhalation, it was later reported that Henry had bruises about the head suggested that Ed had battered him to death, before leaving him to be consumed by the fire.
• Head injury or Accident as Child: Yes, Ed claimed that his alcoholic violent father would repeatedly beat him about the head “so hard my ears would ring”.
• Bed-Wetter (as child): Unknown
• Fire-Starter (as child): None, but making a fire was part of rural farm-life, as used for cooking, heating and clearing scrubland, so it seems unlikely that Ed would find pleasure from an every day task
• Animal Abuser (as child): Again, unlike many serial killers, there is no (known) history of animal cruelty by Ed Gein, as it believed that shooting, skinning and butchering animals was a way of life for him. Although, he would often watch his father “gut a hog or deer”, stripping its skin, filleting its muscles and gutting its innards, Ed would later claim that he’d never butchered any large animals as “the sight of blood made me queasy”. It is worth noting though that Ed claims to have experienced an ejaculation watching a hog being slaughtered.
• Pets: Unknown, although living on a farm it would be more than likely that The Gein Family had a dog, not as a pet, but as a rat-catcher.
• Abandoned / Fostered: No, but Ed was raised in an uncaring and abusive family, all of whom were dead by the time he reached 40 years old.
• Marital Status: Single/virgin, there are no records of Ed being in a relationship, but given that his deeply Lutheran mother had ensured her sons were not exposed to “the evil of women”, and that Ed saw his mother as his “one true love”, it’s unlikely that he dated, or engaged in consensual sex.
• Partners: None.
• Children:  None. 

WORK

• Jobs: His working life started in childhood as a farmhand on his parent’s farm, a role which he and his brother would entirely look after as his father’s drinking increased. Although Ed never had a career, his hand-to-mouth existence was part-funded by a federal farm subsidy and Ed also earned money working as a handyman, as part of the road building crew, crop-threshing for local farmers and even as a babysitter for the local children. There is no evidence of Ed abusing these children, in fact they were happy to see him and he enjoyed their company, finding them easier to relate to than men and women of his own age.
• Training: Whilst working on his parent’s farmstead, Ed had experience of shooting, skinning, hide tanning and butchering, which would come in useful during his murderous spree.
• Military Service: In 1942, aged 36, with Ed still just-about eligible for the conscription draft, he travelled to Milwaukee for his physical exam but was rejected by the Army owing to the growth above his eye which (they said) impaired his vision.
• IQ / Education: IQ – 106, Ed was assessed following his arrest to determine if he was mentally capable. Went to Roche-a-Cri grade school, he was an average student, but an excellent reader, though he would often be bullied owing to his speech impediment. 

SOCIAL

• Favourite Food: Ed wasn’t much of a cook; his farmstead had no electricity or running eater, and his cupboards contained little more than the basics of canned goods, oatmeal and bread, with his main source of nutrition being potatoes and the rabbits he hunted. Ed did enjoy a meal at Irene & Lester Hill’s home (the local store owners) of pork chops, boiled potatoes, Macaroni Cheese, coffee and cookies.
• Favourite Music: Unknown.
• Favourite Film: Unknown. There is no record of Ed going to a cinema, and as his farmstead didn’t have electricity, he didn’t have a television or a radio.
• Favourite Book: Just prior to the death of his mother, Ed became interested in reading lurid crime stories and adventure magazines he’d get from the general store, many of which were seedy tales about cannibals, murderers, death-cults and Nazi atrocities, with reference to grave-robbing, shrunken heads and death masks.
• Favourite Drink: Ed didn’t drink alcohol, owing to his mother’s strict moralistic code.
• Smoker: Likewise, Ed didn’t smoke.
• Hobbies: When he wasn’t reading lurid crime magazines, Ed entertained himself by playing the accordion and the flute. He was also a taxidermist.
• Religion: Lutheran
• Drugs/Alcohol Abuse: None.
• Political Leanings: Unknown.

MURDER CAREER

• Reason for Murder: Fixated on his childhood fantasy of what it would be like to be a woman, Ed fashioned himself a “woman suit” – a full-body onesie, from head-to-toe, sewn from the tanned skin of various recently deceased corpses he had dug-up and dissected from the local cemetery. Ed claims to have made 40 nocturnal visits to Plainfield Cemetery, stealing from nine graves, as well as murdering two women - hardware store owner Bernice Worden and tavern owner Mary Hogan (who resembled his mother). It’s worth noting that Ed Gein isn’t a serial killer so much as he is a murderer and body-snatcher, but his profile is often used to explain a serial killer’s mind-set and is the inspiration for Norman Bates in Psycho and Jamie Gum in Silence of the Lambs. That said, numerous girls and women disappeared during Ed’s crimes, so whether there were other victims, that can’t be discounted.
• Method of Killing: Although Bernice Worden and Mary Hogan were shot with a .22 calibre rifle, it’s what Ed did with their corpses (and those he dug-up) which is more intriguing. He skinned his victims, turning their body parts not only into a “woman suit” - complete with mask, corset and leggings - but also fashioned their flesh as wastebaskets and chair seats, skulls as bedposts and serving bowls, with nine vulvae kept in a shoe-box, a belt of human nipples, a pot of noses, a pair of lips as a drawstring and a lampshade made from the skin of a victim’s face.  
• Number of Victims: Gein confessed to killing two women – tavern owner Mary Hogan on 8th December 1954, and a Plainfield hardware store owner, Bernice Worden, on 16th November 1957, but his other victims (although already dead) include the nine women whose corpses he dug-up and dissected, including his own mother. Ed is also believed to be responsible for five murders and disappearances in Plainfield, although there could be more. None of Ed’s victims can be DNA tested, as their remains were destroyed shortly after the crime-scene photos were taken.
• Length of Career: This is almost impossible to determine, as Ed’s career as a murderer or grave-robber either started on 16th May 1944 (when it is believed but never proved that he killed his brother), June 1947 (when Ed dug-up his mother’s corpse), or 8th December 1954 (when he murdered Mary Hogan), right up to the death of Bernice Worden on 16th November 1957.
• Previous Criminal Record: None that he was charged with, although excluding the death of his brother, Ed was a suspect in the disappearance of 8 year old Georgia Weckler and 15 year old Evelyn Hartley.
• Preferred Victims: The majority were female, white and middle-aged, many of whom physically resembled his mother, as his plan was to create a “woman suit”, as if he was bringing his dead mother (his “beloved”) back to life.
• Preferred Murder Location: Although Bernice was murdered in her own store and it is unknown where Ed murdered Mary Hogan, the bulk of his victims were dug-up from the Plainfield Cemetery shortly after they were buried, to ensure that their corpses were fresh and pliable to fashion into a “woman suit”, but also so the recently filled-in hole of disturbed earth wouldn’t be noticeable.
• Perversions: Although a frequent masturbator as a child, Ed later progressed to grave-robbing, skinning his victims, wearing their skin and necrophilia (sleeping in the same bed as his mother's corpse), not the act of having sex with the corpses, Ed later stated “they smelled too bad”, but that his actions with the corpses were sexual in nature.
• Disposal: Although Ed utilised much of his victim’s flesh for homewares, there is no evidence that Ed ate any of his victims. 

ARREST/SENTENCE

• Detection: On 18th November 1957, Deputy Sheriff Frank Worden entered the West Plainfield grocery store, ran by his mother Bernice Worden and found blood-stains. The cash register was empty, a .22 rifle was missing and the last sales slip Bernice filled out was for a gallon of antifreeze for Ed Gein. As (possibly) the last person who saw her alive, Ed was arrested and the Waushara County Sheriff's Department searched the Gein farmstead, where they found Bernice’s decapitated corpse strung-up upside-down in the shed, her limbs tied and splayed wide and her torso cut open, her innards removed, she’d been “dressed out like a deer”.
• Arrested: On the evening of 18th November 1957 Ed was arrested at home and – although the local police had found Mary and Bernice’s bodies as well as nine other corpses in various states is dissections and rigour-mortis, Ed didn’t confess to the two murders until the next day.
• Trial: Although Ed’s trial for first degree murder began on 21st November 1957, just three days after his arrest, he pleaded “not guilty” on the grounds of insanity, he was clinically diagnosed as a schizophrenic and declared mentally unfit to stand trial. Therefore it wasn’t until 7th November 1968, that Ed Gein (after spending ten years in a mental institution) that he was deemed mentally competent to stand trial, the trial lasted one week, and Ed was found “guilty, by reason of insanity” of the murder of Bernice Worden but “due to the prohibitive costs of the trial” Ed was never tried for the murder of Mary Hogan.
• Prison: Ed spent 10 years before his trial at the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane (now known as the Dodge Correctional Institution), then a maximum-security facility in Waupun during his trial and later the Mendota State Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin to serve the rest of his sentence.
• Sentence Length: Deemed “mentally incapable”, Ed was spared the death penalty and was sentenced to “life in prison” at Mendota State Hospital, where he died on the 26th July 1984, suffering from respiratory failure exacerbated by stage-three lung cancer at 77 years old.
• Type of Prisoner: Ed was described in hospital as a “perfectly amiable and docile patient” who rarely required tranquilisers to keep his mood under control.
• Parole: No applicable. 

If you "enjoyed" this blog post, why not take a peek at; Serial Killers & Murderers Who Were Never Caught, London's Deadliest & Often Forgotten Disasters, Are More Serial KIllers Born During a Full Moon, Killer's Birthdays / Star Signs, Serial Killers Who Were On TV, Celebrities Who Have Killed, London's Railway of Death, Serial Killers as Kids and the World's Weirdest Death Rituals

Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, podcaster, crime historian and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten quirky & unusual things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totalling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.

If you love true-crime podcasts, check out the Murder Mile true-crime podcast on iTunes, Soundcloud, Podbean, Pocketcast, Stitcher, Acast, Tune-In, Otto Radio or Libsyn

In the second part of Murder Mile's three part blog on whether a star-sign, birthday or lunar cycle could be a factor in whether anyone is predisposed to being a serial killer, we present... Serial Killers and their Birthdays. Which is not to say that the day a serial killer was born on is the sole determining factor on whether someone becomes a serial killer, that's just stupid - but that (as seen in my blog on serial killer's star-signs in which three times as many killers were born under Gemini than any other star sign), what I'm asking is could this be a contributing factor? 

So, what can you tell about a person's personality by the day they were born? Is Wednesday's child full of woe, Friday's child loving and giving, or are they both a bubbling pot of rage and hatred waiting to explode? And - compared with my other studies on murderer's names, jobs, music, foods and favourite drinks, etc - do you also share similarities with a serial killer? Let's find out. As before, the following is taken from a sample of 100 of the world's most infamous serial killers, mass-murders, killer couples and spree-killers, with a few exceptions where I was unable to track their date of birth (listed in the footnotes**). 

Listen to Ep1 of the Murder Mile true-crime podcast, which focuses of Britain's most infamous and least known mass murder, the Denmark Place fire? Press PLAY on the media player below.

Subscribe to the Murder Mile true-crime podcast on Podcast Addict, iTunes, Soundcloud, Podbean, Pocketcast, Stitcher, Acast, Tune-In, Otto Radio or Libsyn

What Date Were Serial Killers / Murderers Born On?

Here's three handy charts created by the Murder Mile UK True Crime Podcast showing you a serial killer / murderer / spree-killer / war-criminal for every day of the year. If you'd like to download them, click here - JAN to APR, MAY to AUG and SEPT to DEC.

Which Serial Killer Shares My Birth Month? 

• JANUARY: Cynthia Coffman, Dorothea Puente, George Joseph Smith, Harold Shipman, John Bodkin Adams, Jeremy Bamber, Ian Brady, Joel Rifkin, Luis Alfredo Garavito and Ronald Dominique. (a total of 10 )
• FEBRUARY: Aileen Wuornos, Gary Ridgway, David Birnie, John Straffen, Richard Ramirez, Lee Boyd Malvo, Robert Napper and Stephen Port (9, oddly both Wuornos & Ramirez were born on a the 29th of the month, a leap year). 
• MARCH: Colin Ireland, Dennis Rader, Donald Henry Gaskins, Doug Clark, John Wayne Gacy and Peter Manuel (6). 
• APRIL: Alexander Pichushkin, Henri Desire Landru, Orville Lynn Majors, John Reginald Christie, Judy Buenoano, Robert Black, Herbert Mullin and Steven Wright. (8) 
• MAY: Albert Fish, Anthony Hardy, Catherine Birnie, David Copeland, H H Holmes, Karla Homolka, Michael Ryan, Ted Kaczynski, Richard Chase, Peter Kurten, Kenneth Bianchi, Jeffrey Dahmer and Levi Bellfield. (13) 
• JUNE: Arthur Shawcross, David Berkowitz, Peter Sutcliffe, Robert Maudsley and Trevor Hardy. (4)
• JULY: Anatoly Yuriyovych Onoprienko, Myra Hindley, Glen Edward Rogers and John George Haigh (4)
• AUGUST: Carol M. Bundy, Donald Neilson, Ed Gein, Henry Lee Lucas, Faye Copeland, Paul Bernardo, Peter Tobin, Raymond Morris and Rodney Alcala (9)
• SEPTEMBER: Albert DeSalvo, Graham Young, Fred West and Patrick MacKay (4)
• OCTOBER: Andrei Chikatilo, Beverley Allitt, Peter Bryan, Robert “Willie” Pickton, Velma Barfield, Javed Iqbal Mughal and Fritz Haarmann. (7) 
• NOVEMBER: David Ray Parker, Dennis Nilsen, Derrick Bird, Kristen Gilbert, Martha Beck, Moses Sithole, Ted Bundy and Rose West. (8)
• DECEMBER: Dean Arnold Corll, Edmund Kemper, Stephen Griffiths, Steven Grieveson, Janie Lou Gibbs, John Allen Muhammad, Larry Eyler, Randall Woodfield, Ray Copeland and Ray Fernandez (10)

Which Serial Killer Shares My Day Of Birth?

MONDAY: David Berkowitz, David Ray Parker, Richard Ramirez, Donald Henry Gaskins, Fred West, Harold Shipman, Javed Iqbal Mughal, Orville Lynn Majors, Ed Gein, Kristen Gilbert, Lee Boyd Malvo, Karla Homolka, Henri Desire Landru, Robert “Willie” Pickton, Robert Black, Rodney Alcala, Steven Grieveson, Trevor Hardy and Paul Bernardo. (20)
TUESDAY: Alexander Pichushkin, Colin Ireland, Joel Rifkin, John Wayne Gacy, Moses Sithole, Randall Woodfield, Peter Tobin, Raymond Morris, Richard Chase, Kenneth Bianchi and Ronald Dominique (11)
WEDNESDAY: Aileen Wuornos, Arthur Shawcross, Carol M. Bundy, Derrick Bird, Catherine Birnie, Dorothea Puente, Doug Clark, Ray Copeland, Michael Ryan and Stephen Griffiths (10). 
THURSDAY: Albert DeSalvo, Albert Fish, Anthony Hardy, H H Holmes, Faye Copeland, Myra Hindley, Patrick MacKay, Steven Wright, Ray Fernandez, Martha Beck, George Joseph Smith and John Straffen. (12) 
FRIDAY: Beverley Allitt, Dennis Nilsen, Dennis Rader, Andrei Chikatilo, Cynthia Coffman, David Birnie, Gary Ridgway, Levi Bellfield, Luis Alfredo Garavito, Robert Maudsley, Ted Kaczynski, Robert Napper, Jeremy Bamber and Herbert Mullin. (14) 
SATURDAY: David Copeland, Anatoly Onoprienko, Donald Neilson, Edmund Kemper, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Allen Muhammad, John Bodkin Adams, John George Haigh, Peter Bryan, Peter Kurten, Stephen Port, Velma Barfield, John Reginald Christie and Fritz Haarmann (14)
SUNDAY: Dean Arnold Corll, Glen Edward Rogers, Graham Young, Henry Lee Lucas, Ian Brady, Janie Lou Gibbs, Judy Buenoano, Larry Eyler, Peter Manuel, Rose West, Ted Bundy and Peter Sutcliffe (12). 

Here, let's delve a little deeper into whether the day you were born affects your personality, with the following details kindly purloined from the numerology website dayofbirth.com. You can find out what day you were born on there. ​

​MONDAY: you are blessed with a good memory, softly spoken, often whimsical, sensitive, emotional and prone to get nervous easily. You love to spend time with family and friends, and are always the pacifier of quarrels. Men born on Mondays lead a disciplined life and are immensely successful in their jobs. Women born on Mondays grow up to be very good wives and mothers, who are loving and caring of their families.

​Serial killers who were born on a Monday include Fred West (who brutally tortured and murdered his own daughter, together with his wife), Harold Shipman (who euthenised 287+ elderly patients) and Ed Gein (who slept every night snuggled-up with the decomposing corpse of his dead mother)

​TUESDAY: you are very active, lively and vivacious, with warrior-like qualities, brave and serious in your work, and yet always willing to help others out. A great worrier who attracts problems, finds it difficult to let go, or simplify their life. You are overtly materialistic, tend to overindulge and are bad with money. Although you ask your mother’s opinion a lot, you tend to go your own way, and because you often don’t think before you speak others often misunderstand you. You are hardworking, sensitive but often difficult to deal with.

​Serial killers who were born on a Tuesday include John Wayne Gacy (the killer clown who kept the dismembered corpse's of his 33 victims underneath his floorboards) and "Joel the Ripper" Rifkin (who scattered his victim's limbs far and wide, whether in the East River or dumped on the New Jersey golf course). 

​WEDNESDAY: you are witty, creative, disorganised, not concerned about looks, but are hugely curious in nature and eager to learn and develop as a person. You are satisfied with life, efficient at work, but often short-tempered when it comes to maintaining good relationships. You are materialistic, highly intelligent, often sly, and always do things which warrant something in return. Wednesday’s woman (especially after 6pm) often exhibit very different characteristics to those listed above.

​Serial killers who were born on a Wednesday include Michael Ryan (spree killer of the "Hungerford Massacre) and Aileen Wuornos (prostitute who murdered seven of her punters). 

​THURSDAY: you are wise, optimistic, understanding, respected and attract a lot of attention wherever you go. You’re a good leader, who carves their own path, and is very independent, yet you are stubborn, difficult, unable to accept criticism and easily bored. Although you are well behaved and treat others with respect, you often hold a grudge and take revenge. You are intelligent, conscientious, irritable and “an unusual character”, which makes you difficult for others to cope with.

​Serial killers who were born on a Thursday include Albert DeSalvo (aka the boston strangler who lured his way into his victim's apartments by measuring them for the latest fashions, hence he was dubbed "The Measuring Man") and Myra Hindley (who coerced young children into her car - for her and her boyfriend Ian Brady to kill - with the promise of sweets if they'd help her with a little task)

​FRIDAY: you are a creative and artistic spirit, you are the harbinger of peace, love, beauty and pleasure. You are happy-go-lucky, sensitive, but do not take heartbreak well at all. Friday’s woman is highly emotional, very possessive, yet quick witted and business minded. Friday’s male loves being a ladies man, but terrible with family affairs. You are intuitive, spiritual, worldly wise and strong in constitution (but when you get ill, it takes you longer than normal to recover).

​Serial killers who were born on a Friday include Cynthia Coffman, Beverly "The Angel of Death" Allitt and Britain's most notorious serial-killer Dennis Nilsen, whose murderous killing spree of 15+ victims and 9+ attempted murders was sparked when "Twinkle" his boyfriend left him. read more about this in my blog on London's Deadliest Pubs. 

​SATURDAY: you are serious, responsible, trusted, but a real worrier who lives in the past. You are very intelligent, a perfectionist, who maintains a high standard in everything you do, but is prone to rebellion (without good reason), hard to control, stubborn and unlikely to trust others, even close friends, colleagues or family.

Serial killers who were born on a Saturday include Peter "The Vampire of Dusseldorf" Kurten, Jeffrey "The Killer Cannibal" Dahmer, John "The Acid Bath Murderer" George Haigh, John Reginald Christie (the friendly neighbourhood abortionist, strangler and necrophile) and Velma Barfield (who murdered six residents in the old people's home that she ran). 

​SUNDAY: you have a positive attitude to life, generous, trustworthy, and yet are introverted, with very few friends, owing to a deeply suspicious nature and an inability to trust others. You are too sensitive, an over-thinker, a procrastinator, who loses focus from reality. Although helpful and caring, your stubborn independent streak (combined with a short-fuse) means you find it hard to work with others, making it difficult for you to compromise or conform.

Serial killers who were born on a Sunday include such notorious loners Peter "Yorkshire Ripper" Sutcliffe, Ian "Moors Murderer" Brady, Rose West and Ted Bundy (serial killer, burglar, rapist of 30+ young women, who once described himself as "the most cold-hearted son of a bitch you'll ever meet".

Whether you believe in Numerology or not, I think it's safe to say, by the personality traits alone, steer clear of anyone who is was born on a Sunday or a Monday, as - even without comparing them to serial killers - there's very little about them to like. 

Join me for next week's blog which asks: "does the lunar cycle, on the day you were born, mean you could be a serial killer?"​ 

** Those I couldn't find the exact birth dates of were Linda Hazzard 1867, Catherine Flannagan, “Black Widows of Liverpool” 1829, Margaret Higgins “Black Widows of Liverpool” 1829, Mary Elizabeth Wilson 1893, Rhonda Belle Martin 1907, Tillie Klimek 1876, Jane Toppan 1857, Amy Archer-Gilligan 1868, Amelia Dyer 1837, Gordon Frederick Cummins 1913/14, William Burke “The body snatchers” 1792, William Hare “The body snatchers” 1792, and Michael Lupo 1953. Oddly, excluding those born overseas, the majority were working-class females. 

If you "enjoyed" this blog post, take a peek at other intreguing topics such as; Killer Couples Part 1 & Part 2, Life, Death & Whole Life Sentences, Famous British Serial Killers - Where Are They Now? Serial Killers & Murderers Who Were Never Caught, London's Deadliest & Often Forgotten Disasters, KIllers Born During a Full Moon, Killer's Birthdays / Star Signs, Serial Killers Who Were On TV, Celebrities Who Have Killed, London's Railway of Death, Serial Killers as Kids and the World's Weirdest Death Rituals

Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten quirky & unusual things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totalling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.