Serial Killer Ted Bundy

It’s 1975 and a pretty young woman with long dark hair parted in the middle is working at a convenience store. An attractive man in his mid-thirties walks in, about six feet tall and with wavy brown hair. He gives her a smile and strikes up a conversation, where he is charming and charismatic. Little does she know that she’s in deep trouble. His name is Ted Bundy, one of the worst serial killers of the twentieth century, and he has a thing for attractive young women with long dark hair parted down the middle (Philbin 34). Serial killers come in many forms. They range from well-educated, articulate men and women, to those who have had nothing in life. Psychiatric illness and unfortunate life events often underlie the behavior of serial killers.

Many signs point to characteristics in the killer’s childhood. According to Michael and Tom Philibin, “psychiatrists established that a serial murderer will have exhibited one or more specific behaviors in childhood: cruelty to animals, setting fires, and wetting the bed” (Philbin 8). Serial killers were usually abused as children by someone close to them. Many serial killers say they kill to feel powerful. A famous quote from Ted Bundy reiterates this. “You feel the last bit of breath leaving their body. You're looking into their eyes. A person in that situation is God!” (Philbin 6). The infographic to the left lists the many characteristics and tendencies serial killers

For Ted Bundy, his fascination for killing girls with long dark hair parted down the middle came from rejection. In college he was genuinely in love with a girl with this physical characteristic, but she rejected him. That was not the cause of his serial killer tendencies, but it was the basis by how he picked his victims. All serial killers are psychopaths, and don’t feel true emotion. Most had traumatic childhoods that lead them to start killing. Shirley Scott compares serial killers to black holes. They have a hole inside them that must be filled, and they fill that void by killing. Most people can’t understand what leads someone to kill, how they feel no mercy towards their victims. It’s a subject that repulses us, yet enthrals and intrigues us at the same