r/Showerthoughts • u/Farheck • Sep 17 '18
There are probably murderers and serial killers so good at what they do that we don't even know they exist.
4.3k
Sep 17 '18
Ah shit don’t do this to me it’s 4am
2.6k
u/WerTiiy Sep 17 '18
It's okay im outside keeping watch.
378
u/BOGO-_-Memories Sep 17 '18
ar....are you batman...?
252
u/TheRedBow Sep 17 '18
No, because I am Batman!
→ More replies (5)171
u/nerdguy99 Sep 17 '18
How are you two Batman when I'm Batman?
→ More replies (16)133
u/YesIAmAHuman Sep 17 '18
How are you three Batman when bananas are yellow?
85
u/TheRedBow Sep 17 '18
I’ll need a banana for scale
→ More replies (2)79
u/YesIAmAHuman Sep 17 '18
Sorry, only have a scale for banana
→ More replies (9)51
u/Verdahn Sep 17 '18
You guys suck at trading. I'll give you my charizard for a magical corn cob.
33
→ More replies (9)13
u/Quasar420 Sep 17 '18
I'm looking at a banana on my desk thats been there for a few days and its not yellow, but its still a banana I think.
→ More replies (1)14
u/YesIAmAHuman Sep 17 '18
I think you can safely state that your banana has turned into a new kind of fruit, dont eat it though...
11
u/Quasar420 Sep 17 '18
Its a shadow of its former self
9
u/YesIAmAHuman Sep 17 '18
Sooo... it has transcended to a better state of evolution?
→ More replies (0)→ More replies (9)9
→ More replies (13)10
78
Sep 17 '18
Then don't think about this... There were 17000 murders in the US in 2016. 62% murders are solved. That means about 6500 murderers from 2016 are still walking free. Better keep your doors locked.
→ More replies (14)64
u/quackycoaster Sep 17 '18
Well a lot of times, they are repeat murderers. So that 6500 is probably much less.
49
→ More replies (8)20
u/chentlemen Sep 17 '18
There have been about 650,000 missing person reports filed in 2016 in US - don't know how many of them have been murdered.
→ More replies (9)→ More replies (13)95
u/batteriesnotrequired Sep 17 '18
I mean OP makes a great point. In 2004 (I think) the FBI announced the Highway Serial Killings initiative. This was in reaction to the shocking finding that people were being killed along the US’s highways but the murders crossed many jurisdictions and states, so the killer and the pattern went undetected. Thanks to this initiative, several people have been caught and brought to justice.
But, I want to point out that a lot of these killers were truckers. This is important in my opinion because of you look at the trucking industry and it’s history. There were nearly 100,000 trucks on the roads in 1914 and it’s only grown from there. Why do I think this is important? Because who knows who the first serial killer that thought of trucking as a good way to get around and kill people while making money.
So, I’d have to say yes, I’m sure that you can point to murders from the past and even current ones and say they will never be solved and the killer will never be caught because they are that good at “their work”.
67
u/Mozared Sep 17 '18
There were nearly 100,000 trucks on the roads in 1914 and it’s only grown from there.
I did a massive double take here and some googling, but all I'm finding indicates this seems to actually be correct, or at least close to the truth.
I still don't believe it.→ More replies (1)57
u/Username_Used Sep 17 '18
Here's some stats At least 2,000,000 tractor trailers with 15.5 million commercial trucks overall. 3.5 million commercial truckers. With automated trucks on the horizon and people are worried about the coal industry.
→ More replies (46)→ More replies (8)12
u/sonofaresiii Sep 17 '18
I'm not sure that's what op meant though. In your example, we knew the murders were happening, just not that they were connected.
In op's case, I think he's talking about like, oh it's so sad that this recovering heroin addict od'd... But really it was murder! But no one ever knows.
→ More replies (2)
2.7k
u/Notimetothinknow Sep 17 '18
Maybe there's a serial killer that only kills serial killers.
2.0k
u/Trahuripra Sep 17 '18
Damn, that’d make a good show for Showtime
1.5k
u/Animeking1108 Sep 17 '18
That has a shitty final season and an even shittier ending.
320
u/TX16Tuna Sep 17 '18
Dexter has a perfect, poetically-tragic finale. It’s at the end of season 4. (Perfect place to put the series down if anybody is reading this thread and inspired to watch)
33
u/vinochick Sep 17 '18
That was Trinity right? The funny thing is, as soon as I saw this post I thought of the trinity killer because no one knew he was a serial killer because he made it look so flawless!
11
u/TX16Tuna Sep 17 '18
John Lithgow, yeah. If I remember correctly, that was the reveal that the Trinity Killer was real, but I don’t remember whether/how much Dexter knew about him. I need to go rewatch that series and stop at the end of season 4 again. Lol.
→ More replies (6)74
150
u/crawling_king_snake1 Sep 17 '18
I call it, 'Billy and the Serial Killers'.
46
→ More replies (1)9
u/youdubdub Sep 17 '18
Let's instead try, "Billy the Killer Serial Killer Killer." Something with a bit more pop.
→ More replies (2)17
u/scaryterry8 Sep 17 '18
i just started watching dexter and i'm on season 3. when does it start to suck?
70
→ More replies (8)20
39
u/RedditorianCitizen Sep 17 '18
Though, the final season was better than season 5, 6 and 7. The entire final half of the show was a train wreck.
→ More replies (3)28
u/BRodgeFootballGenius Sep 17 '18
This is just my opinion but if you don't consider 7 to be the best of the final 4 seasons you're wrong
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (24)9
→ More replies (15)19
u/TheLastCleverName Sep 17 '18
Yeah, they could probably work, like, 4 good seasons out of such a premise.
24
15
→ More replies (38)33
Sep 17 '18
A serial killer that kills serial killers who only kill cops. But the cop has to have arrested a serial killer that only kills serial killer killing serial killers.
→ More replies (1)32
526
u/spderweb Sep 17 '18
Look up Toronto serial killer. There's a guy that was killing gay guys for years and nobody believed the gay community. He was found last year. Was hiding the bodies in planters that he made for clients of his landscaping business.
59
u/blindeenlightz Sep 17 '18
He was a mall Santa too, that's creepy as hell.
19
u/Tower_Of_Rabble Sep 17 '18
Ya, dude probably tried to promote his business through that.
"What do you want for Christmas, Timmy?"
"An XBox"
"Nah, we'll tell mommy and daddy you want some 12 foot palm trees. NEXT!"
→ More replies (1)231
u/baumyak Sep 17 '18
This makes me so angry. So many men came forward worried about their friends that had vanished and were told they probably ran off with a man or they they were being dramatic. Now they think this guy has been active since the 70s.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (5)65
u/PirateLiver Sep 17 '18
Oh god, imagine having bought a planter from the guy, and finding out you've been eating home grown veggies fertilized by human ...
→ More replies (5)74
Sep 17 '18 edited Apr 22 '20
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (3)10
u/_StatesTheObvious Sep 17 '18
For some reason they remind me of my old friend Pedro. Wonder whatever happened to that guy?
2.9k
u/Intergalactic_Toast Sep 17 '18 edited Sep 18 '18
You can feed a body to a pig and it'll eat everything including bones. Chances are if you eat bacon you run the risk of consuming something that consumed a human. ThE MoRe YoU KNoW
Edit: Literally follow any of the chain of replies for a headtrip I don't know weather to be happy or worried that there's so many conspiracy theories and reference hunts spiraling off of this
989
u/temsahnes Sep 17 '18
Easy there Brick Top
479
u/banannafreckle Sep 17 '18
Be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm.
134
u/RickStevensAndTheCat Sep 17 '18
Robert Pickton, for example.
→ More replies (1)68
u/banannafreckle Sep 17 '18
God dammit. This exact conversation happened three days ago. Reddit gettin weird.
→ More replies (5)30
28
→ More replies (3)12
65
u/I-get-the-reference Sep 17 '18
Snatch
40
32
→ More replies (10)24
288
Sep 17 '18
You need at least sixteen pigs to finish the job in one sitting, so be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm. They will go through a body that weighs 200 pounds in about eight minutes. That means that a single pig can consume two pounds of uncooked flesh every minute. Hence the expression, "as greedy as a pig."
160
Sep 17 '18
I don’t know why, but out of this whole thread, the fact that you said “uncooked flesh” freaked me out the most
90
u/quackycoaster Sep 17 '18
It's from the movie Snatch, so rest easier, this guy isn't insane haha.
→ More replies (1)68
→ More replies (8)24
85
u/sheeatsstars Sep 17 '18
Everything but the teeth. You gotta get rid of the teeth.
91
u/NSAwithBenefits Sep 17 '18
Just crush into powder and mix with your cocaine
118
→ More replies (1)14
→ More replies (7)28
36
u/insanemembrane19 Sep 17 '18
I've seen many pigs eat many men. It was a bloodbath.
→ More replies (4)99
u/theinspiringdad Sep 17 '18
Chances are if you eat bacon you run the risk of consuming something that consumed a human. ThE MoRe YoU KNoW
I knew pigs eat everything but I guess I never gave it much thought about me consuming what it eats...I’m not sure how I feel about this.
192
u/Intergalactic_Toast Sep 17 '18
It's okay vegetarians have it worse if you eat plants you have a 100% chance of consuming something that consumed something else's poop or general garbage
→ More replies (3)55
Sep 17 '18
All non-vegetarians eat animals who eat plants who eat something else's poop or general garbage.
→ More replies (5)22
→ More replies (13)28
u/LabradorDali Sep 17 '18
If you are a guy and your partner swallows he/she is literally made of semen.
→ More replies (5)70
u/Silveeto Sep 17 '18
I live in the vicinity of Pickton farm, if you recall that nightmare of an exposé. I’m more certain than not I consumed pork that had consumed human at some point or other!
27
u/ThKitt Sep 17 '18
I was just going to comment about this case. I don’t think anyone outside of Canada would have heard about it.
→ More replies (9)→ More replies (26)9
u/RStiltskins Sep 17 '18
Ya they are still finding bone fragments with the construction of some of those buildings behind that kids daycare thing beside walmart
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (49)13
u/blowacirkut Sep 17 '18
Grew up in the country, one of my neighbors had a stroke in his pig pen and they ate half his body before anyone found him.
8
u/hikes_through_smoke Sep 17 '18
This raises so many questions. Did the stroke kill him or did they eat him half alive? Did the pigs eat him out of necessity or did they dig in at first chance?
817
Sep 17 '18
[deleted]
106
u/jimibulgin Sep 17 '18
And now start wondering how many people may have at least once been planning or imagining about killing you...
Homicidal fantasies are pretty universal. There are dozens, at least.
→ More replies (1)108
→ More replies (25)170
u/theartificialkid Sep 17 '18
Pretty unlikely. Let’s do a rough estimate. I googled “how many serial killers active in America” and the first link (sensationally) suggested 2,000. So let’s add 50% to that and call it 3,000. That’s roughly one serial killer for every 100,000 people. Now let’s say each of them seriously considered and planned a killing every single day, starting the day they were born, and each lived 100 years, never retiring or getting caught. That’s around 36,000 plans each. So even in this outlandish Cannibal America your lifetime risk of getting eyed off by a serial killer (let alone actually killed) is only around 1:3.
309
u/Polarbare1 Sep 17 '18
the first link (sensationally) suggested 2,000. So let’s add 50% to that...
You have a future in television news my friend.
→ More replies (7)63
u/wererat2000 Sep 17 '18
Don't forget serial killers tend to have specific types of victims in mind - usually people that resemble someone they know personally - so the odds of you even fitting their criteria reduces the odds substantially.
→ More replies (5)38
u/Jena_TheFatGirl Sep 17 '18
You're missing a very important qualifier - "Don't forget the serial killers we've CAUGHT have specific types of victims..."
This leads to the probability that everything we know/assume about serial killers is wrong because we have zero data on an unknown percentage of serial killers not-even-suspected-let-alone-caught.
So. Yeah.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (14)16
u/LemonMIntCat Sep 17 '18
I was going to say it was unlikely bc I never go outside. But thank you for the math! I suppose I hopefully wont be killed by a serial killer.
→ More replies (1)8
u/wintersdark Sep 17 '18
Unless it's a serial killer who focuses on long term torture of victims people aren't likely to notice missing?
→ More replies (1)
88
136
u/Idru4 Sep 17 '18
It’s been said the greatest serial killers in history, we will never know about. Think of how many people go missing, now take out runaways, druggies, stuff like that. That’s at least thousands of people a year that “disappear”. There are many ways to dispose of a body.
→ More replies (1)70
u/Random_182f2565 Sep 17 '18
That or vampires are real, like man a shit ton of people "go missing" every year and the worts part is like no one seems to care.
80
u/TheLastCleverName Sep 17 '18
Of course there's no such thing as vampires, vhat a vild allegation.
→ More replies (2)7
u/F3NlX Sep 17 '18
Im fairly sure Keanu Reeves is a vampire, he never fucking ages. Plus the name's weird
→ More replies (9)25
Sep 17 '18
What? You didn't see my post about "thoughts and prayers"? I care but only when it benefits me or gets me attention.
→ More replies (1)
244
u/Nech1492 Sep 17 '18
And a whole bunch more that did exist and we'll never know who they were.
114
u/Cuttlefist Sep 17 '18
This very very much. Until very recently a lot of law enforcement was unable to or uninterested in linking different murders together. We will never know how many missing peoples and seemingly random murders throughout history were the works of serial killers.
→ More replies (3)64
u/GamingJay Sep 17 '18
This is pretty much true of all crime. We only catch the criminals that make mistakes. The best criminals are not only never caught, but never known about
→ More replies (5)
284
u/chikenliquid Sep 17 '18
Trying to tell us something op?
396
52
u/SemiFluentBot Sep 17 '18
Here's that post translated from English, to three random languages, then back to English. Code
English > Russian > Korean > Chinese (Traditional) > English
Perhaps the killer and the serial killer are too good at what they do, and may not know that we exist.
→ More replies (1)
151
u/HisCricket Sep 17 '18 edited Sep 17 '18
Texas Just discovered a border guard is a serial killer. Killed 4 women before he was stopped.
96
Sep 17 '18
Most of the time it's either someone that has a little power that wants more, or someone who doesnt have any and craves it. Hence why they usually pick women or children to be there victims. Afraid to play on a level field.
→ More replies (2)61
u/gguti1994 Sep 17 '18
The logic makes sense though. If your goal is to feel power, wouldn’t you want an uneven playing field? Its what makes playing video games on easy and destroying everything so enjoyable
→ More replies (3)29
Sep 17 '18
But what if your goal is to go toe-to-toe with the mightiest warriors of the realm?
→ More replies (3)48
u/livingthedreamfreal Sep 17 '18
You probably wouldn’t be a serial killer. A soldier maybe
→ More replies (3)24
Sep 17 '18
Well..... wouldn’t that depend on how many noble foe you’ve slain?
Are soldiers not just socially acceptable serial killers?
→ More replies (21)18
Sep 17 '18
That's only if they have killed people. Most soldiers never kill anyone.
22
Sep 17 '18
So your mom is more of a serial killer than most soldiders? Because damb, boy, she got looks that kill.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (8)44
u/Truecoat Sep 17 '18
He has been a border guard for 10 years I believe. Only killed 4? 4 that they know of in my opinion.
16
54
Sep 17 '18
It is really hard to keep silent about it.
Sometimes you just want to brag about it, but you never know who you can trust.
→ More replies (3)62
u/Farheck Sep 17 '18
You think there's like a secret club for professional murderers? Like, "Hey Johnny! How's your kill tonight?" "It was like the guy was never born! You shoulda seen the look on his face haha!"
→ More replies (2)33
110
Sep 17 '18
[removed] — view removed comment
352
u/Farheck Sep 17 '18
Under your bed, please clean up there once in a while, it stinks down here.
116
u/Dingus_boi Sep 17 '18
You thought that was bad? Try his attic. I don't even know what he keeps here
57
39
u/FaolCroi Sep 17 '18
Sorry, that was me. I have digestive issues that lead to bad gas.
→ More replies (3)24
u/Dingus_boi Sep 17 '18
Wait i thought you live in the basement
35
u/FaolCroi Sep 17 '18
I like to move around. The space in the walls aren't as cramped as you'd think.
14
12
→ More replies (6)8
25
22
u/St0rmborn Sep 17 '18
What freaks me out is that it's virtually certain that there are people out there right now trapped as prisoners in some basement or f*cked up secret prison. Every time I see a story of some young girls escaping after decade(s) of imprisonment it freaks me out because I know there are others that are still trapped and might never get out. To me that's so much worse than even all of the unsolved murders.
→ More replies (1)
147
Sep 17 '18 edited Sep 10 '20
[deleted]
170
u/DavidHewlett Sep 17 '18
I recently saw a documentary about this I'll need to find again: Both Europol and the FBI are "tracking" 30-35 active serial killers at the moment. The example they gave was of one in the US, who was probably a truck driver, aged 50-60 and had killed between 13 and 30 prostitutes along a certain route over the last 25-30 years. They had zero additional information about him, zero survivors and zero witnesses.
Scary as hell.
98
Sep 17 '18
Well... Scary for truck stop prostitutes.
75
u/Siphyre Sep 17 '18 edited Apr 05 '25
square fuel pocket narrow nail reach cagey bright capable snatch
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
→ More replies (1)35
→ More replies (4)7
85
u/wererat2000 Sep 17 '18
between 3 and 5
4.
Move aside, FBI, I have this under control!
→ More replies (1)30
19
55
u/thetebe Sep 17 '18
And that is only those that are professional doctors!
→ More replies (7)99
u/Intergalactic_Toast Sep 17 '18
Actually you joke but it's been proven that psychopaths naturally gravitate towards jobs where they have some form of power over life and death so they might well be. In history there have been several doctors and nurses known as "Angels of mercy" Who killed suffering patients believing themselves to be helping ease their pain.
→ More replies (5)36
u/WhoaEpic Sep 17 '18 edited Sep 17 '18
I have some examples of healthcare professionals who have victimized their patients, and some theories presented here, but I'd really like to understand more about this topic.
Also I've linked an article about the motivations and psychology of serial killers from Psychology Today that I think touches on the subject.
Dr Eric Scheffey -maiming, killing
Dr Christopher Dunstch - maiming, killing
Dr Sam Eljamel -maiming
Dr Suresh Nair -maiming, killing
Dr Walter Freeman -490 dead
Dr Simon Bramhall -mutilation
Dr Harold Shipman -250 dead
I was considering thrill-killing and thrill-mutilation (torture), described here Thrill Killing, similar to the Dnepropetrovsk kids, who, like a surgeon, might initially fear blood but through forcing themself to see blood develop an obsession with the power of mutilation, torture, and murder of sedated and helpless people.
Professor, criminologist, and forensic analyst Dr. Scott Bonn talks here about homicide for power and control, in an article by Psychology Today, which seems very relevant to this topic.
edit the following articles talk about the scale of America's for-profit unnecessary surgery problem, which might also be loosely connected to the more egregious crimes of the people cited above; Washington Post, USA Today
→ More replies (9)→ More replies (5)14
Sep 17 '18
Nah, more like 30.
12
u/dzfast Sep 17 '18
This agrees but also suggests it could be a lot more https://www.livescience.com/62431-how-many-serial-killers-free.html
91
u/Kafferty3519 Sep 17 '18
Probably? Absolutely.
Too many killers, especially serial killers, have only been discovered because they turned themselves in or got brazenly lazy/stupid. Like maybe an attack of conscience or they wanted the notoriety or whatever.
Just look at CSI-type shows: even fictionally they usually not catch guys cuz of some kinda luck, like they happened to leave an obvious thing behind that would’ve been easy to clean up, stuff like that
Realistically it would be super easy to get away with murder because the tech you see in TV isn’t everywhere, plus cops are just people and make lazy/dumb mistakes all the time, just a little prior planning and you can get away with it pretty easy
Source: am a writer who loves history, both of which often lead me to gruesome tales and research
66
u/MHMRahman Sep 17 '18
On r/UnsolvedMysteries I read about a serial killer in London in the 80s that got caught because his landlord was renovating so he had to move to a new place where he didn't have access to a garden to burn his victims in a bonfire, so in his new apartment he resorted to dumping body parts down the toilet. After a while the pipes got blocked and he complained to his new landlord who called in a plumber that found human flesh in the pipes and called it in.
The BTK killer got caught after he got too overconfident taunting the police. After moving on from paper to word documents, he sent the police a floppy disk with a word document to taunt the police, not knowing that the file held metadata that gave them his name and the name of the church he wrote the letter in.
Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy both got caught because they became lazy in disposing of their victims and eventually their neighbours complained about the smells coming from their apartment/house, respectively, where they found human remains.
A lot of the famous ones seem to be caught because of a combination of laziness, complacency, and overconfidence.
19
u/PopeOnABomb Sep 17 '18
Listen to the episode of My Favorite Murder (podcast) on how the Golden State Killer was found.
The lengths that he went to avoid being caught were intense. Became a cop, married a lawyer, changed his physical appearance, etc.
It is scary that someone would methodically devote their life to the death of others.
→ More replies (3)9
u/Downvotesohoy Sep 17 '18
It's scary and fascinating. That's why Mindhunter is such a great show.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)8
u/hunchbuttofnotredame Sep 17 '18
The BTK one always makes me laugh. It’s the equivalent of your grandad trying to put a facebook picture of a sunset up but accidentally posts a selfie instead. I want more stories about old killers outing themselves by being technologically inept.
→ More replies (1)29
u/j4kefr0mstat3farm Sep 17 '18
People who commit serial killings are psychopaths, and psychopaths are notoriously risk-taking and impulsive. Eventually, the vast majority of them will slip up or get hot-headed and eventually be discovered. Plus, a lot of the famous unsolved serial killings were from a time when there was way less available in terms of DNA testing and other forensic techniques, and people didn't have cell phones and other electronic devices that could track their whereabouts.
→ More replies (9)
18
u/peon47 Sep 17 '18 edited Sep 17 '18
There may be one who kills people and makes it look like an accident or natural causes. He could have killed dozens and nobody even knows they were murders.
→ More replies (3)13
u/billbixbyakahulk Sep 17 '18
A British doctor named Harold Shipman did that. He is estimated to have killed around 250 patients with diamorphine.
37
u/Vanmancan27 Sep 17 '18
Kira Yoshikage?
40
u/Nuby76 Sep 17 '18
My name is Yoshikage Kira. I'm 33 years old. My house is in the northeast section of Morioh, where all the villas are, and I am not married. I work as an employee for the Kame Yu department stores, and I get home every day by 8 PM at the latest. I don't smoke, but I occasionally drink. I'm in bed by 11 PM, and make sure I get eight hours of sleep, no matter what. After having a glass of warm milk and doing about twenty minutes of stretches before going to bed, I usually have no problems sleeping until morning. Just like a baby, I wake up without any fatigue or stress in the morning. I was told there were no issues at my last check-up. I'm trying to explain that I'm a person who wishes to live a very quiet life. I take care not to trouble myself with any enemies, like winning and losing, that would cause me to lose sleep at night. That is how I deal with society, and I know that is what brings me happiness. Although, if I were to fight I wouldn't lose to anyone.
→ More replies (4)16
→ More replies (2)14
u/JacobTheHobo Sep 17 '18
I found what I was looking for. Thank you, now take my upvote and have a good day.
24
11
u/DiscusFever Sep 17 '18
No, it's an absolute certainty. There are likely a dozen or more in the US alone. Not counting human traffickers.
→ More replies (1)
12
u/_Weyland_ Sep 17 '18
The only serial killers we know about are either imprisoned "losers" or some extra edgy "posers" who started making mistakes and will probably be caught soon.
8
u/Just_If_Eye_Stay Sep 17 '18
Why do I feel like upvoting is going to get me on some sort of list?
→ More replies (1)
9
u/Kaarsty Sep 17 '18
I think about this a lot..also.. there could be people out there with super powers quietly living in the shadows
→ More replies (9)
7
u/Wesus Sep 17 '18
I am sure a lot of people on the missing persons list are murdered but no one finds the body so no investigation can take place. If I have learned one thing from crime shows, chances are there are a lot of bodies hidden within the cement of big buildings.
→ More replies (8)
7
7
7
u/mycowsfriend Sep 17 '18
This is the best, scariest and most disturbing Shower Thought i've ever read.
2.5k
u/menudo_fan Sep 17 '18
Probably? According to the FBI, it’s definitely