Serial killers and their motivations are beyond understanding for most of us. Even so, people are often fascinated by them. Television specials have been made about some of the more well-known and infamous serial killers in history because the public is curious about them. Virtually all of us have some level of morbid curiosity and that’s just human nature, but then there are those that take it to the next level. The twisted human curiosity of a serial killer goes beyond rubbernecking at the scene of a terrible accident or watching gruesome videos on YouTube. Serial killers feel the need to become the actors in their own sick fantasies without regard for life or the suffering of others. These traits likely add to the curiosity the rest of us have about serial killers like these people.

1. Jeffrey Dahmer

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One of the most-recognized serial killers in U.S. history, Dahmer was responsible for the deaths of 17 boys and men between 1978 and 1991. Dahmer was not content to simply kill. He had a morbid fascination with twisted activities like cannibalism, necrophilia and saving his victim’s body parts. His fascination with death began during childhood when he started to collect dead animals to dissect and store in the family toolshed. Dahmer wasted little time getting started as a serial killer, having committed his first murder at the age of eighteen. Dahmer’s career came to an abrupt end in July of 1991 when one of his intended victims escaped from his Milwaukee, Wisconcin apartment and managed to flag down two police officers in the street. Dahmer was convicted of 15 murders and was sentenced to life in prison. Jeffrey Dahmer became a murder victim himself when fellow inmate Christopher Scarver killed him and another inmate with a metal bar while the three were assigned to a work detail inside the prison.