Albert Fish (Gray Man, Werewolf of Wysteria, Brooklyn Vampire, Boogeyman)

Albert Fish was one of the most notorious serial killers who ever lived, but he looked like he could have played the part of Mr. Rogers on children's television. He looked quiet, mild and gentle, but like most serial killers he came from a dysfunctional family with a background of mental illness. Abandoned at a very young age, he was sent to an orphanage and was subjected to unspeakable brutality, according to Fish. It was at the orphanage during beatings that Fish came to realize that he enjoyed physical pain. (He often achieved an erection during the beatings and was teased for it by the other children in the orphanage).

Fish started killing when he was about 20 years old, after he had moved to New York City from his birthplace in Washington, D.C. Fish, working in New York as a male prostitute, began luring children away from their homes, and torturing them in various ways. One way of torture was to hit them with a paddle laced with small nails. Then, they were raped. His bizarre sexual attacks on children only grew worse over the years, with Fish beginning to murder and cannabalize the young victims. Some years later, Fish married and had six children. After his wife left him and the children, he would use that same paddle, making his children hit him with it until blood dripped down his legs. His sado-masochistic rituals also included pushing needles deep into his own skin.

Fish, before he was captured, was known by a variety of different names, including the Gray Man, the Werewolf of Wysteria, the Brooklyn Vampire, and the Boogeyman.

Fish blamed his killings of hundreds of children on "voices" that he heard in his head, but smiled as he described the horrible details of the killings to police in graphic detail. Psychiatrists agreed with Fish when he entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, but a jury didn't agree, and on January 16, 1936, Fish was electrocuted at Sing Sing.

Jeffrey Dahmer

All serial killers are monsters, but Jeffrey Dahmer was one of the most depraved killers ever born. We will never know the reasons why he not only killed his victims but cut their bodies into pieces and buried them. Later, he would dig up some of his victims and further mutilate their bodies, years after they were killed.

Ted Bundy

Ted Bundy's killing spree lasted four years, from 1974 to 1978, and the total number of victims is unknown, but most think the number to be about 35-50. Anyone who was a young adult at that time (like myself) will never forget the photos of the charismatic-looking, undeniably-handsome monster.

Bundy, born in a home for unwed mothers to Eleanor Louise Cowell, for many years believed that his mother was his older sister. It was not until he was probably in his late teens or early 20's that he learned that she was his mother. When his mother met Johnny Culpepper Bundy and married him, Ted was adopted by the man and had his name legally changed.

The couple had more children and Ted spent a lot of time baby-sitting his younger siblings, all-the-while he remained totally detached from his adoptive father. Ted was a good student in school (although remaining an introvert) and was active in the Methodist church in Tacoma, Washington, and was a member of the Boy Scouts of America. But, before he graduated from high school in 1965, he had become a compulsive thief, and was already becoming an amateur criminal.

Bundy met Ann Rule, a policewoman in Seattle, and a struggling crime writer, while he was working at a suicide hot line in Seattle. Later, she penned a book about him entitled "The Stranger Beside Me". According to Rule, Bundy didn't learn about his mother until he visited his birthplace and went through public records. This was during the time that he was a university student at the University of Washington, also according to Rule.

By all accounts, Bundy was an impressive person. He managed the Seattle office of presidential hopeful Nelson Rockefeller in 1968, and graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in psychology in 1972.

Gary Ridgway (The Green River Killer)