16 Reasons Serial Killers Are Scarier Than You Thought

Lock your doors.

1. Not all serial killers are white men.

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The idea that serial killers are white men and geniuses is a creation of film and television. African-Americans make up 20% of serial killers, but it tends to be white men who gain notoriety in popular culture.

2. Female serial killers aren't misandrists.

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Women, who make up 16% of all known serial killers, don't just kill men. They also just as likely to kill other woman and also children.

3. Serial killers very rarely taunt the police to get attention.

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It is a myth that serial killers make mistakes on purpose to alert the police to their activities.

4. Not all serial killers are products of dysfunctional and abusive families.

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Abuse mostly leads to post-traumatic stress and phobias and not exclusively psychopathic behavior.

5. Serial killers are not always loners.

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Many serial killers are able to maintain long relationships and are active in their communities.

6. Serial killers can be indistinguishable from other people.

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Most serial killers aren't gorgeous ladykillers and they're not crazy-looking either. They're average, ordinary-looking people you'd ignore at the grocery store.

7. A serial killer will usually kill you by strangulation.

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Strangulation offers a serial killer total control over a victim.

8. Most serial killers aren't insane.

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An insane person with psychopathic tendencies would not have the mental ability to evade the police long enough to commit multiple murders.

9. A serial killer will target their first victim during puberty.

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A chromosome abnormality tends to appear in killers during their teenage years, which leads them down the path of murder.

10. Serial killers don't travel very far.

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Aside from people like Ted Bundy, most serial killers stick to the rivers and the lakes that they're used to — which is to say, they prefer to prey on victims in familiar areas.

11. Serial killers aren't largely motivated by sex.

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According to the FBI, it's a myth that all serial killers are motivated by sex.

12. Most serial killers don't taunt their victims.

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Since serial killers don't empathize with their victims or kill out of revenge, they have no need to get off on a victim's fear.

13. Serial killers do murder for money.

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A large majority of serial killings are done for financial gain.

14. Serial killers are widely sought after — for sex.

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A paraphilia known as hybristophilia exists. It is when a person is sexually attracted to a person who has committed a gruesome crime.

15. Serial killers are usually American.

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Serial killers are more active in the United States than in any other country.

16. Serial murders hit their peak in the '80s.

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There were 200 active, reported serial killers in the United States in the 1980s. The number has greatly declined since.