Top 10 Biggest Serial Killers in World History

Updated: Jan 26, 2022

Top 10 Greatest Serial Killers in World History - They are usually cold-blooded psychopaths who have absolutely no problem taking other people's lives, sometimes for no other reason beyond their own pleasure. Of the unfortunate serial killers throughout this history, a few have managed to stand out. Maybe it's because they've never been caught (Jack the Ripper, The Zodiac Killer, etc.), because they're atypical killers (Ted Bundy, etc.) or because of their inhuman ways of doing things (Ed Gein, Jeffrey Dahmer, etc.). But the following list ranks and focuses on the serial killers who have killed the most people.

Top 10 Kẻ Giết Người Hàng Loạt Lớn Nhất Lịch Sử Thế Giới

Jack the Ripper illustration, perhaps the best known serial killer in history, but not among the top 10 when it comes to the number of victims

Note: Only those who have directly killed people are counted here. The leaders of nations that have commanded the deaths of sometimes millions (Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, etc.) are therefore NOT included in the ranking. Serial killers who are doctors and medical professionals and have intentionally killed their patients (most notably Harold Shipman) are also NOT included in this list of serial killers.

The 10 biggest serial killers in history (by number of victims):

1. Elizabeth Bathory
2. Gilles de Rais
3. Peter Niers
4. Amelia Dyer
5. Pedro Lopez
6. John Johnson
7. Herman Mudgett
8. Daniel Camargo
9. Luis Garavito
10. Thug Behram

The 10 biggest serial killers in history (by number of victims):

1. Elizabeth Bathory

Elizabeth Bathory

Also known as "The Blood Countess"

Killed about 650 people (all girls and women)

Born: 7 August 1560 in Nyirbator, Kingdom of Hungary

Died: 21 August 1614 in Csejthe, Kingdom of Hungary (present-day Cachtice, Slovakia)

Nationality: Hungarian

Occupation: Countess of the noble Bathory Family

Kill Time: 1590 - 1610

Location of the murders: Cachtice Castle in present-day Cachtice, Slovakia

How it worked: Tortured and killed women and girls (usually orphans, widows, and peasant women)

Punishment: Arrested in 1610 and sentenced to life in prison (died in prison 4 years later)

2. Gilles de Rais

Gilles de Rais

Kills about 600 people (all teenage boys & girls)

Born: 1405 in Champtocé-sur-Loire, Duchy of Anjou, Kingdom of France

Died: 26 October 1440 in Nantes, Principality of Brittany, Kingdom of France

Nationality: French

Occupation: Lord, knight and commander in the French Army during the Hundred Years' War

Kill Time: 1432 - 1440

Locations of the murders: Across the North West of France (especially in Anjou & Brittany)

How it works: Kidnaps, rapes, and kills young boys and girls from poor families he encounters across the North West of France.

Punishment: Captured in September 1440 and hanged to death a month later

3. Peter Niers

Peter Niers

Killed 544 relatives

Born: 1540 (place of birth unknown)

Died: September 16, 1581 in Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz, kurpfalz, Holy Roman Empire

Nationality Germany

Occupation: Thief

Murder Time: 1566-1581

The location of the murder: Across the southwestern regions of the Holy Roman Empire (present-day southwestern Germany and eastern France)

How it works: Robbes and kills his victims, sometimes cannibals (eating pregnant female victims)

Punishment: Captured on September 13, 1581, and alive at the wheel three days later

4. Amelia Dyer

Amelia Dyer

Also known as “The Ogress of Reading”

Kills around 400 people (all teenage boys & girls)

Born: (exact date unknown) 1836 in Bristol, England, United Kingdom

Died: June 10, 1896 in London, England, Great Britain

British nationality

Occupation: Nurse & newborn babysitter

Murder time: 1880 - 1896

Location of murder: Bristol, England and later in Reading, England

How it works: Murdered the orphaned and unwanted children she previously adopted for financial reasons

punishment: arrested in April 1896 and hanged to death about two months later

5. Pedro Lopez

Pedro Lopez

Also known as "The Beast of the Andes"

Killed about 350 people (all underage girls)

Born: October 8, 1948 in Santa Isabel, Tolima, Colombia

(probably still alive)

Nationality: Colombian

Occupation: None (occasionally car thief)

Time to kill: 1969 - 2002 (possibly continuing)

Location of Murder: Andes Region of Colombia, Peru and Ecuador

How it works: Rape and murder of underage girls

Penalty: Arrested in 1978 in Peru but released, arrested in 1980 in Ecuador and sentenced to prison until 1994, then deported to Colombia, where he was declared insane and was hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital in Bogota, Colombia. Released from there in 1998.

In 2002, he was suspected of murdering another girl and is currently wanted by Interpol. However, his whereabouts are still unknown.

6. John Johnson

John Johnson

Also known as "Johnson eats liver"

Killed about 300 people (all members of the Native American tribe Ravens of Montana)

Born: 1 July 1824 in Little York, New Jersey, USA

Died: January 21, 1900 in Santa Monica, California, USA

Nationality: American

Occupation: Soldier, Woodman & Mountain Man

Time to kill : 1847 - 1864

Locations of the murders: Across Montana

How it works: Ambushes and murders members of the Crow tribe in Montana to avenge the wife killed by Crow; allegedly ate the victim's liver (unconfirmed)

Penalty: None (died of natural causes after returning to California)

7. Herman Mudgett

Herman Mudgett

Also known as "HH Holmes"

Killed about 200 people

Born: May 15, 1861 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, USA

Died: May 7, 1896 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Nationality: American

Occupation: Entrepreneur & insurance scammer

Time of murder: unknown beginning - 1894

Murder Locations: Mostly in Chicago, USA, some in some other places in USA and also in Toronto, Canada

How it works: Killed random men, women, children, including friends and family members, and made their bodies disappear afterwards. In Chicago, he buys a two-story building that he turns into his "murder castle" and lures his victims there.

Punishment: Arrested in 1894 and hanged to death two years later

8. Daniel Camargo

Daniel Camargo

Killed about 150 people (all underage girls)

Born: January 22, 1930 in Anolaima, Cundinamarca, Colombia

Died: November 13, 1994 in Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Nationality: Colombian

Occupation: Street vendor & occasional thief

Time of murder: Early 1970s - 1986

Location of murder: Barranquilla, Colombia & Guayaquil, Ecuador

How it works: Lure young girls from poor families into the woods, where he first raped and then strangled them to death.

Punishment: Arrested in 1974 in Colombia and sentenced to 25 years in prison, but he escaped in 1984 and fled to Ecuador, where he continued his murderous act. Recaptured in 1986 in Ecuador and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

In 1994, he was killed in an Ecuadorian prison by an inmate who was the grandson of one of the girls Camargo murdered.