Everyone’s heard of Ghengis Khan, Adolf Hitler, Ted Bundy, and Jeffrey Epstein. But, sadly, history is filled with mass murderers, psychopaths, child abusers, tyrants, and dictators that you’ve probably never heard of. As delicious as it is to think of these power and fame-hungry monsters dying in obscurity – undoubtedly a fate worse than death for some of them – it is important to learn from their crimes, to make sure they can never be repeated. Let’s take a look at some historical bad guys you’ve probably never heard of.
10. Elizabeth Bathory
The name “Elizabeth Báthory” probably means nothing to you. But it should evoke chilling tales of darkness and horror. Known as the “Blood Countess,” this 16th century Hungarian noblewoman killed more than 600 girls and bathed in their blood to maintain her youth. It was one of the most sinister reigns of terror in history.
Or was it? Beneath the tales that have woven her into a monstrous figure, there lies a complex narrative. New evidence suggests her terrifying reputation was either a result of a conspiracy hatched against Bathory by friends and family, who sought to discredit her and steal her wealth and power, or that she really was a criminal but that tales of her monstrous atrocities have been exaggerated to the point of absurdity over the centuries. Poor record keeping in her day certainly doesn’t help us parse truth from fiction. But whether she was really guilty of those crimes or a victim of someone else’s slander, it appears there is indeed a true villain in this story somewhere.
9. Sawney Bean
Legend has it that in the 16th century, Sawney Bean and his family carved a gruesome path through the rugged Scottish countryside. Portrayed as a clan of cannibals and murderers, the Bean family is said to have lurked in the hidden caves, preying upon unsuspecting travelers for sustenance and pleasure. Their reign of terror and the sheer brutality of their crimes have immortalized the Bean clan as one of Scotland’s most macabre characters.
According to lore, the Beans, believed to number in the dozens, would ambush and rob unsuspecting passersby before dragging them to their secret coastal cave hideout. There, they would murder their victims, dismember the bodies and feast on their flesh. The scale of their atrocities is said to have been staggering, with estimates claiming hundreds of innocent lives fell victim to the family’s insatiable hunger. Now, as you’ve probably guessed from the wording so far, there’s a lot in this story that’s probably made up. But true or not, the legend did inspire several works of art, including The Hills Have Eyes. So good luck sleeping tonight.
8. Gilles de Rais
If you ran into Gilles de Rais on the streets of 15th century France, you’d probably bow politely to this esteemed nobleman and military captain. But de Rais was hiding in plain sight like Heisenburg. Today, he’s remembered not for his valor on the battlefield, but for his descent into the depths of depravity as an early serial killer.
Once a trusted companion of Joan of Arc, Gilles de Rais’s life took a harrowing turn following her execution. Fueled by a disturbing fascination with the occult and alchemy, he embarked on a series of unspeakable acts. He lured young boys to his castles, then indulged in acts of sadistic torture, sexual abuse which we will not describe here, and ultimately, murder. The magnitude of his crimes is staggering, with estimates ranging from dozens to hundreds of innocent lives lost at his hands. Thankfully, de Rais was eventually caught, forced to confess, and brought to justice. However, some modern historians wonder if he was actually guilty, or just telling his tormentors what he thought they wanted to hear?
7. Leopold II
When we think about vast European empires, you probably think Britain, Spain, France, and a few other power players. Belgium, on the other hand, is depicted as a teeny country that was often bullied by Germany. None of that is necessarily wrong, but Belgium’s status as a cute waffle-maker and blameless victim in the World Wars has blinded the globe to its terrible crimes in Africa.
Enter Leopold II, Belgian monarch from 1865 to 1909. While celebrated for some of his policies back home, his rule in the Congo Free State deserves no such praise. Under the guise of philanthropy and civilization, and hungry for lucrative rubber, Leopold II unleashed a reign of terror in the Congo, utilizing forced labor, enslavement, and rampant human rights abuses. Millions of Congolese people were subjected to horrific conditions, including mutilations, mass killings, and other forms of terror and state-sanctioned violence. Sadly, the great European powers mentioned above did still manage to exploit Belgium in one sinister way. Although they all copied Belgium’s cruel, exploitative practices in Africa, they allowed Leopold to take the heat from the international community all by himself, since Belgium was too small to narratively defend itself.
6. Leonarda Cianciulli
Don’t let the nickname “Soap-Maker of Correggio” trick you into thinking Leonarda Cianciulli, a seemingly bland 20th century Italian woman on the surface, was just a sweet neighborhood lady who valued cleanliness. Behind her seemingly ordinary facade lurked a deeply disturbed mind, driven by a belief in the occult and a deranged quest for personal protection.
In an effort to protect her children from harm, Cianciulli often lured unsuspecting women into her home, drugged them, and subsequently killed them with an axe. That’s heinous enough – but what followed was even more gruesome. Cianciulli dismembered the bodies and boiled them piece by piece, transforming legs and heads into soap and tea cakes. Hence the no-longer-very-charming nickname. Her grotesque acts were rooted in a belief that human sacrifices would shield her loved ones from misfortune.
The revelation of Cianciulli’s crimes sent shockwaves through the Italian populace. Fortunately, she was brought to justice – but not before destroying numerous lives and traumatizing the whole country.
5. Carl Panzram
You’ve heard of Ted Bundy, Ed Kemper, and Jeffery Dahmer. But Carl Panzram can hold his own in hell with any of them. Born in 1891, Panzram led a life of crime from an early age. But it wasn’t until the man was behind bars that his true nature unraveled. After escaping, Panzram, now fully committed to a career of criminality, went on a heinous spree that involved burglary, arson, sexual crimes, and murder.
He spent several stints in jail but managed to escape on numerous occasions, including once by sawing through the window bars. At no point did Panzram ever attempt to lay low or become a productive member of society. When he was arrested once and for all, Panzram admitted to 21 murders and more than 1,000 acts of sexual abuse that we will not be going into detail on here. He was ultimately hanged in 1930.
It was actually the criminal plots he never got around to pulling off that raise the most eyebrows, including ones to poison a whole city’s water supply and even to provoke war between Britain and the US by sinking a British ship in New York harbor and blaming it on the American government.
4. Belle Gunness
We’re all far more familiar with male serial killers. But – and this isn’t what anyone thinks of when they push for gender equality – it’s worth noting that several women have lived lives of incredible violence and cruelty as well. Enter Belle Gunness, a cunning murderer in the 19th and 20th centuries who left a trail of death and mystery leading to her farm in La Porte, Indiana. Gunness enjoyed luring wealthy bachelors to her farm, where they would mysteriously vanish, never to be seen again. It is believed that she would first dispatch her victims through poison or blunt force trauma. Then, to cover her tracks, she dismembered the bodies and disposed of the remains on her property, leaving behind few traces of her heinous acts.
Rumors swirled around Gunness and her farm, as the disappearances of multiple suitors raised suspicions among the community. But it was not until a fire engulfed her property that the true extent of her crimes came to light. Amidst the charred ruins, authorities discovered not only the remains of several unidentified individuals, condemning Gunness and establishing her as one of the most notorious female serial killers of all time.
3. Oskar Dirlewanger
He might not be responsible for as many innocent deaths as Hitler or other members of the Nazi high command he served. But Oskar Dirlewanger, leader and namesake of the notorious SS Dirlewanger Brigade, committed some of World War II’s most monstrous crimes. Operating with impunity, Dirlewanger and his unit of literal criminal psychopaths unleashed a reign of torture and terror that shocked even their comrades in the SS. That is, as we’re sure you can imagine, saying quite a bit.
Under Dirlewanger’s command, the brigade perpetrated unspeakable acts of physical and sexual violence against civilians, prisoners of war, and partisans. Their actions were fueled by a toxic combination of ideological fervor, a desire for personal gain, and, especially, a sadistic pleasure derived from inflicting pain.
Dirlewanger’s atrocities peaked during 1944’s Warsaw Uprising, where his brigade was unleashed against resistance fighters. But it was innocent civilians – specifically children – who found themselves at the nonexistent mercy of Dirlewanger’s men. We won’t go into detail here about what happened, but the information is out there if you have a strong stomach. After the war, Dirlewanger was tortured to death by vengeful Polish officers in 1945.
2. Ilse Koch
Hitler. Himmler. Goebbels. Goering. Dirlewanger. All Nazis. All men. But the Third Reich wasn’t entirely a man’s man’s world. Some women are unsung villains of Nazi Germany too. Ilse Koch, for example, infamously known as the “B***h of Buchenwald,” was one of the most sadistic concentration camp leaders in the Reich. As the wife of Karl-Otto Koch, the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, Koch was given oversight of the women’s camp.
Koch was known for her obsession with human skin, collecting tattoos and body parts from murdered inmates. Rumors swirled of her macabre decorations, including lampshades and book covers allegedly made from the stuff. Beyond her gruesome collection, Koch would personally select victims for beatings, lashings, and even murder, based on the tiniest provocations, or none at all.
After the liberation of Buchenwald, Koch was tried by an American military tribunal and ultimately found guilty of charges including incitement to murder, cruelty, and the use of human remains for personal gain. She was sentenced to life imprisonment, but was infuriatingly released in 1949. However, she was given a life sentence in a separate trial regarding unrelated crimes, and died in prison in 1967.
1. Idi Amin
We could fill a dozen of these lists with two-bit Third World dictators. But Idi Amin deserves a special mention, Amin ruled Uganda with an iron fist from 1971 to 1979. And if you’ve ever learned about anyone on this list, chances are it was Amin. As is often the cases with dictators, human rights abuses, mass killings, and chilling terror were hallmarks of his regime.
During his rule, Amin targeted various ethnic and political groups with arbitrary arrests, torture, and extrajudicial killings, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Ugandans. The dichotomy featured by the flamboyant image he presented to the world and the vast suffering he was responsible for back home is both bizarre and completely in line with what we’ve come to expect from the cruel leaders of Banana Republics and former democracies in the developing world. On the one hand, it’s a tragedy his crimes aren’t more well known. On the other, we imagine he’d be furious if he knew how few people recognized his name. In the end, it’s yet another cautionary tale about the importance of standing up to tyrants and protecting the right of all people to choose their own governments. We really shouldn’t need this many, but here we are.