FREE ESSAY ON THE : PARENTS OF SERIAL KILLERS

THE : PARENTS OF SERIAL KILLERS

Creating Monsters and Getting Away With It.
Analyzing the data available on numerous, infamous serial killers, it appears that
childhood abuse, neglect and in many cases torture, is the one common thread linking all
murderers labeled: serial killers. Among the hundreds of reports and studies available,
no one will find the parents of serial killers having been jailed or punished in any way
for the monsters they have created. Even though the facts disclose many acts of brutality
perpetrated on these children, by the parents. The facts in this report will expose the
physical and mental torture, sexual abuse, environments filled with mayhem, and hideous
actions of the parents of these serial killers. The parents of serial killers are to
blame for this pathetic species of what is loosely referred to as "human beings".
Otherwise, there are little, if any, human characteristics that mirror the average human
being in society. The parents of all serial killers should be held responsible for the
monsters they set forth to create. A severe punishment should be imposed on these
sadistic, abusive parents for harvesting this breed of human being into our society.
Childhood abuse and neglect may not be the sole excuse for serial killers, but it is an
undeniable factor in their backgrounds. In his book Serial Killers, Joel Norris describes
the cycles of violence as generational: 
Parents who abuse their children, physically as well as psychologically, instill in them
an almost instinctive reliance upon violence as a first resort to any challenge.
Childhood abuse not only spawns violent reactions, but also affects the child's health,
including brain injuries, malnutrition, and other developmental disorders (8-12).
In many cases the mothers overstep acceptable boundaries, exposing their children to
inappropriate sexual behavior. Bobby Jo Long killed women he characterized as whores and
sluts, who he said reminded him of his own mom (4). She had frequent sex with men in the
same room where Bobby slept. According to Long, he shared his bed with his mother until
he was 13 years old. Henry Lee Lucas suffered gender confusion as a child, courtesy of
his mother's sadism. She was a heavy drinker and bootlegger. For unknown reasons she
dressed him as a girl until he was seven. She senselessly beat him after he had his hair
cut because his teacher complained. At one point, his mom struck him on back of head with
a wooden beam, fracturing his skull, leaving him lying in the yard, in a semi-conscious
state for 3 days (Burgess 270-272). Her boyfriend took him to receive medical attention,
not his mother. Lucas was also exposed to his mother's sexual activities. He killed his
mother in 1951, which began his murderous spree (52-56). 
The actions of some of the abusive fathers also had a large effect on these killers in
their childhood. It is usually the sadistically disciplinarian father that pops up in the
serial killer's family tree. John Gacy's dad berated his son, calling him a sissy, queer,
and a failure. A violent alcoholic, Gacy's father beat his mother, and shot his son's dog
to punish the child. When Gacy later strangled his young victims, he encouraged them to
stay brave while facing death, just as he had experienced when he was a child. "Through
this ritual, Gacy sought to reassert his own vision of a masculine identity that had been
squashed down by his father," wrote Joel Norris (52-56). Albert De Salvo's father would
bring home prostitutes and brutally beat his mother, breaking her fingers one by one as
young boy helplessly watched. His father also sold his son off as a slave to a farmer in
Maine, while his mother went frantically searching for him for six months, a story that
has been confirmed by family friends and social workers. De Salvo stated, "he'd always
smash me across the back with a pipe. I didn't move fast enough." These examples are
minor in comparison to the majority of incidents documented by investigators and experts
(Williams 2). Most of these fall back on the child not only being ridiculed and
physically beaten, but the violence surrounding them involving other family members had a
horrendous effect on them (Williams 2).
Some parents believe that by being harsh disciplinarians, it would "toughen" the child.
Instead, it creates a lack of love between parent and child that can have disastrous
results. If the child doesn't bond with its primary caretakers, there is no foundation
for trusting others later in life. This leads to isolation, where intense violent
fantasies become the primary source of gratification. "Instead of developing positive
traits of trust, security, and autonomy, child development becomes dependent on fantasy
life and its dominant themes, rather than on social interaction," writes Robert Ressler,
Ann Burgess and John Douglas in Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives (19). When the
child grows up, according to these authors, all they know are their fantasies of
domination and control. They have not developed compassion for others. Instead, humans
become flattened-out symbols for them to enact their violent fantasies. Ed Gein's
religiously fanatical, notorious mother convinced her son that women were vessels of sin
and caused disease. In some sort of twisted misinterpretation, Gein made literal vessels
out of women, using their skulls for bowls, and other domestic objects (Douglas 209).
Ed's body may have escaped sexual disease, but his mind was clearly contaminated by his
mother's constant ranting. Joseph Kallinger, adopted by sadistic parents, and after a
hernia operation at age 6, his mother told him that the surgery was to keep his penis
from growing. As an adult, he believed it had been stunted. A strict disciplinarian,
Kallinger's mother forced him to hold his open hand over a flame, beating him if he cried
(Douglas 213). Admittedly, Kemper's mom was a shrill, tyrannical nag who locked her son
in the basement when he grew to six foot, seven inches tall and frightened his sisters.
Kallinger grew up taking extreme pleasure in torturing others, and became a sadistic
parent himself. After taking an insurance policy out on his 13-year-old son Joey, he
slowly drowned him, deaf to his own son's pleas for mercy. "I certainly wanted for my son
and my mother a nice, quiet easy death like everyone else wants," said Ed Kemper. His
idea of an easy death is markedly unusual. After beheading his mom, he shoved her vocal
cords down the garbage disposal, raped her headless body, and placed her head on the
living room mantel and used it as a dartboard (Douglas 214). In over one hundred eight
case studies, while investigators repeatedly uncovered sadistic torture, sexual abuse and
horrendous psychological terror toward the serial killer, in their childhoods, no charges
were ever brought against any of the parents. The Martha Stewart of serial killers, Ed
Gein who inspired the movie "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", made gruesome home improvements.
This included lampshades and seat covers made from human skin, and skulls used for
drinking cups. He also made clothing and bracelets out of body parts (sunset 1). Years of
physical torture by his mother and father discovered when the killer was finally
apprehended confirm the parents played a major role in the way their son turned out as an
adult (sunset 1). 
The evidence concludes that all serial killers have varied forms and degrees of child
abuse in their childhood years, involving neglect, physical and mental abuse, varied
levels of sadistic torture and abusive surroundings. We can see in each case, the lack of
healthy, nurturing parents, whether from simple neglect, inflicting torturous rage, or
exposing their children to violent surroundings, created sick, twisted adolescents and
adults. Although, not all directly perpetrated by the parents, as parents we are
responsible for creating decent, law-abiding citizens. When it is deemed that a serial
killer, or any other type of monster was created through the horrendous acts of the
mother or father, the parents should be punished harshly. 
Bibliography:
Ressler, Robert, Burgess, Ann and Douglas, John. "Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives."
Pages-14-48. 1994.
Norris, Joel. "Serial Killers". Pages- 4, 8-12, 52-56. 1996. 
Burgess, A., Douglas, J., D'Agostino, R., Hartman, C., and Ressler, R., "Sexual Killers
and Their Victims: Identifying Patterns Through Crime Scene Analysis," Vol. 1, No.3,
Pages-288-308 1986.
Douglas, J., Hartman, C., McCormack, A. and Ressler, R., "Sexual Homicide: A Motivational
Model," Vol. 1, No.3, Pages-251-272 1986.
Williams, Colin and Seaman, David. "The Serial Killers: A Study in the Psychology of
Violence"Virgin Publishing, 1997. 
Vorpagel, Russell and Harrington, Joseph. "Profiles In Murder". Plenum Press, 1998
No Author {online} "The Truth About the Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Available
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/6923/truth.html October 27, 1999.