As we delved into the research of succubi, we became fascinated by the rarity of female monsters. According to the United States Department of Justice, 89.5% of convicted perpetrators of homicide are male.2 This led us to dig deeper into female killers, especially those who killed serially. As they constitute such a stark minority, what are the psychological imperatives of female murderers? And are their motives different than their male counterparts? In order to learn more, we consulted academic research on the similarities and contrasts of male and female serial killers. In a 2015 study published in The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, a robust group of sixty-four American female serial killers were analyzed to further our scientific understanding of their psychology. An interesting fact noted in the study seems to support this notion of women using their sexual appeal much like a succubus: “Where data were available, two-thirds of these women had average to above-average attractiveness. This may be a quality the female serial killer uses to her advantage.”3
The motives of the sixty-four female serial killers were grouped into several categories. The highest number of these women were found to be in the “hedonistic” classification. “Consistent with previous research, we found that these women killed for money, power, revenge, and even notoriety and excitement.” Money has long been a motive for female serial killers. At the turn of the twentieth century, plain yet charming Belle Gunness led a number of men to their deaths. Much like the succubus myth, Gunness used her femininity to entrap her prey. Through correspondence she convinced many a farmer to move to her farm in La Porte, Indiana. When the men arrived, cash and valuables in hand, Gunness would murder them and bury their corpses in her fertile farmland. While we can never know what sort of thrill Gunness got from killing, we do know that she gained a hearty pile of money from her deeds. “Baby farmers,” women who killed unwanted infants, also murdered for financial comfort. Amelia Dyer is one such murderess who is known as one of the most prolific serial killers in history as she murdered between two hundred and four hundred children. Dorothea Puente, who killed the elderly and mentally disabled so she could collect on their social security, is another example of a hedonistic serial killer.
Men, on the other hand, tend to kill serially for more deviant reasons. As outlined in a 1995 study, their motivations are more sexually sadistic: “it appears that a substantial proportion of male serial murderers violate their victims sexually, it is important to examine the role sexual behavior has in the killings.”4 A sexual impetus in female perpetrators of serial murder is almost non-existent. While females tend to use their sexuality like a succubus, leading men like the Pied Piper to their eventual death, there are very few examples of women admitting to sexual thrill as a reason for murder. One example of this deviation from the rule is killer nurse Jane Toppan, who described to police that she got an “erotic charge”5 from climbing into bed with her dying patients who she had killed with a fatal cocktail of medicine.
The aforementioned 2015 study in The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology further contends that this difference in female and male serial killers is most probably evolutionary:
The fact that such women primarily kill for resources and such men primarily kill for sex follows evolutionary prediction of sex-specific fitness maximization tactics based on differential reproductive potential. That is, due to differential reproductive potential (i.e., unlimited sperm production vs. very limited ova), in the environment of evolutionary adaptedness, it would have been reproductively beneficial for men to seek multiple sexual opportunities and for women to seek a stable, committed partner with sufficient resources. Evidence suggests that men and women worldwide still seek mates according to this strategy. That fact that male serial killers typically commit their crimes for sex and female serial killers typically commit their crimes for money thus follows evolutionary theory.
It’s strange to think that the biological factors differentiating males from females are also what spurn our warped reasons to kill. Female serial murderers are oddly motivated by the same desires as other women, the evolutionary need to procure resources. It seems important to note that nearly all the serial murderers named in this chapter were attempting to function in a misogynistic society on the cusp of women’s suffrage. Though their acts are despicable and unforgivable, this could provide further insight into why women have killed.
Biological factors affect people’s reasons for committing murder.
Uniquely female, the succubus legend shares aspects with the vampire. Succubi like Jennifer in Jennifer’s Body employ their charm, just as attractive male vampires in movies like Interview with the Vampire (1994) capitalize on their sex appeal. And then, once the prey is properly spellbound, they are devoured for the monster’s own gain. It was what real female monsters hoped to gain that led us to find that evolution was a key player in the formation of motive. In proof, we only have to go back to that seemingly pleasant farm in La Porte, Indiana, where the bodies of men languished beneath the soil. During her reign of horror, Belle Gunness, coined “Lady Bluebeard” placed an ad in a local paper: “comely widow who owns a large farm in one of the finest districts in La Porte County, Indiana, desires to make the acquaintance of a gentleman equally well provided, with view of joining fortunes.”6
SECTION FOUR
REANIMATED CORPSES
CHAPTER TEN
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
Title: Night of the Living Dead
Year of Release: 1968
Director: George A. Romero
Writer: John Russo, George A. Romero
Starring: Judith O’Dea, Duane Jones
Budget: $114,000
Box Office: $30 million
Many agree that it was in the fall of 1968 when zombies were born. Night of the Living Dead premiered as a Saturday matinee at the Fulton Theatre in Pittsburgh on October 1st. This first showing, mostly attended by teenagers and their tagalong siblings, made cinematic history by ushering in the now ubiquitous depiction of ambling, brain-ravenous zombies. When actor Bill Hinzman playing the part of “Ghoul” stumbled into the graveyard to Tom’s (Keith Wayne) famous utterance, “They’re coming to get you, Barbara!” Hinzman unknowingly became the first modern-day zombie. His performance, replete with a stiff-legged walk, soulless eyes, and silent, twisted mouth, informed the portrayal of the undead for the succeeding five decades.