11 Criminals Who Really Thought They Were Vampires
Daniel And Manuela Ruda Believed Satan Told Them To Target Their Friend
Daniel and Manuela Ruda of western Germany believed Satan told them to end their friend's life. The young couple, self-proclaimed Satanists and vampires, married on the sixth day of the sixth month (June) to signify the number of the beast. Manuela sometimes slept in a coffin. She also had her teeth removed and animal fangs implanted in their place. Their first forays into blood-drinking took place with consensual volunteers at gatherings they attended in England and Scotland, often held in cemeteries or in old ruined buildings.
The couple said Satan told them they needed to end their friend, 33-year-old Frank Haagen. They picked Haagen because, according to Manuela, he was "so funny and would be the perfect court jester for Satan." They invited Haagen over, telling him they were going to a party. Daniel hit Haagen in the head with a hammer, then they stabbed him 66 times - a significant number for the couple. After he passed, they carved a pentagram into his stomach. They then drank his blood, had sex in Manuela's coffin, and prayed to Satan.
Manuela was disappointed she didn't become a real vampire after enacting the order to end Haagen. When authorities came into their apartment several days later, they found Haagen's decomposing body near the coffin.
At the time of their sentencing, Daniel was 26 and Manuela was 23. They made a show of the trial, flashing Satanist hand signs and threatening witnesses. The pair denied all blame, saying they were simply Satan's instruments. They compared their trial to blaming a car for a vehicular collision. Manuela testified that their actions were "the execution of an order. Satan ordered us to. We had to comply. It was not something bad. It simply had to be. We wanted to make sure that the victim suffered well."
The jury disagreed, however. In 2002, they were both sentenced to psychiatric hospitals: Daniel for 15 years, Manuela for 13.
- Photo: Florida Department of Corrections / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
Roderrick Ferrell Was The Leader Of A Teenage Vampire Cult
In November 1996, Rod Ferrell was 16 years old when he used a tire iron to take the lives of Richard and Naomi Wendorf, the parents of his friend Heather Wendorf. He committed these ghastly actions as the ringleader of a teenage vampire cult. Ferrell looked the part of a high school goth: long, dyed-black hair, all-black clothing, and a trench coat. He befriended Heather Wendorf when they both attended high school in Eustis, Florida.
The following year, Ferrell moved to Kentucky but kept in contact with Heather. In Kentucky, Ferrell began collecting members for his vampire cult. Ferrell and his friend Howard Scott Anderson were charged with cruelty to animals after they broke into an animal shelter. They tormented and beat more than 40 dogs, claiming the lives of two in what looked like a satanic ritual.
Ferrell and other teenagers hung out at a place called the “Vampire Hotel," drinking each other's blood. Ferrell became obsessed with the role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade. He claimed to be a 500-year-old vampire named Vesago.
Just before the targeting the Wendorfs, Ferrell drove from Kentucky to Florida, with Howard Scott Anderson and two girls. Heather Wendorf was planning to run away from home with Ferrell and the rest of the vampire cult. She didn't know Ferrell was planning to target her parents, although other cult members did.
After breaking into the Wendorf home and committing his infamous deeds, Ferrell and Anderson met up with the girls. The five teenagers went on the run for several days before getting caught. In 1998, Ferrell was sentenced to capital punishment, as the youngest person on death row for two years. His sentence was then changed to life without the possibility of parole.
In an interview with Investigation Discovery, Ferrel said, "I was in a maelstrom of my own madness." He has since been diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder. The 2002 movie Vampire Clan was based on Ferrell's infamy.
Richard Trenton Chase Injected Himself With Rabbit Blood Before Taking Victims
Richard Trenton Chase, dubbed the "Vampire of Sacramento," is known for taking the lives of six people in 1977. Chase was affected by mental illness his whole life. He chronically used alcohol and drugs as a young man, which psychiatrists believe may have led to Chase's hypochondria. He believed terminating animals and drinking their blood would stop his heart from shrinking. He also believed that was being secretly poisoned by the soap in his bathroom, which was turning his blood to powder. He needed fresh blood to replace what was being lost. He ended many neighborhood pets, including his mother's cat, and bit the heads off birds.
In 1976, he tried to inject rabbit blood into his body, landing him in the hospital. That led to him being placed in a mental institution. He was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. Soon after, he was released from the institution into his mother's care. Then his behavior escalated. Chase was looking for game larger than neighborhood pets. Then he started entering homes - true to vampire folklore, he wouldn't go into a locked house.
On January 23, 1978, Chase targeted Teresa Wallin, who was pregnant. After taking her life, he assaulted and mutilated the body. He ate parts of her flesh and used a yogurt container as a cup to drink her blood. Four days later, he struck again. His next claimed four people in one day, two adults and two young children. He also treated the adult female in the same manner he had with Wallin.
Police found human body parts, including brains, in his refrigerator. He also had a calendar that said "Today" on the dates he struck down victims. The word was written on 44 more days. Chase was sentenced to receive capital punishment, but he ended his own life before it could be carried out. The 1987 movie Rampage was loosely based on his life.
Tracey Wigginton Is Known As The 'Lesbian Vampire Killer'
Australian Tracey Wigginton is better known as the "Lesbian Vampire Killer." Wigginton told a jury she didn't live on food, but on the blood of pigs and cows. Wigginton's lover, Lisa Ptaschinski, also said she cut her own wrists so Wigginton could feast on her blood. On the night of October 20, 1989, Wigginton decided to take things a step further and end a human life to satisfy her bloodlust.
Wigginton was 25 years old. She and Ptaschinski, along with two other women, were driving around when they spotted 47-year-old Edward Baldock walking home, presumably intoxicated. The women coaxed Baldock into the car and took him to a park near the Brisbane River. They promised him sexual favors, but instead, Wigginton stabbed him 27 times.
After Wigginton drank Baldock's blood, the women left his body in the park to be found in the morning. It wasn't hard to catch Wigginton - her ATM card was found in the victim's shoe.
Wigginton pleaded guilty, and Wigginton and Ptaschinski were given life sentences. On January 11, 2012, Wigginton was paroled. She can't contact the victim's family or the other women involved, but she is a free woman in most aspects. It is a condition of her parole that she can't profit from her story - for example, by writing a memoir about her experiences.
- Photo: Unknown / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
Elizabeth Báthory - called "The Blood Countess" - is one of the most famous female real-life vampires. She may have been the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula, even more than Vlad the Impaler. Between 1585 and 1609, Báthory sadistically harmed as few as 37 or as many as 650 young women. She holds the Guinness World Record for the most murders committed by a woman.
Báthory was a Hungarian countess who was married and had four children. She also had a sadistic streak. She started her infamous spree by tormenting and ending young peasant girls who came to work for her. Though unsubstantiated, there are rumors she drank and bathed in their blood to keep herself young. Court testimonies mentioned Báthory using needles on her victims, burning them, and biting off their flesh.
Báthory wasn't put to trial until she began targeting the daughters of noble families. At her trial in 1611, more than 300 witnesses spoke of the atrocities she'd committed. She was found guilty but was imprisoned in her castle instead of executed. She lived there for four years before passing from an illness. The location of her body is unknown.
Mathew Hardman Cut Out His Elderly Neighbor's Heart And Drank Her Blood
Mathew Hardman from North Wales was described by friends as a normal, quiet boy. The 17-year-old attended art school and worked part-time as a kitchen porter. No one suspected he would take the life of his 90-year-old neighbor, Mabel Leyshon. But that's exactly what happened in November 2001. Hardman came into his elderly neighbor's house while she was watching TV and stabbed her 22 times with a knife.
After she passed, Harman carved out her heart and wrapped it in newspaper. He drained her blood into a kitchen saucepan and drank it. He also placed candles and a makeshift crucifix at her feet. Before the incident, Hardman had become obsessed with vampires. He believed drinking blood would make him immortal. He even accused a German exchange student of being a vampire. He begged her to bite him so he'd become one, too.
Hardman was apprehended and subsequently confessed to smoking pot at the time of the Leyshon's passing. In 2002, Hardman was sentenced to life in jail.
Allan Menzies Said That A Vampire Movie Told Him To Take Out His Friend
In 2003, near Edinburgh, Scotland, Allan Menzies ended the life of his best friend, drank some of his blood, and ate a piece of his skull. The reason? He said the vampire Akasha, a character from the 2002 movie Queen of the Damned, told him he had to if he wanted to become a vampire and live forever.
Menzies had known the victim, Thomas McKendrick, since he was 4 years old. Menzies had become obsessed with the vampire movie based on a book by Anne Rice, seeing it more than 100 times. According to BBC News, Menzies also claimed the character Akasha visited him: "I basically agreed with her [Akasha] that if I [ended] people, I would be rewarded in the next life."
On the day of the incident, Menzies said McKendrick said something against Queen of the Damned, sparking Menzies's rage. He hit his friend with a hammer at least 10 times. Menzies then stabbed McKendrick 42 times with a bowie knife as well as a kitchen knife.
After his friend passed, Menzies drank his blood and ate part of his skull. It was several weeks before McKendrick was found in the shallow grave Menzies had dug for him. After his apprehension, Menzies tried unsuccessfully to plead insanity. Two psychiatrists said he wasn't suffering from mental illness when he targeted McKendrick, and Menzies received a life sentence. In 2004, Menzies took his own life in Shotts Prison near Glasgow, Scotland.
Caius Veiovis Drank Blood From A 16-Year-Old Girl, Then Extinguished Three Hell's Angels
Caius Veiovis isn't exactly someone who can blend into a crowd - and that's the way he likes it. His face is full of piercings, tattoos, and yes, horn implants. His mug shot has been called one of the scariest ever, but even scarier are the actions he's committed - cutting and drinking the blood of a 16-year-old girl and later terminating three Hell's Angels.
Veiovis's given name is Roy Gutfinski, Jr. He legally changed his name in 2008. Many media outlets reported that he changed his name to Caius after a vampire character in the Twilight books and movies, although Veiovis denies this.
Veiovis has a long history of violence and Satanism. In 1999, he stood trial for assault. He and a former girlfriend cut another girl, who was 16 at the time, and kissed while they drank her blood. Veiovis has professed to being a vampire.
In 2001, Veiovis, along with two other men, snatch three Hell's Angels before taking their lives. One of the Angels was said to have been about to give testimony against Veiovis's friend. The dismembered bodies were found in a trench in Becket, MA. Found guilty on numerous counts, Hampden County Superior Court sentenced Veiovis to three consecutive life sentences without parole.
- Photo: Unknown / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
Fritz Haarmann is one of the most famous vampiric perps of all time. Between 1918 and 1924, he took the lives of at least 24 boys and young men in Hanover, Germany. His nicknames include the "Vampire of Hanover," the "Butcher of Hanover," and the "Wolfman." Haarmann was a petty criminal and police informant. He started a life of wrongdoing at a young age; at 16, he was apprehended for inappropriately touching younger boys. He was placed in a mental institution but later escaped.
Haarmann would lure young men and boys into his home by promising them jobs. He would then assault them, biting their Adam's apples and drinking their blood until they passed. Haarmann said he didn't intend to terminate his victims, but that he was overcome by a "rabid sexual passion."
After claiming a victim, Haarmann would dismember the body, removing the skull and internal organs. The bones would be dropped into the Leine River. One of Haarmann's enterprises was selling meat on the black market. It has been guessed, but never proven, that the meat from Haarmann's victims was sold as mince or sausages.
After the discovery of more than 500 bones in the Leine River, suspicion turned to 45-year-old Haarmann. He had been questioned regarding several disappearances and was a known homosexual, which was considered a legal offense at that time. Many items belonging to the victims were found at Haarmann's home, and he confessed.
Haarmann claimed to have ended between 50 and 70 men, although he was only convicted in relation to 24. In 1924, he was sentenced to death. Of his conviction, Haarmann reportedly remarked:
Condemn me to death. I ask only for justice. I am not mad. Make it short; make it soon. Deliver me from this life, which is a torment. I will not petition for mercy, nor will I appeal. I want to pass just one more merry night in my cell, with coffee, cheese and cigars, after which I will curse my father and go to my execution as if it were a wedding.
More Fritz Haarmann
- #3146 of 3,183 onThe Most Influential People Of All Time
- #11 of 40 on40 Serial Killers Who Are Scorpios
- #32 of 37 on37 Famous Serial Killers Of Children
Marcelo Costa De Andrade Drank The Blood Of Young Men To Become 'Beautiful'
Marcelo Costa De Andrade is one of Brazil's most infamous. Called the "Vampire of Niteroi," Andrade targeted young boys - ranging in age from 6 to 13 - and he claimed the lives of at least 14. Andrade grew up poor and was reportedly sexually and physically harmed as a young boy. By age 14, he was selling himself on the streets.
In 1991, Andrade was 24 years old. He began luring impoverished young boys into desolate areas. There, he would assault them before strangulating or beating them. He also had relations with some of the boys' corpses after they passed and reportedly drank the blood of at least two victims.
When asked why he did it, Andrade said he wanted to "become as beautiful as them." He apparently suffered from religious mania, stating that he ended the boys so they would go to heaven.
Andrade was caught after one of his potential victims escaped. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and committed to a psychiatric hospital. In 1997, he escaped but was returned to the hospital several days later.
Joshua Rudiger Said That He Was A 2,600-Year-Old Vampire
Joshua Rudiger is known as the "Vampire Slasher." In 1998, he took the life of a homeless woman and injured three homeless men with a knife. When asked why he did it, he said he was a 2,600-year-old vampire and that he wanted to drink the victims’ blood.
Rudiger was just 22 years old at the time. He had a troubled past and a history of aggression and mental illness. With over two decades of experience, Rudiger's lawyer said that Rudiger exhibited the worst case of mental illness he had ever seen. Rudiger - who also claimed to be a samurai - was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
The woman he ended was 48-year-old Shirley Dillahunty. He stabbed her with his knife while she was sleeping in a doorway. Rudiger later said he didn't intend to take her life; he just wanted to make a small incision to drink her blood. The other victims did not report Rudiger trying to drink their blood. Rudiger was sentenced to 23 years to life.
