There are many disgusting and vile people in history. However, one we may not know is the serial killer Peter Kurten. He was also known as the Dusseldorf Vampire or the Dusseldorf Monster.
He killed between 1883 and 1931. They called him the Dusseldorf Vampire because he attempted to drink the blood of some of his victims. He was also named the Dusseldorf Monster because of how savage and mutilated his victim’s bodies were.
Kurten’s murders are so gruesome and unspeakable I almost didn’t want to write about him. Even though there are countless movies and documentaries, I’m more surprised he’s not as known as Jack the Ripper or even our old friend H. H Holmes.
Without further ado, I give you the story of one of the most insane perverts in history. Here is the story of the Dusseldorf Vampire.
Warning, STOP READING HERE if you don’t have the stomach for sick bastards like this one or are easily offended. Reader discretion is advised.
PETER KURTEN’S CHILDHOOD WAS NOT A GOOD ONE
Peter Kurten’s childhood was filled with abuse. He lived with his 13 siblings, mother and father in a small apartment. Kurten’s father abused his mother and siblings in front of him. This might account for why he later became such a vile killer.
He later became friends with a neighbor in his building who was a dog catcher. His neighbor introduced Kurten to the act of beastiality and animal torture.
Kurten himself claims to have killed two of his school-aged friends at the age of nine. Kurten pushed a friend (who couldn’t swim) off a long raft into the water. Another kid dove in after him. However, Peter Kurten had other plans. As both kids reached the surface, Kurten held them down, ultimately suffocating them. At the time, this event was dismissed as a tragic accident.
He later began performing acts of beastiality on pigs, sheep, and other farm animals. Although he attested that he achieved his best orgasms when he stabbed the animal right before his climax.
LATER IN HIS LIFE
Peter Kurten would later go to jail for attempted murder with a firearm. It was here that Kurten explained that his fantasies of mass murder and mutilation came about. Kurten stated that, while in solitary confinement, he often ejaculated spontaneously while thinking of such heinous acts of genocide.
KURTEN’S MURDERS
Peter Kurten’s first murder didn’t occur until 1913. While he attempted to rob a tavern, he encountered a sleeping nine-year-old girl. He strangled and stabbed her to death.
He later murdered a 17-year-old girl the same way as he attempted to rob a place, strangling her with his bare hands. As a horrible sidenote, it appears that Peter Kurten climaxed each time he killed someone.
DUSSELDORF
Peter Kurten would later be convicted many times. Going in and out of prison was a regular thing for him.
At one point, the court ordered him to relocate to Dusseldorf for good.
It was here where he began his murder spree.
He first killed an elderly woman by the name of Apollonia Kuhn. He stabbed her 24 times with a pair of scissors. Although he stabbed her so deeply he injured her bones, Kuhn lived.
He later killed a small child similarly. He stabbed her entire body before hiding it under a bridge and lighting it on fire.
It also appeared that Peter Kurten didn’t discriminate when it came to sex, age, or gender. A few days later, Kurten murdered a 45-year-old male mechanic. He was stabbed 45 times in the back, head, and eyes.
Later, criminologists would notice the random acts of aggression towards different ages and sexes and classify them as abnormal. In other words, Peter Kurten did not have a type. It appears his murders were random. His modus operandi differed from serial killers like Jack the Ripper, who ultimately chose specific individuals each time. All appear to be similar in nature.
THE MURDER OF MARIA HAHN
After meeting Maria Hahn, Peter Kurten agreed to go on a date with her, despite his marriage. He later stated that she was in search of marriage herself, which made it easy for him to seduce her. Kurten later took her to a meadow, where he proceeded to strangle and stab her to death with scissors.
He sat beside her body and watched her die. It is estimated that Hahn died an hour after Peter Kurten’s attack.
He buried Hahn in a nearby cornfield. Nevertheless, Kurten became fearful that his wife might connect the bloodstains on his clothes with the murder and returned to dig up her body.
He planned on crucifying her to a nearby tree. You see, Peter Kurten loved to see the horror and disgust on the faces of the townspeople. However, her body weighed too much for him to handle and returned her body to her original burial site.
Peter Kurten returned to her grave several times to improve it. Days after, he sent an anonymous letter to the police with details of the murder and where they can find her body. The message was received and the police found her.
WHEN SCISSORS BECOME A KNIFE
In an attempt to confuse police and investigators, Peter Kurten decided to use a knife instead of scissors. He thought this would make it seem like there was more than one assailant.
At random, Kurten stabbed an 18-year-old girl, a 30-year-old man, and a 37-year-old woman, seriously injuring all three.
All three victims reported that they had never seen this man in their life as he didn’t even speak a word before he attacked them.
PETER KURTEN THE DUSSELDORF VAMPIRE COMMENCES
It just so happens that serial killers often evolve their heinous crimes. Peter Kurten was no different. In fact, he needed more brutality, more deceit, and lies, but now it appears he needed blood.
As Kurten walked around the suburb of Flehe in Dusseldorf, he watched as two small sisters played. These two young sisters were five and 14 years of age. However, he managed to rid himself of 14-year old by sending her to buy cigarettes, with the promise of more money upon returning.
He took this opportunity to kill the younger one. He strangled her until she became unconscious before slicing her throat.
As soon as the 14-year-old returned, Kurten attacked and killed her. He strangled her by stabbing her once, deep enough to pierce her aorta. He then bit her throat, and began drinking her blood while she died in his arms.
The very next day, he assaulted a 27-year-old woman who survived the attack. She was only able to tell the police that he was a man in his 40s.
Kurten later proclaimed that he only drank the blood of a few of his victims.
The wounds from the temple and wrists of his victims would allow him to drink their blood as they died.
Kurten also confessed to cutting the head off a swan and drinking its blood.
THE CONTINUED EVOLUTION, FROM SCISSORS TO A KNIFE TO A HAMMER
Then came the hammer attacks. Peter Kurten’s last attacks were with a hammer. He beat two different servant girls unconsciously over the head while trying to to seduce them.
He randomly attacked a couple more women with a hammer on two entirely different occasions. However, one of these survived the attack, but only because Kurten struck her so hard the hammer broke in half.
His last and final victim was Gertrude Albermann. He strangled her and stabbed her temple with one swift blow. After her lifeless body hit the ground, he proceeded to stab her 34 times until finally discarding her corpse.
After the murder of Albermann, Kurten went on a hammer rage spree, striking 10 different individuals with his hammer. However, all 10 survived the blow and reported all details to police investigators.
PETER KURTEN WAS ULTIMATELY CAUGHT
Kurten was caught after a few of his attempted strangulations survived.
After Kurten was caught, he admitted to 68 crimes, 10 murders, and 31 attempted murders. He also confessed that he began to associate violent acts and blood with sexual pleasure. The number of stab wounds corresponded to the length of time it took him to reach orgasm. He later stated that the final attempted strangulations only survived because he reached orgasm during the struggle and no longer desired them and let them go.
During Kurten’s trial, he was found guilty and sentenced to death by execution. Some of his final words are
“I HAVE NO REMORSE. AS TO WHETHER RECOLLECTION OF MY DEEDS MAKES ME FEEL ASHAMED, I WILL TELL YOU [THAT] THINKING BACK TO ALL THE DETAILS IS NOT AT ALL UNPLEASANT. I RATHER ENJOY IT.”
At six o clock in the morning of July 2, 1931, Peter Kurten was beheaded by guillotine. After his head was placed on the guillotine, Kurten turned to his psychiatrist and asked,
“TELL ME… AFTER MY HEAD IS CHOPPED OFF, WILL I STILL BE ABLE TO HEAR, AT LEAST FOR A MOMENT, THE SOUND OF MY OWN BLOOD GUSHING FROM THE STUMP OF MY NECK? THAT WOULD BE THE PLEASURE TO END ALL PLEASURES.”
Shortly after his beheading, his head was cut in half and mummified to study it. This was the first psychological study of a sexual serial killer.
Peter Kurten’s mummified and split, severed head is now on display at the Ripley’s Believe It or Not in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin.
Now, aren’t you glad this guy is dead? Happy Halloween. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.
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