Why do we give serial killers and rapists nicknames?

Some serial killers/rapists give themselves nicknames. But generally speaking it is a media ploy to sell papers through hype and sensationalism. It unfortunately gives most of these individuals exactly what they want... to be remembered and recognised for their crimes. I think it also allows us to put a name to an unexplainable fear these people are able to have over us.

Hi littleone~ I don't know who thought up the nicknames for the killers and you are definitely right that it doesn't make much sense. Maybe it was the reporters and then the names stuck! Whoever did it it is still happening today~! I don't actually know that it makes the actual person who committed the crimes want to continue because of the nickname, but it is something to think about. I don't think that it would stop the press from doing what they do anyway.

Once I stopped and thought about it I believe serial killers and rapists are given nicknames by various means. Sometimes it's the press that names them, sometimes they give themselves a name (probably an ego thing to set themselves apart from other serial killers or rapists), and I believe sometimes they get nicknames from the law enforcement officers involved in the case. Although Jack the Ripper is believed to be the first serial killer I believe that the Pied Piper of Hamlin was actually the first. In 1284, while the town of Hamelin was suffering from a horrid rat infestation he was called upon to get rid of the rats after claiming he was a rat-catcher. The rats do not seem to be the only thing he got rid of. It is said that he lured 130 boys and girls out of town never to be seen again. They were supposedly led into a cave murdered and dismembered. Being that the Pied Piper is folklore is probably the reason why Jack the Ripper is considered to be the first serial killer. America's first serial killer is H.H. Homes who was from the 1900's but there are earlier reports than him of serial killers. Among them were Micajah and Wiley Harpe who slaughtered people just for fun and profit. In Outlaws of Cave-in Rock, by Otto Rothert, Rothert documented the Harpe brothers rampage of carnage and bloodshed. Like many others I've always found the subject of serial killers fascinating! I have and always will wonder what makes this type of person tick. Is it genetic? Is it environmental (the way they grew up)? Obviously there is a screw loose somewhere!