روان‌پریش‌های آمریکا: قاتلان مشهور آمریکایی که هرگز نامشان را نشنیده‌اید

AMERICA’S MOST COLD-BLOODED! In the horrifying annals of American crime, the infamous names of brutal killers such as Bundy, Dahmer, Gacy, and Berkowitz are writ large in the imaginations of a public both horrified and hypnotized by their monstrous, murderous acts. But for every celebrity psychopath who’s gotten ink for spilling blood, there’s a bevy of all-but-forgotten homicidal fiends studding the bloody margins of U.S. history. The law gave them their just desserts, but now the hugely acclaimed author of __The Serial Killer Files__ and __The Whole Death Catalog__ gives them their dark due in this absolutely riveting true-crime treasury. Among America’s most cold-blooded you’ll meet • Robert Irwin, “The Mad Sculptor”: He longed to use his carving skills on the woman he loved—but had to settle for making short work of her mother and sister instead. • Peter Robinson, “The Tell-Tale Heart Killer”: It took two days and four tries for him to finish off his victim, but no time at all for keen-eyed cops to spot the fatal flaw in his floor plan. • Anton Probst, “The Monster in the Shape of a Man”: The ax-murdering immigrant’s systematic slaughter of all eight members of a Pennsylvania farm family matched the savagery of the Manson murders a century later. • Edward H. Ruloff, “The Man of Two Lives”: A genuine Jekyll and Hyde, his brilliant scholarship disguised his bloodthirsty brutality, and his oversized brain gave new meaning to “mastermind.” Spurred by profit, passion, paranoia, or perverse pleasure, these killers—the Witch of Staten Island, the Smutty Nose Butcher, the Bluebeard of Quiet Dell, and many others—span three centuries and a host of harrowing murder methods. Dramatized in the pages of penny dreadfuls, sensationalized in tabloid headlines, and immortalized in “murder ballads” and classic fiction by Edgar Allan Poe and Theodore Dreiser, the demonic denizens of __Psycho USA__ may be long gone to the gallows—but this insidiously irresistible slice of gothic Americana will ensure that they’ll no longer be forgotten. Fiends of the early Republic, 1782-1826 William Beadle, family annihilator Domestic slaughter then and now Samuel Green, prodigy of crime Jesse Strang and the Cherry Hill murder Hawthorne and Strang Antebellum maniacs, 1840-1860 Robert McConaghy, "the inhuman butcher" The Mohawk massacre Peter Robinson, the "tell-tale heart" killer Another tell-tale murder Polly Bodine, "The witch of staten island" "The worst woman on earth" Dr. Valorous P. Coolidge, the Waterville poisoner "The ballad of Edward Matthews" Henrietta Robinson, "The veiled murderess" The age of arsenic Return J. M. Ward, "The triple murderer" Burned alive Francis Gouldy, pre-civil war mass murderer The Saugerties bard, minstrel of mayhem Albert Hicks, "The worst man who ever lived" The resurrection of Albert Hicks Post-civil war monsters, 1866-1880 Martha Grinder, Lydia Sherman, and Sarah Jane Robinson: the "American borgias "Poison and pedophilia" Anton Probst, "The monster in the shape of a man" The eyes of Anton Probst Edward H. Ruloff, "The man of two lives" "His side of the story" Louis Wagner, the smutty nose butcher "A memorable murder" Franklin Evans, the Northwood murderer "Georgianna lovering, or the Northwood tragedy" "Was it a ghost?" Joseph Lapage, "The french monster" The Langmaid memorial The mystery of serial murder Charles Freeman and the "pocasset horror" The woman who killed her child for god Emeline meaker, "the Virago of Vermont" Mad Dorothy Talbot Hangings public and private Turn-of-the-century psychos, 1892-1896 Carlyle Harris, the libertine Dr. Robert Buchanan, copycat Harry Hayward, "the Minneapolis Svengali" "The fatal ride" A hypnotic villain Scott Jackson, who slaughtered poor Pearl Bryan Cal Crim, "sleuth-hound of the law" Murdered-girl ballads A year of horror, 1927 Andrew P. Kehoe, "the world's worst demon" The Wall Street bombing Ada Leboeuf, "the siren of the swamps" "Rules for murderesses" William Edward Hickman, "the Fox" Cashing in Demons of the Depression Pearl O'Loughlin, wicked stepmother Can Ground Glass kill? Harry powers, "the bluebeard of quiet dell" "The crime at quiet dell" (version one) "The crime at quiet dell" (version two) "The night of the hunter" Bluebeard : fact and fantasy Robert Edwards, the "American tragedy killer" Erased Robert Irwin, "the mad sculptor" Soldier, sailor, serial killer, 1941-1961 Eddie Leonski, "the brown-out strangler" No rest for the wicked Julian Harvey and the Bluebelle's last voyage Antone Costa, the "Cape Cod vampire" Final words Acknowledgments Index. Shares the stories of lesser-known serial killers including "Mad Sculptor" Robert Irwin, "Tell-Tale Heart Killer" Peter Robinson, and "Man of Two Lives" Edward H. Ruloff, in an text that evaluates their mental statuses and motivations