Mass murder is in

Ridgway, with 48 confirmed kills, has seized the record as the most prolific serial killer of all time. His name will live in infamy for ages. The Green River Killer, by strangling four dozen prostitutes over the span of two decades, has joined the legendary elite of serial killers. He is now a superstar.\nFor some reason, we have a sick fascination with serial killers. We hold them to the same level of fame as Elvis; perhaps, even more so. Would you rather hear the true story of Jack the Ripper, or watch Blue Hawaii?\nSerial killers have a celebrity status that is not enjoyed by the average murderer. That is because they are completely different. For example, the average murder is a crime of passion committed without premeditation by someone who knew the victim. According to the book "The Killers Among Us" by Steven Egger, a serial killer must kill at least three people before becoming labeled as serial. Also, serial murderers usually do not know their victims and plan the slayings well in advance of committing them.\nThe above differences between murderers and serial killers are pretty profound. We can understand how a normal person could become so enraged that reason is blurred from their minds and they could take the life of another (think about walking in on your girl/boyfriend in bed with someone who is not you). On the other hand, we have some difficulty wrestling with the idea that somebody could brutally slaughter another human, just because he or she thought it was exhilarating.\nAre serial killers insane? Well, not according to our legal system. If they were insane, they would be placed in institutions for the criminally insane, not in prison with all the other social rejects. I think that Dennis Nilsen, the "British Jeffrey Dahmer," expressed this condition best when he said, "a mind can be evil without being abnormal" (Crime Library files).\nBut are serial killers really not abnormal? Let's look at the most prominent serial killers to answer this question.\nJeffrey Dahmer is one of the most famous killers of the 20th century. Dahmer would go to gay bars, take young men home, sodomize them, strangle or bludgeon them to death and then rape and eat the corpses. Now, I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty freaking loco to me.\nNext, we have Ted Bundy. Bundy killed 28 women during his career as a serial killer. He really enjoyed raping the women and destroying their sex organs by forcefully jamming steel pipes and sundry unwholesome objects into them. It looks to me like we've got ourselves another lunatic here.\nSpeaking of lunatics, don't forget "The Killer Clown." No, I'm not talking about Violent J. I'm talking about John Wayne Gacy. Gacy tortured and anally raped 33 men. Oh yeah, he also dressed up as a clown. Aah, to be sodomized by an evil clown; that is truly the stuff of nightmares. Oh, I'm pretty sure he was a freaky psycho too.\nSo, move aside Britney! Psychotic killer Gary Leon "the Green River Killer" Ridgway is trying to steal your spotlight.