Crime Chronicles: Peter Kurten, the Vampire of Dusseldorf

Vampires. The popularity of these immortal beings has just skyrocketed over the last few years with shows like True Blood and movies like Twilight and the many, many adaptations of Dracula pushing them through the roof. Books and TV shows have also had major contributions, but what happens when vampires come alive?

How do we deal, as a society, when a creature of fiction becomes the horror of fact? Well, in 1929, that question wasn't a hypothetical. A monster prowled the streets of Dusseldorf, Germany, and wrought absolute chaos on the populace.

His name was Peter Kurten, and this is his story.

A Dysfunctional Upbringing

Peter Kurten was born in Mulheim am Rhein on May 26, 1883, into an abusive, poverty-stricken family. Both his parents were alcoholics and they lived in a one-room apartment - already, you can see this is going to be a fun childhood...note the sarcasm. Kurten's father would often abuse his wife and kids including forcing his kids to watch him and his wife have sex (yuck).

As the oldest of 13 kids, Peter was often the focal point of his father's abuse which led to him running away from home several times and struggling academically. His father was subsequently jailed in 1897 for sexually abusing his eldest daughter who was just 13 years old at the time. Seriously, what was wrong with that guy?

Anyway, because of the abuse, Kurten spent a lot of time on the streets surrounded by shady people and often resorted to petty crimes to survive. Now, considering the abuse he went through, I think it's fair to say that he was bound to be mentally troubled. I don't think, however, that anyone had any idea just how messed up in the head he was. Of course, that would change very quickly.

An Early Start to a Criminal Lifestyle

Kurten's life of crime can be traced back to 1888 when he tried to drown a friend of his. In 1892, he befriended a local dogcatcher who would torture and kill the animals. It wasn't long before he joined in on the dogcatcher's sick games either.

Also in 1892, is Kurten's first murder. Yes, he killed someone at the age of nine. How? Well, he pushed a friend of his - who couldn't swim - off of a log raft. A second boy tried to save the first one and Kurten held his head under water. Both youngsters drowned, but it was ruled an accident.

1896, this is where things take...a weird turn. At 13, Kurten befriended a local girl who would allow him to undress and touch her, but she would avoid intercourse. To deal with his urges, Peter turned to bestiality and would stab or cut an animal to reach his climax...I feel icky just writing that. He also tried to rape his sister at one point which is just gross.

Kurten left school in 1897 and became a moulder's apprentice. That apprenticeship only lasted two years, however, before he swiped 300 gold marks from his boss and all the cash he could find at the family home and moved to Koblenz. He didn't last long, though, the authorities caught up with him four weeks later and charged with breaking and entering and theft. He was imprisoned for one month and was released in August of 1899.

Kurten's Crimes Turn Serious

The serious crimes started in 1900, he was arrested twice for fraud, and the second arrest led to further charges related to the previous years' charges including attempted murder. He was subsequently sentenced to four years imprisonment. After his release in 1904, Kurten was drafted into the army and deployed to serve in the 98th Infantry Regiment. He didn't stick around for long though, and deserted soon after being drafted.

While he was on the lam, he began committing arson. Before his capture, he set 24 fires - mostly in barns and such. Why did he do this? Well, it was a turn-on for him, but he also hoped to burn sleeping homeless people alive.

The military caught up with him and he was tried for desertion and multiple counts of arson, robbery and attempted robbery. He was sentenced to eight years imprisonment from 1905 to 1913. His sentence was served in Munster - with constant insubordination keeping him in solitary confinement.

May 25, 1913, that's the date of Kurten's first definite kill. In the midst of a burglary at a tavern in Mulheim am Rhein, Kurten found nine year old Christine Klein sleeping. He strangled the poor girl and then used a pocket knife to slash her throat - and got a sexual climax in the process...YUCK!

The following day, get this, he returned to the area to listen in on the locals as they discussed Klein's murder. It gave him a thrill. His next assault was two months later when he encountered 17 year old Gertrud Franken asleep in the progress of another burglary. He strangled the girl and got away. Now, I'm not sure if Franken died or not because most of the stuff about Kurten calls this encounter an attempted murder implying that she survived.

He was arrested a few days later on July 14, for a number of arsons and burglaries and imprisoned for six years. Two years were later added due to his constant insubordination. He was released in April of 1921 and relocated to Altenburg, and married a sweet shop proprietor Auguste Scharf - a woman he met through his sister (who also lived in the area).

In 1925, Kurten and his wife returned to Dusseldorf and he quickly began cheating on his spouse. When Anna discovered the infidelity, well, let's just say it didn't go well. The first woman, a servant girl named Tiede, accused him of seduction, Mech, the second woman accused him of rape. That second charge (the rape charge) was later dropped. The seduction charge, on the other hand, landed him behind bars for eight months. He was released six months later.

A Bloodbath in Dusseldorf

Now, if you think things couldn't get worse, you're very, very wrong. On February 3, 1929, Kurten stalked and ambushed Apollonia Kuhn and stabbed her 24 times with a pair of scissors. Amazingly, despite the severity of her injuries, Kuhn survived.

On February 8, Kurten strangled and stabbed a nine year old girl named Rosa Ohliger. He made an effort to hide the body and later dowsed it in kerosene and set it ablaze.

His next victim was claimed on February 13, a 45 year old mechanic named Rudolf Scheer. Kurten stabbed the poor guy over 20 times in the back, face, and eyes. He later returned to the crime scene to talk to the police - he claimed to have heard about the killing over the phone. The authorities were able to link the three crimes because the three victims all had the same or similar injuries and they all lived in the same area.

Between March and July of 1929, Kurten tried to kill four other women, but his first known kill after that period was on August 11, 1929. He raped, strangled, and stabbed a woman named Maria Hahn. He buried the body, and later returned to try and nail it to a tree - as some sort of disgusting display for the public. He failed because Hahn's body was heavier than he could manage. Three months later, Kurten wrote a detailed letter to the police confessing to Maria Hahn's killing and that letter helped to locate the woman's body. After this, he switched his weapon from scissors to a knife.

The early morning hours of the 21st of August saw three more victims - all random; an 18 year old girl, a 30 year old man, and a 37 year old woman. Now, all three survived but they had severe injuries. His next fatalities were just three days later in a fairground in the suburb of Flehe, Dusseldorf. He met two foster sisters, Luise Lenzen and Gertrude Hamacher. Our scoundrel sent Luise to buy cigarettes. Once the girl was out of sight, Kurten took the younger girl, Gertrude, and strangled her into unconsciousness before slitting her throat.

Luise returned to the scene a short while later, and Kurten strangled her too before stabbing her twice and cut her throat. He also drank some blood from the wounds...which is just...yuck. Neither girl was sexually assaulted, but it caused quite a stir when the two bodies were found. The day after the two girls were killed, Kurten attacked a 27 year old housemaid named Gertrude Schulte. She survived, but couldn't provide a description of her attacker. He tried taking two more victims, once via strangulation and another by stabbing. After that he switched his weapon of choice from a pair of scissors to a hammer.

On September 30, Kurten encountered 31 year old Ida Reuter and persuaded her to have a sort of date with him. He very quickly ambushed her and raped and killed her with a hammer. His next victim, Elizabeth Dorrier, crossed paths with Kurten on October 11, 1929. Much like with Reuter, he convinced her to go out with him for a bit, she was raped and assaulted. She succumbed to her injuries the following day. Two more women crossed paths with him on October 25, but both survived their encounters. Of course, the only reason the second woman survived was because his hammer broke during the attack.

November 7, 1929 saw the last known fatal attack perpetrated by this...creature in human skin. 5 year old Gertrude Albermann was lured to some abandoned lots by Kurten. The foul monster strangled the girl before stabbing her 35 times with a pair of scissors and hiding her in a pile of nettles.

Hunting the Vampire of Dusseldorf

By late 1929, Peter Kurten's crimes had started to gain national and international attention with the media dubbing him the Vampire of Dusseldorf. Their sheer savagery was horrifying and the police had a bit of a hard time with the investigation. The initial theory was that there were multiple killers - based on the different methods in the attacks and different backgrounds. By the end of the year, the suspect list had around 900k names.

Gertrude Albermann was, as stated, the last fatal attack by Kurten. Between February and May of 1930, however, he committed a number of attacks which left 10 people gravely wounded. All of them were able to describe their attacker to the police.

On May 14, 1930, a woman named Maria Budlick was approached by an unknown man who tried to lure her into a nearly-empty park. As the two argued, another man appeared and basically chased him off. Care to guess who this second man was?

Yep, Peter Kurten. He invited her to his apartment and later agreed to take the shaken woman to a hotel. Instead, he led her into the Grafenburg woods where he raped and strangled her. Unlike his other victims, however, she started to scream and instead of killing her, Kurten simply got up and left.

Capturing the Vampire of Dusseldorf

Maria Budlick didn't report her encounter with the monster of Dusseldorf, but she DID tell a friend in a letter. Unfortunately, or fortunately (depending on your POV), she addressed the letter incorrectly. That mistake prompted the guy at the post office to open and read the letter. He subsequently turned the letter over to the police who went to talk to Ms. Budlick. She led them to his residence, but he spotted them and made a hasty exit.

He later confessed to raping Budlick to his wife before moving to different lodgings elsewhere in Dusseldorf. He didn't go back until May 23rd, when he admitted - also to his wife - that he was the notorious Vampire of Dusseldorf. With her husbands encouragement, Auguste Kurten took that info to the police and collected the bounty on his head. She said he was ready to confess and that he'd be outside a local church that afternoon. Peter Kurten was arrested later that day.

Following his arrest, Peter Kurten didn't bother with small talk; he outright admitted his guilt confessing to 9 murders - including the unsolved murder of poor little Christine Klein - and 31 attempted murders - including the attempt on Gertrud Franken in 1913. In total, he admitted to 68 crimes (I'm assuming his arson and sexual assault crimes were added to the mix).

He admitted to drinking the blood of many of his victims and getting sexual pleasure out of the experience. Now, he also tried to pin the blame for his crimes on both the abuse that he'd endured as a kid and, later on, he claimed revenge for his numerous incarcerations.

After the shrinks were done with him, they declared Kurten sane and that he was perfectly competent for trial.

The Monster goes on Trial

The trial of Peter Kurten began on April 13, 1931, he was charged with 9 counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. You can imagine how that went, Kurten's time in court was spent in a cage that was specifically designed to protect him from the families of his victims...personally, I think the families should've had easy access to him, but that's just me.

A few days into the trial, Kurten changed his plea to guilty. Now, with that in mind, the judge asked him about remorse to which he replied:

"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." - Peter Kurten

He also said that had no conscience. The prosecution set out to destroy the whole insanity defence, laying out the pre-meditated nature of his crimes and the other cruelties. His defence attorneys tried to make their client out to be insane by highlighting the cruelties of his crimes.

On April 22, after a 10 day trial, the jury withdrew to deliberate. They were gone for just two hours before returning with a guilty verdict. He was sentenced to death. There was no appeal to the sentence, but he did submit a request for pardon - which was denied. He subsequently asked for a confessor and the chance to write apology letters to his victims' family. Those requests were granted.

To Kill a Vampire

On July 2, 1931, Peter Kurten made his way to the guillotine at Klingelputz Prison - yes, that's its actual name - accompanied by a priest and one of the prison psychiatrists. As he prepared for the inevitable, he turned to the prison psychiatrist and asked a rather...disturbing question:

"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."

Ummm...gross. Anyways, he got down on his knees, placed his head on the block, and the lever was pulled. The blade of the guillotine came down and the Vampire of Dusseldorf was dead.

This is a Disturbing Case

The story of Peter Kurten is really disturbing. The interviews he had with psychiatrist Karl Berg were a part of the doctor's 1938 book, The Sadist. They were also the first psychological study of a sexually motivated serial killer.

Now, that makes a lot of sense, but the legacy of Peter Kurten has lasted for years with books and movies based on the case - with the earliest one coming in 1931, the same year as Kurten's execution; that's just in poor taste. His head was later split open, the idea was to examine his brain to figure out what made him tick - that's...yeah, that happened.

After all the weird stuff in this article, I think I need a break from crime stories. Before I go, be sure to let me know your thoughts on the Peter Kurten story in the comments. Take care guys.