Despite the salacious, modern-period illustration by Charles Copeland that accompanies it, this article by Philip Ledward from MEN magazine August 1958 chronicles the barbarous career of German serial killer Peter Kürten from a century ago. Dubbed "The Vampire of Düsseldorf" and the "Düsseldorf Monster", Kürten was a life-long criminal who committed his first murder when he was 9 years-old.
He went on a notorious killing spree in 1929 where he beat, bludgeoned, stabbed and sometimes drank the blood of his victims who were mostly helpless women. He was eventually apprehended and subsequently beheaded on the guillotine. This all just a few years before another human monster, Hitler, rose to power.
