Dive into the dark depths of history as we uncover the most sinister and lesser-known evil figures who committed unspeakable atrocities. From serial killers to war criminals, these individuals represent the darkest side of human nature, their stories hidden from mainstream historical narratives.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I mean, it takes a certain kind of ruthlessness to take this kind of action,
00:04to take the law into one's own hands.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at some of the most insidious people in history
00:10whose crimes have been relatively overlooked until now.
00:14No one knows for sure what creates a man like Gilles,
00:18but there are plenty of possibilities.
00:21Fritz Harman.
00:22Known to many as the Wolfman,
00:24Fritz Harman terrorized the citizens of Hanover, Germany between 1918 and 1924.
00:29He targeted male youths, strangling them and biting into their Adam's apple.
00:33His feral spree continued on until remains were discovered in 1924.
00:42Harman was found guilty of two dozen murders,
00:45although the actual number is thought to be higher,
00:47and was sentenced to death.
00:49While infamous at the time,
00:50both he and his dark legacy have been lost to time,
00:53although his head was preserved for years at a medical school.
00:59Do you happen to remember her name?
01:01The Countess Elisabeth Báthory.
01:05But that's my name, you must be joking.
01:07Though her guilt is now contested by many,
01:10her influence on horror certainly isn't.
01:12A noblewoman in 16th and 17th century Hungary,
01:15Bathory had a grotesque reputation.
01:17For 20 years, she was known as the Queen of Hungary.
01:20She was also known as the Queen of Hungary.
01:23She was also known as the Queen of Hungary.
01:26In a macabre prologue to the fictitious Count Dracula
01:29from nearby Transylvania,
01:31the Countess drank her victim's blood.
01:34By the time she and her accomplices were caught,
01:36over 300 people had come forward
01:38claiming to have seen proof of her violence.
01:40While she served as an inspiration for writers and artists
01:43throughout history,
01:44she was also known as the Queen of Hungary.
01:47She was also known as the Queen of Hungary.
01:49She was also known as the Queen of Hungary.
01:52While she served as an inspiration for writers and artists
01:55throughout history,
01:55her actual life has taken a backseat
01:57to the rumors created about her.
01:59However, the accusations surrounding her
02:02have been questioned by some historians.
02:04She was just carrying out and inflicting
02:06these horrendous injuries out of pleasure.
02:10Daria Nikolaevna Saltykova.
02:12Bathory is known as the Bloody Countess,
02:14but she isn't the only one who deserves that title.
02:17On the surface, Daria Nikolaevna Saltykova
02:20to simply be a Russian woman of nobility.
02:22However, beneath the luxurious veneer
02:24lay something much darker.
02:25Throughout her reign in the 1700s,
02:27she was behind the torture and deaths
02:29of at least three dozen serfs.
02:31The victims were often beaten to death,
02:33and if anyone came forward,
02:34they were likely to be punished.
02:36Her brutality was allowed to continue until 1762,
02:39when Catherine the Great finally had her publicly tried
02:42and imprisoned for life.
02:43Despite the extent of her crimes,
02:45she remains primarily known in Russia
02:48and is essentially unknown to the rest of the world.
02:54Yang Xinhai.
02:55In just four years,
02:57he became one of the most prolific serial killers
02:59of the 21st century,
03:01with 67 confessed murders.
03:03From 1999 to 2003,
03:05Yang Xinhai traveled across China,
03:07leaving a trail of carnage in his wake.
03:18He would arrive at a village and break into his victims' homes,
03:21killing those inside before fleeing.
03:24His bloodlust soon earned him the moniker,
03:26Monster Killer.
03:27He was eventually detained
03:28during a routine investigation in 2003,
03:31where his depraved actions were eventually found out.
03:34His crimes are akin to those committed by anyone
03:36who has ever committed a crime.
03:38He was convicted of murder,
03:39and was sentenced to life in prison.
03:41He was also convicted of murder,
03:43and was sentenced to life in prison.
03:45His crimes are akin to those committed
03:47by infamous American murderers,
03:49but unlike them,
03:50his homicides have been largely ignored
03:52by the Western media,
03:54causing them to fall by the wayside.
03:55Belle Gunness.
04:04Gunness is credited with killing
04:05at least 14 people before dying,
04:07or perhaps faking her own death to avoid exposure.
04:10After a fire at her farm in 1908,
04:13the bodies of her three children
04:14and also a headless woman
04:16who may have been Gunness were found.
04:18However, there were significant physical differences
04:20between the woman's body and Gunness.
04:22The aftermath of the fire uncovered
04:24a deep rabbit hole of carefully concealed slayings
04:27that had taken place across several years.
04:30Belle Gunness allegedly lured men
04:32to her Laporte farm via newspaper ads.
04:35They were never heard from again.
04:37Many of her victims were her husband's,
04:39or men lured to her home as potential husbands.
04:42Her likely victims list
04:43also includes several infants,
04:45proving that her cruelty knew no bounds.
04:59Javed Iqbal.
05:00Discovering a crime firsthand is traumatic on its own,
05:03but having the details laid out
05:05can be just a stomach journey.
05:06In 1999, officials in Pakistan
05:09received a confession from Javed Iqbal
05:11admitting to the sexual assault
05:12and murder of 100 underage males.
05:15He included lurid details
05:17and even left evidence behind,
05:18proving how meticulously he'd planned everything.
05:21His motive?
05:22His mother died from a heart attack
05:23following another violation he'd committed,
05:25making him want to bring 100 mothers to tears as well.
05:28A film about him and his misdeeds
05:30was finally approved for release in 2023,
05:33but even that hasn't stopped him
05:35from remaining unknown to the greater population.
05:38Gilles Deray.
05:39These are terrible crimes.
05:41Would we classify him as a psychopath today?
05:43The FBI and the specialists say,
05:47yes, serial killer, organized psychopath.
05:51His association with both
05:53The Hundred Years War and Joan of Arc
05:55both are not enough to conceal
05:56the dark legacy he left behind.
05:58Though Gilles Deray left an indelible mark
06:00on the battlefield,
06:01his true impact lies within his personal life.
06:04Beginning in the 1430s,
06:05he began to slip into darker interests,
06:08from attempting to summon demons to murder.
06:10He was finally able to stand trial in 1440,
06:13where he was found guilty of slaying 140 youths
06:16before meeting his own death by hanging.
06:19Gilles could kill kids at will,
06:21but it was only when he offended the church
06:24that he was investigated and his hideous crimes uncovered.
06:28Deray's service to the French army
06:30in no way compensates for his later depraved activities.
06:33Jean, that is not 10,000 reinforcements!
06:38That is 100 very loyal but very tired soldiers!
06:43Delphine Lalaurie
06:45The only word that comes to mind is a sadist.
06:48A sadist derives pleasure
06:50from inflicting pain on another individual.
06:53You may recognize the name
06:55thanks to Kathy Bates' interpretation of her
06:57in American Horror Story,
06:58but even that only scratched the surface
07:00of her wicked atrocities.
07:01Following her third marriage in 1825,
07:04Delphine Lalaurie began to act
07:05on some of her darker desires.
07:07Should I run and find a doctor?
07:10No, I can handle this.
07:13You go on downstairs and cook up that chicken.
07:15Deep within her New Orleans home,
07:17she had a room dedicated to the torture
07:19of those she enslaved.
07:20Her cruelty was extreme even for the time period,
07:23with the law even stepping in
07:25to free nine people from her hold.
07:26Despite her open secret,
07:28it wasn't until a disastrous fire in 1834
07:31that several battered, enslaved people were discovered.
07:34Though elements of her depravity have been showcased,
07:36the true extent of her hatred remains unknown.
07:40A lot of people died at that house,
07:41and it's, you know, theorized
07:45that it was at the hands of Madame Lalaurie.
07:47Ilse Koch.
07:48Ilse wasn't content with the daily physical
07:51and mental abuse she dished out to prisoners.
07:54Her bullying took a much darker twist.
07:57You don't get a nickname like the Witch of Buchenwald
07:59without earning it.
08:00Though she often goes unnoticed
08:02among some of the more prominent names
08:04within the Nazi party,
08:05she is remembered for her sheer cruelty.
08:07She was heavily entrenched within the hateful movement,
08:10even getting married at a concentration camp.
08:12She had no qualms about violence,
08:14ranging from assault to aiding
08:15in the beatings carried out by soldiers.
08:17She was even accused of targeting prisoners with tattoos,
08:20supposedly so she could fashion macabre lampshades.
08:23Ilse used this study
08:25to create one of the most enduring
08:27and revolting works of the Third Reich.
08:30She began using prisoners' skin
08:32to make lampshades and book covers.
08:35She was eventually convicted and imprisoned
08:37before taking her own life in 1967.
08:40While she isn't as notorious,
08:42she is proof that even non-officials
08:44were swept up in the hatred of the time period.
08:47Before we continue,
08:48be sure to subscribe to our channel
08:50and ring the bell to get notified
08:51about our latest videos.
08:53You have the option to be notified
08:54for occasional videos or all of them.
08:56If you're on your phone,
08:57make sure you go into your settings
08:59and switch on notifications.
09:03Shiro Ishii.
09:04The existence of Unit 731
09:06was only acknowledged in 2002.
09:09It was the brainchild of General Ishii.
09:13With all of the horrors committed
09:14throughout World War II,
09:15one of the worst perpetrators
09:17managed to evade both legal
09:18and cultural consequences.
09:20Shiro Ishii was one of the masterminds
09:22and main directors of Unit 731,
09:24which used human beings as guinea pigs
09:26in the development of biological
09:28and chemical weapons.
09:32His vile experiments,
09:40using everything from plagues
09:41to sexually transmitted diseases,
09:43constitute some of the worst war crimes
09:45of the period.
09:46Following the end of the war,
09:47he and his team were given immunity
09:49by the United States
09:50in exchange for their research.
09:51His lack of punishment has meant
09:52that few have heard of his name.
09:54To collect accurate data,
09:55we're dependent on continuous experimentation.
09:58So all the Maruta that we use,
09:59not only do they have to be alive,
10:02but they have to be fit,
10:03and in good general condition.
10:05Which villainous historical figure
10:06are you surprised
10:07doesn't get talked about more?
10:08Let us know in the comments below.
10:11Check out these other clips
10:12from WatchMojo,
10:13and be sure to subscribe
10:14and ring the bell to be notified
10:15about our latest videos.