Were there any serial killers in either of the following eras: (1) the American frontier, or (2) Ancient Rome?

by SergeantFartbox
AlotOfReading

There were a number of serial killers on the American frontier well before and after the period ended. The most bloody of these were the scalp hunters of the borderlands. One such killer was John Glanton, who figures prominently in McCarthy's Blood Meridian. Glanton was banished from Mexico for killing innocent Mexicans to collect their scalps. James Kirker was even more successful than Glanton, but no reputable accounts accuse him of killing too many people (so long as you don't count the hundreds of Native Americans he scalped).

The Cochise Cowboys were a later outlaw group in Arizona territory. Although they're most famous for their involvement in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, they killed 15 Mexican smugglers in the Skeleton Canyon massacre and dozens more in various raids.

These were a few of the more famous serial killers on the frontier but there's no shortage of people to list. The Harpe brothers, the Servant Girl Annihilator, the Bloody Benders, Jesse James... All were involved in shocking numbers of murders.

If you'd like to know more about the scalp hunters, The Scalp Hunter in the Borderlands 1835-1850 by Ralph A. Smith is the classic article.

OldWorldGlory

You might be interested on some previous threads on serial killers in North America and Ancient Rome:

Ancient Roman Serial Killers

North America

Other Serial Killers and Mass Murderers

MetalGear_Yoshi

Thank you for your replies and to OP for the question. I've often thought about the topic of pre 20th century serial killers and how common they might of been. Was there actually any awareness of the phenomenon in the past or did it take until the Victorian period for people to catch on?