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History’s Top Executioners of All Time

Khalid Elhassan June 5, 2020 34 min

1. Getting Away Light

Ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian. Taida Student Journal

Throughout most of history, justice has often been illusory, and usually unequal. Which explains why Prince Penglii got off light: he was not executed, but was simply stripped of his rank and banished. As described by Han historian Sima Qian:

“Liu Pengli was arrogant and cruel, and paid no attention to the etiquette demanded between ruler and subject. In the evenings he used to go out on marauding expeditions with twenty or thirty slaves or young men who were in hiding from the law, murdering people and seizing their belongings for sheer sport. When the affair came to light … it was found he had murdered at least 100 or more persons. Everyone in the kingdom knew about his ways, so that the people were afraid to venture out of their houses at night. The son of one of his victims finally sent a report to the [Han Emperor], and the Han officials requested that he be executed. The emperor could not bear to carry out their recommendation, but made him a commoner and banished him to Shangyong“.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

ThoughtCo – Gary Ridgway: The Green River Killer

All That is Interesting – Peter Niers: The Medieval Boogyeman Who Ate Babies

Crime and Investigation – Charles Sobhraj: The Serpent

Crime Library – Green River Killer: River of Death

Encyclopedia Britannica – Elizabeth Bathory

Encyclopedia Britannica – Gilles de Rais

Gabory, Emile – Alias Bluebeard: The Life and Death of Gilles de Raiz

Kidd, Paul B. – Australia’s Serial Killers (2006)

Korea Times, November 27^th, 2009 – Book Reconstitutes Secret of Prince Sado’s Death

Listverse – 10 Terrifying Serial Killers You’ve Never Heard Of

Mad Monarchs – Sado of Korea (a killer)

Murderpedia – Charles Sobhraj

Murderpedia – Karl Denke

Philbin, Tom and Michael – The Killer Book of Serial Killers: Incredible Stories, Facts, and Trivia From the World of Serial Killers (2009)

Ranker – Terrifying Facts About John Lynch, the Worst Serial Killer in Australian History

Ranker – The Untold Story of Peter Niers, The Cannibal Magician Who Killed 500 People

Rejected Princesses – Elisabeth Bathory: The Blood Countess

Russiapedia – Prominent Russians: Darya Saltykova

Tovar, Diana, UC Santa Barbara – Stella: the Story of Stella Goldschlag

Wikipedia – Charles Sobhraj a killer

Wikipedia – Gilles de Rais a killer

Wikipedia – Liu Pengli a killer

Wyden, Peter – Stella: One Woman’s True Tale of Evil, Betrayal, and Survival in Hitler’s Germany (1992)

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.