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WWII’s French Serial Killer Doctor and Other Forgotten Monsters From History

Khalid Elhassan January 27, 2020 32 min

31. Ancient China’s Serial Killer

The first serial killer in recorded history was Prince Liu Pengli, who lived in Ancient China in the 2nd century BC. A member of the ruling Han Dynasty‘s imperial family, Pengli’s relative, Emperor Jing, appointed him ruler of the city of Jidong and the surrounding district in 144 BC.

That was bad news for the good people of Jidong, whom Pengli governed for the next 23 years. For one thing, he preyed upon his subjects, killing them for the sheer fun of it. He probably would have liked the Ramsey Bolton character from Game of Thrones, because like that fictitious character, Pengli enjoyed hunting human beings for sport.

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.