Peter Kürten. The Vampire of Düsseldorf.

In 1929, the German city of Düsseldorf was gripped by fear. Women, children, and men were being attacked seemingly at random by a predator who stabbed, strangled, bludgeoned, and murdered his victims—sometimes returning to crime scenes afterward. The press gave the unknown killer a name that would follow him into criminal history: the Vampire of Düsseldorf. His real name was Peter Kürten. Kürten had spent much of his life moving in and out of prison for burglary, arson, and violent offenses. He later confessed to killing a nine-year-old girl in 1913, but his most notorious period of violence came during 1929, when a string of murders and attempted murders terrorized Düsseldorf. His victims varied dramatically in age and sex, making it difficult for investigators to predict whom he might target next. What made Kürten’s crimes particularly disturbing was the connection he described between blood, violence, and sexual gratification. His nickname came from reports that he sometimes attempted to drink blood from his victims’ wounds. As panic spread, Kürten played a dangerous game with authorities. He followed newspaper coverage of the attacks, returned to crime scenes, and even sent information connected to victims to the press. But eventually, one woman survived. In May 1930, Kürten attacked a young woman but allowed her to leave alive. Information she later provided helped police close in on him. Realizing his identity was about to be exposed, Kürten confessed his crimes to his wife and was arrested. The scope of his confessions was staggering, although not every crime he claimed could be verified. In 1931, Peter Kürten was convicted of nine murders and seven attempted murders and sentenced to death. On July 2, 1931, the 48-year-old Vampire of Düsseldorf was executed by guillotine in Cologne. This is the historical true crime story of Peter Kürten, the Vampire of Düsseldorf—a serial killer whose obsession with blood and violence plunged a German city into terror and created one of the darkest criminal legends of the early twentieth century. Sources used for this podcast Support the show Send Kris and Rob a Message JOIN THE  HITCHED 2 HOMICIDE IN-LAWS AND OUTLAWS START KRIS CALVERT'S BOOKS TODAY FOR FREE H2H WEBSITE H2H on TWITTER H2H on INSTA Peter Kürten, Peter Kurten, Vampire of Düsseldorf, Vampire of Dusseldorf, Düsseldorf Monster, Dusseldorf Monster, Peter Kürten serial killer, German serial killer, Düsseldorf murders, 1929 Düsseldorf murders, Peter Kürten victims, Peter Kürten execution, Vampire of Düsseldorf murders, German true crime, Weimar Germany crime, historical serial killer, 1920s true crime, European true crime, historical true crime, true crime podcast #PeterKurten, #PeterKürten, #VampireOfDusseldorf, #VampireOfDüsseldorf, #DusseldorfMonster, #GermanTrueCrime, #EuropeanTrueCrime, #SerialKiller, #SerialKillers, #HistoricalTrueCrime, #1920sTrueCrime, #TrueCrime, #TrueCrimePodcast, #TrueCrimeCommunity, #CrimeHistory, #Hitched2Homicide Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.