Haunting final words of 'vampire' who drank victims' blood before killing them

One notorious serial killer known as the "Vampire of Dusseldorf" terrorised his victims before brutally murdering them, drinking their blood for a thrill. Peter Kürten was already a known figure to German authorities due to his that included arson and attempted murder.

He also admitted to the 1913 slaying of a nine year old girl in Mulheim am Rhein and trying to kill a 17-year-old girl in his native city. But it was Kürten's last words that were a As he faced the guillotine he declared: "Tell me. After my head has been chopped off, will I still be able to hear, at least for a moment,from the stump of my neck? That would be a pleasure to end all pleasures."

Before his death in July 2, 1931, Kürten was born into a severely impoverished and violently abusive family in May 1883, the eldest of 13 children with two alcoholic parents. The entire family were squeezed into a one-bedroom flat, making it nearly impossible to escape their viciously abusive father.

READ MORE:

His father frequently beat his wife and children, especially when intoxicated, and shockingly, often commanded his wife and children to gather before him, then ordered his wife to undress and engage in sexual intercourse with him while his children watched. This drunken brute was imprisoned for 18 months in 1897 for repeatedly raping his eldest daughter, who was only 13 at the time.

After the sentence, Kürten's mother managed to secure a separation order, later remarrying and moving to Düsseldorf. However, the harm had already been inflicted on Kürten and in 1888, he attempted to drown one of his friends. Four years later, he befriended a local dog-catcher who resided in the same building and began to exhibit similar disturbing behaviour.

The dog-catcher often tortured and killed the animals he caught, and Kürten soon started to derive pleasure from this gruesome "hobby." He frequently fled home for days or weeks at a time, during which he was drawn into a life of crime, associating with petty criminals and outcasts.

At 13 Kürten began his rapid descent into depravity, committing acts of bestiality with sheep, pigs, and goats in local stables. He confessed to investigators that stabbing animals at the point of climax gave him the most sexual satisfaction.

The first murder attributed to him occurred during a break-in at a pub in Mülheim am Rhein on May 25, 1913. He stumbled upon Christine Klein, a nine year old girl, sleeping in her bed. Kürten strangled the child, then cut her throat twice with a pocket knife, deriving a perverse sexual thrill from hearing the blood drip from her wounds onto the floor by her bed and onto his hand.

His murderous spree persisted for another 17 years, culminating in the killing of Gertrude Albermann. However, his continued assaults on women eventually led to his downfall. He was unmasked when a postal worker opened a letter from one of his later victims whom he had raped but failed to kill. Maria Budlick was approached by the killer at a train station and offered assistance.

Instead of guiding her to safe accommodation, he enticed her into the woods and raped her, but an intervening man prevented him from making his kill. Budlick did not report this attack to the police, but detailed her experience in a letter to a friend – which was incorrectly addressed. The postman opened and read the letter then took it to the police.

This led officers to Kürten, and following an investigation, he was apprehended. Kürten willingly confessed to all the charges, even deriving pleasure from admitting to the unsolved murder of Christine Klein and the attempted murder of Gertrud Franken in 1913. In total, Kürten confessed to 68 crimes, including nine murders and 31 attempted murders.

He purportedly revelled in his atrocities, yet attributed them to the merciless treatment he suffered throughout his life. Nonetheless, he maintained that he had not subjected his child victims to torture. Kürten further revealed that witnessing the blood of his victims ignited a profound sexual arousal within him. If this occurred during the strangulation of a woman, he would instantly express remorse to his victim, uttering the phrase, "That's what love is all about".

He confessed to drinking blood from the throat of one victim, the temple of another, and licking the blood from a third victim's hands, earning him his vampire title. Regarding the Hahn murder, he claimed that he ingested an excessive amount of blood from the neck wound, resulting in nausea.

His 10-day trial concluded with a guilty verdict and a death sentence for nine murders and seven attempted murders. At 6 am on July 2, Kürten's life came to an end via beheading within the grounds of Klingelputz Prison, Cologne.