In a way, we make light of the crimes, they become a fascinating, morbid form of entertainment. We’re on the edge of our seats, wondering where they’ll strike next. It can become tough to remember that real people lost their lives, real people were abused, tortured, raped and robbed. But still, it seems unreal because the person that inflicted pain upon them has a really silly name. Well, maybe we don’t completely disregard their illegal acts as fiction because of their names, but it certainly takes the sting out of it.

Nannie Doss a.k.a. The Giggling Granny. — Nannie Doss a.k.a. The Giggling Granny

Take the Giggling Granny for example. That nickname does not strike fear into the hearts of, well anyone, but it should. Between the 1920s and 1954, Nannie Doss, or the “Giggling Granny” as they called her, was responsible for the deaths of 11 people including two of her children, four of her husbands, two of her sisters, her mother, grandson and a nephew. When finally arrested, she laughed, completely unremorseful for her crimes. But her crimes were serious, vulgar, and unsettling. Since she only killed those closest to her however, the general public didn’t need to fear, they were able to chuckle at her moniker and gasp at her chilling acts of violence which she often bragged about, with a smile on her face, after her arrest.

Oh, sociopaths; they sure make interesting characters, don’t they? We are all obsessed, we just can’t get enough. When John Wayne Gacy was convicted of the sexual assault and murder of at least 33 young men in Chicago in the mid-1970s, America was shocked to learn that he’d previously volunteered his time at charitable events as “Pogo the Clown.” The Killer Clown was an apt name, indeed, but did the moniker take away from the severity of his sins? One thing’s for sure, it didn’t do much for the already shoddy reputation of clowns.

Gacy as Pogo the Clown. — Gacy as Pogo the Clown

Night after night we sit, clutching our remote controls, staring, wide-eyed at the television screen, our favorite fictitious criminal running amuck on screen. Entire channels exist just to attempt to satisfy our insatiable obsession with the gory details. So when a real criminal enters the fray, we do what we can to make him or her as similar to our favorite characters as we can. Sometimes the real criminals are so crafty, we adapt their actions for screenplays, as is the case with Danny Rolling a.k.a. The Gainesville Ripper. After savagely murdering and mutilating five coeds in August of 1990, Rolling departed Gainesville leaving its citizens and students terrified that he might strike again. The murders were initially pinned on local crazy guy Edward Humphrey until Rolling was eventually arrested after a bank robbery in Ocala, Fl. His legacy lives on however, his story being the catalyst for the 1996 horror-flick Scream, which audiences happily reassured themselves was a work of fiction. Perhaps here the criminal nickname proved accurate and scary, though “ripper” seems a bit outdated.

The Vampire of Sacramento, Richard Trenton Chase. — The Vampire of Sacramento, Richard Trenton Chase

Maybe our fascination with criminal nicknames was born from the criminals themselves. Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac and Son of Sam all famously provided their own handles, and for those that did not create their own pseudonym, the media was more than pleased to oblige. I’m sure folks in 1930s Texas were terrified when they learned that the Alligator Man a.k.a. Joe Ball was on the loose. Ball, a popular figure in Texas folklore, killed at least 20 women in the 1930s, allegedly disposing of their bodies by feeding them to alligators. That’s horrific! But “Alligator Man” sounds more like a guy with pointy teeth and scales than a true villain. For his crimes, he is remembered in Tobe Hooper’s 1977 film, Eaten Alive.

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