Number 9: Henri Desire Landru

During the life of Henri Landru, the "Bluebeard of Paris," managed to murder 11 people-- 10 women and one teenaged boy. Monsieur Landru's story was also adaptedby Charlie Chaplain in 1947 in the movie Monsieur Verdoux. Unfortunately, like most serial murderers, the antics of Msr. Landru were nowhere near as delightful as that of the Tramp's. But, if he could be compared to a 1920's silent film comedian, he would most likely be a version of Buster Keaton where, instead of building a house or clinging to a train, he was murdering widows for their assets and burning the evidence (read: Bodies). Maybe Fatty Arbuckle would be a more apt comparison.

The way Msr. Landru gained access to these poor women was by placing ads in the personal section of the newspaper stating that he was a wealthy man seeking a widow to marry, proving the old adage "If its too good to be true, it probably is." Once he gained access to the widow's assets, he would kill them. It got to the point where he was conning so many women at once that he had to keep a diary listing which of his aliases went with which woman. Apparently, and tragically, the slogan printed on the most read newspaper at the time, "All the news fit to print, also: Murderers" wasn't taken quite as literally as it perhaps should have been.

Landru's modus operandi has since been duplicated in the Internet age (such as "The Craiglist Killer" or Japan’s Hiroshi Maeue).  He was also executed via guillotine, something modern upstart weirdos won't ever be able to do. If you want, you can also stroll by the Museum of Death in Hollywood and take a gander at Landru's severed head. Oh boy. Just try and stop me. What I'm wondering though is if there's a museum in France that just has his body.

James Kislingbury for Citadel Interactive © 2009 

Photo courtesy of Hulton Archive, by Three Lions

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