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I was just wondering about what would happen if a serial killer had lycanthropy. I mean, you take that kind of insanity and give them that kind of power then you have a horrible situation on your hands.

My guess is that if a werewolf pack finds out about a lycanthropic serial killer, then they would try to dispose of him/her as quick as possible, like the Mutts in the book "Bitten". Tis would be because he/she could expose them and make them even more hated if he exposes them, not to mention the fact that the police wouldn't be able to deal with him.

But what do you think would happen if a lycanthropic serial killer were on the loose?

We've discussed the possibility of werewolf troublemakers at length before, but never specifically serial killers.

Serial killers would be more difficult to handle because A) They target demographics instead of specific individuals and are therefore harder to track and/or predict, and B) When they reach the point of being classified as a serial killer, the FBI gets involved.

I think werewolf packs would be careful about who they infect for just that very reason, but if it did happen, they can all but say goodbye to their anonymity. The ideal outcome (for the pack) would be that they kill the serial killer themselves, dispose of the body and let it become a cold case. If they couldn't do that, the best thing they could do to avoid being taken down with him would be to relocate before the authorities catch up with him. The thing about serial killers is that they always keep killing until they are either caught or killed, and the more victims there are, the more agents will be assigned to his case. Sooner or later, the humans always win.

An entire pack would be alarming, but one psychopathic werewolf could easily be swept under the rug by the CIA if they had to. If he was taken alive, he'd be executed, the story on the news would be that he was killed in a shootout with police, and absolutely no mention of his status as a werewolf would be mentioned.

The pack could theoretically have used the serial killer as their excuses for moving out and then move back in after he's been killed saying they're glad it's over, but there's no telling if or for how long the FBI and/or CIA will monitor the area looking for any other werewolves, so I think they would only move back into the area if they couldn't afford to stay away, and even then I think they'd only stay long enough to sell their house, give their two weeks notice and relocate again.

That's assuming that the FBI or CIA desides to keep it a secret. They may just decide to reveal it to the world.

Yeah, I gotta say, I think it would all be very hushed. The authorities wouldn't and couldn't afford to have a story like that break. The public would panic, the knock on effects could be terrifying, imagine lynch mobs of scared civilians hunting what they belived to be werewolves. Innocents would die as hysteria took hold. Scarey prospect.

Yeah, if the government knew of werewolves, they wouldnt say a thing. Kindof like they keep ufo/aliens a seceret now.
Its all a conspiracy!

A werewolf serial killer would be scary--it would be pretty much straight out of a horror movie. It would be a great plot device for a change of pace if you're writing stories aiming for a more sympathetic type werewolf, or if you're otherwise feeling that your portrayal of werewolves has become to soft and fuzzy. You could then show the scary side.

One interesting variant I just thought of is a werewolf vigilante--maybe a werewolf serial killer who targets other killers. While this might initially sound altruistic, it doesn't have to be. Suppose the werewolf has a twisted version of vegitarianism and believes that everyone who eats a Big Mac or Whopper is a murderer who has to die...

You could also use this plot tool to contrast a benevolent werewolf character; have him or her fight the serial killer in a climactic, bloody dual, or at least track down the beastie.

Terastas wrote:I think werewolf packs would be careful about who they infect for just that very reason.

Well the way I see it, a werewolf serial killer would get lycanthropy by either:
A. forcing a werewolf to give it to them (At the point of a gun with silver bullets if your werewolves are vulnerable to silver)
B. being offered the bite by a less than scrupulous werewolf (Like in "Bitten")
C. Being born with it

Scott Gardener wrote:One interesting variant I just thought of is a werewolf vigilante--maybe a werewolf serial killer who targets other killers.

Goldenwolf's werewolves (I can't remember the name off hand) are basicaly that. They're werewolves whose job is to purge the human race of murdurers, rapests ext. They need to feed on these; rightious humans wont do.

If a serial killer was a werewolf, then it would likely be impossible for humans to be the ones to put an end to it. First of all, most serial killers are smart enough to do their dirty work in lesser populated areas, away from where the police can arrive quickly or are likely to be. Investigators would only find canine bite marks on the victims and no valid DNA evidence to pinpoint the person who did it, so it's obvious what they'd end up believing about it. The most likely ways there'd be a chance of getting anything on the actual killer is: (A) if the he was in his human form at some point of the murder, but he'd probably be smart enough not to do that. (B) if he shifted in sight and there were surviving/unharmed witnesses (they'd likely be called crazy, but if there are enough witnesses and these stories keep involving the same guy, people will know that something strange is up with him). (C) if he decided to go against the police or some other group of people who had guns and ended up getting killed. Otherwise, investigators would keep finding the same canine DNA evidence, but never be able to find the murderer since he can just walk amongst the public, appearing to be nothing more than an ordinary person.

Other werewolves would be much more likely to take down the killer. If they checked a body he left, they'd be able to catch his scent and identify who it is, or at least know him when they encounter him. Of course, humans could use dogs to catch the scent and track him, but they'd never be able to keep up with a werewolf.

Wouldn't the unidentifiable DNA raise suspicions tho?

And evidence of canine DNA will prompt action against a large preditorial canine. We're talking traps, bait, ext. And while most of these could be avoided by an intelligent werewolf, some traps might work.

Kelpten wrote:That's assuming that the FBI or CIA desides to keep it a secret. They may just decide to reveal it to the world.

Why would they? It'd cause more than a little bit of panic. If there's one, logically, there's others, right? And panic is bad. No government likes or wants a panicked populace.

Another thing about Serial Killers: they are all Sociopathic. Remember Silence of the Lambs and the other Dr. Lechter movies?
Now he's not just a Serial Killer-he's a Cannibal (and a damn fine cook).
But his personality is engaging, charming, even. He's likable-if you don't know about him, you'd think he was a really nice fellow.
That would make it harder for the pack-or the Government to catch him-or-her.
A Sociopathic Werewolf...good thing I still have some sleeping pills...

Silverclaw wrote:Yeah, if the government knew of werewolves, they wouldnt say a thing. Kindof like they keep ufo/aliens a seceret now.
Its all a conspiracy!

You beat me to it. If there was some kind of werewolf outbreak, they'd come clean about it, but if all they had was one dead werewolf, they'd handle everything from there quietly for the sake of the general population.

Also, a serial killer is just anyone following a certain pattern of behavior, not necessarily someone smart or cunning. When we think about killers, we do tend to think about the ones that did evade the FBI for very long, but inevitably the FBI either connects the dots or the killer gets sloppy and leaves some sort of telltale evidence. Like they said in the movie Suspect Zero, every serial killer has some sort of pattern, and as such, also has some sort of calling card. In the movie, for example, Thomas Mackelway figured out the killer was using a refrigerated truck because all of his victims had freezer burns.

Unless the pack beat the FBI to him, or he had a specific number of victims he planned to kill (like John Doe from Se7en or Walter Sullivan from Silent Hill 4), the FBI would eventually catch up with him. It's not a matter of whether or not they'd find him, but instead how many people he'd kill before they found him.

(Alright. Lets asume there is a lyncanthrope serial killer on the loose. My thoughts are:
1. Will he infect more of those like himself, murders, killers whatever, so that it would be even harder to find him?
2. Will he fade out for a while, and pop up somewhere else like other serial killers do, where there is no pack to deal with him?
3. Will the beast and human sides fight it out until it kills him or he kills it? ( that scenarios a good one, as either way, he's dead.)
and 4. Would he blaime it on an innocent new comer to the pack? Given, the sense of smeel probably kills that idea, but if he said he found the body... he might get away with it. Especially if the athorities take the body before the pack has time to examine it.
Oh, and one more thought: What if that werewolf serial killer, like in so many horrid mystery novels, is a person in authority, like the mayor for instance, who has enoguh power to exterminate the pack thats after him?
what makes it even more scary when you realize, that some of the insane, are really quite smart, and could do a lot of damage and disappear before any one caught on.

And also, i'm thinking of werewolf inteligence here, but what if the lyncanthropy increased his ability to think. Then there's the fact that animals leave a different trail than humans, and it might take a while for the FBI, (snickers, please those are idiots) to find the pattern if the werewolf in questions has two minds working for him. (for all we know, the transformation was too much for him, and it pslit his mind in two.)

Now, how to deal with one? Easy: hire a group of werewolf killers to the job for you. Their normal prey, are now their bosses. Funny, in a twisted ironic way. And it makes sense do it too: werewolf killers won't talk about it, won't question why you want him dead, are masters of the cover up, and it seems they have a lot of experience with killing "deranged animals that deserve death." Plus, what minority wouldn't love to manipulate the ones who hurt them most of the time? Just an idea.
Now this last one is only if the pack failed to kill him out right. Then again, if there are five or six WSK out there, they might have a tough time dealing with them all. )

lupine wrote:Wouldn't the unidentifiable DNA raise suspicions tho?

Yeah, it would. And now that I think about it, most of what I said seems only limited to the scenario of the government NOT knowing of the existence of werewolves.

WerewolfKeeper3 wrote:Will he infect more of those like himself, murders, killers whatever, so that it would be even harder to find him?

Like I said above, if there was some kind of werewolf outbreak, like the werewolf infected his victims instead of killing them, the authorities would eventually have to release some kind of statement.

On the other hand, if the serial werewolf left all of his victims alive, he leaves witnesses behind. If the authorities found one of his infected victims, s/he could tell them they were attacked by a werewolf. Once they either witnessed an involuntary transformation and/or found a second victim also claiming it was a werewolf, they'd be hot on the pack's trail.

And if the pack located one of his victims, that would be even worse for him because the werewolves in the pack know who all the other werewolves are and could easily narrow down the list of suspects until they've figured out the serial werewolf's identity. Any werewolves that could provide alibis for each other would be immediately exempt, and if you accept the possibility that a werewolf's gestalt form takes influence from his human form, the remaining werewolves could theoretically stand before the victim(s) in gestalt form for an ID line-up. That in turn would narrow it down to whichever werewolves didn't show up. The pack could pick up his victim(s), ID the serial werewolf and have his head on a pike faster than Britney Spears can check in and out of rehab.

You guys know this has already been done, right? In the Howling? Eddie Quist, anyone?

Templar wrote:You guys know this has already been done, right? In the Howling? Eddie Quist, anyone?

A lot of werewolf werewolf movies involve werewolf serial killers. And true to the topic, eventually the human protagonists all caught up with their respective werewolves.

Wasnt this somewhat covered in the movie "The Howling"? If I remember correctly (and sometimes I dont!) Eddie Quist was a serial killer that was "killed" early in the movie, only to return from the grave (escape from the morgue) later in the film to come back home to his pack at the compound. The others at the compound were werewolves too, but they didnt seem too upset about Eddie going to the city and killing people. Then again, todays forensic science is waaayyy better than it was in 1980, and popular in common TV and DVD movies (see any one of the CSI series or even NCIS) It may not have been such a big issue 27 years ago, but today it would have to be sorted out damn quick and very carefully if a werewolf was or became a serial killer and the pack wanted to remain anonymous today.

-Zombie

Yes it was, and thank you for reading ALL of the posts on this thread. I'm goin' to be nice and assume that yer eyeballs have simply rotted away.

With serial killer werewolves - they've been done, a lot... but there may be a lot of things not considered in the making of other movies...

Such as (has already been mentioned before btw), if they are serial killers for hunting/feeding purposes, out of spite, or sociopaths?

WW serial killer is worst nightmare for other WWs because he doesnt need too maul them all the time but bite will do it they will die or change some will die on spot but WWs will have too deal with those who surivived the bite and if number of victim is greater than local pack numbers they will need too call other packs for help.
So packs will hunt this guy but it would be hard if they dont know who he is but chances that hunters come too hunt him so they will have too much things that will slow them down(hunters,victims,police and FBI) and it gets worse because secret existance of WWs is at stake.

On an aside: Since Freeborn is apparently going to be a series now, I think we may have found a neat little subplot in this topic.

Uniform Two Six wrote:
On an aside: Since Freeborn is apparently going to be a series now, I think we may have found a neat little subplot in this topic.

i agree but would you explain that your subplot a little im intrested?