DDT - Deambulações DeMentes Teóricas 18

The Serial Killer - Part VIII
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lfºfladsfOne of the pioneers was Liu Pengli. Actually, he is considered the first ever, at least on record.

He was the third son of the chinese King of Liang, grandson to emperor Wen of Han, of the Han Dinasty, who ruled China successfully for a period of 4 centuries. He was made Prince of Jidong and at twenty nine years of age he was described in history books as being arrogant and cruel, going out on marauding expeditions with tens of slaves or young men who were in hiding from the law, murdering people and seizing their belongings for sheer sport. The number of confirmed victims exceeded 100, and these murders were known across the kingdom, making people afraid of going out of their houses at night.

Eventually the son of one of his victims accused him to the Emperor, and the officials of the court requested that Liu Pengli be executed. However, the emperor could not bear to have his own cousin killed, and Liu Pengli was made a commoner and banished to the county of Shangyong. His sovereignty was abolished, and his land was reclaimed by Emperor Jing.

Of course, this could hardly be considered serial killing as in actual terms. In those days, before Christ had even been born, when civilization had a whole different meaning than it has today, it is much more honest to call the doings of Liu Pengli whims of a spoiled prince who had the power and the money and the lack of scruples to do whatever he felt like.

I would not call this serial killing, although what he did was kill several dozens of innocent people just because he could. But if you want to go solely on the technicality, then he was a serial killer. The name serial killer is a fairly recent adoption from the seventies. Before that, serial killers were called mass murderers. But if you look at history, the world is filled with such murderers who went about their business without ever being condemned of anything. Politicians, military men, rulers of every kind killed large amounts of people in every imaginable way. Liu was just another one of the kind. Compared to him, I am nothing but an apprentice.