Fritz Haarmann, The ‘Vampire Of Hanover’ Who Killed His Victims With A ‘Love Bite’
Wikimedia CommonsFritz Haarmann killed his victims with a “love bite,” which led to his moniker, the Vampire of Hanover.
To those who knew him, Fritz Haarmann seemed harmless, if a little odd. But Haarmann was, in fact, a fearful killer who targeted young boys and men. He killed at least 24 victims between 1918 and 1924 in Hanover, Germany.
Known as the “Vampire of Hanover” because he often bit his victims through the windpipe — in what Haarmann called a “love bite” — this real vampire hunted for young men at Hanover’s train stations. There, teenage runaways fleeing postwar hardships were easy to lure back to his apartment, where Haarmann promised to give them a good meal.
Then, after feeding his victims, Haarmann would attack. He’d strangle them or bite through their windpipe, sexually molest their bodies, and dismember them. Haarmann dumped many of their corpses into the nearby Leine River, but he also ground up their remains into meat that he sold as pork.
Wikimedia CommonsInvestigators inspecting a stove at Fritz Haarmann’s apartment, which he used to burn the remains of some of his victims.
In May 1924, children playing along the riverbank found a human skull and bones, which led to the discovery of more than a dozen sets of human remains. Suspicion quickly fell on Haarmann, who had been observed attacking a young boy in the train station. Investigators went to his apartment and found blood on the walls and floors and clothing belonging to his victims.
After he was arrested, Haarmann readily confessed. He eventually claimed that he’d killed upwards of 70 young boys or men, but he was found guilty of 24 murders. He was sentenced to die by guillotine in 1925 at Hanover Prison.
His last words were quite vampiric: “I repent, but I do not fear death.”