The Lonely Hearts Vampire: The Bizarre and Horrifying True Account of Serial Killer Bela Kiss
In the early 1900s young women began disappearing near Budapest. Bela Kiss, a handsome young soldier, answered the call of war and left his home to fight in the first World War. His landlord, upon hearing of Kiss's alleged death, discovered several large barrels on his property, which he was told were filled with gasoline for rationing. When the barrels were opened, instead of gasoline, the authorities discovered something much more sinister.
This short history describes the hunt for one of the world's most terrifying killers, a man who lured women to him home with promises of marriage, then proceeded to strangle them, drain their blood, and leave their pickled bodies preserved in barrels. The most horrifying fact about his crimes may be that he was never caught, and possibly picked up his murder spree in New York City. Read the chilling details in this book, and be careful next time you answer a romance ad!
This short history describes the hunt for one of the world's most terrifying killers, a man who lured women to him home with promises of marriage, then proceeded to strangle them, drain their blood, and leave their pickled bodies preserved in barrels. The most horrifying fact about his crimes may be that he was never caught, and possibly picked up his murder spree in New York City. Read the chilling details in this book, and be careful next time you answer a romance ad!
Buy Now!
|
The Lonely Hearts Vampire PDF and ePub |
Excerpt
Introduction
There have been many notorious serial killers throughout history. Jack the Ripper comes to mind for his sheer brutality, as does Ted Bundy, Ed Gein, Richard Speck, Aileen Wuornos, Jeffrey Dahmer, the Zodiac Killer, Henry Lee Lucas and John Wayne Gacy. The majority of their crimes are so disturbing and sickening, and yet we are fascinated by their motivations. One of history’s most heinous serial killers, as well as one of the least known is Bela Kiss. Kiss is believed to have killed approximately 24 women in Hungary in the early 20th century, and his motives behind these vicious killings to some degree still remains a mystery.
Chapter One: Bela Kiss - His Early Years
The case of Bela Kiss is a confusing one. Not only did Kiss manage to kill 24 people, but he managed to elude the authorities for many years; he is known in Hungarian folklore as “the one who got away”, as well as the “Monster of Cinkota.” Due to the lack of knowledge about him, he is also often called the “Mystery Man of Europe.” Equally puzzling is the variety of information about him, some of it plausible, some of it downright bizarre. The differing facts available in this case make the story even more intriguing.
Bela Kiss was born in Hungary in 1877. There is scant information about his childhood or his education. What is known is that he lived in the small town of Cinkota in a rented house at 9 Kossuth Street, roughly seven miles outside of Budapest in the early 1900s (it's rumored that he moved there around 1912). At the time he worked as a farrier (an equine hoof care specialist) and rather successfully, as a tinsmith.
Kiss was regarded as extremely good looking, with a full head of blond hair and extremely piercing blue eyes. Not only was he charming, according to some of his neighbors, but also he was known to be a great conversationalist, especially in the manner in which he interacted with the citizens of Cinkota. Kiss also managed to become well educated without any formal schooling. He was known to be an avid reader and had an extensive knowledge of history, literature and art, and also showed a bit of a fascination with astrology, palm readings and the occult.
Kiss was generally well liked in town, and on occasion would host grand gatherings at a nearby hotel where he would invite the locals. His generosity was renowned, and with his dashing good looks, it was quite apparent that he was quite the catch for any single woman in search of a husband.
While Kiss was a bachelor, it didn't seem that marriage was the first thing on his mind. He did marry at one point to a woman named Marie, who was approximately 15 years his junior. The two married in 1912, but the relationship was very short-lived. During their first year of marriage, Marie had already grown tired of Kiss and became romantically involved with a young artist named Paul Bikari; the affair began no more than three weeks after arriving with Kiss in Cinkota. Then she was gone: Kiss claimed that his wife and the young man had left Cinkota for the United States or Canada.
Sadly, Marie would become one of Kiss’s victims: her body would be one of the many found upon the discovery of Kiss’s horrific crimes. Marie’s relationship with Kiss still remains a mystery. There is no indication of what type of marriage they had, and whether they were happy or if Kiss was controlling and abusive. Her relationship with Paul Bikari may have thrown Kiss into a furious rage and that disposing of her, he therefore had free reign to seek out young single women without any likely repercussions.
With his wife out of the picture, Kiss hired a housekeeper, Mrs. Jakubec, a much older woman, to take on the majority of his housework. Mrs. Jakubec didn't live at the house with Kiss, however; she had her own home and spent the days working at Kiss’s property.
There weren’t many single women living in Cinkota at the time, so in order to find a suitable companion, Kiss rented an apartment in Budapest and posted advertisements in the local newspaper; some accounts claim that he visited Budapest's numerous brothels in search of women. Apparently Kiss was a very popular customer among the local prostitutes, yet interestingly enough, none of them wound up being his victims.
The newspaper ploy worked well for Kiss, and numerous women answered the advertisement, with some of them so taken with Kiss that they made the trek out to his apartment in Cinkota to visit him. The townspeople noticed the appearance of Kiss’s many female guests, with many of the men in town envying Kiss’s success with women. To his neighbors, Kiss seemed to keep his affairs private and kept his female visitors at a distance, never offering to introduce any of them to his neighbors, or even Mrs. Jakubec for that matter.
Not only did Kiss’s advertisements help him meet single women, they were also instrumental in helping him find potential victims, in one of the most horrendous and still baffling crimes in history. Kiss’s neighbors had no idea that a monstrous serial killer lived in their town and that he was attempting to lure women with the fraudulent promise of marriage and security, and in the end strangling them and hiding the bodies on his property.
In addition to the number of women who began visiting Kiss in Cinkota, several townspeople began to notice that he was collecting large metal drums. His neighbors became suspicious, and were under the impression that Kiss was illegally storing liquor or a variety of substances in the drums.
When a local police officer came to question Kiss about the drums, Kiss mentioned that as war clouds were looming, he was taking the initiative and filling the drums with gasoline with the intention of rationing it in the near future. Kiss also reassured the officer that he wasn't keeping anything else in the drums, such as liquor. Apparently the policeman was satisfied with Kiss’s response, and the issue was never brought up again.
Meanwhile in Budapest, attention was brought to the mysterious disappearance of two women, both of them widows with the last names of Varga and Schmediak, who had been sighted at different times, with a young man named “Hoffman.”
There have been many notorious serial killers throughout history. Jack the Ripper comes to mind for his sheer brutality, as does Ted Bundy, Ed Gein, Richard Speck, Aileen Wuornos, Jeffrey Dahmer, the Zodiac Killer, Henry Lee Lucas and John Wayne Gacy. The majority of their crimes are so disturbing and sickening, and yet we are fascinated by their motivations. One of history’s most heinous serial killers, as well as one of the least known is Bela Kiss. Kiss is believed to have killed approximately 24 women in Hungary in the early 20th century, and his motives behind these vicious killings to some degree still remains a mystery.
Chapter One: Bela Kiss - His Early Years
The case of Bela Kiss is a confusing one. Not only did Kiss manage to kill 24 people, but he managed to elude the authorities for many years; he is known in Hungarian folklore as “the one who got away”, as well as the “Monster of Cinkota.” Due to the lack of knowledge about him, he is also often called the “Mystery Man of Europe.” Equally puzzling is the variety of information about him, some of it plausible, some of it downright bizarre. The differing facts available in this case make the story even more intriguing.
Bela Kiss was born in Hungary in 1877. There is scant information about his childhood or his education. What is known is that he lived in the small town of Cinkota in a rented house at 9 Kossuth Street, roughly seven miles outside of Budapest in the early 1900s (it's rumored that he moved there around 1912). At the time he worked as a farrier (an equine hoof care specialist) and rather successfully, as a tinsmith.
Kiss was regarded as extremely good looking, with a full head of blond hair and extremely piercing blue eyes. Not only was he charming, according to some of his neighbors, but also he was known to be a great conversationalist, especially in the manner in which he interacted with the citizens of Cinkota. Kiss also managed to become well educated without any formal schooling. He was known to be an avid reader and had an extensive knowledge of history, literature and art, and also showed a bit of a fascination with astrology, palm readings and the occult.
Kiss was generally well liked in town, and on occasion would host grand gatherings at a nearby hotel where he would invite the locals. His generosity was renowned, and with his dashing good looks, it was quite apparent that he was quite the catch for any single woman in search of a husband.
While Kiss was a bachelor, it didn't seem that marriage was the first thing on his mind. He did marry at one point to a woman named Marie, who was approximately 15 years his junior. The two married in 1912, but the relationship was very short-lived. During their first year of marriage, Marie had already grown tired of Kiss and became romantically involved with a young artist named Paul Bikari; the affair began no more than three weeks after arriving with Kiss in Cinkota. Then she was gone: Kiss claimed that his wife and the young man had left Cinkota for the United States or Canada.
Sadly, Marie would become one of Kiss’s victims: her body would be one of the many found upon the discovery of Kiss’s horrific crimes. Marie’s relationship with Kiss still remains a mystery. There is no indication of what type of marriage they had, and whether they were happy or if Kiss was controlling and abusive. Her relationship with Paul Bikari may have thrown Kiss into a furious rage and that disposing of her, he therefore had free reign to seek out young single women without any likely repercussions.
With his wife out of the picture, Kiss hired a housekeeper, Mrs. Jakubec, a much older woman, to take on the majority of his housework. Mrs. Jakubec didn't live at the house with Kiss, however; she had her own home and spent the days working at Kiss’s property.
There weren’t many single women living in Cinkota at the time, so in order to find a suitable companion, Kiss rented an apartment in Budapest and posted advertisements in the local newspaper; some accounts claim that he visited Budapest's numerous brothels in search of women. Apparently Kiss was a very popular customer among the local prostitutes, yet interestingly enough, none of them wound up being his victims.
The newspaper ploy worked well for Kiss, and numerous women answered the advertisement, with some of them so taken with Kiss that they made the trek out to his apartment in Cinkota to visit him. The townspeople noticed the appearance of Kiss’s many female guests, with many of the men in town envying Kiss’s success with women. To his neighbors, Kiss seemed to keep his affairs private and kept his female visitors at a distance, never offering to introduce any of them to his neighbors, or even Mrs. Jakubec for that matter.
Not only did Kiss’s advertisements help him meet single women, they were also instrumental in helping him find potential victims, in one of the most horrendous and still baffling crimes in history. Kiss’s neighbors had no idea that a monstrous serial killer lived in their town and that he was attempting to lure women with the fraudulent promise of marriage and security, and in the end strangling them and hiding the bodies on his property.
In addition to the number of women who began visiting Kiss in Cinkota, several townspeople began to notice that he was collecting large metal drums. His neighbors became suspicious, and were under the impression that Kiss was illegally storing liquor or a variety of substances in the drums.
When a local police officer came to question Kiss about the drums, Kiss mentioned that as war clouds were looming, he was taking the initiative and filling the drums with gasoline with the intention of rationing it in the near future. Kiss also reassured the officer that he wasn't keeping anything else in the drums, such as liquor. Apparently the policeman was satisfied with Kiss’s response, and the issue was never brought up again.
Meanwhile in Budapest, attention was brought to the mysterious disappearance of two women, both of them widows with the last names of Varga and Schmediak, who had been sighted at different times, with a young man named “Hoffman.”
