Was America’s First Serial Killer A Texan? Solving The 1884 Murders

When you hear the term "serial killer," names like Ted Bundy probably spring to mind. Bundy was a narcissist who thrived on the media circus surrounding his 1979 televised trial. Stalking the Western U.S., he confessed to 30 murders before his execution in 1989. His case essentially created the "true crime" obsession we see today, but Bundy was far from the first.

To be classified as a serial killer, an individual must murder three or more people in separate events, usually driven by psychological thrill, with a distinct "cooling off" period in between. Long before the FBI coined that term, a shadow was haunting the streets of Austin, Texas.

The Servant Girl Annihilator

Three full years before Jack the Ripper terrorized London, Austin, Texas, was preyed upon by the "Midnight Assassin." Between 1884 and 1885, this unidentified killer claimed eight lives using an axe. His signature was as gruesome as it was bizarre: he attacked victims while they slept, dragging them outdoors and leaving sharp objects, like needles or pins, inserted into their ears.

The New York Times described him in 1885 as a "cunning madman," and the panic was so intense that some locals believed he had the power to become invisible.

The killings stopped as abruptly as they began on Christmas Eve, 1885. Some theorists even suggest the killer fled to England, becoming the man we now know as Jack the Ripper.

Whether he stayed in Texas or crossed the pond, one thing is certain: Austin holds the dark title of being the first American city haunted by a serial killer.