(c) Joanne Wickenburg 2008
This particular research project started as a fluke. Having all of my planets on the setting side of my chart, almost everything I get into is a fluke. This particular fluke occurred in 1989.
As far as statistical research was concerned, I was a novice, and even a bit naive as far as the process of statistical research was concerned. This little fluke started when my phone rang; it was a detective with the Homicide Division of the Seattle Police Department. The detective wanted me to “look at something.” He seemed reluctant to state specifically what it was all about, but he finally acknowledged that it concerned a murder that had recently occurred in the Seattle area, which he suspected was the birth of a new serial killer.
Of course, I said: "Sure, come on out." I had no idea what to look for in an astrological chart as an indicator that someone was a serial murder. But like many astrologers, I was a great detective novel buff, so I thought this would be interesting if nothing more. Aren't all astrologers detectives at heart?
The next day, he came to my office, and gave me the birth date of a young man who he suspected to be the perpetrator. I had recently read about an axe murder, so I wasn't surprised when the detective told me that he was working on the case. Apparently, a block away from the murder site, the detective had found a man who appeared homeless. After talking to the suspect the detective discovered that the young man was a Buddhist, and he believed in reincarnation. The fact that he believed in reincarnation was why he was a suspect in the eyes of this detective. I was a little surprised that the young man's belief system seemed so disturbing to the detective. So we had a little talk about how many people believe in reincarnation.
The detective wasn't very happy with what I had to say, but still, I agreed to do a Solar Chart for this young man. Having no birth time, and not knowing where the young man was born, was limiting. But what the heck, I was curious to see what I could find.
When I constructed the Solar Chart, I found that this poor young man was going through a Saturn return, and at the same time, transiting Pluto was going over his Sun; In other words, they were at the same degree of the same sign, or in a conjunction aspect. Certainly he was going through a major life transition, but does this mean he is a serial murderer? I felt a sense of dread about saying anything about the chart. A man in transition does not a serial killer make. I asked the detective if he could find out the time the man as born. The detective said he would try.
In the mean time, I was on a mission to find birth data for every serial killer. A week after the detective came to my office I went to a United Astrologer's Conference, where I was scheduled to speak. Because of my new interest in this research project, I attended some of the research presentations at the conference, and also talked to the late Lois Rodden. She had just come out with her new book, "Profiles in Crime." I found out about the ISAR-Rodden data base, and when I returned home, I ordered all of the charts of murderers., I knew that if I was going to profile serial murderers, I needed to select only the people on the research registry who were, in fact, serial murderers. I had decided before I started to enter the data onto my computer, that I would only use those people who had singularly committed the crime. I also eliminated all those who were considered serial murderers based on killing for money or love. The Seattle murder was a violent one, and his attacks involved rape.
At the same conference, I also met Alphie Lavoie from Connecticut. He had designed a very user-friendly Astrological Research software program (AIR,) where one simply input birth data, pressed a button, and the program would go through all of the charts and find all commonalities, as well as the percentages of how many charts had planets in each sign, the number of similar aspects, and much more.
After going through a stack of data of serial killers, I ended up with 44 clean charts that fit the FBI profile. (Generally they were are sexual and repetitive.). The charts were classified as A, AA, and one or two might have been B. That means that their birth records were proven accurate, the B being that birth data had come from an autobiography or a biography. I would not take any of the “dirty” data. Almost all of these charts were for the 20th Century, which is why I could not do much with the outer planets. I realize that 44 charts does not make a research project. However it seemed to be sufficient to get an idea whether or not there was a specific astrological factor showing up in these charts. Here are some of the things that I found:
I suspected that I would discover things in the charts that indicated personality characteristics that were more intense, such as Moon in Scorpio, which is often associated with repressed emotions based on childhood experiences. However…
It seemed like everything kept going back to those same two signs-Sagittarius and Capricorn.
The emphasis on Capricorn did not really surprise me, but at first the concentration on Sagittarius did. However, after thinking about it, it made perfect sense. Negative Sagittarius traits include fanatics, and in extreme cases, a “God obsession,” or someone who sees himself as god-like, a belief that they are more important than anyone else.
From a statistical perspective it really isn't important to understand the interpretive significance of the astrological data. A profile based on statistics is what I was really looking for. Consideration of the interpretive value of astrology may give insight into “why” someone does something as evil as murder, and it is certainly interesting, but my job in this study was to look at the charts from a different perspective. For example, I knew that the police detective probably would have no interest in understanding the reason someone does something. In his mind, I could be making it all up. He simply wanted the statistics. And so did I.
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Even though the interpretations of this these charts may not be significant from a statistical perspective, it is interesting to note that most of the FBI profiles of serial murderers indicate a strong emphasis on a dysfunctional family, and issues around the mother.
When I looked at the Moon phases, I found that:
This is interesting from an interpretive perspective. Pluto has to do with what we are living out in terms of where we are in the social evolutionary cycle, and how we are contributing to either the positive growth or to the destruction of mankind.
When I started this project, I believed that there would be a more-than-usual number of retrograde planets, because retrogrades encourage us look at who we as separate and different from the mass of mankind. I discovered that my presumption was incorrect.
I expected to find Venus and/or particularly Mars retrograde, indicating possible repression of sexual urges.
Not having a background in statistical research, I honestly don't know if that is statistically significant or not.
As a personal note, my daughter had been working for the Seattle Police Department as a 911 operator/dispatcher. This gave me more access to the police department than most, and I had several opportunities to listen to 911 incoming calls, as well as see how they were dispatched. My daughter's Sergeant was a former detective, and I talked to him about the FBI profile files. He found the research interesting when I showed him the graphs of “normal” versus “serial killers” planetary distribution and aspects. (As an aside, one thing I found interesting is that he told me that to his knowledge, there were no FBI profiles for people who steal, because everybody is inherently dishonest, but everybody is not inherently a serial murderer.) Made sense to me.
The week that I was out of town at the ISAR conference, the police arrested the killer. I have to admit that a part of me was disappointed, but a much larger part of me was relieved that the animal who had so violently raped and killed an innocent victim was now in custody where he belonged. And, of course, it was not the young man who was going through a heavy Saturn return, looking for himself, whose only crime was his belief in reincarnation.
I never did get the chart of the person who committed the murder. He had only committed one crime, but the likelihood of having repeated it was very powerful.
I never thought that I would be interested in statistical research, but now I find it quite exciting. I would encourage all of you design a research project. And be objective! Don't let your own predispositions regarding any astrological factor interfere with the pure objectivity that statistical research requires. As you can see, there was no one astrological factor ensuring that someone would grow up to be a serial killer. But there are hints, and I hope enough evidence to encourage more research into this field.
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My lecture about this subject matter at the ISAR (International Society for Astrological Research) conference in the late 80's was transcribed, unedited, and placed on the ISAR website, as well as others. Because the tape of the lecture was transcribed, and some pieces were omitted or mistaken due to audio interferences, etc., I wanted to post it on my own website in a more accurate format.
The following is the actual birth dates of 43 serial murderers who were specifically motivated by sexual impulses. The times of their births, and the latitudes and longitudes of their birth places, are also included, with a very brief bio of their crimes.
1. David Berkowitz, "Son of Sam," 6/01/1953, 4:52 PM, 73w56, 40n38.
2. Kenneth Bianchi, "Hillside Strangler #1," 5/22/1951, 2:55 PM, 77w37, 43n10. With cousin, A. Buono, raped and tortured 10 women in San Francisco. Then moved to WA and killed more independently.
3. William Bonin, "The Freeway Killer," 1/08/1947, 12:15 AM, 72w13, 41n43. Tortured, raped, killed and mutilated 21 boys.
4. Ian Brady, 1/02/1938, 12:40 AM, 4w05, 55n53. Sadistic murder of three. Bio: Beyond Belief.
5. Ted Bundy, "Ted," 11/24/1946, 10:35 PM, 73w12, 44n29. Raped and murdered at least 39 women, possibly over 100. Bio: A Stranger Beside Me. Numerous others.
6. Angelo Buono, "The Hillside Strangler #2," 10/05/1934, 4:04 AM, 77w37, 43n10. With cousin, K. Bianchi, raped, strangled, sodomized, tortured and killed 10 young women.
7. David Carpenter, "The Trailside Strangler," 5/06/1930, 9:16 PM, 122w26, 37n47. Assaulted, raped, shot or stabbed an estimated 8 females. Bio: The Sleeping Lady.
8. Clarence Carvalho, 7/04/1925, 3:48 AM, 157w52, 21n19. Homosexual assault and murder of 2 men. Caught on 3rd attack.
9. John Collins, "The Michigan Co-Ed Killer," 6/17/1947, 12:38 PM, 83w10, 42n18. Raped, tortured, mutilated 10 female victims. Foot Fetish.
10. Dean Arnold Corll, 12/24/1939, 8:45 PM, 85w09, 41n00. Raped and tortured 28 young boys. Bio: The Man with the Candy.
11. Antone Costa, 8/02/1944, 12:33 PM, 71w06, 42n22. Killed and dismembered 6 females.
12. Richard Cottingham, 11/25/1946, 4:50 PM, 73w54, 40n51. Drugged, raped, beat, sodomized and killed at least 3 homosexual men. Suspected of more. Bio: The Prostitute Murders.
13. Jeffrey Dahmer, 5/21/1960, 4:34 PM, 87w55, 43n02. Killed and cannibalized many homosexual men.
14. Dr. Marcel Petiot, 1/17/1897, 3:05 AM, 3e34, 47n48. Convicted of the serial murders of 67 people.
15. John Wayne Gacy, 3/17/1942, 12:29 AM, 87w39, 41n52. Sadistic sexual assault and murder of 32 young men and boys. Buried victims in his cellar.
16. Edward Gein, 8/27/1906, 11:30 PM, 91w15, 43n48. Necrophiliac and serial murderer. "The Chainsaw Massacre," and "Silence of the Lamb" were both based on his life.
17. Fritz Haarmann, 10/25/1879, 6:00 PM, 9e44, 52n24. Homosexual. Sex murders of 27 to 40 teenage boys.
18. Charles Hatcher, 7/16/1929, 4:00 PM, 95w14, 40n07. Sex murders of pre-teen boys. Bio: St. Joseph's Children.
19. Heath Neville, 6/06/1917, 9:30 AM, 0e06, 51n33. Sadist. Gruesome killings of girls and women.
20. William Heirens, 11/15/1928, 8:30 PM, 87w41, 42n03. Dual personality and sadist. Strangled victims. Bio: Before I Kill More.
21. Homicide/rape, 1/09/1937, 10:30 PM, 89w00, 40n29. Raped and murdered 3 girls (and a police officer).
22. Arthur Goode III, 3/28/1954, 8:00 PM, 77w02, 38n54. Homicidal pederast.
23. Edmund Emill Kemper, 12/18/1948, 11:04 PM, 118w19, 34n11. Killed, beheaded, dissected and cannibalized 8 women.
24. Donald Kinman, 5/31/1923, 1:45 PM, 87w19, 38n30. Strangled women during sex.
25. Robert Koerning, 1/01/1901, 6:30 PM, 13e28, 51n10. Led a double life. Sex murders from 1929 to 1937.
26. Randy Kraft, 3/19/1945, 2:18 PM, 118w10, 33n52. Convicted on 18 counts of murder. Suspected of 67. Strangled, shot, sodomized, mutilated and burned male victims.
27. Peter Kurten, 5/26/1883, 3:30 am, 7e01, 48n52. "The Monster of Dusseldorf.
28. Henri Landru, 4/12/1869, 6:00 AM, 2e20, 48n52. Murdered and dismembered, burned or buried at least 10 women. Bio: The Lady Killer.
29. Marvin Lemons, 6/15/1935, 12:01 AM, 79w23, 36n36. Sodomized, decapitated, mutilated 7 women. Also necrophiliac.
30. Dorothea Montalvo, 1/09/1929, 6:00 AM, 117w11, 34n04. Killed as many as 19. Dismembered at least 1. Bio: The Human Harvest.
31. Herbert Mullin, 4/18/1947, 6:06 AM, 121w30, 36n40. Bisexual. Sacrifice killings because a "voice told him to." Bio: The Die Song.
32. Dennis Nilsen, 11/23/1945, 4:00 AM, 2w00, 57n42. 13 homosexual murders. Dismembered, burned or buried parts. Bio: Killing for Company.
33. Clifford Olson, 1/01/1940, 10:10 PM, 123w07, 49n16. Beat and strangled 11 boys and girls.
34. Kenneth Ponte, 12/06/1949, 12:55 PM, 70w56, 41n38. Highway serial murders.
35. Ricardo Ramirez, "The Night Stalker." 2/28/1960, 2:07 AM, 106w29, 31n45. Devil worshiper. Killed 40 people from ages 6 to 84. Beat, stabbed, raped, sodomized and mutilated victims.
36. Richard Speck, 12/06/1941, 1:00 AM, 90w45, 40n52. Knifed and strangled 8 students. Raped 1.
37. Charles Starkweather, 11/24/1938, 8:10 PM, 94w41, 40n49. Shot or stabbed 6 victims to death.
38. Robert Strack, 8/11/1932, 12:30 PM, 6e54, 50n48. Raped, murdered and mutilated 2 young girls. History of exhibitionism and molestation.
39. Roberto Succo, 4/03/1962, 1:10 PM, 12e15, 45n29. Savage murders in France and Italy.
40. Peter Sutcliffe, "The Yorkshire Ripper." 6/02/1946, 8:30 PM, 1e50, 53n51. Killed 13 women. Assaulted 7 more. Used knives and screwdrivers to sexually savage victims.
41. Richard Tingler Jr., 12/02/1940, 12:00 PM, 83w00, 38n44. Shot or strangled 8 victims.
42. Joseph Vacher, 11/16/1869, 1:00 AM, 5e00, 45n20. Strangled, knifed, sexually mutilated and dismembered 7 women and 4 youths.
43. Randall Woodfield, "The I-5 Killer Bandit." 12/26/1950, 12:58 AM, 123w02, 44n56. 50 victims, female children and adults. Robbed, assaulted, sodomized, forced fellatio and murdered. Bio: The I-5 Killer.