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You can totally experience a lucid dream all on your own—like, they just pop up spontaneously... it’s just that people don't really notice them happening until they actually learn what they are...
So true. Honestly, after I first heard about the whole concept of lucid dreaming, I realized it had actually happened to me a few times already. I knew it wasn't just some normal dream because I was fully aware that I was dreaming, which basically meant I had control over the whole thing. I have no clue how or why it happened, but I know it was during that phase where I was sleeping like 13 hours a day (just killing time during the summer when there was nothing else to do until the sun went down 😁). Now that I'm barely getting any sleep and crashing hard from exhaustion most nights, it just doesn't happen anymore. Most of the time I'm not even dreaming; I'm just passing out so I can catch whatever rest I can get...
Basically, when we talk about a "serial killer," we're looking at someone who commits murders over an extended period without one specific, singular motive.
Erick W. Hickley actually did a study on serial killers and laid out some specific traits:
- Out of the group studied, 24 were women and 114 were men.
- About 28% of them worked with accomplices.
- On average, you're looking at 8 to 12 victims per killer.
- Most of the time, the victims didn't even know the killers.
- In 85% of cases, the main drivers were sex or money.
- There are three main types: transient killers, localized killers, and area killers.
- Only about 5% of these killers had obvious social struggles.
I'm not totally sure exactly when this study was published—it's been a while—but I think we can still draw some pretty solid conclusions from it. Generally speaking, when it comes to motives, most male serial killers were driven by sexual impulses and proving their physical dominance. Also, FBI stats from back in the early '80s showed that these guys were often highly intelligent, though they struggled in school. They usually grew up in homes where the mother was the dominant figure and relationships with their fathers were emotionally cold. A lot of them dealt with sexual fantasies involving parents, had specific fetishes—like lingerie, for example—and most suffered through sexual, emotional, or physical abuse during childhood. As for women, the motive is usually money, and unlike the men, the female killers often actually knew their victims. Though, honestly, there just isn't much data on women...
Also, based on her own research, Hellen Morrison concluded that biological factors combined with environmental influences starting as early as 12 months old shape these killers. Regarding the victims, she found they’re often chosen based on certain physical characteristics, and that most serial killers manage to kill freely for about 15 years before they finally get caught.
Nowhere in the definition of a killer does it say exactly how many murders have to happen to earn that label—mostly because they tend to operate for such a long time before getting caught. Using that 15-year mark as a guide, it's clearly a huge number of victims. Plus, the math shows an average of 8-12 victims per killer.
Unfortunately, there's just way less statistical data on female serial killers, mostly because women tend to lean toward different types of crimes—you know, things like shoplifting, fraud, or murders motivated by money, revenge, or passion...