In the TV show, American Horror Story: Hotel, there’s a certain night where many of America’s most prolific serial killers gather. That night is called Devil’s Night, and one of the guests so happens to be a man named Jeffrey Dahmer. The documentary My Friend Dahmer tells a chilling tale about Jeffrey Dahmer through the eyes of a young high school student, and offers a unique perspective of Dahmer just before he becomes a killer. In The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer, by Brian Masters, the book gives more insight on Jeffrey Dahmer’s life, as well as his eventual arrest and trial. While it’s true that Dahmer has carved a place for himself as a murderer, his backstory remains a rather tragic one.

Dahmer was born on May 21, 1960 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His mother was ill, and would often work herself into exhaustion to please her husband. Despite this, Dahmer managed to find some interest in animals, where he would collect a number of butterflies and insects. Soon, he started gathering dead animals off the side of the road, and not long after that, would dismember them, curious to see if the animals would fit together. When he was in high school, Dahmer was regarded as an outcast who had a reputation for smuggling alcohol into the school. It was also during this time when he realized he was gay. Ominously enough, his own sexual fantasies started intertwining with dissection.

Just after Dahmer graduated, he killed a man named Steven Hicks, a hitchhiker who was on his way to a concert. He lured Hicks to his house on the assumption that they would both drink alcohol. However, when Hicks was ready to leave, Dahmer knocked the man out with a dumbbell. He then strangled the man to death, and proceeded to masturbate on his corpse. The next day, Dahmer took Hicks’s body and dissected it, before finally getting rid of it a few weeks later. Some time after, Dahmer enrolled in the military at his father’s insistence. But even then that didn’t stop his disturbing behavior, some of which include raping his fellow soldiers. When Dahmer returned, he started seeking out other victims, most of which he found in gay bars. He was finally caught on July 23, 1991 when he subsequently confessed to killing the victims, performing necrophilia, and dismembering them. He was convicted and sentenced to 15 life sentences.

Jeffrey Dahmer was a rather horrific individual who had been an outcast throughout his life. His fascination with animals and dissection managed to blossom into something terrible, so much so that it affected everyone around him. Many of his former loved ones even decided to give the world their own perspectives of the serial killer, through the aforementioned film, My Friend Dahmer, or even his own father’s book, A Father’s Story. 

Nevertheless, Dahmer continues to haunt the American public. Though many try to piece together why Dahmer would commit these murders, in the end the answer still eludes them. There’s something haunting about asking why, so much so that many crime experts and writers continue to do so.