Now, I’m not talking about those little snots running around unsupervised at the grocery store. I mean straight-up-hell-spawn-puked-out-from-the-bowels-of-the-earth-creepy children. I’m going to take this from the super-natural, through the laughable, and the perfectly plausible. Meaning you’ve got movies like The Ring or Children of the Corn which are total Creepsville, you’ve got the child-phoebic perspective from people who don’t understand why we bother to procreate at all and that those children that are born should be raised in zoos, and then you have the poor kids who probably had little hope of turning out normal that actually commit heinous crimes practically before their training-wheels come off.
Lets get started with movies! 
- The Unborn
- The Pit
- It’s Alive
- Firestarter
- The Children
- Kill Baby Kill
- Pet Sematary
- Wicked Little Things
- Devil Times Five
- The Good Son
- The Omen
- Whisper
- Home Movie
- The Bad Seed
- Village of the Damned
- Children of the Corn
- Bloody Birthday
- Orphan
- The Brood
- The Ring
- Who Can Kill A Child
- Them
- Battle Royale
- Lord of the Flies (Okay, I’m stretching it there)
Now, again, nothing is creepier to me than real-life stories. Here are some children and young adults arrested or convicted of murder.
From Top 10 Evil Children (as of November, 2007) and from The Unthinkable– Children Who Kill
- Brian and David Freeman
Bryan Freeman, 17, and David, 16, who had shaved and tattooed their heads as a symbol of their neo-Nazi beliefs, were immediate suspects when their parents and younger brother were found bludgeoned to death in their Salisbury Township, PA, home. The boys had been terrorizing the family and, as a whole, the town. As the police told it, the triple murder uncovered in Salisbury Township, Pa., that week was every parent’s nightmare — the ghastly culmination of a long-running battle of wills between Brenda and Dennis Freeman and their loutish, hulking sons Bryan, 17, and David, 16.
- Edmund Kemper
In 1964, when Edmund Kemper was 15, he shot his grandparents, killing them both. He had been planning his repulsive act for some time and had no regrets later. The California Youth Authority detained him in Juvenile Hall so that they could put him through rigorous series of tests administered by a psychiatrist. Because the results suggested that he was a paranoid psychotic, he was sent to Atascadero State Hospital for treatment. There he learned what others thought about his crime and worked hard to make his doctors believe that he had recovered. Although he was considered a sociopath, he worked in the psychology lab to help administer the tests to others. In the process, he learned a lot about other deviant offenders. Kemper was released after another five years and remained under the supervision of the Youth Authority. His doctors recommended that he not be returned to his mother’s care, but the Youth Authority ignored this. After Kemper murdered and dismembered eight women over the next five years, these same doctors affirmed his insanity defense. In fact, even as he was carrying parts of his victims around, a panel of psychiatrists judged him to be no threat to society.
- Joshua Phillips
In 1998, 14-year-old Joshua Phillips bludgeoned his 8-year-old neighbor to death and hid her body beneath his bed. Seven days later, his mother noticed something leaking from beneath the bed. Joshua claimed that’s he’d accidentally hit Maddie in the eye with his baseball bat causing her to scream. In his panic he dragged her to his home where he hit her again and then stabbed her eleven times. His story failed to convince a Florida jury, who convicted him of first-degree murder. His mother is still appealing his conviction based upon the fact that he was given an adult penalty for his crime.
- Willie Bosket
Willie Bosket, born on December 9, 1962, is a convicted murderer, whose crimes, committed while he was still a minor, led to a change in New York state law, so that juveniles as young as thirteen could be tried in adult court for murder and would face the same penalties. On March 19, 1978, Willie Bosket, then fifteen years old, shot dead Noel Perez on the New York subway, during an attempt to steal some money and a watch. Eight days later, Bosket shot another man, Moises Perez (no relation to his first victim) in another botched robbery attempt. Bosket was tried and convicted of the murders in the New York City Family court, where he was sentenced to five years in prison (the maximum for a minor). The short length of Bosket’s sentence caused a public outcry, and led the New York State Legislature to pass the Juvenile Offender Act of 1978. Under this act, children as young as thirteen years old could be tried in an adult court for crimes such as murder, and receive the same penalties as adults. New York was the first state to enact a law of this nature; many other legislatures have since followed suit. Bosket was eventually released from prison, but has subsequently been convicted of a number of other felonies, for which he has received a number of life sentences. He is currently in the New York prison system, in solitary confinement.
- Brenda Ann Spencer
On Monday, January 29, 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer used a rifle to wound eight children and one police officer at Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, and to kill Principal Burton Wragg and custodian Mike Suchar. The school was across the street from her house. She used the rifle she had recently been given for Christmas by her father. When the six-hour incident ended and the pretty teenager was asked why she had committed the crime, she shrugged and replied, “I don’t like Mondays. This livens up the day.” She also said: “I had no reason for it, and it was just a lot of fun.” “It was just like shooting ducks in a pond.” and “[The children] looked like a herd of cows standing around; it was really easy pickings.” Her lack of remorse and inability to provide a serious explanation for her actions when captured inspired the song “I Don’t Like Mondays” by The Boomtown Rats, written by socialist musician Bob Geldof. Her quote “I don’t like Mondays” also appears written on a wall in the movie, The Breakfast Club.
- Sandy Shaw
Fifteen-year-old Sandy Shaw lured James Kelly, 24, into the Nevada desert in 1986 so that she and two friends could rob him. They needed money to post bail for Sandy’s boyfriend. They lifted $1400 and then shot him six times. They even took friends out to see the body. (click here to read an article about her release and parol)
- Jon Venables and Robert Thompson
Jon Venables and Robert Thompson (both 10 years old) had been stealing things all day at the shopping center — candy, a troll doll, some batteries, a can of blue paint, and other incidentals. Why did they decide to steal 2 year-old James Bulger? Was it a plot or a sudden, overwhelming compulsion? Once they had him, they didn’t know what to do with him. They could have easily discarded him, leaving him alone on the sidewalk by a shop where someone would discover the crying baby. But Jon and Robert, like children who would rather destroy their own possessions than give them to another, murdered the little boy. James’s parents would never see their baby alive again. The video cameras at the mall caught several images of James Bulger in the hands of his killers, frozen in time. He was to be taken on a long, aimless walk, cruelly tortured along the way. James was senselessly beaten to death by his ten-year-old captors, who callously abandoned him on the railroad tracks.
[FF-LOL editor’s note: As a mother of 2 1/2-year-old twin boys this story gives me goose bumps. I can clearly imagine my children’s cries if they stub their toe or if they get upset over the other one stealing a toy. to fathom what that poor little boy would have gone through and his tears and cries for help is greatly disturbing.]
- Jesse Pomeroy
Jesse Pomeroy was 14 when he was arrested in 1874 for the horrific murder of a four-year-old boy. He was quickly labeled “The Boston Boy Fiend.” His horrible trek had begun three years earlier with the sexual torture of seven other boys. For those crimes, Pomeroy was sentenced to a children’s reform school but was released early. Not long after, he mutilated and killed a 10-year-old girl who came into his mother’s store. A month later, he kidnapped 4-year-old Horace Mullen, took him to a swamp outside town and slashed him so savagely with a knife that he nearly decapitated him. Because of his strange appearance (he had a milky white eye) and his previous abhorrent behavior, he was under suspicion. When he was shown the body and asked if he’d done it, he responded with a nonchalant, “I suppose I did.” Then the girl was found buried in his mother’s cellar and he confessed to that murder, as well. He was convicted and sentenced to death. Following a public outcry against condemning children to death, his sentence was commuted to forty years of solitary confinement.
- Mary Bell
Mary Bell was convicted of strangling a young boy, Martin Brown, on May 25, 1968, the day before her 11th birthday. She was, as far as anyone knows, alone on this occasion. On July 31, 1968, Mary and her friend (Norma Bell – no relation to Mary) took part in the death, again by strangulation, of three-year-old Brian Howe. Police reports concluded that Mary Bell had gone back after killing him to carve an “N” into his stomach with a razor, this was then changed using the same razor but with a different hand to an “M”. Mary Bell also used a pair of scissors to cut off bits of Brian Howe’s hair and part of his genitals. As the girls were so young and their testimonies contradicted each other, it has never been entirely clear precisely what happened. Martin Brown’s death was initially ruled an accident as there was no evidence of foul play. Eventually, his death was linked with Brian Howe’s killing and in August, the two girls were charged with two counts of manslaughter. Mary was released in 1980 with court ordered anonymity. In 2003, the courts awarded her and her daughter anonymity for life.
- Roderick Ferrell
At 16-years-old he killed the parents of his former girlfriend in order to steal their car so he could take his friends—members of his vampire cult—to New Orleans. A lot of kids identify themselves as Satanists because it gives them the feeling of power over others and the mystique of having secret associations with another world. It also gives them license to do things like rob, damage property, and kill. Sometimes they decide that human sacrifice is necessary to increase their powers, so they kill. Ferrell claimed that he needed many victims in order to open the Gates of Hell.
- Sam Manzie
When he was 15, opened the door to eleven-year-old Eddie Werner, who was out raising money for his school. He invited the boy in, then raped and strangled him, hiding Werner’s body outside. Manzie had been the victim of a child abuser and had shown signs of serious mental illness. His parents had desperately tried to get him help and were convinced that he would become violent. A doctor interviewed the boy for about ten minutes and told the parents to take him home. They were over-reacting, he said. Only three days later he murdered Werner. Many people have a difficult time believing that children can be mentally ill, but they suffer depression and paranoid schizophrenia just like adults. When it goes undiagnosed and untreated, it can spell trouble.
- James Pinkerton Kelly
Was 17 when he killed a neighbor. First he sliced open her stomach and ejaculated into the wound. Then he slit her throat and cut off her breasts. Before he was arrested, he managed to do the same thing to another woman.
- Those who commit school shootings
The rise of school shootings has been staggering over the past 15 years and they still leave many people ultimately wondering why? Most of the kids involved had been ridiculed one way or another by not only school mates, but also family members at home. These murderous children acquired large-caliber weapons in most cases; though in others, knives, hand guns, or the like were brought in to their schools and use just as effectively. Teachers, faculty, and students lose their lives each and every time this happens. Here are just a few of the incidents:
March 24th, 1998 – Andrew Golden (11) and Mitchell Johnson (13) gunned down 15 people in the Westside Middle School Playground.
April 20th, 1999 – Eric Harris (18) and Dylan Klebold (17) Columbine High School – 13 dead, 25 injured.
November 15th, 1995 – Jamie Rouse (17) Richland School Tennessee – 4 injured, 2 dead
February 2nd, 1996 – Barry Loukaitis (14) Moses Lake, Washington School – 3 dead, 2 injured
May 21st, 1998 – Kipland Kinkle (14) Springfield Oregon – 3 dead including parents, 8 wounded
December 1st, 1997 — Michael Carneal (14) Paducah, Kentucky — who shot into a prayer group and was constantly baited by the other students. They said he had “Michael germs” and stole his lunch. One day he had a gun and even then the other boys taunted him. Finally he decided to act out and he ended up killing three students.
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What makes children step off the edge? This of course is debatable, but from TruTV.com a comprehensive article by Katherine Ramsland called The Unthinkable — Children who Kill.
The Variety of Disorders
There are many overlapping conduct disorders that play into juvenile crime., although given a child’s developing and changing personality, it is difficult to diagnose mental disorders among adolescents. It’s also true that many attitudes and behaviors characteristic of teenagers, such as anger, defiance, and restlessness, match the symptoms of several disorders.
In general, a conduct disorder is a persistent pattern of behavior during childhood and adolescence that includes:
- violating social rules
- aggression
- property damage
- lies
- stealing
There are six different categories of conduct disorder:
- Conduct Disorder – a behavioral problem involving persistent violations of the rights of others.
- Oppositional Defiant Disorder – Such youths usually exhibit a pattern of defiant and disobedient behavior, including resistance to authority figures. This includes recurrent temper problems, frequent arguments with adults, and evidence of anger and resentment.
- Disruptive Behavior Disorder – this is a category for pervasive restlessness and aggression that doesn’t quite qualify for the first two categories, but is nevertheless a concern.
- Adjustment Disorder: With Mixed Disturbance of Emotions and Conduct – an array of antisocial behaviors that occur within three months of a stressor.
- Adjustment Disorder: With Disturbance of Conduct – similar to the other adjustment disorder, but with antisocial behaviors only, not emotional components.
- Child or Adolescent Antisocial Behavior – a category for isolated antisocial behaviors that fail to support an outright mental disorder.
Many of these have been linked with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD or ADD), which actually represents two separate problems. Children may have ADD (a problem keeping their attention focused) or ADHD (a problem with restless behavior and attention). Disorganization is common and the child may lose personal items regularly. Even when spoken to directly, the child can’t provide feedback when asked. Hyperactive children frequently get into minor difficulties.
Children with attention and behavior problems like these may actually signal that they are developing into psychopaths or children without empathy or remorse.
Children without a Conscience
In a study of eighty-one boys in a residential treatment program, symptoms of aggressive conduct disorder, along with lying and stealing, were predictive of adolescent psychopathy in those aged 14 to 17. In other words, if they had a conduct disorder and also had acted in some antisocial manner, it was more likely than not that they were psychopaths.
In another study, the two factors in young offenders indicative of psychopathy were impulsive conduct problems and callous attitudes. These children develop attitudes of grandiosity and they shun responsibility. They’re also susceptible to boredom.
In a long-term study, children with psychopathic personalities were shown to be stable offenders (having more repeat offenses), were prone to instigating the most serious offenses, and were more impulsive.
To sum this up, childhood psychopathy has proven to be the best predictor of increased antisocial behavior in adolescence, especially in boys who were hyperactive, impulsive, and suffered from attention deficits.
Common traits in the background of psychopathic children include:
- a mother exposed to deprivation or abuse as a child
- a transient father
- a mother who cannot maintain stable emotional connection with child
- low birth weight or birth complications
- unusual reactions to pain (especially to insult)
- lack of attachment to adults
- failure to make eye contact when touched
- low frustration tolerance
- sense of self-importance
- transient relationships throughout childhood, or close association with another like him
- cruelty toward others
- animal abuse
- lack of remorse for hurting someone
- lack of empathy in friendships
How does this apply to kids who kill? How do they get this way? Is it something in their environment, something in how they were raised, or something in their genes?
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Okay, no more darkness, I’m going to go with interesting, funny, tongue in cheek from here on out regarding the creepy children.
From The Oatmeal’s ‘Minor Differences Part 4‘
Just to show The Oatmeal tells the truth, here is a similar image…
This isn't my child, but I can testify that these 'finger painting' sessions do happen.
This comic comes from HowToBeADad.com and fits in well with my Halloween theme…
This is also from HowToBeADad.com, not really Halloween related, butt I’m putting it in for shits and giggles.
From Cracked.com, 6 Shockingly Evil Things Babies Are Capable Of by Kathy Benjamin…
As anyone who’s ever encountered babies in the wild can tell you, they’re shiftless little balls of deception and greed. Those of us who stand up to walk, and sit down to poop may not be Mother Theresa, but it turns out we had a long way to go from our babbling drooling selves.
Yes, unless you’re a borderline sociopath today, you were probably at your worst before you ever uttered a word. It’s science!
#6 Lying…
It seems crazy that a barely functioning human infant could be cunning enough to lie to get out of trouble, but it’s true. Baby You was such an asshole that you started lying before you could even speak. Scientists have found that by the age of just six months mini-you was already “fake crying” and “pretend laughing” to get attention. Babies are so good at that lie they will even pause briefly and listen to see if someone is responding to their crocodile tears before starting up again.
Perhaps even more surprising is that, when they know they’ve done something wrong, the little bastards will distract their parents to avoid getting caught. Crying for attention isn’t so terrible, because receiving positive attention makes you feel good. But causing a distraction? That means the slimy, shrieking baby knows it has done something wrong and wants to cover up for it. Before they learn how to poop without assistance, babies know how to create an alibi.
Why Did I Do That?!
Lying is considered an important part of a child’s development. Once you can speak, your lies become more complex, and believable and the early non-verbal attempts at lying help us learn the types of lies we can get away with.
According to science, lying isn’t something that happens when a normal baby get’s corrupted by TV–it is normal human behavior. Telling the truth is the thing we have to learn. Most of us start to feel bad about lying around age four, once we’re old enough to understand those morality tales our parents keep telling us. So the only thing standing between you and a life of crime was “The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf.”
#5 Prejudice…
It’s not a mystery why you treat attractive people well now: You want them to have your sex. There’d be no reason to discriminate against ugly chicks when you where a baby right? Wrong. It turns out you’ve been favoring hotties since the doctor smacked you. In a 2004 study in the field of weird-shit-we-can-make-babies-do, a UK scientist made several babies look at two pictures. One of those pictures was of an attractive woman, and the other was of a non-attractive woman. Out of these babies (all of seven-days old, max), almost 100 percent looked significantly longer at pictures of “attractive” people than “unattractive” people.
Wait, how did this study even get approval?
But it doesn’t end there. In those first months, babies would look at an attractive person of another race for just as long as an equally hot person of their race. But within a few short months, even if shown a supermodel of a different skin color, the baby would ignore her completely. If a white baby was shown two pictures of Asian people, of any level of attractiveness, the baby would look at them the same amount of time, then get bored and look away. To that white baby, Asian people all look-alike. Seriously.
Why Did I Do That?!
Survival. In general, attractive people have more “normal” features and therefore better genes. By staring up with your big blue eyes at the hottest person in the room, you are assuming that’s your mommy, or at least hoping that turning on the charm will make her adopt you. Being raised by someone healthy gives you a better chance of living to see your first birthday. The baby-racism makes sense as well from an evolutionary perspective: It’s important as you get older to know who all the people in your tribe are, but that other tribe down the way? According to the studies, all you need to know is they don’t look like you. Their individual features? Irrelevant in your tiny, racist baby mind.
#4 Defiance…
From the minute babies are able to understand basic communication techniques they give everyone a big fuck you. You’ve all seen babies thrown tantrums; screaming and thrashing their limbs about, forgetting that at any moment you can crush their tiny, fragile bones in your superior man-sized hands.
Tantrums not only stem from not getting what you want but also from refusing to do things. Babies will even resist things they actually want to do or enjoy doing, seemingly just because they are tiny freaking assholes. “No” is one of the most common first words spoken by children and can sometimes occupy their entire vocabulary for three months before they say just about anything else.
Why Did I Do That?!
Defiance is a way for a baby to define themselves. They start to realize that they are separate from the world and have their own thoughts, desires and actions. When you were first born, your parents would put you into your crib and you fell asleep. But a few months later it occurs to you, what if you don’t feel tired? What if you CHOOSE not to go to sleep? What if you refuse and express your displeasure?
And it’s important to remember that this kind of baby-bitch-negativism isn’t restricted to things the baby doesn’t want. The baby might whine when you try to put it to sleep when it’s not tired, but it might also whine when you take it out of the crib. And when you feed it, or rock with it, or try to comfort it, it will push you away simply because you’re doing something. The baby’s in control, and you need to know that.
#3 Getting High…
You’re a good parent. You’re doing your best raising your stupid little baby and, so far, you think you’re doing a pretty decent job. Then one night, you put your baby in their crib as usual but instead of nodding off they sit up and start beating their head against their crib over and over again. Hard. You’re in too much shock to do anything, or maybe you’re just kind of a crummy parent and you want to see where your baby’s going with this when, after a minute or so, it is all over and your innocent little angel is fast asleep. What the hell just happened?!
It’s not just your baby, either. Starting at about nine months, before going to sleep many infants will bang their heads against something solid up to 80 times a minute. Spells can last from a few minutes to a few hours. They’re not mad, they’re not trying to get something, they are seemingly just hurting themselves for no reason at all other than to fuck with your already fragile and sleep-deprived parent brain.
Why Did I Do That?!
It feels fucking awesome, and it’s the closest this baby can come to getting high (unless you’re really crummy parents). The surge of adrenaline that the kid gets from the slight pain induces a happy, calm and relaxed feeling followed by exhaustion. They don’t care if you protest, and they don’t care if there’s any harm done. They just want that next adrenaline fix, and they’ll bang their head all night to get it.
But they can quit any time they want. Totally.
#2 Stealing…
Imagine this: A guy notices his neighbor, or his brother has something he wants. A watch, or a car. This guy wants it, so he cons and lies and manipulates until, eventually, his neighbor or brother either feels guilty enough or bad enough for him, and they give up the watch. The con man gets what he wants. What would you call that? Stealing, probably. Now, imagine that same scenario, but imagine a tiny, worthless baby is doing it. What would you call that? That’s right: Adorable stealing, and babies do it all the time.
If they see something they want, they’ll do whatever it takes to get it. They’ll scream, sure, but they’ll also hit their head, injuring themselves, so their parents feel bad. One bumped head and suddenly every cookie and toy goes to the baby, and Mommy is cooing, “Are you alright?”
This behavior of self harm and manipulation usually starts before six months and can continue well into childhood. During tantrums, babies will hit and bite themselves, and some children will hold their breath for so long they pass out. This emotional manipulation is, not surprisingly, very effective.
Why Did I Do That?!
Children don’t have a complex understanding of other people’s ownership until they are a few years old. Unfortunately, an understanding of personal ownership comes much sooner than that. In other words, to a baby, everything is theirs. The concept of things being taken away makes no sense. If it’s MINE and I want it NOW why can’t I have it? Since everything is rightly yours there is nothing wrong with doing whatever you have to do to get it back. And if it takes making yourself pass out to get your damn pacifier returned, so be it. What do you care? You’re a little con baby.
#1 Murder…
For a long time scientists had a theory that left-handed people might have started out as twins in the womb. Their rationale was that in a set of twins one tends to be right-handed and one left-handed. Genetic and nurturing factors can also affect handedness, but they can’t explain it completely in many cases. Maybe all lefties were the result of only one twin surviving the cage fight that is fetal development.
It wasn’t until ultrasounds, and fearless cameras capable of surviving the uterus, that scientists discovered their hunch was right. Sort of. They were right in the fact that most lefties were once twins but they didn’t go far enough. Scientists now think that a ridiculous one in eight people started out as two peas in a pod. Of course, only about one in 70 people actually is a twin. So what happened to your twin? You killed it and then absorbed it into your body. Yeah, those stories of adults finding teeth in their shoulder? Not urban legends.
Why Did I Do That?!
Because you’re evil.
Not really. Chances are you were just the healthier fetus. Or you hogged all the blood if you shared a placenta. Or you grew faster and literally left your sibling no womb at the inn. If multiple pregnancies are really as common as they now seem, we evolved to be this way for a reason. Trying out two fetuses to see which one is more likely to survive is a pretty good plan evolutionarily. Unfortunately, carrying twins is very dangerous for the mother, meaning that our best bet as a species was to let one twin kill off the other early on in development. Just another reason lefties are a sinister, sinister group of people.
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IT’S STILL TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!
Hope you all enjoyed my 8-Days of Halloween! If you have any feedback or future suggestions on articles please upload them in the ‘comments’ section. I would love to hear from you.
FridayFunnyLoL 