The human vampire who would hunt young men by eating their ‘Adam’s Apple,’ calling it his ‘love bite.’
Freidrich Haarman, also known as “Fritz,” was a German serial killer who committed murder of 24-young men in Hanover, a city in Germany, between 1918 and 1924.
His way of killing is what led him to the title, ‘Vampire of Hanover,’ because he would ‘literally’ prey on these young men and consume their blood, in a manner that is unusual to a normal human eye. He would also, specifically, hunt (kill them) during the night hours and not in the daytime.
In the daytime, Fritz would work as a thief or burglar. At the most, he would also attain legal employment, but would end up stealing from customers or employers. But in the nighttime, his actual work would begin. He would lure young men (aged 10 to 22) by promising them free accommodation, offering work, or some form of assistance. He would even act as a detective, telling young men that he might be aware of a job for them. To top it up, he would also offer them food and drink, a generous invitation that disguised him as a kind man in the eyes of the victims. Fritz would then take the victims to one of his three residents that the police found him to have resided on different occasions. After consuming food and drink, Fritz would strangle the victim and bite into his Adam’s apple, causing the victim to die of asphyxiation.
Fritz’ logic of pursuing such a ‘vampire’ act was that he was giving them a ‘love bite.’ Fritz would then throw the victims’ dead bodies into rivers like Leine river and a lake at the entrance of Herrenhausen Gardens. After that, he would take any possessions left behind by the victim and sell it to the criminal connections he had established, sometimes even to actual retailers around Hanover Central Station. Since the nation saw a lot of poverty after World War One, Fritz learnt to earn a few bucks by trading anything with his criminal connection there. It was at this station where Fritz would usually find his victims who worked professions ranging from being a male prostitute, a pianist, an office-clerk, or just being a commuter.
Fritz finally confessed to raping and killing young men after his sister urged him. He explained to the police that he never intended to kill any of these victims. Rather, he was attracted to them and had an irresistible urge to bite into their necks. He further confessed that he had killed somewhere between fifty and seventy victims. But the police were only able to track the dead bodies of 27 victims. Overall, Fritz was persistent that the actual reasons he killed these victims was a ‘mystery,’ even to himself. (Fun fact: Fritz would only accept he had committed murder to the victim if the police came up with an actual evidence, like clothes or accessories of the victim).
On 19th December, 1924, the court made a final decision that Fritz would be sentenced to death by beheading, as setting him free meant many more victims to be exposed to his crime. But upon hearing it, Fritz didn’t get defensive or attempt to make an appeal. Rather he had accepted his fate. “I will not petition for mercy, not will I appeal. I want to pass just one more merry night in my cell, with coffee, cheese, and cigars, after which I will curse my father and go to my execution as if it were a wedding,” he said to the court.
According to German tradition, Fritz wasn’t informed of the actual date of his execution until the prior evening. He was granted his wish of an expensive cigar and Brazilian coffee which he drank in his cell. Fritz was beheaded at six o’clock in the morning of April 15, 1925 at Hanover prison. He was 45 years old at the time. Minutes before, Fritz looked pale, but he put on a face of brave, saying “I am guilty but I want to die as a man. I repent, but I do not fear death,” he concluded.
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