Earle Nelson used his abnormally large hands to strangle and rape at least 22 women and one baby in the U.S and Canada from 1925 to 1927. Those big hands earned him the nickname “The Gorilla Killer,” according to the Winnipeg Sun. He was finally caught and convicted for two murders — one victim was a 14-year-old girl — in Winnipeg that year.  

Though the nomenclature “serial killer” was not part of the vernacular yet, Nelson certainly was one. Over the decades people who are driven to murder have become an endless source of fascination for some, and one of the things we always wonder is how does a person become so murderous? What makes them so compelled to brutally attack and kill a stranger? 

Naturally, we look at their childhoods, where often the seeds are planted. Those seeds are then often cultivated by various adolescent experiences and the eventual killer’s own fantasies as they often take baby steps into violence, stalking, or attempts to assault a prospective victim. 

Nelson’s childhood started off tragically when both of his parents died of syphilis by the time he was 15 months old, according to Radford University’s Department of Psychology. His maternal grandparents took Nelson in. Radford describes Nelson’s grandmother as a “very strict Pentecostal,” which according to the website Christianity, can mean that certain ways of dress, entertainment, dancing, or mixing with the opposite sex are prohibited. They believe in divine healing through prayer and speaking in tongues. 

Earle Nelson endured a traumatic brain injury as a child

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