Joseph Vacher

Joseph Vacher
Joseph Vacher wearing his trademark rabbit-fur hat
Born	(1869-11-16)November 16, 1869 Beaufort, Isère, France
Died	December 31, 1898(1898-12-31) (aged 29) Bourg-en-Bresse, Ain, France
Cause of death	Execution
Other names	The French Ripper The South-East Ripper
Killings
Victims	11-27+
Span of killings	1894–1897
Country	France
Date apprehended	1897

Joseph Vacher (November 16, 1869 – December 31, 1898) was a French serial killer, sometimes known as "The French Ripper" or "L'éventreur du Sud-Est" ("The South-East Ripper") owing to comparisons to the more famous Jack the Ripper murderer of London, England, in 1888. His scarred face, accordion, and plain, white, handmade rabbit-fur hat composed his trademark appearance. He killed 11 to 27 people, many of whom were adolescent farm workers, between 1894 and 1897.

The son of an illiterate farmer, young Joseph was sent to a very strict Catholic school where he was taught to obey and to fear God. Seeking escape from the intense poverty of his childhood as the 15th child of a peasant family, he joined the army in 1892. Frustrated by slow promotion and no recognition, and infused with the grandiose belief that he was not receiving the attention he deserved, Vacher attempted to kill himself by slicing his throat. This would prove to be the first of two unsuccessful suicide attempts.

While Vacher had been in the army, he fell in love with a young maidservant, Louise, who was not attracted to him and spurned his advances. After his attempted suicide led to his dismissal from the military, he again tried to woo her, even going so far as to propose. Bored by him and uninterested in his offer, she mocked him and his proposal. This second slight also motivated violence: in a rage, Vacher shot Louise four times and then tried to commit suicide. Both attempts at homicide were unsuccessful—Louise was badly injured but survived the shooting, and Vacher severely maimed himself. Shooting himself twice in the head, Vacher succeeded in paralyzing one side of his face, deforming him severely. One of the bullets remained lodged in his ear for the remainder of his life, and the damage to his brain likely exacerbated his existing mental illness. He felt that the shooting damaged him more than physically: he would later claim, after his arrest, that the reactions of strangers to this self-inflicted deformity drove him to hatred of society at large. This second suicide attempt put him in a mental institution in Dole, Jura. Despite a one-year stay and a pronouncement from his doctors that he was "completely cured," Vacher began murdering his victims shortly after his release at the age of 25.