The Severed and Preserved Head of Peter Kürten, Germany’s Notorious “Vampire of Düsseldorf”

The severed and preserved head of Peter Kürten, Germany’s notorious “Vampire of Düsseldorf,” remains one of the most unsettling curiosities in the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! collection. Executed by guillotine in 1931 for a series of brutal murders and sexual assaults, Kürten’s crimes shocked Europe and established him as one of history’s most depraved serial killers. His morbid moniker came from his claim that he drank the blood of some of his victims, a detail that further solidified his place in the annals of infamy.

Peter Kürten was born in 1883 in Cologne into grinding poverty. His father was an alcoholic, brutal, and openly violent; beatings were routine, and sexual abuse occurred within the household. Kürten later claimed his earliest memories of pleasure were tied to blood and pain—watching animals be slaughtered or seeing injuries inflicted. By his early teens, he was already committing arson, theft, and assault, drifting in and out of reformatories and prisons. This pattern would define his early adulthood: short stretches of freedom punctuated by incarceration. Each release, however, seemed only to refine his brutality.

In 1929, Düsseldorf was gripped by panic. Attacks began to surface – women and children found stabbed, bludgeoned, or strangled. Some victims survived and spoke of a quiet, polite man who suddenly turned vicious. Others did not survive at all.

Kürten often drank his victims’ blood, sometimes returning to the crime scenes to relive the experience. Newspapers seized on the most sensational detail, and the nickname “Vampire of Düsseldorf” spread rapidly. The city’s police were overwhelmed; false confessions poured in, vigilante fear spread, and nightlife all but collapsed.

Kürten’s undoing came not through forensic brilliance, but through human connection. He confided his crimes to his wife, Auguste Kürten, claiming he wanted to be caught. Horrified, she contacted the police. Once arrested, Kürten confessed with disturbing calm. He described his murders in clinical detail, explaining that bloodlust gave him sexual gratification. Psychiatrists examined him extensively; while clearly sadistic and deeply disturbed, he was deemed legally sane, fully aware of his actions.

Mugshots of Kürten, taken after his May 1930 arrest.

Mugshots of Peter Kürten taken in 1931.

Full length police portrait of German serial killer Peter Kürten, 1931.

Full length police portrait of German serial killer Peter Kürten with hat, 1931.

On April 13, 1931, Kürten stood trial in Düsseldorf. He was charged with nine counts of murder and seven of attempted murder. Proceedings began with the prosecution formally reciting each of the charges against Kürten before they recited the formal confession he had provided to police following his arrest.

“I have none. Never have I felt any misgiving in my soul; never did I think to myself that what I did was bad, even though human society condemns it. My blood and the blood of my victims must be on the heads of my torturers ... The punishments I have suffered have destroyed all my feelings as a human being. That was why I had no pity for my victims.” – Peter Kürten, responding to the presiding judge’s question as to whether he possessed a conscience at his trial (1931).

The trial lasted ten days. On April 22, the jury retired to consider their verdict. They deliberated for under two hours before reaching their verdict: Kürten was found guilty and sentenced to death on nine counts of murder. He was also found guilty of seven counts of attempted murder. Kürten displayed no emotion as the sentence was passed, although in his final address to the court, he stated that he now saw his crimes as being “so ghastly that [he did] not want to make any sort of excuse for them.”

Kürten did not lodge an appeal of his conviction, although he submitted a petition for pardon to the Minister of Justice, who was a known opponent of capital punishment. The petition was formally rejected on July 1. Kürten remained composed upon receipt of this news, and asked for permission to see his confessor, to write letters of apology to the relatives of his victims, and a final farewell letter to his wife. All of these requests were granted.

Kürten, pictured at his trial in April 1931.

The scissors used by Peter Kürten in many of his murders and attempted murders.

The hand-drawn map sent by Kürten depicting the location of the grave of Maria Hahn, one of his victims in 1929..

On the evening of July 1, 1931, Kürten received his last meal. He ordered Wiener schnitzel, a bottle of white wine, and fried potatoes. Kürten ate the entire meal before requesting a second helping. The prison staff decided to grant his request.

At 06:00 on July 2, Kürten was beheaded via guillotine in the grounds of Klingelpütz Prison, Cologne. His executioner was Carl Gröpler. He walked unassisted to the guillotine, flanked by the prison psychiatrist and a priest.

Shortly before his head was placed on the guillotine, Kürten turned to the prison psychiatrist and asked the question: “Tell me... after my head is chopped off, will I still be able to hear, at least for a moment, the sound of my own blood gushing from the stump of my neck? That would be the pleasure to end all pleasures.” When asked whether he had any last words to say, Kürten simply smiled and replied, “No.”

The courtyard of Düsseldorf’s Hofgarten. Kürten claimed to have committed his first murder close to this location in November 1899.

The Kürten case left a deep scar on German criminal history. It exposed the limits of early 20th-century policing, fueled debates about criminal insanity, and influenced criminology for decades. Following his execution, scientists bisected and mummified his head to search for biological causes for his behavior; they found no abnormalities in his brain. Today, his preserved head is on display at the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin.

His story served as a primary inspiration for Fritz Lang’s 1931 landmark film M, starring Peter Lorre.