Bela Kiss

 VICTIMS: 24+

Bela Kiss was a pretty ordinary bloke. He lived in Czinkota, Hungary with his wife, and seemed nothing but devoted to her. This all ended in February 1912, when the bitch found herself a boyfriend. She was practically fucking him, Paul Bikari, right under poor Bela's nose. Since his wife was 15 years younger than himself, it's safe to assume she never married him for love anyway. Well it seems Bela didn't like the fact she was screwing around, and some time around December 1912, she disappeared along with her boyfriend. Bela told the neighbors that she had ran away with him, and most took pity on poor Bela.

It was not long after his wife's disappearance that Kiss began collecting big metal drums. He told those that asked that they were filled with gasoline. With a war coming petrol would be a valuable commodity, so no one questioned why he needed so much.

Also around this time a few women had been reporting missing in Budapest. The only clues the police had were that they had been going to meet a man named Hoffmann. Police had trouble finding this Hoffmann, and it seemed he had vanished. The Czinkota law enforcement were well aware of the search for Hoffmann, but never for a moment linked Kiss with him.

In November 1914, Bela Kiss was drafted into the army. He was sent to the front to kill for his country. 18 months later Kiss went missing, and was presumed dead. Word was sent back to his town that he was dead.

In June 1916, the army came through Czinkota looking for stockpiled gasoline. The local constable remembered Kiss telling him about the contents of his drums and led the soldiers to the abandoned house of the dead man. Once inside the house they located seven drums, luckily for them, it seemed, all were full. But it was what they were full of that was to shock.

Each of the drums contained a naked body of a woman. All seven had been strangled, then place in the drums with alcohol, preserving the bodies. When the soldiers searched Kiss's house they found shitloads of letters and cards addressed to Mr. Hoffmann. It seemed that Kiss had placed ads in papers, under the name Hoffmann, wanting to meet with ladies. The ad read - "lonely widower seeking female companionship."

The constable remembered that there were heaps more drums the last time he had been to the house visiting Kiss, and a search was organized. Over the next few days 17 more drums were found dumped around the town. And each of these drums contained a nicely pickled human. All were female except one, and not surprisingly that was the body of Paul Bikari, the guy who had been shagging his wife. Also among the pickled corpses was Kiss's wife and those that had gone missing earlier, last seen going to meet Hoffmann. It was also discovered that Kiss had duped some of the victims into giving him their savings.

Since Kiss had been killed in battle, the case was closed on the 24 murders.

But Then...
In the spring of 1919, Bela Kiss was seen walking through his old hunting ground in Budapest. Once police began looking into Bela Kiss's death, it was discovered that he had actually switched identities with a man killed near him in battle, allowing him to start a new life after the war, with no one knowing about any past crimes. Unfortunately for police by the time they had figured out Kiss was still alive he had vanished again.

In 1924 a member of the French Foreign Legion went to police about a fellow legionnaire who continuously bragged about his expertise with the garrote. The soldiers name was Hoffmann, and the description fitted Bela Kiss perfectly. But once again luck was with Kiss. By the time police decided to act Hoffmann had deserted, vanishing without a trace.

In 1932 it was believed that Kiss was in New York. He was apparently spotted by a cop leaving Times Square Station. The fact that Bela Kiss would have been 60 at the time, and probably looking quite different from the last description of him, led most to believe that this siteing was bullshit.

BUT...
In 1936 there was a strong rumour that Kiss was working in New York as a janitor. This rumour finally made it's way to police who went to check out the janitor, but, again, he had disappeared. It's not known whether or not this guy was Kiss or not, but it doesn't matter because he was never caught either way.

And since he was never caught we are left to wonder about the exact number of lives he actually claimed. Obviously it's more than the 24 they found, and since he evaded the police for such a long time, it would be fair to assume that he didn't stop at 24.
 

MY OPINION

Bela Kiss is definitely my number one Hungarian. The pickling was really inspired, although it kept the identities of the corpses easily recognized, it was original, and I love originality. Kiss also had a great name. A serial killer called Kiss, how cool is that, you can just imagine the papers, "the Kiss of Death." Anyway, I have always rated the guy very highly, and the fact that he got away with it, that just puts him into almost legendary status. A great murderer, who like most European killers of the early 1900's, is highly underrated by today's media.