What was Jeffrey Dahmers Childhood like?

victoriaslifeblogcom

Sep 25

And the obvious warning signs everyone seemed to miss.

On May 21, 1960, the most infamous cannibal was born. No one could have predicted exactly what kind of monster Jeffrey Dahmer would become, but were there warning signs in his childhood that family and friends ignored? And was it possible that he could have been stopped? Just like all serial killers, they do not become that way overnight. In this article, we will look at the early life of Jeffry Dahmer and what may have led him down the path that we all know.

It is easy to look at serial killers and think that they are a certain way because of something that happened to them in their childhood, most commonly, abuse. However, Dahmer was not known to have been abused growing up but that does not mean his childhood was easy. When he was a toddler, Jeffrey was described as being happy and normal until the age of four. When he turned four, he had surgery to fix a double hernia in his head. The surgery seemed to have a negative effect on Dahmer because shortly after his mood and demeanor changed. As the years went on, he had become quite withdrawn and detached.

It was reported that his mother was depressed and had attempted suicide at least once. His father was gone from home often and when he came back, he devoted all of his attention to Dahmer's mother. His parents rarely gave him attention, and when his mom gave birth to his baby brother when he was five, he resented the baby and fought for his parent's scarce attention.

Soon after his surgery that Dahmer developed an interest in animal bones. His dad asked him to help clean out animal carcasses from underneath the house. Dahmer later recalled that he enjoyed the sounds the bones made as his dad dumped them into a bucket to be thrown away. This sparked a new fascination in Dahmer that his dad never saw as a problem. In fact, his dad assumed that Dahmer was just expressing curiosity and wanted to help his son. He showed Dahmer how to bleach and clean the bones when he was young. Unfortunately, this was a skill that he would later use to clean the bones of his victims.

For years Dahmer would walk along roads and highways, collecting the bones of dead animals and storing them in his family's shed. He became more violent with the way that he dismembered the bodies, and once he took off a dead dog's head and stapled the body to a tree. There was an incident in high school where Dahmer brought a tadpole to class to give to his teacher. Understandably, the teacher had no use for a tadpole and gave it to another student. When Dahmer learned of this, he went to the student's house, took the tadpole out of its aquarium, poured gasoline on it, and set it on fire.

Dahmer grew up relatively isolated due to his family life and his lack of wanting to form any attachments and by the age of 13, he had no friends and no one to talk to. According to Dahmer himself, this is the age that he began to have dark fantasies. These fantasies included murder and necrophilia. As his fantasies began to take over his mind, the young Dahmer turned to alcohol. He brought alcohol to school and drank frequently. His parents were too focused on their own issues to notice much of what Dahmer did or care enough to stop him.

When he was 16, Dahmer admitted to fantasizing about doing horrible things to a female jogger who he had seen running by but never acted on it. He had managed to keep control of his fantasies until the end of high school. Dahmer's parents had gotten a divorce around this time and to help him cope they stuck him in counseling, which ultimately did not help. Just a few short weeks after he graduated high school, Dahmer murdered his first victim.

Dahmer displayed many early warning signs of mental illness and more serial disorders, but little was ever done to help treat him. From collecting bones to hurting animals, Dahmer was not innocent even from an early age. Nothing could have prepared Milwaukee for the monster that was emerging but could his parents have stopped him? That is for you to decide.

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