Not much is known about Karl Denke, probably the worst serial killer in Poland’s history—after he was exposed as a killer, he committed suicide, taking his secrets with him. What is known, however, is right up there with the worst of the worst. Denke owned and operated a rooming house in Ziębice, Poland, from 1918 to 1924. He was well liked by his tenants and known as “Papa.” Like a number of other serial murderers (such as the BTK Killer), Papa was active in his local church—he played the organ. However, there was a problem: Many people who stayed at Papa’s rooming house went in but never came out.
On December 21, 1924, a coachman heard someone screaming inside an apartment in Denke’s rooming house. The coachman ran to the apartment and a young man was staggering down the hall toward him, holding his head, which was streaming blood. The coachman ran up to the man, who collapsed, but before he lost consciousness he blurted out that Papa Denke had attacked him with an ax.
The coachman summoned the police, who arrested Denke and searched his house—a search that turned up some shocking things. They found ID for a dozen salesmen as well as ties, shirts, pants, and hats in different sizes and styles, which obviously did not all belong to Papa Denke. In a ledger of Denke’s, they found what might at first seem like curious but harmless information: names, dates and weights of his visitors. But the ledger made horrific sense when combined with some of the other discoveries: two large tubs in the kitchen filled with pickled meat, a large pot containing fat, and bones—all human. They were able to figure out that thirty-one human beings had been murdered between 1921 and 1924 and were in the process of being eaten. While many of Papa Denke’s victims were salespeople, he also preyed on tramps and beggars—anyone who wouldn’t really be missed or easily linked to Papa Denke.
Perhaps worst of all, not only was Denke a cannibal but also chances are that he was feeding parts of murdered people to his lodgers. We’ll never know for sure—Papa Denke wore suspenders to hold up his pants, and he used them one final time to hang himself in his prison cell before police could get any information from him.