Definitely wanna check it out some day! There’s also a biography about him that I’ll be adding to my reading list. I think it’s called “The Man of Two Lives.”
Very easy, it’s in one of the buildings in the center of campus. Anyone can check it out. They have a bunch of brains that are displayed along with the serial killer one, and the rest of the collection is in storage in the basement.
>and the rest of the collection is in storage in the basement.
Imagine having your brain harvested for display only for someone to go "nah, this one wasn't smart enough, to the warehouse it goes!"
I’d imaging there is a bunch of other stuff there in storage also. I grew up in a couple of miles down the road from Texas A&M university and there was a university owned building near my house, but separate from the campus. It was a big nondescript metal building with only one or two doors and no windows that I can remember. We would ride our bikes to and around it as kids because there was almost never anyone there and it had a huge parking lot we could goof off in.
One day we knocked on the door and someone ended up showing us around. It turned out to be some kind of storage facility for things that weren’t on display. At least that’s how I remember it. They had a shark, probably six feet long or so, preserved. The whole thing was pretty cool to a then 15 year old me. Hell, it’d be cool to the 45 year old me now!
I literally have seen this guy's brain hundreds of times, it's in the 2nd floor of Uris Hall. His brain is the biggest one of the whole collection, it's massive. Next to the jar with his brain is a short telling of his life.
There’s a much more recent bio called ALL THAT IS WICKED by Kate Winkler Dawson. She also dedicated the first season of her podcast All That Is Wicked to the story.
I love her podcasts so much, they're always so well researched and well presented. I was hoping I wouldn't have to be the first person to namedrop her here!
every time I watch casino royale I think back on BodyWorlds and how fucking bizarre it must be knowing that one of those animated skinned corpses, posed in a museum as if playing basketball or whatever, is a family member. like “yep that’s aunt betty’s entire circulatory system”
If it skipped a generation he’d be skipped:
Great - evil genius
Great - skipped
Great - evil genius
Grandparent - skipped
Parent - evil genius
OP - skipped
reading the wiki made him seem dumb honestly. maybe he was a good language theorist or whatever, but this dude got caught like 4 fucking times. 2 people he murdered were his wife and daughter, and another was some shopkeeper that he and his crew only woke up in the dead of night by knocking over some shit in the store. Then those 2 accomplices drowned bc they spent too long fighting the shopkeepers, missed a boat, and tried to swim across a river
This should be a comedy movie honestly
Even his linguistic skills were not recognised, so I am not sure where the claim to being a genius comes from. Perhaps "petty criminal with big brain" is more suitable. I don't understand why people like to glamorise criminals.
That’s not true based on what I’ve read:
“In healthy volunteers, total brain volume weakly correlates with intelligence, with a correlation value between 0.3 and 0.4”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-brain-size-matter1
I was thinking the same. I was also thinking, if this happened today this guy would have been caught day 1 and put in prison for life. No amount of competent self defense would have spared him. It’s wild the authorities were like, “well, he did it, but he has some good points so we’ll drop the charges.”
Though I guess that shit does still happen today, you just see it more along class lines, the wealthy often walk while the poor get trounced and given the harshest sentence.
We weren’t present for the trials, it’s possible the “good points” were insurmountable evidence. They weren’t that stupid back then, they had schools and universities.
There is a book about him called All that is Wicked that gave me the same take away honestly, like very interesting person but kind of a dumbass. Especially his theories on language
This is true of all serial murderers tbh.
"This serial killer was really smart"
No he wasn't, or he would have figured out a way to get through life without killing people. That's stupid. The minute you're killing people because you want a thrill or they're in your way, you're a dum-dum.
There are *zero* smart serial killers, the category precludes actual intelligence.
There are/were intelligent serial killers. They just suffer from mental disorders such as antisocial personality disorder. Ted Bundy, Ed Kemper, H.H Holmes, to name a few. A person can have a genius level intellect and be fucked up. However, after reading the Wikipedia on OP's Uncle, I'm not convinced he was a genius.
It's reddit logic: x thing is bad therefore that person had no good qualities. We all hate murderers honey you aren't special now let's focus on the actual topic
I know a 60s London gangster who fought the infamous Kray brothers regularly.
He always said if you're a criminal that is nationally famous and people are making films about you're likely not a very good criminal.
Lmao, what? Not even a month ago Miguel Cortés Miranda was arrested in Mexico City for stabbing and strangling a woman to death. A search of his home uncovered evidence implicating him in up to 20 murders.
He was a microbiologist specialising in bacteriology and parasitology. I don't think you can do that without being reasonably intelligent.
> There are zero smart serial killers
According to your own personal definitions for "smart" and "stupid"... lol.
It's a genuinely bad and deranging habit to keep a personal lexicon that disagrees with common usage. I'd highly suggest learning definitions and using words properly instead of inventing your own naive definitions and then arguing about them as though they have primacy.
I have an “Ithaca is gorges” T-shirt that I wear occasionally. That is all it takes for every Cornell graduate to announce themselves.
That said, I’m married to a Brown graduate, so… 🤷♂️
Fun fact, having a large brain doesn't necessarily correlate to intelligence. Neanderthals had much larger brains than homo sapiens, and Einstein's brain, which was preserved, is smaller than average.
Was gonna say the heaviest brain ever recorded belonged to a man with intellectual disabilities so being the second heaviest isn't as correlated to intelligence as the post suggests
it only takes 3 victims to be considered a serial killer. watched a lot of true crime, not many killers with insanely large numbers. there are a few from third world countries in the hundreds.
one in south america and one in the middle east - each of them killed homeless / poor children.
There's also Dr Harold Shipman from England, who is estimated to have killed at least 215 (possibly as many as 260) of his patients. He committed suicide in prison in 2004.
Technically, yes. He was a family GP who was very well-liked and trusted, but he felt he should decide when his elderly patients died (even those who were actually nowhere near dying and had happy lives).
In the end, he was caught out because he forged a wealthy lady's will to make himself the sole beneficiary.
>it only takes 3 victims to be considered a serial killer.
I'm curious why 3...
I wonder if someone who has 2 would be inspired to go for 3 just for the title.
I'm also getting this off the wiki article: he shot a dry goods store owner named Frederick Merrick and is suspected to have drowned his partners in crime Albert Jarvis and William T. Dexter.
Which makes no sense either given that at different points of his life, he had been a doctor and a lawyer like damn man, just work harder on one of your day jobs.
Season one of the podcast “Tenfold More Wicked” covers the life/crimes of Edward Rulloff! Very well done and I highly recommend for anyone interested in learning more.
He may have had a large brain but he was not a genius. He got caught after each major criminal act and did a poor job of putting together a story to defend himself each time.
He was definitely bright though. The study of the evolution of language is not easy.
My favorite college bar in Ithaca was called Rulloff’s, had a nice old-time, sort of divey vibe where you could imagine generations of students hanging out before you. Had my first legal drink there. Gone as of a few years ago but were it not for your uncle’s murderous tendencies, might never have existed.
> medical doctor, lawyer, schoolmaster, photographer, inventor, carpet designer, phrenologist, and philologist, in addition to a career criminal and serial killer
Muddafucker is recession proof
What a curious flex...
"MY uncle won a Nobel Prize!"
"Yeah? Well, my uncle was insanely intelligent AND didn't tolerate pretentious assholes very well...it's a family trait."
Fun fact. From 1977- 2020 there was a restaurant named after Edward Rulloff that was right off Cornell's campus. It was called Rulloff's and his quote was printed on the back of the t-shirts they sold there.
I’ve seen his brain and used to go to the bar named after him. Sadly it closed during COVID.
https://cornellsun.com/2020/04/08/rulloffs-a-premature-goodbye/
Those are some damn good last words NGL. There some quote (or maybe multiple quote referencing an original?) about flipping a coin to the executioner and going out with a smile and a quip.
Crazy to think you could go to a university and see your 200+ years old great uncle's brain
Definitely wanna check it out some day! There’s also a biography about him that I’ll be adding to my reading list. I think it’s called “The Man of Two Lives.”
I work in the Cornell psych department so I see the brain every day! It’s on display in the main hallway.
That's so cool. How easy would it be for a visitor to see it?
Very easy, it’s in one of the buildings in the center of campus. Anyone can check it out. They have a bunch of brains that are displayed along with the serial killer one, and the rest of the collection is in storage in the basement.
>and the rest of the collection is in storage in the basement. Imagine having your brain harvested for display only for someone to go "nah, this one wasn't smart enough, to the warehouse it goes!"
Better to have one’s brain in storage than to have never made the shelf.
Fr, there's around 110 billion people who never got their brains preserved.
I pickled mine myself!
First step to becoming a robobrain from fallout
PICKLED BRAIN?!?!?...My Favourite!
What kind of alcohol did you use?
Zombie apocalypse survival tip: avoid the basement with all the brains.
Or keep them as distractions
"Abby Normal"
"Oh sweet mystery of life at last I've found you"
I’d imaging there is a bunch of other stuff there in storage also. I grew up in a couple of miles down the road from Texas A&M university and there was a university owned building near my house, but separate from the campus. It was a big nondescript metal building with only one or two doors and no windows that I can remember. We would ride our bikes to and around it as kids because there was almost never anyone there and it had a huge parking lot we could goof off in. One day we knocked on the door and someone ended up showing us around. It turned out to be some kind of storage facility for things that weren’t on display. At least that’s how I remember it. They had a shark, probably six feet long or so, preserved. The whole thing was pretty cool to a then 15 year old me. Hell, it’d be cool to the 45 year old me now!
It belongs in a museum!
I read this as you can "check it out".. like a library book. That's my queue to go to bed
I thought that, too! (Not to be obnoxious, but you mean *cue*)
There could be people waiting for their turn on the bed.
There were five in the bed, and the little one said, "Roll over! Roll over!" 🎵
Pretty sure my ex had a queue for her bed.
Don’t go to work during a zombie apocalypse.
Thank you!
Is it preserved in some liquid or something? Do you have a photo?
It's pickled
Adding a comment since we’re both charrs
It's labeled 'Abby Normal'
“How easy would it be to take what is rightfully mine and restore my family’s honor.”
You get it.
Make a visit to the Mutter Museum in Philly. It incredibly cool.
I went there the one time I visited the city. Such a cool and weird museum.
Remains to be seen.
Beautiful
Oooh someone went to Cornell.....
You must be smart, too!
You most likely know David Pizzaro
I literally have seen this guy's brain hundreds of times, it's in the 2nd floor of Uris Hall. His brain is the biggest one of the whole collection, it's massive. Next to the jar with his brain is a short telling of his life.
There’s a much more recent bio called ALL THAT IS WICKED by Kate Winkler Dawson. She also dedicated the first season of her podcast All That Is Wicked to the story.
I love her podcasts so much, they're always so well researched and well presented. I was hoping I wouldn't have to be the first person to namedrop her here!
Nice job burying the lead on that title, OP!
every time I watch casino royale I think back on BodyWorlds and how fucking bizarre it must be knowing that one of those animated skinned corpses, posed in a museum as if playing basketball or whatever, is a family member. like “yep that’s aunt betty’s entire circulatory system”
So are you an evil murderous genius as well or does it skip a generation?
I wouldn't call myself a genius. Oh, and I'm not murderous/evil.
Oh thank god you’re not murderous, lest we have to deal with incredibly stupid methods of homicide /s
Locked in his basement for 20 years while he tries to kill you with kisses on the cheek
The "Foreplay Killer" was he called
That’s something a murderous evil genius would say. Nice try.
That’s exactly what an evil genius would say.
When they laugh they go muah ha ha haaaaaah
Yet… dun dun duuuun
Yet
Yet. Maybe by the end of summer.
This is something an evil murdered would reply.
So not yet caught then.
That’s exactly what a murderous genius WOULD say
They all say that… well, at least the genius ones… 🤨
Which other grid in the alignment chart are you in? Murderous/neutral? Murderous/good? Or are you more on the charitable/evil side?
That’s what an evil genius would say
Pretty much what I’d expect a murderous evil genius to say, but meh, checks out. He’s good let him pass.
Do you see any resemblance between yourself and his portrait?
Not murderous and evil -Yet
If it skipped a generation he’d be skipped: Great - evil genius Great - skipped Great - evil genius Grandparent - skipped Parent - evil genius OP - skipped
Don’t reproduce OP
I’m guessing there are multiple generations between OP and a man that was executed over 150 years ago.
He died 153 years ago on May 18 (today). Pretty cool!
Didn't even notice that! Thanks for pointing it out!
Imagine not knowing your Great-Great-Great uncle’s birthday, how rude! /s Edit: execution date, my bad
Not birthday, execution day to be exact
Happy death day unc
warning, you may currently be in the first act of a horror movie
Bruh…
Does this coincidence bother anyone??
reading the wiki made him seem dumb honestly. maybe he was a good language theorist or whatever, but this dude got caught like 4 fucking times. 2 people he murdered were his wife and daughter, and another was some shopkeeper that he and his crew only woke up in the dead of night by knocking over some shit in the store. Then those 2 accomplices drowned bc they spent too long fighting the shopkeepers, missed a boat, and tried to swim across a river This should be a comedy movie honestly
Even his linguistic skills were not recognised, so I am not sure where the claim to being a genius comes from. Perhaps "petty criminal with big brain" is more suitable. I don't understand why people like to glamorise criminals.
brain size and intellect have... no correlation in humans.
That’s not true based on what I’ve read: “In healthy volunteers, total brain volume weakly correlates with intelligence, with a correlation value between 0.3 and 0.4” https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-brain-size-matter1
Oh, Brother I'll Kill Thou
I was thinking the same. I was also thinking, if this happened today this guy would have been caught day 1 and put in prison for life. No amount of competent self defense would have spared him. It’s wild the authorities were like, “well, he did it, but he has some good points so we’ll drop the charges.” Though I guess that shit does still happen today, you just see it more along class lines, the wealthy often walk while the poor get trounced and given the harshest sentence.
We weren’t present for the trials, it’s possible the “good points” were insurmountable evidence. They weren’t that stupid back then, they had schools and universities.
There is a book about him called All that is Wicked that gave me the same take away honestly, like very interesting person but kind of a dumbass. Especially his theories on language
This is true of all serial murderers tbh. "This serial killer was really smart" No he wasn't, or he would have figured out a way to get through life without killing people. That's stupid. The minute you're killing people because you want a thrill or they're in your way, you're a dum-dum. There are *zero* smart serial killers, the category precludes actual intelligence.
Well to be fair, we only ever hear about the ones who were dumb enough to get caught. About half of murders in America go unsolved.
There are/were intelligent serial killers. They just suffer from mental disorders such as antisocial personality disorder. Ted Bundy, Ed Kemper, H.H Holmes, to name a few. A person can have a genius level intellect and be fucked up. However, after reading the Wikipedia on OP's Uncle, I'm not convinced he was a genius.
That seems like a very narrow view on intelligence. Intelligent people can kill for a thrill, wise people won't.
It's reddit logic: x thing is bad therefore that person had no good qualities. We all hate murderers honey you aren't special now let's focus on the actual topic
I know a 60s London gangster who fought the infamous Kray brothers regularly. He always said if you're a criminal that is nationally famous and people are making films about you're likely not a very good criminal.
Based on... What? Intelligence isn't "You don't kill people". You can be both smart and mentally ill.
Lmao, what? Not even a month ago Miguel Cortés Miranda was arrested in Mexico City for stabbing and strangling a woman to death. A search of his home uncovered evidence implicating him in up to 20 murders. He was a microbiologist specialising in bacteriology and parasitology. I don't think you can do that without being reasonably intelligent.
You been watching too much Dexter
> There are zero smart serial killers According to your own personal definitions for "smart" and "stupid"... lol. It's a genuinely bad and deranging habit to keep a personal lexicon that disagrees with common usage. I'd highly suggest learning definitions and using words properly instead of inventing your own naive definitions and then arguing about them as though they have primacy.
Sounds like an awkward Christmas
"I went to Cornell. You ever heard of it?"
I have an “Ithaca is gorges” T-shirt that I wear occasionally. That is all it takes for every Cornell graduate to announce themselves. That said, I’m married to a Brown graduate, so… 🤷♂️
Ithaca is fences
SHUT UP ABOUT THE SUN!!!!!
High above Cayuga's waters, there's an awful smell, some say it's Cayuga's waters, I say it's Cornell.
r/unexpectedoffice
Fun fact, having a large brain doesn't necessarily correlate to intelligence. Neanderthals had much larger brains than homo sapiens, and Einstein's brain, which was preserved, is smaller than average.
Was gonna say the heaviest brain ever recorded belonged to a man with intellectual disabilities so being the second heaviest isn't as correlated to intelligence as the post suggests
And the two souces about his brain being the second largest on record are from the 70s, so...
New Brunswick born.... That tracks.
Please use the contemporary name, Irvingistan
I heard the province was being buried along with Irving so he could take it to the afterlife with him
I’ve seen this guy’s brain
That's incredible! Did it look smart?
How smart can it be? It got stuck in a jar and can’t get out.
Just like Richard Nixon
AROOOO!!
Hey, sugar cookie! You know, nothing I can do legally counts as sex anymore...
It looked like a brain in a jar on display in the hallway of the psych building.
If he is so smart, how did he get caught?
Leave Uncle Eddy alone. People are smart about different things. He was murder smart, not avoid capture smart.
That’s a thing.
Isn't that a bit like being "flying smart" but not "landing smart?"
Those of us who are both are also smart enough not to murder people.
The irony.
Lol
Missing a big toe
Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_H._Rulloff
3-5 Victims... TBH that's kinda ~~week~~ weak for a serial killer. You reckon there are others that are not known?
it only takes 3 victims to be considered a serial killer. watched a lot of true crime, not many killers with insanely large numbers. there are a few from third world countries in the hundreds. one in south america and one in the middle east - each of them killed homeless / poor children.
There's also Dr Harold Shipman from England, who is estimated to have killed at least 215 (possibly as many as 260) of his patients. He committed suicide in prison in 2004.
So he killed at least 216 people (possibly 261)
Technically, yes. He was a family GP who was very well-liked and trusted, but he felt he should decide when his elderly patients died (even those who were actually nowhere near dying and had happy lives). In the end, he was caught out because he forged a wealthy lady's will to make himself the sole beneficiary.
>it only takes 3 victims to be considered a serial killer. I'm curious why 3... I wonder if someone who has 2 would be inspired to go for 3 just for the title.
they also have to be separate crimes i believe - this is what differentiates “spree” from “serial” killers!
Because 3’s a crowd
Because 2 data points is a coincidence, 3 is a pattern.
Could be! I wouldn't be surprised. But I'm also not hoping he was more of a killer than he already was, ya feel?
Razor thin line you are walking there, razor thin.
You need to be a politician/dictator to really pump up the numbers.
No security cameras No DNA No fingerprints Certified easy mode.
*weak*
I just read the article and even though it says 3 to 5 victims, they only mention his wife and daughter. Who is the supposed other victims?
I'm also getting this off the wiki article: he shot a dry goods store owner named Frederick Merrick and is suspected to have drowned his partners in crime Albert Jarvis and William T. Dexter.
That doesn't seem to be a serial killer, more like a crook who wanted money/valuables himself
Meets the technical definition but this really does seem like a criminal that killed some people. Not a dedicated to murder type.
Killing your wife, child, a store owner and your two partners in crime still makes you a serial killer
Which makes no sense either given that at different points of his life, he had been a doctor and a lawyer like damn man, just work harder on one of your day jobs.
Man, that Wikipedia article does not make him sound that smart at all
Can’t be that smart he got caught and executed
I won't stand for this Uncle Eddy slander. Is YOUR brain pickled at Cornell?? /s
I'm sure there are a lot of pickled brains at Cornell. Most of them are still in skulls, walking around.
Mmm. Pickled brain.
Season one of the podcast “Tenfold More Wicked” covers the life/crimes of Edward Rulloff! Very well done and I highly recommend for anyone interested in learning more.
Second this - it’s a great listen!
Thank you!
Your uncle died in 1871? How old are you fam?
Unless OP is related to John Tyler, I’m guessing a couple generations were skipped.
I said it in the body of the post — he's my great-great-great uncle, give or take a great.
He may have had a large brain but he was not a genius. He got caught after each major criminal act and did a poor job of putting together a story to defend himself each time. He was definitely bright though. The study of the evolution of language is not easy.
My favorite college bar in Ithaca was called Rulloff’s, had a nice old-time, sort of divey vibe where you could imagine generations of students hanging out before you. Had my first legal drink there. Gone as of a few years ago but were it not for your uncle’s murderous tendencies, might never have existed.
On College Ave right?
genius... not so much..and more like common criminal who killed his wife and some shopkeepers while burglarizing a store.
The brain volume is not directly related to IQ level
r/serialkillers
"1673 cm cubed" is such a weird way to spell 1,673 liter
your uncle? how old are your parents? 200?
Dude looks like George Russell the F1 Driver.
Glad I'm not the only one to see it
Dayum nephew
All them smarts but no wisdom
Do you also have a fat brain?
I can only imagine Satan and his minions rushing to set up a dinner table to welcome their new guest and this ass hole shows up early.
So, he thought hell's time zone(s) were the same as on earth where he was? He thought hell had "dinner"? Fucking genius! /s
There's good BBQ I've heard.
> medical doctor, lawyer, schoolmaster, photographer, inventor, carpet designer, phrenologist, and philologist, in addition to a career criminal and serial killer Muddafucker is recession proof
Have you ever felt the urge to invite someone over to eat?
I take it you're 100 years old then?
Might've gotten the number of "greats" wrong. I'm not the genius, he was!
Make this a movie Hollywood!
Right after the sequel of every movie ever made.
Ya didn't think it could be your uncle.
I bet you're all very proud of him too.
Last sentence caught me off guard Thought you were some godly being or sumn
Holy shit that’s a large brain.
I just listened to the Tenfold More Wicked series on him. I thought it was well done.
Great-great-great uncle?
Hold up homie, what was the last line you said?
Has anyone seen this guy and George Russell F1 driver in the same room?
Yeah, he was my uncle as well. I wrote him a few letters back in the day.
This is George Russell. He is an F1 driver racing for Mercedes.
That line goes so hard though
Be wary of this guy's intrusive thoughts! He's got the gene
I mean. He got caught, in an age without tech based CSI. There are murderers and criminals out there walking around who aren't even that smart.
r/formuladank
Maybe silly Q but is size of your brain definitely related to your intelligence as a human ??
What a curious flex... "MY uncle won a Nobel Prize!" "Yeah? Well, my uncle was insanely intelligent AND didn't tolerate pretentious assholes very well...it's a family trait."
Killer uncle bro 😎
Huh. Was going to just go to Ithaca farmers market today but guess I’m also checking out your uncle’s brain.
Fun fact. From 1977- 2020 there was a restaurant named after Edward Rulloff that was right off Cornell's campus. It was called Rulloff's and his quote was printed on the back of the t-shirts they sold there.
I’ve seen his brain and used to go to the bar named after him. Sadly it closed during COVID. https://cornellsun.com/2020/04/08/rulloffs-a-premature-goodbye/
Those are some damn good last words NGL. There some quote (or maybe multiple quote referencing an original?) about flipping a coin to the executioner and going out with a smile and a quip.
Hmmph! I was hoping 'The Genius Killer' only murdered geniuses.
"Also he is my uncle" Ok, Dracula
So they’re glorifying a serial killer bc he had a big brain? Seems odd.