Johnny Killspeople is a troubled person who likes to kill people with melee weapons. 40 years ago he went on a spree and brutally killed a lot of people in a small town. After a few incidents he was locked up for life in a mental institution.

Though there have been a couple of incidents during his isolation (pretty rare occurences), meaning he fooled some guard and killed one or two people, he spent the great majority of this time behind bars.

Let's come back to the present. 40 years (of imprisonment) have passed. He must be about 60 to 70 years old now.

After killing a poor guard who was taking a nap, Mr. Killspeople escapes and heads straight to the little town of Manyvictims, where a townwide party is going on. He wants to start an even bigger spree in the little time he has left but... is it feasible?

Since he's WAY older, its safe to assume that his physical capabilites (reflexes, speed, stamina, strength) are not the same.

In this given scenario, would this guy still be able to get a high body count before he's dead/captured?

Things to consider

If any other information is necessary I'll start editing this post and putting whatever is relevant here:

• As pointed by L.Dutch, I'm setting "high body count" as equal or more than 12 kills.

He's also much wiser (well you know what I mean).

He don't mutilate the bodies. He kills than nice and clean leaving them in position typical for party goers: sleeping, drunk, pairs kissing in dim/dark.

Also a lot of police and people would be securing the party so that would leave other places almost empty and rarely visited.

So he could work from the fair working his way outside the town, roads would be empty so he could travel fast from place to place without alarming anyone about HIS particular existence.

12 people is easily achievable. I would say around 4 people on the fair (attendants), around 3 people working the backstage (as no one would notice if the guy watching cables is in the loo for too long), then few people around town in gas stations until he is bored and go back to fair.

By now they either:

• found the bodies and rise a silent alarm creating a little confusion. Police would figure out it's Johnny Killspeople so they would look form him. Johnny could use it to rise alarm and create panic to kill additional few people.


• The bodies are not yet been found to the fair is still going as it was. Johnny can go back to silently taking out people. Until he get's sloppy or would want to go full Machete in the crowd. Going Machete style is not a good way to kill many people. Rather injure.

Its not hard to kill someone with a long knife

As long as he doesn't mind surprising people, it isn't that hard to kill someone with a long pointy weapon.

• Get someone alone, on a back street or a park at night.


• Make sure they aren't an athletic, sober young man (or woman)


• Stab to incapacitate


• Continue stabbing until dead


• Repeat

You'll probably get caught relatively soon, so the real question is if you can kill 12 people before the police nab you.

Johnny can also use a crowd as cover. In a similar way as with kingledion's answer the weapon should be something like a stiletto (or any knife or even a screwdriver will do). Move through the crowd, stabbing a target then walking (not running) away and repeating. Hide in the confusion and the crowds and attack whenever someone isn't looking his way.

Being old will actually work in his favour here if he plays into it and makes sure to look harmless and slow moving. He might even be able to lure a few people away from the crowd by getting them to try and protect or help the "frail old man".

Crazy people like Johnny usually fall into one of two categories:

• The brutal type who wants some violence. They work in the "Hulk smash" style and usually start violent brawls just to have some fun.


• The silent type who wants to look into their victims eyes as life leaves them. They work in the "Assassins Creed" style and try not to be detected.

If Johnny achieved a high body cound with a melee weapon before, he likely falls into the second category. And now he had 40 years to plan his next killing spree and how exactly he would dodge being detected by authorities.

He would probably start slow and scout for hiding spots. Then he would select single, isolated victims and hide their bodies. Depending on the hiding places he finds, I think he could kill 4 - 6 people before anyone find the first body.

Of course he wouldn't slit anyones throat. That's much too messy and leaves very clear signs behind. Instead, he would stab his victims in a way that kills (or stuns) quickly and causes more internal bleeding than external. Lay people down in a quiet spot, empty half a beer over their groin and leave the bottle in their hands and it takes even longer for people to realize the person is dead instead of drunk.

To prevent a mass panic the police would probably not inform the visitors of the fair. They would send all available units to the fair to try and spot the murderer. Of course Johhny would realize the change.

Now he would have to kill people in riskier places like a toilet stall or behind a booth. He would probably be in more of a hurry to get his body count as high as possible. Someone will find a body in the middle of the fair and panic ensures.

This is a good chance for Johnny to hide in the masses. If he follows people running away and has some expression of fear plastered on his face, chances are high the police officers won't spot him. One outside the fair, he can catch panicked and desoriented passerbys and leave a trail of bodies behind.

His actual body count depends on:

• The hideaways available


• His acting skill


• The moment he's spotted by anyone. If he's first spotted by a civilian, he has more time to kill. If it's an officer spotting him first, his time is up.

This sounds awful, but you could go to a school ...

Definetly a school located not in USA. :)

When you arrive just killem. In a class are about 20-30 persons means you can easily make it to your goal. Better kill the janitor first to get the keys to lock the persons. When done, maybe in 1 or two minutes you can even make it to other rooms and kill more children and teacher.

Please don't use this in your story, it's horribly easy to intrude in a school and massacre everyone. I don't want to think for psychopaths.

Hope this helps :/