Serial Killers Rituals In The Landlady's

The "need for ritual is a way to identify that a serial killer is at work; it sets him from other murderers"(Dolan 51). Serial Killers and their actions of killing others may easily become an “addiction” and “way of life” (Dolan 1). Serial Killers have rituals that are put into seven phases: The Aura Phase, The Trolling Phase, Wooing Phase, Capture, Murder, Totem Phase and Depression Phase. In the story “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl, the lady goes through these phases to kill her next victim Billy Weaver. As already known the landlady is a serial killer since she underwent the phases Trolling and Totem. To begin, the landlady goes through a trolling phase. In this phase the killer begins searching for an actual victim. Many killers are different,

In this step, the murder is doing something to the body so that when they see it, they remember the murder. In remembrance of the murderers "feeling of power and control," they may use body parts "as mementos and souvenirs"(Dolan 54). To add, the murderer may have the victim "buried in isolated spots to which the killer might return"(Dolan 55). Clearly, after the murder, the murderer will want to remember the killing of their victim and they remember with what they do with the victims remains. Similarly, in "The Landlady" the lady remembered her victims in the same ways as talked about in Serial Murder. Primarily, the lady famously stuffer her pets when they passed away to preserve them, which was practice for her victims. Also, the lady made the guests sign the guest book spat is she forgets their name she can "come down.. and look it up"(Dahl 5). Neither Mr. Temple or Mr. , guests of the Brad and breakfast, have ever left and "they're on the third floor, both of them together"(Dahl 5). Therefore, the lady had killed the victims and stuffed them to preserve their bodies and remember them. Hence, if she forgot their names, she would go down to the guestbook where she made them write their names. As in the real world, after killing their victims, they keep the body and treasure it in their own way as a remembrance of the murder. Clearly, there is a connection between the landlady and actual serial killers because the lady