The First Known Serial Killers:
| The first known serial killers
in America were two cousins named Micajah and Wiley Harp, sons of Scottish
Immigrants to Orange County, North Carolina.
The two left home in 1775, with plans of being slave owners in Virginia. They soon became sidetracked by the American Revolution and instead became outlaws, roving the North Carolina countryside, kidnapping and raping farmers' daughters, pillaging livestock and crops, and burning farmhouses. During their tyranny, they kidnapped three women who they allowed to live as their wives. When the women bore children, the HARPS would execute them. As time wore on, by 1797, the two had 5 credited kills. The HARPS continued their killing spree into Tennessee and Kentucky leaving many victims in their path. Their M.O.'s varied but one they predominantly stuck to was gutting their victims and filling the body cavity with rocks, in order they sunk when thrown into a body of water. They were briefly imprisoned in early 1798 in Danville, Kentucky, for the murder of a traveler they were last seen with. They escaped but left their wives to fend for themselves. The HARPS then settled in Henderson County, Kentucky, but soon left there and took up roost in a cave off the Ohio River, near the Illinois border. Meanwhile, the Governor of Kentucky issued a $300 reward and summoned a posse to capture the two escapees. After another killing spree, the posse happened upon the HARPS near the cave. After a brief chase, the posse left Micajah Harp's body on "Harp's Hill", Kentucky, but left with a souvenir. They took his head to the nearest crossroads and displayed it there from an oak tree. Today, the crossroads are named Harp's Head and Harp's Head Road, in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, near Highway 62. The younger HARP, Wiley, fled the posse. Some 4 years later, he killed a fellow criminal and cut off his head. He then took the head into town to claim the reward money offered on that criminal. While there, he too was recognized as a fugitive. He was hanged, cut down, and decapitated. His head was posted alongside the road as a warning to outlaws. The HARPS were credited with as many as 40 victims, though the true number may never be known.
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