In previous articles, the horoscopes of 99 serial killers were examined for factors that occurred with a frequency at least 50% higher than predicted by chance. The next question is, do any of these aspects occur at the same 50% or better rate in the horoscopes of other types of murderers?

In other words, are there astrological signatures for murder in general?

In this article, we are going to compare the results from the 99 serial killers with a group of 35 mass murderers. Mass murderers are those who kill only once, but kill more than one person at the time. The factors examined are sign placements, house placements, and aspects. Aspects to midpoints are also examined.

For the full details of the test procedure, click here to review the first article.

The mass murderers are:

• Stephanie Bohain, who in November 1992, shot his wife, two baby daughters, and his wife’s parents.
• Erminio Criscione, in February 1992, he killed five people in Switzerland.
• Ronald DeFeo, Jr., the “Amityville Horror” killer, who murdered his family.
• Harry DeLaRoche, killed his mother, father, and two brothers in November 1976.
• Diane Downs tried to kill all of her children on May 19, 1983.
• Albert Dyer, a school crossing guard who, on July 26, 1937,lured three girls to the woods and strangled them.
• Corrado Ferioli, Italian drug addict who killed his parents.
• Gary Gilmore killed two men in Provo, Utah, July 19-20, 1976.
• Todd Gorsuch, shot his 11-year-old sister and her girlfriend to death, October 3, 1970.
• Thomas Hamilton went to the local primary school on March 13,1996 and killed 16 children and their teacher.
• Eric Harris, the Columbine High School killer. He and his friend killed 15 before committing suicide.
• Homicide 1180, diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, killed his mother, father, and a brother with a shotgun.
• Homicide-Suicide killed her three children and then hung herself.
• Jeffery MacDonald, the Green Beret murderer, killed his wife and two children.
• Archie McCaffery claimed he heard voices at his child’s gravesite that said the baby would come back to life if he killed seven people; he killed three before being caught.
• Eric Menendez, with his brother Lyle, killed their parents.
• Lyle Menendez, Eric’s brother (see above).
• Roland Menzies entered a backyard in Florida and killed two small children.
• Thomas Odle, on November 8, 1985, killed his parents and three siblings.
• Jean Roussel, shot seven people to death in a hotel, August 5, 1983.
• Sylvia Seegrist shot nine people in a mall, killing two, on October 30, 1985.
• Walter Shaw cut his mother’s and sister’s throats on March 30, 1892.
• Annie Soudin killed her two children and buried them with the help of her husband on June 3, 1983.
• Richard Speck. Killed eight student nurses on July 14, 1966.
• Brenda Spencer, on January 29, 1979, killed a custodian, a principal, and wounded eight children and a policeman.
• Robert Strack, the Beast of Cologne, raped and murdered two eleven-year-old girls on October 13, 1965.
• Larry Swartz, shot and killed his adoptive parents on January 17, 1984.
• Harry Tracy killed four prison guards during an escape, June 9, 1902.
• Howard Unruh, on September 6, 1949, he killed 13 men, women, and children in Camden New Jersey; judged not fit to stand trial.
• Alain Vareille shot his two children and his pregnant wife on September 12, 1987.
• Daniel White. Killed the mayor of San Francisco, then ran down the hall and killed Harvey Milk, November 27, 1978.
• Charles Whitman. The Texas Tower Killer, August 1, 1966. Killed his wife and mother, then went to the top of the tower at the University of Texas and began shooting people. He killed thirty.
• Jeanne Wright, on December 4, 1983, she threw her four children into the river.
• Lysian Bonnafous, a French psychiatrist who, on May 13, 1992, shot and killed his wife and two teenage daughters, then himself.
• James Huberty killed 21 people at a McDonald’s on July 18, 1984.

The only two sign placements that gave results at least 50% above random were the Sun in Sagittarius (5 hits out of 35 cases) and Venus in Aquarius (7 out of 35). In the third article, Sun in Sagittarius missed making the cut by just one case. It is now back on list.

The house placements that gave results at least 50% above random for all three groups were:

• Uranus in the 9th house (5 out of 35 for the mass murderers; 20 out of 134 for all three groups.
• Pluto in the 11th house (5 out of 35 for mass murderers; 18 out of 34 for the total of all three groups).
• The Moon’s North Node in the 11th house (5 hits out of 35 for the mass murderers; 17 out of 134 for the total of all three groups).

The following aspects which gave results 50% or more above chance for the serial killers, also gave results for the mass murderers:

• Sun in stress aspect to the Venus/Mars midpoint.
• Sun in conjunction with the Venus/Mars midpoint.
• Moon in stress aspect with Mars.
• Mercury in stress aspect with the Vertex.
• Mars in stress aspect with the Sun/Uranus midpoint.
• Juno in stress aspect with the Uranus/Ascendant midpoint.
• Uranus in stress aspect with the Jupiter/Vertex midpoint.
• Neptune in stress aspect with the Mars/Ceres midpoint.
• Pluto in stress aspect with the Moon/Venus midpoint.
• Pluto in stress aspect with the Uranus/Vertex midpoint.
• The Ascendant in stress aspect with the North Node of Mars
• The Mid-Heaven in stress aspect with the Neptune/Ascendant midpoint.

First of all, I would like to emphasize again that the results of this study do not constitute proof of anything. They certainly do not do not prove that astrology works (whatever that means). The purpose of this series of papers is to see if there are correlations between objective astronomical factors in a horoscope and objectively observable specific events in the lives of people. This is the first step in the scientific process of validation or falsification of any hypothesis.

In the astrological literature, it is claimed (anecdotally) that the Moon influences one’s emotions. Mars is alleged to “govern” energy, anger, and aggression. A “stressful aspect” (angles of 0, 90, and 180 degrees) between the Moon and Mars is supposed to increase the chance of emotional outbursts. It is no surprise to an astrologer to find this type of aspect occurring in the horoscopes of serial killers and mass murderers at a rate of 50% or more above chance. Nor is it surprising to find the planet Mars making a stress aspect to the midpoint of the Sun and the planet Uranus. Combinations involving Mars and Uranus are alleged by astrologers to increase the chance of sudden angry outbursts, so the appearance of Mars aspecting the Sun/Uranus midpoint is no surprise either.

The North Node of Mars in stress aspect to the Ascendant is a bit unusual. There is very little about planetary nodes in the astrological literature. While it has been suggested that planetary nodes may have an influence similar to that of their planets, there has been no evidence provided to demonstrate that this is so. Indeed, very little statistical evidence has been presented by astrologers to show that the planets themselves have any effect! Fortunately, with the advent of databases and the software to analyze them, that situation is changing.

In this paper, it was found that there were 17 different factors that showed up with a rate of at least 50% above chance, two sign placements, three house placements, and 12 aspects. These results provide a focus for future research.

The work is continuing....

Bob Marks, Astrologer