Listmania: Top 10 scariest (real) bad guys

Also in tribute to Halloween... not for the squeamish.

Top 10 Scariest People Who Ever Lived

10) Nero

One of the most famous madmen ever, Emperor Nero had his horse made a senator of Rome and threw Christians to the lions for sport. He is immortalized as one of the most brutal Roman Emperors -- and is said to have played his lyre while Rome burned (hence the CD-ROM burning program: Nero). When he stabbed himself in the neck it is said he gasped, "What an artist the world is losing in me!"

9) Jack the Ripper

Still remembered after more than a century, Jack the Ripper is one of the most infamous serial killers ever. Ripper killed his victims in public and then mutilated the bodies. He is believed to have been a surgeon, due to the skill with which he removed organs.

8) Shaka Zulu

A tactical genius and a brave warrior, Shaka was also brutal and borderline mad. When he was first expanding his influence, he conquered a neighboring tribe and had them impaled upon their own fence posts and then burned alive. Due to his tribal expansion, over 3 million Africans were displaced.

7) Hülegü Khan

The grandson of Ghengis Khan, when Hülegü captured Baghdad he had the Caliph wrapped in a rug and trampled to death by horses -- "beaten to a pulp." He also slaughtered over 250,000 people in one day after the city was defeated. He was so frightening in battle that the infamous Assassins turned their mountain fortress over to him without a fight.

6) Timur the Lame

Tamurlane left mountains of skulls in the wake of his armies. Millions of people were killed by this man.

5) Charles Manson

Ordered the brutal murders of a number of famous Californians, including a pregnant woman. He is said to be so charismatic and convincing that prison guards were actually letting him wander the prison yard unattended. This is a scary man.

4) Adolf Hitler/Adolf Eichmann

Although not the #1 mass murderers in the history of mankind, Hitler and Eichmann are perhaps the most notorious. They created the most horrendously efficient system of genocide to date -- Hitler as the front man, Eichmann as the actual architect.

3) Dr. Joseph Mengele

Known as Todesengel, the Angel of Death, Mengele was in charge of the medical experiments at Auschwitz. Nazi medical experiments included the use of pressure chambers, excruciating diseases, drowning and revival, chemical warfare experiments, genetic tinkering, etc.

2) Tomás de Torquemada

Under Torquemada, some of the most ingenious methods of torture were devised during the Spanish Inquisition: including bone splinterers, finger-nail probes, instruments for tearing out the eyes or tongue, iron maidens, tightening leg vises, ladles to pour molten lead down throats, etc. And these are only the ones I feel comfortable mentioning...

1) Vlad the Impaler

The real-life dracula -- called "Dragon" or "Devil" -- Vlad III of Transylvania had 30,000 merchants impaled on spikes for disobeying his laws. He also invited all the unworthy members of society to his hall for a giant feast, after which he had them burnt alive. He had people skinned alive, etc. Rumor has it he drank his enemies' blood and ate their flesh.