1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:05,840 Speaker 1: Let me tell you this story. In upstate New York, 2 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:10,119 Speaker 1: there's this little village called Dryden, and for centuries, the 3 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: people there have welcomed strangers into their churches and into 4 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:17,240 Speaker 1: their homes. It used to be one of those places 5 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:21,400 Speaker 1: where everyone in town was invited to a wedding. So 6 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:27,040 Speaker 1: it was a really close, really trusting community. In eighteen 7 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:32,240 Speaker 1: forty two, a stranger arrived. He was a handsome, charming, 8 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:37,680 Speaker 1: brilliant scholar named Edward Ruloff. He found work with a 9 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: local farming family, a very prominent family. 10 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:44,479 Speaker 2: Their home was always open to anybody that needed a 11 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:48,159 Speaker 2: place to stay or passers by. You know, they were 12 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:49,159 Speaker 2: just that kind of people. 13 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: But something about Edward Rulof was just troubling. He was arrogant, 14 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 1: he was snied, and he was sometimes really cruel, and 15 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:02,320 Speaker 1: he was absolutely upset obsessed with his own academic research. 16 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:06,360 Speaker 3: He seems like what you would call an incredible narcissist. 17 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:10,560 Speaker 3: He's very hostile to people who don't appreciate his own genius. 18 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:15,000 Speaker 1: He seduced the family's teenage daughter, and from the very 19 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: beginning their relationship was unstable. Their fights were vicious, and 20 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: then they were deadly. 21 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:25,000 Speaker 2: There's a story about him taking her away and her 22 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 2: turning around and waving, and that's the last memory, like 23 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 2: her mother and some of them had of her. 24 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 3: It was a terrible tragedy. 25 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 2: It's not that we hadn't had murders here, but not 26 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:38,360 Speaker 2: a murder like that. 27 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:42,679 Speaker 1: Edward Rulolph killed at least five more people over the 28 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:43,839 Speaker 1: next twenty five years. 29 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 3: Now, this is the beginning of the time when railroads 30 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 3: make it possible to move around. 31 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:53,520 Speaker 2: It was not particularly uncommon for people to carry on 32 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:54,240 Speaker 2: double lives. 33 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:59,680 Speaker 1: People fall for the snake oil salesman. They actually enjoy 34 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 1: this snake oil salesman. 35 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:05,840 Speaker 2: He had everybody full it for a long time, a 36 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 2: sort of like a Ted Bundy. 37 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 1: He's confusing to me, and he was the Boogeyman of 38 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: State New York. 39 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:14,640 Speaker 2: He's not confusing to me. 40 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:19,960 Speaker 1: He's a psychopath. When Rulof was caught, it seemed like 41 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:23,880 Speaker 1: he would finally be punished, but that's not what happened. 42 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:29,480 Speaker 1: Scholars and scientists jumped to his defense. Ruloff claimed that 43 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:33,120 Speaker 1: he had made this groundbreaking discovery in the field of linguistics, 44 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:36,359 Speaker 1: and a lot of people believed him. They argued that 45 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:39,840 Speaker 1: his mind was just too valuable to waste on the gallows. 46 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 3: Yeah, if there was a kind of magical key to 47 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:46,240 Speaker 3: understanding these languages and that would have made a lot 48 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 3: of people's lives a lot easier. 49 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:51,960 Speaker 1: Would his brain really save his life? Are there some 50 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:57,120 Speaker 1: ideas so astounding, some minds so brilliant, that they should 51 00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:01,239 Speaker 1: allow a killer to get away with murder? People really 52 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 1: think that the brain can justify behavior, and this is 53 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:10,960 Speaker 1: totally mistaken. Edward Rulolph's brutal crimes and his incredible brain 54 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: would make history by marking the birth of modern neuroscience. 55 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 1: This is just a world changing difference in how we 56 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:21,240 Speaker 1: think about brains. 57 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 2: It's right up there with understanding evolution. 58 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 1: I'm Kate Winkler Dawson and this is Tenfold More Wicked, 59 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: a podcast about the most intelligent killer in American history. 60 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:38,880 Speaker 1: Tenfold More Wicked, premieres on Monday, November twenty third on 61 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:43,440 Speaker 1: Exactly Right. Subscribe now on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 62 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:44,240 Speaker 1: you like to listen.