Ross discussed "The Urge to Kill: Murder through the Ages" Sept. 15 in the Center for Tomorrow as part of the Senior Alumni Lecture Series sponsored by Alumni Relations.

"My interest in homicide is strictly a writer's interest," Ross reassured his audience. "As a writer I'm concerned with why we kill and why we're fascinated with why we kill."

Ross, a lecturer in the Educational Opportunity Center, has pursued his fascination with murder for years. What makes murder fascinating, he says, is not the everyday, on-the-street killing but crimes that overwhelm our ability to absorb them.

"Ordinary murder is no more exciting, interesting and noteworthy than walking the dog. If you're personally involved, you may disagree. Only when murder becomes personal does it become something we need to react to," said Ross.

"Ordinary murder does not capture our imagination. What does is murder that is on a different type of scale," a "crime of the century" murder.

These murders share three elements: motive, method and magnitude, Ross said. There must be something extraordinary about at least two of those things-a motive so unimaginable, a method so horrible, an assault of such magnitude that we're disgusted by the crime-for a murder to qualify as a "crime of the century."

"Our times are extraordinarily violent, but the human species has always lived in violent times," Ross said. "If you study history enough, you'll find we've always lived in violent times as a species....These types of crimes have always been committed."

One of the earliest mass murderers in recorded history was Locusta of Ancient Rome, "a master creator of potions" who poisoned hundreds of people, Ross said. A contract killer who kept a stable of slaves on whom to try out her potions, her most famous victim was the Roman Emperor Claudius I. She also ran a school for poisoners; she and her students are believed to have collectively killed 10,000 people.

Another early mass murder appeared in Scotland in the 15th century, Ross said. Travelers to a country fair were accosted by "subhuman savages" who killed a woman and drank her blood. Another traveler in her party survived the attack and a search of the forests turned up the Sawney Beane family. "Sawney Beane was a general reprobate as a youth," who married a woman much like himself. Refusing to work, they moved into a cave near the sea, where they and soon their offspring survived by murdering travelers and dining on their victims. When arrested, Sawney Beane and his wife had eight sons, six daughters, 18 grandsons and 14 granddaughters. All 48 were taken to Edinboro and executed.

"When we talk about murder we also have to talk about assassination," said Ross, who was 12 when Kennedy was shot. The teacher who announced the nation's loss to his class noted that this had happened once before in Buffalo. His interest piqued, Ross spent the remainder of the day learning about the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901, "and I became completely fascinated with presidential assassinations," he said.

The assassination of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth is the one Ross said he finds most fascinating. Booth, who perceived Lincoln as evil, was convinced that he was doing the right thing, Ross said. "And when you know it's the right thing to do, is it murder?"

And he would have gotten away with the assassination if he'd just disappeared down the back stairs, the way he'd come. "But he was, after all, an actor....He felt he had to have a performance. That was what tripped him up more than his spur in the flag."

While some murderers are remembered for whom they killed, others are known for how many or how they killed.

The first documented psychosexual serial killer was Jack the Ripper, "who we look at as the quintessential serial killer," Ross said. Never positively identified, there are numerous theories about who he actually was. Suspects include a doctor who poisoned a number of patients, a lawyer, a midwife attempting to hide botched abortions, and members of Britain's Royal Family.

America's most famous unsolved mystery is Lizzie Borden, Ross said. "Lizzie was acquitted, so we have to look and see if she was guilty." Ross, who has visited the Borden house, concludes that she was, indeed, guilty, but jurors were unwilling to convict a woman who, if found guilty, would be hanged.

Another lesser-known turn of the century serial killer was Belle Gunness, believed to have killed between 40 and 180 "starry-eyed suitors" who came to her Indiana farm in answer to a lonely hearts ad.

Charles Manson is typical of mass murderers today, Ross said. Most have a history of child abuse, drug or alcohol abuse, head trauma and may have tortured animals as a child.

"Monsters are not born. Monsters are made," he said. One mass murderer's mother dressed him in girls' clothing. Another's mother, a prostitute, forced her son to lie in the bed while she entertained her customers. Charles Manson's mother once sold him for a pitcher of beer.

The lesson in all this , Ross said : we must be careful how we treat people. "I have visited many of the sites of these murders, and there I feel the vibrations and echoes of these crimes. The voices I hear are murderers and victims alike....They warn us to be careful lest we become murderers and victims, too."