City dwellers have to face plenty of scary stuff like hipsters and rush hour traffic, but the most terrifying thing about urban living is the possibility of running across a homicidal maniac.

For whatever reason, serial killers seem drawn to cities and many of history's most prolific killers have made their home in major metropolises. Since Halloween is rapidly approaching and this is the month to celebrate all things creepy and frightful here's our roundup of the top ten worst (or best depending on how you look at it) urban serial killers -- based on carnage and media attention.

10. Axeman of New Orleans (name(s) unknown) in New Orleans, Louisiana: Between 1918 and 1919 eight people in New Orleans were killed by someone who broke into their homes and murdered them with an axe as they slept. Little is known about the Axeman and the killer was never caught. Some theories suggest the Axeman may have been a Mafia hitman and! not a h omicidal maniac. In 1919, someone claiming to be the Axeman sent letters to a newspaper saying they were a Satanic "spirit."

9. Marcel Petiot in Paris, France: Despite spending much of his life in and out of mental institutions French serial killer Marcel Petiot managed to become a psychiatrist. When Paris was occupied by the Nazis in 1940 Petiot set up a fake operation to help people flee German rule. Petiot charged clients large fees for his services and had them come to his townhouse with all their possessions to supposedly begin their journeys out of France. Instead of smuggling people out of the country, Petiot robbed and brutally murdered those who came to his home. He was caught in 1943 after the Nazi Gestapo investigated him under the assumption that his escape route was real. Petiot survived several months of Nazi interrogations, but when he returned to his home in 1944 to burn the bodies of his victims the foul smelling smoke was reported by the neighbors. Initially, Petiot managed to escape by convincing the cops that he was part of the French Resistance and that the corpses in his house belonged to "Germans and traitors to our country." He was finally caught for good one year later. Petiot admitted to killing 63 people in his lifetime, but authorities say he may have murdered as many as 150 people during his lifetime.

8. Joel Rifkin in New York City: Joel Rifkin lived with his mom in Long Island, but most of the seventeen women he admitted killing were prostitutes whom he picked up in New York City. Rifkin was busted when he was stopped for a minor traffic violation and cops found a decomposing body in the back of his pickup truck. He was sentenced to serve over 200 years in prison.

7. Beltway Snipers (John Allen Mohammad & Lee Boyd Malvo) in Washington, D.C.: Onetime military marksman John Allen Muhammad and his accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo, who was seventeen at the time, went on a shooting spree that left at least sixteen people dead in 2002. Muhammad and Malvo traveled around the Washington, D.C. area in a Chevrolet Caprice that they had modified to enable them to fire a sniper rifle while hidden in the trunk. They were also responsible for other isolated killings around the country. They were both apprehended following a nationwide manhunt. Muhammad was sentenced to die and Lee Boyd Malvo was given life without the possibility of parole.

6. Alexander Pichushkin in Moscow, Russia: Nicknamed the "Chessboard Killer" because he supposedly hoped to have one victim for each square on the chessboard, Alexander Pichushkin confessed to committing 63 murders between 1992 and 2006. Often he killed elderly homeless men in Moscow's Bittsa Park. Pichushkin strangled many of his victims and murdered others with hammers and vodka bottles. He was arrested after killing a woman who'd left a note behind in her house saying she was going for a walk with him. Alexander Pichushkin was sentenced to life in prison including fifteen years of solitary confinement in 2007.

5. Boston Strangler (name unknown) in Boston, Massachusetts: Between June 1962 and January 1964 at least ele ven women in the Boston area were killed by someone who entered their homes, sexually assaulted them, and choked them to death, but the tale of the Boston Strangler may be more myth than fact. Experts aren't sure whether all these women were killed by the same person and they also think that two other killings may have been the work of the murderer (or murderers) involved. In 1965, a factory worker named Albert DeSalvo confessed to all 13 killings and was sent to prison, but recent DNA tests and a pile of other evidence indicates that the real Boston Strangler (or Stranglers) may never have been caught by the police.

4. John Wayne Gacy in Chicago, Illinois: In the late seventies, John Wayne Gacy killed over thirty young men and hid their bodies in a local river and the floorboards of his home in Norwood park just outside of Chicago. Gacy was active in many local community organizations and became known as the "Killer Clown" because of his habit of dressing up in a clown costume to entertain children at area hospitals. John Wayne Gacy was executed by lethal injection in 1994.

3. Son Of Sam (David Berkowitz) in New York City: From 1976 to 1977 six people were killed and seven others were wounded in a series of shootings in New York that were attributed to the mysterious ".44 Caliber Killer." The murderer was renamed "Son of Sam" after the NYPD and city newspapers began receiving letters about the killings. Son of Sam's favorite targets were young lovers sitting in parked cars. A postal worker named David Berkowitz was arrested and subsequently confessed to the crimes. Berkowitz said his neighbor's Labrador Retriever was demonically possessed and ordered him to commit the shootings. Later on, Berkowitz recanted his original confession and claimed that though he was involved in the murders, a Satanic cult was behind the crimes. There's a lot of evidence supporting Berkowitz's allegations and the case is still open in his hometown of Yonkers, New York.

2. Jeffrey Dahmer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Over a thirteen year period from 1978-1991 Jeffrey Dahmer killed, ate, and tortured at least 17 men, mostly at his apartment in Milwaukee. He was caught by the police when one of his intended victims managed to escape as Dahmer tried to handcuff him. When Dahmer's house was searched, investigators discovered dismembered bodies, an altar made from human skulls. Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to serve a minimum of 957 years in prison, but he died in 1994 at the hands of a fellow inmate.

1. Jack The Ripper (name unknown) in London, England: The first celebrity serial killer media sensation, Jack the Ripper murdered at least five female prostitutes in the impoverished Whitechapel section of London during the fall of 1888. His name came from one of the many letters he sent to police and media during his killing spree. Though several possible suspects were identified, Jack the Ripper was never found.