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The book 'Uprooted' has an interesting take on Baba Yaga. It also happens to be a great book.

Rick Geary created a really cool graphic novel about the Axeman.
https://www.amazon.com/Terrible-Axe-Man-Orleans-Treasury-Century/dp/1561635812

This reminds me of a book I read, which really takes the whole concept and runs with it. Fictional, obviously.

If it happens, it's adapted from/based on Devil In White City.

Actually there was a whole book about it released not too long ago.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0544811909/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481783554&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=rosemary+kennedy&dpPl=1&dpID=511c8qaLFBL&ref=plSrch

Linda also wrote a book on the Fasting Cure if you want to see even further into her brand of crazy.

But you can confess and get rid of your sins before death, since you are guaranteed to get a visit from some priest before your execution. See, it's a win-win situation. Both sinless baby and its presumably repentant killer go to heaven. Such way of thinking was so widespread there's even a book about this phenomenon.

I'm studying mid 19th century poisons right now for a book I'm working on*. I'm familiar with this case, but the astounding thing to me is that anything came of it at all. It wasn't until the 1880s that it was generally accepted that arsenic—in any dosage—was hazardous.

Pretty much everything was poisonous in 1858! Wallpaper, fabric, wine and other bottled beverages, candles (tallow ingredient sub), children's toys, clothes and furniture, paint and anything that paint was used on, and perhaps most significantly, you could find arsenic in every household cupboard as it was the #1 vermin extermination method, and included in every imaginable type of medicine (most prominently in cough syrups, aka elixirs). And, of course, more poisons were used in production factories during the Industrial Revolution than we'll ever know.

What's truly remarkable is how many of the same arguments used back then to allow industry to continuing poisoning the general population, and most especially trade workers, are still used today. There was significant, and effective backlash to any regulations or laws to curb the sale and use of poisons (U.K. and U.S.).

Here's some tidbits, for those interested.

• The Industrial Revolution brought a surge in the use of arsenic compounds, in general, and in particular, in the making of pigment (fabric dye, paints, etc.). The compounds were heated during the smelting process, releasing noxious fumes that poisoned workers.
  
• Symptoms of arsenic poisoning mimic those of Cholera, a common malady in the Victoria era (aka: The Golden Age of Poisoning), which is one reason it made an excellent murder weapon. In fact, it was so commonly employed as such that it was known in England as "inheritance powder" (also in France: "poudre de succession").
  
• The word "arsenic" is a bastardization of ancient Greek for "male" or "virile". Gives you an idea of how people worshipped it as a drug for centuries before we got wise to reality.
  
• A small town in Chile has been surviving on an arsenic-laced water supply for so many centuries the entire population is immune.
  
• The standard test for detecting arsenic came about because a young chemist got miffed at the British courts and made it his life's mission to tell them jog off. His name was James Marsh and he's an interesting historical figure. He was a very hyperactive individual and easily distracted by new ideas and hobbies. Probably would have been diagnosed with ADHD today. He was into a lot of stuff. Anyway, a man, who suspected he was slowly being poisoned by his grandson, called on Marsh to help prove his claim in court. Marsh developed a test and detected arsenic in the man's coffee. (In fact, the whole family had been poisoned by the tainted coffee, but the grandson always made extra sure grandpa got the first cup, i.e. the strongest) But, Marsh hadn't accounted for the deterioration of the testing material. By the time he got to court, the results had faded, and the court refused to accept his notes, where he recorded the test results, into evidence. At any rate, the court had also ruled the test hadn't identified enough (quantity-wise) arsenic to warrant consideration in a murder investigation (remember: arsenic was everywhere). All this pissed off Marsh to no end, partly bc he was just that guy, and partly bc it profoundly bothered him that the would-be killer got away with it. He obsessed over developing a new, improved test until eventually, he did so, creating one so sensitive it could detect one-fifteenth of a milligram of arsenic. It's called the Marsh Test and it became the standard for arsenic detection worldwide.
  
• Matchmaking factories in the U.S. used a substance known as yellow phosphorus that poisoned workers, causing a disease called Phossy Jaw that led to profound deformities in the jaw bone. Doctors figured this out as early as the 1830s, but nothing was done about it for another 50 years, even though a cheaper, better substitute for yellow phosphorus already existed. Or for that matter, covering workers' nose and mouths would have greatly reduced cases of the disease.
  
• My favorite poison story is Paris Green. It's a highly toxic powder that can be absorbed through the skin. It was used for different things, but most notably, in fabric dye, including baby clothes and high-end ball gowns. Basically, it's "emerald" green, but you have to consider that such a lush, rich, and vibrant pigment didn't exist at the time (in the West). Passing a person on the street donning a dress this color would have been quite striking and something worthy of mention. The color itself became a pop culture sensation. Era magazines and even major newspapers in the U.S., England and France ran stories about Paris Green. Even after folks knew how dangerous it was (one doctor was quoted saying a single headdress he examined contained enough arsenic to kill 20 people!), some upper class women continued to wear it and were quoted on "Page 6" saying stuff like [paraphrasing] "It's the price of beauty!" I guess I could see Kim Kardashian saying something like that. Still nuts.
  
• Paris Green actually turned its victim's green. The whites of their eyes went green and even the skin turned a grey-greenish hue. Fake flowers were a huge industry at the time and a great many women workers were poisoned by the green dye used to tint the arrangements' leaves and stems. The British government more or less labeled the workers big fat fakers and nothing was done about it for decades. When seamstresses and tailors were finally taken seriously, the "green resistance" developed into a sustained movement, the effects of which are still around today. Some designers, for instance, consider certain shades of green to be bad luck. London Purple came to rise around the same time, but it didn't wow the elites so pfft.
  
  There's so much more, but I've got to get back to work. More reading: Bitten by Witch Fever
  
  *My book is not really about poison. Not a poison expert. This is just stuff I picked up researching a minor theme, and it's off the top of my head. So, if I've got any details wrong, please feel free to correct me.
  
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Ah sheeeit, this is where I really want to say "Buy my book" because it genuinely answers this question.

TL;DR is he was a sad, friendless person with no paedophilic tendencies, became both the most hated person on the dark web, but also a mega-hero to a small, perverse group who worshipped him more and more, the more extremely dark material he could provide. He thrived on the attention and accolades. Eventually he became obsessed with the violent material and wanked himself dry over it. However, no evidence he ever contact offended with a child