You probably had to be a little crazy to be a conquistador in the first place. They left their homes in Spain to spend months on board a rickety ship to the New World, then had to spend years in steamy jungles and frosty sierras, all the while fighting angry natives, hunger, fatigue, and disease. Still, Lope de Aguirre was crazier than most. He already had a reputation for being violent and unstable in 1559, when he joined an expedition to search the jungles of South America for the legendary El Dorado. While in the jungle, Aguirre went mad and began murdering his companions.