Have you ever thought to yourself why society is so obsessed with serial k*llers? Why do we feel somewhat comforted listening to a true crime podcast as we catch the train home? Why are we so excited to learn about that new unsolved mystery? What's so appealing to us about the allure of serial killers? Also, why am I like this?
I've been tossing and turning about ideas of what to write about for today's blog post for my Freaky Friday Files theme and I was like oh I could do another deep dive, I could talk about another cult, another unsolved mystery, more ghosts stuff from reddit, and then I started to think back on what my honours research was - which was "why doesn't NZ have serial k*llers?" - I'm not sure whether I still have that document, but it might be somewhere and then I was like eh, I don't wanna write about the same thing I've always written about. And it's kinda obvious - like an efficient police force, not heaps of corruption, nowhere to flee, and not much land to hide bodies (but there are probably a few - like Minnie Dean, for example). Also, serial k*llers aren't that popular anymore and I wrote about that in my last Freaky Friday blog post so you can check that out "here" if you haven't already done so.
But then I was like, why are we fascinated with serial k*llers anyway? And that's what today's blog is gonna be all about. So strap yourselves in and maybe don't read this post before you go to sleep tonight because I do not want to be responsible for your nightmares. But grab a cuppa and maybe some snacks and let's get to learning!
Although quick side note, I do want to make sure that all the topics I approach in this blog are done with respect and sensitivity, especially due to the potentially disturbing nature of the topic.
Image: some infamous serial k*llers - who's who, can you guess?
Now, normally I would be running at essentialist arguments like this (of course I believe in evolution, I am a social scientist, not a dummy) because often they only say one side of the argument and forget about the multiple factors approach, but this one I kinda agree on. The theory is all to do with survival and it's about how we become fascinated with things like serial k*llers and true crime so that in our real lives, we can identify "potential threats" of danger. Learning about serial k*llers or true crime in the comfort of our own house, bedroom, lounge, or whatever allows us to explore the more terrifying parts of the "human psyche" without us actually experiencing the danger for ourselves. It's kinda like an adrenalin rush without the danger! And of course, Carl Jung wrote about all this too, which tbf I actually like some of his work (don't come for me pls), especially when it comes to the psyche and individuation side of the mind.
This one is kinda similar to reason 1 but I'll put it here for ya'll. So this is the idea that humans are just really intrigued by serial k*llers, especially because they provide insight into how brains work - which is especially important for abnormal psychology disciplines. This would in turn help criminologists and profiles with other crimes (I would say both cold cases and future crimes to come). This helps with identifying warning signs.
I kinda feel like this one explains itself, but it is the idea that us as humans are "naturally" curious about the morbid side of life - like you're driving and you see a car crash is nearby and you want to drive to have a sticky beak? That's what I mean. And another example from my own life was after the first CHCH earthquake in 2010, mum and I drove around just to see what had fallen down (and in hindsight that was a terrible idea because those houses fell down in 2011).
So if you or me or another average Joe were to compare their lives to that of a serial k*ller or the victims, we'd probably feel a sense of relief because our lives aren't like that. It gives us an illusion that we are safe and that we are normal.
This one hits home to me because when I was little, I REALLY wanted to be a forensic scientist and then I failed chemistry and biology, and ALL my dreams went out the window. I even tried doing linguistics to get into forensic linguistics and well, that was probably the hardest class I ever took at a 100-level university (and now I'm trying my hand at writing a blog as a career, ha, ironic). I did actually pass LING101 thanks to a lot of hard work and some extra help from a really good friend (thank you) but unfortunately didn't have enough room in my schedule to add in the forensics class but maybe just maybe one day I'll be lead down that path - I mean that guy played dead on TikTok for like 60 days before getting a permanent job on CSI (I mean cool right). And yes, I'm already off track - but studying serial k*llers and their crimes is again important for the evolution of profiling and law enforcement techniques - like they didn't know what a serial k*ller was until like the 1970s/1980s so if we keep learning about them, it's likely we can improve our techniques for fighting them and also the people interested in forensics in general - it's a really good place to start.
Honestly, I'm surprised this isn't reason number 1. The media will sensationalise serial k*llers so much - probably a lot of fear-mongering added in there too. It's not even just mainstream media like the news anchors either, it's in all forms of popular culture - like how many books and how many movies can you list off right now that are about serial k*llers? I bet you're thinking of a few. The serial k*ller becomes a celebrity and they lap up that fame - like it's crazy to think about that's why a lot of them confess - to get that star status (it makes me shudder). I do think more press should go towards the victims - I want to know who they were - tell me about their life too! But yeah, you get the drift, people wanna know the driving factors as to why people do these things. Nurture vs nature? Did they have mummy issues? Did they have daddy issues? Were they a child of the system? Did something traumatic happen to them? Did drugs or alcohol lead them to that path? I mean, I could make some solid arguments here as to these driving factors and I could rage against the media for a while too but I think you get the drift. Like the pop culture phenomenon that serial k*llers are is just insane.
Yep, I said it. Some people will watch and learn about serial k*llers for their own coping mechanism (usually for their own fears/anxieties). I am probably guilty of this myself. This "MA thesis" discusses serial k*llers who commit crimes as their own coping mechanisms which isn't exactly what I'm saying here, but it's interesting so I suggest giving that one a read if you want. But yeah, diving into someone else's life especially if it's about capturing victims - seems to be interesting to some of us.
100% and I love social commentary - or in this case, it is a bit weird. But often cartoons like South Park (yes South Park, pre-this season) were really good at making social commentary. But what allows us to explore broader social and cultural issues? Serial k*llers do! Why? Well, if you think about it with a bit of a sociological lens, where do we find serial k*llers? Often in the lower SES neighbourhoods? Did they grow up poor? Did they grow up with abuse around them? I also just found an amazing sociology article on Psychology Today and omg I am so happy that this is a sociological view (it's showing how we need both sociology and psychology to work together to understand people + society). You can read the article "here" - it's really good, trust me. Also, I'm sorry if I lead you down way too many rabbit holes - I just gotta bring someone down with me (isssaa joke btw).
When we think about social norms, we don't usually like to break these right? I rememeber in one psychology course - it was probably social psychology or something like that, we had this stupid task to go and break a social norm - I was way too scared to do it so I just lied (which most of the students probably did) but my story was that I stood in a lift the wrong way and tbf, that would make people uncomfortable. I think this assignment was worth like 1% so it was fine - I still did well at uni dw.
When people DO actually deviate from social norms, we're kinda interested and a little bit fascinated right? So when a serial k*ller strikes, we're like oooh why did they break that social norm? We could probably go on and on about this one for hours, but you get the gist here - it's different to what we perceive as "normal" so we're like OOOH why are they doing that?
Okay okay, I know this one sounds overly-intelligent and fancy-smancy but it's true, a lot of people wanting to analyse a serial k*ller and why they do things is REALLY mentally stimulating - it's hard to wrap our own brains around it because we're not the ones hurting anybody and we want to know all the driving factors as to why Ted Bundy or Ed Kemper did all the things they did to their victims!
There you have it! 10 reasons why we're obsessed with serial k*llers! It's pretty crazy to think about right? I am very tired after writing this post today but I've included some memes in here to help make this post a little more light-hearted. I hope you enjoyed this post and learned something new today OR did a bit of reading that you might not have done.
Thanks so much for supporting the blog! Feel free to support me via my "buy me a coffee" page as my blog is currently becoming my new freelance career and I definitely want to keep it that way. If you're in NZ, that's an epic way to support me because I can't access my NZ bank accounts over here as mum's got my new cards for them at home hahah.
That's all for today's Freaky Friday Files! Let me know in the comments what you thought of today's blog. Also, should I bite the bullet and actually write a book?
Anyway! TTFN
Much love,
Ash xx
PS I've made a YouTube video for this post too! Check it out if you haven't already:
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