Your screen is painted in a terrible scene before you. A calm voice tells you a gruesome account of what happened, as the video shows you yellow caution tape that bars off the house’s kick in the door. Police and investigators are scattered around the small apartment. All sorts of objects are thrown about on the floor, some in plastic bags by the forensic team. The camera closes in on them. One with a crowbar, rusted and covered with dry blood. Another with towels stained by bleach you can almost smell. You swear as the camera pans out; you see a lifeless hand peeking out of the bedroom nearby.
The True Crime genre has bewitched many people worldwide. Including yours truly! To the outside viewer, usually our concerned loved ones; debating if they should lock away the kitchen knives or not, it’s hard to understand the fascination with humanities dark side. Many even believe that watching true crime has harmful side effects on one’s psyche. With thousands of opinions on True Crime, there are podcasts and YouTube channels to watch. Which ones are true? Is binge watching our late-night murder show bad for our mental health? Are those who watch it more likely to harm someone or worse? Why do people even watch True Crime in the first place? Well reader, I’m here to answer those questions. So, let’s investigate!
For the first part of this investigation, we need some background information.
What IS True Crime?
True Crime is a nonfiction genre that has the author, usually in a journalistic style of storytelling, looking at violent crimes. The author closely examines the crimes, telling in detail about the perpetrators’ past as well as the victims, motives, the crime itself, and how the terrible act committed affects the families and friends in the aftermath.
History of True Crime Genre
True Crime has been around for a while. With the first known writings being found in Britain. From 1550 to 1700 (Burger), British authors wrote and printed many pamphlets, magazines and chapbooks about the capital crimes that were happening. As technology improved to have cheaper printing and more people in the lower classes learned to read. The True Crime genre began! With more new readers being morbidly fascinated by the bloody crimes. Ballads were even written and given out or posted on village walls. The ballad would be written from the murder’s point of view, as a way for those to understand the psychology and motive behind the killings. The most popular story in that time being the notorious case of Jack the Ripper in 1888. Never found, Jack the Ripper, also known as the Whitechapel Murder or the Leather Apron. Those unfortunate victims were prostitutes who lived in the slums of the East End of London. Sadly, their bodies were found with slit throats with the women’s reproduction organs removed and genital mutation.
In the 20th century, true crime took off! With some of the world’s darkest cases becoming widely known by the public; names like, Zodiac Killer, Ted Bundy, O.J Simson or the case of the Tylenol Murders or Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls and more recently The Epstein Flies may even ring a bell to you! As well as the forms they took. True Crime books were written with their protagonist solving mysterious deaths and twisting who-done-it plotlines. Like Canadian author Lousie Penny, she is well known for her Armand Gamache murder mysteries novel series that is still going on today. YouTube channels like Mr. Ballen, Dark Asia with Megan, and many other creators go over crime cases with a mix of journalistic style and artistic story telling. They also use photos of the crime scenes, victims, and video clips of body cam footage or court trials. Even videos of the perpetrators if there are any that were released to the public. Music and jump cuts are also used to help tell the story. Documentaries like Unsolved Mysteries, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, and The Perfect Neighbor are told with dramatic reenactments of the murders alongside those who were present during the case, like detectives or witnesses. Re-telling their memories trauma from those cases.
So, with how graphic these crimes are, why do some watch it?
There are many reasons why people grab a bowl of warm buttery popcorn and tune into the next scary crime case. Some being:
We WANT to Be Scared
The same reason people watch horror movies, ride roller coasters, and walk on those glass bridges you see online, is the same reason we true crime lovers listen to our podcast. Fear!
Fear is a strong emotion and an important one. We humans evolved this emotion to help activate our fight or flight response to help protect us from danger. This response tells our amygdala, which is found by the brain’s temporal lobe, to release the stress hormones of adrenaline and cortisol. The chemicals in our brain help prepare our bodies to fight or flee in a dangerous situation. Like our pupils dilating, our hearts racing and our muscles tightening. Adrenaline also makes our bodies release a rush of more endorphins and dopamine, and these two are the key! Because we know we are facing a scary situation in a safe environment, feeling scared has a positive effect. That’s because knowing that we are safe and facing our fear, we don’t have to feel stressed as if you were actual danger.
And according to a study in 2017 (Sawyer) by the University of Michigan, dopamine is also a part of our response. They saw that dopamine triggers the feelings of pleasure as a reward for surviving a terrifying experience.
We Like Solving a Mystery
When in a discussion with my creative writing Professor about our favorite genres of stories, True Crime came up in conversation. She had mentioned that one of the reasons why she likes to watch True Crime is because she enjoys unraveling the story, like in a fiction story, how the characters get from point A to point B, turns out she’s not alone in this. Many people who come to watch True Crime are fascinated by the details. How did the perpetrator get to this place in life? What happened in the perpetrators past that could have led to this? How did the victim end up in this situation? Was there anything that could have been done to avoid this? What were the clues that led to perpetrators’ capture or the victims’ rescue? As humans, Curiosity plays a big part in our lives. Trying to figure out a problem so we can better ourselves. Curiosity is a basic part of our mental cognition, and it helps us make good decisions, helps us to have a drive to learn new things, and defines solutions to problems. Which leads us to our next reason?
We Want to Know How to Stay Safe
Like many people who watch True Crime my brain goes to a common question:
What would I do if I were in this situation? How would I survive?
True Crime cases are a reminder but the world that we live in no matter how bright will always be a dangerous place. It doesn’t matter where you live danger lurks everywhere. In the deepest parts of your home and the farthest places away from it. Even the places where you would think nothing, but whatever happened. Anytime and anywhere, you could be the next chalk outline. This bitter cold reality is especially true for women. In the many articles that I read for this paper the one consistent thing that kept coming up was how the main audience of True Crime tends to be women. And as a woman myself I felt called out, so wanted to know more about this connection.
Turns out that many women watch True Crime for tips on how to survive. Due to the unfortunate truth that women tend to be the victims of these violent crimes the most that we hear about on these outlets’ news and podcasts. Many women have reported that they watch True Crime to learn survival tactics. To see how a victim saves themselves from their captors or how to manage an attack in a certain situation. To look at the behavior of the perpetrators and commit them to memory so they can be wary of people and places around them, walking home at night or anywhere.
(Survival tactic I learned from True Crime would be to never, ever walk with your earbuds/headphones in especially not at night. It helps you keep aware of your surroundings just in case the person behind you isn’t really walking back home) Watching True Crime gives women a sense of relief: a way to deal with their anxiety about possibly being the next victim of violent crime. Some articles also show that women tend to be more empathetic towards the victims of the stories, usually and unfortunately to be women. (Bonn)
But does all this viewing of violent crimes affect us?
True Crime’s Impact on Us
True Crime, like any form of media that we consume, will affect us in both positive and negative ways. Both our inner and outer worlds are affected by this unique storytelling. Now I’m not saying to stop watching your favorite channels. I just want you to be more mindful as you view. Like that one old saying, “Too much one of good thing can be harmful.’’ Please make a decision that is right for you!
Increase Anxiety
Wellbeing aware of our surroundings is an important skill to have, but if we’re becoming hypervigilant to the point where every slow driving car is a possible kidnapper or a random passerby could be the next killer we see on the news. It gets to a point where we would have to pause. Consuming too much True Crime can cause us to become very anxious and become more scared of the world around us believing that there are danger and every corner. Our view of the world can become very bleak if we are not careful. It was recommended by Dr child to break up our true crime series benches with over hobbies and shows. (Cleveland Clinic)
Increase Fearfulness
Dr. Child also brings up that consuming too much True Crime can make us fearful of the world around us. This can unfortunately lead to us becoming too fearful to leave our houses and to self-isolate. Believing that, we are going to be in danger each time we leave our house. Or we become so wary of others we start to act ourselves if the next stranger we talk to goes outside isn’t as kind of a person as they’re making themselves to be. Dr. Child recommends that if we get to the point where watching True Crime makes it hard for us to lead our daily lives, it’s time to cut back. A sign that it is time to start cutting back on your True Crime binging habits is if you start imagining what scenarios that include, wondering if that person you’re talking to is hiding dead bodies in your basement or constantly wondering if you’re about to be a victim of a violent crime. over side effects of watching too much True Crime despite increased anxiety or is more depressive like symptoms. Dr. Child recommends not over consuming True Crime.
Outside Factors
The mental side effects not only affect those who watch it but those who are featured in crime cases. Families and friends of those affected by crimes are also affected by the impact of the True Crime genre. When podcasters and YouTubers or directors of documentaries are not Mindful and careful including their content for example making merchandise based off the crimes or documentaries that glorify the killers, families and friends of the victims are basically re traumatized. Reducing the victim’s tragedies and trauma to marketable items is very disrespectful to those who lost so much in those cases. luckily not all True Crime content creators are callous when making their videos. Mr. Ballen, Coffee House Crime, The Misery Machine, and True Crime with Kendall Rae. These content creators are known for focusing on the victims and their lives rather than glorifying the killers and giving tribute to the victims, even helping by donating to charities that help to support the families and help spread information to help ongoing cases hopefully be solved.
And with that, our investigation has ended. Whenever you are a true crime lover, the occasional watcher, or a less worried loved one who still doesn’t get the hype. I hope this informal article can help you watch True Crime more mindfully and have respect for the content that you are viewing. And that you leave with a new understanding of the True Crime genres of history, formats, and more!
If you want to give a helping hand, please check out Seasons of Justice. A non-profit charity but helps families with funding to help solve cold cases so they can get closure from the tragedies so they can heal. Thank you for reading! Stay safe out there!
