I have always been intrigued by the world of crime and investigation. In Godfrey Daniel’s podcast, 99% Invisible, I got an insight into his experience with a phone booth, “The mystery became his obsession…”. Like him, I spent a lot of time researching articles, watching YouTube, and listening to podcasts about what goes on in the true crime world. The interesting yet captivating stories of what goes on in a serial killer’s mind never fails to grab my attention. Why are people so fascinated with the idea of murder and death? I thought about this for a while but could never put my finger on it. 

One thing that is certain is true crime cases act like a guilty pleasure to a majority of us. The world is so fixated on the mystery and thrill that oftentimes the horrifying reality is overlooked. Knowing what our society is like today, we use social media on a daily basis which allows us to be exposed to the craziest cases possible. Many well-known cases such as John Wayne Gacy, the killer clown, and Richard Ramirez, the night stalker are extremely popular amongst the media because of some of the vile tactics they used on their victims. Because of the popularity increase, more and more people started coming up with theories and have even gone as far as taking part in the investigation alongside the police. Social media’s influence has even helped solve many unsolved cases that went cold for many years. The short film “Scavengers” does a good job of representing how working together can lead to good outcomes. According to the Times article “Why Are We Drawn to True Crime Shows”, Scott Bon, a criminology professor, says that true crime allows for us to experience the feeling of fear. Because it’s in a controlled space, we grow more and more interested and start to play the detective role. When it comes to a mystery there will be multiple outcomes and a lot of potential, like a Bonsai Tree. 

True crime is something I think will never die out because of all the intracing aspects of it. If you haven’t looked into murder cases I highly encourage you to do so, who knows what mystery there is to solve next?