Do you find serial killers interesting?

[Ubiquitous Duck]

I've had times at my work when I've had like nothing to do and this has caused me to end up sprawling the internet for something to read about, to fill my time.

One time I ended up reading about serial killers and I consumed all I could find on the subject.

I have to say that the real messed up stuff seems to date back a bit further now, don't really know 'why' this is, but that just seemed strange to me.

Anyway, I found some of the graphic description, which was only text-based mind, no pictures, really quite physically disturbing. It really did mess with my brain for a while and I couldn't shift the ideas/images I had in my head. (They are starting to come back, run away from the thread Ubiquitous, run!)

I think they are more interesting to read about than 'guy got pissed off, shot neighbour'.

It really is quite intriguing, for some weird reasoning/fascination, to read about these people who are so unrelatable to ourselves. The extent of madness that an individual can exhibit, but not feel mad within themselves. It's truly terrifying to read about, and the fact that it is real and not a fiction, leaves an even worse marker.

 

[Bluestorm83]

Serial killers are interesting in two ways to me.

First, we have the "how can a human being be SO remarkably broken, and yet able to function in society, hidden from sight, and do what they do until we finally get them." I mean, really, the potential for evil in people is something else, eh?

The second way Serial Killers are interesting is the way that the big game hunters of the olden days found lions and elephants and bears interesting. In that, if I could, I'd organize hunts where we'd track serial killers, shoot them, stuff them, and put them on display in museums rather than pretending that we can rehabilitate them and put more people in danger.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Depends on the killer. Being that i live in London, i have a certain interest in Jack the Ripper. But i was also fascinated by The Iceman, when he talks to a psychotherapist about why he is like he is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psoq8qYvx18&feature=share&list=FLZ6LM-X0dZ9lbxxXNdhF5pQ&index=13

 

[Someone Depressing]

I have a huge interest in serial killers. While most people have marathons watching their soft-porn anime or cartoons or Homestar Runner or whatever, my night-long marathons consist of loading Wikipedia and reading about horrible people and the horrible things they did.

No particular reason, it's an odd hobby.

 

[Kyrian007]

Not the "famous" ones anyway. I'm more interested in the unsolved serial killings. I live in a town where there was a string of killings just after I was born, and I learned about them in middle and high school. They went unsolved for over 30 years. The thought that the killer could easily be someone in the community was fascinating to me. Odds were either he stopped because he moved, stopped because he went to jail on some thought unrelated crime, or he just stopped and still lived in the area. The thought that the killer had about a 1/3 chance to be someone in the community was fascinating to me. And so "unsolved" became something I was interested in. From more well known ones like the Ripper, to lesser well known unsolved cases like Cleveland's Kingsbury Run murders (and it's connection to the end of the career of Elliot Ness.)

They did finally catch the killer in my city. Every so often the killer would let some evidence surface (just to stay in the papers.) Eventually they put together enough to get him (although I have no doubt he wanted to be caught at some point just for the "fame.")

 

[Carnagath]

Depends on the killer. Being that i live in London, i have a certain interest in Jack the Ripper. But i was also fascinated by The Iceman, when he talks to a psychotherapist about why he is like he is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psoq8qYvx18&feature=share&list=FLZ6LM-X0dZ9lbxxXNdhF5pQ&index=13

I find it hard to believe that the interviewer is a professional (a psychiatrist?). Is he trying to purposely make the interview more "dramatic" for some reason? Was he trying to sell a book? He loses his composure from the first minute, he pauses for a long time between questions and his voice cracks pathetically with every third word he utters. Incidentally I did study interrogation techniques and profiling (briefly, bundled with DNA and forensic isotopic analysis) when I was in law school, and personally I wouldn't let this guy talk to a person like that. He projects vulnerability, which encourages people with a tendency to lie to do it more often and to exaggerate in order just to fuck with him, which moves the discussion away from the facts.