What is it about true crime that has us all so hooked? From binge-watching Netflix documentaries about serial killers to listening to hours of podcasts about unsolved murders, missing people and the darkest corners of the human mind, it seems that we have developed a collective obsession with the macabre.
I have certainly fallen victim to the binge-watching and binge-listening phenomenon. Some of my favourite spooky and true crime podcasts include MrBallen and Coffee House Crime. There’s also RedHanded, along with countless others competing for our attention. There seems to be an endless supply of real-life horrors to keep us entertained, whether we are commuting to work, doing the washing up or lying in bed trying to relax before sleep. Nothing says winding down quite like a detailed account of a double murder!
But why are we so drawn to stories about the worst things human beings can do to one another? Is it simple curiosity, a desire for a little excitement, or something deeper about the world we live in?
I've been thinking about my own reasons for getting sucked into the true crime rabbit hole, and I suspect they are a mixture of the following.
Escapism
Life right now can feel overwhelming. Between raging wars, political chaos, inappropriate world leaders and an endless stream of bad news, the world sometimes seems to be in a permanent state of crisis.
Watching or listening to true crime can, oddly enough, feel like an escape from all of that. Instead of worrying about the state of the world in general, I can become completely absorbed in one particular mystery. Who did it? Why did they do it? How did the police catch them? Will the missing person ever be found?
There is something strangely comforting about having a story with a beginning, a middle and, hopefully, an ending. Real life is messy and complicated, with problems that rarely come neatly packaged with a resolution. True crime, on the other hand, often offers a narrative that we can follow from the initial crime through the investigation and, sometimes, to justice being served.
Of course, not every case has a happy ending. Many remain unsolved, and for the families involved, the story is far from over. But for the listener or viewer, the act of concentrating on one particular case can provide a temporary distraction from the much bigger problems going on around us.
It's a peculiar kind of escapism, though. Most people escape into romantic comedies, fantasy worlds or beautiful travel documentaries. I apparently prefer to escape into the mind of a serial killer.
Relativity: Someone Else's Life Is Worse Than Mine
This one is slightly uncomfortable to admit, but I think there's an element of relativity involved.
Sometimes, hearing about the terrible things that happen to other people makes my own problems feel a little smaller. Whatever minor disaster is unfolding in my life, it probably doesn't compare with being caught up in a horrific crime or having your entire world turned upside down by someone else's actions.
It's a strange form of perspective. My everyday frustrations suddenly seem less significant when placed alongside the experiences of people who have endured genuinely devastating circumstances.
Perhaps true crime reminds us that life is unpredictable and that, despite our complaints, there are plenty of things we take for granted. A boring day, an uneventful commute or an ordinary evening at home can suddenly seem rather wonderful.
There is, admittedly, something a little questionable about feeling better by listening to someone else's worst day. But I suspect this is less about enjoying other people's suffering and more about being reminded of how relative our own circumstances can be.
It is important to remember, of course, that the people in these stories are real. Their suffering isn't just a plot twist or a gripping episode ending. Still, there is something about confronting the extremes of human experience that can make us reassess our own lives.
A Fascination with the Grotesque and the Criminally Insane
I'm not entirely sure where this fascination comes from. Perhaps it is something we learn through films, television, books and popular culture, or perhaps humans have always been drawn to the strange, the frightening and the forbidden.
When your own life is relatively mundane, in a good way, the extremes explored in true crime can be compelling precisely because they are so far removed from your everyday experience.
Most of us go about our lives assuming that the people we encounter are reasonably normal. We queue for coffee, get on the bus, go to work and make small talk with strangers. We don't spend much time wondering whether the person sitting next to us is hiding a dark and disturbing secret.
True crime challenges that comfortable assumption. It explores what happens when people behave in ways that seem completely incomprehensible to the rest of us. What makes someone capable of murder? How can a person live an apparently ordinary life while committing horrific crimes? Are some people born dangerous, or are they shaped by their experiences?
The appeal isn't necessarily that we want to see violence. Often, it's the psychology that fascinates us: the motives, the warning signs, the deception and the sheer difficulty of understanding how one human being can cause so much harm to another.
There is also the forbidden nature of it all. We are curious about things we would never want to experience ourselves. True crime allows us to explore these darker aspects of humanity from a safe distance, without having to encounter them in real life.
It's a bit like looking over the edge of a cliff. We know it's dangerous, we have no intention of jumping, but we still feel compelled to look.
A Need to Understand the Unthinkable
Perhaps one of the biggest reasons for our fascination with true crime is the desire to understand something that feels impossible to understand.
We like to believe that the world operates according to certain rules. Good people should be safe, bad people should be caught, and terrible things should happen for a reason that we can comprehend. True crime disrupts that sense of order. It confronts us with the reality that people can be harmed for seemingly arbitrary reasons, that appearances can be deceptive and that justice isn't always guaranteed.
By listening to the details of a case, we may be trying to make sense of something that otherwise feels senseless. We look for patterns, clues and explanations. We want to know what went wrong and whether the outcome could have been prevented.
This might also explain why so many of us become amateur detectives while watching a documentary. We scrutinise the evidence, question the suspects and convince ourselves that we would have spotted the clue that everyone else missed.
Of course, knowing the ending of a real-life case and watching an edited television programme is very different from investigating a crime. But the opportunity to piece together a mystery gives us a sense of involvement, as though we are doing more than simply consuming a story.
Sometimes, understanding the details can make frightening events feel a little less random, even if it cannot make them any less tragic.
The Illusion of Control: Could It Happen to Me?
There may also be a more practical reason behind our obsession: fear.
For some people, consuming true crime is a way of learning about danger. We listen for warning signs, examine the behaviour of perpetrators and take note of the mistakes victims supposedly made. We might tell ourselves that understanding these cases will help us recognise a dangerous situation and avoid becoming a victim ourselves.
In an unpredictable world, information can feel like protection. Especially living in a big city like London where many of these things can actually happen.
There is a certain logic to wanting to understand how crimes happen. However, there is a fine line between becoming informed and becoming unnecessarily fearful. Many true crime stories focus on exceptionally disturbing events, which can make rare dangers feel much more common than they actually are.
And there is a danger in assuming that victims could always have prevented what happened to them. Responsibility for a crime belongs to the person who commits it, not to the person who becomes its victim.
Perhaps what we are really looking for is reassurance: if we understand the danger, maybe we can protect ourselves from it. Unfortunately, life doesn't always offer that level of control.
The Perfect Podcast for the Modern Commute
There is also a practical reason why true crime fits so neatly into modern life: it is incredibly easy to consume.
Podcasts have transformed the way we listen to stories. We can take an entire investigation with us while walking the dog, travelling on the Tube, cycling to work or folding a mountain of laundry. Unlike television, a podcast doesn't require our full visual attention, which makes it an ideal companion for the mundane tasks of everyday life.
And true crime is particularly well suited to this format. A good presenter knows how to build suspense, introduce new evidence and leave us with just enough unanswered questions to make us want to listen to the next episode.
The result is an almost endless supply of cliffhangers. One episode becomes two, two become five, and suddenly it's midnight and we're listening to a case from another country that happened thirty years ago.
The internet has also made these stories more accessible than ever. Streaming platforms, social media and online communities have created a huge audience for crime stories, while algorithms recommend increasingly similar content once we have shown an interest.
What might once have been a niche interest has become a major part of mainstream entertainment.
Are We Becoming Desensitised?
One question worth asking is whether consuming so much true crime changes the way we think about violence.
When real-life murders become episodes, seasons and entertainment franchises, there is a risk that we start treating the people involved as characters rather than human beings. The more cases we hear about, the easier it might become to forget the real grief and devastation behind each story.
There is also the issue of sensationalism. Some programmes focus on the most shocking details because they make for compelling viewing, while the lives of victims and the experiences of their families receive far less attention.
Not all true crime is exploitative. At its best, it can raise awareness of unsolved cases, examine failures in the justice system, challenge wrongful convictions and give attention to victims who might otherwise be forgotten. It can also encourage important conversations about violence, abuse and the ways institutions respond to crime.
But there is a difference between being genuinely interested in understanding a case and simply wanting to be shocked by it.
I think the distinction matters. These are real people, with families, friends and lives that extend far beyond the worst thing that ever happened to them.
Why Is True Crime So Popular Right Now?
So, what is it about the time we are living in that makes true crime such a cultural phenomenon?
I suspect it is a combination of everything above. We live in an age of information overload, uncertainty and constant stimulation. We are surrounded by news that can make the world feel frightening and unpredictable, yet we also have unlimited access to stories that promise to explain some of that darkness.
True crime offers mystery, suspense, psychology and the possibility of resolution. It gives us something to focus on when the wider world feels too complicated to comprehend. It allows us to explore our fears from a safe distance and, occasionally, to appreciate the relative ordinariness of our own lives.
There is also something distinctly modern about our relationship with these stories. We don't just watch a documentary and move on. We join online discussions, read theories, revisit evidence and listen to multiple podcasts covering the same case. True crime has become a shared cultural interest, with communities built around trying to understand the most incomprehensible aspects of human behaviour.
And perhaps, in a world where so much feels outside our control, we find comfort in the idea that even the darkest mysteries can sometimes be solved.
In Conclusion: Guilty Pleasure or Human Nature?
I don't think there is one single explanation for our collective true crime obsession. For me, it is part escapism, part curiosity and part perspective. It is the fascination of looking at the extreme edges of human behaviour while remaining safely within the boundaries of my own ordinary life.
I can be horrified by a story, fascinated by the investigation and relieved when justice is served, all while wondering why on earth I chose to listen to something so disturbing while trying to get to sleep.
Perhaps that is the strange contradiction at the heart of true crime. We are drawn to stories that remind us how terrible the world can be, yet we consume them because we are trying to make sense of that very world.
I don't think we necessarily enjoy the darkness itself. Perhaps we enjoy the attempt to understand it.
Although, having said that, I may need to find a new podcast for my next commute. Something uplifting. Perhaps a gentle series about gardening, the history of cheese or people who restore old furniture.
Then again, I do have a new episode of MrBallen waiting for me.
I'll probably listen to that instead.
