It’s been a bad day. You were late to school, your left airpod wont charge, your sister won’t stop stealing your eyeliner and that certain someone still hasn’t viewed your Instagram story. You get in the car, take a deep breath and open Spotify. You need something relaxing to listen to but lo-fi is too repetitive and classical music is too pretentious. So, to calm your nerves you turn on your favorite murder podcast. Seems odd, right? While jamming out to gruesome crime stories might seem counterintuitive thousands of listeners are avid true crime fans, leading many to investigate the industry. To explore this spooky phenomenon, I will first illustrate the bloody history of true crime, evaluate why true crime is so popular and finally, discuss the ethics of our true crime obsession.  

It seems that our morbid fascination with criminal activity infiltrates nearly every media outlet today. Whether it be podcasting top charts, news headlines, your local Barnes and Noble or YouTube homepage. While true crime seems to be a modern phenomenon, true crime has been around for hundreds of years. Some argue that the first true crime story was the Bible, depicting mass rape, genocide, slavery, and various atrocities. This is an interesting point considering that the first relative of what we consider to be the modern-day true crime novel was full of religious propaganda and drove readers into the arms of the church. To locate the true beginning of the gory genre, we must first travel back to the 16th century. This is when both criminal justice and the printing press grew in popularity, creating the perfect ecosystem for everyday people to enjoy a slice of danger and guilty excitement through short magazine-esque stories of criminals. These supposedly nonfiction journals detailed your everyday gruesome killing, generally involving family annihilation and sensationalized graphic descriptions. These short stories aimed to inspire the perfect combination of fear and religious based guilt, achieving the goal of communicating clearly to readers that sin will always be met with punishment. Sometimes it was unclear if the victim or the killer was the true sinner, which is reminiscent of the victim shaming mentality that’s prevalent even today. Several decades in the future, detective novels were born. Readers accompanied the famous Sherlock Holmes, along with many others. Unsurprisingly, these stories included the obligatory gore, atrocity, and overall disturbing nature of the genre along with an intellectual element. Readers felt as though they were solving the cases alongside their favorite charismatic detectives, their rush of fear combined with a boost in intelligence related self-esteem, providing them with the golden ratio of entertainment. The upper classes gravitated towards these stories, mostly leaving the tabloid reminiscent stories of nonfiction murders to the growingly literate lower classes. The genre appealing to a wide range of people just increased its popularity. The first novel to be officially declared as Bonafede true crime was written in 1927 and depicted the Lizzy Borden case. While this book was revolutionary it failed to reach the same amount of success as a novel written in 1956 by Truman Capote. The book titled “True Blood” was another supposedly 100% true and not at all sensationalized story that illustrated the small-town murder of the Cutter family. Unsurprisingly, the novel was full of inaccuracies that would make modern true crime aficionados cringe however, this book did so much good for the genre that true crime books became commonplace and one of the most mainstream genres, even gaining critical acclaim. As the saying goes, “True Blood” walked so “Helter Skelter” could run. The 1974 novel by Charles Bugliosi and Curt Gentry was a dense tale, narrated by the prosecutor of the famous Charles Manson case. The novel was exhaustive yet extremely straightforward, growing incredibly popular with both the crime obsessed and true crime newbies alike. “Helter Skelter” was the best-selling true crime novel for quite some time and was recognized as the golden standard for aspiring crime and crime fiction writers. Soon after the success of “Helter Skelter” firsthand witness and former law enforcement officer Anne Rule stepped onto the true crime scene. A mix of fate and luck landed Rule at a job with a crisis hotline in the mid to late 1970s, she answered emergency calls alongside none other than coworker and famed serial killer, Ted Bundy. After Bundy’s arrest and conviction, Rule released her 1980 book entitled “The Stranger Beside Me”. In her critically acclaimed novel Rule described the odd and unfortunate circumstances of her friendship with the charismatic and deadly convict. Rule ended up writing many other true crime novels, inspiring many other writers into the 21st century. This brings us into the age of podcasts. With the technological revolution of a little thing, we call the internet and smartphones information about crime was much more accessible to the masses. Everyday people could locate a gruesome thrill with the click of a mouse or the tap of a finger. True crime books remained a standard in the community however readers wanted more entertainment more rapidly. Enter “Serial”, the first true crime podcast to gain massive mainstream success in the year 2014. True crime podcasts have just continued to rise in popularity, with countless titles including “My Favorite Murder” “Morbid” and “Generation Why”. Podcasts made true crime easy to access at moment’s notice, people listen to their favorite hosts illustrate the most gruesome murders they can find that weak as they make their morning commute, wash the dishes, or fall asleep. While humans have always been fascinated by criminal activity and tantalized by stories of fear and peril but since the birth of true crime podcasts consumption has been at an all-time high, leading us to question “what is it about true crime material that fascinates us so much?” 

Whether or not you personally feel a draw to it, there’s no question that podcasts like “Serial” and television shows like “Making a Murderer” have captivated the nation. The real question is why and how. Professionals point to many explanations. Most commonly, the need to feel informed and prepares. Evolutionary psychologists suggest our morbid fascination is related to a primal instinct to protect ourselves from any perceived threat. Interestingly a study at the University of Illinois found that women are more likely to be interested in the world of true crime and, quote, “they are most interested in stories that give insight into the killer’s motives, that contain information about how victims escaped, and that feature female victims.” This supports the evolutionary theory that we consume true crime to gather tactics and strategies. There’s also the fear of death that can be aided my true crime consumption. People are fascinated by death. We can compare the fascination with murder to fascination with a car crash, natural disaster or school fight. Other scientists, however, suggest that the allure is much more related to brain chemistry. Listening to and viewing these stories results in a jolt of one of our most basic emotions, fear. Our brains reward us with adrenaline and excitement when we experience a bout of fear, in the same way we feel a sort of high after riding a roller coaster, singing karaoke, or presenting a speech. This adrenaline is addictive so possibly the most accessible way to receive that rush is through media consumption, we can’t all spend our weekends presenting speeches. On the other end of the spectrum, some suggest that true crime gives consumers a sense of calm or even dissociation. While this seems pretty ironic at first glance, who wouldn’t feel at least a little burst of gratitude from realizing that sure you spilled your coffee this morning but at least you weren’t brutally tortured and murdered by a famed serial killer. True crime can also provide a voice to survivors. For example, a study of domestic violence survivors showed that true crime made survivors feel seen and represented. They found validation for their experiences and a sense of community among true crime fans and creators alike. Not only survivors can benefit from an emotional release. Some suggest that the strong feelings emitted by the consumption of true crime can help us process our own tough emotions. Some suggest that these strong emotions can help us discover and process feelings of fear, anxiety, and distress in our own lives. For Podcasts and audio books specifically, scientists have an interesting theory on their magnetism. Podcaster’s voices take on a dramatic, increasingly emotional tone when they speak about horrors such as murder. This causes a greater visceral response from listeners like the way we love television shows about wild drama and emotional distress. We can’t be sure exactly why our modern society has such an obsession with true crime and human suffering. What we do know is that true crime is a borderline epidemic and it’s unclear whether it’s the positive growth of a genre or an ever-growing morbid voyeurism and mental health risk.  

 True crime is certainly entertaining, there’s no question about that but is it ethical or safe? The ethics of true crime are frequently debated and contested. Many argue that true crime is not ethically defensible. Primarily, victims and their families are given no option in the case of media coverage. While some families may choose to share their story publicly, many families would opt out of media and true crime coverage if given the choice. For survivors, having the worst moment of their lives dissected for viewers enjoyment is triggering and upsetting. Families of deceased are plagued by sensationalized stories of their loved ones gruesome demise for years, sometimes decades after the original crime. With the rise of true crime not only do they have to see news coverage, but their dead family member’s name could be appearing on podcast episodes and Netflix specials for years and years, making it seem like they will never escape the tragedy. True crime can also lead to the romanticization of heinous criminals. For example, Netflix’s recent show “Dahmer” has received conflicting reviews. Some say it’s an artistic look into the mind of a monster while some argue that it’s a cash grab relying on our inappropriate obsession with killers. Even fans of the true crime genre stated that the were uncomfortable with the Dahmer’s portrayal of the famed serial killer. Bobbi Miller, host of “The Afternoon Special” stated that she felt unsettled watching the show and even more unsettled after seeing the public’s reaction to the show. Watchers became obsessed with actor Evan Peters and it became unclear whether they were intrigued by the actor himself or his portrayal of the character. This issue has occurred many times before. We constantly see heartthrob actors play despicable serial killers, followed by a social media storm of viewers admiring them. After Zac Efron’s portrayal of Ted Bundy, we also saw an insurance of serial killer fanatics. According to writer Alexis August, “On Twitter, users were comparing the attractiveness of TedBundy and Jeffrey Dahmer. There are even fan accounts for well-known serial killers. Women become obsessed with and even attracted to serial killers to the point of professing their love in the form of letters or marriage proposals (Ted Bundy received multiple marriage proposals when he was in prison.” Famed murderers like Ted Bundy, Richard Ramirez and the Columbine Shooters are often romanticized by true crime consumers. This is unquestionably wrong and unethical, the question is: does true crime enable this concerning behavior or even encourage it? By casting popular, attractive actors to portray these dreadful acts do we glorify killing or give viewers a sense of fondness towards the murder? There’s also the issue of sensationalized true crime media. As we have discussed, true crime has been very unreliable in the past and that’s not entirely changed. With the volume of true crime available there is bound to be a wide variety of false information. This is a problem, but combined with the sensitivity of a topic such as crime this creates big problems. By speculating on the identity of an unknown killer we could ruin the life of an innocent bystander and sharing incorrect details of a murder could possibly lead to victim blaming. While some of this misinformation could be your typical accidental fake news, some if it is intentionally fabricated to increase revenue. By sensationalizing details of a crime, creators bring in more consumers and make even more money off of this lucrative business. Which leads to another moral qualm, is capitalizing off of true crime ethical? The industry is undeniably lucrative. Podcasts specifically have grown immensely in popularity in recent years. According to a trend report by discoverpods.com popular true crime podcasts True Crime Obsessed and Last Podcast on the Left generated over 50k each month based on Patreon subscriptions alone. Based on a 2021 survey true crime podcast hosts Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark had a net worth of around 15 million dollars. Virtually all of this revenue is made from the stories of victims, which makes it different from other entertainment industries. There are also more issues with the industry relating to mental health of consumers. Some experts even suggest that true crime fans are at a higher risk for mental health disorders such as anxiety. Viewers can also experience increased paranoia and even a desensitization. Ultimately, we are unable to find a solution to the true crime controversy. There’s no right or wrong answer or definitive proof for either side of the argument. Whether true crime is ethical or not, its quickly becoming one of the biggest industries in the entertainment community. With traffic surrounding true crime and its ethics we could very well see a reckoning in the industry soon but as for now the media titan will continue to dominate our anxieties, newsfeeds and Spotify recommended.  

Ultimately, true crime is too complex and ingrained in our society to be the subject of any definitive conclusions. But, like any growing industry it’s important to become conscious consumers. That’s why we explored the history of true crime, analyzed why it’s so popular and ruminated on its ethics and morals. Who knows what the future of true crime will hold, could it become unhealthy? Enable the dangerous? Violate our privacy? Maybe, but like many of our favorite true crime mysteries that currently remains unsolved.