Amuse Bouche #16 - Why do we love Serial Killers?

Hello, this is Amose Boosh and I'm Bridget. Here you're getting just a little bit of Bridget before our weekly release of Dinner Plus Drinks on Sunday. Today, it's spooky season continued, so I thought we'd look at why do we find serial killer stories so relaxing and amusing? So if you know me at all, you know I love a good true crime podcast, or you've heard me talk about that at least on Dinner Plus Drinks. Um, but maybe not everyone finds serial killers relaxing. That was presumptive of me. Um, or maybe not, maybe you didn't always find that relaxing. Um, certainly since the pandemic, I feel like I've seen people sharing all sorts of like funny memes about heading to bed with my favorite serial killer podcast, or hey, I'm really stressed, I'm gonna sit down and watch a serial killer show or whatever. Um, and I laugh a little bit because I'm the exact same way. Like, oh, I just need to like turn my brain off. Let me put on this heavy murder podcast. Um, although this has certainly changed throughout the years for me. So growing up, I was always, I mean, not when I was a kid, but um, younger years, I would watch ER with my parents. I know that's not about serial killers, um, but I had to stop watching it. I distinctly remember the episode that like made me be like, nope, can't watch this anymore. And it was when I forget the doctor's name, Dr. Noah, or maybe he's Noah Wiley. I don't know. When his brother was a heroin addict and he was detoxing and throwing up all over himself. I was like, nope, can't watch this. I can't do puke. So I stopped watching it. I remember um years later, I would watch Criminal Minds pretty regularly because I was like, yeah, murder shows, criminal minds, but then there was one that I was like, nope, this one was way too real. So it hit like a little bit too close to home, and I never watched that show again. Um and the list goes on and on, right? I would watch 2020, I'd watch Nightline, I'd watch a show called The First 48, and now I'm binging Law and Order back from season one, episode one. So I have always chosen drama shows over sitcoms. Um and then as you know, I those shows, I don't know, I don't even know what current murder shows are because I'm watching old ones. Um, because podcasts have risen in popularity, as we all know. So I started the podcast train with, I think the very first podcast I ever listened to was serial. Um, and then quickly after Serial was S Town, uh, same producers, and I would only allow myself to listen to them when I was running. Like it was my treat to listen to the show. So I was like, well, gotta go for a run, wanna listen to an episode of Serial, and it worked. Um, but I'm a I'm a binger, I'm a podcast binger, so I and a TV show binger. I like listen from the beginning to the end, and I don't mix in other podcasts typically. So once I got through Serial and S Town, it was only natural for me to then head to Crime Junkie. Um, I quickly got all caught up on Crime Junkie and like a real addict, started looking for something else and found Morbid, um, a true crime podcast. So I have talked about that on Dinner Plus Drinks. That is currently who I'm listening to. I have binged them from the beginning and they are amazing. Um, I'm almost caught up to real time and I'm really sad because that means I have to find a new one. So send me any true crime podcast racks. I've got a whole bunch, but I prefer uh from my listeners. So if you can send me any good ones, send it to the hello at Dinner Plus Drinks. But anyway, um I find that when I'm stressed, I turn to true crime. And I don't think, I know I'm not the only one, as I sat and did a little bit of research for Amoose Boosh. Um, so somehow I I read a few articles and I could have gone down a deep, deep hole about this, but you know, these are 10 to 15 minute episodes, and I have a lot of research for my dinner plus drinks episodes this week. So this is just a little preview. Um, I had to stop after a couple articles, but one of the things I found, and this makes sense, you know, I kind of made a list of why I think I like true crime, and then I felt validated when many people agreed with me via various articles. Um somehow I think listening to true crime, specifically at this stage in my life, being a mother, um, you know, I have young kids, we own a home. Uh you feel a responsibility to, you know, keep everyone safe, of course. You know, in college it was all about like, I gotta keep myself safe when I'm walking home from a party alone. You know, that was dumb. But I used to walk down the middle of the road. I would walk down like the double yellow lines if I was ever scared. Um, figured, you know, there's streetlights there and people would notice if something happened as opposed to a dark sidewalk. So now, okay, what do I do with my children? What do I do in my house if someone breaks in? So you turn to true crime almost as like a self-help channel, which as screwed up as it sounds, but morbid has this saying, and a lot of, I think this one is from Morbid. Um, a lot of the crime podcasts say this, but one of their one of their like little sayings is fresh air is for dead people, right? And what they mean is when you sleep with your windows open on like maybe a single-story home, like people can easily break in. So they're always like, close and lock your windows. Uh so of course that's like an overzealous, you know, uh statement, but it but it's interesting, right? So somehow true crime makes us feel more prepared. And the statistics show that women are more drawn to true crime podcast shows, etc. Um, because women additionally, research shows that women feel uh what is the term? Sorry, I'm struggling to make sure I don't say anything offensive. It was 70% of women um, I'm sorry, women are 70% more likely to be the victim of an intimate attack than a man. So that's just one example. But um, so the point is women are more drawn to true crime because they feel that they are more in danger out in the world. Um, have it be whatever it is. So true crime helps us feel more prepared. Uh additionally, this fascination with like good versus evil has been around forever. So that's not a new concept, and that's really what true crime is, right? Like you have the evil person, the serial killer, let's say, or just the one-time murderer, I guess, although often they are serial killers, that has existed forever. Um, the psychology of like trying to figure out someone's mind of what drives someone to be a murderer, that's like a a game everyone can play, right? You're constantly looking to solve the puzzle. Like, um, I know I'm not a detective of any way, I'm not qualified in any way to solve any murder, but for some reason I feel like if I listen to a true crime podcast, I can gather all of my knowledge and solve that crime. So, yes, it's unrealistic and ridiculous, but it it's a little game in a way. Um, so it says, excuse me, you're you're you want to look into the psychology of people, right? So I found in an article that, of course, I'll post the link to the article. Uh, it was on a website called Mental Floss, and they list these 12 reasons of why we are fascinated with true crime, and so many of them are spot on. Um, in the article, there was uh Dr. Michael Mantel is his name. He's a former chief psychologist for the San Diego Police Department, which, man, I bet that is a fascinating job. Um, but one thing he said in the article, uh, quote, our fascination with crime is equaled by our fear of fear of crime, end quote. And that to me was like, wow, that's me in a nutshell. Like I am terrified of all the things that that like are talked about. Like Ted Bundy, just an attractive dude, like asking ladies to um come join him. That could happen to anybody, in any town, anywhere. Um, so yes, it's horrifying, but fascinating the way people work. And um, you know, it's easy to think like, well, this is just happening in big cities or this is just happening wherever. But when I hear I'm currently listening to an episode of one that's very heavily um this this serial killer is all over the Midwest. So Indiana, Ohio, Michigan. And I'm like, oh man, that feels close to home. Granted, it was many, many years ago, and he is caught. But still, um, when you are driving past an accident on the road, you're gonna look at it. I know you shouldn't, and you shouldn't gawk, and you should just keep going to, you know, help the flow of traffic, but you can't look away from a train wreck. And so it's the same thing. I'm tuning in to listen to what a disaster this is because oh, also this person's life is worse than mine. As terrible as that sounds, everybody, I think that's partly why during the pandemic true crime really rose in popularity. You just like wanted an escape from whatever your reality was that felt really heavy. Um, I have ordered and can't wait to start reading uh slash I'm a little terrified. I found a book by Scott Bond called Why We Love Serial Killers. And this just goes more, you know, I was reading a little bit about it more and more into this same psychology of like what our obsession is with all of this. So as I started taking notes for this episode, I was like deep in a hole and was like, I need to stop. It's only a few minutes to fill. So um, if you want to check out the book, I'll also put a link to that in the show notes. Um, but psychologists said, um, again, throughout some of the articles I read, psychologists were saying that one of the main reasons we're obsessed with true crime is it gives us an opportunity to feel relieved that we're not the victim. So, like I was saying, you get this escape from your real life, and you're like, oh, well, at least I wasn't dumb enough to get in a car with Ted Bundy. Although any of us could be that dumb. So another another saying that comes out of true crime podcasts from Morbid, that I think again, I'm really sorry if it's uh crime junkie or morbid, they blended together for me at one point. Um, but it's like something about staying weird. Like, be weird. Yeah, if you think you're being weird because something doesn't feel right, you're probably saving your life by being a little bit weird. So the last couple things about true crime that I think are pretty obvious, like if you're into adrenaline, like I like roller coasters. I have jumped out of a plane, um, I like adrenaline rushes. Um, that's kind of what true crime does. You're like on the edge of your seat, right? You're giving yourself this little adrenaline rush. And let's think about this, guys. As it is haunted house season, uh, we're heading into Halloween weekend. We are literally paying people to scare us. We are paying someone to allow us to walk through a dark, scary house and have strangers jump out at us. So maybe we just like to be scared a little. So true crime is just like along the lines of paying to go in the haunted house. So you can scream and be a little bit scared and tell stories about it when you're done. So this has been really fascinating to me. Um, and the number of people that have become more and more obsessed with true crime, I think really is just like an example of um escapism from reality a little bit, even though this is people's reality, unfortunately. Um, serial killers do exist, and that is very much part of reality, and hopefully none of your realities that are listening. So hope you have a little fun at a haunted house this weekend and find a true crime podcast that you love. I will share my recommendations in the show notes, and please do send yours my way. Have an awesome weekend and happy Halloween.