My journey all started one fateful day when I was scrolling through YouTube and I stumbled across a video called Unsolved: True Crime, a Buzzfeed video series where two dudes sit and talk about a true crime story that remains unsolved (as stated by the title). I had no idea what I was getting into, but it somehow changed my whole life!
After watching that one video, I watched another and another. I couldn’t stop learning about these fascinating crimes that occurred, and what surprised me the most was that I wasn’t scared. I am normally someone who cannot deal with anything gory and scary, like horror movies or doctor shows. But I think it was the fact that I was not looking at any pictures, just two guys talking made the gruesome story far more interesting than disgusting. The other thing these two guys did was talk about theories. Since the crimes were unsolved, people from the time of the crime to now had their opinion on what may have happened. I liked the puzzle that was presented to me. I think what was so alluring about true crime, at least to me, was that it was real. These crazy and absurd things did happen. I know that sounds crazy, which it totally is, but just like people are obsessed with conspiracy theories and ghosts/aliens because it is so fascinating and weird, but true crime is real! So started my little obsession with true crime. I waited every week for a new video to be posted just like a true YouTube enthusiast. It was all good and dandy until they switched it all up on me and decided to focus a season on supernatural; something I do not find interesting. So, I was on the hunt for something to satisfy my true crime needs.
Staying in the realm I was most comfortable with, I looked on YouTube for something of similar nature. I was in love with the format of just two people talking, having a conversation about a specific true crime. So, doing some research podcasts was the place I needed to go. Now it took me a bit to find the perfect one, but I did. It was exactly what I was looking for and it was called Crime Junkies: Just two women talking about true crime from a whole range of missing people to serial killers to unsolved mysteries and murders. I know, I know to some that this may all seem to be too much, but true crime soon became a simple outlet for something that I have always been interested in- the human mind and the psychology behind it.
True crime, or should I say true crime podcasts, became almost a new identity for me. I was obsessed, to say the least, all through my senior year of high school. I listened to Crime Junkies, making my sister so mad when I drove to school because she had absolutely no interest in the crime. I made my friends listen to them with me during breaks between classes and any small road trip had to include at least an episode or two. When I got to college, it was the perfect thing to listen to while walking between classes and while I was plugging in data at my research lab.
True crime has always been a thing- this passion is far from new, which surprised me. I felt like when I started to get into it there was suddenly a lot of true crime. Maybe it was just me falling down the rabbit hole, or maybe just the accessibility from free podcasts and streaming services like Netflix, or it was just a lot of women like me latching on to the concept. But looking back, true crime has always fascinated the world. Shows like 50/50, Dateline and Forensic Files have been on the air for many, many years. Crime novels are a very common form of both fiction and non-fiction and many cases have become public phenomenon.
The crimes committed are gruesome and terrible, but they provide an interesting look into the human mind because it always seems unfathomable that someone has so much hatred and pain that they need to cause so much destruction. If you are as interested in true crime as much as I am, I have listed below a handful of shows, podcasts and series to binge this crazy obsession!
Crime Junkie– Podcast
Serial Killers– Podcast
True Crime Obsessed– Podcast
Mindhunters– TV Show (Netflix)
Criminal Minds– TV Show (Netflix)
Unsolved Mysteries– TV Show (Netflix) Murder Mystery & Makeup by Bailey Sarian– YouTube Series
BuzzFeed Unsolved: True Crime– Youtube Series