from a charming serial killer in the ted Bundy tapes
just doesn't look like the type to kill somebody to an
eccentric lover of wild animals plotting his violent
revenge in Tiger King, will you go to florida and feel
that right away Our morbid fascination with real li
horror dates back centuries. In the 1500s, British
writers wrote about violent crimes and punishments in
pamphlets and sold them to the public. People once
bought tickets to public hangings in the 19th century
and the real life mysteries on NBC's Dateline hav
captivated television viewers f over 30 years now.
But in 2014, 1 podcast began a new era of true crime
intrigue. It's serial one story told week by week, I'm
Sarah Koenig in cereals. First season journalist Sara
Koenig investigated whether high school students. Adnan
Syed actually murdered his ex girlfriend, Amen lee at
the time the podcast became the fastest to reach more
than five million downloads on Itunes. Even late night
talk shows like the Colbert report were excited abo
the podcast. What does it mean to have the most popular
podcast in history Do you get paid in Itunes gift cards.
What is your, I'm trying to follow the money here to
date listeners have downloaded cereals. First seaso
more than 300 million times the year after the podcast
success Netflix tried its hand at binge able true crime
Steven. Avery spent 18 years in prison for something he
didn't do More than 19 million people watched the hit
series making a murderer within the first month after
its debut, according to the streaming service, one
psychologist told NPR our obsession with true crime is
actually normal and healthy to a point, he said that's
because true crime stories appeal to our innate
curiosity and interest in good versus evil. Being
curious about the mind of a killer is also why women in
particular may be more interest in crime than men. In
2010, the University of Illinois found women wrote 70%
of Amazon reviews of true crime books. They also make
up 75% of true crime podcast listeners. According to
2018 survey, experts say the genre might comfort women
as they learn how to defend against an attacker or
survive a dangerous situation. One police psycholog
says we may also be drawn to the adrenaline rush tr
crime provides along with a sense of relief that we're
not in danger first is a sense of not me, this feeling
of I'm interested but I'm interested because it calms
me that I'm not the victim, but true crime may be
booming now because of our binge culture. In a 2017
study, researchers found nearly three quarters of
Americans have binged content. Some watching for five
hours at a time. Crime is the perfect binge. According
to anthropologist Grant Mccrack he says it allows us
to escape into a world completely different than
own. The pandemic also elevated. Are intrigued as we
sat at home bored and restless criminology Profes
scott Bond writes True crime allows us to play
investigator and fills the human love of solving
puzzles. Just take crime con, for example, Since 2017,
thousands of people from regular fans to celebrities
like Selena Gomez, Flock to the massive true crime
convention Tickets, run up to $1600 for the chance to
hear from favorite podcasters a TV stars or even get
nancy grace to autograph a wine bottle featuring
missing persons cases. But even with the growing
obsession, experts aren't worried about us getting
desensitized to crime. Crime and conflict is an aspect
of the human condition that's been with us From the
beginning, it will always be with us.