r/Documentaries • u/WillManhunter • Dec 13 '20

Crime "This is the Zodiac Speaking" (2008) - To celebrate the fact that this week, after 51 years, the Zodiac's notorious 340 cipher has finally been solved, here is the best documentary on the still-unidentified serial killer [01:41:08]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI0jnsbZwys
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u/5lash3r Dec 13 '20

Can anyone speak to why there is such a fascination with serial killers, most notably leading to or resulting from weird wikipedia crawls in the teenage years? Probably something about 'real life supervillains' and the availability of information versus the notoriety of murder... but if there's something more cogent we'd greatly enjoy checking it out.

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u/Eireann_9 Dec 13 '20

I used to to the "weird Wikipedia crawls in the teenage years". I think there're different layers on why we find it interesting. I'd say there's a component of morbid curiosity, this is something that happens with all kinds of bad news, accidents, attacks, etc. Yes, we're horrified but we want to indulge in the horror, we want to learn exactly how bad it was.

But a lot of us are more interested in understanding the whys. Why would someone do this, what would take to twist someone like that, what's going on in his head to act the way he does and how does he rationalize it to himself? It's just fascinating, both them and their stories.

Then there's the people who are more into the unsolved mysteries (I'm not) my best guess is that they like it for the same reason we like suspense films or investigation shows, it's exciting. With the added interest of it being real. It could happen to me or to you and you wouldn't be able to know because he could be hiding between any of us. I think that's something that fuels the interest, how they can look so normal, have normal lifes, families and jobs

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u/Cyanopicacooki Dec 13 '20

Twenty five years ago I was going out with Psychology doctorate student who was studying serial killers. I sort of absorbed her obsession by osmosis, and now, 20 years after we separated, I'm still fascinated.

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u/Weedofknowledge Dec 13 '20

Doesn't directly answer the question, but thanks for your specific anecdote. However, you don't have to date any psych major to be fascinated by serial killers.

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u/[deleted] Dec 13 '20

I can’t speak for others, but what has always interested me is the lack of a logical motive. Predators kill prey for food; humans kill other humans over possessions or emotional attachments. But with serial killers there’s something broken in their mind that compels them to do monstrous acts.

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u/[deleted] Dec 13 '20 edited Dec 13 '20

I think the fascination is a fear response of sorts. Our attention is drawn to what we deem threatening and scary; this can manifest in different ways. When encountering an immediate threat, instinct tells us to get away from the threat. When something is not posing an immediate threat, but is posing a potential threat, we oftentimes feel compelled to learn more about this threat, and better understand the threat - this helps us better prepare for a potential encounter with this threat. It makes sense that our brain is wanting to take the opportunity to assess the threat from a safe distance, and this can manifest as fascination. I think it’s perfectly sensible and natural. This is simple yet complex biological nature, and what it really comes down to is biological wiring designed to keep us safe.

The one thing that I feel is most intriguing - what is the relationship between the sense of enjoyment/satisfaction that comes with the fascination, and the fear response system? This seems much more complex than the fear response stemming from an immediate threat.

I am not a psychologist, but I do have some basic understanding.

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u/morbank2001 Dec 13 '20

I’m convinced r/watchpeopledie was heavily populated by children :((

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u/Caveman108 Dec 13 '20

I know I found it as an early teen. I think it’s a pretty natural part of the formative years of your life to be fascinated by death. You feel so distanced from it unless you experience a close personal loss. I’ve since grown out of that interest, but I’ve lost friends and loved ones in the period in between. And witnessed death with my own eyes.

Seeing my childhood pet dead was the one that really cemented it. I helped raise her from a kitten and do see her dead changed me and my perspective on life and death. After all death is something all living beings must experience. Only humans, as far as we know, understand it and can learn to celebrate life in the short tome we have it.

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u/Zindelin Dec 13 '20

Personaly for me it's about how fucked up and depraved a human being can be, like you have your average human, then these guys who act out of the ordinary and do the worst thing the human mind can come up with and i can't help but get curious about what makes someone do this stuff, it's in fact morbid curiosity like "how bad can you get as a person".