How’s your S.O./friends/family feel about your interest in true crime? Do they share it? Do they tolerate it? Do they try to talk you out of it? True-crime “shame” isn’t really a thing anymore, post-Serial, but when I started the Blotter years ago, it was because I wanted to give serious consideration to a genre that wasn’t taken seriously. Imagine my delight when my husband had not only BEEN IN an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, but watched ID all the time. (We got engaged in front of an old Dateline.)
I know some of you picked up some true crime from your parents; is it something you share with friends/family? Or is everyone else playing Celebrity and you’ve got your nose in a black paperback with red writing?
I barely associate with anyone who isn't into true crime. That's one thing I've never related to re: My Favorite Murder -- the hosts say they met at a party where they both wanted to talk about murder and everyone else walked away from them. Maybe that's one of the many differences between Baltimore and Los Angeles, but everybody I know likes to talk about crime. My girlfriend lets me tell her the plot of whatever true crime book I'm reading and every scintillating detail of serial crime podcasts, so although she doesn't seek it out, she doesn't seem to object. My best friend and I talk about true crime all the time, especially podcasts. And the only thing that keeps up the loving relationship between my super-right-wing aunt/Godmother and me is the fact that we both watch & read so many true crime properties. I am trying to get her into podcasts, but she's almost 70 years old and I'm 46, and I don't understand how iPhones work because I've never had one, so I'm having some difficulty troubleshooting her Apple Podcasts player via text message.
I’ve got a question that none of you may understand, and that’s okay: does anyone else have experience with cycling mood disorders (I.e. bipolars 1-4) and find that sometimes you’re super into true crime and can’t get enough, and then you’ll cycle up and suddenly it’s way too horrific and scary and it squicks you out? Because that has been happening to me for about 15 years now, ever since i got into true crime via the Erie Pizza Bomber case and the old Crime Library archive on trutv’s website. I read the entirety of Crime Library at a government job (it took multiple months to do) and was never flagged by IT, so I don’t know who was worse at their job in that sitch, lol.
Also, there’s a Nightmare Next Door episode about a high school classmate of mine if you’re ever looking for a Cold Case, Sarah: it’s S7E10, “Murders Under the Mistletoe” and is on Hulu.
My husband wholeheartedly supports and encourages my true crime pursuits, but doesn’t necessarily share them. On occasion, a crime will spark his interest. Usually a con/fraud or something that links into one of his academic interests (he’s an early 20th century lit guy). My kids just make fun of me for all the “murder shows” I watch.
So I follow several true crime podcasts and regularly find out about new material via The Blotter Presents and Crime Writers On. Past a certain level I can't deal with some true crime subjects - for example I am interested in, but couldn't get through Greg Olsen's latest (reviewed on the next to last ep) due to the abuse, esp. to minors. Likewise I am really interested in, but have to gear myself up to listen to Richard Preston's Crisis in the Hot Zone. The hard parts of these topics overlap with what's often the sensationalistic parts of true crime writing and TV. At the same time the psychological aspects of the genre most definitely interest me, despite what's hard, e.g. being able to finish The Killer Across the Table. I'm not sure where this is going, but I will keep listening and reading.
My parents read an asston of mystery novels growing up, and watched all the perennial parental faves (UK's Inspector Morse, Hill St Blues, etc) so I always had a taste for the fictional side, but true crime was a little different to that for them, and something I sort of indulged in by myself but with no blowback. I was one of those kids who read everything she could get her hands on growing up, and my folks figured reading was fine, but it was that which set me apart more than what I was reading. When I was deep in Serial-obsession one of my best friends truly hated the phenomenon, so I tried not to bang on about it too much, and now I only have one friend who I really like discussing it with IRL. That's partly 'cos I don;t have much patience for really basic takes on true crime (/snob? sure! But how many times can I hear the words "glamourising"??)
My partner, who I sometimes affectionately call Gilgo Beach, has been a lifelong true-crime freak like me. Even more than me. We skew toward obsessing/cringing over the heavy-hitter serial killers and tiresome Manson stuff because we’re forever 12, but we love all the Dateline shows and mystery podcasts too. I could reread the same old details about Bundy and Ramirez and still scare myself silly after all this time. Most of my friends are “true-crime pretenders.” They think they’re edgelords yet somehow I repeatedly alienate them when I know just a leeetle too much about cases (and astrological signs, nbd). Not sure why I just went on that little biographical rant, but thanks for listening/thanks for understanding!
I'm not sure if my first true crime book was The Boston Strangler or The Stranger Beside Me. Either way, both were loaned to me by family members (mum and sister respectively) when I was a pre-teen. Now only my sister and I are the true crime fans - and I just recently convinced my mum to give me said copy of TBS!
I barely associate with anyone who isn't into true crime. That's one thing I've never related to re: My Favorite Murder -- the hosts say they met at a party where they both wanted to talk about murder and everyone else walked away from them. Maybe that's one of the many differences between Baltimore and Los Angeles, but everybody I know likes to talk about crime. My girlfriend lets me tell her the plot of whatever true crime book I'm reading and every scintillating detail of serial crime podcasts, so although she doesn't seek it out, she doesn't seem to object. My best friend and I talk about true crime all the time, especially podcasts. And the only thing that keeps up the loving relationship between my super-right-wing aunt/Godmother and me is the fact that we both watch & read so many true crime properties. I am trying to get her into podcasts, but she's almost 70 years old and I'm 46, and I don't understand how iPhones work because I've never had one, so I'm having some difficulty troubleshooting her Apple Podcasts player via text message.
I’ve got a question that none of you may understand, and that’s okay: does anyone else have experience with cycling mood disorders (I.e. bipolars 1-4) and find that sometimes you’re super into true crime and can’t get enough, and then you’ll cycle up and suddenly it’s way too horrific and scary and it squicks you out? Because that has been happening to me for about 15 years now, ever since i got into true crime via the Erie Pizza Bomber case and the old Crime Library archive on trutv’s website. I read the entirety of Crime Library at a government job (it took multiple months to do) and was never flagged by IT, so I don’t know who was worse at their job in that sitch, lol.
Also, there’s a Nightmare Next Door episode about a high school classmate of mine if you’re ever looking for a Cold Case, Sarah: it’s S7E10, “Murders Under the Mistletoe” and is on Hulu.
My husband wholeheartedly supports and encourages my true crime pursuits, but doesn’t necessarily share them. On occasion, a crime will spark his interest. Usually a con/fraud or something that links into one of his academic interests (he’s an early 20th century lit guy). My kids just make fun of me for all the “murder shows” I watch.
So I follow several true crime podcasts and regularly find out about new material via The Blotter Presents and Crime Writers On. Past a certain level I can't deal with some true crime subjects - for example I am interested in, but couldn't get through Greg Olsen's latest (reviewed on the next to last ep) due to the abuse, esp. to minors. Likewise I am really interested in, but have to gear myself up to listen to Richard Preston's Crisis in the Hot Zone. The hard parts of these topics overlap with what's often the sensationalistic parts of true crime writing and TV. At the same time the psychological aspects of the genre most definitely interest me, despite what's hard, e.g. being able to finish The Killer Across the Table. I'm not sure where this is going, but I will keep listening and reading.
My parents read an asston of mystery novels growing up, and watched all the perennial parental faves (UK's Inspector Morse, Hill St Blues, etc) so I always had a taste for the fictional side, but true crime was a little different to that for them, and something I sort of indulged in by myself but with no blowback. I was one of those kids who read everything she could get her hands on growing up, and my folks figured reading was fine, but it was that which set me apart more than what I was reading. When I was deep in Serial-obsession one of my best friends truly hated the phenomenon, so I tried not to bang on about it too much, and now I only have one friend who I really like discussing it with IRL. That's partly 'cos I don;t have much patience for really basic takes on true crime (/snob? sure! But how many times can I hear the words "glamourising"??)
My partner, who I sometimes affectionately call Gilgo Beach, has been a lifelong true-crime freak like me. Even more than me. We skew toward obsessing/cringing over the heavy-hitter serial killers and tiresome Manson stuff because we’re forever 12, but we love all the Dateline shows and mystery podcasts too. I could reread the same old details about Bundy and Ramirez and still scare myself silly after all this time. Most of my friends are “true-crime pretenders.” They think they’re edgelords yet somehow I repeatedly alienate them when I know just a leeetle too much about cases (and astrological signs, nbd). Not sure why I just went on that little biographical rant, but thanks for listening/thanks for understanding!
I'm not sure if my first true crime book was The Boston Strangler or The Stranger Beside Me. Either way, both were loaned to me by family members (mum and sister respectively) when I was a pre-teen. Now only my sister and I are the true crime fans - and I just recently convinced my mum to give me said copy of TBS!