Why are we not able look away from real life tragedies? What makes true crime so addictive? In this article, I will try to explain why this genre seduces us by exploiting a combination of fear and fascination.
The public’s fascination with true crime is not something new, it has deep historical roots, evolving alongside media technology and societal changes. Its origins can be traced back to the 1500s, when crime pamphlets and chronicles began sensationalizing violent crimes, often blending reality with fiction to captivate readers, a practice still used in modern media (Nirtaut, 2024). Nowadays, true crime attracts a global audience through podcasts, documentaries such as “Making a Murder”, books, and tv series like “Monsters: the Lyle and Erik Menendez story”. This genre thrives on binge-worthy storytelling, interactive sleuthing, and dark fandoms that romanticize killers. From the chilling details of brutal crimes to cold cases, these terrifying stories capture our attention with almost an addictive pull. But why are we so drawn to such macabre topics that should naturally disgust us or, at the very least, scare us, yet intrigue so many people?
One of the key psychological explanations for true crime’s appeal is morbid curiosity which can be defined as an innate curiosity towards disturbing subjects and death (Cornett, 2024). This curiosity is linked to the human brain’s fight or flight response, responsible for the release of adrenaline, endorphins and dopamine when one is confronted with danger, which compels the individual to choose negative stimuli, as they provide a strong emotional response (Cornett, 2024). For this reason, we prefer negative stimuli over positive or neutral ones. This suggests that the brutality of a story does not necessarily deter people from its consumption, but it could even incentivize it.
Fear is another significant aspect related to the consumption of the true crime genre. Multiple studies (such as the Vicary & Frale, 2010, “Captured by True Crime: Why Are Women Drawn to Tales of Rape, Murder, and Serial Killers?” and the Yanich, 2004, “Crime Creep: Urban and Suburban Crime on Local TV News”) have shown that women have a greater interest in true crime content than men. This trend can be attributed to their heightened concerns about personal safety and harm. Many women devour this content not only for entertainment purposes but also to educate themselves on survival strategies, effectively turning them into tools for risk awareness and prevention (Cornett, 2024). Nevertheless, the excessive viewing of such content may worsen the feeling of paranoia, distorting the perception of crime risk (Nirtaut, 2024). This distortion is exacerbated by the media’s sensationalized coverage, which has the power to shape people’s beliefs about the frequency and the nature of crimes, leading to an overestimation of the likelihood of victimization.
From a psychoanalytic perspective, the obsession with true crime can be explained through Jacques Lacan’s concept of the sinthome, a repetitive fixation that paradoxically provides a mix of enjoyment and pain beyond rational explanations (Peters, 2020). In other words, this genre offers the audience the means to safely confront violence while remaining detached from the real trauma. This theory highlights how the excessive consumption of true crime can become an addictive “narcotic chase” (Peters, 2020), where the obsessive investigation is less about justice and more about the ritual. This dynamic extends to online communities that romanticize killers, turning criminals into objects of collective fascination (Cornett, 2024).
To better understand this disturbing fixation, it is also necessary to look at how the media fuels and often manipulates the fascination with crime. By sensationalizing horrific acts, media outlets amplify this unhealthy morbid curiosity, transforming real-life tragedies into addictive and voyeuristic entertainment. True crime producers guided by the theory of “newsworthiness” (Galtung & Ruge, cited in Cornett, 2024), select unresolved mysteries with gruesome details and morally transgressive acts, to maximize the emotional involvement of their audience. This selective framing distorts and falsifies society’s understanding of crime, since only the most extreme and violent cases dominate public consciousness while ordinary crimes receive inadequate coverage. This phenomenon is furthered by the prioritization of entertainment over accuracy, where content creators tend to omit key details or present biases to the narratives to heighten suspense. By doing so, they encourage the viewers to sympathize with criminals, or as in the case of Ted Bundy (who had several “fangirls”) to romanticize the perpetrator.
Through sensationalistic portrayals of criminal behavior or by glorifying the offenders, the different content distribution platforms desensitize the public, normalize atrocious incidents and distort the individual’s conception of justice. Researchers have demonstrated that overexposure to violent media can reduce emotional responsiveness and heighten the acceptance for aggression (Nirtaut, 2024; Cornett, 2024) .
In conclusion, true crime fascinates so many people because it elicits some of our strongest fears and curiosities. From morbid adrenaline to survival instincts, we digest these stories to experience danger in a safe way, yet often the media twists them into addictive entertainment (Nirtaut, 2024; Cornett, 2024). Thus, the challenge is to find a balance between the maintenance of the genre intrigue while upholding its ethical responsibility.
References
Cornett, MaryAlyce R.G., (2024) “Capitalizing on Crime Stories: Unveiling the Connection between Sensationalism and Commercialization in True Crime”. Honors Capstone Projects and Theses. 878.
Hankins, C. (2021) “The True Crime Obsession: A Critical Exploration into the Evolution, Impact and Future”. Dissertation. BSc (Hons) Criminology with Psychology. University of Surrey (University Centre Farnborough).
Nirtaut, Brianna, (2024) “True Crime Obsession: Analyzing the Effects of True Crime Media from the Past to the Present”. University Honors College. 12.
Peters, F. (2020) ‘True crime narratives’, Crime Fiction Studies, 1(1), pp. 23–40. Bath Spa University.
B.BIAS 