Why are people so intrigued by serial killers

For 3 reasons...

1. Validation: It helps them certify that at least they are not as bad as them. Bad = evil, immoral, angry, etc.

2. It is gruesome: People get odd comfort when they see people harming others from a distance. It's not that they necessarily hope and wish for harm to happen, but it somehow makes them feel safer and secure to know it's not them in that situation.

3. Curiosity: People find it interesting to get into the mind of someone who flaunts conventional morality.

yeah, I never quite understood it. I think media has a lot to do with it. People end up associating serial killers with the "glamor" of Hollywood because of movies like American Psycho.

There are still serial killers for sure, but as it's easier to get caught now, they are preying on more vulnerable populations that don't get reported on as often, or at all.

I have always had a weird fascination with it too. I'm not sure why, maybe it's just so hard to understand how you could want to kill someone. I try to picture doing it, and it nearly makes me sick. I also think that it's a way of informing ourselves how bad people can be, in order to protect ourselves from it.

what makes you think there isnt any anymore?

I don't know about others but I read 'And Then There Were None' by Agatha Christie because it intrigued me.

As for the psychology behind why dark serial killer shows keep popping up, I don't really know, but maybe it's others way of handling their dark sides? Living vicariously through fiction or something because some things are not really good and moral to do in real life. Maybe emotion release? But for some, it's really just for curiosity and entertainment's sake.

A better question in my mind is... Why are people so intrigued by serial killers when they don't even try to understand them? For most it's like they just want to see what they achieved, and then call them a monster and be fine with that conclusion. There's a depth to people, I don't enjoy watching their achievements, I enjoy learning about what causes human beings to do what's wrong so that I can avoid becoming one of them and help others who are on the path of becoming one.

If they'd have better stuff on the other 200 channels the serial killer channel wouldn't be so popular...I think.

I dunno. Certainly we shouldn’t be glamourising them.

If we have to tell the story, perhaps it should be told from their victims points of view.

Simply because when we read about them it generates a curiosity 'how it happened then'. When words become visuals then it does pull lots of eyeballs.😇

Such TV shows and web series, I watch them just to see how these sick b*st*rds really committed the crime. Cursing them later is a stress-reliever for me.

In a way, these shows educate us how trusting someone we don't know well or barely know turns out to be a blunder later.

I've never understood it but my guess is either a large part of population is at least mildly sadistic and seeks gruesome thrill and entertainment, another guess is some people are curious about how sick mind works and hopes that it might help them to spot potentially dangerous individuals in the crowd.

German people 🤣 Why...?

It's thought by the FBI that there are probably 25 to 50 serial killers active in the US at any given time.

As with many other crimes, it's the crap or unlucky ones that get caught.

They have always been among us throughout time, the media has sensationalized them. And when caught they aren’t put to death in the most horrible way imaginable . Instead they are lauded and pampered in prison .

I think that we are all somewhat curious about what is potentially inside of us. We are often more curious about the dark than the light. We all get angry, we all feel like we want to kill someone sometimes but most of us have a firm line. There is always that what if though, what if we didn't have that line. Looking at the best and worst of people is just looking at ourselves and the extremes of what we could be.

As for why there aren't as many prominent serial killers anymore, it is harder to get away with it long enough to kill multiples of people over a long time. Forensic science is far better, we have international databases, we have CCTV, etc. Plus people are far more aware than they used to be. There aren't as many trusting naive hitchikers about.

had one in our neighborhood years ago. left cornflakes at every crime scene. went by the name Tony the Tiger

Perhaps society including writers are more into their comfort zone now.

I think people secretly identify with being blood-lusty, gross, losers.

If you think there are none today, take a look at this:

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3195502/uk-nurse-accused-killing-7-babies-poisoning-2

Just another fad to market off of peoples repressed shadows.

Unfortunately it's a trend

I’m not

It's good training

Its trendy.

I would like to think most want to know if understanding what makes them "tick" can help prevent people from getting to that point.

But I fear the interest is more prurient and disturbed, like the fascination with a terrible accident or something similar. 😞

It’s human nature that we’re curious about such monsters, it’s abhorrent behaviour we need to understand from the psycho and his/her grim crimes