Bella Gypsy,
Partner in Crime Bundle
Scrapping with Liz,
Everyday Templates 13 (modified)
Journaling:
I‘ve always been fascinated by crime stories. I started young with Agatha Christie books and I remember reading In Cold Blood and Helter Skelter in high school and being totally caught up in the stories. Detective novels like the Kay Scarpetta series have always been my go-to novels for “light” entertainment, especially when working out. I have watched pretty much every episode of Forensic Files over the years. And more recently, I’ve moved into true crime podcasts, starting with Serial and moving on to my favorite podcast, Morbid, a suprisingly funny podcast about some truly horrific crimes. Netflix now recommends pretty much every new true crime documentary series as something I might like to watch.
Crime stories never bothered or scared me in the past. Perhaps I had that feeling of invincibility that most young people have and I have always enjoyed the process of seeing bad guys caught and punished for their misdeeds. A curious shift has happened as I’ve gotten older, though. Crime stories -- especially true crime stories -- have started to cause me some distress. It started with binging Forensic Files when Gary was out of town and being afraid afterward when I went to sleep by myself. Then, the HLN series about the Golden State Killer, Unmasking a Killer, really freaked me out for a while. And, although I still love Morbid, listening to too many episodes can leave me with a pretty bleak outlook on life and humanity. When I leave a door open, the Morbid saying “fresh air is for dead people” inevitably runs through my head.
I think as I’ve gotten older and been exposed repeatedly to true crime stories, I’ve come to be disheartened that humanity exibits horrific cruelty and sadism over and over again in different settings. And while such behavior certainly isn’t widespread, I’m not somehow invincible or immune to crime. And, perhaps the biggest factor is that since I’ve had kids, I have felt the vulnerability of being afraid that something bad might happen to them and I can tangibly imagine the agony parents must experience when their child is a victim. Plus, as more wrongful conviction stories are revealed it is apparent that justice in not always served and often serious injustices are committed to try to quickly solve a crime. So, going forward, I’m afraid I will be limiting my consumption of true crime content for my own mental health. Hopefully the bad guys will still be caught and punished without my “help.”
