Why We Love Serial Killers (31 page)

The Role of the Public

In chapter 9, I stated that the public is the most important set of actors in a moral panic drama—even more important than the folk devils that are the alleged source of the panic. It is the concern of the public over an alleged threat posed by the folk devils that represents the central element of a moral panic drama. In fact, the success of politicians, law enforcers, and the news media in precipitating and sustaining a moral panic is ultimately contingent upon how successfully they fuel concern
and outrage toward the folk devils among the public. Although the societal reaction to serial killers does not constitute a moral panic in the US per se, the moral panic concept provides a useful frame of reference for analyzing the role of the public in the social construction of serial killers. Consistent with the tenets of moral panic, the public comes to perceive serial killers as celebrity folk devils due to the combined efforts of law enforcement officials, the news media, and the killers themselves.

The role of the public leads to the central question of this book: Why are so many people fascinated (or even obsessed) with serial killers? When I posed this question directly to self-described serial killer fans I received responses such as, “They are so crazy and violent” and “I can’t believe they do those terrible things.” After a time, a common sentiment emerged from among the serial killer aficionados I queried. That is, the incomprehensible nature of serial killers and their crimes make them morbidly fascinating to many people. Although this finding made perfect sense to me, I wanted to get feedback on it from professionals who are actually involved in the social construction of serial killers. Therefore, I approached experts in criminal justice and the news media in order to gain their insights into what the public had told me. I solicited the thinking of academic scholars on this topic as well because I believed that they could offer unique, insightful interpretations of what I had learned.

Serial Killers Are Exciting and Addictive

My research has revealed that the appeal of serial killers is quite complex. For example, many people are drawn to serial killers because they elicit excitement similar to disasters like train wrecks and earthquakes. Former FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood explained that people are attracted to extreme violence in many forms, including accidents and natural disasters, because of the thrill it gives them. He said, “There is a true sense of excitement in violence. I refer you to what happens when there is an [automobile] accident involving fatalities. Many people stop. Some to help but most want to actually see the carnage. I know because I was in the Military Police in the Army.”

Like Hazelwood, I believe most people are compelled to watch an accident or disaster that unfolds before their eyes. This is due to a morbid sense of excitement that such events generate. Serial killers provide thrills and chills that are very similar to a catastrophic accident. In fact, the public’s fascination with serial killers can be seen as a specific manifestation
of its more general fixation on violence and calamity. In other words, the actions of a serial killer may be horrible to behold but much of the public simply cannot look away due to the thrill of the spectacle.

Perhaps most importantly, the public audience receives a jolt of adrenaline for witnessing the deeds of a serial killer. Adrenaline is a hormone which produces a powerful, stimulating, and even addictive affect on the human brain. If you doubt the addictive affect of adrenaline, think of the thrill-seeking child who will ride a roller coaster over and over until he or she becomes physically ill. I believe that serial killers have a visceral appeal that is linked to the release of adrenaline.

Serial Killers Are Enigmatic and Could Be Anyone

The extreme brutality of serial killers’ murders and related crimes also fuel the public’s fascination. The average person who has been properly socialized to respect life and who possesses the normal range of emotions such as love, shame, pity, and remorse cannot comprehend the workings of a pathological mind that would compel one to abduct, torture, rape, kill, engage in necrophilia with, or eat another human being. Most people have never been exposed to anything in their lives like the actions of a serial killer, and their lack of familiarity with such things causes morbid curiosity. Stated differently, the incomprehensibility of their crimes makes serial killers enigmas in the minds of the public. Our fascination with serial killers is based in part on a need to understand why anyone would do such horrible things to other people, particularly complete strangers.

Another important aspect of the public’s obsession with serial killers has to do with the fact that prolific serial killers often blend into society very effectively and for long periods of time. The reality of a mild-mannered and stone-cold psychopath such as John Wayne Gacy is nothing like the serial killer stereotype generally presented in the news and entertainment media. In person, killers like Gacy come across as average guys, even charming, not like predatory monsters. This unexpected contradiction is both intriguing and terrifying to people. As noted by Dr. Jeffrey Walsh, a criminal justice professor at Illinois State University:

They [serial killers] tend to blend into society relatively efficiently . . . that’s another thing people are disturbed by. Because of how horrible their acts often are, we sometimes think they look different than us or that we would recognize them. The fact is, many of them have regular lives and blend in, so they don’t meet the stereotypical views of what a monster would be like.
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The fact that serial killers can blend in so effectively is horrifying to many people because it means that anyone could be a serial killer. Because of their uncanny, chameleon-like skills at blending in, several high-profile serial killers have been dubbed “the killer next door” by the news media over the years, including Ted Bundy and Dennis Rader.

Serial Killers Are Natural Born Predators

Roy Hazelwood told me that the public’s fascination with serial killers is not surprising because people are drawn to all sorts of predators in the world, and serial killers represent a particularly enticing category of predator. He said:

People are fascinated with dangerous natural predators—human and animal. Danger has an allure for people. Consider the zoo . . . The most visited exhibits are not the giraffes or aviary, but the snakes, lions and tigers. These are among the most dangerous predators in captivity and one can get very close to danger without actually being killed.

Hazelwood astutely observes that serial homicide represents a rare and exotic form of predatory behavior that exists, paradoxically, right out in the open. He speculates that the relative scarcity and extreme violence perpetrated by serial killers, similar to attacks by great white sharks, make them very intriguing to the public. Interestingly, the BTK Killer also believes that people are fascinated by predators such as sharks, snakes, and scorpions. Dennis Rader personally identifies with such creatures and sees himself as a natural born killer like a shark. Similar to Hazelwood, Dennis believes that the extreme brutality of his crimes and his apparent lack of remorse led to the public’s intense interest in his BTK alter ego. I believe that Hazelwood and Rader are both correct in their observations. Their insights suggest that a serial killer zoo, if such a thing existed, would be immensely popular, indeed.

Serial Killers Are Really Scary

My research also suggests that the public is drawn to serial killers because they trigger the most basic and powerful emotion in all of us—fear. Numerous laymen have told me that serial killers are terrifying because
their murders seem to be motiveless and they usually target victims who are complete strangers to them. Dr. Nick Maroules, a professor of sociology at Illinois State University, also commented on the powerful link between serial killers and fear when he said:

People are driven by fear. They’re afraid of it [serial murder]. They’re shocked and they want to understand it [because] it seems so out there, so intense. They don’t have any way to explain it . . . I think people are particularly scared when they think “this can happen out of nowhere, anywhere. It can happen to me.”
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The disregard for human life and the suffering of others that is exhibited by serial killers shocks the collective consciousness of society and causes people to question their safety and security. At the individual level, the thought that you might be the next victim of a serial killer is both incomprehensible and horrifying. The absence of logic that seems to define serial homicide is too much for many people to grasp. From the serial killer’s perspective, however, the fear they instill in others is like an aphrodisiac to them. They love it and want more, so they continue to kill and relish in the terror they cause among the public.

Serial Killers Allow Us to Play Armchair Detective

Offering another perspective on the public’s fascination with serial killers, Dave Carbone, a highly decorated former NYPD homicide detective, told me that “the why is the wow” when it comes to serial murder. The “why” he refers to is the motivation of an unknown subject. Carbone explained to me that the most interesting aspect of being a homicide detective for him was trying to understand the motivations of an unknown killer. The tremendous popularity of the
CSI
franchise and
Criminal Minds
on television indicates that much of the public feels the same way. He confessed to being captivated by the thrill of the hunt in his work. Detective Carbone believes that the public experiences similar thrills vicariously by playing armchair detective while following crime stories in the news. “People love to see if they can figure out the motive of the killer and determine whodunit,” said Carbone when asked why so many people become obsessed with high-profile serial murder stories in the news media. Carbone explained that identifying the motivations of an unknown serial killer provides an exciting crime puzzle to solve for professionals and non-professionals alike.

Serial Killers Are Ghoulish, Good Fun

Lastly, serial killers are a source of leisure-time entertainment for millions of people because they offer thrilling escapism. In many ways, we have seen a rise of serial killer mania in the US since the 1970s. Dr. Harold Schechter, an award-winning true crime author of books such as
Depraved: The Shocking True Story of America’s First Serial Killer
(H. H. Holmes),
explained that “serial killer mania is an American version of a universal human fascination with gruesome, grizzly, macabre crime.” Dr. Schechter further explained that serial killers offer an escape from the tedium of everyday life. He said, “Most of us lead very controlled, responsible, circumscribed lives. We follow the rules, so on and so forth, but we do have other aspects of ourselves that need a little madness. Serial killers provide that.” Veteran crime reporter Jeff Kamen offered similar insights when I asked him to describe the appeal of serial killers to the public. He said, “Serial killers are scary entertainment. The stuff of grim fantasy come to ugly reality and while frightening the public, true tales of serial killers also divert people from the desperately mundane and boring, from the demanding and unnerving, from the awful, unrelenting banality of life.”

I believe that serial killers are for adults what monster movies are for children—that is, scary fun. Many self-proclaimed serial killer fans have told me exactly that during my research for this book. For example, a former student of mine said, “I love serial killers now the same way I loved monsters as a kid. I secretly want the monster to win.” Roy Hazelwood concurred with this perspective when he said, “You ask me why people like serial killers. For the same reason they like monster movies. They love to be scared. It’s fun.” Jeff Kamen says that the reason people like to follow serial killer stories in the news is the same reason they like to watch horror movies. Kamen explains the similar appeal of serial killers and horror movies as such:

They both scare the hell out of us but in a controlled setting. The key is we don’t get harmed. Actual real-life horror is always out of our direct control which is why some people literally are scared to death by the shock of real-life horror happening to them such as a home invasion robbery, a rape, a mugging.

Kamen’s observation that horror is pleasurable to people when it is presented in a controlled setting is powerful and it helps to explain the allure of serial killer stories to the general public. As long as serial killers
are safely confined to the news and entertainment media, they are just scary fun.

Offering additional insights into how people deal with fear, Dr. Harold Schechter explained that some people like to collect the artifacts of murderers, including their personal items and mementos, as a way to manage their anxieties. In the documentary film
Collectors
he said, “Some people are afflicted with a lot of fears and this [collecting] is a way of confronting the fears directly and exerting some kind of control over them.” Dr. Schechter noted that a few years ago people were fanatically collecting limited-edition serial killer trading cards. The hobby became highly controversial and received a lot of negative press. He said that many people thought it would “glorify serial killers.” Dr. Schechter believes that the controversy was misguided and overblown by the media. He also explained the curious appeal of the trading cards to their collectors:

One of the impulses underlying that is an effort to have these frightening things lined up in some kind of orderly way and put in a box . . . It’s a way of managing anxieties . . . You’re turning it into a kind of game . . . you’re turning it into a play thing. It gives you control over fear.