Debunking the Stereotypical Pothead Hooked on a Killer

Hooked on a Killer

Story by Taylor Johnson Contributions by Madeline Wilson Design & Illustration by Sara Roach

Chills run down your spine and your mind begins to wander as you lay in bed listening to your favorite true crime podcast, Serial. You can’t see the horrific actions depicted but the audio conveys everything you need to know.

In 2014 this popular true crime podcast, reached five million downloads faster than any other show on Apple Podcasts. Why are so many people tuning in week after week for this gruesome content?

Associate Professor Melanie-Angela Neuilly at Washington State University’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology shares, “Rare and extreme things are a lot more interesting than regular things to a lot of people.” In other words, people are collectively drawn to the unexplainable.

Scott Bonn, author, criminologist, professor and public speaker, shares in his Psychology Today article titled “The Delightful, Guilty Pleasure of Watching True Crime TV”, “Serial killers are so extreme in their brutality and so seemingly unnatural in their behavior that society is riveted by them.”

Wanting to check to see if there are monsters under the bed is similar to “the thing that draws us to scary stories as children,” explains Kim Douthit, paranormal investigator and tour guide for Spooked in Seattle Ghost Tours and Museum. It’s the fascination with the unknown that makes people curious from a young age.

Although true crime, the exploration of criminal behavior, is not a new genre. Neuilly states, “Its modern history can be traced back to the early mass production of newspapers, and linked to information distribution regarding the outcome of criminal trials in 1800s Paris.”

Mankind has always had an interest in the strange and creepy, even before we could document and spread this information as far as we can today. If you’re curious to know more about what makes these killers notorious, take a look at the following stories.

Ted Bundy, a serial killer active in the 1970s, was convicted for killing over 25 women across seven states, including Washington according to Encyclopedia Britannica. Yet, authorities still believe the true number of victims to be much higher. Even though the number will never be known, Bundy was sentenced to death in 1979 and executed in 1989.

One of his earliest victims, Susan Elaine Rancourt was a student at Central Washington State College (now Central Washington University) from 1973 to 1974, during which she was abducted and murdered by Bundy, according to an article published by The Daily Record.

The article also notes that a memorial garden for Rancourt was planted outside of Barto Hall in 2012. This memorial serves as a reminder of both the loss of a Wildcat and the cruel actions of a serial killer.

There have been some recent films, such as Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, that depict the true nature of Bundy’s crimes.

It is well-known that the film received backlash for the glamorization and continuation of the legacy of a killer. Critics were quick to point out casting Zac Efron as Ted Bundy continued his handsome ‘bad guy’ persona which many claim is a misrepresentation of a notorious killer.

“Hollywood always wants to cast attractive people. It is one way of drawing in viewers, and audiences are always more shocked if they believe someone attractive could do these horrible things,” explains Kevin Feeney, Program Director in Interdisciplinary Studies and Lecturer of Dangerous Woman, a course focusing on the nature of women in the criminal justice system.

“Society has a tendency to associate attractive people with ‘good qualities’ and ugly people with ‘bad qualities’ … and using an attractive person as a villain challenges these notions,” he adds.

But what are the implications of this fascination with serial killers? “I think there is a fantasy element associated with serial killers because the individuals and their activities are generally seen as unusual or extraordinary,” explains Feeney.

It could be useful as consumers of this kind of dark material to remember these people are not heroes. With the recent rise of the popularity of true crime, one might be fooled by the Hollywood lights and interpretation of these crimes and their perpetrators.

“The problem with turning serial killers into something larger than life is that we forget the human side. They are people who did horrible things. They are not celebrities, they should not be glamorized or revered,” warns Douthit.

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