I ask Schwenk to describe some of these friendships and what he finds interesting about them and he fetches a recording of one of his many phone conversations with Manson. These are the ones – the unreformed sexual deviants – who Schwenk’s wife Stacey says she hopes never get released, since they know where she and John live. He acknowledges that one or two of them are “really scary”. “I’m interested in what possesses somebody to kill another human being, and to do it numerous times,” he says. He has got to know some of these pen pals and even considers a few of them friends. They have sent him locks of hair, a prison shirt, a prison ID card, a set of false teeth, some unused dental floss and other oddities of dark provenance. His most prized items include a portrait by John Wayne Gacy, known as the Killer Clown, a children’s party entertainer who raped and murdered at least 33 boys and young men in Chicago during the 1970s a drawing of a skull by Richard Ramirez, aka the 'Night Stalker', responsible for numerous murders and sexual assaults in California in 19 and several pieces by Charles Manson, leader of the criminal cult the Manson Family, who orchestrated the brutal killing of the pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six others around Los Angeles in 1969.Īs well as art, Schwenk owns thousands of letters from serial killers on death row, many of them addressed to him personally. This is the home of John Schwenk, who collects artworks and artefacts of murderers the way others might, say, rare stamps or film memorabilia. But what sets these works apart is not so much their content as their origins: all of them were painted by serial killers. Arranged across the four walls of a downstairs room are pictures of injury and mutilation, of skulls in myriad configurations and colours, of women in positions of explicit intimacy, of folkloric landscapes and fantastical animals.
And there will always be a niche audience of people who are driven to learn more about the how’s and whys of serial killers, be it to understand the victims better, or the murderers.In the two-street town of Pennsburg, eastern Pennsylvania, stands a small house with an art collection you’d be unlikely to find in any public gallery.
#WHAT MAKES A SERIAL KILLER DOCUMENTARY TV#
Since then there have been no shortage of movies, tv shows and books dedicated to the idea of serial killers, both accurate portrayals and fictional ones.Īs long as we as a society are compelled to consume media that is different from what we are used to in our daily lives, serial killers like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer will continue to be popular in the mainstream. The Silence of the Lambs came out in 1991, skyrocketing serial killers into media and social interest, if you will. Will Serial Killers Ever Wane in Popularity? The concept that evil in that state exists is mind-blowing and can be terrifying. And for the average person, that idea is so far from their life that stepping into the mind of a serial killer is like stepping into another world. They are taking others lives with no regard for anyone but themselves. And stepping out of what you are familiar with and into something so completely different can be thrilling.Ī serial killer is also, by definition, evil. It might be dark and twisted, but it’s also a little bit fascinating. It is similar to why people love horror movies. Most often serial killers will murder people they do not know or are not close to, but every case is a little different. They’re not shooting their husband’s lover and moving on with their lives, but they are driven by a need or compulsion to kill. They call it an ‘emotional cooling’ period.Ī serial killer is not someone that kills once from passion or impulse and then stops.
#WHAT MAKES A SERIAL KILLER DOCUMENTARY FULL#
A serial killer is someone who commits at least three murders over more than a full month’s span, with a series of breaks in between. The FBI has strict guidelines as to what makes a killer a serial killer, and they follow that closely when classifying deaths. Serial killer is a special distinction that not all murders get. With docuseries and movies on famous serial killers like Ted Bundy and the BTK killer gaining worldwide interest, it begs the question – just what do we find so interesting about serial killers? What Makes a Killer a Serial Killer? Shows like Unsolved Mysteries and Forensic Files have followed the abduction and murder of hundreds of victims across the world, and every bookstore in the US has at least some shelf space dedicated to the subject.īut serial killers are at another level with many true crime fans. True crime has captured an audience of millions for years.
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