Why are we so obsessed with true crime? Serial killer expert Harold Schechter explains

Have you ever been told you’re weird because you like watching murder documentaries? Or been called a psychopath because your bedtime reading material is a book about serial killers?

Well, we’ve got some good news for you – this is all totally normal!

Serial killer expert and seasoned author Harold Schechter, who helped compile the true crime records featured in Guinness World Records 2026, says there’s nothing unusual – or new – about a fascination with the macabre.

So, why are we all so obsessed with true crime?

Harold told us: “Well, first of all, it's important to understand that there's nothing new about the fascination with true crime. I was asked to be consultant on the topic for the new Guinness World Records book and one of my entries was the first true crime book in English, which dates back to Shakespeare's time.

“So, people have always been fascinated by stories of gruesome murderers and so on.

“I guess the short answer, the one that I believe in, is that law-abiding, moral, God-fearing citizens need a way to ventilate their dark forbidden taboo impulses and fantasies.”

Harold Schechter

He added: “One philosopher said we need those stories because we all want to murder someone and we're not going to murder anyone. Plato said ‘the virtuous man dreams what the wicked man does’.

“We all possess very dark, violent impulses that are part of our archaic heritage. They lurk beneath our civilized moral personae and they require some outlet, and reading about these horrible murders, and then reading about the punishments that are meted out to the murderers is a way for us both to experience and absolve ourselves of guilt.”

Harold said that these dark thoughts and impulses exist on a very unconscious level and that we aren’t even necessarily aware of them passing through our minds.

He said that people, on a deep primordial level, are fascinated with the abhorrent and that famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud said there wouldn’t be a commandment “thou shalt not kill” unless there was a strong universal impulse to do it.

But despite what those memes on the internet say, no you’re not a psychopath if you’re into true crime.

“Well, that's obviously ridiculous,” Harold said.

“Obviously, millions and millions of people watch these things - true crime is really a social safety valve.

“It permits us to let off that kind of steam, even though people are loathe to admit it, we all possess what psychologist Carl Jung called ‘the shadow side’.”

Harold, who is based in New York, USA, has written more than 20 true crime books, including Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein, the Original "Psycho", which is widely regarded as the definitive work on the killer.

Gein is the subject of the latest season of Netflix show Monster.

Also known as “The Butcher of Plainfield”, he murdered two women and dug up the bodies of countless others, using their body parts as the materials for his many gruesome creations.

But Harold says that much of what’s portrayed in the show is complete fiction.

He said: “I would say 90% of what the show depicts is complete fabrication.”

Ed Gein. Image: Smith Archive/Alamy

Harold says certain things that happen in the first episode (let’s not go into it) didn’t happen at all and that there’s no evidence Gein had a romantic relationship with his victim Bernice Worden.

And there are a lot of inaccuracies in the portrayal of other killers being inspired by Gein, Harold says.

A lot of people who’ve watched the series have expressed feeling sympathy for Gein.

Warning, the below trailer is not for the faint of heart…

Harold said: “Gein is pretty much the only killer I've written about that it is possible to feel some sympathy for.”

Harold has also written a graphic novel about the case, Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?, with comic book writer Eric Powell.

His new book, 50 States of Murder: An Atlas of American Crime, is on sale now.

He’s also written a number of fiction books, including a series with his daughter Lauren Oliver.

Check out Guinness World Records 2026 for more true crime records from Harold, as well as many other incredible record-breaking feats.