Since it’s October and everyone is talking about Jeffrey Dahmer because of the new Netflix show, I thought it might be fun to ask your opinions. I did watch the show, but I’ve heard a lot of people say they couldn’t get through it. I fell down a rabbit hole a long time ago and wound up finding some of the real polaroids online - but I have to say it made me sick and I wished I wouldn’t have gotten that curious.
What do you guys think causes someone to become a serial killer? Nature versus nurture? Some type of chemical imbalance in the brain? (Although they didn’t find anything abnormal when they studied John Wayne Gacy’s brain).
Also, I’ve seen debates about why there aren’t killers these days at the same level of Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, etc. I think it does have a lot to do with advanced technology/more communication between police departments and the fact that these people are getting caught after one or two murders so that they can’t get to that point. I also read an opinion that now that abortions are harder to get, we’re going to see a rise in serial killers in the next 15 or so years because the women that would have otherwise aborted their babies will be forced to raise them, and that many of those kids will go on to have a bad childhood that might contribute to their risk for becoming a serial killer.
What do you guys think about this topic? Why don’t we see serial killers like we did before? Do you expect to see more of a decline in the number of serial killers, or do you believe there will be more in the future? What do you think causes someone to become one?
Serial killers are so fascinating. I think they’re fascinating to me because in the same way I was fascinated with the Elizabeth Holmes story: how are they able to do it?? And if I met them, would I be able to sense something was off? If we met a serial killer IRL would we be like: HMM I CAN TELL HE’S HIDING SOMETHING! Or would we be like, oh well just another human lol.
As for nature/nurture, I think it is of course both BUT more nature. How else can we explain people who’ve come from extraordinary hardships but then found success in the end (a rarity but so are serial killers).
I think these days it’s going to be much harder to be a serial killer. With all the tracking devices we all have - anyone can be found! Although human trafficking seems to still be a big problem…
Have you ever heard that old statistic…something like in the average person’s lifetime we will walk past 36 serial killers on the street? Of course, this does seem high and I’d think the higher number would lean towards people that live in more populated areas if it’s true. A lot of people say Jeffrey Dahmer was nice in person, and he said before he tried to act normal to throw off suspicion, especially considering the smells and noises coming from his apartment.
I feel the same as far as both nature and nurture playing a role. Genetics and upbringing definitely play a part. I think a lot of us probably know good people that grew up in bad homes and vice versa, although those stories usually don’t go to the extent of murdering people.
Thank goodness it’s harder these days and that people are more aware of it. I can’t imagine going to sleep at night with my front door unlocked or just hopping in a car with a random stranger. It wasn’t their fault back then because they didn’t realize how dangerous people could be, but it’s good that we’ve learned more about. My own grandmother was kidnapped once - she worked late and got off around 2 am, stopped at a red light, and the guy slightly bumped into her car from behind. He came up the window and told her she probably needed to look and so they could exchange insurance, she said the voice in the back of her head was telling her not to, but she did anyways, and he grabbed her and threw her in the backseat of his car. Hit her in the head with a gun, threatened to kill her, she basically fought like hell and managed to jump out and run through some buses to bang on someone’s door. They never caught him, so I imagine he did go on to kill someone.
(Also sorry for the late reply, I’ve been super sick so just now got up to checking everything on here!)
Definitely think parents have a lot to do with it, also genetics. Bullying and other outside factors that can and can’t be controlled likely take a part too.
Did you ever wind up finishing it? We finished and thought they did a great job (I also love Evan Peters as an actor so wanted to see it through) but it was really hard to think of the fact that this happened to real people and that it wasn’t just a gory horror movie.
(Sorry for the late reply - I’ve been really sick and just managed to make it back on here to check)
I think there’s probably an element of both nature and nurture behind the creation of the serial killer. I’m guessing that random variations in character occur in everyone and serial killers are from birth at the extreme edge of a sphere of possible character types. So no matter what kind of upbringing they receive they are going to be on the negative fringes of normal.
But what causes them to move towards psychopathic violence as the main expression of their “negative” character is their early life. I can’t believe a serial killer is born a serial killer, born to instinctively hunt down their own species: that’s expecting too much self-destructive negativity from nature.
Omg girl you just described my worst nightmare. I’ve had this happen to me once too, it was 1AM and at the light, a dude pulled up beside me and rolled his window down mouthing that my tire or something, whatever it was there was something wrong with it. I looked at him and looked away again. Went to the closest gas station to find out that my car was… completely fine.
I was alone at the time so I was definitely on high alert.
That’s scary! I’ve always been super observant in parking lots and things like that because of what happened to her, especially having 3 kids with me (two of them being girls). You hear a lot of stories about messed up stuff happening every single day. Good thing you got away from him!
I think to qualify as a serial killer one has to murder more than three people that have no connection.
I would imagine that serial killers have to be psychopathic and not consider the consequences of their actions.
I do not consider myself to be a psychopath but I can think of at least three people I would like to murder, if I wasn’t in fear of getting caught
Finished it. He’s a great actor. Like you said, hard to think about the people who went through, who lost there lives, especially when there were so many chances to catch him.
Yea that makes most sense to me. Something or things happens to them to trigger or develop that type of person.
That’s wild. I can’t imagine being at ease with kids going out to play. When I was about 11 years old, I’d jump on my bike and be gone for hours. ANYTHING could have happened. Even when I was small, I could go around the block but not any farther.
Once out of sight, anything can happen. Even just going around the corner for three hours, I could have disappeared.
I’m not sure if my mother was trusting me, or just oblivious.
