Does murder interest you?

As a topic, hopefully not as a pastime!

Just watching 10 Rillingron Place on BBC4, the classic film based on Ludovic Kennedys famous book of the John Reginald Christie killings.

My wife finds it a bit macabre, but have bookshelves full of books on murder. Usually historic stuff, Jack the Ripper, the Moors Murders, the Yorkshire Ripper, the William Herbert Wallace mystery, Fabian of the Yard and Charles Walton and the like. Have little interest in current one, no interest in the Graham Dwyer case for example. I like the murders of Victorian or Edwardian England, gaslight, misty streets, the hangmans noose and so on.

Ao you interested in true crime? Any particular crime, such as Jack the Ripper? What do you think draws us in? And any good book recommendations?

Mars Bar

Yep, I think it's very interesting. I like watching videos and reading articles about psychopaths and what makes a person a psychopath.

My sister is studying criminology so it's something we can chat about.

MistyCheese

Definately crosses my mind some days. Most days. Okay, every day until I've had my coffee.

oppenheimer1

Mars Bar wrote: »

Yep, I think it's very interesting. I like watching videos and reading articles about psychopaths and what makes a person a psychopath.

My sister is studying criminology so it's something we can chat about.

Not on boards you can't... apparently...

No, I find dwelling on the darker impulses of humanity to be very depressing. It's enough that I'm aware of terrible crimes, I don't need to know how they were committed and how much the victim suffered and how the lives of their families were destroyed.

There's some merit in examining the motivation and mind of the killer, but poring over details of the crimes themselves is something I can't stomach and I don't understand having an 'interest' in it. In much the same way, I don't understand people with an interest in motor racing, I just don't see the appeal in immersing oneself in something so awful.

Wacker The Attacker

I could murder a dominos pepperoni

kneemos

If I start watching one of those murder documentaries on Channel 5 or whichever channel they're on,I do get wrapped up in it.
The ability to kill without feeling fascinates and frightens people I think.

Notorious97

Thought this was going to be a job offer or something

Saralee4

Yes, my mam used to buy those true detective magazines and I read them since I was a teenager. Just would buy the odd one because if i read them too much I'd get freaked out. I hate the ones that are unsolved though!

Those magazines are usually a mixture of very infamous serial killers and current american murderer's to old stories and crimes that happened in Ireland and England. Recently went to buy one and can't see any in shops? Anyone notice this? I know you can get a subscription so I might look into it if the shops aren't doing them anymore!

DoYouEvenLift

Not murder on it's own, but psychopathic murder where people can just kill someone without even thinking about it and feel absolutely no remorse. It's scary to know that there are some people around us who basically don't share the same feelings and emotions as us that make us humans.

weldoninhio

I read quite a bit on more modern murders. I'd recommend any of Philip Carlos books. The Iceman, The Night Stalker, GasPipe etc.

Some seriously messed up individuals out there.

Birneybau

Murders and executions...sorry, mergers and acquisitions.

YFlyer

Its tragic that the man who promote give peace a chance was murdered.

Avoiding it interests me.

mickdw

Candie wrote: »

No, I find dwelling on the darker impulses of humanity to be very depressing. It's enough that I'm aware of terrible crimes, I don't need to know how they were committed and how much the victim suffered and how the lives of their families were destroyed.

There's some merit in examining the motivation and mind of the killer, but poring over details of the crimes themselves is something I can't stomach and I don't understand having an 'interest' in it. In much the same way, I don't understand people with an interest in motor racing, I just don't see the appeal in immersing oneself in something so awful.

What is so awful about motor racing?

whatismyname

not murder as such, but there's something about kidnapping cases - e.g. the finding of the three women kept captive in Cleveland for ten years, found a couple of years back and other similar cases - that really intrigues me, and has me interested in reading up more about them.

MadDog76

I am fascinated by some unsolved cases like Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac Killer and the Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills for example ......... also quite interested in what makes serial killers tick.
Also have a big interest in organised crime and gangs like the Mexican Mafia, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Crips & Bloods, the Colombian Cartel and the Italian American Mafia ........ and of course the Big Daddy of all Gangs, Boards Mods!

jimgoose

mickdw wrote: »

What is so awful about motor racing?

Guy Martin's fookin' booger-grips, laaak!

dark crystal

Yes, I have a good few books on serial killers etc. I find that stuff fascinating.

How a person's mind can get so warped and ultimately do such awful things and what drove them to commit such acts - it's a deeply interesting subject, the inner workings of the human mind.

One eyed Jack

Nope. In literature it's fine, but true-life cases aren't really a subject that interests me. I suppose like anything else there's a saturation point you reach where you become desensitised to the horrors of it.

I'm kinda thankful I may never reach that point.

Supergurrier

Yea its great altogether. Gets me out of the house meeting new people

FloatingVoter

No....it's in all of us. The bigger end - Stalin, Hitler, Mao etc. do fascinate me.....only so much as they could convince nations / empires to go along with their murderous intent.
...and sure, whodunnits like Jack the Ripper are always good for popcorn.

MadDog76

MadDog76 wrote: »

I am fascinated by some unsolved cases like Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac Killer and the Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills for example .......

Yeah, some of the unsolved ones are particularly interesting, like the "who put Bella in the Wych Elm" case...

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_put_Bella_in_the_Wych_Elm%3F

Or the Beaumont Children Mystery...

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaumont_children_disappearance

Or the Green Bicycle Case...

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Bicycle_Case

efb

I do watch them from time to time. Found that movie this evening v interesting.

KKkitty

It does interest me. The thing of taking a life for whatever reason is intriguing. Jack The Ripper and other murders where the assailant has never been identified are heartbreaking.

garra

Mars Bar wrote: »

Yep, I think it's very interesting. I like watching videos and reading articles about psychopaths and what makes a person a psychopath.

My sister is studying criminology so it's something we can chat about.

Have you read "the wisdom of psychopaths"? Personally found it very enlightening and somewhat self-revelatory.

HugsiePie

I love a wee game of cluedo

Whiskey Nose 14

Really interests me and took it up only recently.......................................................on grand theft auto

The other fella

Love all criminology, especially Irish crime. The westies, IRA, drug gangs and all the other well known criminals.

The green river killer was my favourite murder book though.A particularly evil string of murders.

Steve_Carella

What do you call two crows sitting on a bench?

Attempted murder.

Lol.

Junkyard Tom

Quite the opposite. I find survival stories fascinating. The will to survive can be truly awe inspiring. From emaciated climbers crawling into a base camp with a broken leg who should have died from starvation and cold days earlier to Tom Crean embarking on epic rescue missions across blizzard blasted Antarctica to a 13 year old Jewish girl smuggling weapons for resistance fighters in Nazi occupied Poland.

Inspirational.

FloatingVoter

Junkyard Cat wrote: »

Quite the opposite. I find survival stories fascinating. The will to survive can be truly awe inspiring. From emaciated climbers crawling into a base camp with a broken leg who should have died from starvation and cold days earlier to Tom Crean embarking on epic rescue missions across blizzard blasted Antarctica to a 13 year old Jewish girl smuggling weapons for resistance fighters in Nazi occupied Poland.

Inspirational.

I'd second that....I'm fascinated by the Mao / Stalin / Hitler mega angle and the people who survived under / despite of them. It's the human story that makes me read a book. How does Anne Frank nearly survive (2 weeks away)compared with a 14 year old Hitler (ordinary childhood for the time). What drives a priest / bank robber (Stalin) to enslave a nation and create a famine that drives Solzhenitsyn to write about the Gulags. All humanity and depravity is in there. Yet no one library of books will ever explain it.

Junkyard Cat

Junkyard Cat wrote: »

Quite the opposite. I find survival stories fascinating. The will to survive can be truly awe inspiring. From emaciated climbers crawling into a base camp with a broken leg who should have died from starvation and cold days earlier to Tom Crean embarking on epic rescue missions across blizzard blasted Antarctica to a 13 year old Jewish girl smuggling weapons for resistance fighters in Nazi occupied Poland.

Inspirational.

I don't think I suggested that I find the stories about murders inspirational!

I also like exploration and adventure stories, and the bravery demonstrated, but not sure I would limit it to those in which the adventurers survived. For example that part of the White Spider which deals with the deaths of Kurz and Hinterstoisser, or that analysis of Mallory in Mountains of the Mind, or tales of the Franklin Expedition or our own Burke and Wills...all amazing figures, all doomed to failure...

Sheeeeit

I have a strange obsession with psychopaths / serial killers / mental illness. So does my girlfriend. We can spend a whole Sunday watching these types of documentaries. Discovery channel did a decent series called Deranged.

Saralee4

Sheeeeit wrote: »

I have a strange obsession with psychopaths / serial killers / mental illness. So does my girlfriend. We can spend a whole Sunday watching these types of documentaries. Discovery channel did a decent series called Deranged.

There was a good documentary on BBC2 on Sunday about mental illness with Louis Theoreoux. Dealt with borderline, narcissistic, schizoid, psychopaths among other illnesses.

Isn't it something like only 10 percent of actual serial killers are psychopaths but they reckon at least 4 percent of the population have it.

Favourite fictional depiction of a pschopath/sociopath would have to be Don Logan (Ben Kingsley) in Sexy Beast! Really gives an idea of what it could be like to deal with a person with this kind of personality disorder. I also think the character Begbie (Robert Carlisle) in Trainspotting is a milder if you can call it that version.

Ush1

I'm fascinated by it.

I think it's important to acknowledge the extremes of what humans are capable of.

ohnonotgmail

weldoninhio wrote: »

I read quite a bit on more modern murders. I'd recommend any of Philip Carlos books. The Iceman, The Night Stalker, GasPipe etc.

Some seriously messed up individuals out there.

The book on richard kuklinski (the ice man) is fantastic

Sheeeeit

Saralee4 wrote: »

There was a good documentary on BBC2 on Sunday about mental illness with Louis Theoreoux. Dealt with borderline, narcissistic, schizoid, psychopaths among other illnesses.

Isn't it something like only 10 percent of actual serial killers are psychopaths but they reckon at least 4 percent of the population have it.

I watched the first episode of that Louis Theroux documentary last week, I'll watch the second one tonight. Love that stuff

Apparently it's a combination of mental illness and poor upbringing or childhood trauma that usually leads to serial killers. There are many psychopaths who seem like normal people and are likely to have had a decent upbringing. They say psychopathy is not a bad trait to have in a cut throat business world lol

keano_afc

Mars Bar wrote: »

Yep, I think it's very interesting. I like watching videos and reading articles about psychopaths and what makes a person a psychopath.

My sister is studying criminology so it's something we can chat about.

This. I find getting to the bottom of what makes a person a killer fascinating.

RollieFingers

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

The book on richard kuklinski (the ice man) is fantastic

He certainly had some creative ways of disposing of people....obviously the rats spring to mind, but that fella he tied to the tree before introducing him to a box of salt is another one

MadYaker

I'm intensely interested in murder.

Saralee4

Sheeeeit wrote: »

I watched the first episode of that Louis Theroux documentary last week, I'll watch the second one tonight. Love that stuff

Apparently it's a combination of mental illness and poor upbringing or childhood trauma that usually leads to serial killers. There are many psychopaths who seem like normal people and are likely to have had a decent upbringing. They say psychopathy is not a bad trait to have in a cut throat business world lol

Unless they are your boss!

dilallio

I'm also intrigued by these cases.

The strangest case I've heard has to be the case of the Lunchbox Maniac Killer.

It involves a Galway teacher who was killed in the principle's office by a nun using a lunchbox.

http.;//www.irishkillers.com/LunchboxManiac

Mam of 4

RollieFingers wrote: »

He certainly had some creative ways of disposing of people....obviously the rats spring to mind, but that fella he tied to the tree before introducing him to a box of salt is another one

Read the book also , fascinating in a weird way as to how someone could commit some of these most gruesome murders and for people to have no idea the things he was capable of. This is what gets me, trying to figure out how murderers can be so horrific on one side and totally the opposite on the other.

The mind boggles..

dilallio

dilallio wrote: »

I'm also intrigued by these cases.

The strangest case I've heard has to be the case of the Lunchbox Maniac Killer.

It involves a Galway teacher who was killed in the principle's office by a nun using a lunchbox.

http.;//www.irishkillers.com/LunchboxManiac

There was a case of an uncle who poisoned his nephew by giving him a currant bun in the office of the head of his boarding school, one of the currants was laced with poison. It's an old UK case that for the life of me I can't remember. It wasn't one of the "great" poisoners like Crean, Dr. Palmer or Graham Young anyway.

LadyAthame

I think too much would get me down and disturb me so no not really.

RollieFingers

RollieFingers wrote: »

He certainly had some creative ways of disposing of people....obviously the rats spring to mind, but that fella he tied to the tree before introducing him to a box of salt is another one

Was that claimed by him, or actually confirmed in the course of a trial?

Sometimes with some of the US ones it's hard to know. A whole industry grew up around the claims made by Henry Lee Lucas, none of which may have been true as he invented so much.

Mick55

weldoninhio wrote: »

I read quite a bit on more modern murders. I'd recommend any of Philip Carlos books. The Iceman, The Night Stalker, GasPipe etc.

Some seriously messed up individuals out there.

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

The book on richard kuklinski (the ice man) is fantastic

That book is great, what an interesting maniac. There is a great interview in Youtube with him and a psychologist where he is psychoanalyzed. His death is quite bizarre.

WoollyRedHat

I think we as humans are attracted to the macabre and the dark underbelly of humanity.
If people are interested in this kind of stuff there's a great podcast made by This American Life called Serial, worth a listen.

Crooked Jack

I love killing stuff in computer games. The more ludicrously violent the better.

I am a bit soft or something so I cant read too many details or I would get upset and it would disturb me, the why of it all is interesting though.

Also I would never go to visit a consternation camp I just couldn't but lots of people do.