'Evil fascinates us': Dahmer drama continues to draw attention on Netflix, but why?
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Over three decades after the horrendous crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer were uncovered in Milwaukee, the new Netflix drama, "Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story", revealed the monstrous serial killer and his evil deeds to a new generation.
"I didn't really know too much about it," said Tyler Zarnstorff of Milwaukee. "Now it's on TV, I'm like 'Yeah, I'll learn more about it. Like what actually happened.'"
Ryan Murphy's dramatized series has taken Netflix and social media by storm. While some question retelling the horrendous stories and the impact the show might have on victim's families, others can't get enough.
"Evil fascinates us. Disaster fascinates us, unfortunately," explained Dr. Stacey Nye, a psychologist and the director of the UW-Milwaukee Psychology Clinic. "It's kind of like the car wreck on the side of the road. You drive by and you just can't help but look. You want to just see what didn't happen to you. You're seeing what happened to somebody else."
Dahmer was arrested in 1991. He tortured and murdered 17 men and a boy between 1978 and 1991. Those acts, along with the impacts on his family and the victim's families, are portrayed in a ten-episode series, which follows Dahmer from his childhood all the way up to his death at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin, in 1994.
"A lot of people want to know what makes these people tick, so we're just kind of fascinated by evil and murder and all the horrible things people do to each other," Nye said. "You're seeing what happened to somebody else with some relief, I think, and also maybe some regret and guilt."
Lauren Campbell is a student at Milwaukee School of Engineering. She says she started the series, but had to turn it off just a few minutes into the first episode.
"It was a little nauseating to realize just how close everything was," Campbell said. "The realization that 'Oh, this actually happened to real people, right here,' is a little jarring."
While the crimes hitting close to home can be jarring for some, Dr. Nye says it can be enticing for others to want to watch the show and learn more about it.
"It happened in our backyard," Nye said. "He was such a monster. This wasn't just a serial killer, he really engaged in some horrific, monstrous behavior. We're so drawn in trying to deal with our fear in this rather controlled kind of way by watching it over there on television."
Dr. Nye says the fascination with true crime is a relatively new trend, one that will be here to stay for years and years to come.
"There's so much media there so people really can't get away. They could be watching true crime all night long and maybe never get enough," Dr. Nye said. "Women are often the people who are most involved, listening and watching true crime. It helps with our anxiety. It helps us feel like we're preparing ourselves so we don't fall victim."
A true crime fan herself, Campbell agrees with that, even if she's choosing to pass on the Dahmer series.
"It's interesting to know, at least for me, how to consider my own safety of how frequently stuff like this happens. "Knowing people are out there that have that intention to do harm is something to know about."
For those wanting to learn more about the Jeffrey Dahmer story, Netflix will be releasing Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes on Oct. 7.