I like to watch true crime because, as a psychology major, I’ve always been fascinated by how the human mind works and what drives one person to harm another. But I’m also a true crime fan because when I watch, I feel like I’m learning about so much more than just a criminal. I enjoy witnessing every twist, turn, and dead end, seeing how an investigation reaches a conclusion, and learning about the culture of the time period. I also feel that as a woman, watching true crime keeps me aware of many potential dangers, because, unfortunately, women are often the main victims in this genre. Forget the Boogeyman and Chucky: these documentaries show there’s nothing spookier than humanity itself. Without further ado, here are five true crime recommendations you can watch on Netflix this spooky season.
- Night stalker: The hunt for a serial killer
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This four episode documentary follows the killing spree of Richard Ramirez, also known as the “Night Stalker.” Ramirez was a follower of Satanism who plunged southern California into an era of widespread fear during the summers of 1984 and 1985. He usually committed his crimes at night, when people would leave their windows cracked due to the oppressive California heat. This is how he would break into people’s houses. His victims also crossed all gender, age, and ethnic lines, so no one was truly safe from his reign of terror. I liked this series because I felt it really captured the acute hysteria and panic Californians were feeling in this time period. And no wonder, as many other serial killers were known to have been operating in the area at the time, such as the Golden State Killer and the Grim Sleeper.
- crime scene: THe vanishing at the cecil hotel
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This one always sends chills down my spine because of how many questions are left unanswered. The Cecil Hotel is a hotel in Los Angeles with an extremely dark history. Murders, kidnappings, and suicides are just a few in the long list of gruesome events that have taken place under this hotel’s roof. The most notable is the story of Elisa Lam, a Canadian tourist who was found in the roof’s water tank after hotel residents reported a strange taste to the water. Her death was surrounded by a horde of mysterious circumstances, as the coroner ruled it as an “accidental drowning” caused by the bipolar medication she was on at the time. The strange part? Elisa could have removed the water tank’s lid to get in there, but when the maintenance worker found her body, the lid was still on. This action couldn’t have been done by anyone but another person, which raises far more questions than answers. This documentary is four episodes.
- house of secrets: The burari deaths
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What could compel a family of 11 to hang themselves? That is what this three episode series aims to solve. House of Secrets takes place in the Burari neighborhood of Delhi, India, and details the circumstances that drove three generations of one family to participate in a ritual mass suicide. On the surface, the Chundawat family seemed like your average middle-class family. The joint-family system is a common in Indian households, and in this home lived three siblings, their spouses and children, and the matriarch. On July 1, 2018, each family member was found hanging on the first floor of the house in a circular formation, with tied limbs, blindfolds, and gagged mouths. The matriarch was strangled in an adjacent room. This case sparked nationwide controversy as people called for further investigation when detectives ruled it a suicide, and those close to the family said this behavior wasn’t like them. Want to find out more? You’ll have to watch and see…
- american murder: family next door
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I watched this documentary a while ago, but it still left an impression on me. Footage taken from the body cams of the responding police officer detail the events following the 2018 disappearance and murder of Shanann Watts and her two daughters, aged three- and four-years-old. This crime was reported to police by her husband Chris. The film makes use of social media posts, text messages, and home videos to bring viewers closer to the Watts family and depict their home life. I think this documentary does a good job of showing that appearances can be very deceiving, and everything may not be what it seems when it comes to a picture-perfect, all-American family. This recommendation differs from the others on this list because it is a film instead of a multi-episode series. At just under an hour and thirty minutes, American Murder skillfully uses its short screen time to cover all of the important details in this case, as well as its shocking conclusion.
- conversations with a killer: The john wayne gacy tapes
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Just listening to the voice of a killer can be a hair-raising experience. But hearing them talk about who they killed, why they killed, and even trying to justify their crimes is a whole lot creepier. The Conversations with a Killer series has followed big names in the worlds of serial killers such as Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and most recently, Jeffrey Dahmer. The John Wayne Gacy segment is the only one I’ve watched so far, but it was 3 episodes spent on the edge of my seat as I learned about Gacy’s string of 33 killings in Chicago, Illinois. His targets were usually gay men and boys. He would lure them into his home and pretend to show them a magic trick that involved his victim donning handcuffs. But once they had them on, it became clear what happened next was not going to be anything magical. One of the eeriest facts about Gacy is that he had an alter ego known as “Pogo the Clown” that he would regularly slip into for charity events and children’s hospitals. Because they still haven’t identified all of his victims, the final image in this documentary is a phone number to call if you believe your loved one was a victim of his in the 1970s, a very somber note to end on.