Be it Law & Order, FBI, or CSI, or the work of James Patterson, countless people are simply addicted to crime themed TV shows, movies and books.
Others, however, are more fascinated by the real thing.
Be it scripted series, documentary style or podcast, many people are fascinated by true crimes, and can't learn enough about some of these cases.
But on some occasions, the crimes in question might simply be too gruesome, dramatic or heartbreaking to handle, resulting in even the most dedicated crime aficionados to take a step back.
Redditor Soupystains was curious to hear which true crime case fellow Reddit users simply couldn't handle, leading them to ask:
"What's a true crime case that was simply too much to handle?"
Judith Barsi
"Judith Barsi."
"That poor, sweet, innocent soul."
"Never had a fighting chance in the world."- Nuttonbutton
James Bulger
"The James Bulger case always left me with that sickening feeling."
"That poor trusting little boy that was lured away by two older children no less, and killed haunts me."- Mason3637
Gabriel Fernandez
"For me, Gabriel Fernandez."
"That sh*t f*cked me up for a while."- lightningspider97
Kelly Anne Bates
"The murder of Kelly Anne Bates."
"Happened just around the corner of where I live."
"She was 14, when her 48 year old 'boyfriend; groomed her and isolated her from her family."
"He then tortured her and gauged her eyes out, keeping her alive for a few more weeks, whilst starving her and stabbing things in her empty eye sockets, amongst other things."- Anonymark88
Mary Ann Dela Sala
"The 1967 murder of a neighbor, 17 year old Mary Ann Dela Sala of Hackensack, NJ."
"Left her after school job to walk home and was found floating in the Passaic River."- OilTankCzar.
The Delphi Murders
"While the investigation is still active today I have to go with the Delphi Murders."
"I keep thinking about what those girls had to watch the other endure before meeting her own fate."
"Someone still hasn’t been caught and it’s heartbreaking."- throwawaymeplease45
Susan Powell
"The murder of Susan Powell, but not the entire case itself."
"I listened to the podcast Cold and while the case as a whole interested me and was all sorts of f*cked up, it didn’t greatly disturb me."
"It was hearing the 911 calls of the social worker who was bringing the boys for a visit calling for help after Josh Powell lured his sons inside his home telling them he had a big surprise, locked the doors, killed both boys with an ax and then set the home on fire with all 3 of them inside."
"EMS was lost so the entire time the social worker is frantically trying to explain to them where they are, who he is, and what she’s worried is happening totally powerless to do anything to stop it, and then the house went up in flames."
"I had to take a 6month break from all true crime."- tigm2161130
Any case involving children.
"Murder of Tori Stafford."
"Also, the case of Karla Homolka and Paul Bernado."
"Basically, any case involving children."
"We don't have a death penalty in Canada for those who prey on children."- Hangingoutwithyou
Dylann Roof
"When Dylann Roof, the AME Church killer, was arrested, he told one of the officers, 'They were so nice to me, I almost didn't do it.'
"That's always really gotten to me."- notthesedays
The Toybox and Toolbox Killers
"Toybox killer is bad but toolbox killers is so much worse."
"There's footage on YouTube of people in the courtroom listening to the recordings of them with their victim and occasionally you just see people coming out of the courtroom crying or looking sick and you can hear the gutteral screams in the back."
Just the sound of the screams in the distance is so f*cked up."- Rackbone.
"The toy box killer —> nope."- CaffeinatedAsh
Sylvia Likens
"Sylvia Likens."
"Idk why I continued to read the whole story but reading about everything she endured, and all the extremely messed up things they did to her, I cried."
"I don’t know how you get to that point of dehumanizing someone like that."
"It makes me sick even thinking about it."- amaranthaxx
Ariel Castro
"The case of Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus."
"They were kidnapped by Ariel Castro and were held captive in his house for 10-11 years."
"They were raped and Amanda became pregnant with a baby girl named Jocelyn."
"Thanks to her telling them Ariel wasn’t home they were released in 2013 which was only 9 years ago."- charlie_iscontagious
Bass Webb
"Google Bass Webb, Kentucky."
"He killed two women about ten minutes from my house."
"He's is a true psychopath."
"I had never heard of him until my husband hired a new guy and the guy was on probation for helping Bass bury one of his victims."
"She was that guy's cousin!"
"My husband didn't know it at the time of hiring obviously."- lifeinthefastlane999
The Turpins
"Definitely the Turpins."- Different-Ad6190
Michelle Blair
"Michelle Blair from Detroit."- Illustrious_Boss2991
Luka Rocco Magnotta
"Luka Rocco Magnotta, and the worst part is that everyone is able to see the whole murder online with a simple research."- ganesh420ganesh
Mr. Hands
"Mr Hands."
"Mr Hands had a kink for f*cking horses."
"He broke into a stable and chose the biggest horse in the stables and f*cked it."
"I’m pretty sure he got internal damage from… well you know and died in the hospital."- grahamcracker007
The Burari Case
"Burari death case."
"If you know, you know."
"That sh*t was really F*cked up."- Classic_Blueberry404
Peter Scully
"Peter Scully."
"Just horrible."- m0thb4lls
What might make reading the work of James Patterson and others easy for some people to read is the fact that they know it's fiction, perhaps loosely inspired by actual events.
But learning more and more about horrific crimes which actually happened and could happen again is enough to permanently ruin any chances of sleeping.
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@maninthebooth/Bluesky
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@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
