Even the Americans, who get the news of yet another mass shooting with their morning coffee, were shocked to hear about Christopher Watts, who killed his entire family, including two small children, in the summer of 2018.
Maybe it was the way he choked his wife to death and smothered his two daughters by putting their favorite blanket over their faces, or maybe it was the uncanny sense of calm with which he looked into the news camera the next day, asking for any piece of evidence that would help him "find the killer."
Watts, a 34-year-old Colorado resident, eventually confessed and was sentenced to five back-to-back life sentences without the possibility of parole. The judge probably thought that doing so would make people put that heinous crime out of their minds. Alas, that was not the case.
Watts became a star.
First came the media reports about every single detail of that night. Then interviews with his parents, who were shocked that their son who has never harmed a soul before, would do something like this. Then, there was the hit Netflix documentary that analyzed every word, every text message and every part of their domestic bliss up until that dreaded night.
Even these days, the media won't let up. They talk about the family house, the love letters and nude photos he gets from female fans in prison, even the Thanksgiving dinner he got while incarcerated, courtesy of In Touch Magazine. The meal looked absolutely amazing, in case you were wondering.
Watts' own hand-written letters, in which he goes into every horrid detail of that night, regardless of how graphic it is, are being sold on the Macabre website serialkillersink.com.
The site, naturally, is not dedicated to Watts exclusively. Ever wanted to get your hands on John Lennon's killer's prisoner tag? Get ready to shell $9,500 to see the name Mark David Chapman right on the front. Not everything is expensive, however. If you want a link to the audio of Jeffrey Dahmer confessing to the17 killings he has committed from the late 70s to the early 90s, all you need is $10.
Other similar websites offer personal items, memorabilia, authentic childhood photos and many other things belonging to some of history's most shocking killers. Ever wanted to be in a relationship with these people? There's even a website that will set you up with them. Talk about a dangerous first date.
So what was it about Netflix's "Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story" that made it surge to number one most streamed show in 60 countries (Israel included)?
So what is it about the mind of a serial killer that draws us? What does it say about us that we're so receptive to consuming such disturbing content? Is Israel likely to see an emergence of real-life serial killers as well?
"Serial killers are the farthest thing from how we envision society should conduct itself," says Dr. Ma'ayan Be'eri Nagar, a criminology professor from the Ariel University. "It's a man that desecrates the social fabric. We're very attracted and intrigued by that."
Why is that?
"We have a need to distill some humanity from it. These people don't have a unique appearance. They look like us. They might as well be us. We feel a compulsion to understand what makes them tick. After all, we don't do things like that, whatever the reason may be. So, seeing someone going so far outside the social norm is unusual, and the unusual attracts us."
What made you dedicate your own life to this?
"The complexity of human behavior. There's emotion, empathy (or lack thereof), the social contract. That's what glues us to the screen watching someone like Jeffrey Dahmer."
Do we not feel a sense of deterrence watching it?
"We'd definitely be taken aback if we met him in real life, but this is not an everyday occurrence for us. These are extreme cases. Dahmer is not your typical serial killer. Usually there are precursors like childhood trauma, abuse or neglect, but nothing that would someone want to eat other human beings like Dahmer did."
What did you think of the show?
"I was surprised about how much something that happened in the 90s could interest us. The depiction of his acts was realistic, and the details were spot on."
Were you surprised by how graphic it was, and about how it could raise out threshold for being shocked?
"Generally, our threshold for visual stimuli is on the rise. Video games, TV and media in general is becoming increasingly pornographic. We're very discerning of the details.
"We also noticed it in the show Squid Games, where violence was presented for violence sake. There was no underlying message. It's abhorring the first few times, but after 50 times we want something more."
Why do we need this kind of excitement?
"Because it's exhilarating and forbidden. Because it contains things we always wanted to utter, but were afraid to. It's awakens the butterflies in our stomach when we think about something that society has deemed wrong."
Does admiration for these sort of people have an effect?
"Many studies were done on whether violent people are more drawn to violent content, regardless of medium. It was inconclusive. It's unlikely that such content increases the propensity for violent behavior. Playing a first-person-shooter video game will not cause you to pick up a weapon and start murdering people in real life. Neither does collecting serial kill memorabilia."
What about copycats?
"When mass shootings happened in the U.S, there were those who said they were copying others, but I don't know. For example, Dahmer had no one to copy, but he did it anyway. The 90s were the serial killer's renaissance in the U.S. They don't happen much anymore, and with the plethora of options to convey information quickly on a global scale, we would have heard something.
"With so many things to keep us occupied these days, maybe people with the inclination to become serial killers get their kicks some other way."
Could there be an Israeli Dahmer?
"Somewhat unlikely. The main characteristic of psychopaths is the ability to disengage themselves from a certain environment. They're lone wolves who move away at some point after people start noticing something off about them. That's much easier to do in a huge country like the U.S. Far less likely in tiny Israel."
Some people have taken their attraction to serial killers in a romantic direction. Female fans have sent Watts letters with lines such as "I found myself thinking about you a lot," "I care about you and your situation," "You are not alone" and "I know people are wrong about you." The letters often come with sexually-suggestive pictures. The phenomenon of being sexually attracted to violent criminals is called "hybristophilia."
It's also not uncommon in Israel. Larisa Trembovler turned heaven and earth to marry Yigal Amir, Yitzhak Rabin's murderer. She even gave birth to his child. Yitzhak Abergil, who is incarcerated for life, met his social worker wife in prison. They have five children. Adam Ital, who is serving four life sentences for murder, married an ex-prison guard.
Professor Arnon Edelstein, a criminologist from the Ashkelon Academic Center, says there are several reasons for this. "There is something wrong and exciting about that. These woman also view these men as the epitome of the Alpha male. Someone who does his own thing, not following society's rules. Also, we're talking about people who are locked up for life. They won't have to live with them anyway."
Do they choose this relationship because it's noncommittal?
"It's distant. These people represent the difference between those who talk about doing bad things and those who actually do it. They've breached a wall and that is exciting. It's similar to girls that are attracted to the bad boy. It's their way of showing society they don't care.
"The phenomenon of serial killers is intellectually stimulating. We don't enjoy it because we're perverted, but because it fascinates us. I teach it at the university, and it's actually mostly female students who wish to know more, but I avoid overly graphical descriptions."
Why is it women who are mostly fascinated?
"Maybe it fulfills a certain fantasy. It's hard to say. Equally interesting is the fact that we don't care about the victim.
"The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders deemed BDSM (a term used to describe aspects of sex that involve dominance, submission, and control) as a perversion in the past, but not anymore. Getting sexual satisfaction from physical pain has been somewhat normalized. Freud said we all have an animal instinct within us. Maybe that's what causes us to idolize murderers."
"It doesn't help that the U.S. has always idolized these heinous people. Bonnie and Clyde murdered gas station attendants in cold blood. The American society is quite violent: Marilyn Manson, Hannibal Lecter, Jeffrey Dahmer. All of them are huge stars despite being the worst kind of people.
"It happens in Israel too, unfortunately. More and more shows shine a spotlight on crime families, presenting them in a fascinating light when they deserve nothing. The more that happens, the more dramatic something needs to be to get us jolted."
Israeli TV crime drama "The Arbitrator," which tells the story of a man who tries to settle inter-criminal disputes between crime families, has caught the attention of the audiences. Director Shay Kanot says that because of the show, the kindergarten caretaker was afraid of him whenever he came to pick up his kids. "It's not just me. The actors were treated like criminals. People project what they see on the show onto reality."
"I can't really explain why I'm drawn to this. It's always been this way. Movies like The Godfather, Goodfellas and Scarface are my bible. These characters are constantly conflicted, living on the edge and can pay for their mistakes with their very lives at any given moment.
Did you have any dilemmas about how graphical you need to be in scenes?
"Despite all the criticism I receive, I never go too far with violent depictions. That was never the point."
Still, maybe some people fail to make the distinction?
"Our objective is to make characters relatable, because otherwise people won't watch. We have a lot of ways to make that happen, but there are plenty of places to draw inspiration from. I don't know if a TV show is one of them. People who would try to do it in real life are normally those who live in a miserable existence and I wouldn't try to copy them."