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12 True Crime Documentaries That Will Keep You Awake At Night

12 True Crime Documentaries That Will Keep You Awake At Night

It’ll keep you awake not due to fear but it’s because you can’t help but wonder what truly happened.

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True crime documentaries can be gruesome but something about these shows draw us in. Perhaps these unsolved cases indirectly egg us on because we’re naturally curious beings. Perhaps we’re all watching from a safe space behind the screen while re-enactments of the crime take place.

Despite the terrifying nature of these shows, some people prefer watching true crime documentaries while they wind down and get ready for bed at night.

If you’re one of these people, be sure to check out some of these documentaries and add them to your list of must-watch shows.

1. Worst Roommate Ever

Most people will have experienced living with someone who they think is the worst roommate ever. They could be super disorganized, have poor hygiene or simply disappear when it’s time to pay the rent.

In this show, these terrible and nefarious neighbours will make your ‘horrible’ roommates look like decent human beings in comparison.

2. Crime Scene: The Vanishing At The Cecil Hotel 

The disappearance and mysterious death of Elisa Lam at the Cecil Hotel sent chills down everyone’s spine. Her body was mysteriously found in a water tank a few days after. What was sickening was that the guests of the hotel drank the water from the tank where her dead body was floating in.

Her strange behaviours when she was in the lift spurred rumours that she was playing the Elevator game. It’s believed that you’ll be transported to a supernatural dimension when you press on the lift buttons in a certain order.

To return to the real world, you have to press the same series of numbers. If you get off at the wrong time, you’re as good as gone.

3. Where Is Marta?

This Spanish show tells the true crime story of the missing high school girl named Marta del Castillo. On 24 January 2009, she told her family that she was going out with friends. When she went missing, her family was suspicious of her boyfriend, Miguel. Until today, her body isn’t found and nobody truly knows what happened.

4. The Puppet Master: Hunting The Ultimate Conman

The Puppet Master is tragic story of years of manipulation at work. Robert Hendy-Freegard is a conman who pretended to be a British spy. His unsuspecting victims fell hook, line and sinker for his lies. He was convincing enough to force his friends and loved ones to move away and hide from their families. Until today, the families he destroyed never recovered.

5. Sophie: A Murder In West Cork

The series tells the story of a French woman named Sophie who was murdered at her isolated holiday cottage in West Cork, Ireland in 1996. A journalist named Ian Bailey is the prime suspect. Although he was never convicted, he was found guilty in the court of public opinion.

6. Don’t Fuck With Cats: Hunting An Internet Killer

The series chronicles the events following a crowd-sourced amateur investigation about animal cruelty acts committed by Canadian pornographic actor Luka Magnotta. Aware of his popularity, he began posting more gruesome videos and it culminated with the murder of a Chinese international student Jun Lin.

7. The Sons Of Sam: A Descent Into Darkness

Investigative journalist Maury Terry spent more than 40 years trying to prove that serial killer David Berkowitz aka the Son of Sam didn’t act alone. Terry insisted that Berkowitz was acting on behalf of a satanic cult known as The Children, a cult also allegedly connected to Charles Manson.

8. The Night Stalker

The Night Stalker tells the story of a serial killer and rapist in the 80s named Richard Ramirez. He was known to attack his victims by punching, pistol-whipping, and strangling his victims with his hands. He also enjoyed torturing, humiliating and degrading his victims.

9. The Times Square Killer

The creepy documentary tells about the murders in the 1970s to 1980s by Richard Cottingham. He is also known as the Torso Killer or the Times Square Killer. He got this name because he decapitated and dismembered two victims.

10. The Raincoat Killer: Chasing A Predator In Korea

The South Korean serial killer and cannibal Yoo Young-chul bludgeoned his victims to death in the 2000s. His victims are mostly sex workers and wealthy old women because he resented the rich and women.

11. Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces Of Billy Mulligan

Serial rapist Billy Mulligan committed a series of robberies, kidnappings and rapes on a university campus. Despite evidence that he committed the crimes, he has no memory of what he did. When he was caught in 1977, he blamed his crimes on his multiple personalities. The team of psychiatrists diagnosed him with dissociative identity disorder. His lawyers tried to plead insanity and the series of legal battles captured America’s attention.

12. House Of Secrets: The Burari Deaths

On 30 June 2018, a neighbour found a family of 11 hanging from the middle of their home. It was said the family committed suicide together but investigations and rumours reveal that it might be connected to a superstitious ritual that went wrong. Nobody knows what actually happened that day.


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