15 Things That Happen When You're A True Crime Fan

If there was a good time to be a fan of the true crime genre, it would be today. The entire planet seemed to spend Christmas break or January obsessing over Making A Murderer and North America definitely seems interested in real-life stories about darkness and the innocent vs. guilty question. While it may seem like this genre recently came out of nowhere, it's only recently become super popular, but has been around much longer. In fact, experts claim the genre began with Edgar Allen Poe, so that's definitely traveling way back in time. People may think you're kind of weird but you'd much rather delve into the intricate details of real-life cases rather than watch mindless entertainment that won't actually teach you anything. It's okay, though, it's kind of trendy and cool these days. Here are 15 things that happen when you're a true crime fan.

15 You Binge Watch Early

What's that? A new true crime TV show is streaming on Netflix or HBO? You're on it and you usually have seen every single episode before your friends and coworkers have gotten the chance to watch. You watched HBO's The Jinx as soon as it premiered in early 2015 and you finished Making A Murderer before your Twitter feed could catch up, too. You can't help it, you're just endlessly fascinated by the human condition and all the ways that things can go so wrong. People can joke that you should try watching a sitcom every once in a while since you're usually watching such dark shows but you don't care.

14 Serial Is Your Jam

Sure, season two isn't quite as exciting as season one, but that doesn't mean you're not still following along every week to the super popular podcast Serial (okay, every two weeks now that the podcast has gone bi-weekly). You listened to the first season in 2014 before any of your friends and couldn't believe that it took people so long to finally tune in. You talked everyone's ears off about this amazing real-life murder mystery and were always hungry for the next episode. You're even considering listening to season one yet again because it was just that good.

13 You See Everything As A Mystery

It's not that you're paranoid. You're not. You're just… interested. You think that literally any situation has the potential to be a great big mystery and, hey, if you're the first one to crack the case, so be it. Sometimes this gets you into hot water - like when you're convinced that the new guy you're dating is hiding something and it turns out he's really a nice guy after all - but you can't help who you are. You're always hoping to be part of a real-life mystery even though, of course, that would be pretty terrifying.

12 You're A Lifelong Horror Movie Fan

Before you were even old enough to learn what the true crime genre was, you were watching horror movies - probably way before you were even supposed to. You saw Carrie at 11 and spent your teenage years watching horror gems such as Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. You loved feeling super scared and like you had no idea what was going to happen. Horror was basically your gateway genre and so it makes total sense that today you're older, wiser, and totally into true crime.

11 You're Watching 'American Crime Story'

The latest true crime TV series would be The People vs O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. It's the first season of a longer-running series and the second season will focus on Hurricane Katrina. Of course, since the first season focuses on the O.J. Simpson murder case, you've been obsessed with every episode so far and are eagerly awaiting more. It's basically your dream TV show since it's also got Ross from Friends and Rayna from Nashville and John Travolta - and let's not forget the millions of Kardashian references on this show since, of course, Robert Kardashian was part of O.J.'s “Dream Team."

10 You Have Theories

So, so many theories. You feel you absolutely know whether or not Adnan did it on Serial and you've worked out a million different ways that Steven Avery is innocent on Making A Murderer. You don't just watch this stuff passively, stuffing your face with popcorn and pizza - you're a real participant and you love using your brain and working out the truth. You totally post on online fan communities like Reddit, too - admit it. You spend much of your life online, reading other fan's theories and trying to poke holes in them.

9 You Love Fictional Crime Stories, Too

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is your all-time favorite book and you binge-watch Pretty Little Liars. Sure, these may be fictional stories but you don't discriminate - you have an endless appetite for crime-focused entertainment and sometimes there just isn't enough true crime stuff to go around. So you take out tons of murder mysteries from the library and will watch any show that deals with some kind of crime. Sometimes you wonder if this stuff really was based on real life - you just can't turn that part of your brain off.

8 You Believe In Justice

Part of what makes the true crime genre so utterly and completely interesting is that we have moral ideas about right and wrong, and when we see that a real-life court case didn't seem to have a fair verdict, we're super outraged. We can't believe that the legal system isn't always fair (okay, it's never, ever fair) and we keep watching and reading these stories, hoping desperately to see a different verdict that never comes. This totally describes you if you're a total true crime fan. You're usually in a state of moral outrage.

7 Your Friends Are Used To Your Rants

When you're at happy hour with your girlfriends or hanging out by the chip bowl at a coworker's party, you can't help but engage someone in a true crime discussion. You always ask people that you've just met if they've listened to season one of Serial and if they think Steven Avery did it or not. If they haven't seen Making A Murderer, you start lecturing them and asking what their possible excuse could be (being too busy to binge it doesn't count). Your friends laugh and roll their eyes because they're used to your rants by now.

6 You're An Amateur Detective

You definitely think you deserve a police badge by now, you've spent so many hours playing detective. It goes with the territory, of course. Unlike other genres where you just watch something in order to be entertained, the true crime genre is all about getting the viewer or reader to guess what's going on or what really happened. You always think your instincts are right and if your day job doesn't work out, you can always fall back on being a cop or detective.

5 You Have A Blog

You're such a true fan that you probably have a blog or even a podcast. You have adoring fans of your own who hang on your every word and are always visiting your blog to see what your latest theory is. Your friends laugh and joke that you're famous in your own right, and while you shrug them off, you kind of like the idea that you're a celebrity. Of course, you don't have a big head about it - not yet, anyway - but you just love true crime and you love sharing your passion for it with whoever wants to read your posts.

4 You Have Awkward Dates

Okay, so going on awkward first dates and being a true crime fan don't always go together, but it makes sense. When you're a superfan of something (it could be anything at all) then you tend to get pretty heated when someone insults what you love. Sometimes when you're on a date, the person sitting across from you doesn't love what you love. Shocking, I know, but it happens. So your dates are going to say they weren't as into Making A Murderer as everyone else and you'll stare at them in shock, unable to comprehend how they could possibly say that. Cue awkwardness.

3 You're In Law School

Chances are, if you really love true crime and are a bigger fan than anyone that you know, you're in law school. Law and crime go together like peanut butter and jelly, of course. So you're probably dreaming of being a criminal lawyer so you can pick apart the facts of cases instead of just being a bystander watching TV shows or reading books. Your classmates are probably just as true crime obsessed as you are so you're definitely in good company no matter what school you're at.

2 You're Confident

You have to be confident or you could never come up with your grand theories in the first place. It's really all about having the high self-esteem necessary to voice your opinions. Having confidence is never a bad thing, especially when there are so many people in this world that want to tear you down and who don't want you to have any ideas at all. You laugh at that idea because your friends would agree that you basically have too many opinions.

1 You're Smart

The true crime genre is definitely not for the faint of heart since some of the content can get pretty gross. It's also not for stupid people. Luckily, that's not you at all - you're pretty smart (okay, you're insanely smart) and that's exactly why you're such a big fan of murder mysteries and similar cases. You love to pick apart the pieces of a case and figure things out. Thankfully, this genre is growing in popularity and isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so before you know it there will be another popular show that you can obsess over.