"I'm celebrating my 50th birthday at CrimeCon."
"My BFF and I are coming to the US from Australia for our first CrimeCon. Can't wait!"
"Just wondering if anyone else will be on CrimeCruise in November?
Earlier this year, 5,300 people descended on Nashville for the weekend to attend the 8th annual CrimeCon convention, coined as 'The world's #1 event for true crime and mystery.'
Tickets started at AUD $511, and got you access to everything except the VIP cocktail hour, priority seating and the private lounge decked with yummy nibbles. Access to that package was more than double.
Here's a taste of CrimeCon. Post continues after video.
There was plenty to do at the event. You could go and listen to your favourite true crime author or podcaster, learn from the world's top body language experts about how to spot deception, get the insider scoop on 'jury selection secrets', pose in front of a fake crime scene and pick up merch with the tagline "I'm basically a detective" or "CrimeCon is my alibi."
Or you could sit in and listen to Gabby Petito's parents as they told an audience about the pain of losing their daughter to murder in 2021.
John, the father of JonBenét Ramsey who was murdered in 1996 aged six, also spoke. His session was called 'Searching for Truth: John Ramsey's Fight for Answers.'
If you missed out on the May event, there's another event coming up. 'CrimeCruise' will be sailing from Miami to Jamaica in November.
In-between sunning yourself on the pool-deck, you can attend seminars with crime experts or book authors, or a dinner where the entertainment is debating 'your favourite cases.'
If you can sense a tone in my writing, you're right. I feel very uncomfortable about this latest foray in the true crime space, and that's pretty rich coming from me.
You see, I host a true crime podcast called True Crime Conversations. It's the third most downloaded show here at Mamamia, and regularly among the top 20 shows in Australia month on month according to Triton Digital.
True crime as a genre is big business, which is a strange thing to say when you consider what it actually is - humans doing horrible things to other humans.
A quick squiz at Netflix as I write this article shows me Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez story (which is a biographical crime drama based on two sons who murdered their parents), is one of the top trending TV shows in the country.
We're obsessed, and our fascination is mirrored across the world, particularly in America where CrimeCon has taken hold.
But as someone who swims in this world, and contributes to it weekly through both my podcast and written work, I am very aware of the tightrope we balance between telling stories and remembering victims, and sensationalising and turning other's tragedies into entertainment.
CrimeCon and it's off-shoot CrimeCruise feels like that step too far, and combing through Reddit threads on the event, I am not alone in my thoughts.
"CrimeCon as a concept is weird. True crime is real tragedy. Monetising it with merch and live shows, then interspersing that with desperate families making appeals for their loved ones is insanely dystopian," wrote one commenter.
"Most of the sessions were interesting and respectful of victims. Some of it gave me the ick. I won't be going again," wrote an attendee of the 2022 event in Vegas.
Fans of the convention are quick to defend.
"I don't think you really understand what CrimeCon is - they are not 'profiting' off of anything - they are bringing like minded people together to share resources, to bring cases to light so that they can be solved," wrote one fan.
"Other families and friends have gone on 20/20, Dateline, 48 hours etc. People tuning in for those shows are largely watching for entertainment," said another, defending victim's families who choose to appear.
Speaking to NewsNation, Gabby Petito's dad explained, "we were very apprehensive the first year, [but] we found the community to be very respectful and heartwarming and really caring. Which was not what my assumption was."
I am not here to judge the families of murder victims. If they feel comfortable in that space, then all power to them.
I just can't shake the feeling that by creating an event that intermixes entertainment and fun (handing in body tags for merch! Themed hats! Silly games!), with the real life pain and tragedy of true crime (there's a wall on display for families to post their lost loved one's photos), we're majorly blurring the lines.
You can be a fan of true crime content, but to treat it like an amusement park is arguably bizarre.
These are real victims. Real families. Real criminals. Real depravity.
We can tell their stories, and we should tell their stories. But does that have to involve game-ifying grief, and turning real crimes into 'who dunnit' topics onboard a themed cruise ship?
CrimeCon founder Kevin Balfe says the convention (and the cruise) is a place for victims to feel "loved." Interestingly, it's attendees are about 80 per cent female. Many are survivors or family members of victims or perpetrators, so it's obvious they see the weekend as a place to be around like-minded people.
DNA Doe Project credits the event in helping them get new familial matches for DNA, which is then passed on to law enforcement to help in the solving of cold cases. Another hugely positive tick.
So why do I still feel uneasy? It's nuanced. For me, you're either a true crime event, or a fictionalised crime event. Combining the two feels like a slap in the face to those who've lost family members to horrific crime.
But CrimeCon's popularity isn't slowing down. It has spread to the UK, with London preparing to host it's fifth event next year.
Perhaps it will end up here in Australia. We certainly have an appetite for it.
Let's just be careful, yeah? These are real people's stories. Real people's lives. Let's not let our obsession with producing and consuming true crime content, lose sight of that.
Feature image: CrimeCon Instagram.