I love true crime. I’ve been fascinated by the evil side of human behavior from a very young age. One of my daughters is equally fascinated, and I often think about what young Meghan would have done if I had the kind of access to podcasts, YouTube videos, and TV series she has. The all-encompassing true crime world we live in today feels new, but it isn’t. I recently discovered THE ILLUSTRATED POLICE NEWS, a true-crime tabloid that ran from the mid-1800s up until the start of the Second World War. It’s a broadsheet that’s literally all dramatic illustrations of murder, mayhem, and masochistic behavior, mostly among London’s citizens. There’s a liveliness to the illustrations that I can imagine would have captivated people who’d never even seen — or maybe dreamt of — a moving picture, and most of whom didn’t own radios. Below you can check out a handful of editions from THE ILLUSTRATED POLICE NEWS, and try to imagine yourself completely disconnected from any of your modern technology while you immerse yourself in these scenes…
