As a big true crime fan myself I didn’t hesitate to visit when Serial Killer The Exhibition arrived in London as part of a world tour.
Debunk the mysteries behind the most twisted minds of the century with an exploration of serial killers’ lives from a scientific, historical and educational perspective.
See the never-before-displayed collection of hundreds of original artifacts, including documents and drawings of the most famous killers made by themselves. Step inside detailed recreations of the most famous crime scenes, and learn all about the FBI methodology to identify and analyze psychological profiles of these individuals.
Located in The Vaults near Waterloo Station the exhibition has the perfect location with eerie yet artistic surroundings as this walkthrough experience contains over 1000+ documents and items linked to some of the most notorious serial killers in the world.
What the exhibition did wonderfully was balance the crimes with their punishments in equal measure. At no point did the exhibition glorify the killings but instead paid tribute to the victims and dived into the forensics, psychology and various punishments given out for a variety of crimes over the years.
Recreations of killers’ homes such as Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy gave further understanding of their cases and a variety of hand-written notes from serial killers along with prison artwork gave you a deeper insight into their mental state and forms of expression.
True Crime is forever the most popular horror niche, you only have to open Netflix to see the countless shows dedicated to a variety of infamous cases from around the world but these exhibition takes it further where you can get up close and personal with some items that were worn and used by the killers themselves.
Just seeing Jeffrey Dahmer’s glasses sitting in a cabinet was chilling to me, knowing that he wore those glasses when he carried out the murders was as intriguing as it was horrifying but there was one issue that I had with the exhibition.
There was WAY too much to read!
So extensive was the information that surrounded this large exhibition that you couldn’t possibly take it all in. Whilst the exhibition has a free audio guide for you to use if needed I felt there was an overkill of text scattered around the place to the point where it became rather overwhelming.
From Ed Gein who inspired the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise to Ted Bundy and more, there are some fascinating items on display. Paintings from John Wayne Gacy which now fetch for thousands of dollars after his death were on display along with one of the creepiest items I’ve ever seen, the Armin Meiwes freezer.
Armin was a German cannibal who asked for a volunteer to be killed on an online forum, Armin then killed the man and stored him in his freezer for future dining options. That very freezer was on display at the exhibition and out of all the items on display this one had a strange energy unlike any of the others, it was much more close to home than many of the letters and other artefacts, this was on another level entirely.
The Serial Killer exhibition is very long indeed and you could easily spend two hours in here and still have plenty more to see. I loved how it went from crime to punishment and the segments on forensics and how these killers were caught were very interesting indeed.
Having a serial killer art gallery is certainly a new experience for me to see at an exhibition but it fascinates me how many of them were very talented artists yet all had their unique styles and ways of projecting their innermost thoughts and creativity onto the canvas in a raw and visceral way.
I felt the exhibition was done very respectfully and you’ll find a broad range of interest within the topics on display here.
A throughly well-done exhibition that intrigues the mind, provokes your curiosity and indulges you in the world of horror and the macabre. For an October event in London, this is certainly a must-visit!
Check out our VLOG from the exhibition including a little overview and walkthrough of this intriguing pop-up attraction. Not subscribed to our theme park and attractions page Lift Hills and Thrills? Please hit that SUBSCRIBE button HERE.
To find out more about the exhibition and the items on display along with purchasing your tickets you can visit
