A scene from the Serial Killer: the ExhibitionCourtesy of Serial Killer: the Exhibition I don’t like horror movies, scary TV shows, or true crime podcasts. I still occasionally check behind the shower curtain after being peer-pressured into watching I Know What You Did Last Summer in high school. So, when a friend suggested visiting Serial Killer: The Exhibition, which opened last weekend at Pullman Yards, I was hesitant. However, after speaking with Giancarlo Guerra, director of Italmostre, the company who puts on the exhibit, I was convinced. See, I like psychology. I’ve always been fascinated by why people do things—that’s part of what drove me to become a journalist. According to Guerra, Serial Killer is not intended to be scary or macabre. It’s the result of more than 10 years of research and the collaboration of 60 international collectors, historians, criminologists and forensic specialists and is designed to be factual, rather than speculative. A mummified body on displayCourtesy of Serial Killer: the Exhibition After touring in Berlin, London, and Paris, it made its American debut in Atlanta with more than 2,100 original artifacts from serial killers from all over the world. It covers notorious killers like Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Jack the Ripper, alongside older and less well-known cases—women included. Photographs, testimonies, and victim biographies are among the captivating information presented. “It’s not about exploiting,” Guerra say. “Curiosity is a normal part of humankind. This is something outside our ordinary life. People want to see something different.” The exhibit runs through April 30 and costs $45 to $49 per person. It is not recommended for those ages 13 and under. Exhibit mannequins are so realistic it’s hard to tell they’re fake.Photo by Carly Cooper Here’s what you need to know before you go: The exhibit is huge. It’s 27,000 square feet. “It’s the biggest in the world,” Guerra says. Two- to two-and-a-half hours are recommended, but I’d allow more if you really want to experience it all. After 75 minutes, my friend and I had only gotten through 15 of the 40 rooms. Had we known how many there were, we would’ve chosen to truly read a couple items in each room rather than all of them. I’d also suggest wearing comfortable shoes, as you’ll be standing the entire time. It’s creepy. The exhibition is dark and quiet, with mannequins so realistic that we once had to ask a staff member if the man in the next room was alive. (We were too chicken to check for ourselves.) Most rooms feature posters with photos and stories about individual serial killers. There are items like John Wayne Gacy’s typewriter and Danny Rolling’s artwork. Then there are the objects I got squeamish about—like the dead rat Richard Chase sent to the FBI and a replica of the skin Ed Gein wove to look like his mother. Certain nightmare-inducing scenes—such as faux bloodied bodies and freezers—seemed downright unnecessary. You can’t really prepare for what you’ll learn. I had no idea serial killers went back so far in history and have had so many different motives (profit, belief-driven, sexual, cannibalistic, etc.). According to the information in the exhibit, there are approximately 30 active serial killers in the U.S. at any given time. Now that’s reassuring! I was also especially disturbed by the killers who harvested blood and organs from their prey and cooked them. One even baked them into cookies distributed to neighbors! Bring headphones. The exhibit is self-guided; QR codes on the walls connect to an audio tour when scanned with a cell phone. We didn’t know this in advance, and it may have helped us better pace ourselves, as well as reduced the cognitive load with so much reading. Overall, it was certainly capture my attention and gave me great fodder for Monday morning “What’d you do this weekend?” small talk at the office. The post 4 things to know before visiting Serial Killer: The Exhibition at Pullman Yards appeared first on Atlanta Magazine. ...read more read less