Death Row's Worst Killers In Their Own Words | Christopher Berry-Dee | Modern Wisdom Podcast 190

... they'll never get scared. If I got scared, they'd smell it. They're like a beast in a cage, and if you get scared, you lose the battle with them instantly. It really is fascinating being up very close and personal, touching. Some are chained up, some aren't. Death can be a heartbeat away for you. They can lose the plot. Normally having corresponded with them sometimes for years, there is this interpersonal relationship. You know how far you can push them, you know what pushes their buttons, you know what annoys them, and it's about manipulation and mind control. They think they're in control, but I'm in control. (wind blows)

Chris, we have wrangled technology, and we've managed to make it work. We finally got ourselves down to set up opposite each other.

Correct. Yeah. As I said earlier, I'm, I'm a, I'm a Skype virgin.

(laughs) Well, there's a first time for everything, so, uh, this is gonna be this evening. So, my, my first question for you, you've interviewed some of history's most notorious killers, people like Peter Sutcliffe and Ted Bundy, Aileen Wuornos and Dennis Nelson and Joanne Dennehy and stuff like that. If you're out for dinner with someone new and they say, "So, Chris, what, what do you, what do you do for work?" How would you describe your job?

Um, well, it's actually a bit of a... It- it- it- it's great at parties or barbecues because most barbecues that I've attended in the past are sort of state agents and lawyers, golf club types. And then when they ask you with their nose up in the air, "What do you do for a job?" I'll say, "I interview serial killers." And that instantly attracts a massive crowd, and, and I, I got a lot of fun of looking at these accountants, seeing their jaws drop on the floor. It's different, isn't it?

It's definitely different, yeah. I mean, it, it must be, uh, uh... You're right. At a barbecue, it must be a very shocking thing to hear, especially just from, you know... Uh, I was prepared. I'm prepared to speak to you having done some research on your background when you were just expecting you to say, "Oh, well, actually I'm the area manager for this accounting firm," or, "I do..." Yeah, "I'm in, I'm in law," or whatever it might be. "Oh, no. I just speak to serial killers." Um, so-

But, but just to clear one thing up, I don't normally go to dos where people don't know me. Most of the people I dine with, when I get a chance and I can afford it, is, um, people that do know me. Um, I, I mean, in the Philippines where I live most- a lot of the year, I mean, I dine with police officers and people like that, and they all, homicide cops, it's America, the same, but I do. But, um, occasionally somebody says, "Oh, I think I saw you on the TV. You know, you're the criminologist," or something. But to me it's just another job, Chris. I mean, it's just another job.