This episode includes discussions of sexual assault and murder.

Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen.

Have you ever seen a cloud and thought it looked just like a horse or a ballerina,

or noticed a pattern in wood grain that looks an awful lot like a face?

This phenomenon has a name, patternicity, the human tendency to find patterns in otherwise

random or meaningless information. And it doesn't just make us see shapes. Sometimes we spot

trends that don't exist. Like assuming a lucky shirt helped our favorite team win a game, when in reality, it's just a coincidence.

The thing is, it can be tricky to convince a person that these patterns aren't real,

thanks to another phenomenon called confirmation bias.

That's our tendency to look for evidence to support the conclusions we've already drawn

while disregarding any conflicting evidence. So imagine you're a police officer investigating a crime.

You might make an assumption about who's guilty and ignore leads that might point you in a

different direction. It's not like you're doing this on purpose. It's just the way our brains

work. It's human nature to want to apply order to chaos, to make someone's story have a satisfying

arc. But sometimes our desire for everything to fit together can lead us astray, and tidy narratives

can overshadow the truth.

Welcome to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. Every Monday, we bring you the true crime

stories that stand out. I'm Janice Morgan. We'd love to hear from you. Follow us on

Instagram at Serial Killers podcast and share your

thoughts on this week's episode. Or if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and leave a comment.

Stay with us.

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