The strange connection between serial killers and why they seem to always wear glasses

The success of Netflix's Dahmer has got people talking about serial killers, and in some cases, the bizarre similarities they share - including their use of glasses.

The topic was previously discussed by a group of experts who explained why some serial killers - including the late Jeffrey Dahmer - appear to wear the same pair of large glasses.

Dahmer wore the notorious glasses when he explained why he took a break from killing:

This list of killers who wear the glasses is extensive and includes some of history's most notorious names, including Doctor Harold Shipman and the Zodiac Killer, who remains unidentified.

However, as noted in the Guardian, in the US alone, 60 percent of people wear glasses so it only stands to reason that a lot of killers would need visual aids too.

But because the appearances of serial killers have come to haunt many aspects of popular culture, these glasses are now associated with many murderers - to the point where 'serial killer glasses' produces results on Amazon.

John 'Derf' Backderf was one of Dahmer's real-life school classmates, and he explained that he had to ask the actor playing the killer, Ross Lynch, on the set of My Friend Dahmer, to take them off because they freaked him out so much.

Alamy/World History Archive

Backderf said to the Phoenix New Times: "He was in his full Dahmer get-up, and it freaked me out. I said, 'Dude, you HAVE to take off those glasses or I can't talk to you.'"

So, do glasses actually have a connection to serial killers?

Practically speaking, perhaps not, but it seems there could be an aesthetic reason behind a killer's choice in eyewear.

The glasses favoured by serial killers are typically aviators, and in 2013, the experts at 2020 Magazine put forward the argument that their shape is inherently spooky - which could explain why killers like to wear them.

They explained that the bar at the top of Dahmer's glasses turns at the bottom of his eyes, and it, coupled with the curve of frame edge: "pull[s] the face and the eyes down with them, giving the illusion that most aviator wearers are sad, frowny-faced or otherwise dealing with some sort of internal personal problem just beginning to bubble to the surface."

They added that they can accentuate a person's wrinkles too, which could add to a potentially spooky appearance if they happen to have committed any disturbing crimes.

PA/Illustration / Zuma Press

"The thin, wire design of most aviators also helps to accentuate wrinkles or age lines in the faces of wearers - whom, as we've already covered, tend to be older anyway," the experts wrote.

Whatever the reason, glasses are now synonymous with serial killers, so much so that it has been speculated that those allegedly worn by the Zodiac Killer could have belonged to one of his victims, Paul Stine, and he simply put them on as a last-minute disguise - which, when you think about it, makes a lot of sense.

But if all of this hasn't put you off aviator glasses, you may be interested to know that Dahmer's actual glasses are currently up for sale... yes, seriously.