Edmonton-based gore site owner defends showing alleged murder video on site

WARNING: This story contains disturbing content that may not be suitable for some people. Discretion is strongly advised. 

The details surrounding the gruesome murder of Jun Lin, the 33 year-old student from China who’s been identified as the victim of suspected killer Luka Rocco Magnotta, have shocked people around the world. Perhaps even more disturbing than the decapitated torso that was discovered Tuesday in a suitcase outside a Montreal apartment building, or the parts of the body that had been mailed to Ottawa, though, is that the grisly dismemberment was allegedly videotaped and posted online, where it’s been viewed by thousands of people.

The website that the video was posted to, which we have chosen not to name, is operated out of Edmonton. Despite showing graphic images and videos of suicides, stonings, murders, workplace accidents, torture, body modifications, traffic accidents, sexual disasters and a number of other human horrors, its webmaster bills it as simply “a reality news website,” that “exposes the truth about the humans as a whole, and the truth is not always nice.” And while he also says the site “may be morally questionable, socially inappropriate and a thousand of other things,” he claims it’s legal.

According to its Edmonton owner, Mark Marek, when the news about Luka Magnotta broke out, the spike in interest on his website was like nothing he’s ever seen before. Just during a four-hour span on Thursday, it was viewed 300,000 times. And it has since launched a debate about whether graphic gore websites are simply a depiction of reality or a dangerous social deviance.

Forensic psychologist Sandy Jung, an assistant professor at Grant MacEwan University, tries to explain the fascination that some people seem to have for gore.

“I think people are drawn to seeing things like this for some reason. Partly because we just don’t typically see these things. Public tv does show a lot of revealing things but this is quite brutal, and disturbing and unusual – people are drawn to that,” she says.

Jung is concerned about the potentially traumatizing and lasting affect watching such videos could have on a person, though – especially if what they see is worse than what they expected. In addition to not being able to get the disturbing images out of their head, watching such videos could also spark the possibility of copy cats. Jung also believes mentions the possibility of copy cat crimes.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to create a murderer, what it does is it gives people ideas and…desensitizes them to violence,” she explains. “Kids growing up now will be seeing this and will be thinking oh this is okay, this is interesting, it’s accessible and it’s available to use so that means someone out there is saying it’s okay for us to see it.”

Marek defends the site, saying “there are millions of people who thank me every day for opening their eyes and making them better people. I believe people deserve to know the truth, the real truth, the full truth and the uncensored truth.”

He adds that he will continue documenting “uncensored reality” for as long as he can. The question of how long that will be, however, still remains.
Marek says he has now removed the video of dismemberment, but unlike what some media has been reporting, it was only because he could not keep up with the amount of traffic trying to get on the site – not because police told him to. Marek says he couldn’t predict whether he would put it back up again, but said he would remove it if a proven family member asked him to.

Edmonton police, meanwhile, say they are aware of the investigation and the video that has been circulating, but have not been asked to get involved, nor can they comment on the legalities of the video.
For a full transcript of Marek’s interview with Global News, click here.

With files from Erin Chalmers, Global News