When Ahmad Saddique’s True Crime Storytelling Becomes the Real Crime

As someone who devours true crime content – podcasts, documentaries, and deep-dive threads I thought I’d seen it all. Then, I stumbled upon @mysteries_with_me, Ahmad Saddique’s Instagram page, and felt like I’d tripped into a funhouse mirror of the genre. At first glance, it seemed promising; the reels, titled “I’ll sell you to porn makers” or “I wanted to become a vampire,” hinted at bizarre, lesser-known cases. However, curiosity quickly curdled into unease. Saddique’s content isn’t shocking merely because of the crimes he covers, but rather due to how he covers them. This isn’t storytelling; it’s a digital crime scene where facts are dismembered, stuffed into clickbait titles, and boiled down to algorithmic slop. The real mystery? Why couldn’t I look away?

The Stories: Lesser-Known Horrors, Greater Exploitation

Ahmad Saddique’s library of 97 reels thrives on the obscure and the taboo, unearthing cases that straddle the line between tragedy and absurdity. From a retired soldier dismembering his wife and pressure-cooking her remains to a Bihar bride sold to porn filmmakers over dowry disputes, the narratives range from deeply disturbing to outright grotesque. He even ventures into historical atrocities, such as a Costa Rican whistleblower’s Kafkaesque battle with UN corruption or a 16th-century Hungarian countess bathing in virgins’ blood. These are stories that should provoke outrage or empathy; yet, Saddique’s approach feels less like journalism and more like a madman’s scrapbook. The cases are real, but his framing reduces human suffering to grotesque trivia, leaving the audience engaged but detached.

Production Quality: A Glitchy Carnival of Desperation

The technical execution of @mysteries_with_me is a masterclass in how not to marry style and substance. Ahmad Saddique’s animations resemble low-budget adult cartoons, with distorted faces, rubbery limbs, and frozen, eerie expressions. His jarring designs clash with AI-made backdrops, melting castles, surreal villages, and warped homes. Even more unsettling is his random use of real images: pixelated crime scenes and blurred mugshots, tossed in without warning. The editing is frenetic, cutting between cartoon gore and real evidence like a toddler flipping channels. Titles dangle half-baked hooks, prioritising clicks over clarity. Ultimately, this isn’t storytelling, it’s a visual seizure.

The Audience: Who’s Clicking?

Ahmad Saddique’s followers largely fall into two camps. The first consists of young South Asians (18–34) eager for unfiltered takes on regional issues that the media often avoids dowry violence, police incompetence, and caste-based crimes. For them, the absurd animations soften the blow of grim truths, almost like sugarcoating a poison pill. The second camp includes global rubberneckers, lured in by the promise of exoticised taboos, semen-tainted ice cream in Warangal, and delusional vampire killers in Scotland. These viewers treat the page like a macabre zoo, gawking at “foreign” horrors between lunch breaks. Despite their differences, both groups share one common trait: a growing numbness to shock, conditioned by algorithms that reward outrage over empathy.

Verdict: A Reluctant Nay

Do I credit Saddique for spotlighting stories ignored by traditional media? Absolutely. Cases like the Hyderabad pressure-cooker murder and the Ballia district “agni pariksha” torture deserve attention and discourse. However, his execution feels more like dousing a fire with gasoline rather than shedding light on injustices. The cartoony aesthetics trivialise trauma and the AI-generated filler reeks of laziness. The reckless use of real victim imagery crosses into outright exploitation. @mysteries_with_me isn’t raising awareness; it’s monetising despair.

Yet, as I close the app, I’m left with a guilty truth, I watched every reel of Ahmad Saddique. The shock factor undeniably works. But much like a car crash, I couldn’t unsee it. And honestly? I wish I’d never slowed down.