The All-Time Creepiest Unsolved Mysteries
Reddit user BubblegumCrocodile asked: 'What’s the creepiest unsolved mystery?'
Humans are inquisitive creatures. We love a good mystery whether it's pure fiction or true crime.
Just check book sale statistics and TV and streaming ratings.
But humans also crave closure which can be why unsolved mysteries capture our attention.
Reddit user BubblegumCrocodile asked:
"What’s the creepiest unsolved mystery?"
Teteteke Gqontsi
"There was a man named Teteteke Gqontsi who was at the Stellenbosch Hospital in the town of Stellenbosch, South Africa for abdominal surgery, so he could barely move."
"One day a nurse came in to change the linens and when she came back inside from being right outside his room he had disappeared."
"He wasn't anywhere in the room. The hospital searched for a week until some men had to perform maintenance on the ceiling, when they opened the ceiling up, there found Teteteke inside the ceiling in the fetal position and he was deceased."
"The autopsy showed that his death wasn't of natural causes and someone put him in the ceiling."
"A few months later, a man named Sandile Sibaya was admitted to a different hospital to have his broken femur treated."
"After a few days there he was about to be transferred to a different hospital to see an orthopedist, but when they went to get him, he was gone."
"They looked for him and only found him when a bad smell permeated the hospital, so the staff opened up the ceiling and found Sandile dead in the exact same position as Teteteke, and they said Sandile also didn't die a natural death and was placed in the ceiling by something."
"I think that's creepy."
~ ResponsibleTaro1759
Baby Crystal
"On Thursday, December 12, 1985, a toddler was spotted wandering unaccompanied around a Kmart department store in Spanaway, Washington with no parent or guardian in sight."
"When authorities tried to coax information out of her to help locate her parents, the only piece of information she was able to give was, 'Mommy is in the trees'."
"A photo was placed in the local newspaper, and the toddler was soon recognised as Crystal by her maternal grandmother Louise Conrad, who took her into her care, later saying that Crystal appeared shaken and disturbed, perhaps by something she had seen."
"So where was mommy?"
"About two months later, the body of Diana Robertson, Crystal's mommy, was discovered deep in the forest around Elbe, Washington with 17 stab wounds and a tube sock tied around her neck."
"Nearby an abandoned 1982 Plymouth pickup truck was discovered covered in blood stains, and with a handwritten note on the dashboard simply saying 'I love you, Diana'."
"This truck belonged to her partner, Mike Riemer, a outdoorsman and trapper, who often spent time in these woods. Mike, however, was nowhere to be found."
"Initially, the police believed him to be responsible for Diana's murder; just two months prior, on October 19, 1985, Mike had been arrested and cited for domestic assault and malicious damage after allegedly kicking in a door at her apartment, throwing her to the floor, and rubbing her face in the carpet."
"They also connected her murder to a double murder that had occurred in the same woods four months earlier."
"A man named Stephen Harkins was found shot to death in his sleeping bag, while his companion, Ruth Cooper, was found strangled two months later."
"Both had a tube sock tied around their neck."
"So was Mike a serial killer? He had apparently been in the woods at the very time that Harkins and Cooper were murdered, and certainly knew how to navigate the tricky terrain."
"But with no trace of him, there was no way to tell for certain."
"Over 20 years later, on March 26, 2011, a hiker discovered a partial human skull in the woods off of State Route 7 in Lewis County near Mineral, Washington, about a mile from where Diana's body had been found. Subsequent analysis revealed that it was indeed Mike, and that he was a likely homicide victim himself."
"So four murders in the same woods by an unknown assailant."
"The question remains: how did Crystal find herself wandering around the Kmart over 30 miles away? She must have been driven there and dropped off, presumably by the serial killer. Crystal must have spent a silent 45-minute drive in the car with the very person who killed her mother, with no memory of the event."
~ UppruniTegundanna
Turn the Page
"Went to a good-sized college party with several friends. The location for the party was out in the woods in the middle of nowhere."
"The road leading to the party was fairly straight with one major feature. The road was flat for the entire length, but it had a hill that was 30ish feet tall halfway down it. A pretty good bump in the road, you might say."
"I was driving, and when I slowly topped the hill, I met a car heading in the opposite direction. That car slowed down to a stop. It was several of my friends temporarily leaving the party to make a beer run to the store."
"They knew who I was by my vehicle and flagged me down to ask if I needed anything from town, and we proceeded to chat for a minute about how the party was unfolding they left."
"When we both backed up to talk, we just happened to stop on top of the hill. Mind you, this was not a busy road and located, as we say, out in the sticks."
"As we were parked talking for a brief minute, we all noticed there was a song coming from the surrounding woods. We figured it was someone having a private party in a parked car nearby in the woods if you get my drift."
"The odd thing was it was 'Turn the Page' by Bob Seagar, but it was on repeat."
"We all went on to meet back up and attend the party and thought nothing more of our chat on the hill."
"A few days later, I got a visit from several police officers about an investigation. They learned there was a party that night down the road with the hill in question."
"They were tracking down all attendees. That is how they found me. A hunter the day after the party found something at the base of the hill off the road."
"Someone driving another car that night heading in the same direction down the road I was on had wrecked their vehicle. The driver took the hill at insane speed and killed themselves in a wreck that had ran way way off the road."
"Unsolved mystery that is still ongoing. The police said that they believed the driver they found was not the driver. There were 2 people in the car who wrecked."
"They found 1 set of bloody foot prints that led to the top of the hill. It looked like someone moved the body behind the steering wheel and fled on foot. They found extra sets of bloody hand prints in the car."
"The wild thing was that they found a cd with Bob Segar 'Turn the Page' in the cd player."
"Everyone that was on top of the hill that night volunteered to give fingerprints."
"Every so often, every few years, one of us gets a phone call to ask us to recount what we saw that night on top of that hill."
~ ApprehensiveVirus125
Kyron Horman
"Kyron Horman."
"Stepmom took him to school, walked around the 'Science Fair' in the gym then he went to class... has not been seen since."
"He was IN the school. C'mon now. It's been over a decade now. I have a 'Google Alert' on his name for updates."
~ sluggernate
Alonzo Brooks
"Alonzo Brooks."
"Not necessarily creepy in the traditional sense, though it has a long history and is literally close to home."
"The reboot of ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ featured an episode about his disappearance. Because of it—after his death initially being ruled undetermined—he was exhumed and changed cause of death to murder."
"Which was always pretty obvious."
"He went to a party in a small Kansas town, LaCygne, with a few friends. Alonzo had some words with partygoers. His friends bailed. Alonzo doesn’t come home."
"The next day, his shoes are found down the road, separately. Police search the area, including along a creek near the party house—nothing."
"A few weeks later, the police let the family do a search—after not letting them be involved earlier. His body is almost immediately found along that same creek."
"Of note, though, is that his body didn’t show any signs of deterioration or decomposition that would be expected of having been there for weeks."
"It’s presumed he was in a fight at the party, dragged down the road, and possibly inadvertently killed in a shed near the party house (that was torn down shortly after)."
"The (other) f**ked up part is that it’s suggested his body was kept in a meat locker and covered up by the cops, and when the family tried to get more involved in the search, his body was dumped along the creek, thereby explaining the lack of decomposition."
"The party had some 100 people there. Someone knows something and no one is saying anything."
~ TommyRockbottom
Frauke Liebs
"Frauke Liebs."
"Was last seen leaving a bar to go home, then at some point during her walk home, went missing."
"She was able to make several texts and calls to loved ones over the next few days, but was very vague and refused to give information on her whereabouts."
"The details of her last phone call, to her sister, are pretty chilling. During this conversation, she is said to have answered the question of whether she was being held captive with a faint 'yes', immediately followed by a loud 'no'. Contact broke off after this phone call."
"Her body was found several months later in a wooded area, most likely dumped from somewhere else. No further details were found about the killer, motive for her death or disappearance."
~ Anxiouslytotingababy
Austin Froyo Murders
"Maybe not the all-time creepiest but certainly in the top 20 and also one of the saddest is the one of who murdered those four girls in that frozen yogurt shop in Austin, Texas back in November of 1991."
"Several teen guys were arrested, tried and convicted then later had the convictions overturned."
"Also, the DNA on one of the victims didn't match up with any of these guys."
"In addition, a married couple who left the shop shortly before closing time noted a pair of older and rather sinister looking guys sitting in a booth next to the counter as they left."
~ NoodlesrTuff1256
Andrew Gosden
"What happened to 14-year-old Andrew Gosden."
"He got a train to King’s Cross, London by himself and hasn’t been seen since."
~ bluebellfob
"Disappearance of Andrew Gosden is another super weird UK one."
A 14-year-old leaves his home in Doncaster in 2007, withdraws £200 out of his bank account, buys a one-way ticket to London even though a return ticket was only £1 more, is seen on CCTV leaving King's Cross station and then is never seen again."
"There have been a few weird potential leads in the case in the 17 years since but not a single solid or confirmed lead or sighting."
~ -JensonButton-
Ursula and Sabina Eriksson
"The Eriksson twin sisters that ran across a motorway in England, were hit several times by lorries and cars, and just kept moving somehow."
"Even the backstory and aftermath get weirder the more you find out, the stranger it gets."
~ section20sniper84
"What fascinates me about this one is the leadup to it."
"Like, one day one of them is a family woman living in Ireland and the other one is going for a nice visit to her sister, and the next day they're acting weird on a bus in England and from there it all goes batsh*t nuts."
"What happened between A and B?!"
~ zaffiro_in_giro
Skye Budnick
"The Skye Budnick case. Shy, socially awkward 21-year-old college student buys a one-way ticket to Japan without telling anybody."
"She takes no phone. Just 800 dollars, a laptop and a Nintendo DS. She leaves an unfinished, unsent, unclear, note in her email drafts on a home computer."
"She was studying Japanese but failing out of school and couldn't get into her exchange program, she was not fluent. She flew to Tokyo and then to Sapporo."
"She's reported to have gotten off the plane in Sapporo and maybe checking into her hotel (?) but after that she vanished without a trace."
"This happened over a decade ago and still not one shred of evidence or leads as to what could have happened, who she could have met, what her motives were. She left her car at the airport in the United states."
"No keys were ever recovered. The laptop was never recovered, nor the DS or the cash. Her family are left wondering forever."
"Her sister has a really good podcast called 'Surviving Skye'."
~ Igotyourexcominnext
Larry Bader/John "Fritz" Johnson
"Larry Bader. Not necessarily creepy, but bizarre for sure."
"Larry Bader was married with three kids. In March 1957, he went fishing on Lake Erie by himself, even though he knew a storm was coming. The next day, they found his crashed boat, but Larry himself was nowhere to be seen."
"Almost 10 years later, in 1965, he was found by his niece doing an archery demonstration in Nebraska, when he was originally from Ohio."
When confronted, he swore he didn’t know anyone named Larry Bader, as he identified as John 'Fritz' Johnson. He claimed to have lived in Nebraska all his life, having memories as a child named Fritz."
"He also got married and had another kid."
"His niece, convinced Fritz was her uncle, requested that he go to the police and be identified. He was, in fact, Larry Bader, but he had no recollection whatsoever of his previous life."
"Bader/Johnson died in 1966, not long after being found by his niece."
~ whereisthefrog
Bryce Laspisa
"Missing person Bryce Laspisa. While away in college, he started exhibiting some troubling behavior and his parents were worried about him."
"He said he would drive home from college and that he had a lot he needed to talk about. On the way home he pulled over like 3 separate times and just sat there for hours."
"At some point about halfway home he ran out of gas and a roadside assistance employee delivered gas to him at 9 am. By noon when he still hadn't arrived home, his mom called the insurance company and was able to contact the roadside assistance employee and have him check on Bryce."
"He found Bryce in the exact same spot where he had delivered gas to him, hours earlier. He had Bryce call his mom, and Bryce said he would be home by 3pm."
"At 6pm, he is still not home and his parents report him missing. The police find Bryce just 8 miles away from where he was previously sitting. He seems fine....they leave...he still just sits there."
"Again the roadside assistance employee checks on Bryce and finds him in the same spot the cops left him hours earlier."
"Anyway, after a lot of that, when he does finally start heading home, he crashes the car off a cliff. It was found he accelerated while descending the hill, so they think he crashed on purpose."
"Police find the damaged vehicle, no Bryce, and he is never seen again."
~ sallyjosieholly
Alistair Wilson
"The murder of Alistair Wilson in Nairn, Scotland in 2004."
"A 30-year-old banker living in a quiet neighbourhood has the doorbell of his home rang. His wife answers the door and a man in a baseball cap asks for Alistair by name and so he went to speak to him."
"He returned after a few minutes to his wife with an empty blue envelope that had 'Paul' written on it. Confused about this, he went back to his front door, at which point his wife heard three gunshots and then found him executed."
"The murder investigation was one of the biggest in the history of Scotland and to this day remains unsolved."
"In 2022 the Scottish Police announced they believe a planning dispute with a local hotel may have been a motive and then earlier this year that they believe the shooting was carried out by two people, one of them a local suspect whom was arrested on drug charges."
"However, while they now finally have a potential motive and suspect nearly 20 years later, it still has not been solved."
~ -JensonButton-
Sukumara Kurup
"Sukumara Kurup. Time period: mid 80s. This guy visits his hometown, a sleepy village in Kerala, India with wife and son, from Dubai."
"He goes out drinking with some buddies and on the way back picks up a random stranger and kills him. Burns the car they drove in with the body in it.
"Making it look like an accident. People think it’s Kurup’s body in the car until police investigated and find that it’s not Kurup. His buddies are caught but he’s missing."
"Police suspect he tried to fake his death to get insurance money of about 10,000 USD which is a pretty big amount back then. The man they murdered was supposed to be the body to fool the insurance agents to make the claim."
"Been decades now and he’s still missing. He’s currently one of the most wanted criminals in India who still hasn’t been caught."
"Growing up we heard stories of him being spotted all over the country. Recently they made a movie on him as well."
~ astro_not_yet
There are a lot of interesting cases here.
What unsolved mystery would you add to the list?
Teachers Reveal Their Craziest 'This Student's Gonna Be A Serial Killer One Day' Experiences
We've all known someone who genuinely creeped us out, whether we could pinpoint exactly why or not.
But teachers see a lot of weird and creepy things after serving classroom after classroom of students, sometimes they will meet a student who gives them big serial killer vibes.
Redditor Advanced_Bad4443 asked:
"Teachers of Reddit, what was the moment you realized, 'This kid is gonna be a serial killer one day'?"
Impulse Control
"I was in my office one day when a kid I’d never met before strolled in. Very quickly I recognized by his behavior that he was a BD (behavioral deficit) student who somehow got out of his class."
"He started a conversation with me asking who I was and what I did. I could tell he was trying very hard to get under my skin as he emptied a box of tissues one by one. So I didn’t react."
"He then kicked over a number of trash cans, but I didn’t react. He went into my office bathroom while talking to me with the door open (not to use it), and started messing with the supplies in there."
" I walked over so I could get a clear view, and he then tried to pull the sink off the wall while telling me that he has compulsion issues and has a really hard time not doing the things he thinks about but knows are wrong."
"He said last year he was expelled from his school because he threw his desk at another student. He told me sometimes he imagines what it would be like to brutalize and murder someone."
"Eventually, he tired and realized the sink wasn’t coming down. I kept talking to him and asked if he would like to help me clean up the mess on the floor or if he wanted to go back to class. He helped me clean and then I took him for a walk back to his class."
"That kid took a lot of work over four years by a lot of people, therapy and medication included. He eventually learned impulse control and learned the differences between craving negative and positive attention from people. He left BD and got to be in general classes, became an athlete, got some real friends, and graduated."
"I honestly cried when I saw him get his diploma. I hope he stays healthy."
- PantsIsDown
Not Going Places
"A nine-year-old chasing an eight-year-old with a brick in each hand trying the smash the other kid's skull in. When I stopped him, he was screaming something about how he was going to kill the other kid..."
"He's probably 13 now and I suspect in jail or killing animals for fun."
- free_crude_oil
Positive Influence
"Preschool teacher for a very wealthy community. I have a three-year-old who is physically violent. The first day I had him in my class he attacked me."
"I tend to get down on the floor and play with the kids. Seeing an opportunity he latched on to my ear and tore little bits of flesh with his tiny fingernails. I bled."
"I tried talking to his Mom. She said, 'Yeah, he gets rowdy...'"
"Just this past week I had him in my room again. He delighted in making another boy cry. Refused to participate in our activities. Only wanting to throw toys directly at my face."
"Once I did convince him to participate, he clung to me. It was bizarre and honestly made me very sad."
"I talked to some other teachers who've known them longer. Apparently, Mom and Dad are serious alcoholics. He is an only child and desperate for attention."
"They all know about his outbursts and violent tendencies, but there's really nothing anyone can do because he is three."
"I'm just going to try my best with him. Maybe a positive influence and some consistency will give this little guy some reassurance.
I know that there are people who are mentally ill and born with issues beyond their control, but I think this kid just has s**t parents. Wish me luck, friends!"
- MissSassifrass1977
Disturbing
"I have an eight-year-old student in my class this year. All his time at school he has been a troublesome kid, hurting other kids without being provoked, having unpredictable mood changes, and he's really hard to read. Lots of teacher colleagues say he looks dead in the eyes, with no expressions of joy or any other emotions."
"The moment that really shocked me, was when another student had found a fly in the playground. The fly was hurt and couldn't fly anymore. So this student gave it a name (Henkie) and started to care for it, very sweet."
"Lots of classmates joined in taking care of the fly and helping it (making a house out of leaves, etc). I gave the kids some magnifying glasses so they could take a nice look and encouraged the kids' curiosity and gentleness."
"This kid also came over to 'take a look' and was told to be careful, because Henkie was the other students' friend. He looked for 2 secs, grinned, and stomped on it."
"The worst part is that Henkie didn't even die (or at least it was still twitching). So the other student kept on trying to nurse his little buddy back to health. He even took it inside to read it a story. My heart just broke by the love this student was showing for this little creature, but the kid didn't seem to care at all about what he did."
"This was a couple of months ago, and he still even kind of brags about when he (almost) killed Henkie. This kid just gives me the chills."
- Snackicu
Just a Matter of Time
"I'd like to say there wasn't one defining instance but more of a long list of them that when everything was over and I had time to relax and process everything did I come to the realization that in 20, maybe 10, years time, I'd see this little boy as a teen or a man on the news for murder."
"I had this one student, let's call him Timmy (age 4 at the time). Timmy was prone to extremely violent outbursts for little to no reason at all and they were so unpredictable that I had to set up a Timmy evacuation protocol with my other students incase I felt their lives were in danger. These are some of the times I had to use this protocol."
"Before Timmy was banned in my room from using pencils and safety scissors, he went on a rampage with a pencil. He was trying to stab another classmate because I helped her with her writing before him."
"He was doing his writing just fine, and seconds before that, I had told him, 'Great job, Timmy, I love how you are keeping your letters on the lines.' He didn't need help, and he never once asked for it."
"Thankfully, the little girl was not hurt as I was right there and was able to throw my hand in front of her face where he was aiming. However, he did get me and the pencil lead was left in my hand."
"Timmy attempted to choke another child because that child was using a red crayon, so instead of getting an identical red crayon from the bucket in front of him he tackled that child out of his chair and put his hands on his neck while screaming like a banshee."
"About a week after the choking incident, he was upset because he wanted to be the only one in class, so he pushed a shelf that I, as a grown adult, have trouble moving over in an attempt to in his words 'squish' his classmates who were working on the carpet. (Thankfully, I was able to hold it up while they ran.)"
"He proceeded to destroy my entire room, to the point where I decided to just move classrooms for the day as it would have been impossible to clean it up and frankly I didn't want my already traumatized students to come in and witness it."
"Every single day, this child would have a violent meltdown. Some were more contained to himself, a small area, or me personally."
- VanillaRose33
Preventative Care
"My wife thinks her best friend’s son is going to grow up to be a serial killer, and, while I think she tends to overstate things, it’s hard to deny that there is cause for concern."
"I’ve gotten creepy vibes from this kid since he was a toddler, less than a year old."
"He’s probably six or so now but was kicked out of most of the preschools in their area for being violent towards other kids. At one point a couple of years ago, he got very fascinated by death, squishing bugs to see what would happen and talking about stabbing himself."
"The mom (my wife’s friend) is concerned and has taken him to doctors to try and discuss, but hasn’t gotten much in the way of help. But I don’t think they’ve pursued strongly much in the way of psychiatric/psychological specialists."
"The dad (who has become VERY right wing) seems to not be overly concerned, and his solution seems to be either Catholic or Military School when the kid gets older. Which to me sounds like it would do more harm than good."
- justahominid
Flip of a Switch
"She was a little angel student when my boss was in the room, but the second the door closed, she tilted her head, stared at me, and said, 'I want to hurt you.' Her eyes were absolutely lifeless. She was eight."
"She was also very frequently violent to me and other students/teachers."
- TheUnpunctualWizard
No One Home
"This is chilling to recall. I’m also a teacher, and while nothing violent happened with this kid, I also looked into a kid’s eyes one time and saw absolutely nothing. It was like there was no soul in there."
"He was a run-of-the-mill disrespectful child, with a reputation for being a troublemaker, but I never actually had an incident with him. However, I have never forgotten the day I made eye contact with him, and the coldness and emptiness in his eyes scared me so bad. I have never felt so creeped out."
- cml678701
Wrestling Match
"Not a teacher but used to have a friend that had a cousin in the same school and this cousin had an almost disconnected link to other people."
"The first time I was introduced to him he started the conversation with, 'If I kill someone, I'll get away with it because they say my head's different.'"
" This was during high school where everyone is finding themselves so I just thought he was trying to be a tough guy. Just nodded my head and stepped back."
"He was the type that if people were play fighting or wrestling he'd invite himself and make it a real fight. Once getting me in a wrestling move called the 'Boston crab' and just kept adding more pressure as I was screaming for help and clawing at the floor, genuinely thinking my back was going to break."
"No remorse or thought he was taking it too far, only stopped when several people were yelling at him to let me go."
"The look on his face as I was getting away, like he was disappointed he had to stop haunted me for years. Stayed as far away from him as possible after that."
"Last I heard he's admitted now due to refusal to take medication and constant violent outbursts."
- KingOfFlukes
Hopefully All Talk
"I’ve taught PreK (four and five-year-olds) for years. Only one kid has ever really scared me and I wish I knew what happened to him, he’d be high school age by now."
"He used to talk about hurting animals a LOT, we had several conferences with his family but they swore he never did that at home and never hurt an animal despite so many times of him talking about it at school."
"He had zero affect most of the time, no smiling or laughing. He would be sneaky about hurting other kids, pinching or things like that, and have no remorse when he did something wrong and wouldn’t deny it either. Completely dead behind the eyes."
"I’ve never had another kid like that, even the violent ones who have hurt me or destroyed my room have had emotion and remorse at some point. Not him."
- waughwaughwaugh
Too Fascinated
"There was a kid in my elementary school who used to abuse small animals. In high school, he got super obsessed with serial killers and was caught trying to make poison brownies and give them to kids at our school."
"I was one of those kids (as were two of my classmates in one class), but we didn’t eat the stuff he offered us."
- Gulbahar-00
It Starts at Home
"He wrapped both his hands around her throat unprovoked, he laughed about it, and his mom defended his behavior. He was eight years old."
- nniicholee
Shocking Reveals
'"I think about hurting people all the time. I dream about it every night,' was said by the sweetest, most polite girl in one of my ninth-grade classes."
"I turned that over to the counselors immediately. Hope she got the help she needed but knowing the public school system my guess is they didn't even address it."
- little_shop_of_doors
No One Listening
"Kid in fifth grade (11 years old) very intelligent and in gifted classes. He would torment the other gifted kids. The only time I ever saw his creepy, dead-eye, jack-o-lantern smile was when he made another kid cry."
"He would do things like finish a book over the weekend that the other kid was reading just so he could come in and spoil the ending. He researched some country that this kid's grandparents came from and called him a nazi (it wasn’t Germany - can’t remember)."
"The other kids' parents did the nice kid thing: just ignore him. And god love them, these kids tried."
"He would chase them on the playground just to say creepy s**t. Anyway, I came in 1/2 way through the year. I called a meeting with the parents and school social worker. They said the other kids bullied him!"
"I kept a bunch of papers that he wrote about blowing up the school, blowing up the White House, and making way for a new species of human. He is definitely going to kill prostitutes or hide bombs somewhere."
"After he went to middle school there were a bunch of bomb threats. I notified the principal about his behaviors and sent copies of the papers he wrote. Awkwardly, his father worked at the middle school. Anyway, the threats stopped soon after that."
"He would have graduated by now and I have no idea where he is. But when he kills people, I’m going to the news with all my documentation and show that I tried to get this sick little s**t some help and no one cared. What else can you do?"
- troismanzanas
Social Influence
"Not a teacher but the meanest, most malicious, vindictive, manipulative child I ever knew growing up did not become a serial killer. Nope. She became an 'influencer.'"
"I’m kind of scared of what she’ll become when she’s no longer relevant as an influencer, or when her looks fade and fail to bring her the attention she craves."
- SuddenYolk
These stories are absolutely chilling, and it's no wonder that there were concerns about who these people would grow up to be, or what they would do when they came of age. Hopefully at least some of them received the care they needed, so they could turn their lives around for the better.
Everyone obsessed with true crime doesn't really grasp the idea of... True Crime.
Do we?
It's not a movie.
This could be us.
Horror is happening all around us.
Maybe that's why slasher movies do so well.
Redditor Noahs_25 wanted to hear about some non-fictional tales of horror.
So they asked:
"What is the scariest story you know that is 100% true?"
I haven't seen much except your occasional brawl. So tell me more...
The Collapse
"The 1904 Cincinnati Privy Disaster. In 1904, nine schoolgirls drowned in an outhouse after the floor collapsed. They literally drowned in human waste."
Jenny010137
In the Attic
"I would call it creepy more than scary, but my mom's friend had a small house and lived alone. She noticed weird things: a batch of soup depleting faster than usual, missing eggs, damp towels in the hamper when she hadn't used any, extra dishes in the dishwasher, etc... This went on for months, she thought she was just being forgetful."
"One day she heard some thumping around in her attic and went to investigate. She found some make shift living quarters. Small radio, hot plate, sleeping bag, pillow, food wrappers, etc... She called the cops who came to keep an eye on the place. They ended up catching a homeless man climbing a tree, trying to sneak into her attic window."
"He had been doing this almost daily. He would wait for her to go to work, then go down stairs and help himself to food and amenities. The funny part about this story is they got to know each other throughout the ordeal, and the guy was actually very respectful, just down on his luck."
"She didn't press charges, instead, let him move in, helped him get a job, and he lived in the attic until he got back on his feet. Creepy crap with a happy ending."
Saganic
In the Road
"My mom was driving, and a guy ran out in the road, so she stopped so she couldn’t hit him. It was night time, so it was pretty dark out, and 3 other men emerged from the forest around, all trying to use the door handles of her car to get in. She locked them luckily, and gassed it to the nearest town. Remember to always lock your car after you start it, because if it wasn’t unlocked who knows what would’ve happened to her."
Oxidias
And it really explodes...
"Neishabur train dissaster is something that reminds me how death can come at any moment. A train with 51 wagons of sulphur, fertilizer, petrol and cotton wool somehow broke loose and rolled down the track about twenty kilometers until it derailed in the town of Khayyam, Iran. There were no humans on board."
"Chemical leaks ensued and authorities tried to extinguish whatever fires broke out."
"At one point, the whole thing explodes. And it really explodes. The whole town of Khayyam is literally demolished, 3 nearby towns are badly damaged and it was heard 70 km away. The wreckage continued to explode for several days after. Around 300 people died and more than that injured. An earthquake of 3.6 on Riechter scale was produced."
Chiruadr
Drop Dead
"My friend's boss bought an Audi A4 convertible, back when they were new and interesting. One of the talking points was the pop-up roll hoops that were hidden unless you rolled it. A few months after buying it he got to test those roll hoops out, as he lost control and skidded down a steep bank about 10m (~35ft) deep."
"The roll hoops did their job, and he survived with just cuts and scratches from the bushes he'd plowed through. The car ended up the right way up and he got out, walked back up the bank to the side of the road, then got on the phone to the police to report the accident."
"While he was standing there a driver from a car that had seen the accident came over to speak to him. Approaching from behind the other driver asked if he was okay. My friend's boss turned around to reply and dropped dead. His neck had been fractured, but was in one piece right up until he turned his head, when it severed his spinal cord."
BigBadAl
Well this is all giving me heart palpitations.
Shots Fired
"Artimus Pyle the drummer from Lynard Skynard survived a plane crash and walked to a nearby house only to be shot by the homeowner. The homeowner saw a bloody long-haired man and winged him. Pyle survived that as well and made a full recovery. He told the story first hand in an interview with Howard Stern. That’s how I initially heard of this. I don’t have that audio, but I did find this https://lynyrdskynyrd.fandom.com/wiki/1977_Plane_Crash"
Rickson20
Bunk
"The driver one of the Semis we took in on trade died in the truck. The sleeping area is a 'bunk' with a mattress that can be flipped up and under it is a seat and a table. So during the day it's a Dinet set up. And at night, you pull a lever and pull the bunk down to sleep. Well something happened and the bunk flipped up while the driver was sleeping and it pinned him against the wall. He couldn't get it to drop back down and suffocated."
"He was stuck there for somewhere around 12 hours. Someone had noticed that he was parked for an unusually long amount of time for the kind of deliveries he did. The company that built the sleeper did something to the bunk so that couldn't happen again and supposedly recalled all of that sleeper style."
z0mbiemechanic
“gut feelings”
"When my aunt was about 16 she was working at a grocery store and had a boss in his mid twenties. One day he called the house and was begging her to sneak out and hang out with him. She was considering it because it was her boss and she didn’t want to say no."
"My mom, who is two years younger than her, always gets these incredibly spot on 'gut feelings.' She had one that night and begged my aunt not to go out with him. Thankfully she listened to my mom and told him no which made him really angry. He ended up going out that night and meeting another girl."
"He took her out to some cliffs and pushed her off. Somehow she lived through this and was able to get him sent to prison. I feel so sorry for that girl and so thankful for my mom and her gut feelings. Always trust your gut."
pessimisticoptimista
Normal
"I spent my first 10 years in New Delhi. Back then, we would find dead women (burnt with acid or set on fire) and it used to be so 'normal.' Like oh look, another one of those dowry cases where her family didn't pay the husband enough money so they killed her. Many years later i revisited those memories and realised how insane that actually was! I'd totally forgotten about all that."
saywat30
A Close Call
"My friend tripped and fell onto the tracks, landing his face onto the 3rd rail. We kinda stood there in absolute shock because we thought he was dead, but then he said, 'can I move? Will I be electrocuted?' We told him to move instantly and he did, we got him off the tracks, and no less than 2 minutes later a train went zipping by. I think the 3rd rail turned on seconds after his face came off of it. I know that's not scary to a lot of people, but to me it was because I would have lost a close friend back when I was about 12."
tacolikesweed
'Is this your room?'
"I was in a crappy motel. The room had bedbugs. I was too exhausted to go to the front desk. I just needed to make it until the morning. I slept in the tub. hours later I hear someone breaking through the window. I had a big knife with me and ran out into the room to find a man halfway through my window."
"We stared for awhile at each other in shock. I think we both were scared. then he says, 'Is this your room?' I'm like, 'yes, this is my room man!' more staring. Then he slowly starts backing out while cursing me for leaving my window unlocked and not expecting him to break in. Motel on Watt ave, Sacramento."
We're Open
"That there's a guy casing the bar that I work at literally right now, and I can't do anything to stop him. He's been in asking what time/days we're open, and what days we have security. Caught him feeling the corners of our windows and doors too. Unfortunately, until he breaks in and robs us, the police won't do a thing."
ExtraEvilJesus
So Cheap
"A guy I worked with was riding his dirt-bike through the woods and somebody hung a cable between two trees. My buddy caught his throat on it and saw the dude steal his dirt-bike. Woke up in the hospital with a lacerated throat and a broken larynx. Pretty crazy what somebody will do for something so cheap."
Beatleborg22
Trapped
"Nutty Putty Cave in Utah was sealed up in 2009 after John Jones was trapped upside-down in a small crevice while spelunking. When rescue teams finally arrived he had been upside-down for so long that his legs were drained of blood."
"The only possible way to have gotten him out was to break his legs, which would’ve sent him into fatal shock. He died after being trapped for 28 hours. His body’s still in the cave."
"Squish"
"Amateur rugby. Guy gets hit pretty hard and dislocates his hip. While waiting for the ambulance, a guy runs up saying he's a physio and can at least relocate the joint. He cracks the hip back into its socket and the guy SCREAMS. One of his testicles had been jolted out of place in the accident - and had been chilling out in the empty hip socket."
"Squish."
chocolate_on_toast
Off Duty
"Two off duty US soldiers were on a train in France. When walking past a toilet they recognised the loading noises of rifles coming from inside. They waited outside and jumped the guy when he came out. He was a terrorist who was about to go through the train killing people."
"https://www.wsj.com/articles/two-u-s-soldiers-help-subdue-attacker-on-french-train-1440238328"
jplevene
Dead
"An acquaintance of mine sent his son to triathlon camp in Texas. A week later, his son came back from camp. The next day, the son was complaining of a headache. Four days later, he was dead. Healthy, happy, fit 12 year old one week, dead the next."
"Turns out the lake had Naegleria fowleri, the brain-eating amoeba. Nothing scares me as irrationally as already being dead and waiting for your body to catch on. Link for those interested."
persondude27
As if Dateline NBC isn't enough to watch. Goodness...
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
Be it Law & Order, FBI, or CSI, or the work of James Patterson, countless people are simply addicted to crime themed TV shows, movies and books.
Others, however, are more fascinated by the real thing.
Be it scripted series, documentary style or podcast, many people are fascinated by true crimes, and can't learn enough about some of these cases.
But on some occasions, the crimes in question might simply be too gruesome, dramatic or heartbreaking to handle, resulting in even the most dedicated crime aficionados to take a step back.
Redditor Soupystains was curious to hear which true crime case fellow Reddit users simply couldn't handle, leading them to ask:
"What's a true crime case that was simply too much to handle?"
Judith Barsi
"Judith Barsi."
"That poor, sweet, innocent soul."
"Never had a fighting chance in the world."- Nuttonbutton
James Bulger
"The James Bulger case always left me with that sickening feeling."
"That poor trusting little boy that was lured away by two older children no less, and killed haunts me."- Mason3637
Gabriel Fernandez
"For me, Gabriel Fernandez."
"That sh*t f*cked me up for a while."- lightningspider97
Kelly Anne Bates
"The murder of Kelly Anne Bates."
"Happened just around the corner of where I live."
"She was 14, when her 48 year old 'boyfriend; groomed her and isolated her from her family."
"He then tortured her and gauged her eyes out, keeping her alive for a few more weeks, whilst starving her and stabbing things in her empty eye sockets, amongst other things."- Anonymark88
Mary Ann Dela Sala
"The 1967 murder of a neighbor, 17 year old Mary Ann Dela Sala of Hackensack, NJ."
"Left her after school job to walk home and was found floating in the Passaic River."- OilTankCzar.
The Delphi Murders
"While the investigation is still active today I have to go with the Delphi Murders."
"I keep thinking about what those girls had to watch the other endure before meeting her own fate."
"Someone still hasn’t been caught and it’s heartbreaking."- throwawaymeplease45
Susan Powell
"The murder of Susan Powell, but not the entire case itself."
"I listened to the podcast Cold and while the case as a whole interested me and was all sorts of f*cked up, it didn’t greatly disturb me."
"It was hearing the 911 calls of the social worker who was bringing the boys for a visit calling for help after Josh Powell lured his sons inside his home telling them he had a big surprise, locked the doors, killed both boys with an ax and then set the home on fire with all 3 of them inside."
"EMS was lost so the entire time the social worker is frantically trying to explain to them where they are, who he is, and what she’s worried is happening totally powerless to do anything to stop it, and then the house went up in flames."
"I had to take a 6month break from all true crime."- tigm2161130
Any case involving children.
"Murder of Tori Stafford."
"Also, the case of Karla Homolka and Paul Bernado."
"Basically, any case involving children."
"We don't have a death penalty in Canada for those who prey on children."- Hangingoutwithyou
Dylann Roof
"When Dylann Roof, the AME Church killer, was arrested, he told one of the officers, 'They were so nice to me, I almost didn't do it.'
"That's always really gotten to me."- notthesedays
The Toybox and Toolbox Killers
"Toybox killer is bad but toolbox killers is so much worse."
"There's footage on YouTube of people in the courtroom listening to the recordings of them with their victim and occasionally you just see people coming out of the courtroom crying or looking sick and you can hear the gutteral screams in the back."
Just the sound of the screams in the distance is so f*cked up."- Rackbone.
"The toy box killer —> nope."- CaffeinatedAsh
Sylvia Likens
"Sylvia Likens."
"Idk why I continued to read the whole story but reading about everything she endured, and all the extremely messed up things they did to her, I cried."
"I don’t know how you get to that point of dehumanizing someone like that."
"It makes me sick even thinking about it."- amaranthaxx
Ariel Castro
"The case of Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus."
"They were kidnapped by Ariel Castro and were held captive in his house for 10-11 years."
"They were raped and Amanda became pregnant with a baby girl named Jocelyn."
"Thanks to her telling them Ariel wasn’t home they were released in 2013 which was only 9 years ago."- charlie_iscontagious
Bass Webb
"Google Bass Webb, Kentucky."
"He killed two women about ten minutes from my house."
"He's is a true psychopath."
"I had never heard of him until my husband hired a new guy and the guy was on probation for helping Bass bury one of his victims."
"She was that guy's cousin!"
"My husband didn't know it at the time of hiring obviously."- lifeinthefastlane999
The Turpins
"Definitely the Turpins."- Different-Ad6190
Michelle Blair
"Michelle Blair from Detroit."- Illustrious_Boss2991
Luka Rocco Magnotta
"Luka Rocco Magnotta, and the worst part is that everyone is able to see the whole murder online with a simple research."- ganesh420ganesh
Mr. Hands
"Mr Hands."
"Mr Hands had a kink for f*cking horses."
"He broke into a stable and chose the biggest horse in the stables and f*cked it."
"I’m pretty sure he got internal damage from… well you know and died in the hospital."- grahamcracker007
The Burari Case
"Burari death case."
"If you know, you know."
"That sh*t was really F*cked up."- Classic_Blueberry404
Peter Scully
"Peter Scully."
"Just horrible."- m0thb4lls
What might make reading the work of James Patterson and others easy for some people to read is the fact that they know it's fiction, perhaps loosely inspired by actual events.
But learning more and more about horrific crimes which actually happened and could happen again is enough to permanently ruin any chances of sleeping.
Murder often seems to inhabit only Hollywood movies and the local news. Surely it could never impact your life, right?
Unfortunately, for all those murders we hear about in the new, there is a whole network of people affected.
There are family members forced to endure the tragic loss of a loved one. Good friends lose someone they could always trust. The murderer's life is changed radically if he's caught and imprisoned.
And beyond those close ties, there are the witnesses. These few people, though not necessarily directly connected to the people involved, still may endure the trauma of seeing the act.
TempestYGO asked, "Redditors who witnessed a murder, what is your story?"
A Lot to Carry
"When I was 10 my uncle murdered my mom's boyfriend at our house. It wasn't in the house but he chased him through our house and killed him outside in front of the house."
"It really destroyed a part of our family as well as relationship between my mom and grandmother. It was 30 years ago and I am only one alive besides my uncle that was there that night."
"I wanted to thank everyone for the kind words and the questions. Kinda therapeutic to talk about."
-- madjervin
Seeing the Very End
"I didn't actually witness the murder-suicide but I saw the direct aftermath seconds later. I was 6 years old at my babysitter's house after school."
"The husband came home drunk and demanded he speak with her in the back yard. A little bit afterwards their dog is freaking out demanding it come inside. I went out back and the dog lead me to them."
"The husband shot my babysitter and then himself. She was gone but he still had labored breathing before dying in front of me. It's still one of my most vivid memories 21 years later."
Rough Carpool Day
"This was when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade, so late 80's. My friend's mom had picked us up from school in her station wagon and I was in the way-back."
"There were probably 6 or 7 of us kids in the car and we were stopped at a traffic light across from a homeless shelter, about to get onto the interstate."
"This guy is walking down the street with an armful of chewing tobacco and drops a pack. A homeless guy leaning up against the wall picked it up."
"There was an angry exchange in which the guy refused to give back the tobacco so the other guy kicked him and stomped him to death on the sidewalk."
-- neocondiment
An Image That Stuck With Them
"A drunk man was pushed down some stairs by the bouncer. Unfortunately, the drunk man was unable to catch himself and instead spun around and landed on the pavement with the back of his head making first contact."
"He was alive for a little while but quickly succumbed to his wound and arrested on there on the pavement. He was declared dead 15 minutes later in ED after being transported by ambulance."
"There was no CCTV or clear evidence of malicious intent that would hold up in court, and the man was known as a drunk and a had no friends or family. It was ruled and accidental death."
"I had to walk past that spot most days going to work and will never forget his face, the look of mystified horror followed by the glassy-eyed slack-jawed expression that come with death."
"I was the medic that transported the man. I was by his side from start till the declaration. One of the most visceral experiences of my career thus far."
Shockwaves
"Was walking home one day and saw a couple arguing.. The dude started walking off away from the girlfriends car, and apparently she was not happy with that."
"She proceeded to get in the car and wait about 5 minutes till he was way off down the sidewalk. I was walking on the opposite side of the road as him and all of a sudden I see a blur and he goes flying like a rocket."
"She must have been going at least 60 mph. He flew through the air and hit a tree. died instantly. The women then screamed out the window at his body and drives away"
"There was blood smeared all over the crumpled hood and I'll never forget the sight of his contorted body at the base of the tree. Almost folded in half."
"I had to talk to the police and within the hour they caught her at a car wash, trying to clean the blood and chunks off the hood and grill of her car."
"I was 16 at the time."
Jealous Rage
"Saw my neighbor murdered in cold blood in my own driveway. My neighbor was helping his lady friend escape a very abusive relationship."
"Ladies ex hunted her down like a dog. Saw my neighbor walking back home with her after they went to get food for his kids. Heard 3 loud pops. I ran outside to find her screaming and him blown out of his shoes and into my driveway."
"He had a hole in his chest big enough to put my fist in. There was nothing I could do to save him except sit with him and hold his hand while I prayed for him to pass quickly. I'll never forget that night."
"48 hours later I broke the lease on my house and moved in with my boyfriend who lives in a much safer borough. You were an awesome neighbor and a wonderful father, Kaine. You're certainly missed."
Melee Weapon
"I was around 8-9 years old and we were in a vacation in a vacation village. While we were doing checkout with my family (my father was a the desk while we were waiting at the lobby couches), an argument broke out between 2 guys who were at the lobby bar."
"I actually don't know what it was about, because it was in another language. One of the guys grabbed a bottle smashed it and attacked the other one, hit him in the neck. That guy fell on the floor, and there were blood all over the place."
"My mother closed my eyes after that, and took us out while other people get involved. Years later I've learned that guy lost his life."
A Sure Thing
"In the parking lot of a strip mall in Washington state a guy walked into a jewelry store and did an armed robbery. Plainclothes security guard waited until the robber exited and shot the robber in the back."
"I was in a car and I didn't hear the shot but I did see him fall and some shoppers gathering around his body. We drove by slowly to see if help was needed."
"When I saw how fast the pool of blood was spreading I pretty much knew he would not survive."
So Young
"When I was 6 my family went to see Sesame Street on ice downtown. When we were leaving a little girl my age was struck by a van and drug across the parking lot. I remember the mother jumping on the windshield screaming at the driver while the van was still moving."
"My mom was a nurse and was helping until the ambulance arrived but she was already dead. I can still remember the screams and lifeless body of that little girl. This was over 30 years ago."
Another Young Girl
"Worked at a skating rink in the late 80's/early 90's. I was in my late teens. It was Sunday Soul Night session. Very crowded. About 600 that night."
"As we were trying to clear the parking lot after closing, gunfire erupted between 2 gangs. Everybody hit the deck while the shootout happened."
"A 12 yo girl panicked while coming from inside and started running. She ran into the crossfire and took one to the head about 6 feet away from me. Killed instantly."
"Here is the article about the rink itself being a magnet for problems. I've seen people die in combat since but being a little girl is what haunts me about that one."
-- giantvoice
Invasion
5 years ago. There was an attempted home invasion at my house when I was 18. I was Downstairs watching top gear when I hear somebody trying to break in the door. My father (military type, very protective) confronted the guy and the guy turned around and shot my dad in the chest with a sawed-off shotgun. My dad was able to fire off a couple shots afterward killing him. But my father already was on the ground dead. This is a very short version. First time writing this out. Still surreal to think about.
Turned out the guy was a felon with 6 butcher knives down his pants. Presumingly trying to find some reason to hurt someone.
Black box
I was in terminal two in Barcelona Airport the morning of March 24, 2015. There were only three flights leaving the terminal, and we were all delayed due to fog. 150 people boarded Germanwings flight 9525, 30 minutes before we boarded our flight. Although I didn't see it happen, we were the last people to see them alive. The first officer crashed the plane into the French Alps, killing himself and murdering the other 149 people on board. It will haunt me for the rest of my life.
Bloody Bonfire
Happened while hanging out at my bestie's house. For context I'd like to explain that: 1)her house faced the side of a popular bar in our town, 2)that particular night her husband was pretty buzzed and had the fire pit out front blazing, and 3)they had taken in my guinea pigs in addition to theirs when I moved to a place that wouldn't allow them.
So my bf at the time and I at one point go to the basement to give out treats to the piggies. Through the open side door we could hear some commotion going on outside. Didn't think much of it at first, until I realize that my inebriated could possibly be involved. Bf and I run out the side door to find the husband nowhere in sight, and the commotion is coming from two guys across the street from the bar and one guy in the parking lot arguing. We go back into the basement where we found the husband (he had went inside to grab a beer and then came down the basement steps to gather more cardboard to burn while the fire pit was going) and the three of us begin to chat.
Fast forward a few minutes and we all hear 'pop pop pop pop pop'. For a split second we all just look at each other wide-eyed knowing those pops were unquestionably gunshots. The three of us run out the side door again just in time to see one of the guys from across the street is now in the bar parking lot, and the other guy involved in the argument shoots him five more times. The victim goes down and the shooter stood over him and shot him three more times before taking off running up my bestie's street.
Probably the worst part was that the victim's mom was inside the bar. Her cries were so heartbreaking to hear. Later learned that the victim lived across the street from the bar and his two young children ended up seeing their dad bleed out through the window. The killer was found within the hour and stated the argument was over $20 and a woman they were both trying to date. He was charged with first-degree murder and 13 counts of wanton endangerment.
Close call
I was standing at a crosswalk. The guy next to me started walking. It was pre-dawn, and without looking so did I.
The guy behind me grabbed my collar and yanked me back to the sidewalk.
I spun around pissed off. The guy in front of me got hit by a car speeding through the intersection.
I freaked out and called 911, but the guy died before the ambulance got there. The guy that pulled me back was gone.
White guy, sunglasses. Tan coat. Guy that got hit was fit as hell, wearing a grey wind-breaker.
Better angels
The same thing happened to my grandma: she was running errands in town and was standing on a corner waiting to cross. Traffic cleared a bit and she wasn't really paying attention, so she started to walk across the street. She felt a strong hand grab her shoulder and pull her back to the curb - just as a bus came careening by. She turned around to thank whoever it was, but there was no one there. She claimed it was an angel till the day she died.
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