Is the killer still out there? Were there many more undiscovered bodies tossed in a ditch somewhere in the desert? Or was the death of an individual purely accidental?
Equally compelling are the investigators who explore every possible theory to track down a criminal.
These cases continue to prompt intrigue because we all have an innate desire to have closure.
"What's the creepiest unsolved mystery you know?"
Multiple bodies were found and not a single killer was identified.
Family Murder
"Dardeen Family Murders. Husband, pregnant wife and young son. Wife and son bludgeoned in their bed the mother gave birth where the perpetrator(s) then bludgeoned the newborn. They found the husband shot execution style outside. No fingerprints or DNA found at the scene it was completely clean."
Beach Graveyard
"In the area I grew up, there was someone killing sand dunes and burying them in the sand dunes by the beach. They would sporadically show up. To my knowledge, the person was never found."
"Cleveland Torso Murderer"
"Back in the 1930s, there was a serial killer called the Cleveland Torso Murderer who would cut off people's limbs, heads, and genitals, then leave the torsos behind for the police to find them. Not only did they never figure out who the killer was, but they also never figured out who most of the victims were."
Bodies On The Road
"The Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders in 1972-73. I grew up in the area but didn't hear anything about it until a couple years ago. Seven girls and women were murdered and dumped along rural roads in Sonoma County. The case is often overshadowed by the Golden State Killer and Zodiac Killer. Who murdered these girls in sleepy Sonoma County remains a mystery to this day."
The following Redditors discussed cases involving missing people and unknown causes of death.
Missing Bride
"Mary Shotwell Little has always kept me up at night."
"Went missing after shopping at Lenox Mall in Atlanta in 1965. She was a newlywed so she was called the Missing Bride. She was reported missing by coworkers the next morning but her car was no longer in the Lenox parking lot. Her husband was out of town and when he returned and went to Lenox to look for her, her car was now there. The car had her groceries, blood spots, and a folded pair of women's underwear on the console. Lots of weird details in this case like the car being returned in daylight, her credit card being used and her being spotted in NC under duress and with two men. Her body has never been found and the case is still unsolved."
The Dad That Stayed Home
"I forgot the names, but a family was going on a vacation to a sports game, but the dad stayed home because he wanted to record it, and his TV didn't have an auto-record function, meaning he had to be there to hit record."
"The family gets home and the dad is missing. The game is recorded on the TV, meaning he had to have been there when it aired. The fridge had two turkey sandwiches freshly made."
"Someone driving down the highway near their house spotted a body on the side of the road. They turned around to find it, but it was gone."
Last Seen Arguing
"Local bar, missing man from a few years ago. Nowhere to be found. He was drunk and had gotten into an argument at the bar. Walked to an Arby's at some point. His glasses were found on the ground, but no trace of him otherwise."
These bodies were found in small spaces.
The Missing Kid
"Probably that one kid that went out and disappeared but was found mangled up in a chimney a decade later by his parents."
Stuck
"Last year i worked for DEMA (Danish Emergency Management Agency), we were called out to a case of a man losing contact to his partner who was inside a chimney at a Danish art project. He was supposed to uninstall some lights, but when his partner radioed him, there was radio silence. His partner was controlling the mobile crane used to lower him inside, which was the only way up there. When we arrived the man had been inside the chimney/cylinder for about 2-3 hours. There was drones installed with heat reading cameras in the air trying to see if he was alive, and when we got the picture his body was still warm. Since we had no way of getting up there we had called for another mobile crane with which we could get to the top. My partner and our sergeant went up, and when they pulled out the man, he was already dead. We couldn't figure out how it happened, but when we got the report back it said he died from his injuries. But there was no major bruising on his body!"
"I still don't know how he died till this day."
There were no deaths in the following cases but still caused intense fear.
Repeat Break-In
"About 1.5 years ago I was broken into. They stole essentially all my life savings which was in precious medals, along with a bunch of other misc personal belongings. The police never found them. 3 days later, I see my door is broken in again and thieves came back and put a couple things back, including a gold ounce coin with a note attached that my dad had written to me when I was an infant, telling me he loved me. Less creepy just strange; criminals with a conscience."
Almost Abducted
"Whenever I was a small kid I was almost kidnapped when my mom had a seizure at the grocery store some man had grabbed me saying that he was my uncle but luckily a family friend happened to be there too and the dude ran off before police got there I was only around 5-7 at the time so I came very close to being kidnapped I have very little memory of that moment tho I only remember riding in the ambulance."
Mystery Scar
"How did I get this scar and dent in my skull. It must have been a major event with lots of bleeding, but my parents know nothing of it."
It's one thing to be haunted by the unsettling cases presented on television, but it's another to learn of one through a friend or have firsthand knowledge.
And in the digital age, where our every move is being monitored through our digital devices or surveillance cameras capturing our movements, you would think more cases of foul play would quickly reveal the murderous culprit.
But with lawbreakers always managing to stay a step ahead and adapting to technology, it's not that easy to close a case.
As with many complicated cases spanning years, we still have to trust and rely on the fact that time will eventually bring malefactors to justice.
There is a sense of security in knowing that someone has your back.
But on the same token, as is typically depicted in movies, small towns have their fair share of nefarious activity that those in the know are sweeping under the rug to maintain their town's good name.
Curious to hear about bizarre cases that don't always make mainstream news headlines, Redditor descended_from_apes asked:
"Small Town Redditors, what's the weirdest unsolved crime in your town, old or new?"
Not all mysteries involve unsolved murders but are just as baffling
A Crime In The Turd-Degree
"Nowhere near the scale of disappearing children or Nazi collaborators, but my hometown's biggest mystery is who keeps sh**ting in the holes at the golf course."
"Person has been doing it for more than 20 years. Every 2-3 months, there's a hole that's been pooped in."
Outstanding Debts
"I found out my grandma played cards with the mob in a liquor store basement. I was reading a news article on a cold case from the former owner disappearing for an English assignment and my grandma kinda just frowned, told me she used to play cards with him and never payed his debts."
House On Fire
"Not exactly 'small town', but small compared to the region. There was a house that burned down 3 times in the span of a decade. I remember hearing lots of rumors about divorces and revenge, gang activity, being cursed. Not sure if it was ever solved."
When Children Played No More
"In 2003 in my hometown, someone decided to burn down a playground. This was in a very small rural town. The nearest playground aside from that one was 15 miles away. This playground was decent sized too, and I believe it was made possible by a donation from someone in town. It was mostly wood with rubberized mesh, steel bars, and large plastic slides."
"Nobody ever figured out who did it."
Unsolved missing persons cases like the ones mentioned below must be pure torture for family members.
Death Chair
"Happened this year."
"A man rented a room at a guest house. When he left the host went to go clean/ prepare the room for the next occupant."
"The room was covered in blood. In the shower there was a chair with a pool of blood-it is assumed the person died in the chair."
"So the baffling part is that there is a camera trained in the room's door. The man entered and left alone without a speck of blood on him."
"The authorities assumed the blood belonged to a woman whose chopped-up body was found in a nearby damm. Blood tests came back and it doesn't."
Missing Classmate
"1973: My 4th grade buddy, Guy Heckle, disappeared during a boy scout camping trip. They found his coat, that was all. Not another clue after all these years."
The Bar Patron
"Man got kicked out of a bar 3 years ago this December and went missing. Nobody has come forward with tips at all. He went missing from a fairly busy part of town too."
People Break Down Their Greatest Accomplishment On The Internet | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Child Abduction
"My cousin, TJ Davison was abducted from a car in 1985 and has still yet to be found. He was 4 years old at the time. (Decatur, IL)"
And sometimes, when the bodies turn up, their identities can remain forever a mystery.
In Deep Trouble
"Where I grew up they found a dude who was buried under the cement in a building, no history or information about him. It's clear that he got into some deep trouble with someone."
– KGhaleon
Remains In A Lake
"About 15 years ago. A town near where I grew up drained a man made lake that was used for recreational swimming. This particular year they decided to drain the whole thing to do a clean up. They discovered an intact skeleton that had been sitting at the bottom of the lake for something like 50 years based on the class ring that was still on the skeleton. From my understanding this person had never been reported missing or anything."
Double Mystery
"Two bodies were found on my island in SE Asia in the last 24 hours. One was found in the jungle after being there for a year in an apparent motorbike accident the other washed up on the beach."
– BKKJB57
What's In The Barrel
"There was an old story that during prohibition a big barrel showed up at the post office, addressed to someone no one knew. It was obviously filled with alcohol."
"When the time to pick up expired and it was still there, it was tapped to find whisky inside. It was enjoyed by many, but when it was gone, it was still quite heavy."
"So they opened it up to discover a dead body."
– Dudeinairport ·
Some of the saddest cases involve the deaths of a newborn.
Murderous Mother
"Back in 1903 a local woman poisoned many members of her family, including a baby over a few months. She served time and died but never really admit to a motive. One theory is that she really liked attending irish funerals."
The Infant
"About 30yrs ago a refuse worker found the badly burned body of an 18 month old boy amongst the bags and recycling. Forensics deduced that due to the condition of his liver he'd died less than a week before his body was found."
"Hospital and medical records were used to establish that nobody in the county was missing a child."
"He doesn't have a name on his gravestone."
"Edit: it was in Cumbria, England."
"The police likely didn't retain a DNA sample, or we might have heard something about familial DNA by now.The local police aren't very good - look up the case of Poppi Worthington as an example."
"Most local people assume he died of SIDS, then his parents panicked and tried to conceal his body. Whoever did it must have had an element of local knowledge in order to know where to put the corpse."
A Proper Burial
"There is a street in my city called Park Ave. It's a very small city, mostly blue collar."
"In 2005, a newborn baby boy was found dead near a factory on Park Ave. Doctors could tell he was born alive and likely lived for a few hours before he died. I don't know if he was abandoned (left to die) or killed in some way; that info was never released. Police made a statement saying please come forward, we want to help you bury this child properly."
"The mother sent an anonymous letter to the police station two weeks later, and said she would come to the station soon. The letter didn't explain the circumstances, but it did say she was afraid."
"She never came forward. The baby was named 'Baby Parker' and money was raised to give him a proper burial. People still leave gifts at his grave."
Thanks to horror movies, small towns get a bad rep.
Under the veneer of warm hospitality and kindness lies an unsettling sense of discomfort.
Are the denizens covering up a murder committed by one of their own? Or was there a grifter who dumped a body in their unassuming town and fled the scene?
In the game of life, no one gets out alive. But hopefully, your life's journey won't end in a small town.
This was, obviously, false - bonsai kittens were clever photoshop combined with pictures of cats just being cats. But to young me, someone new to internet, with no idea of how powerful photoshop and suggestion could be, and a rampant case of preteen hyperempathy, those images were unsettling.
I lost sleep for weeks - first concerned that the images were real; and then concerned that some unsavory character would decide the photoshop wasn't enough and it was time to try it for real. The poor imaginary kittens in my anxiety-riddled mind...
I forgot about it until years later, when someone mentioned bonsai kittens as an internet mystery they never quite got the full story about. Thing is, there are countless things floating around on the internet that people just ... aren't sure about. Are they real? Hoaxes? Viral marketing? Something totally innocent but set to creepy music?
One Reddit user asked:
What mysteries from the early days of the internet are still unsolved to this day?
So here we go, once more down the rabbit hole ...
Chiclet Teeth
There was that guy in the middle 90's who designed his girlfriend using software. He ended up with something like a mug shot, then posted it, hoping to find her in real life.
He swore he was in love with her, this image he had created. He became an immediate laughingstock.
I can't locate any links, but I remember one person referring to the girl as "Chiclet teeth."
Anyway, I wonder if the guy ever found her.
- woofoo2
Clean The Skulls Before Sale
animated art GIF by Falcao LucasGiphyI remember that extremely creepy video of a young guy with longish hair and a very odd way of speaking (I think it was a combination of accent and speech impediment) talking about grave robbing and how to prep the remains for sale. I remember specifically him going into great detail into how to properly clean out the skulls so they wouldn't rattle when you shook them. Nobody ever came up with an identity, location, or even a solid answer for who was buying the human remains or why.
Anyway, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it for a long time, because last year a man where I live was arrested for doing the exact same thing. He was digging up graves, taking the remains, and methodically cleaning them for sale. Sale to who?? For what reason?? It literally drives me insane.
A Guessing Game
Wouldn't say early internet but interesting nonetheless. There was a multitude of killers who have posted on 4Chan one who asked the question "What does /b/ keep in the freezer?" they then proceeded to post pictures of body parts with timestamps to prove it authentication. Another one was (again 4Chan) a guessing name of a missing person and provided a freebie which when guessed correctly lead to the co-ordinates of where the body was buried.
Yeah, the coordinates one was originally posted as a thread with a pic of the missing girl and the message "if this thread gets trips, I'll tell you where to find her" with 'trips' meaning a triplicate number in the post number (eg 222, or 777, etc) which was not something you could see ahead of time
Someone made a reply in the thread with trips, and the OP replied with gps coordinates. 2 days later someone posted a news article from the nearby city with an update about the girls body being found.
I was on there when it happened. We all thought the guy was full of sh*t until the news broke.
Heaven's Gate
The Heavens Gate website is still up and running, but the real question is who is paying for it to stay up?
I'm pretty sure it's just one guy running it. He left the cult before they did the suicides and then rejoined it I guess. I'm pretty sure he's the only person alive who still believes it. Sad, sad stuff
Can someone explain what heaven's gate is and what does it do ?
A UFO cult that eventually became a suicide cult. Members were obsessed with Star Trek and general sci-fi/fantasy weirdness, and made frequent use of the Internet to make money and spread their theology. They believed, among other things, that malevolent aliens called "Luciferians" had infiltrated all major religions to keep humans from developing as a species, that God is actually a very advanced alien, and that their leaders' bodies were regularly taken over by alien "walk-ins." They wound up killing themselves when Comet Halle-Bopp came around, believing that their consciousnesses would be transported to an invisible starship in the comet's tail after their bodies' physical deaths (and, unlike the Jonestown massacre, the deaths seemed to be voluntary—as voluntary as they could be in a cult, anyway.)
They relied on the Internet a lot when they were around, and made most of their money by offering website design and cybersecurity services. Their original website is still up today, in all of its '90s HTML glory, and if you email the person running it, he'll probably respond to you. It's incredibly unnerving to read.
Ted's Excellent Adventure
The guy who went caving. He ends his blog with 'I'll let you know what I find.' And then it just ends. Google Ted's caving and it's the first result!
That was the first and literally last thing I ever read from that website years ago and I still think about it sometimes at night and it scares me lol
- ahr3
It was solved it was confirmed fake. It started out real but eventually the guy decided to write a fiction thingymajig.
- Havoq12
For those interested in learning more about the story behind the story: https://grahamjw.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/ted-the-caver-mystery/
Even as fiction, it's still a masterful work of suspense! Major kudos to the author for crafting a story that's held up this well for so long.
How To? How 'Bout No.
I somehow stumbled onto a very disturbing website called something like howtobeaserialkiller.com. That's not exactly the right url, but it's close. I probably found it through Stileproject.com. It was full of information that seemed like it might actually really help someone to get away with killing strangers, for instance; using a heavy duty zip tie to suffocate them so your hands would be free to hold them down; or rolling dice to decide what kind of person to kill next so there wouldn't be an obvious pattern.
I tried to show a friend what I had found a couple weeks later and the site had been removed with a simple message remaining, "How to be a serial killer has been removed. If you're really interested in killing someone why don't you start with yourself." I'd like to know what the hell inspired someone to create such a site and why did they decide to remove it.
Amazon Submarine
In the early days of the internet there was a site which purported to show a massive submarine base being built in the middle of the Amazon - it was documented through a series of photos developed form a camera that had been found in the jungle.
The theory was that the camera had been thrown from an airplane that had flown over the base just prior to being shot down.
This is NOT a drugs submarine base, but rather something else entirely - it was in the MIDDLE of the Brazilian Amazon, far from any body of water, and the submarine itself was GIANT.
The conjecture was that the elite of the world knew something about coming cataclysmic floods that would envelope the planet and so had built themselves an escape submarine - an Ark - out there in the sticks.
I saw this site in the very, very early days of the web... it was one of the few sites to visit with the new web browsers of the time.
But try as I might I simply cannot find any trace of this site any more, it has vanished and even the Internet Archive has no reference to it.
Was pretty interesting that's for sure. The sub looked huge and the pictures of it quite legitimate....
- ibisum
Amputation
One I remember is something along the lines of cutoffmyfeet.com. I don't think its still up, but the gist of it was that a dudes feet were paralyzed and he wanted to cut them off so he could get prosthetics. I don't remember much, there are probably better explanations out there.
Here's a snippet from the old website:
Since Paul is on Medicare/Medicaid, his insurance will not cover the amputation and new prosthetics because it is not deemed a necessary procedure. Paul also receives medical disability and his Medicare plan does not even cover the cost of his catheter bag. Paul doesn't want to fight a no-win battle with the insurance and medical communities in the United States.
Paul is using this event as a chance to speak out against the lack of care in the medical field and the insurance industry. He strongly believes that this could make great strides in the much needed insurance and medical reform in the United States. This amputation is simply Paul's way of saying that even though corporate america has refused him, he will get his new prosthetics and improve his quality of life.
That's actually pretty sad :(
Frozen
frozen GIF by Walt Disney StudiosGiphyThere used to be a huge conspiracy theory that Walt Disney's head was frozen in ice. Whenever you searched the key words "Disney" "Frozen", theories would show up.
By "coincidence" Disney makes the movie Frozen and you cannot search up those key words anymore without being blocked by the movie.
Big Ghost
Who Big Ghost is? He was a hip hop blogger who gave hilarious commentary on hip hop in the voice of Ghostface Killah from wutang. He became a music producer but I never found info on him or his real identity
The Red Spiral
Around early 2000's, my cousin and I were using a very recent beta copy of Google earth (wasn't available to public yet, but people in the computer industry could access it). We found a random location in the middle east, miles from anything.
We found an enormous spiral made of those red markers and zoomed in. We clicked on the red dots and they gave the GPS coordinates and #of people killed there.
In all total it was several hundred killed, but it was strange that information was on Google maps and the it was in the shape of a spiral.
There was some obscure forum on it, but it is all long gone
Beebiss
There is a video game that seemingly never existed called Yeah Yeah Beebiss I, which has a ton of evidence on the internet for it's existence nonetheless. For all practical purposes, no physical evidence of it has ever been found or seen...and yet, actual documentation that it exists or existed at one point remains. Specifically, two actual, well-known businesses which sold and resold video games had it listed in their documents as one of the games they sold and listed for some time. And again these companies RESOLD video games, and they weren't just little out of the way joints either, so logic dictates that someone had to have gone, seen or found Yeah Yeah Beebiss I and estimated a price since, if memory serves, VARIED between the two establishments. So yeah, SOMEONE had to have seen it, but no physical copies have ever been found so far despite legions of people (myself included) searching.
More over, I actually did some research myself, and to be frank there are a ton of OTHER games on the lists that were used to document Yeah Yeah Beebiss I which either were not released in America or released under a different title--this combined with the...to say the very least, somewhat bizarre title Yeah Yeah Beebiss I means that it may in fact have been released either in America or only in Japan but under a wildly different title. Which in turn raises the question of what the everliving fck YEAH YEAH BEEBISS I was supposed to originally mean when it was first announced?!
I'm not the only one searching for this, a ton of other people have been looking for it in the Lost Media niche of the interwebs.
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