Strange

Swedish medium Olof Jonsson claimed a special connection with people. When near a person, he maintained he could tell their life story, their likes and dislikes, and even their thoughts. He said he could touch a person and detect feelings about themselves and other people. He even asserted he could touch an object and establish the identity of people who touched it before him. Thus in 1951, Swedish police sought his help in finding a killer. It was the first, last, and only time the Swedish police used a psychic medium to assist with an investigation. The murder of John Allan Nilsson The victim was John Allan Nilsson. Nilsson’s home had been nearly burned to the ground. Police found the cause to be arson and determined that

Who was Sawney Bean? Alexander “Sawney” Bean was born in the 14th century in East Lothian, Scotland, about ten miles from Edinburgh. His father supported the family through yardwork, ditch digging, and hedging. Sawney tried his hand at yardwork but found the amount of effort required to be distasteful. He preferred an easier trade, one that took advantage of others with little effort required. When Sawney reached adulthood, he left home with a local woman (sometimes identified as Black Agnes Douglas) and moved to Bennane Head, Scotland, on the southwest coast of Scotland. At Benane Head, the Beans lived in a cave, which was said to be about 200 yards deep. The entrance to the grotto was covered with water during high tide and thus the abode,

Charles Manson and the Manson Family murders Huddled in Charles (Charlie) Manson’s commune in an abandoned movie set in the California desert,  the Manson Family lived under the belief that an apocalyptic race war called “Helter Skelter” was destined to reap impending doom on the world while bequeathing an enormous power base to the Manson Family. In order to precipitate the war, the Manson Family committed nine murders over four locations during a five-week period in the summer of 69. The events ended the Decade of Love and introduced the world to a real-life monstrosity that prior to, Americans thought only existed in their worst dreams. Who was Charles Manson? Charles Manson’s childhood is difficult to discern because, as with much of Manson’s narratives, the story changed often. He

  Who was Colton Harris Moore? He first appeared on the Pacific Northwest's crime blotters at age 8 - for stealing a bicycle. As he grew older his criminal escapades progressed and soon he was arrested and jailed. He escaped from jail in April 2008, resuming his criminal activities. He has stolen four airplanes (while never having taken flying lessons), three boats, several cars, and has broken into over 100 homes and businesses. He has used stolen credit cards to purchase hi tech equipment (including night vision goggles) to aid in his crimes. He's cracked safes and pilfered their contents and has broken into and raided bank ATM machines. He's located on a 94 square mile island, isolated from the mainland, and has a penchant for pizza. 

Roman Polanski’s tale reads like millions of other child abuse stories except the participants were rich, elite, and never paid for their crimes. In fact, the abuser, famous movie actor and director Roman Polanski, was celebrated – and continues to be celebrated today. Countries seek his artistic merit and refuse to extradite him while Hollywood elites continue to claim his reparation - a month in jail, a week of psychological evaluation, and decades on the run after fleeing the United States – were sufficient for his crimes. Polanski remains free, and continues to direct and appear in movies (e.g. Rush Hour 3), despite tricking, drugging, and raping 13-year-old Samantha Gailey. Introduction By 1977 Roman Polanski was on top of the world. It had only been eight years

House on fire At 5:30 a.m. on Monday, November 9, 2009, Oklahoma City's 911 emergency dispatch center received a harrowing phone call reporting a house fire on the 1500 block of Southwest 56th Street. The caller, a neighbor down the street from the blaze, was calm as she described the scene to the 911 operator. Within minutes, firefighters from the Oklahoma City Fire Department (OCFD) arrived on the scene and attempted to determine whether anyone was inside the burning single-level brick home.  After extinguishing the fire, which gutted much of the inside of the house as well as the roof, investigators located four bodies inside the residence. The bodies, burned beyond recognition, were taken to the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office where autopsies were conducted on each. Local television

The Clearwater Scientology invasion In 1975, under the direction of L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology began a top secret operation codenamed Project Normandy with the objective to “establish and control” a U.S. city and county. The target was Clearwater, Florida. The mayor of Clearwater at the time, went so far as to call it “the occupation of Clearwater”. Today the Scientology headquarters are firmly situated in downtown Clearwater, located just northwest of Tampa Bay, lying on the west coast of Florida. According to the St. Petersburg Times, the Church owns some 67+ buildings over ten square miles including their mammoth headquarters (referred to as the “Flag Land Base”), motels, training centers, offices, and “religious retreats”. The value of their real-estate holdings in Clearwater is believed to be

The abduction of Denise Huskins On March 23, 2015, at 1:53 PM, a Kaiser Permanente physical therapist, Aaron Quinn, called police in Vallejo, California to report a kidnapping and ransom demand for $8,500 dollars. According to Quinn, he and his live-in girlfriend, Denise Huskins, awoke at 3:00 AM to blinding, bright lights shining in their faces. The kidnapper[s] (Aaron and Denise later told police that they could not see how many men there were) ordered Huskins to bind Quinn’s legs with zipties. Swim goggles with covered lenses were placed over Quinn and Huskins’ eyes. The kidnappers placed headphones on Quinn’s head and soon, Quinn heard a pre-recorded message listing the abductors’ demands for the return of his girlfriend. 29-year-old Denise Huskins was a beautiful So-Cal girl, 5’

“I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing -- I was born with the "Evil One" standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered into the world, and he has been with me since.” H.H. HOLMES Herman Webster Mudgett, aka Dr. Henry Howard Holmes or just H.H. Holmes, was one of the first documented serial killers in the modern sense of the word. His legendary crimes have been written about in several books, including Erik Larson’s popular The Devil in the White City, and featured in many movies and TV shows including American Horror Story: Hotel and the 2016 movie The

Julia Martha Thomas hires Kate Webster as a maid Dubbed the “Barnes Mystery” or the “Richmond Murder”, the case became one of the most notorious crimes in the late 19th-century Britain. Julia Martha Thomas, a widow in her 50s who lived in Richmond in southwest London, was murdered on March 2, 1879 by her maid, Kate Webster, a 30-year-old Irishwoman with a long history of criminal activities. Webster disposed of the body by dismembering it, boiling the flesh off the bones, and throwing most of the remains into the River Thames. The boiled fat from the body however, she retained for her own devious use. In 1879, Julia Martha Thomas lived alone in a small cottage at 2 Mayfield Cottages on Park Road in Richmond, just outside

The Phantom of Heilbronn crime wave DNA evidence linked her to over forty crimes including a string of six murders over sixteen years, dozens of high-profile thefts, and a deadly arson case. After DNA evidence linked her to the murder of a policewoman from Heilbronn, a $400,000 bounty was placed on her head but the female serial killer dubbed the “Phantom of Heilbronn”, described by German police as “the country’s most dangerous woman”, cleverly evaded an extensive police manhunt for over 15 years despite her sloppy criminal work and evidence left behind. When her DNA was found on documents belonging to a person who had died in a fire, police took a step back, reevaluated the cases, and determined that the mysterious Phantom was the last person

It’s a dirty little secret in South Africa, one that as of 2010, is a problem once again on the rise. Called “muti murders” or “medicine murders” (sometimes termed “ritual murder” or muthi-murder), it takes its name from the Zulu word “muti”, the term for traditional black magic medicines that utilize human body parts and flesh as critical ingredients in order to produce supposedly miraculous medicinal effects. The phenomenon is widely acknowledged to occur in southern Africa where it is estimated that from 50%-90% of the population believe in black magic and witchcraft. Body parts from dead corpses work fine for their purposes but the best muti medicine ingredients are taken from body parts that are harvested while the victim is still alive.  The Limpopo province alone

Long known to be an odd and eccentric character, famous British celebrity Jimmy Savile was accused of sexually abusing hundreds of children and raping more than thirty people during his tenure as Britain’s popular media personality. The abuse, in which nearly 75% of the victims were children, spanned a period of six decades from 1955 to 2009 and was carried out at children’s hospitals, schools, and on the sets of television productions, including BBC's studios. It is believed that occasionally, other “pedophile” celebrities, such as flamboyant pop musician Gary Glitter, are alleged to have participated with or accompanied Savile in his acts of abuse. According to a report released in early 2013, called Giving Victims a Voice, 450 victims came forward to allege incidents of sexual abuse or

Spring Heeled Jack Spring Heeled Jack - was he a creature, an alien, or a plain-old man wearing a strange costume and a powerful, hidden jumping apparatus?  During the 1830's, this 'man' terrorized England.  Described as tall, thin, powerful, wearing a black cloak, the man could jump 20 to 30 feet vertical with ease.  It was reported that he had large pointy ears and nose, with red (or orange) glowing eyes, and capable of spitting an odd white and blue flame from his mouth. The Early Sightings The first Spring Heeled Jack sighting may have occurred in September of 1837 in London, England.  A businessman was returning home from work late at night when a mysterious figure vaulted over the railings of a nearby cemetery.  The railings were

Bodies of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman found On June 13, 1994, a couple in Los Angeles were puzzled after their dog, a small white Akita, returned home with blood on his paws. The couple took the dog back outside and followed it as it led them directly to a neighbor's home – Nicole Simpson. Peering inside the gate they could see blood, lots of blood, and Nicole’s lifeless body lying on the private sidewalk that led to her front door. When officers from the LAPD arrived on the scene, they discovered a second body which was later identified as 25-year-old Ronald Goldman. The four responding officers – Phillip Vannatter, Ronald Phillips, Tom Lange, and Mark Fuhrman, locked down the scene and began searching the premises. In