1. The Hinterkaifeck Murders

Taking place in 1922, these murders were committed with a pickaxe at a small and remote Bavarian homestead where six people lived. The murders have never been solved despite the case being reinvestigated with modern techniques as recently as 1986.

Particularly brutal, the murders were also prefaced by several odd occurrences including footsteps in the snow that led to the homestead but didn’t lead back out again, reports of sounds in the attic, and a maid who left the homestead because she believed it to be haunted. The day after a replacement maid arrived she and the entire family were killed.

There’s more to it but I don’t want to ruin the whole thing. It’s deeply creepy.

2. The Silent Twins

Truly a bizarre story the mixes elements of the supernatural with crime, and, ultimately, death. June and Jennifer Gibbons were identical twins born in Wales in 1963. From an early age they refused to speak with anyone else but each other and their younger sister and exhibited near identical patterns of behavior. They also spoke an idioglossia, a language only the two twins could understand. In a bid to bring them out of their shells, the two were separated and sent to different boarding schools. Both became almost immediately catatonic until the were reunited.

The two both exhibited high levels of intelligence but later began committing arson and had to be institutionalized. It was during this time that June and Jennifer decided that one of them must die in order for the other to live a normal life. Reportedly, Jennifer volunteered to make that sacrifice and was later found dead. Her cause of death remains a mystery to this day and the circumstances are such that it’s almost as if she willed herself to die.

3. The White Lady

No, this isn’t just a reference to a graceful and proper woman of the caucasian persuasion, it’s an entry about the global and common phenomenon of individuals who have spotted spirits who appear as a woman all in white who appears in the countryside.

Legends about the White Lady span the entire world from Britain to the Philippines and they all have a similar backstory involving the spirit having experienced some great tragedy during her life, often at the hands of a man she loved.

4. The Soviet False Alarm Incident

While not creepy in the supernatural sense I can think of nothing more pointless or terrifying than a global nuclear conflagration that arose from the most basic of mistakes. It gives you a sense of just how on the edge we actually were many times during the Cold War and just how close we came to giving the Earth over to the cockroaches.

The gist of this article is just three weeks prior to this false alarm the Soviets had shot down a Korean passenger jet in their airspace and killed a U.S. Congressman aboard. The Soviets hadn’t known who was on board but since it had caused a huge international incident they were expecting an attack. Soon after, their early warning system notified them that American ‘minutemen’ ICBMs had been launched and were on their way to the Soviet Union. At the time, the response to such an early warning was for the Soviets to immediately launch their nuclear missiles.

One man, Lt. Col. Stanislov Petrov was responsible for what would happen next. One man, with the fate of the world in his hands.

5. Tarrare, The Man Who Ate Everything

Tarrare was a French showman living in the late 1700s and early 1800s who was renowned for having an insatiable appetite. Turning this into a show as a way to make money he was seen in full site of audiences consuming vast amounts of food including a meal intended for fifteen people as well as “live cats, snakes, lizards and puppies.” Yes, live puppies and cats.

This apparently wasn’t just an act either but was something else. Later in his life when doctors tried to cure him by placing him on a diet he would be found eating “offal” out of city gutters.

6. This Huge List Of UFO Sightings

Beginning in Classical Antiquity and going all the way to modern day, this is an awesome wiki list for those even remotely interested in UFO phenomenon. Including “ships in the sky” from a Roman citing in 214 BCE and supposed battles in the sky between cylindrical objects as well as contemporary sightings from all over the world this is a fantastic jumping off point to fall down a many hours long wiki hole.

7. Clinton Road In New Jersey

Clinton Road is a ten mile long stretch of road in West Millford, NJ that is the site of numerous claimed bizarre sitings including phantom vehicles, a ghost boy who has been seen at the Clinton Brook bridge, the ghost of a girl who died in a crash on the road has also supposedly been seen at night still driving.

A dead body was also found off the road that exhibited the telltale signs of the mob hitman known as the Iceman, namely the body had been frozen and then dumped so as to confuse an investigators regarding time of death.

8. The Abduction Of Betty And Barney Hill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1QjfUi-KAs

One of the most well documented UFO abduction stories in the history of the phenomenon, Betty and Barney Hill claimed to have been abducted while driving in rural New Hampshire late at night on September 19th, 1961 while driving back from a vacation.

The couple claimed to see a light in the sky that at first they thought was a falling star but, as they continued to observe it, saw that it moved erratically. Pulling over to get a better look with binoculars, the couple stated that what they saw was a craft about 100 feet long with multi-colored lights. The couple continued to observe the craft as it followed them and, as described by the couple, seemed to play cat and mouse with them.

Eventually they say the craft cut them off completely and the two were abducted, experienced a period of lost time, and the next thing they knew they had traveled 35 miles with no memory of the journey.

There’s a lot more to this including hypnosis sessions with both Barney and Betty as well as their experiences trying to report the incident. There’s also stuff regarding an alien star map which is fascinating. Additionally, it’s interesting that Barney never quite full embraced the notion that the couple had been abducted while Betty did. Good stuff.

9. The Vanishing Hitchhiker

A global legend similar in scope to the White Lady, tales of mysterious spirit who stands beside the highway waiting to be picked up and who, once helped by an unwary driver, disappears at some point along the drive. Disappearing hitchhikers have been reported in Germany, Milan, and all over the U.S. in modern times but this phenomenon goes much further back. In 1870s Korea, Russia, and China the story was the same and over the centuries only the mode of transport has changed. Here’s how the wiki article describes a typical Vanishing Hitchhiker experience.

The archetypal modern vanishing hitchhiker is a figure seen in the headlights of a car traveling by night with a single occupant. The figure adopts the stance of a hitchhiker. The motorist stops and offers the figure a lift. The journey proceeds, sometimes in total silence, and at some subsequent point, the passenger appears to vanish while the vehicle is in motion. In many cases, the hitchhiker vanishes when (normally) a vehicle reaches the hitchhiker’s destination.

10. Lisa M. Montgomery

That picture seems to depict a normal, possibly boring woman, right? She was anything but. In 2004, this Kansas woman used the false name “Darlene Fischer” and claims of being pregnant to bond with another woman who actually was pregnant named Bobbie Jo Stinnett. Even stranger this took place in an online chatroom dedicated to discussion of Rat Terriers called “Ratter Chatter”.

The two soon began exchanging emails about being pregnant and Montgomery arranged with Stinnett to come by her house to buy a Rat Terrier. Once there, however, Montgomery strangled Stinnett with a piece of rope, cut her unborn baby from her womb, and ran fled, later passing the baby off as her own.

11. Mass Suicide In Demmin

In the closing days of World War II, Russia’s Red Army was sweeping west, burning, killing, raping, and pillaging as they went. Tens of thousands of Germans committed suicide during this period out of fear of what the Red Army would do to them. However, no town had more suicides concentrated in one place than the town of Demmin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeDFI9tYNB0

In May of 1945, hundreds of Demmin residents put themselves to the sword so as to avoid the nightmare that was the angry and vengeful Red Army. Entire families committed suicide together, daughters cut the wrists of their own parents, and men shot children who were not their own so as to spare them from the coming onslaught.

Horrifically, this appears to have been a reasonable course of action. The Red Army spent three days in the city pillaging and burning it and reportedly raped women and girls of all ages. Many of those who tried to kill themselves were stopped by Red Army soldiers only to find themselves victims of brutal attacks.

12. A List Of Every Death And Incident That’s Ever Occurred At Walt Disney World

Over the decades, the magic kingdom has taken lives, caused grievous injuries, and been the backdrop for many, many criminal acts. Some are somewhat hilarious while others are terribly tragic. Either way, enjoy your next trip to the land of Mickey.

13. The Pit Of Despair

Harry Harlow, a comparative psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studied maternal bonding in rats and monkeys in the 1970s, that is, until his wife died.

Upon her death, his colleagues noted his demeanor changed completely as his depression from his wife’s death grew. He also shifted from studying maternal bonding in rats and monkeys to studying the effects of extreme isolation on rat and monkey babies who had just bonded with their mother, taking them and placing them in total isolation for up to a year.

Harlow himself called these isolation chambers the pit of despair and the effects he observed as a result of his cruel tests will turn your stomach. I’ll just say, the guy also invented a device he called the “rape rack.” The scientific community allowed his tests to go on for decades knowing full well what was going on.

Remember, kids, science is here to help.

14. The “Rat King”

As disgusting as it is odd, this wiki entry refers to the phenomenon of several rats becoming stuck together, their tales intertwined and mixed with “blood, dirt, ice, horse-hair, or feces—or simply knotted.” This apparently happens more often than not when the rats are younger, perhaps because they’ve been born into filthy conditions. The rats then grow while bound together in this way into a disgusting writing mess as seen above.

This horrible sight has given life to dozens of legends and the phenomenon which apparently happens more in Germany than anywhere else in the world was long believed to be an ill omen portending the arrival of the plague which, frankly, is 100% understandable.