1. Six people were shot during a gender reveal party

“Few weeks ago there was a shooting less than a mile from my house at a babies gender reveal party.

Like 6 shot. 1 dead. 2 of the injured were kids.

Oh and it turns out the girl wasn’t even pregnant. And it is possible she hired them so she could ‘lose’ that fake baby.” — PlatypuSofDooM42

2. A boy was lured into a basement and beaten to death

“A high school kid was lured into a basement by fellow students and was stabbed and beaten by bricks by like 4 people. His body was then dumped in the river and was found about a week later. There was also a time when a student committed suicide on the front steps of the high school before anyone showed up. For a small town in Ohio, that was some crazy shit.” — grimmcg

3. They kidnapped, tortured, and killed two men

“This was back in the mid 90s in a small town. It was a drug related killing when meth was still kind of unheard of here. Apparently 2 guys owed this dealer some money and couldn’t pay, so the dealer and his friends kidnapped them, kept and tortured them for a couple of days, and when they were done torturing them they tied the 2 guys to the hood of their cars and drove around town showing them off as trophies (undetected by police). When that was over they tied cinder blocks to their feet and threw them off a 200 ft bridge into a lake while they were still alive. It was all pretty gruesome. Plus to top it off, when our sheriff was being interviewed by area news outlets, he said the murders were over tools and belt buckles. I always thought that explanation was funny, even back when I was 12.” — robo80

4. They chopped off a rapist’s head

“In my town, there was a woman who was raped by a friend. The boyfriend of the woman got pissed and the rapist felt bad, so he let the boyfriend tie him up and beat the shit out of him. After, the might goes on and the two men end up smoking weed and then meth together, so naturally they both get in the car for a ride. After this odd change of events, the boyfriend and driver of the car starts faking motor issues so they pull over. They check under the hood, and the boyfriend of the girl slams the hood down on the rapist friend’s head. He then proceeds to cut the man’s head off and throw it in the woods.” — almargo

5. I watched a man electrocute himself to death

“When I was 7, An old man having trouble with his electricity power and decided to climb up the power pole (not in US but IDK what it’s called) by him self, electrocuted to death. I remember seeing how dried his skin was. Because the pole is 5 house down the street we all (people in that street) have to be evacuated because it has a fire risk. My friend who life right in front of the pole told me he can still remember the smell.” — Maynotbeme

6. Someone murdered an innocent man on Facebook Live

“I saw this. It was absolutely disgusting. The poor old man was returning from grocery shopping and looked so terrified. He didn’t deserve it at all and was pleading for his life.

The guy who did it was an absolute cunt and I hope he burns in eternal hell.” — YouStupidCow

7. A girl died from a freak accident

“One day a couple of high school senior girls were out for a run on the downtown strip, and a 50 year old awning collapsed right as they were under it. Killed one and maimed the others face. It was terrible and the town was devastated for weeks. Just a complete freak accident.” — NakedLimpShadow701x

8. An entire city block burned to the ground

“Mayor and police bombed a crazy group’s house in a dense neighborhood and then the fire department watched while a whole city block burned down.” — bigredcar

9. A killer was on the loose in our town

“A few years ago we had a shooter going around town and killing people. He just went from place to place on a rampage. I think four died aside from the killer, who was shot in the head by police.” — abductodude

10. A murderer shot a teenager ten times

“Murderer/rapist from across the country was on the run and came here and shot some rich white boy driving his car home ten times. Apparently the kid was a total golden boy and a really nice person so it was ridiculous.

A few weeks prior some asshole had shot a gas station attendant in the crotch to rob him. I’d lived here 20 years and never heard of any shootings here.” — Leohond15

11. A young girl got kidnapped and bludgeoned to death

“Back in the late 1940s a young girl who was in hospital with pneumonia got kidnapped and bludgeoned to death not too far from the hospital itself. The crime scene had a set of muddy footprints, as well as some rather visible fingerprints, on a glass bottle near the bed of the victim. Another report was from a taxi driver who picked up a man near the hospital around the time. The local police alongside Scotland Yard had the idea to carry out fingerprint checks of all men who were in the town at the time using the electoral register and ration books. They found a match with a man by the name of Peter Griffith’s who eventually confessed to his crimes. I think it was the first time in the nation that a murder was solved using fingerprint comparisons.” — HumaidDaWorld

12. A lady cut the baby out of a pregnant woman

“Lady posted on Craigslist that she was seeing baby clothes. When a pregnant woman came to buy it, the lady attacked her and cut the baby out of her. Crazy lady went to hospital with baby claiming she had it at home.

Apparently the crazy lady had been claiming she was pregnant a while and did this when husband was out of town. Pregnant lady survived but the baby died. Super fucked up.” — littlekenney13

13. He murdered his mother and then killed himself

“Kid decapitated his mom on Halloween and then jumped in front of a train.” — Matthew_Gonzalez

14. There was a shootout in my street

“Shootout in my street between two rival families and no this isn’t some mafia shit they just hated each other. Our window got 3 bullet holes from the buckshots and one of our neighbors’ kid got hit by a stray bullet… Nothing serious though he was okay the following week” — RoachIsCrying

15. Someone brutally killed a couple who advertised on Craigslist

“Guy and girl advertise for a threesome on Craigslist. Guy answers. They show up, and the guy stabs the boyfriend with a fucking medieval sword, before cutting his head off, then tying up the girl, and putting her in the trunk.
The cops found the girl dead in his trunk, and the boyfriend had been dumped in a park. They never found his head. The killer shot himself during a police chase, which is when they found the body in the trunk.” — Milkshaketurtle79

16. A man was killed during a fit of road rage

“Two guys both had some serious road rage and pulled over on the highway to yell at each other and one of them shot the other with a crossbow.” — HorsNoises

17. A man was shot and killed with an arrow

“A man was shot and killed in his own front yard with an arrow. The police searched the area for hours, but couldn’t find the perpetrator. Like a week later, perpetrator was pulled over by the police for a traffic stop or something, and shot a cop in the eye with a BB gun.” — oiseaudelamusique

18. The Zodiac Killer struck by my house

“The Zodiac killer struck here first, two miles from my house. My sister knew one of the victims. She came over to the house a couple of times; I saw her.” — Tall_Mickey

19. A gang murdered a man and dumped his body

“Biker gangs murdered a man, burned his house down, and dumped his body on a suburban couple’s driveway.” — blacksabbath1970

20. A little kid was shot in the head

“A little over a year ago in a poor apartment complex in the middle of my town, there was an apartment full of kids all younger than 15. A ten year old boy held a gun to the head of an 8 year old boy and told him to ‘suck his dick.’ He counted down and when the 8 year old didn’t comply, he shot him in the head.” — csjosh

21. A man was killed and pushed into a lake with his car

“Someone killed him, cut off his dick and stuck it in his mouth, put him in the trunk and pushed the car in the lake.

Never found out who did it.” — ConCons_Husband

22. A man murdered his own grandmother

“Guy kills his grandmother then flees and runs over and kills 2 cops with his car.” — bobbyby

23. A woman helped her son kidnap and rape his girlfriend

“The sweet little old lady who worked at the library ended up getting arrested for helping her son kidnap and rape his ex girlfriend.” — spaceturtle1138

24. We had weekly stabbings

“Our Denny’s has steak knives with the roundest, thickest, and most blunt points I’ve ever seen. Why? Because for a year straight there was a stabbing at Denny’s once a week.” — Smeggywulff 

25. A man severed his own penis

“When I was a kid there was a man name Earl Zea who cut his own penis off with pruning shears. He was on Jerry Springer.” — thistimenixon

26. There was a horrible helicopter accident

“A US army helicopter was brought in from the local american military base to lift the cross on top of a newly constructed church bell tower back in the 50’s or 60’s, but then there was a problem with the winch getting stuck and the helicopter was pulled down and crashed right into the church, killing all but one of the men on board. The bent cross is still sitting on top of the church in memory of the accident.” — HerrHerrmannMann 

Holly Riordan is the author of Lifeless Souls, available here.