I am an avid, no obsessed watcher of real life murder and horror tales. I can't look away. When I hear there is a new episode of Dateline NBC or 20/20 I get flushed with excitement. My DVR is chock full of all sorts of television shows from ID Discovery. I have recently learned that I am not alone in my obsession. With the new world of podcasts, it seems everyone, from every age group and walk of life treats these stories like fanatics. And the creepier and unsolved the better. They do nothing for a good night's sleep, but I can sleep when I'm dead, and hopefully not from being featured on Dateline episode myself. And these stories have origins worldwide.
Redditor u/grayfox104 wanted us all to gather round and discuss the eeriest tales of all by asking...Photo by Andrew Stutesman on Unsplash
'Sea People'
battle army GIF by History UKGiphyThe bronze age collapse. Many great and advanced civilizations circled the Mediterranean around 1200BC, but then in a span of only a 20-50 years, the cities were destroyed or abandoned and the surviving people retreating away from the coast to small inland settlements. All of the empires apart from Assyria and some of Egypt collapsed, and the area entered a dark age, with centuries passing before such advanced empires rose again.
Why? No one really knows. There are records of the 'Sea People' coming with advanced weapons - foreign invaders perhaps? Along with indications of a volcanic eruption, but still, such sudden collapse of such large and advanced civilizations is concerning, and perhaps should act as a warning to us now.
DNA Match
Who the hell was the Somerton Man?
I heard about 6-9 months ago they were getting close to having permission to dig him up for DNA testing as he has suspected descendants in Australia.
Yep, he's in a rare genetic group and the woman who claimed that she didn't know him had kids that are apparently in that group.
Horror
For my money, the Hinterkaifeck murders. A whole family bludgeoned to death with a mattock by someone who seemed to have snuck into, and was living in their house for awhile before butchering them all.
The worst part was the maid told the family she heard someone walking around in the attic, the family ignored her until she quit.
They hired a new maid and the murders happened her first day.
The Awful Day
Susan Powell. The husband and his creepy father! I know the husband killed her, I just wish they could find her body. Even though he's dead now, it would be so satisfying to prove it. He was so smug about the fact that no one would find her.
God, I remember following this one after she disappeared but before he murdered the kids and killed himself. That was an awful day. Not only did he take away her family's last connection to her, but probably also their hope of finding her body.
Light in the Dark
rainer maria video GIF by Polyvinyl RecordsGiphyThe Marfa lights. I went out and saw them several years ago and it's haunted me ever since. None of the explanations make sense, the lights bob and weave in ones, twos, and threes, they shoot up and go back and forth and the creepiest part is that sometimes look like they're getting close to you but it's hard to tell because of the darkness.
1561....
1561 Celestial Phenomenon over Nuremberg. There is an illustrated news article from the time.
This is definitely one of my favorite mysteries.... they freaking saw spaceships fighting 500 years before the invention of planes. I think the same happened in Switzerland around the same era.... so it's not a one time thing.
Unmasked
The zodiac killer, his encrypted notes and how they never caught him.
I took a class on serial killers in university and the professor posited a theory that Zodiac and Unabomber were the same person. Probably not true but fun to think about.
https://zodiackillerfacts.com/zodiac-theories/the-accused-the-accusers/zodiac-the-unabomber/
Find the Bones
The Sodder children disappearance.
Their family house burned (after some weird occurrences the night before) and the parents and a few kids made it out, but a few kids didn't and supposedly burned in the fire. But their bones were never found which should have been their and the firefighters acted strange. Very interesting case.
Beware the Piper
evil the joker GIFGiphyThe origins behind the story of the Pied Piper.
"It's been 100 years since our children left"..this line makes me shiver with terror.
My favorite theory was that someone came and recruited them for a Children's Crusade with the parents' consent (because times were bad). Then, in better times, the villagers distanced themselves from responsibility by saying the children were led away in secret, and it became the Pied Piper's tale.
Spooked....
The spook light near Quapaw, Oklahoma. (I'm horrible at explaining this so I'd suggest you go to google or something) I went to go see it on one of the best nights ever recorded. It split in two, was unnaturally bright, changed from white to yellow then to red, it blinked a couple of times too. Anyways, on a hill near it, people set up some good cameras pointed at the Spook Light and sent other people to walk closer to it all while having radio connection.
The people walking to it reported that it had gone away after a certain point, but the camera people still saw it on camera. An old legend if I remember correctly is that it's the lantern of a Native American boy who had fallen off a cliff or something.
Kaboom....
Spontaneous human combustion.
It's doesn't even take anything special, just clothes and fat. I remember seeing a test on tv with a pig carcass wrapped in cloth that perfectly recreates the strange pattern of burning: intense heat in and around the body, but the fire doesn't spread.
Basically, if a small fire starts on the clothes, it can melt the fat in flesh. Then the fat seeps into the nearby clothes and efficiently burns, creating something like a candle where the clothes are the wick and the fat is the wax.
Flight
Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.
While we will never really know I think the pilot suicide theory makes the most sense and has the most supporting evidence.
jack nicholson quotes GIFThe Fall...
Russia GIFGiphyAll of the dark stuff that probably went down in the Soviet Union's government but we'll never know about because it was so well hidden, then the Union collapsed.
Dylatov Pass Incident
I'd say the Dylatov Pass Incident. So strange to find the hikers just naked with strange wounds and with the tent ripped up and clothes strewn in random places.
I think it's mostly solved by the survivor of a very near identical incident on another mountain. Apparently a down force wind caused them to flee. Pretty much every detail was explained including the radiation. It made a lot of sense actually and seemed very plausible. I think it's true that the simplest explanations are usually the correct one.
Axman!
Jason Voorhees GIF by memecandyGiphyThe ax man murders of New Orleans A person sneaking in to houses with ease and chopping at anyone's head leaving many with shattered skulls and then dropping off the used weapon (cleaver or axe). I find the simplicity a bit creepy.
Mr. Cruel...
There are many intriguing mysteries. But up there as creepiest? For Australians over 38+, especially if they lived in Melbourne in the 1980s-90s, I'd say Mr Cruel. He was essentially the Boogeyman come to life.
Australians do not screw around when it comes to serial killers.
The Beauty Queen...
The death of Jon Benet Ramsey. I feel like the family knows what really happened to her.
I'm expecting hate from this, but I do believe Burke did it by accident and I don't mind that he was never convicted because it was a very unfortunate accident. That family suffered enough and the parents went into protection mode.
Down Below....
scooby doo mystery GIFGiphyOak island. Whatever is down there, whoever put it there really, really didn't want it getting out. Seriously look up all the crazy crazy defense mechanisms they put there. They are currently trying to unearth it. I would rather not learn what is buried down there. Oak Island the Mystery