But what's worse is an unsolved mystery, and all the resulting what-ifs can be worse than the confirmation of someone whose life has come to an untimely end.
Curious to hear examples that keep some people up at night, Redditor shayboy444 asked:
"What do you think is the creepiest/most disturbing unsolved mystery ever?"
The deaths or disappearances of those who are barely adults haunt us the most.
Fear Of Sleeping
"I am an avid unresolved mysteries reader, and I don’t know why it has stuck with my, but Karlie Guse. 16 year old girl called her stepmother to pick her up from a party, reportedly was too scared to sleep because she thought someone would kill her, and the next day she disappeared. There was some weird interviews and dynamics between step parents and birth parents and a bunch of theories abound."
– losingmydognity
The Final Shift
"The disappearance of Zebb Quinn."
"He was 18 years old when he went missing in 2000. Was working his shift at a local Walmart and afterwards wanted to look at a new car with a colleague, when he allegedly received a call that made him take off frantically. After that he was never seen again."
"The strangest thing is that a few days later his car was found in a parking lot: with the headlights turned on, a pair of lips and an exclamation mark drawn on the back window in pink lipstick - and a live Labrador puppy sitting inside."
"In 2017 the colleague was arrested for his murder but all the strange details still make no sense at all…"
– KatieAnchalie
Too Young
"Firstly, the murder of JonBenét Ramsey. Just the idea that her own parents might have done it is... disturbing, especially considering the circumstances."
"And also the Keddie Cabin murders. Not only did the 14-year-old daughter of one of the victims find them tied up and stabbed to death, three more kids were still asleep in the bedroom, having no idea what had happened."
– san_sammy
A Gruesome Discovery
"The Ibadan Forest of Horror in Nigeria. A local taxi driver goes missing and his friends create a makeshift search party and investigate a forest."
"Instead of finding their friend, they find an abandoned school (or factory) that have the remnants of a hellish torture/murder, ritual killing and human trafficking."
"8 survivors were rescued. Numerous body parts, rotting corpses and personal artifacts were found. The perpetrators were never found - although local politicians and ritualists were suspects."
"Whilst this discovery is disturbing, the mystery for me is that the original taxi driver - still hasn’t been found."
– Abandoned_Cosmonaut
More specific unresolved cases get mentioned by name.
Robert Wone
"The murder of Robert Wone is something I think about often."
"He was with friends, just staying the night and what happened to him sounds brutal. Even more disturbing to me is the fact that everyone who was in that house that evening seemingly have a pact of silence and are walking around free as a bird."
– Benend91
The Attack On A Fitness Instructor
"Missy Bevers."
"A suspect in full SWAT armor breaks into a church and smashes windows and breaks opens doors with a hammer, looking for a local fitness instructor. They then find and beat her to death before getting away. There is high quality surveillance video of both them and their car, but investigators couldn't make out the license plate. There has been a suspect who was cleared because of an alibi, and there's been no recent updates."
– wedoabitoftrolling
Burned To Death
"Jessica Chambers. She was set on fire in her car and had gasoline poured down her throat. Paramedics found her walking down the lane on fire. The only part of her body that wasn’t burned was the bottom of her feet. She did not survive. Police found a suspect but did not have enough evidence to charge him. Paramedics were so traumatized by what they saw, they had to go through therapy, and broke down on stage during interviews. She tried to name her attacker, but her throat was so destroyed, she couldn’t be understood."
– 1GamingAngel
Abandoned Kid
"Timmothy pitzen. A kid who was taken from school by his mother, went to a zoo, a water park and all those fun places a kid would love, and then went missing after his mother killed herself in response to her rocky marriage. She left a suicide note saying sorry and that Timmothy would be safe but never found. Pretty sad considering that the father still believes he’s out there but I’m betting he’s dead."
"Lived close to where it happened too but not when it initially happened."
– KorvasYT
These historical unsolved mysteries still boggles the mind.
Sabotage Of The Railway
"In my opinion, it's the City of San Francisco train derailment that occurred in Harden, NV on 08/12/1939."
"The train, run by the Southern Pacific Railroad at the time, derailed at a bridge over the Humboldt River at a speed range of 60-90 mph. The accident resulted in 24 fatalities and multiple injuries. Days later, Investigators discovered tools at the bottom of the Humboldt River, determining that the wreck was caused by sabotage of the rails."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939_City_of_San_Francisco_derailment
The Paperboys Of Des Moines
"In the early 80s, all within 18 months of each other three paperboys in the Des Moines, IA area all went missing during their morning route. The cases have never been solved. There are theories ranging from an ex-employee who was a creeper kidnapping them to a lone wolf type situation."
"It's a bizarre case that has baffled Iowa for years."
– Pfroggy1
An Assassination
"The murder of the Swedish prime minister Olof Palme. He was killed over 30 years ago and no one have found the murder."
Murder On Campus
"In 1969, a student was killed in the stacks of the library at my old college (Penn State) and was found with a singular stab wound on her chest. It wasn’t even late or anything, and while there were many suspects, no one was ever arrested for it. It’s insane how someone could kill a person in broad daylight at a major university, and get away with it."
"It’s not really anything super crazy(in comparison to other stories here), it’s just weird to me personally because I would always study there and I didn’t find out about it until after I graduated."
– Rickdaquickk
Carnage At The Yogurt Shop
"The Yogurt Shop Murders that took place in Austin, Texas in late 1991. It's been the subject of a couple episodes on '48 Hours' and a book devoted to the case was published around five years ago: Who Killed These Girls? by Beverly Lowry."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Austin_yogurt_shop_killings
The Ease Of Poisoning
"For me the Tylenol poisonings are just off putting with how easy it was, how widespread the poisonings were, how the guy was never caught, and the lost lasting impact of the incident."
– NotSeren
Without A Trace
"the disappearance of the Beaumont Children The Beaumont Children are siblings who disappeared in 1966, there are still to this day investigations on going to try and find the remains of these children. There have been foundations of sheds and houses dug up."
"The children have never been found and the suspect(s) has never been identified."
– jnrdingo
The Killer Who Took Up Residence
"Late on the night of December 30th, 2000 in Setagaya, Tokyo, a man broke into the house of a family of four, strangled the son in his bed, stabbed the father, and brutallyThe killed the mother and daughter. The killer then spent hours in the house eating their food, using their toilet, and going through their paperwork like he owned the place, and eventually left, never to be found since."
– OtakuSoze
The Remains
"The West Mesa Bone Collector:"
"The bones of dozens of women were found at a construction site, no other clues."
– ItsSebjustSeb
In addition to the bafflement people experience over these cases, knowing that a violent suspect has walked free without suffering the consequences of their nefarious actions is infuriating.
Only the hope that karma has intervened to punish these evildoers could make us rest easy.
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