What's A True Crime Case No One Talks About?
But on the flip side, there are actually many true crime stories not a lot of people have heard about before.
For example, have you ever heard of the "Hangman" or "Killer Cop," aka Gerard John Schaefer Jr.? He was a former sheriff's deputy and suspected serial killer active in Florida during the '70s who killed two teen girls. It's suspected he actually had dozens more victims.
Or did you know about the unsolved Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders that took place from 1972–1973 in Northern California? There were seven confirmed killings, but possibly a lot more.
Perhaps you've gone your whole life not knowing that the R.E.M. song, 'What's the Frequency, Kenneth?' is a reference to the 1986 crime where CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather was attacked and mugged by two men while one of them repeatedly said, "Kenneth, what is the frequency?'
Basically, what I'm saying is, there are A LOOOOOOT of unbelievable, true crime stories out there, especially ones people don't talk enough about. So we wanna know: what's a lesser-known true crime story that we haven't already heard?!
Tell us in the comments or via the totally anonymous form below for a chance to be featured in a future BuzzFeed Community post or video!
Do you love all things scary, dark, and creepy? Subscribe to the That Got Dark newsletter to get your weekly dopamine fix of the macabre delivered RIGHT to your inbox!
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3 days ago
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Extremely Dark Facts And Stories July 2025
Do you love all things scary, dark, and creepy? Subscribe to the That Got Dark newsletter to get your weekly dopamine fix of the macabre delivered RIGHT to your inbox! Warning: Disturbing content ahead, including stories involving murder and extreme violence. On June 30, 2025, a 92-year-old man, Ryland Headley, was convicted of raping and murdering a woman named Louisa Dunne in Bristol, England — a crime he committed nearly 58 years earlier, in 1967. Dunne was 75 years old at the time. For decades, the case remained unsolved until a breakthrough came over 55 years later. In 2023, investigators reviewed the cold case and discovered new forensic evidence: a DNA sample from Dunne's clothing that matched Ryland Headley, who was already in the national DNA database. Headley had a history of sexually assaulting elderly women, with convictions from the 1970s. His palm print also matched one found on Dunne's windowsill. He was arrested and stood trial in 2025. On June 30, 2025, Headley was convicted of rape and murder, and the next day, he was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 20 years, effectively ensuring he will die in custody. The creepy (albeit interesting) grave of Timothy Clark Smith, who suffered from severe taphophobia — the fear of being buried alive. Smith took extraordinary precautions before his death in 1893, including having his grave custom-built with a cement shaft leading down from a glass window at the surface directly above his face. Inside the tomb, he arranged for a breathing tube, a bell in his hand, and reportedly a chisel or hammer — tools meant to help him alert others and potentially escape if he awoke underground, so he could be rescued. Today, the glass is heavily clouded by condensation and plant growth, limiting visibility. However, visitors in the past claimed to be able to see his skeleton. If you feel like checking it out yourself IRL, Smith's grave is in Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven, Vermont. On July 13, 2025, a 19-year-old died after falling into an industrial meat grinder. The victim, a sanitation worker at Tina's Burritos food processing plant in Vernon, California, reportedly fell into the meat grinder during a nighttime cleaning shift. Apparently, the machine turned on while he was cleaning it, pulling him in. Coworkers said they heard his cries for help but were unable to stop the equipment in time. Emergency responders arrived quickly but pronounced him dead at the scene. In a statement to The U.S. Sun, a Tina's Burritos spokesperson said, "He was cleaning an empty kettle that was being sanitized and prepped for the next day's production run." No foul play is suspected. In 2014, two Dutch students, Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon, went missing while hiking a trail near Boquete, Panama. They never returned, and after weeks of searching, their belongings — including a backpack with their phones and camera — were found near a river. Oddly, where the backpack was found, Kremers' clothing was also found, neatly folded next to the river. Some time later, their bones and remains were discovered scattered nearby. In fact, Lisanne's boot was found with her foot still inside. It was also discovered that their phones had tried to call for help many times. What's even more disturbing is that the camera had strange nighttime photos taken in the dark jungle. You can see those photos here. Investigators believe the two likely got lost, had an accident, and died, while many think there may have been foul play. Their exact cause of death has never been confirmed. In 1987, a man named Kenneth Parks in Toronto, Canada, got out of bed one night and drove almost 15 miles from his home, where he killed his mother-in-law, then attempted to kill his while sleepwalking. Parks, who said he was unconscious through the whole ordeal, had entered his in-laws' home with a key he'd been given in the past. He bludgeoned his mother-in-law to death with a tire iron, then attempted to choke his father-in-law to death, who miraculously survived the attack. In an extra surprising twist, Parks then drove straight to a police station (still covered in blood), and told the cops, 'I think I have just killed two people.' Parks would even go on to say he was fast asleep when he surrendered. A year later, he was acquitted of murder and attempted murder using a rare legal defense known as 'non-insane automatism,' supported by evidence of parasomnia (a sleep disorder). Last month, authorities in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, discovered almost 400 corpses at a crematorium. The remains were found abandoned and piled across multiple rooms and had reportedly been there for up to two years. Grieving families had apparently been given fake ashes in place of their loved ones' remains. The crematorium's owner and an employee were arrested and charged with mishandling human remains. Officials are working to identify the deceased and notify families. In 2024, Russ McKamey — the owner of McKamey Manor, a notorious "torturer" haunted house attraction in Tennessee that was featured in a Hulu documentary — was arrested and charged with attempted murder, rape, and domestic assault after allegedly strangling his girlfriend during multiple incidents. McKamey Manor had already gained attention for its extreme and controversial experiences, where participants endured intense psychological and physical horror-style challenges. The arrest subsequently led to renewed scrutiny and public outcry over the attraction's practices. Charges were ultimately dropped in September 2024, and despite public backlash, McKamey Manor remains in operation. On July 12, 2025, a man died after falling down an elevator shaft while exploring the abandoned Southwest Detroit Hospital in the Corktown neighborhood. He was with a group of people inside the five-story building, which has been vacant since 2006. Emergency responders arrived, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Police are still investigating the incident, but they say there are no signs of foul play. Earlier in July, a man was found dead, wrapped in a blue tarp and a blanket, in the open‑air donation area outside a Goodwill store in Pasadena, California. A store employee discovered the body among donated items near the drop‑off bins — though not inside a locked receptacle. There were no visible injuries on the man's body, but authorities suspect that drugs may have played a role in his death. The LA County coroner has deferred the cause of death pending further examination, and the man's identity remains private pending next-of-kin notification. In August 1978, Janet Parker, a medical photographer at the University of Birmingham, fell ill with what was eventually diagnosed as smallpox — despite the disease having been declared eradicated just a year earlier. She worked one floor above a laboratory that was still conducting research on the smallpox virus. Investigators believe the virus somehow escaped through a poorly sealed duct or air system, leading to her accidental exposure. Despite being hospitalized and placed in isolation, Janet died on Sept. 11, 1978. Her case sparked national panic, led to mass vaccinations in Birmingham, and triggered a formal inquiry that changed how dangerous viruses are handled in labs. She remains the last known person to die from smallpox. Back in 2012, a woman's stomach had to be removed after she'd been given a liquid nitrogen shot at a bar in Lancaster, England. 18‑year‑old Gaby Scanlon had been out celebrating her birthday at Oscar's Wine Bar and Bistro in Lancaster when she was served a nitro‑Jägermeister shot prepared with liquid nitrogen. Moments after drinking it, she experienced "agonising pain" as smoke poured from her mouth and nose, and her stomach rapidly expanded and ruptured. Doctors performed emergency surgery, removing her stomach and reconnecting her small intestine to her esophagus to save her life. After an investigation, the bar was fined £100,000 in September 2015 for failing its duty of care — no risk assessment was carried out, and staff hadn't warned customers to wait until the nitrogen had fully evaporated. On June 21, 2025, a hiker from Brazil, Juliana Marins, fell into a steep ravine near the summit of Mount Rinjani, an active volcano in Indonesia. Though she initially survived the 1,600-foot fall, poor weather and dangerous terrain delayed rescue efforts. Her body was found four days later, on June 24, almost 2,000 feet below the trail. An autopsy later confirmed she died from blunt force trauma. In other terrible hiking news, just days later, on June 18, 2025, six men were hiking near Rattlesnake Falls in Northern California when three of them — Matthew Anthony, Matthew Schoenecker, and Valentino Creus — jumped into the waterfall's pool and were swept away by the strong current. Creus had begun struggling in the water, prompting the other two to leap in to help, but all three drowned. The remote location, fast-moving water, and poor weather made search efforts difficult, and the remaining hikers had to be airlifted out for safety. Rescue divers located the victims' bodies on June 21, and they were officially identified over the next two days. In 19th-century Paris, the city's morgue became a popular tourist attraction where people came to view dead bodies on public display. Located near Notre Dame, the morgue showed the corpses of unidentified people behind glass windows in the hopes someone might recognize them. But instead of just helping with identification, it turned into a major spectacle, sometimes drawing more visitors than the Eiffel Tower. People lined up to stare, vendors actually started selling snacks outside, and newspapers turned the stories behind the bodies into sensational headlines. Bodies were shown until they decomposed too much, then wax figures were used. Eventually, the morgue was closed to the public in 1907 due to ethical concerns. In February 2013, a woman in Turkey was decapitated in a go-kart crash. The victim, 24-year-old Turkish university student Tuğba Erdoğan, had reportedly been racing around a corner when her vehicle collided with a safety barrier. Apparently, her scarf or seat belt became entangled around her neck, and the force of the impact decapitated her. Witnesses reported the belt tightened during the crash, though later investigations suggested the scarf may have also played a role by getting caught in the kart's shaft. Some families in the UK who lost loved ones in the recent Air India plane crash were given the wrong remains. A lawyer for about 20 of the families says DNA tests showed that some of the remains were mixed up — in one case, parts from more than one person were in the same coffin, and in another, the remains didn't match the family at all. One family even had to cancel a funeral when they found out the body wasn't their relative. Indian officials say they followed the proper steps and are now working with the UK to sort things out. In case you didn't know the original story: On June 12, 2025, an Air India Flight carrying 242 people — 230 passengers and 12 crew members — crashed into a medical college hostel shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. At least 270 people were killed (including those on the flight and on the ground), making it one of India's worst aviation disasters in history. A cause is still being investigated. Finally, in 1993, a lawyer named Garry Hoy died while trying to show off how strong the windows were in his office on the 24th floor of his office building, the Toronto-Dominion Centre. He threw himself against the glass — a stunt he had apparently done before — but this time, the glass didn't break, the entire window frame gave way, and he fell to his death. Garry's death was ruled an accident and is remembered as one of the strangest in legal history. The law firm he worked for closed a few years later, partly due to the shock of the event. Are you obsessed with this kind of content? Subscribe to the That Got Dark newsletter to get your weekly dopamine fix of the macabre delivered RIGHT to your inbox!
Buzz Feed
5 days ago
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What's A True Crime Case No One Talks About?
There are a lot of true crime stories that are so infamous it feels like evveeeerrryone knows about them — Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, and D.B. list goes on. But on the flip side, there are actually many true crime stories not a lot of people have heard about before. For example, have you ever heard of the "Hangman" or "Killer Cop," aka Gerard John Schaefer Jr.? He was a former sheriff's deputy and suspected serial killer active in Florida during the '70s who killed two teen girls. It's suspected he actually had dozens more victims. Or did you know about the unsolved Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders that took place from 1972–1973 in Northern California? There were seven confirmed killings, but possibly a lot more. Perhaps you've gone your whole life not knowing that the R.E.M. song, 'What's the Frequency, Kenneth?' is a reference to the 1986 crime where CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather was attacked and mugged by two men while one of them repeatedly said, "Kenneth, what is the frequency?' Basically, what I'm saying is, there are A LOOOOOOT of unbelievable, true crime stories out there, especially ones people don't talk enough about. So we wanna know: what's a lesser-known true crime story that we haven't already heard?! Tell us in the comments or via the totally anonymous form below for a chance to be featured in a future BuzzFeed Community post or video! Do you love all things scary, dark, and creepy? Subscribe to the That Got Dark newsletter to get your weekly dopamine fix of the macabre delivered RIGHT to your inbox!
Buzz Feed
6 days ago
- Buzz Feed
Creepy, Dark, And Seriously Messed-Up Things I Learned This Week
Hello! I'm Crystal, and I write the That Got Dark newsletter, BuzzFeed's weekly roundup of all things creepy, macabre, and horrible AF. And if you looooove this kind of content, you should subscribe to get your weekly dopamine fix of the macabre delivered RIGHT to your inbox! Here's what the newsletter is covering this week: The 1987 sleepwalking murder case of Kenneth Parks in Toronto, Canada. One night, ALL while sleepwalking, Parks got out of bed and drove almost 15 miles from his home, where he killed his mother-in-law, then attempted to kill his father-in-law. Parks, who said he was unconscious through the whole ordeal, had entered his in-laws' home with a key he'd been given in the past. He bludgeoned his mother-in-law to death with a tire iron, then attempted to choke his father-in-law to death, who miraculously survived the attack. In an extra surprising twist, Parks then drove straight to a police station (still covered in blood), and told the cops, 'I think I have just killed two people.' Parks would even go on to say he was fast asleep when he surrendered. A year later, he was acquitted of murder and attempted murder using a rare legal defense known as 'non-insane automatism,' supported by evidence of parasomnia (a sleep disorder). The existence of Heritage USA, a massive Christian theme park and resort complex in Fort Mill, South Carolina, that was built in 1978 by televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. At its peak, Heritage USA drew 5–6 million visitors annually, billing itself as the third most-visited park in the US and being called a "Christian Disneyland." It closed in 1989 after a major financial scandal, the loss of its tax-exempt status, and damage from Hurricane Hugo. Today, some structures remain, with parts repurposed by a church ministry, but nearly everyone who's seen it since says its abandoned state and sketchy history make it very creepy. Above is "Praise the Lord" board chairman Rev. Jerry Falwell sliding down the 52-foot water slide at Heritage USA. And here's what one Buzzfeed Community member had to say about their IRL experience with the eerie theme park: 'In the mid-'80s, my brother returned to school as a journalism major at the University of South Carolina. One of his assignments was to write a story about the newly opened theme park. So, one weekend, off he went. He later told me that the whole time he was there, he felt like he had to keep looking over his shoulder because he felt like a couple of guys were going to come up behind him, grab him, and say, 'You don't belong here.' Wish he was still here to tell the story himself.' —Anonymous The horrible case of Genie, a 13-year-old feral child who was discovered in Arcadia, California, in 1970 after years of horrific abuse. Genie (which was a pseudonym) was discovered after being brutally isolated and starved, strapped either to a potty chair or a crib, and forbidden to speak by her abusive father for almost her entire life. Her treatment had been so bad, it resulted in severe physical and linguistic deprivation. She was subsequently placed under intensive study and gained some vocabulary and basic communication skills, but failed to acquire normal grammar. Genie's case became known as one of the "worst cases of child abuse" in the US, and ultimately raised ethical concerns about the treatment of vulnerable subjects and their rights. The tragic death of actor Angus Cloud, who died of an accidental drug overdose — a lethal mix of methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine, and benzodiazepines — on July 31, 2023, in his family's home in Oakland, California. Cloud had reportedly been staying with his mother following the death of his father in May. In an interview with People, Cloud's mother, Lisa, said that she found her son in the morning slumped over his desk. She tried to resuscitate him, but by the time first responders arrived, it was too late, and they later determined Cloud had already been deceased by the time they'd even been dispatched. Lisa explained to People, "He got tired from lack of oxygen. Everything just slowed down, and eventually his heart stopped and he went to sleep. But he didn't kill himself.' Finally, the case of gruesome serial killer William Bonin, known as the 'Freeway Killer,' who raped and murdered at least 21 teenage boys and young men in Southern California between 1979 and 1980. Bonin would lure victims into his van, often with help from accomplices, then assault and kill them, dumping their bodies along freeways. Caught in 1980, he was convicted of 14 murders and died by lethal injection in 1996 — California's first to be carried out by that method. His last meal: Two large pepperoni and sausage pizzas, three pints of coffee ice cream, and three six-packs of Coca-Cola. I think that's just about enough unsettling stuff for the week, don't you? In the next issue, we'll tackle the story of the 'Twitter Killer' and the infamous murder of Sharon Tate. Love this kind of content? Subscribe to the That Got Dark newsletter to get a weekly post just like this delivered directly to your inbox. It's a scary good time you won't want to miss. Do you have a weird, creepy, or shocking story you want to share? Perhaps there's a strange Wikipedia page you want to talk about? Tell me all about it at thatgotdark@ and who knows, maybe it'll be featured in a future edition of That Got Dark!
