Monday, October 31, 2016

"13 Fucking Creepy Wikipedia Pages That’ll Keep You Up At Night"

From BUZZFEED

1. The Hinterkaifeck Murders

The Hinterkaifeck Murders
Wikipedia Commons / en.wikipedia.org
Suggested by trdl and Bonnie Blair McPhee, Facebook.
In 1922, on a small farm in what is now Germany, six people were mysteriously murdered with a mattock (a seriously dangerous-looking farming tool that’s kind of a combination between an axe and a pickaxe). The murders have never been solved, but that’s not even the creepy part: A few days before the attack, Andreas Gruber – the farmer at Hinterkaifeck – told his neighbours that he’d seen footprints in the snow in the direction of the farm from the nearby forest, but none leading back. Oh, and their maid had quit six months before the murders, because she claimed the place was haunted. Excuse me while I sleep with the lights on for the rest of my entire life.

2. The Sodder Children’s Disappearance

The Sodder Children's Disappearance
Wikipedia Commons / en.wikipedia.org
Suggested by beco1296.
On Christmas Eve in 1945, George and Jennie Sodder and nine of their ten children were caught in a fire that destroyed their home in West Virginia. George and Jennie managed to escape the fire with four of the children – and the bodies of the five remaining children were never found. The Sodders were convinced that the children had survived, even going so far as to put up a billboard offering rewards for any information, which remained up until Jennie’s death in the late ’80s. The case is surrounded by plenty of mysterious circumstances, but the weirdest turned up in 1967: An anonymous letter was sent to the Sodders, along with a photo claiming to be of one of the missing children, Louis, now grown-up. The only remaining member of the Sodder family – Sylvia – still believes that her siblings survived the fire, and does all she can to help the investigation of the case.

3. The Dyatlov Pass Incident

The Dyatlov Pass Incident
Wikipedia Commons / en.wikipedia.org
Suggested by collt and mrskyloren.
If you’re a fan of unsolved mysteries, you’ve probably heard of this one, but it’s still creepy AF. Nine experienced trekkers died mysteriously in the northern Ural Mountains in 1959 – according to investigators, six died of hypothermia, but the others showed signs of physical trauma, including brain damage and a fractured skull. Oh, and one had their tongue missing. So there’s that. There have been a bunch of logical(ish) explanations over the years, but you can’t just explain away the fact that their tent was cut open from the inside, or that the footprints leading away from the tent were from bare feet, or that the camera they found that wasn’t recorded as part of the team’s equipment. CREEPY.

4. The Death of Elisa Lam

Suggested by ucftracy.
Elisa Lam was a 21-year-old Canadian college student whose body was found in a water tank on the roof of the Cecil Hotel in LA in 2013 after guests complained that their water was oddly coloured and had a weird smell. Her body was found naked, but her clothes and possessions were floating alongside it, and coroners found no evidence to suggest she had been physically assaulted or that she had committed suicide. The creepiest part, though, is definitely the surveillance footage released by the police of Lam in an elevator at the Cecil Hotel on the day of her disappearance. It may just be the creepy mindset, but her behaviour in the video is seriously unsettling – and it’s said to have been Ryan Murphy’s inspiration for AHS: Hotel.

5. H.H. Holmes

Wikipedia Commons / en.wikipedia.org
Suggested by tammyclementso.
Dr Henry Howard Holmes is said to have been one of the first documented serial killers. He ran a hotel – now called the “Murder Castle” – in Chicago in the late 19th century. Oh, and he designed it himself, specifically with the intention of murdering people. That’s some creepy shit. He confessed to 27 murders in total, but investigators believe that the real body count may be as many as 200. His Wiki page details all the different methods he used to kill, and it’s seriously some Saw-level stuff.

6. Elizabeth Báthory

Elizabeth Báthory
Wikipedia Commons / en.wikipedia.org
Suggested by jmc289.
Elizabeth Báthory was a Hungarian countess who lived during the 16th and 17th centuries and holds a Guinness World Record for being the most prolific female serial killer of all time, because that’s apparently a thing. It’s said that she murdered over 650 girls and women in various gruesome ways. SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY. Her family name prevented her from trial, though, and she was just locked up in a castle until she died.

7. The Black Dahlia Murder

The Black Dahlia Murder
Wikipedia Commons / en.wikipedia.org
Suggested by cristaraineyb.
There probably aren’t many people who haven’t heard of the Black Dahlia case, but it’s always a good idea to brush up on your facts. Elizabeth Short – nicknamed the Black Dahlia – was 22 when she was murdered and her body mutilated. The story was sensationalised in the press, and a few days after her body was discovered, someone claiming to be the killer called the police, saying they were concerned that the investigation was “tailing off”. The killer was never caught, but over 50 people have confessed to the murder over the years – and there’s an entire Wiki pagededicated to suspects in the case.

8. Johnny Gosch

Johnny Gosch
FilmBuff
Suggested by Rose Wilson, Facebook.
Johnny Gosch was 12 years old when he disappeared during his paper route on 5 September 1982. He was assumed kidnapped and his mother, Noreen, maintained that he was still alive – she said that he had been seen in Oklahoma a few months after he disappeared, when a boy was seen yelling for help before he was dragged away by two men. The creepiest part, though, happened 15 years later: Noreen Gosch claims to have been woken at around 2:30am one night in 1997 by a knock at her door. When she opened it, a 27-year-old Johnny was standing there with a man she didn’t know. They talked for around an hour and a half, and she never saw him again. Oh, and if you’re into documentaries, there’s one about this – it’s called Who Took Johnny?, and it’s on Netflix. You’re welcome.

9. List of Missing Aircraft

List of Missing Aircraft
Wikipedia Commons / en.wikipedia.org
Suggested by nicoler4931ad9fb.
This is less of a creepy article and more of a starting point for the discovery of many, many creepy articles. This is a super comprehensive list ranging from more well-known cases, like the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, to some that are less famous. Sure, a few of them have some solid logical explanations, but you can’t tell me there’s nothing creepy about planes just disappearing off the face of the earth without a trace. I’ve seen Lost.

10. The Mystery of the Somerton Man

Wikipedia Commons / en.wikipedia.org
Suggested by dsw62.
The Somerton Man mystery – also known as the Tamam Shud case – is considered to be one of the most mysterious mysteries to ever mystery in Australia. In 1948, the body of an unidentified man was found on a beach in Adelaide. It’s creepy because, even after all these years, the man has never been identified, but he left behind a whole bunch of unexplainable clues, like a weird, undecipherable code and the torn piece of paper found on his body that simply read “tamám shud” – Persian for “ended” or “finished”. Creepy.

11. The Roanoke Colony

The Roanoke Colony
Wikipedia Commons / en.wikipedia.org
Suggested by garbus.
You’ve probably heard of Roanoke – after all, it ~was~ the inspiration for the newest season of American Horror Story – but if you haven’t, now is definitely the time of year to read up. Roanoke was a 16th-century colony in what’s now North Carolina and was led by John White, who was later elected governor. White left for England shortly after arriving at Roanoke, and when he returned, he found the colony abandoned – and the word “Croatoan” carved into the fence. There are a lot of theories (and a lot of ghost stories), but no one knows for sure what happened to the colonists. ~Spooky noises.~

12. List of People Who Disappeared Mysteriously

Wikipedia Commons / en.wikipedia.org
Suggested by danahodges.
Again, this article isn’t creepy in itself – but it’ll DEFINITELY keep you up all night. Here are hundreds (probably, I haven’t counted) of mysterious disappearances to read about all in one convenient location. Some of them are cool historical figures, like Theodosia Burr, daughter of US Vice President Aaron Burr, who was lost at sea. Then there was Percy Fawcett, a British archaeologist and explorer who disappeared on his mission to find El Dorado. Whoever you decide to read about first, there’s no doubt it’ll end in an hours-long wikihole. So, have fun!

13. Human

Human
Wikipedia Commons / en.wikipedia.org
Suggested by LordRoem.
“What are you talking about, weirdo?” I hear you saying. “Why would the Wikipedia page for human be creepy? I AM a human.” READ. IT. As the commenter pointed out, it’s super unsettling because “it genuinely sounds like how aliens or some other form of life would describe a species under controlled observation”. And not only is it creepy as hell, it’s also really long and you’ll probably learn something about yourself. You’re welcome!

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