Amanda Sedlak-Hevener lists at Ranker - the ultimate source for lists and rankings in all categories

Amanda Sedlak-Hevener - Lists at Ranker

Graveyard Shift

The Kelly-Anne Bates Murder Case stands out as a haunting reminder of the dangers of hidden domestic abuse and manipulation. In 1996, this deeply disturbing case shocked the UK with its brutal nature and the cruel circumstances that led to the tragic end of a promising young life. The terrifying story of Kelly-Anne Bates challenges our understanding of relationships and serves as a cautionary tale of unchecked coercive control.Three notable facts about the case highlight its horrific nature: Kelly-Anne was only 17 years old when she became involved with James Patterson Smith, an older man with a history of violence and manipulation. Over an extended period, Bates suffered relentless physical abuse, resulting in more than 150 injuries, including stab wounds and mutilation. Her tragic death, ruled as drowning in her own blood, exposed Smith's gruesome methods and left a scar on the collective memory of those who followed the trial.For those interested in further exploring the chilling events and unsettling dynamics surrounding this crime, all the Kelly-Anne Bates case details are laid out below. Uncover the full context behind this heartbreaking story that starkly illustrates the devastating effects of domestic abuse and power imbalances in relationships.

The Kelly-Anne Bates Murder Case: The Disturbing Details

The Disturbing Case Of Kelly-Anne Bates

United States

Amanda Sedlak-Hevener

Unspeakable Times

Skylar Neese&#39;s tweets&nbsp;proved instrumental in helping authorities to solve her murder. At 16 years old, Neese vanished from her parents&#39; apartment in Morgantown, West Virginia, on July 6, 2012. Her parents described her as a hard-working honors student who had a bright future ahead of her. On the night she disappeared, Neese&#39;s best friends, Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf, <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/13-real-life-kids-that-belong-in-a-horror-movie/kier-harris" target="_blank">stabbed her to death</a> on a rural road in Pennsylvania.&nbsp;

Shoaf and Eddy eventually pleaded guilty to Neese&rsquo;s murder, and West Virginia courts <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/most-brutal-kid-crimes/mariel-loveland" target="_blank">tried them as adults</a>. Shoaf received a sentence of between 10 and 30 years for second-degree murder, while courts charged Eddy with first-degree murder and sentenced her to 15 years to life in prison. Both girls are in the Lakin Correctional Center in West Virginia. Neese&rsquo;s death highlights the emergence of <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/tweeting-killers/cristina-sanza" target="_blank">social media in murder cases</a>. 
&nbsp;

The Skylar Neese Murder Case: Her Killers, The Autopsy, And More

Joyce McKinney is a former beauty queen who made headlines in 1977 when she kidnapped Mormon missionary Kirk Anderson. McKinney turned Anderson into her sex slave. At the time, the case of the “<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.ranker.com/list/ex-mormon-celebrities/celebrity-lists">manacled Mormon</a>” made headlines both in England and in the United States.Since then, McKinney has made headlines for other behavior, such as purchasing a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.ranker.com/list/people-who-look-like-their-pets/ashley-reign">clone of her favorite dog</a> in Korea and for suing the filmmaker who turned her court case into a documentary. McKinney fled Britain before her trial and because the country made no extradition request, she saw no jail time. This was mostly due to the courts of the time finding the idea of a woman overcoming a man and raping him to be preposterous.After McKinney <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.ranker.com/list/famous-kidnapping-victims/ranker-news">kidnapped and imprisoned</a> Anderson, she continued to attract the public’s attention with her fame-seeking behavior and unusual backstory.&nbsp; &nbsp;

Manacled Mormon: The Joyce McKinney Kidnapping Of Kirk Anderson

Manacled Mormon: The Joyce McKinney Kidnapping of Kirk Anderson

What do you get when you combine survivalist obsession, Evangelical Christian doctrine, and new age ideas based on the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Knights Templar? You get a creepy&nbsp;cult founded in 1984 that may still have followers in existence. So what is the Order of the Solar Temple, as they so loftily call&nbsp;themselves?Founded&nbsp;by Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret,&nbsp;the Order of the Solar Temple&nbsp;was located in Switzerland, France, and&nbsp;Canada. They had several directives in creating a cult but their basic goal was to reestablish the notions of authority and power they thought&nbsp;the world needed. They did some especially crazy things that included murder, rituals, wearing hoods, and, of course,&nbsp;mass suicide&nbsp;in 1994 and 1997. Here are the most unsettling facts about this elite cult.

12 Disturbing Secrets Of The Order Of The Solar Temple Cult

Disturbing Secrets Of The Order Of The Solar Temple Cult

Fads

The Victorian Era lasted throughout most of the 1800s. This period of time was known for its technological advancements and for its increased social mobility. And with that came new beauty trends that&nbsp;spread from Britain to the United States by word of mouth and publications aimed at women - some beauty trends that <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/crazy-womens-beauty-standards-from-history/machk?page=2">would never happen in today&#39;s world</a>.

Not all of these trends were good - many&nbsp;of them had deadly consequences. Some deadly Victorian beauty trends included the use of what we now know are poisonous compounds that women placed on&nbsp;their eyes and skin. These deadly Victorian beauty fads did not stop at makeup, even clothing created hazardous conditions. One beauty trend has even been referred to as <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/weird-but-true-victorian-era-facts/megan-summers" target="_blank">&#39;Consumptive Chic&#39;</a> because it romanticized tuberculosis. Until the Victorian era ended and new trends took over, women subjected themselves to these dangers every day - all to make themselves more attractive to the opposite sex.&nbsp;

9 Bizarre Victorian Beauty Trends That Were Sometimes Fatal

9 Phenomenally Stupid (And Fatal) Beauty Trends From Around The World During Victorian Era

Organized Crime

George &quot;Baby Face&quot; Nelson, was born Lester Joseph Gillis&nbsp;in <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/chicago-crimes/christopher-shultz" target="_blank">Chicago, IL</a>,&nbsp;in 1908. He was known for his diverse&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Face_Nelson" target="_blank">criminal exploits</a>, including bank robberies, bootlegging, and car thefts, as well as for his violent temper. Some modern historians go so far as to call him something of a <a href="http://historicalgmen.squarespace.com/baby-face-nelsons-body-17-roun/" target="_blank">psychopath.</a> Nelson ran with the likes of&nbsp;John Dillinger and his gang, although he also worked for other gangsters, such as <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/al-capone-trivia-facts/jeffrichard" target="_blank">Al Capone</a>. Gangster Baby Face Nelson quickly became Public Enemy Number One after the death of Dillinger. Despite all of his evil deeds, Baby Face Nelson was a family man who took his wife and kids with him while he was on the lam. That is, until his death in 1934 during the &quot;Battle of Barrington,&quot; where he found himself in&nbsp;a vicious shoot-out with the FBI.

The Disturbing Deeds Of Baby Face Nelson, Public Enemy Number One

The Gruesome Crimes Of George 'Baby Face' Nelson, Public Enemy Number One

Death

The Victorian&nbsp;era is remembered for its many weird and morbid traditions, including post-mortem photography. Yes, the time period that <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/victorian-death-and-mourning-customs/lisa-waugh" target="_blank">created elaborate mourning rituals</a> also popularized after-death portraits.&nbsp;The medium of modern photography was invented and refined during the 19th century.&nbsp;People who could afford to have family portraits taken did so, but this remained an expensive endeavor, one&nbsp;out of reach for most people.

When a loved one died, however, families came&nbsp;up with the money to have funeral portraits taken. For many, this would be the only photo they would ever have&nbsp;to remember a loved one.

6 Sad And Strange Facts About Victorian Death Photography

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Ingalls Wilder was a homesteader and author, famous for her Little House on the Prairie book series. Like <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-juana-maria/setareh-janda">Juana Maria</a>, who inspired the book, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Wilder actually existed. Laura&nbsp;Ingalls&nbsp;Wilder was a <a href="http://www.notablebiographies.com/We-Z/Wilder-Laura-Ingalls.html">real woman</a> who&nbsp;wrote books inspired by events that took place in her life. For example, she really grew up on rural farms in multiple states;&nbsp;her sister Mary <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/129021/laura-ingalls-wilder">actually went blind</a>;&nbsp;and her husband, Almanzo, was not a work of fiction.&nbsp;Pictures of the real Laura&nbsp;Ingalls&nbsp;Wilder and family exist, and there is a museum dedicated to the family in Mansfield, Missouri, where visitors can at least see part of the&nbsp;real <a href="https://doyouremember.com/83810/little-house-on-the-prairie-cast-now" target="_blank">little house on the prairie</a>.&nbsp;

The real <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Ingalls_Wilder">Laura Ingalls Wilder</a> was born on February 7, 1867, in Pepin County, Wisconsin, and she died at age 90 on February 10, 1957 in Mansfield, Missouri. Thanks to her books and the television show based on them, she will never be forgotten.&nbsp;

True Facts About Laura Ingalls Wilder And The Real Life Little House On Prairie

Facts About Laura Ingalls Wilder And The Real Life Little House On The Prairie

True Crime

If you enjoyed watching Sofía Vergara as the notorious drug lord on the Netflix miniseries or want to dive deeper into the life of the Colombian “Black Widow,” here are some morbid yet compelling facts about Griselda Blanco. Known for her brutality and visionary tactics, Blanco transcended the boundaries of what women were thought capable in the world of organized crime.&nbsp;Born in February 1943, in Cartagena, Colombia, Blanco was raised in the slums of Medellín, a rugged beginning that is believed to have shaped and hardened her character. Blanco's early life was steeped in poverty, depravity, and violence, setting the stage for her later life of criminal activity, marked by its notorious acts of ruthlessness. Her name would go down in history as the “Godmother of Cocaine,” becoming one of the first female drug lords of the Colombian Medellín Cartel.Blanco's crimes were manifold and her influence was far-reaching. She carved for herself a unique niche in the heavily male-dominated drug trafficking industry in the 1970s and '80s, establishing a billion-dollar cocaine trade between Colombia and the United States. Throughout her reign, Blanco was stained by heinous acts, including hundreds of murders, drug trafficking, and kidnapping charges. Despite her diminutive stature, her reputation for ruthlessness, and her sophisticated network of smugglers made her a figure to be feared. During this time, Blanco also had four husbands and four children.Despite her ability to consistently evade justice and her unprecedented power, Blanco's life would ultimately come to a violent end, mirroring the very life she herself had led and propagated. Her downfall was both dramatic and brutal—a mere echo of the terror she once instilled. After spending 19 years in prison in the US, Blanco fled to Colombia upon her release in 2004. In 2012, she was killed in a drive-by motorcycle assassination in Medellín.&nbsp;In this revealing deep dive, we invite readers to delve into this intriguing and spine-chilling account of Griselda Blanco's life and empire. Buckle up for an unnerving roller-coaster ride into the life of the “Godmother of Cocaine” as we uncover sinister facts about one of the most infamous female drug lords in history.

8 Brutal Stories About Griselda Blanco, "The Cocaine Godmother"

8 Crazy Facts About Griselda Blanco, Miami's Merciless Cocaine Queenpin

Travel

Most museums are the same&nbsp;- they contain ordinary&nbsp;stuff (but, you know, old), paintings and sculptures and whatnot, or long&nbsp;dead organisms stuffed and/or propped up for our amusement. Honestly, they can be <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-most-overrated-museums-in-the-world">pretty overrated</a>. As much as we want to seem cultured and sophisticated, it all gets pretty old hat after a while. Some museums, however, are different. Some museums are actually super f*cking interesting.There are freaky museums (filled with weird things that might haunt your dreams) all across America. Dead bodies, aliens, bananas, pretty much everything that's strange and thought-provoking has a museum out there somewhere. And they are definitely worth checking out. Add some of these stops to your next road trip, and you'll be able to brag that you spent time at some of these strange destinations!&nbsp;

Need Spring Break Plans? Check Out One Of These Wild Museums

The 16 Strangest Museums In The United States

On December 3, 1957, seven-year-old Maria&nbsp;Ridulph&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/people-who-disappeared-mysteriously/alby-thompson" target="_blank">mysteriously disappeared</a> off a street corner in her neighborhood.&nbsp;Her body was found around five months later, 100 miles from her Sycamore, IL, home. Several leads were investigated, but no clear suspect emerged. Ridulph's&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/famous-unsolved-murders-or-high-profile-unsolved-murder-cases/web-infoguy" target="_blank">unsolved murder</a> became a cold case.Then, in 2008, headlines were made when a breakthrough occurred in the Maria Ridulph cold case. Jack McCullough (then known as John Tessier) was brought in, and the murder of Maria Ridulph was believed to be solved in 2012 when he was convicted of the crime. But the twists kept coming in the decades-old tragedy: as it turns out, McCullough was wrongly&nbsp;imprisoned for a crime that he didn't commit.McCullough got out of prison in 2016, and the charges against him were dropped. And with Jack McCullough innocent, Maria Ridulph's&nbsp;case is once again open and her murder remains unsolved.

How The Murder Of Maria Ridulph Sent The Wrong Man To Prison For Years

The Sad Tale Of Maria Ridulph's Disappearance And The Trial Of Jack McCullough

There are many ways for a sadistic person to kill someone. Some prefer strangulation or placing their victims' <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/acid-body-disposal/chuck-stern" target="_blank">bodies in acid</a>, others set their victims on fire. These killers who burned their victims alive either did so on purpose, by dousing them with gasoline or kerosene and lighting a match, or by accident, by setting fire to a house that unfortunately had people in it. Either way, the&nbsp;people who were burned alive by their killers suffered a great deal, in a similar manner&nbsp;as those who were <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/killers-skinned-victims/laura-allan" target="_blank">skinned alive</a>. These&nbsp;true stories about people who were burned to death are quite horrific.&nbsp;

Sadistic Killers Who Burned Their Victims Alive

Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in April of 1865. The Abraham Lincoln assassination was <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Abraham_Lincoln">set in motion</a> earlier that year&nbsp;by Booth and some of his <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.ranker.com/list/lincoln-assassination-conspiracies/mike-rothschild">co-conspirators</a>, who blamed Lincoln&nbsp;for the Confederacy's surrender at Appomattox. Initially, Booth planned to kidnap the President but later&nbsp;changed his mind&nbsp;to kill the man.On the evening of April 14, 1865, Lincoln, his wife, and an audience of people were seated in Ford's Theater&nbsp;watching the play Our American Cousin. At 10:25 pm, Booth burst into the President's private box&nbsp;and shot Lincoln in the back of the head. He then jumped onto the stage and fled. Lincoln was examined by doctors and then&nbsp;taken across the street to a room in the Petersen House where he died on April 15, 1865 at 7:22 am.&nbsp;The after effects of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-the-assassination-of-abraham-lincoln/setareh-janda">Lincoln's assassination</a> were immediate.&nbsp;People in the North mourned the loss of their leader, while some in the South rejoiced&nbsp;- and paid a hefty price for doing so.&nbsp;A ripple effect spread through the country over the next few years. Some <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.ranker.com/list/negative-quotes-about-abraham-lincoln/justin-andress">triumphed</a> in the wake of&nbsp;Lincoln's assassination, while others were left to pick up the pieces of the presidency and mourn. Here's a look into the ramifications of that momentous event.UPDATE: An initial reference to Secretary of War William Seward being stabbed by Booth was incorrect and removed.&nbsp;

The Immediate Aftermath of President Lincoln's Assassination

What Happened Right After Lincoln Was Assassinated?

White House

The <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/white-house-rooms/katherine-ripley">White House</a> is a well-known historical landmark where many famous presidents have lived, but did you know it has a creepy past?&nbsp;The structure itself dates back to 1800&nbsp;and has been the home of&nbsp;every president since John Adams. Being around that long - and being at the center of many monumental events - it's no wonder haunted White House stories exist.&nbsp;That means that there are quite a few ghost presidents and first ladies lurking within those walls. These scary Washington stories all focus on this one, single building&nbsp;and all of the eerie experiences people have had in it.&nbsp;

10 Creepy Presidential Ghost Stories

10 Creepy Presidential Ghost Stories From The White House

The next time you go house-hunting, be sure to thoroughly look into the backstory of the house you&#39;re interested in. These properties might have been <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/houses-connected-to-famous-crimes/philgibbons" target="_blank">inhabited by infamous offenders</a>,&nbsp;used by members of the adult entertainment&nbsp;industry, or contained the &quot;essence&quot; of the (now deceased) former&nbsp;owners. Real estate agents must, by law, disclose the truth about these potentially haunted houses, but&nbsp;some may not even know what happened there unless&nbsp;they speak to the neighbors.&nbsp;

These&nbsp;<a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1hi61m/real_estate_agents_of_reddit_have_you_ever_sold_a/" target="_blank">Reddit&nbsp;accounts</a>&nbsp;detail&nbsp;what went down in homes before their current owners purchased them. Turn all of the lights on and remember that home isn&#39;t just where the heart is;&nbsp;there&nbsp;are <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/creepy-weird-home-finds/amandasedlakhevener" target="_blank">plenty of horrors</a>&nbsp;too.

Terrible Things People Discovered About Homes For Sale

20 People Describe The Horrible Backstories Behind Houses Up For Sale

Who was the Axeman of New Orleans? This unidentified serial killer <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.ranker.com/list/serial-killers-who-were-never-caught/ranker-crime?page=2&amp;var=6">was never caught</a>, though he wreaked havoc&nbsp;on the Big Easy in the early 1900s. While his murderous spree only lasted about a year, he attacked at least 12 people&nbsp;within the&nbsp;New Orleans city limits.&nbsp;Most of his victims were grocers - or the family members of grocers - and many were Italian Americans. It was suspected his the bloody crimes were racially motivated or tied to the mafia, but that has never been proven.&nbsp;There's some undisputed facts about the Axeman of New Orleans: He loved jazz music, he <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.ranker.com/list/letters-from-serial-killers/michael-darling">wrote letters about his crimes</a>, and instilled fear of those living at the time. What's unknown is who he is, where he went, or why he stopped killing.&nbsp;

13 Grisly Facts About the Axeman of New Orleans

13 Bone-Chilling Facts About the Axeman of New Orleans

Crumbling headstones. Tangled weeds. Dark histories. Abandoned&nbsp;asylum cemeteries certainly have a spooky atmosphere. The real-life stories behind these plots are chilling as well. <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/life-in-19th-century-mental-institutions-and-insane-asylums/christopher-myers">Insane asylums</a> were popular throughout the most of the 19th and early 20th centuries, when psychological care was in its infancy. But the practice of mass containment of the mentally ill fell out of favor, and the&nbsp;asylums closed.

In the decades since, most cities with <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/paranormal-happenings-in-old-mental-institutions/christopher-myers">abandoned asylums</a> on their outskirts left the buildings and their accompanying cemeteries to decay. Advances in medical technology combined with a lack of government funding meant that these buildings were not properly taken care of before they were closed down entirely. In some cases, all that remains of the asylums are the abandoned cemeteries containing hundreds of patients who died while forced to stay there. It&#39;s no wonder that ghostly tales surround these lonely, possibly <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/haunted-asylums/amber-fua">haunted</a> cemeteries.

10 Creepy Stories Of Abandoned Insane Asylum Cemeteries

10 Creepy Tales From Abandoned Asylum Cemeteries

John Wayne Gacy

John Wayne Gacy was a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/most-prolific-american-serial-killers/ranker-crime">prolific American serial killer</a>&nbsp;who terrorized the state of Illinois in the 1970s. Known for his predilection for wearing clown costumes, getting involved in his community, and most notably, killing at least 25 young men, there are plenty of&nbsp;odd <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/whoa-john-wayne-facts/alby-thompson?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">facts about John Wayne</a>&nbsp;Gacy that circulated in the news <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Gacy#CITEREFLinedecker1980">after his capture.</a>Not only were his crimes gruesome and horrific, his life itself was pretty bizarre. Among the&nbsp;true stories about John Wayne&nbsp;Gacy -&nbsp;who was executed on&nbsp;May 10, 1994&nbsp;after receiving the death penalty for his crimes in 1980 -&nbsp;is the fact his brain was saved for medical research purposes. There were many&nbsp;unbelievable things that happened in the John Wayne&nbsp;Gacy case&nbsp;that are so odd, they can only be true.

13 Truly Disturbing Details About The John Wayne Gacy Case

John Wayne Gacy: Community Leader, Entertainer, And Brutal Killer

Photos

Old medical devices obviously served important functions, but their primitive, industrial designs suggest that they were more harmful than helpful. Everything from x-ray machines to cancer treatment devices&nbsp;resembled forms of torture, suggesting patients from the olden days came from sterner stuff. When captured in the grainy medium that was 20th century emerging photography, things like the iron lung appear straight out of a mad scientist&#39;s secret lair. Given the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/crazy-medical-practices/mike-rothschild" target="_blank">awful medical practices</a> used throughout history to &quot;treat&quot; diseases, who&#39;s even surprised that people back then didn&#39;t care their old-fashioned medical treatments look discarded Saw props?&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/horrifying-medical-procedures/amandasedlakhevener" target="_blank">Old-fashioned medical treatments</a> from the late 19th century and early 20th century, when captured on film, truly appear dated compared to today&#39;s medical advancements.

12 Terrifying Medical Devices From the 1900s (Photos)

Medical Devices From The Early 1900s Were Absolutely Terrifying

Police & Law Enforcement

People have been studying the unique characteristics and properties of fingerprints&nbsp;for thousands of years. In&nbsp;ancient Babylon, for example, clay impressions of fingerprints were used to seal business deals. Sir William Herschel is recognized as one of the first Europeans to begin <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/victorian-forensic-investigation-tactics/elle-tharp" target="_blank">collecting and studying fingerprints</a>&nbsp;in the 1850s, which inspired others to do so as well.

However, fingerprint analysis&nbsp;didn&#39;t become common in crime-solving <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/creepy-forensic-cases/lea-rose-emery" target="_blank">forensic science</a> until the early 20th century. Here are some facts and tidbits about fingerprint forensics and how they came to be.

A Short History Of Fingerprinting: Intriguing Facts About How It Started

Intriguing Facts About The History Of Fingerprint Forensics

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Standard F. Scott&nbsp;Fitzgerald biographies usually cover the writer&#39;s&nbsp;classic novel,&nbsp;The Great Gatsby, and the basics of his life, including&nbsp;his time in Paris, drinking problem, and marriage to Zelda Fitzgerald. Most accounts, however, leave out the relatively unknown and&nbsp;fascinating details. Widely considered one of the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-writers-of-all-time/ranker-books" target="_blank">best American writers ever</a>, Fitzgerald was a contradictory and complex figure. The author never graduated from Princeton; he didn&#39;t always get along&nbsp;with <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/times-ernest-hemingway-was-a-jerk/katia-kleyman" target="_blank">Ernest Hemingway</a>; and,&nbsp;despite embodying the East Coast Jazz Age, he hailed&nbsp;from the Midwest.

F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald appeared&nbsp;to live the high life&nbsp;in New York City, but issues plagued their marriage. The often overlooked details of F. Scott Fitzgerald&#39;s life provide&nbsp;a fuller picture of the man behind a <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-required-reading-books/tamar-altebarmakian" target="_blank">required-reading&nbsp;favorite</a>.

Things Even Literature Snobs Don't Know About F. Scott Fitzgerald

Weird History

The&nbsp;16th&nbsp;Street Baptist Church bombing occurred in Birmingham, AL, on September 15, 1963. Four young girls were killed in the blast:&nbsp;14-year-olds&nbsp;Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, and Carole Robertson, and 11-year-old Carol Denise McNair. Addie Mae&#39;s sister&nbsp;Sarah was blinded in one eye; an estimated 22 people in total were wounded. The&nbsp;victims <a href="http://16thstreetbaptist.org/history-2/" target="_blank">were all African American</a>.

The perpetrators of the violent attack were members of the KKK. The bombing&nbsp;became a catalyst for the then-growing civil rights movement of the 1960s, which led to the signing of the Civil Rights Act and the desegregation of much of the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-american-south/jason-f-collins?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Southern United States</a>. The&nbsp;church bombing in Birmingham was&nbsp;a heinous act that killed innocent girls, all of whom were posthumously awarded Congressional Gold Medals in 2013.

The 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing And The Civil Rights Movement

Facts About The 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing That Ushered In The Civil Rights Movement

While he might not be as well-known as some American serial killers, Alexander Pichushkin alleged to killing at least 60 people in Russia. He started in the early &lsquo;90s and often targeted elderly or transient men, some of which he had formerly played chess with, in the nearby park. In 2006, authorities arrested Pichushkin for the murder of a female coworker. He then admitted to <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/serial-killers-from-other-countries/christopher-myers" target="_blank">dozens of murders</a>, telling authorities he attacked his victims and left their bodies in Moscow&#39;s Bitsevski (Bitsa) Park and sewer drains. Before his arrest, locals referred to the unknown killer as the &ldquo;Bitsa Park Maniac.&rdquo;

Pichushkin said he wanted to kill enough people to fill the squares on a chessboard - earning him the infamous &ldquo;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-russian-serial-killers/web-infoguy" target="_blank">Chessboard Killer</a>&rdquo; name. Investigators discovered a chessboard with approximately 61 spaces marked off in his Moscow home. Pichushkin, like other serial killers, kept his own <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/serial-killer-souvenirs/mike-rothschild" target="_blank">unique trophy</a> to document his kills:&nbsp;a log with the date each of his victims died. Russian authorities convicted Pichushkin in 2007 for 48 murders.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

13 Creepy Facts About Alexander Pichushkin, The Chessboard Killer

13 Unsettling Facts About Alexander Pichushkin, The Chessboard Killer

New Jersey

For 40 years, Willowbrook&nbsp;State School, also known as the&nbsp;Willowbrook Mental Hospital, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willowbrook_State_School" target="_blank">operated as</a> an institution for mentally disabled children and adults. The conditions at Willowbrook&nbsp;Asylum were beyond deplorable. An expos&eacute;&nbsp;done by a young Geraldo Rivera and some comments from Robert&nbsp;Kennedy brought the overcrowded and understaffed conditions at Willowbrook&nbsp;to public attention, leading to a number of different forms of legislation.During this unearthing of the horrors of Willowbrook,&nbsp;the public became aware of the Willowbrook&nbsp;State School hepatitis study, a heartless experiment that involved infecting the unaware patients with the disease, then testing out a number of potential cures. Although the asylum shut down in 1987, its legacy is one of&nbsp;ethics reform and the Willowbrook hepatitis study –&nbsp;not to mention <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/willowbrook-state-school-and-cropsey-facts/lyra-radford" target="_blank">Cropsey</a>.&nbsp;

Conditions At Willowbrook Asylum Were Deplorable They Changed Policy

Conditions At The Willowbrook Mental Asylum Were So Deplorable They Changed Federal Policy

In 1991, Dallas authorities convicted Charles Albright, also known as the Texas Eyeball Killer, for the murder of Shirley Williams. Investigators <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/unsolved-texas-mysteries/steve-wright" target="_blank">suspect he killed two other</a> women, Mary Lou Pratt and Susan Peterson, between 1990 and 1991. Albright was born in 1933, and Fred and Delle Albright, who lived in Amarillo, Texas, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/serial-killers-who-were-adopted/ranker-crime" target="_blank">adopted him as an infant</a>. Fred Albright owned a grocery store, and his wife was a teacher.

Delle Albright <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/serial-killers-who-hated-their-moms/erin-wisti" target="_blank">abused Charles</a> both psychologically and physically when he was a child, locking him in dark rooms and hitting him for minor offenses, like spilling milk. She also taught him taxidermy, which led to his obsession with eyes. He cut out the eyes of the women he allegedly killed, all of whom were sex workers. Believing that his birth mother was a prostitute (she was actually a nurse), Albright preyed on these women after his adoptive mother died. As of August 2017, Albright is serving out his life term in Lubbock, Texas, at the John Montford Psychiatric Unit.&nbsp; 
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Messed Up Things About The Texas Eyeball Killer's Relationship With His Mother

Given the nature of many offenses, it may seem like we are better off not knowing who had committed them. Sometimes the answer may be too hard to bear or it&nbsp;may <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/do-not-google-crimes/chuck-stern" target="_blank">not result in the desired outcome</a>.&nbsp;The&nbsp;real-life police detectives here discuss&nbsp;the acts&nbsp;that they wished they had never seen, whether for tragic reasons, humorous ones,&nbsp;or gruesome ones. These stories, <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/5a9fou/seriousdetectivespolice_officers_of_reddit_what/?limit=500" target="_blank">all from Reddit</a>, are of real-life&nbsp;stories, leading&nbsp;you to the&nbsp;answer that, yes, there are&nbsp;answers that even law enforcement didn&#39;t wish to find.

20 Police Detectives Discuss Their Most Disturbing Unsolved Cases

Police Detectives Discuss Disturbing Cases They Wish They Never Saw

Reddit

What do you think <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/scary-real-places/stacie-hougland">the scariest place on earth is</a>? Some are obvious, and others <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/creepy-air-bnbs/jacob-shelton">are easy access</a>, but what about the locations you may never have considered?&nbsp;A mountain pass where climbers die by the dozen every year? A cluster&nbsp;of abandoned asylum buildings? A tiny town in the middle of nowhere filled with strangers who stare at you? There&#39;s much we don&#39;t understand about the world already, so it&#39;s in your best interests to know areas other people avoid out of fear.

Some people decided to do the work for you, and divulge their advice on what locations are less fun, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/scary-places-reddit/patrick-thornton" target="_blank">more frightening</a>. These <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1ce2wz/where_is_the_scariest_place_on_earth/?limit=500" target="_blank">Reddit</a>&nbsp;users&nbsp;share the places that scare them the most, either from what they&#39;ve read or from personal experience.&nbsp;

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