Gruesome stories

Sometimes fact is just so much worse than fiction.

How about this story?: source; A variation here

At the turn of the last century, Belle Gunness was in the market for a third husband. And many suitors visited from Wisconsin, from Missouri, from South Dakota, some from as far as Norway. They met her at her farm house and many never left. What happened after she courted some of these gentlemen was revealed after a fire ravaged the house one hundred years ago today. The flames consumed Gunness and her three young children, leaving nothing but charred remains. But this is just where the tragic story begins. As police sifted through the ruins they found eleven butchered bodies buried beneath the farm’s hog pen. Reports estimate Belle Gunness may have killed up to 33 people in her lifetime. But did her death end her killing spree? The body thought to be Gunness’s had no head, and that fueled rumors that she’d faked her death, and escaped. Now a new investigation into this century-old mystery has begun. Andrea Simmons is a forensic anthropologist who grew up in LaPorte, Indiana. She says that like all the children there, she was very familiar with the grisly legend of Belle Gunness.

This past Saturday, Simmons and several decedents of Gunness’s victims got together to commemorate the hundred year anniversary of the fire. They placed headstones on the victims’ graves that have been unmarked since 1908

Or what about the Smiley Face murder mystery?

Chris Jenkins was a popular student at the University of Minnesota who disappeared one night in 2003. Four months later, he was found dead in the Mississippi River. At first police thought Jenkins was just a drunk college kid who accidentally fell into the river and drowned after a night on the town.

But for two retired New York City Police detectives, Jenkins' death became the link that connected the drowning deaths of 40 young men — usually high-achieving college students — in 25 cities in 11 different states.

More on the site