Buzz
Few things captivate the imagination as much as the mysteries surrounding unidentified people. These range from mysterious figures who have passed away under unknown circumstances to elusive criminals whose identities remain hidden. Sometimes, when a person passes, it is revealed that they were living under a false name, and their real background remains a mystery. These enigmatic lives, full of secrecy, leave room for endless speculation. Here, we explore 10 more bizarre cases involving notable people whose true identities remain a secret.
10. Raoul
On April 4, 1968, the tragic assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. took place outside the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, when he was shot by a sniper. Two months later, James Earl Ray was arrested and confessed to the crime, later receiving a 99-year sentence. However, as with many famous assassinations, conspiracy theories abound. Ray later recanted his confession, claiming he had been framed as a scapegoat for the murder of King. By the time of his death in 1998, even King's own son believed Ray was not the true assassin.
The most puzzling aspect of the alleged conspiracy theory revolves around a mysterious, unidentified individual known as Raoul. In 1967, Ray, a fugitive who had escaped from a Missouri prison while serving a sentence for robbery, found himself in Montreal. There, he claimed to have encountered a shadowy figure named Raoul, who hired him to carry out smuggling operations. Just days before Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, Ray bought a rifle in Birmingham, Alabama, which was later found near the Lorraine Motel and identified as the murder weapon. Ray insisted that Raoul had instructed him to buy the rifle and then take it to him on April 3. The following day, Raoul allegedly directed Ray to rent a room in a boardinghouse with a clear view of the Lorraine Motel. This is where Ray purportedly shot King, though Ray maintained he was at an entirely different location when the fatal shot was fired.
There has been persistent debate over whether Raoul was the true orchestrator of King’s assassination or simply a fictitious character created by James Earl Ray. If Raoul were real, revealing his identity could provide valuable insight into the mystery of Martin Luther King's murder.
9. The Mad Trapper Of Rat River
In 1931, a man who introduced himself as Albert Johnson arrived in Fort McPherson, a small settlement in the Northwest Territories of Canada. He built a secluded cabin near the Rat River and worked as a trapper. However, in December of that year, other local trappers reported to the authorities that Johnson had been tampering with their traps.
On New Year's Eve, constables from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrived at Johnson’s cabin, where the situation quickly escalated into a deadly firefight, leaving Constable Alfred King severely wounded. Remarkably, Johnson stayed inside his cabin until an RCMP posse returned to capture him nine days later, leading to a 15-hour standoff in frigid conditions. Even after the RCMP used dynamite to destroy Johnson’s cabin, he managed to flee into the woods, becoming a fugitive.
On January 30, 1932, the RCMP posse finally cornered Johnson, but during the confrontation, he shot and killed Constable Edgar Millen. Despite this, Johnson managed to escape by crossing the Richardson Mountains in the middle of a blizzard, ultimately entering the Yukon Territory. By this point, the media had caught wind of the ongoing manhunt, dubbing him “The Mad Trapper of Rat River.” On February 17, the RCMP finally tracked him down to the frozen Eagle River, where Johnson was killed in another firefight.
The investigation that followed revealed that Albert Johnson was not the trapper’s real name, but all efforts to discover his true identity came up empty. In 2007, his body was exhumed for DNA testing, which suggested he likely originated from either the Midwestern United States or Scandinavia. Despite a few potential suspects, the true identity of the Mad Trapper of Rat River remains unsolved.
8. Lori Erica Kennedy
In January 2004, Blake Ruff, a resident of Longview, Texas, married Lori Erica Kennedy. Four years later, the couple had a daughter. Those who knew Kennedy described her as an intensely private individual who would never speak about her past. Over time, their relationship began to deteriorate, and by 2010, Ruff had moved out and filed for divorce.
The situation took a tragic turn on Christmas Eve when Kennedy arrived at her in-laws’ home and took her own life by shooting herself. She was reportedly 41 years old at the time of her death. However, things became even more unusual when Ruff’s family searched her closet and discovered a strongbox, which contained documents that revealed Kennedy wasn’t the person she had claimed to be.
An investigation following her death uncovered that Lori Erica Kennedy did not exist before 1988. That year, she managed to obtain the birth certificate of a girl named Becky Sue Turner and used it to acquire a government-issued ID before legally changing her name. The real Becky Sue Turner had tragically perished in a fire in 1971 when she was only two years old. Kennedy later secured a Social Security number and spent the remainder of her life living under her false identity.
Details about Kennedy’s life prior to her marriage to Ruff are sparse. Some documents found in the strongbox have provided intriguing clues, such as a note that reads, “North Hollywood police. 402 months. Ben Perkins, an attorney.” However, these fragments have failed to reveal any concrete information about who Lori Erica Kennedy truly was or why she went to such extreme lengths to construct an entirely new identity.
7. The San Pedro Mountains Mummy
In October 1932, prospectors Cecil Mayne and Frank Carr were working in Wyoming's San Pedro Mountains, hoping to strike gold. As they blasted through some rocks, they stumbled upon a hidden chamber that contained a mummy—one of the most unusual mummies ever discovered.
The mummy, seated cross-legged, stood only 18 centimeters (7 inches) tall, and if it had been standing, it would have measured just 36 centimeters (14 inches). Weighing only a third of a kilogram (0.75 lb), the mummy had an unusually shaped head. Though it didn’t appear entirely human, X-rays later revealed that the mummy had human bones and was likely a miniature human being.
There was much speculation about the age of the person when they were mummified. Some experts thought the mummy was an infant who had anencephaly, which caused him to resemble an adult due to facial deformities. Others, however, believed the mummy might have been as old as 65, based on the appearance of adult vertebrae and teeth. This led to theories that the mummy could have come from the Nimeragir, a legendary group of “little people” said to have lived in Wyoming centuries ago, though no evidence of their existence has ever been found. The mummy changed hands over the years, but after its final owner passed away in the 1980s, it seemingly vanished.
6. The Babes In The Woods
Each year, the remains of many unidentified individuals are discovered, and when their identities remain unknown, they are given the name John or Jane Doe. This is especially tragic when the victims are children.
On January 14, 1953, the skeletal remains of two children were found beneath some brush in Stanley Park, near Vancouver, British Columbia. The bodies were partially covered by a woman’s rain cape. Other items found at the scene included a woman’s shoe, a fur coat, a lunch box, and a hatchet, which was likely used as the murder weapon.
Investigators found that the children had been dead for around five or six years. The victims were believed to be between 6 and 10 years old and were initially thought to be a boy and a girl. They became known as “The Babes in the Woods,” and their remains were eventually displayed in a case at the Vancouver Police Museum. In 1998, the remains were removed for DNA testing before being laid to rest. The DNA test results were surprising: the two children were actually brothers.
Years prior to the discovery of the bodies, two witnesses reported seeing a man and a woman walking through Stanley Park with two boys, one of whom was carrying a hatchet. Later that day, the witnesses saw the same couple walking alone, but now the woman was wearing only one blood-covered shoe. Unfortunately, since police initially believed one of the victims was a girl, this lead was not properly followed up at the time. Even after more than 60 years, the identities of the Babes in the Woods remain a mystery.
5. Scott McKinley/Paul Fronczak
On July 2, 1965, a young boy was found abandoned in a stroller outside a store in Newark, New Jersey. Despite efforts to identify him and locate his parents, the search yielded no results. The boy was placed in foster care and given the name Scott McKinley. It was later discovered that Scott might be linked to a child abduction case from Chicago that occurred a year prior. On April 26, 1964, Paul Fronczak was born at Michael Reese Hospital, but shortly after his birth, a nurse, who was later revealed to be an imposter, abducted him.
Authorities investigated whether Scott McKinley could be the missing Paul Fronczak, and though a blood test was conducted, it was inconclusive. Nonetheless, Paul’s parents believed that the boy was their son, and they adopted him, raising him as Paul Fronczak. As Paul grew older, he became uneasy about his lack of resemblance to his family members. Without DNA testing available during his childhood, Paul took a home DNA test in 2012 to uncover the truth. The results confirmed that he had no biological ties to the Fronczak family. The investigation into Paul’s abduction was reopened, and the man once known as Scott McKinley continues to search for his real identity.
For more unsettling stories like this, check out Creepy: The Full Collection of 38 True Ghost Stories and Short Fiction with a Supernatural Twist, available at Amazon.com!
4. The Visalia Ransacker
In the 1970s, the city of Visalia, California, was plagued by a strange series of crimes committed by an unidentified figure, later dubbed “The Visalia Ransacker.” The Ransacker's crime spree began in April 1974 when he started breaking into homes. His method was peculiar, as he often stole small, personal items like family photographs while leaving larger valuables behind. Vandalism accompanied many of the burglaries.
Over a year and a half, it’s estimated that the Ransacker burglarized at least 85 homes in Visalia. For the most part, his intrusions were nonviolent until September 11, 1975, when the Ransacker broke into the home of Claude Snelling. When Snelling heard noises and confronted the masked intruder, the criminal fatally shot him before fleeing. The Ransacker's violence marked a disturbing escalation.
In response, police set up stakeouts in neighborhoods where the Ransacker was known to operate. On December 10, a police officer saw a masked suspect approaching a home. However, the suspect opened fire and managed to escape. After this event, the Ransacker’s series of crimes appeared to cease, but curiously, this marked the beginning of another string of unsolved crimes in the area.
Over the next three years, an unknown assailant, known as “The East Area Rapist,” terrorized Sacramento County, committing at least 50 sexual assaults. By 2002, DNA testing confirmed that this criminal was also the same individual responsible for a string of murders between 1979 and 1986, known as “The Original Night Stalker.” It is widely believed that the Visalia Ransacker’s crimes eventually escalated from burglary to rape and, ultimately, murder, leading to the theory that the same person could be behind three of California’s most notorious unsolved cases.
3. George Brody
On January 16, 1973, a five-year-old girl named Anna Waters vanished from her home’s backyard in rural San Mateo County, California. Despite an extensive search, Anna was never found, and the mystery surrounding her disappearance deepened with the involvement of a strange figure: George Brody.
When Anna was born, her father, George Waters, formed a close friendship with a man who went by the name George Brody. This relationship created significant tension in Waters’s marriage, as Brody was a controlling, cult-like figure who had a troubling influence on Waters’s life. As Waters was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, the situation worsened, leading to his eventual divorce. Anna stayed with her mother, while Waters and Brody relocated to a budget hotel in San Francisco.
Shortly before Anna went missing, a witness saw two unidentified men driving a white truck down the road near Anna’s home. This led to suspicion that Waters and Brody might have abducted Anna. While no evidence was ever found to implicate them, the story got even weirder when Brody died of cancer in 1981. Two weeks later, Waters ended his own life by taking cyanide, but before his suicide, he went to great lengths to destroy nearly all documentation related to Brody and himself. However, Waters did leave behind one potentially suspicious note tying him to his daughter’s disappearance, containing the words “Plan” and “Jan. 1973.”
No Social Security number or any sort of paper trail could be found for George Brody, which was likely not his real name. After more than 40 years, no one has ever determined Brody’s true identity or if he played a role in the disappearance of Anna Waters.
2. The Whitehall Victim
In 1888, the Whitechapel district of London was the site of a series of brutal murders committed by a serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, whose identity is perhaps the most famous unsolved mystery of all time. However, that same year, London was also the site of another brutal unsolved murder which likely wasn’t committed by the Ripper.
While construction was underway on a police headquarters building on the Victoria Embankment near Whitehall, which would eventually be known as New Scotland Yard, a worker made a grim discovery on October 2. Inside the newly constructed basement vault, the worker uncovered a large parcel. Upon opening it, the partially decomposed remains of a female torso were found.
This would not be the only place where the remains of this victim would appear. Weeks earlier, a dismembered right arm was found in the River Thames and was later identified as belonging to the same woman. Then, two weeks after the torso’s discovery, a cadaver dog led investigators to the victim's left leg buried near the construction site. The woman's uterus had been removed, but her head and the rest of her body were never located. While the exact cause of death remained undetermined, it appeared she had died roughly six weeks before the torso was discovered.
Although there was initial speculation that the victim might have been one of Jack the Ripper’s many victims, authorities found no evidence linking her death to the infamous crimes. They concluded that a different perpetrator was responsible. Despite widespread attention focused on the Ripper case, the investigation into this woman’s murder failed to produce any suspects, and her identity remains unknown.
1. The Unknown Sailor On Christmas Island
In 1942, employees of the Christmas Island Phosphate Company were conducting mining activities on the Australian island when, on February 6, they came across a Carley float drifting near Flying Fish Cove. Inside the float was the body of a man, decomposed but identifiable as a sailor from the state of his tattered clothing.
The man was laid to rest in an unmarked grave with military honors. However, due to the looming threat of invasion, a formal investigation into his death was never carried out. Employees evacuated the island soon after, and it was soon occupied by Japanese forces. The body remained unidentified, and it would take many years before an investigation could take place.
In September 2006, a naval team revisited Christmas Island and discovered the sailor's unmarked grave. After exhuming the remains, tests on the clothing fragments confirmed that the man had served in the Royal Australian Navy. A metal fragment embedded in his skull suggested that he had been on the HMAS Sydney, a naval cruiser that was sunk by a German ship in the Indian Ocean in November 1941, killing all 645 crew members.
If the sailor had indeed been part of the crew on the Sydney, the mystery of how he ended up in the Carley float remains unsolved. DNA tests have been conducted on his remains to confirm his identity, but so far, only 50 members of the Sydney’s crew have not been ruled out as a possible match.
