Buzz
Reality can often surpass fiction in its strangeness. Indeed, some true stories are far more terrifying than anything depicted in horror films. Many of these tales are both horrifying and tragic, serving as stark reminders that true darkness exists in our world, far beyond what our minds can imagine.
10. Child of Rage
Beth Thomas's story is as tragic as it is terrifying. A beautiful girl with striking blue eyes, she lost her mother at just one year old. Along with her brother Jonathan, she was left with their biological father, who subjected them to sexual abuse. At 19 months old, Beth and seven-month-old Jonathan were removed by child protective services. Jonathan, left in his cot all day, developed an abnormally shaped head.
The siblings were adopted by a couple without children, who quickly noticed something was wrong with Beth. By age six, a documentary was made about her disturbing and violent behavior. In the 1990 documentary, Beth revealed how her adoptive parents locked her in her room to stop her from killing them. She also admitted to sexually abusing her brother, torturing the family dog, and killing baby birds. In one chilling incident, she smashed Jonathan's head into a concrete floor in an attempt to murder him.
Beth was diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder (RAD), a condition that prevented her from forming bonds with caregivers. Her adoptive parents, Tim and Julie, sought help from the controversial therapist Connell Watkins. Within a year, Beth showed significant improvement, even expressing remorse for her actions toward her brother.
Today, Beth Thomas has transformed her life. She is now a licensed nurse and has co-authored a book with her second adoptive mother, Nancy.
9. Horror on Chichijima
On September 2, 1944, 20-year-old George H.W. Bush was piloting a U.S. Navy Avenger aircraft. Along with eight other airmen, he was tasked with attacking a radio tower on Chichijima, part of Japan’s Bonin Islands. Their planes were shot down by Japanese soldiers, forcing them to crash into the ocean. Bush managed to release his plane’s four bombs before ejecting into the water.
While Bush survived, his comrades were captured, tortured, and executed by beheading or stabbing. Japanese Lt. Gen. Yoshio Tachibana ordered that four of the bodies be cooked, with their livers and thighs served as a meal alongside vegetables and soy sauce.
Bush, who managed to evade capture, spent hours floating on a life raft in the ocean before being rescued by an American submarine.
The Japanese officers involved in the gruesome cannibalism on Chichijima were later convicted of war crimes and executed following trials in Guam.
George H.W. Bush later served as the 41st President of the United States from 1989 to 1993.
8. The Porthole Murder
Eileen Isabella Ronnie Gibson, known as Gay Gibson, was an English actress rumored to suffer from a heart condition. She would often turn blue at the lips and faint during rehearsals for her plays.
In 1947, Gibson starred in a production of Clifford Odets' *Golden Boy* in South Africa. After the play concluded, she boarded the Durban Castle, a ship traveling from South Africa to England. A steward on the ship quickly noticed the striking 21-year-old actress. According to James Camb's later testimony, he and Gibson became intimate in her first-class cabin. However, when both the steward and stewardess buttons were pressed, and a night watchman arrived, Camb was found alone in the cabin, with Gibson nowhere to be seen.
Camb's account of Gibson's disappearance shifted multiple times. He claimed that Gibson had a seizure during consensual intercourse and died. Later, he admitted to panicking upon discovering her lifeless body and disposing of it through the ship's porthole. Camb maintained that he was not responsible for her death but had only hidden the body out of fear of losing his job and family.
Despite his inconsistent statements and denials, Camb was found guilty of Gay Gibson's murder and sentenced to death. However, after the suspension of the death penalty in Britain, he served only 11 years in prison. Camb continued to deny any involvement in Gibson's murder until his death in 1979.
Gay Gibson's body was never recovered.
7. Demon in Disguise
Danielle Harkins, a 35-year-old teacher, appeared to be a dedicated and caring educator with a strong bond with her students. She worked at the Lealman and Asian Neighborhood Family Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, while navigating a divorce and custody dispute over her two young children.
Shortly after her divorce was finalized in 2012, Harkins began exhibiting unusual behavior. She became obsessed with religion, particularly angels and demons, and even showed up at a colleague's home, declaring, 'You're okay' and 'You don’t have any demons.'
On June 9, 2012, Harkins gathered a group of her students near the St. Petersburg Pier for what they believed was a campfire event. To their shock, she accused them of being possessed by demons and insisted they needed exorcism.
Confused and frightened, the students reluctantly followed her instructions to dance around the fire and chant. However, they refused when she demanded they cut each other to 'release their demons.' Enraged, Harkins poured perfume on one student's hand and set it on fire. She also slashed another student with a broken bottle and used a heated key to cauterize the wound. She forced several others to cut themselves and seal the wounds to 'trap the demons.'
It took several days for the students to report the incident. Even after Harkins' arrest, they were hesitant to share details. Harkins herself remained silent about the events.
After serving just six months in prison, she was released.
6. Pool of Blood
Teachers at Riverwood Primary School in Sydney’s southwest returned from a peaceful school holiday, expecting a calm first day back. However, they were shocked by what they discovered inside the school’s cubby house.
A large pool of human blood, later confirmed to be over a litre, was found on the floor. Police determined that the person who lost the blood would have required urgent medical attention due to the severity of the blood loss. Despite a thorough search of the area, no victim was located, and there was no blood trail or splatter leading to or from the cubby house.
The absence of a victim was particularly puzzling, as the school was surrounded by a 2-meter-high barbed wire fence, making it nearly impossible for an injured person to escape.
Further tests revealed that the victim was male. The mystery remains unsolved.
5. Halloween Prop That Wasn’t
In October 2009, residents of the Marine del Rey apartment building in Los Angeles were intrigued by what appeared to be an incredibly lifelike Halloween decoration on a neighbor’s balcony. The display featured a figure slumped in a chair and what seemed to be bedding hanging over the railing.
Days later, when deputies arrived at the building, residents were horrified to discover that the 'Halloween prop' they had been admiring was actually the decomposing body of 75-year-old Mostafa Mahmoud Zayed. Zayed had taken his own life by shooting himself with a shotgun. A suicide note was found near his body.
Zayed had been a resident of the building for 34 years and was a structural engineer who contributed to the construction of high-rise buildings in downtown Los Angeles.
4. Horror on the Isle of Bute
In 2018, six-year-old Alesha MacPhail was staying with her grandparents on the Isle of Bute when tragedy struck. Aaron Campbell, a 16-year-old, broke into their home intending to steal cannabis. However, upon noticing the sleeping child, his plans shifted. He kidnapped her, took her to a deserted hotel, and subjected her to a brutal assault. He then suffocated her by applying force to her face and neck.
Alesha’s body was discovered just three hours after she was reported missing on July 2, 2018. The post-mortem examination showed she had sustained 117 injuries. Campbell was apprehended two days later.
Initially, Campbell denied any involvement in the heinous crime but later admitted that seeing Alesha had triggered an uncontrollable urge to kill her. During the trial, he revealed that for a year before the murder, he had been obsessed with thoughts of killing or raping someone.
Campbell found it amusing that the police took two days to arrest him and admitted it was difficult not to laugh during the trial. He even told investigators that he felt ‘quite satisfied’ with the murder.
He received a 27-year prison sentence, which was shortened by 3 years in 2019.
3. The Tragedy on Church Hill
On June 12, 1977, George Childs and his son were traveling along Holicong Road in Buckingham Township when they noticed something unusual in the bushes on a steep incline called Church Hill.
They crossed the railroad tracks and climbed the hill for a better view. There, they stumbled upon the horrifying sight of a naked woman’s body lying face down about 10 feet down the slope. They immediately drove to the nearest house and requested the homeowner to contact the police.
Within 15 minutes, the area was flooded with law enforcement. A team of officers and paramedics turned the body over, revealing the gruesome nature of the crime. The victim, 20-year-old Shaun Eileen Ritterson, had been brutally mutilated, with most of her lower organs removed. Her body cavity had been cleaned and filled with a towel. She had bruises on the back of her head, suggesting she had been struck with a blunt object, and multiple stab wounds to her chest.
Initially, investigators speculated that the extreme brutality of the murder might have been linked to a sinister ritual or even an attempt to remove an unborn child.
Harry Ritterson, the young woman’s uncle, was the prime suspect in her murder, and many family members also believed he was responsible. However, he was never formally charged, and no other suspects were ever brought to light.
The murder of Shaun Ritterson remains unsolved to this day.
2. Abandoned for Hours
On November 16, 2015, 25-year-old Racqual Thompson and her 21-year-old boyfriend, Cornell Malone, left her four young children alone in their northeast Houston apartment while they went out for pizza and to visit Malone’s brother. They returned after midnight to find the children, all under five years old, crying.
Upon entering the kitchen, they discovered the oven range tipped over. When Malone lifted it, 19-month-old J’Zyra fell out, suffering severe burns. It was later revealed that one of the children had placed her inside the oven and turned it on. The children panicked when J’Zyra began crying and kicking the door from inside, but by the time Thompson and Malone returned, it was too late. Thompson tried to perform CPR on her daughter, but the infant had already passed away.
Both Thompson and Malone were sentenced to two years in prison for child endangerment. During her court appearance, Thompson was eight months pregnant with her fifth child.
1. The Fresno Incident
On January 20, 2016, a deceased man was discovered in a burning house in central Fresno. Lt. Joe Gomez, the Fresno Police Department’s public information officer, initially reported that 51-year-old activist John Lang had been found with stab wounds to his abdomen and upper back. However, a Fresno County sheriff’s spokesperson later corrected this, stating that Lang had three self-inflicted stab wounds to his chest and had started the fire as part of a suicide attempt.
Several online platforms have since speculated that Lang’s fears of being killed by the police might have been valid, questioning the accuracy of the information initially provided by Lt. Gomez. Some believe that corrupt officers within the Fresno Police Department may have sought to silence Lang.
