orl5998

[orl5998]

In March 1997, police found 39 bodies lying nearly in their beds, their heads and torsos covered by purple cloths in a large home in California. They were all wearing black shirts and trousers and had a $5 note with three quarter coins in their pockets. They also wore an armband which read: ‘Heaven’s Gate Away Team’. All of them had drunk a cocktail of vodka and phenobarbital and wrapped their heads in polythene bags.

Heaven’s Gate was one of many millennial and UFO-based cults in the United States. It was originally set up in the early 1970s by Marshall Applewhite together with Bonnie Nettles, who had died in 1985. They were known as ‘Do’ and ‘Ti’ and she believed themselves to be “The Two” (two ‘witnesses’ mentioned in the Book of Revelation).

The cult combined various beliefs - Christian salvation and apocalypse, evolutionary advancement and travel to other worlds. The people who joined the cult renounced family and worldly goods to live a communal life of asceticism and celibacy in a rented mansion they described as a monastery. They called each other brothers and sisters and knew that the next level of existence would be free of gender and sexual activity. Some, including Applewhite, underwent castration.

Central to their faith was the idea that the earth, controlled by evil powers, was about to be ‘recycled’ and that they all must leave it immediately, to be ready for ‘replanting’ in another vehicle (body) at a higher level. A video shot just before the deaths showed cult members that were thrilled by the prospect of joining a UFO hidden behind the Halle-Bopp comet, which they regarded as a celestial marker. They had timed their departure to coincide with the comet’s closest approach to earth.

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Bethany Markowski was only 11 years old when she went missing on March 4th, 2001. Bethany’s parents had separated two months before her disappearance, and Bethany and her mother Jonnie Jo Carter had recently moved to Nashville, Tennessee. Bethany’s father, Larry Markowski, lived in Gleason. In the days before she vanished, Bethany spent several days with her father at his new home. She disappeared on the last day of their visit.

That day, Larry and Bethany planned to meet Bethany’s mother at the Waverly, Tennessee exit off of Interstate 40 so Bethany could return to Nashville with her. On their way there, Larry stopped his car at the Old Hickory Mall in Jackson, Tennessee around 3:30pm. According to Larry, he then took a nap in his car while Bethany went inside the mall to shop. She never returned and has never been seen or heard from again. Larry reportedly alerted authorities that his daughter was missing by 5:15pm.

Investigators immediately looked at surveillance footage from Old Hickory Mall for clues. Bethany was not captured on any of the mall’s cameras and investigators ultimately could not find any evidence that she actually entered the building at all. This made Larry’s story seem quite suspicious, and investigators have repeatedly questioned his version of events. Larry denies being involved in Bethany’s disappearance and detectives are ultimately unable to rule out a stranger abduction. Still, investigators have stated that they have not completely ruled out Larry’s involvement either—they simply do not have enough evidence to charge him with anything at this time.

Bethany’s mother Jonnie strongly suspects that Larry has the answers needed to locate Bethany. Jonnie told reporters that Larry was abusive towards both her and Bethany, and she had finally decided to leave him for good in January 2001. Larry did not take the break-up well and lashed out quite a few times after this. At one point, Larry showed up at Bethany’s new school in Nashville, marched into her classroom and began to drag her out of class. He shoved Bethany’s teacher out of the way and headed towards the hallway. Other teachers who heard Bethany’s cries were able to intervene and get Bethany away from him. Even after this incident, Larry was still granted unsupervised visitation with Bethany.

Early into the investigation, police received a tip that Bethany was seen with an unkempt-looking Caucasian woman who appeared to be in her early 40s. A month later, a woman matching that description apparently tried to enroll Bethany in a school at southeastern Tennessee. A short time after that, a witness spotted Bethany and the woman boarding a Greyhound bus together. Authorities have never been able to track said woman down, but they were able to create a composite sketch of her. Jonnie looked at the sketch, and stated that the woman looks like “a family member, a distant sister-in-law that I wasn’t real close with and I only had met a few times.” This woman’s identity has not been revealed and it is unclear if Bethany and the woman were actually seen together. 

Authorities have stated that Larry has not been cooperative with the investigation. He allegedly refuses to speak with detectives. Larry did speak with journalist Brandon Barnett, but he stuck to his original version of events and did not reveal any new details on what might’ve happened to Bethany. However, Brandon was also able to interview a friend of Larry’s—a man referred to by “Harold”. Harold stated that Larry and Bethany visited him at his home in Little Rock, Arkansas the night before Bethany’s disappearance. At some point during the visit, Larry apparently implied to Harold that he intended to flee to Mexico with Bethany. Although Larry obviously did not flee to Mexico himself, Harold’s version of events supports the theory that Larry wanted to keep Bethany away from her mother.

Bethany remains missing today. TBI is currently investigating her case and are asking anybody to with information on her disappearance to come forward. If you have any information that could lead to Bethany’s whereabouts, please contact the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at (800) TBI-FIND. [x]

[orl5998]

Alivia Kail has been missing since March 4th, 2011. The 19-year-old was going through a transitional time period in her life at the time she vanished. Alivia was still mourning the loss of her father, who had passed in October 2010. She had also recently broken up with her long-term boyfriend of three years. Though this was a tough time in Alivia’s life, it appeared that she was picking up the pieces. She had just gotten an apartment with one of her best friends in Mount Washington, Pennsylvania. Additionally, she began dating a new boyfriend: 22-year-old Alexander Lorenzi.

Before moving into her Mount Washington apartment, Alivia stayed with her brother, Lance Kail, at his residence in West Mifflin. The two siblings were very close, and Alivia still kept many of her belongings at his home even after she moved. Alivia also was in frequent contact with Lance. When her new boyfriend Alexander took her to Miami in late February 2011, Lance was the first person she called after her plane landed safely.

Alivia and Alexander returned to Pennsylvania on March 3rd, 2011. The next day, the couple went to Lance’s residence so Alivia could gather more of her belongings. While there, Alivia told Lance that she and Alexander were going back to Florida and that Alexander was paying for the whole trip. Alivia’s family members found this a bit odd, since they had just returned from Florida a day earlier. However, Alivia seemed happy and excited–so her family members did not question it.

Over the next few days, Alivia’s loved ones began to worry when they did not hear from her. She had called Lance immediately after landing in Florida during her last trip, but this time around, her phone was going straight to voicemail. Alivia’s loved ones continued to try to contact her, but they had no luck. Then, on March 19th, 2011, Alivia’s family was notified that her phone was disconnected due to nonpayment. At that point, the worries for Alivia’s safety set in. Her brother and sister reported her missing that same day.

Once police began investigating Alivia’s disappearance, it was discovered that Alivia’s boyfriend Alexander had returned to Pennsylvania on March 16th, 2011–without Alivia. Even more concerning: Alexander immediately got a lawyer and refused to speak with police. However, he did tell various other people some conflicting stories about Alivia’s whereabouts. Alexander told some people that Alivia had decided to stay in Florida. He told others that he had dropped Alivia off at her apartment in Mount Washington.

It was quickly determined that Alexander was at the very least lying about dropping off Alivia at her apartment. Alivia’s roommate had not seen her, nor was there any evidence that she had been there. Both police and Alivia’s loved ones continued to investigate the possibility that she was still in Florida. Eventually, police admitted that they had no evidence that Alivia ever actually made it to Florida. At this point, the mystery about what happened to Alivia deepened.

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Maegan Hembree (30) has been missing since February 26th, 2013. She was last seen in Smyer, Texas around 6:30pm that evening. Maegan left Smyer in her vehicle to visit a friend in Lubbock. She never arrived to see her friend, and she never returned home to her 5 year-old son. Maegan’s cell phone pinged one final time a few hours after she was last seen. After that, she was never seen or heard from again. Three days after Maegan vanished, investigators found her car in the possession of a man named Michael Todd Ramsey (pictured right). Maegan and Michael had met just a few months earlier. Investigators determined that Michael was the last person to see Maegan before she vanished. He was questioned several times by authorities, but he denied knowledge of Maegan’s whereabouts. Still, investigators remained suspicious of Michael–especially after Maegan’s SIM card was found in his possession over a year after Maegan’s disappearance. Michael has a long criminal record, but he has never been charged with a violent offense. He is considered a person of interest in Maegan’s case. There does not appear to be a reasonable explanation as to why Maegan’s SIM card and car were in his possession. Additionally, when investigators searched the car, they discovered a small drop of Maegan’s blood. However, it was not enough blood to determine that anything violent had occurred. In April 2015, authorities attempted to pull Michael over for a traffic violation. After leading the police on a chase, Michael eventually fled from the vehicle. The police were unable to capture him. When they searched his car, they found a large amount of meth. Michael was eventually captured in October 2015 and charged with possession of a controlled substance and evading police. 

District Attorney Chris Martin offered to dismiss the aforementioned charges in exchange for Michael’s cooperation in Maegan’s case. Michael refused to take the deal. In 2018, he was sentenced to 80 years in prison for the drug and evasion charges. Michael has not been charged with anything related to Maegan’s case, but he remains the only person of interest. Maegan remains missing today. If you have any information that could lead to her whereabouts, please go here to submit an anonymous tip.

[orl5998]

Sean Graves surprises everyone by getting up from his wheelchair and walking across the stage to receive his diploma in May 2002.

On April 20th, 1999 - Sean was shot multiple times in his abdomen, back, & leg. He was instantly paralyzed from the waist down. His biggest goal was to be able to walk across the stage at graduation. 

[orl5998]

This was the last photograph that Anne Faber ever sent to her boyfriend while on a bike ride in Utrech, the Netherlands, on 29 September, 2017.

That evening, Anne failed to return home and her family promptly reported her missing. Shortly after snapping the above photograph, Anne was abducted and stabbed to death by a local sex offender identified only as Michael P.

Her body was recovered in a wooded area in a nature reserve in Zeewolde. Her killer was sentenced to 28 years in prison.

[orl5998]

Man found guilty of murdering his teenage daughter after he “accidentally” threw knife at her.

Simon Vickers claims that he was playfighting with 14-year-old Scarlett when he grabbed a kitchen knife thinking it was a wooden spoon. Somehow, the knife landed deep inside the chest of Scarlett, who died just minutes later from her injuries.

A judge found Vickers guilty of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment (with a minimum term of 15 years.) He remains adamant that his daughter’s death was an accident, even though an investigation deemed this totally impossible. They concluded that there is no way even the strongest of throws could have embedded a kitchen knife in the victim’s chest. Bizarrely, the victim’s mother (Vickers’ wife) stands by her husband.

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Anjelica ‘AJ’ Hadsell vanished from Norfolk, Virginia at the age of 18 on March 2nd, 2015. At the time, AJ was a freshman at Longwood University. When she vanished, she was visiting her hometown, Norfolk, while on spring break. When news about AJ’s disappearance was initially reported, it was believed that AJ was last seen by a neighbor while driving away from her mother’s home on Millard Street. However, suspicion quickly fell upon AJ’s adopted father/ex-stepfather, Wesley Hadsell. The day AJ was last seen, Wesley abruptly left his job around noon after telling his co-workers that he had to meet up with his daughter to give her some money. He returned about two hours later, but his co-workers stated that he appeared agitated upon his return and he ended up needing to take the rest of the day off. Initially, it appeared that Wesley was going to great lengths to deflect suspicion away from him. In fact, within the first week of AJ’s disappearance, Wesley broke into a home and reportedly “found” AJ’s jacket. He claimed that the person who lived in said home kidnapped AJ, which is why her jacket was there. Wesley was arrested for breaking and entering after that, and many suspected that he actually planted the jacket there himself. At this point, Wesley was officially named a person of interest in AJ’s disappearance. The 38 year-old was already no stranger to the police–he was a convicted felon with previous bank robbery and burglary convictions. As the investigation into AJ’s disappearance continued, Wesley continued to publicly deny harming AJ, even after the investigators searched his motel room and seized his van. Inside the motel room, investigators found several rounds of ammunition; which he is forbidden to own as a felon. Inside the vehicle, investigators found a shovel, duct tape, and a pair of black work gloves. In April 2015, investigators received an analysis report on Wesley’s van’s GPS, which revealed that it had been driven to an abandoned home close to the North Carolina border on the day AJ vanished. The report states that the van remained on the property for about 20 minutes. On April 9th, 2015 detectives went to the property and found AJ’s body buried in a ditch behind the abandoned home. Now, investigators were tasked with putting her killer behind bars.

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[orl5998]

Been there, saw him and Rosalia

The mummy of Antonio Prestigiacomo.

It is said, he was murdered by the jealous husband of one of the many women that were infatuated with him.

It is believed he requested to be preserved and done so in a way that even in death he could still admire woman.

He is buried in the  Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, the same catacombs as the sleeping beauty, Rosalia Lombardo.

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When Dr. Darryl Sutorius, a prominent heart surgeon in Cincinnati, Ohio, first met Dante Britteon, he had no idea the trouble he was getting into.

Darryl had been married to another woman for 30 years, with whom he had four kids. While he was a highly-regarded surgeon, being one of the best in his field, he had horrible people skills and a short fuse, making him a nightmare to be around both at work and home. This caused his marriage to become strained, resulting in a divorce.

After the divorce, Darryl struggled with intense loneliness, fearing he would die alone. He took to an online dating service, hoping to find love there, and was matched with Dante Britteon, a petite blonde woman in her 40s who had a degree from UCLA and used to run her own daycare centre. For Darryl, it was love at first sight. 

Dante had only been married twice in her life and was serious about finding a life partner. Darryl was absolutely smitten with his new girlfriend, pampering her with all the exquisite vacations and designer labels she coveted. Months into dating, they decided to marry. But soon, the marriage started taking a turn for the worse, when Darryl’s daughter began planning her own lavish wedding and requested her father’s financial help. Dante took great issue with Darryl spending money on his own kids, resulting in many heated arguments that escalated into death threats from Dante. 

Darryl, fed up with his wife’s controlling ways, lawyered up to begin the process of a divorce. That’s when he found out her real name was Della Faye Hall. Not Dante. Darryl took it upon himself to call Della’s mother, whom she was essentially estranged from, and found out some terrifying details about his wife’s past. Della lied about being married twice. She’d actually been married 4 times, with many boyfriends in between. She abused all of them, threatening nearly all of them with a gun. She set one boyfriend’s bed on fire while he was asleep, and burned down another boyfriend’s house when he broke up with her. She also never attended UCLA. She hadn’t even finished high school. Whoever she dated or married, Della squeezed every penny out of them. 

Hearing these details about his wife made him fear for his life. He tried to speed up the divorce process and planned to serve his wife with divorce papers. But he never got to do that. Della knew that if she and Darryl divorced, she’d only be granted around $2000 in alimony payments per month. But if he died…she’d inherit $900,000. 

So Della bought a gun and then shot her husband in the head, staging the scene to appear like a suicide. 

But the forensic evidence came through, pointing toward Darryl’s death being a homicide–not a suicide. Della was arrested and sentenced to 23 years to life in prison, where she died in 2010 at the age of 60.

[orl5998]

My favorite bird

The Shoebill Stork (AKA Balaeniceps-Rex)

Unlike it’s name suggests, the Shoebill Stork is actually closely related to Pelicans and is classified in the order Pelecaniformes. 

So, most of the world didn’t even know this dinosaur bird (nicknamed B-Rex) even existed until the 1850s. Ancient Arabs and Egyptians had references to the shoebill but beyond that there were uncatalogued by most societies. Ancient Arabs referred to the shoebill as Abu-Markhub (father of the slipper) in reference to it’s giant beak.

The reason we didn’t have much knowledge of the shoebill is because it likes to live in complete solitude. Many birds will typically flock together in order to overcome their individual weaknesses, but the shoe bill doesn’t have that problem at all. So, it likes to live alone and only joins other shoebill when it wants to reproduce.

The shoebill can reach up to 5 feet in height and has a wingspan of 7 feet. It’s giant stature coupled with it’s giant beak make this bird a great hunter. The shoebill typically likes to hunt and eat animals like lizards, snakes, eels, lung fish, and baby crocodiles. After taking it’s prey into the mouth, the shoebill opens its mouth just enough for the animal to pokes it’s head out so it can decapitate it with the sharp edge of it’s beak. It can also just bludgeon an animal to death with it’s beak and sometimes they like to do that with baby crocodiles.

The shoebill is also an extremely silent and still bird, which also makes both hunting and staying away from people really easy, but when they actually DO make a sound, it sounds like a literal machine gun.

HERE is a video of that in case you’re interested.

I know they might seem super scary but they’re extremely docile with humans but before you decide to pet one, just know they like to shit on themselves to keep cool.

[orl5998]

Derweze, also known as the door to hell, is a 70 meter wide hole in the middle of the Karakum desert in Turkmenistan. The hole was formed in 1971 when a team of soviet geologists had their drilling rig collapse when they hit a cavern filled with natural gas. In an attempt to avoid poisonous discharge, they decided to burn it off, thinking that the gas would be depleted in only a few days. Derweze is still burning today 

[orl5998]

Images from a live action comedy sketch of lovable British claymation TV show, Wallace & Gromit. Broadcast in the late 1990s, the special received negative reactions from viewers due to the fact that it was unintentionally creepy. It was never shown again.

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Pumpkinsteins

American farmer, Tony Dighera, has produced thousands of pumpkins in the shape of Frakenstein’s Monster. He spent four years and over half a million dollars finding the perfect variety to shape. He nicknamed them Pumpkinsteins.

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The Disappearance of 'Little Miss X'

On 31 October 1958, the skeletal body of a young girl was found off a dirt road on Skinner Ridge, south of Grand Canyon National Park. At the time, investigators said the body had been there anywhere from nine to 14 months. She was given the name 'Little Miss X' on the coroner's inquest - the true identity of the girl is still unknown. The cause of death was homicide. The investigation was made complicated from the beginning as clothes were found near Little Miss X shortly after the body was discovered - but appeared to be too big for her. A nail file case was also found, but could have belonged to a young woman who went missing the same year in Southern California, 15-year-old Donis 'Pinky' Redman. She was later excluded as she didn't match the physical characteristics of Little Miss X. After multiple links with other missing people, no concrete evidence or scientific research brought any answers to the Little Miss X case. Even worse for investigators was that it was difficult to secure DNA samples, which made it tricky for the cold case unit. The body was exhumed in 1962 as part of the investigation, and there is no record of where it's buried now. Items found on the body: A small jar of Ponds cold cream. A powder puff with traces of suntan colored powder. A small, blue plastic nail file with the letter "P" indented in script and the letter "R" in hand print. This would lead people to believe that the victim was Pinky Redman. A white, nylon comb.

[orl5998]

Kurt Cobain, the iconic frontman of Nirvana, left an indelible mark on music and culture before his tragic death in 1994. His home in Seattle, where he spent his final days, has since become a somber landmark for fans around the world.

Located in the upscale neighborhood of Denny-Blaine, this house is where Cobain was found dead on April 8, 1994, at the age of 27, the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The property, surrounded by lush greenery and tucked away from the public eye, has attracted countless visitors who come to pay their respects to the legendary musician.

After Cobain's death, his widow, Courtney Love, had the greenhouse where he died demolished. The rest of the property, however, remains largely unchanged. The house has passed through various owners over the years, each one inheriting a piece of rock history.

Despite its private ownership, the site continues to draw fans who gather at Viretta Park, a small public space adjacent to the property, to leave tributes, graffiti, and messages for the late singer.