Many neighborhoods have at least one creepy house that has inspired ghost stories. That house in Los Feliz, located at 2475 Glendower Place, was the “Murder Mansion.” It received the ominous moniker because it was the scene of a… Read More ›
Forensic Science
Stockholm’s Unsolved Vampire Murder
Not All Vampires Wear Capes Some of history’s most depraved murderers have had a vampire-like fascination with blood. Some even believed they were an immortal bloodsucker. These killers include Friedrich Heinrich Karl “Fritz” Haarmann the “Vampire of Hanover,” Richard Trenton Chase the… Read More ›
The crime scene investigator’s ‘murder bag’ was created because of this horrific murder
A ‘murder bag’ or ‘detectives box’ is a kit used by crime scene investigators that contains protective gear and tools to recover evidence. The first steps in the creation of the ‘murder bag’ were made by 19th century medicolegal pioneers… Read More ›
How an instructor of Frances Glessner Lee’s ‘Homicide School’ helped to solve the almost perfect murder
Frances Glessner Lee (25 March 1878 – 27 January 1962) is best known as the creator of the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death that are miniature, detailed crime scene reconstructions of suspicious deaths. But Lee’s contribution to the modern era of… Read More ›
Is this the face of ‘Bella in the Wych Elm’?
In February 2018, Dr. Caroline Wilkinson, forensic anthropologist and Director of the Faces Lab at Liverpool John Moores University, revealed her facial reconstruction of ‘Bella in the Wych Elm‘. The digital reconstruction shows the smiling face of a young woman… Read More ›
Dissecting the true age of Old Tom Parr
On August 4, 1997, newspapers around the world announced the death of Jeanne Louise Calment, who died her home in Arles, France. She was not a political leader, a scientist, or a famous actress. Jean had the world’s longest (recorded)… Read More ›
Murder for the Holidays: The slaying at Sandringham
Editor’s Note: I recently found out about a European, pagan tradition of celebrating the Winter Solstice, a time when “the dead would have particularly good access to the living,” with ghost stories. Writers of mystery novels continued this tradition by… Read More ›
Murder for the Holidays: The unsolved Walker family murders
Editor’s Note: I recently found out about a European, pagan tradition of celebrating the Winter Solstice, a time when “the dead would have particularly good access to the living,” with ghost stories. Writers of mystery novels continued this tradition by… Read More ›
Paul Revere: The first American forensic dentist
Paul Revere inadvertently became America’s first forensic dentist when he was given the gruesome task of identifying the body of Dr. Joseph Warren, the man who sent him on his famous “midnight ride.” Warren was struck down by a British… Read More ›
The murder that instigated the UK’s most dangerous autopsy
There is an ivy-covered grave in London’s Highgate Cemetery that looks no different than the other graves around it. This particular burial, however, holds the lead-lined coffin and radioactive corpse of Alexander Litvinenko, who was subject of the UK’s “most… Read More ›
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