I used to associate decomposing human remains strapped to metal racks with medieval European torture devices. I guess I underestimated the creative and innovative ways in which modern murderers torture and/or dispose of their victim’s bodies. That changed when I read an extract from… Read More ›
Every fledgling forensic anthropologist in the U.S. learns about the murder trial of John Webster because of its significance to the history of forensic science. But the trial transcripts are just as fascinating as the facts of the case because they reveal… Read More ›
“Unable to dissolve his marriage, he decided to dissolve his wife.” -Clyde Snow, The Stories Bones Tell On Diversey and Hermitage Avenue in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood is an industrial building that was converted to condominiums in the 1990’s. Though this… Read More ›
Children in La Porte, Indiana grow up listening to graphic horror stories about the gruesome murder’s committed by Belle Gunness on her farm at the end of McClung Road. The most disturbing part about these grisly stories is that the… Read More ›
The cranium of Henry Debosnys (1836-1883) is stored in a glass case on the upper floor of the Adirondack History Center Museum in Elizabethtown, NY. Debosnys was of French descent and born in Portugal in 1836. After traveling the world,… Read More ›
On April 19th 1828 the decomposing body of Maria Marten was discovered by her stepfather in the Red Barn in Polstead, Suffolk, England. Maria had been missing since 1827 and her body was found at this local landmark after her… Read More ›
Alexander Pearce (1790 – 1824) was a petty thief, murderer, and cannibal who was executed on Van Diemen’s Land, what is now Tasmania, for murdering and eating a fellow inmate. Pearce was born and raised in Ireland and eventually… Read More ›
Clell Miller (1850-1876) was an outlaw and member of the notorious James-Younger Gang, made famous by Jesse James and Cole Younger. On September 7, 1876 Clell Miller and fellow gang member Bill Chadwell (alias Bill Stiles) were shot and killed… Read More ›
Jonathan Wild (abt 1682 – 24 May 1725) was an eighteenth century English gang leader who worked both sides of the legal system as the “Thief-Taker General” and underworld kingpin. Before England had a police force, thief-takers captured criminals and either handed… Read More ›
The skeleton of William Burke has a less famous neighbor at the Edinburgh University’s Anatomy Museum, the articulated skeleton of John Howison, “The Cramond Murderer.” Howison was accused of entering the home of a woman in Cramond, a suburb of… Read More ›
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