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Murders are always disturbing, but some are even worse than that. These killings were brutal, and almost unimaginable in their depravity. These crimes horrified communities and stumped detectives - leaving behind questions that lingered for decades afterward, as years passed without an arrest or even a credible suspect. Today I will be telling you the top 10 unsolved mysteries of the world.
Jack the Ripper
For those who have not heard of the infamous serial killer, Jack the Ripper, he was an unidentified serial killer who was active in the districts in and around Whitechapel in the East End of London. Between August and November 1888 alone, he murdered at least five women - all prostitutes. The name “Jack the Ripper” originates from a letter written by someone who claimed to be the killer published at the time of the murders. Today, the murder sites are the locus of a macabre tourist industry in London.
The Zodiac Killer
One of the most chilling mysteries is the identity of the Zodiac Killer and his killings. The Zodiac Killer is the pseudonym of an unidentified serial killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s. The case has been described as the most famous unsolved murder case in American history, becoming a fixture of popular culture and many inspired amateur detectives to attempt to solve it. The Killer murdered five known victims in the San Francisco Bay Area between December 1968 and October 1969, operating in rural, urban and suburban areas of the state. The Zodiac himself claimed to have murdered 37 victims, and he has been linked to several other cold cases, some in Southern California or outside the state. The killer originated the name himself in a series of taunting letters and cards that he mailed to regional newspapers, threatening killing sprees and bombings if they were not printed. Some of the letters included cryptograms, or ciphers, in which the killer claimed that he was collecting his victims as slaves for the afterlife. Of the four ciphers he produced, two remain unsolved, and the third took 51 years to crack.
Black Dahlia
Elizabeth Short, known posthumously as the Black Dahlia, was an American woman found murdered in the Leimert Park neighbourhood of Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. Her case became highly publicised due to the gruesome nature of the crime which included the mutilations of her corpse bisected at the waist. The body had apparently been washed by the killer. Short's face had been slashed from the corners of her mouth to her ears, creating an effect known as the “Glasgow Smile”. She would acquire the name “Black Dahlia” as newspapers of the period often nicknamed particularly lurid crimes; the term may have originated from a film noir murder mystery, the Blue Dahlia, released in 1946.
The Case of JonBenet Ramsey
The killing of JonBenet Ramsey was a murder case of a six-year-old girl that happened inside of her family’s home in Colorado. A long handwritten ransom note was found in the home. Her father, John, found the girl's body in the basement of the house about seven hours after she had been reported missing. Her death was ruled a homicide. The case generated nationwide public and media interest, in part because her mother Patsy Ramsey entered JonBenet into a beauty pageant. The police initially suspected that the ransom note had been written by the parents, and that the note and the appearance of JonBenet’s body had been staged by her parents in order to cover up the murder. However, the DA determined that there was insufficient evidence to accuse the parents of murdering JonBenet. To this day, the murder remains a cold case.
The Cape Intruder
This final unsolved case is not a famous case, but a local one, occurring in the affluent town of Cape Elizabeth, Maine in 2005. During the night, victims who kept their doors unlocked, would wake up in the morning to catch a brief glimpse of a man staring at them. Before they could react, the man would flee the scene, leaving the house just as it was before he entered it. Nothing was stolen. Nobody was injured or killed. All that he took was privacy when he snuck into bedrooms to watch people sleep.
A rough sketch depicting a man in his early twenties played on the local news. Everybody seemed to think they knew who it was and the police received a number of calls from concerned citizens naming possible suspects. Although two people named the same person, the police never did catch the "Cape Intruder". After some intrusions in August, December, and February, he never broke in again. But the thought that such a person existed and still walks among us is enough to give anyone the chills. And of course,it serves as a grim reminder to lock our doors.