The index / True Crime
Careful, contextual coverage of the darker and stranger side of history, crime, culture, and the unexplained.
Lore & Explained · Paranormal Cases
Did a ghost help convict Edward Shue? The 1897 trial reporting separates Mary Heaster’s claimed visions from the murder evidence and later Greenbrier folklore.
Oct 9, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
Eight people were killed in Villisca, Iowa in 1912. The historic crime remains unsolved; the house's later paranormal reputation is a separate story.
Sep 21, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
Five Sodder children vanished after their West Virginia home burned in 1945. The evidence leaves real questions, but it does not establish either abduction or survival.
Sep 21, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
Six people were killed at Hinterkaifeck in Bavaria in 1922. The surviving record establishes an unsolved crime, not the internet legend built around it.
Sep 21, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
Elizabeth Short's 1947 murder was never solved. Here is what the investigation established, what the press added, and why the leading suspect claims remain unproven.
Sep 21, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
Five men vanished after a Chico basketball game in 1978. Four were found in the mountains, Gary Mathias was never found, and no theory explains every decision.
Sep 16, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
The real story of D.B. Cooper: the 1971 Northwest Orient hijacking, $200,000 ransom, parachute jump, FBI evidence, suspects, and the mystery that remains.
Sep 16, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
Andrew and Abby Borden were killed with a hatchet in their Fall River home on August 4, 1892. Lizzie Borden was tried and acquitted -- the case was never legally resolved beyond that.
Sep 13, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
Between 1918 and 1919, someone attacked at least a dozen people in New Orleans with an axe. A letter promising to spare jazz-loving households is real. The killer's identity was never established.
Sep 11, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
For nearly two decades, anonymous letters terrorized Circleville, Ohio. A man served ten years for a related crime but was never charged with writing them, and forensic experts still disagree on who did.
Sep 11, 2026
The Index · Dark History
H.H. Holmes was convicted of one murder, in Philadelphia. The Chicago 'Murder Castle,' its torture chambers, and its 200 victims are a legend built mostly after his death.
Sep 11, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
The LA County Coroner ruled Elisa Lam's death an accidental drowning connected to her bipolar disorder. Here's what the official record actually established.
Sep 10, 2026
The Index · Dark History
Ed Gein admitted killing Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden, but he was tried only for Worden's murder. Here's the documented case, the 1968 insanity ruling, the grave robberies, and what horror films actually borrowed.
Sep 10, 2026
The Index · Dark History
Nineteen people were hanged, one was pressed to death, and no one was burned. Here's the documented history of the Salem witch trials, separated from The Crucible.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Dark History
Six members of the DeFeo family were shot dead in their Amityville home in November 1974. Here is the documented criminal case, before any haunting story existed.
Sep 2, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
The DeFeo murders at 112 Ocean Avenue are documented fact. The Lutz family's haunting claims are a separate, disputed story. Here's what the record actually supports.
Aug 30, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
Who was Jack the Ripper? A careful look at the five canonical victims, Whitechapel investigation, letters, suspects, DNA claims and what remains unsolved.
Aug 24, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
A careful guide to the Zodiac Killer case: the four confirmed attacks, victims, letters, ciphers, major suspects, DNA claims and what remains unsolved.
Aug 24, 2026