Since its release in 1981, the movie Silence of the Lambs has become a horror icon. The American Film Institute considers it one of the best films of all time, and it is only one of three movies to win the “big five” Academy Awards for Best Actor, Actress, Director, Movie, and Screenplay.

In a movie filled with terrifying moments, there is one that stands out. While investigating a storage facility, FBI Agent Clarice Starling finds a large jar that contains a human head. The gruesome sight horrified the agent, not to mention the audience.

While discovering a head in a jar might be the stuff of movies, finding human remains in storage units is not unrealistic. Dozens of such cases have happened around the world to people who never imagined seeing a tiny corpse stuffed into a suitcase or a military hero’s ashes on a shelf. From murders to thefts, accidents to suicides, gruesome crime scenes to sadly forgotten histories, storage units have many stories to tell. Here are ten of them.

Related: 10 Family Secrets That Will Truly Horrify You

10 Forgotten Children

The idea of finding something valuable in an abandoned storage unit has made TV shows like Storage Wars and Auction Hunters popular. In those shows, as in real life, if a storage unit goes unpaid or has been abandoned, the owners of the facility can auction off its contents. The bidders don’t know what they might find—it might be valuable art or jewelry; it might be nothing but empty boxes. And sometimes, as in a recent case in New Zealand, it might be something horrific.

On August 11, 2022, after trying their luck by bidding on abandoned storage items in an online auction, a family in Auckland brought home their unknown winnings. They hoped to find something of value. What they found instead, crammed into suitcases, were the remains of two young children, between roughly five and ten years of age.

Authorities were called to the scene, and investigators say the remains have likely been in the suitcases for several years. Although their names have not been released, the children have been identified. After a South Korean woman was linked to the victims, the Korean National Police Agency became involved in the ongoing investigation.^[1]

9 Cali in the Cage

In another horrific case involving a child, the remains of five-year-old Cali Anderson were found in a plastic drum in a Sacramento storage unit in May 2018. The police say Cali had died approximately two weeks before her body was discovered. In an arrest affidavit, Anderson’s stepmother said the little girl was experiencing health problems, but since she wasn’t her own child, she didn’t get her any medical attention.

When Cali died, her body was placed in a duffel bag, hidden in a closet, and finally moved to the storage unit. When the police investigated the child’s home, they found handcuffs in an animal crate, along with clothing belonging to the girl, hinting that little Cali’s short life had been a very tragic one.^[2]

8 No Show of Respect

While storage units have been used many times by killers trying to hide evidence, sometimes the remains are of people who died of completely natural causes. The crimes perpetrated against them and their families instead occurred after death by the very people trusted to handle their remains with dignity and care.

In one such case, the winner of a storage auction in Rhode Island was shocked to find the bodies of two adults and one infant in his unit. The remains of the adults were so decomposed their gender could not be determined, while the infant, found in a small coffin, was thought to be a female. The unit had been rented by funeral home operator Alfred Pennine of Providence. Dozens more sets of remains were discovered in the funeral home he operated. Once his crimes began to come to light, Pennine committed suicide.^[3]

7 A Long-Overdue Honor

In some cases, it is not criminal activity that results in human remains being found in storage but merely time and tragedy. In early 2022, storage auction winner Bob Blank stumbled across the story of a forgotten military veteran. While looking through items he had won from the auction, he found a sealed box with cremated remains, along with other documents, including a letter from former President Ronald Reagan. A death certificate and Army discharge documents said the remains belonged to a World War II veteran. Two medals indicated he had been a heroic one.

Decorated soldier George Ralph Brady died in 1984 at the age of 59, and his ashes were stored in a cardboard box for 38 years. Determining that Brady had no living relatives, the American Legion performed a burial service with an honor guard and a flag line. The once-forgotten veteran’s remains now lie at the Riverside National Cemetery in California.^[4]

6 Work Goes up in Flames

Although most people use storage units to secure their personal belongings, some also use them to work on their own property. Unfortunately for a man in Russellville, Alabama, doing repairs on an automobile might have been responsible for his death.

On January 14, 2022, emergency workers responded to a fire at a storage facility. Initial reports about the number of units involved varied, but they all claimed one thing: that a dead body was found inside one of them. Subsequent reports said the unnamed man was known to have rented several units in the facility and that he often worked on vehicles in them. Authorities speculate the victim might have been using an alternative heat source that could have sparked the blaze. No foul play was suspected.^[5]

5 Murderous Greed

Money has always been a powerful motivator for murder, and hiding a victim’s remains while continuing to rob them is not as rare as one would hope. In one such case in Las Vegas, the bodies of an elderly couple were hidden in trash bins for ten years while their killer stole their Social Security income. The remains were found in a unit at All Storage at the Lakes in 2015, but the last time Joaquin and Eleanor Sierra were seen alive was in 2003.

Their killer, Robert Dixon Dunn, had apparently met them at a nursing home where his own mother was living. After killing them, he succeeded in stealing from them for all those years by moving around the country and using a fake name. After someone reported him for suspected fraud, he was finally caught. His ex-wife said Dunn claimed he was concealing the bodies of his aunt and uncle, who had committed suicide. In truth, the bodies were found to contain drugs and injuries caused by a sharp object.^[1]

4 A Bug Reveals All

That lure of money does not just attract evil strangers to potential victims. Violence within families is not uncommon, sometimes between spouses or between siblings. And sometimes between parents and children. In 2001, police in Las Vegas accused Brookey Lee West of killing her own mother and hiding the remains in a trash can in a storage unit. The remains of Christine Smith, 68, were discovered after reports of a foul odor caused the police to seek a search warrant.

The unit, which also contained many of Smith’s belongings, had been rented by her daughter, though she had used a different last name. During the trial, it seemed possible the murderer might evade justice because the remains were so decomposed that the coroner could not determine a cause of death. West said her mother died of natural causes, and the coroner could not absolutely refute that. But in a surprising twist, an entomologist was able to prove the case for murder. Dr. Neal Haskell testified that the absence of blow flies on the corpse proved she had been put in the can either while she was still alive or immediately after death. West was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

In an interesting footnote, Brookey Lee West returned to the headlines when she tried to escape from prison. Although wearing a disguise, West was spotted and recognized by staff right before she reached the prison exit.^[7]

3 A Daughter’s Deceptive Plan

Even when murder is not involved, the lure of money can cause some people to do unimaginable things. After her father apparently died from natural causes in June 1990, Judith Maria Broughton concocted a plan to steal his Social Security benefits, beginning in 1997. Leasing a storage unit at Econo Self Storage in Lexington, Kentucky, Judith stored the body there and kept collecting her father’s retirement funds.

On January 8, 2014, authorities discovered the mummified remains of Luther Broughton and charged Judith with the theft of nearly a quarter-million dollars. After pleading guilty to the theft, Judith was sentenced to ten years in prison.^[8]

2 Horrific Hoarding

It’s not always murder, and it’s not always money. Sometimes remains discovered in storage units were kept there due to family secrets, psychological disorders, and grief. After her death by natural causes in 1995, Ann Bunch’s body was released to her family for burial. Family members built a casket, domed so the old woman’s hump would fit inside. It was painted blue and loaded into a family van to be transported to Alabama for burial. But the body never got there.

On her deathbed, Ann’s daughter, Barbie Hancock, confessed to her own daughter, Rebecca Fancher, that the remains were in unit B8 of U-Stor. Although Hancock claimed the burial had been delayed because of bad weather and truck problems, family members say otherwise. Fancher’s ex-husband claims his former mother-in-law couldn’t deal with her mother’s death and that her hoarding compulsion made her keep the body nearby—possibly even in her own home before it was moved to U-Stor. Hancock and Fancher’s hoarding eventually led to their house being declared uninhabitable.^[9]

1 A Wife Dismembered

One of the most disturbing instances of remains found in a storage unit would have to be the case of Jessica Rey. On October 20, 2017, Rey gave birth in a Kansas City, Missouri, hotel room. Her husband, Justin, claims she died after the child’s birth, saying at one time that she had committed suicide and at another that Jessica died of natural causes. In any case, Justin spent two days in the room with the corpse, the newborn infant, and the couple’s toddler. Then, in the presence of his children, he dismembered Jessica’s body, put the parts in a cooler, and took it to a U-Haul storage facility. Alarmed by his suspicious behavior, facility workers called the police.

Authorities found Rey in the storage unit—where he might have stayed for a few nights—with his two small children and his wife’s dismembered remains. Faced with charges of endangerment of a child and sexual exploitation of a minor for photos found on his phone during the investigation, Rey was convicted and sentenced to nearly nine years in prison. He remains under investigation in a separate murder case in California.^[10]

In 1913, French agricultural engineer Max Ringelmann studied people playing tug of war. His studies resulted in the observation of the Ringelmann Effect. It posits that the more individuals or groups are involved in an action, the less effort exerted by any individual unit. After all, there’s less blame that will be put on any specific unit in the event of failure, and less credit in success. Not to mention more infighting, confusion, chokepoints, bottlenecks, and so on. As we’ll see, Ringelmann’s Effect can definitely be a valid principle. 

For the purposes of this list, the largest unit covered will be a “brigade.” In the army, a brigade is a collection of regiments (usually around four). A regiment is a group of battalions (often two) and a battalion is a group of companies, and companies are generally around 100 troops. As we’ll also see, sometimes a company is a much larger group of soldiers than what is needed to change the course of a battle, and with it, often history.   

10. The 303rd Squadron

Despite the fact the nation of Poland surrendered less than a month after Germany invaded on September 1, 1939, that was by no means the end of Polish military involvement in the Second World War. In August 1940, the 303rd Squadron was formed out of refugee pilots from the 1st Police Air Force Regiment that gathered in Blackpool, England. Trained on outmoded planes back in Poland, they took to their Hawker Hurricanes with such vigor that they shot to the top of the Royal Air Force ranking for the Battle of Britain and stayed there for essentially the duration of the war, shooting down three times the number of enemy planes for an average RAF squadron while suffering one third the casualties. On September 7, 1940 alone they shot down 14 Luftwaffe planes without suffering a single casualty. 

Plenty of experts both then and in recent years have given the 303rd Squadron credit for being the key to victory. Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding said that if it weren’t for their contribution in the Battle of Britain, “I hesitate to say the outcome would be the same.” Carl Cruff of the New England Air Museum said of the 303rd “…they were able to turn the tide of history.” Despite their amazing performance, for decades their contribution was downplayed, largely due to Poland’s presence behind the Iron Curtain increasing tensions with the British government for being unable to keep the promise of returning the Poles to their liberated homeland.     

9. Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry 

By Western standards at least, it’s not ideal for a group of soldiers to have the word “princess” in their regiment’s name, and this was particularly the case in the 1950s. The teasing very likely came to an end after the events of April 24-25, 1951. That was when the 2nd Battalion of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry was deployed to Hill 677 to defend the withdrawal of the South Korean army across the Kapyong River Valley, about 10 miles from the 38th Parallel, in response to a massive Chinese offensive. 

To show just what the 700 Canadians were up against, on April 23, the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment clashed with the Chinese and were forced to withdraw after suffering heavy losses. The next day 5,000 Chinese troops began waves of assaults on the Canadians, including under cover of night. Desperate measures were needed to hold the line, such as one wounded private needing to launch one-man counterattacks three times. At another point Lt. Michael Levy resorted to requesting Canadian artillery bombard his own position to halt an attack. Towards the end of the battle the Canadians were completely cut off, saved only by air-dropped supplies. Ultimately, their sacrifice and bravery would buy the United Nations forces time to regroup and stymie the larger Chinese offensive.      

8. 1st Tank Brigade

Let’s talk about, by far, the most recent events on this list. It’s time to turn our attention to Chernihiv, a city in Ukraine roughly 60 miles north of Kiev. When the Russian Invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, this brigade of roughly 150 tanks and 1,200 troops was the only force that stood between the city of 230,000 people and the Russian 41st Combined Arms Group, which included more than 10 battalions. As early as February 25, the 1st Brigade had brought the 41st to a standstill. 

By March 6, the greatly outnumbered brigade was being predicted to surrender as its supply lines were in danger of encirclement. Instead, it not only held out, but suffered much lower casualties than expected and managed the feat of shooting down Russian aircraft. By March 23, having suffered 10,000 casualties, the 41st had fallen back to change strategy, handing the Ukrainians a surprise victory. 

7. The Cavalry Reserve at Poitiers

Now that relatively current events are out of the way, this next entry is going to the other end of the timeline and taking us to the Middle Ages. As far as major battles of the Hundred Years War (1340-1457) go, the 1356 CE Battle of Poitiers is often overshadowed by the Battle of Crécy a decade earlier, and the Battle of Agincourt half a century later. After the end of the 10-year ceasefire in the wake of the milestone victory at Crécy, an English force of 12,000 under the command of Prince Edward “The Black” raided into central France. They were caught by an army of 40,000 French under the command of King John II, and despite an attempted retreat on Prince Edward’s part, on September 19 the battle began. 

While the longbowmen once again had a devastating effect on the French – just as they had at Crécy – this time it was by no means such a lopsided fight. Attacking in three main waves, they threatened to break the English army. Edward sent a force of 160 cavalrymen around the French army, which spread a panic among the French that they were being surrounded. This sneak attack resulted in a rout so bad that King John II was captured, his ransom not paid until 1360.  

6. Zvika Force    

In 1973, Syria invaded Israel near the Golan Heights. One man who was determined to stop them was 21-year-old Zvika Greengold. He had finished hitchhiking to Nafekh Base and was sent to collect wounded from two damaged Centurion tanks. Instead, Goldman and company repaired the tanks and intercepted a Syrian column in Russian T-55s. After knocking six enemy tanks out of commission, Zvika Force switched to the other tank to continue the fight, bluffing masses of Syrian tanks and their own Israeli superiors, and convincing them that there simply had to be more than one tank out there taking on dozens of enemies. 

Eventually Zvika Force joined a group of a dozen other tanks. While fighting more than 100 additional tanks, Zvika Force repeatedly had to defend Nafekh by itself. In the end, it was 30 hours before Zvika and company left their Centurion tank, having bought more than enough time to reinforce the base and stop the invasion. The story was later heavily criticized for being propaganda. To be sure, there was some exaggeration of his exploits. For example, some reports swelled the number of kills Zvika Force inflicted to 60 tanks, which Greengold himself said was nonsense. Still, the heroism of this skeleton tank crew was not to be denied. 

5. Beale’s Rifle Company 

The popular image of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans is basically redcoat soldiers marching to be shot en masse by Americans while inflicting negligible casualties in response, and two weeks after the war was over to boot. But that famously misguided charge was the end result of several engagements that began in December 1814, and earlier in the battle things had been going much more favorably for the British. In the first clash, the British captured five American gunships at Lake Borgne and took the initiative. 

Then on the night of December 23, 1814, the British infantry encountered Beale’s Rifle Company at the Villere Plantation. Although the battle ended in a stalemate and the casualties were about even, British morale was badly shaken and further attacks were delayed, giving plenty of time to reinforce the defenses for when the British launched their famous doomed attack on January 8 the next year. Unusually for a group that so greatly distinguished themselves in a rough fight, Beale’s Rifle Company was composed of merchants and lawyers. Twenty years after the battle, the members were provided land grants.  

4. Rosecrans at Rich Mountain

On July 11, 1861, early in the American Civil War, a Northern army under General George McClellan stood opposite a Southern army under General Robert Garnett at Rich Mountain, Virginia. The Southerners were defending two Appalachian mountain passes and the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, which would be instrumental if the Confederacy wanted to end the break away of northwestern Virginia counties. McClellan sent a brigade of troops under General William Rosencrans to flank the Confederates. Rosecrans did so, then launched an attack as ordered.

As reported by veteran John Beatty in his 1879 memoir The Citizen Soldier, McClellan and his troops could easily hear the battle going on in the enemy’s rear, and the troops were waiting for McClellan to order the attack be pressed home. But McClellan decided to forgo any such attack because he believed Rosencrans was beyond saving. In fact, Rosencrans’s brigade had defeated the southerners and captured half of their army. 

3. 8th Hussar Cavalry

On January 22, 1795, Holland was at war with France as the French Revolutionary Wars were raging. A fleet of fourteen Dutch ships froze in the waters near Hexel Island, roughly 50 miles north of Amsterdam. Well-armed, the vessels were ready for an attack by ships from unfrozen waters or by artillery bombardment.

So, General Jean-Charles Pichergu turned to a more unusual weapon for battling gunboats, and ordered a cavalry charge on the ships. The 8th Hussar Cavalry caught the ships so completely off guard that they surrendered faster than the French had dared hope in one of the more unusual events in military history. 

2. Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon

When the Wehrmacht launched its final Blitzkrieg on December 18, 1944 to begin the Battle of the Bulge, the I&R Platoon of the 394th Infantry Regiment near Lanzerath, Belgium were just 18 men, a group led by a 20-year-old Lieutenant Lyle Bouck. After spotting the approach of the 1st SS Panzer Division, the platoon’s communications with high command were cut by a two hour artillery bombardment, and a group of more than 250 organized paratroopers attacked. Unfortunately for the attackers, the platoon had already received their orders to hold at all costs. 

Over the course of the next day, the platoon inflicted 200 enemy casualties and stalled the advance for most of a day until 50 paratroopers successfully organized a flanking attack at dusk. Amazingly they only suffered one wounded casualty when Bouck was shot in the leg and one death. The Battle of Lanzerath would provide such an invaluable delay that it knocked practically the entire northern German attack off schedule by 18 hours, allowing massively better preparation for defenses and organizing counterattacks. It wouldn’t be until 1981 that the remarkable stand was recognized and the platoon became the most heavily decorated of the US military.     

1. The Lost Battalion

Speaking of battles between Americans and Germans that came down to a huge degree to the actions of one small group, on October 2, 1918, 700 soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 308th Infantry under Major Charles Whittlesley attacked the Germans along the Charlevaux Ravine in the Argonne Forest. While units on either of their flanks stalled, those nine companies reached their objective (by some accounts through a breakthrough, by others because the Germans lured them in through an ordered withdrawal) and then were cut off by the 2nd Landwehr Division. Over the next five days the battalion was subjected to almost relentless sniping, machine-gunning, and attacks.  

Not only did those isolated troops face countless attacks by a vastly superior force alone, the one point where they got support from the rest of the Allied army, it actually helped the German Army. On October 4, the 152nd Field Artillery Brigade began a bombardment of the area in an attempt to relieve the battalion, but due to faulty information their shells overwhelmingly landed on their fellow troops, killing 30 of them.

The Germans were well aware of this, and when the Americans sent pigeons back to command to call for an end to the bombardment, the German snipers gunned them down. The one pigeon that got through arrived with a wound from a German bullet. The end of the bombardment meant the resumption of German assaults, but even out of food and low on ammo they were able to repulse the attacks, and the attempt to destroy the battalion tied down the German troops sufficiently for the rest of the American offensive to break through. Only less than 200 came out of the battle still able-bodied, having done much to bring about the end of the First World War the month after.   

Dustin Koski wrote Return of the Living, a postapocalyptic supernatural comedy.