From the 15th through the 18th centuries, Europe was a scary place, particularly if you were an elderly woman. Tension between the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church meant that religious terror was rife, bad luck was blamed on Devil worshipers, and the European witch trials claimed the lives of around 200,000 people across Germany, Sweden, France, and Britain.

Witch finders used a range of bizarre methods, often bordering on torture, to entice confessions from the accused or otherwise “prove” their guilt. Would any of these insane tests prove you guilty of witchcraft?

10 Waking The Witch

The Italians pioneered a particularly uncomfortable method for testing witches that became very popular in Scotland. We know it now as sleep deprivation. This may sound like something you have suffered yourself if you work a stressful job or have young children. But for accused witches, it was a creatively cruel trial and punishment.

The accused had an iron hoop with four sharp prongs forced into her mouth. It was then attached to the wall behind her, the effect being that she would be in pain and unable to lie down.

The men charged with guarding the witch were also instructed to keep her awake through whatever means they deemed necessary. Usually, after about three days of this, the victim would start to vividly hallucinate. When questioned in this state, the accused would recount fantastical tales of flying, turning into animals, and partaking in satanic rituals.^[1]

The witch catchers proclaimed that this was the witch “awakening” within the woman and was undeniable proof of her guilt. Those found guilty of witchcraft in Scotland were usually strangled at the stake and then burned.

9 Touch Test

In 1662, two elderly women in England were subjected to the infamous “touch test.” Their names were Rose Cullender and Amy Denny. They were charged with bewitching two young girls who had been suffering with fits.

The witch hunters believed that someone who was under the influence of sorcery would have an unusual reaction to physical contact with the spellcaster. The suspect would be brought into the room and forced to lay her hands on the person having fits. If the illness ceased, this was seen as proof that the accused was guilty.

In the Cullender and Denny case, it was said that the suffering children held their fists so tightly clenched that even the strongest man in the village could not pry their fingers open. Yet, as soon as they were touched by the accused women, the girls stopped their fits and easily opened their palms.^[2]

To test if the girls were lying, the judge had them blindfolded and touched by other members of the court. It was found that they had the same reaction every time someone placed their hands on the girls. So they were faking. Despite this, Cullender and Denny were found guilty and faced execution by hanging.

8 The Rack

Germany is usually considered to be the country that executed the most witches. During the 1620s, the five-year-long Wurzburg trials are estimated to have killed over 900 people. No one was safe from the Prince Bishop Philipp Adolf von Ehrenberg, including his own nephew, 19 Catholic priests, and some boys. Seven were found guilty of having sexual intercourse with demons before being beheaded or burned at the stake.

The accused were found guilty following confession, and torture was not yet illegal in Central Europe. The Germans had many cruel methods of forcing confessions from their victims, but the most popular was the rack.

It usually consisted of an iron frame with a wooden roller at one or both ends. The unfortunate souls had their hands bound to one roller and their ankles bound to the other. During their interrogations, their torturers would use the rollers to increase the tension on the binds and essentially stretch the accused.^[3]

The joints of the victim would eventually be dislocated and then separated entirely while they listened to the sickening popping and snapping of their own bones. Would that be enough to make you plead guilty to witchcraft?

7 Pricking

Witch pricking was once considered to be the most accurate way of testing for witchcraft. The accused would be stripped completely naked in front of the court and then shaved from head to toe. The witch pricker (a revered profession) would then seek out the “Devil’s mark” by pricking the victim all over with a thick needle.

It was believed that there would be a spot that did not bleed or cause pain—proof of a contract with the Devil. This was really a form of horrendous sexual abuse. In a society that held modesty in high regard, many women would confess just to end the humiliation.

In Scotland, a witch pricker could expect to make £6 per witch discovered. When you consider that the average daily wage in those days was one shilling, this was a significant amount.

As with most jobs, it was a male profession. But that didn’t stop one woman from becoming one of the most infamous witch prickers of all time. While dressed as a man and calling herself John Dickson, Christian Caddell sentenced as many as 10 witches to death. She was eventually caught and banished to the fever-ridden Barbados. Many people didn’t even survive the voyage.^[4]

6 Spotted By Visgossar

Sweden was unique in its persecution of witches because it relied heavily on the witness testimonies of children (often the offspring of the accused), who were tortured until they provided suitably fantastical tales.

The children would be predominantly questioned about their experiences visiting Blakulla—not hell, but the Devil’s banqueting hall with a peek hole in the floor through which one could observe Hell beneath. Some of the youths would find themselves competing to fabricate the most creative stories, which would ultimately end with the execution of their parents.

The visgossar were young boys who were believed to have the power to spot the invisible Stigma Diaboli (mark of the Devil) on the forehead of the witch. Following a church service, it was common practice for the boys to point at a few women and name them guilty. These poor folks were often executed just days later.^[5]

The boys were paid per witch identified, and this meant that many homeless orphans and beggars would come forward claiming to be visgossar as a way to make easy money. Of course, the profession came with its own dangers. On several occasions, vigossar were found beaten to death by the families of those they accused.

5 Ducking Stool

Often referred to as “dunking,” the ducking stool was the most widespread and trusted method for testing a witch. The suspect was tied to a chair or with her wrists bound to her ankles. Then she was attached to a pulley and lowered into a body of freezing water.

The logic was simple. If she was guilty, she would float on the top and be put to death as a witch. If she was innocent, she would sink to the bottom and drown.

Witch catchers believed this would work for different reasons. Some thought that witches would automatically float to the top of the water because they had renounced their baptisms as a rejection of God. Others believed that witches were able to use their magical powers to float to the top and stop themselves from drowning.

Either way, it was generally accepted that the victim was innocent and would be accepted into Heaven if she drowned and died. In the eyes of the witch catchers, this was a far better fate than living as a guilty witch bound for execution and hell. Sometimes, a floating witch would be dunked repeatedly until she confessed, which was a medieval form of water torture.^[6]

Interestingly, the ducking stool was designed specifically for women only and was also used as a punishment for being a prostitute or scold. A scold was a woman who was generally considered a nuisance, who spread chaos among her neighbors by habitually chastising, quarreling, or gossiping.

In these cases, the ducking stool contraption was sometimes attached to wheels and paraded through the town on the way to the dunking site. This was to ensure maximum humiliation for the accused.

4 Weighing The Witch

Holland had a very famous weighing house in Oudewater. Women from as far away as Germany and Hungary would travel there to prove their innocence. The idea was simple. Souls are heavy burdens to bear. As a witch would not possess one, she would be significantly lighter than an innocent woman.

The weighing house had a large set of scales. The accused would stand on one side, and cast-iron weights would be placed on the other. Women of the proper weight were given certificates to prove their innocence.^[7]

The Dutch were not the only ones who believed that you could find a witch by weighing her. In Aylesbury, England, it was common practice to strip a woman naked and weigh her against a heavy, iron-bound Bible. If the scales did not balance out exactly, the woman would be convicted as a witch.

In other places in Europe, women would be weighed against stacks of Bibles. If they were not found guilty straightaway, extra Bibles were sometimes added to the pile.

3 Cruentation

If someone was accused of murder by witchcraft, they could be proved guilty by cruentation in many European courts. They believed that the soul still resided in the body shortly after death and that the body would react unusually in the presence of the murderer.

The accused was made to call out the name of the dead person, walk around the corpse, and touch the body’s sores. If fresh blood appeared, the body moved, or it began to foam at the mouth, the suspect would be considered guilty.

What the court was actually witnessing was the leaking of a liquid known as purge fluid. It looks a lot like blood and is expelled from various orifices during putrefaction. Dead bodies may also twitch slightly, expel the contents of their bowels, or even seem to “groan” soon after death. This would be seen as the person’s soul leaving the body to further escape his killer (too little, too late).^[8]

2 Have Your Witch’s Teat Discovered

If you had a pet, it was likely that a witch catcher would try to prove your guilt by seeking out your witch’s teat. It was believed that witches kept demons in their houses as pets, disguised as dogs, cats, insects, or rodents and that these familiars suckled on a special nipple gifted to the witch by the Devil.

The presence of a mole, skin tag, or unusual birthmark on the body was considered proof that the accused was practicing witchcraft and feeding her familiar in this manner.

At least 80 percent of the people prosecuted for witchcraft were female, and the idea of a Devil-made and villainous breast is a perfect example of how misogynistic the trials really were. Many breasts of the accused were subject to brutal and humiliating treatment and were often publicly exposed or even whipped.^[9]

Anna Pappenheimer from Bavaria was tortured into admitting to having sexual relations with the Devil. As punishment, her breasts were cut off and forced into her mouth and then into the mouths of her two adult sons before all three were burned at the stake.

1 Be Unable To Cry

The Malleus Maleficarum (“The Hammer of Witches”) was a medieval document published about witches, their practices, and methods to conduct trials and punish them. It was written in Latin by two German monks. For hundreds of years, it was the best-selling book in Europe, second only to the Bible.

Malleus Maleficarum stated that witches would be unable to shed real tears when put in front of a judge or even when subjected to torture. It implored witch catchers to be wary of mischievous witches who were likely to fake tears by spitting on their own faces.^[10]

During the medieval period, a lack of health care and personal hygiene meant that it was common for the elderly to suffer from what we now call lacrimal ducts. This is an infection in the tear ducts that stops the sufferer from being able to shed tears. This meant that many elderly women were executed as witches simply for having poor eyes.

Fennella is a Green Witch living in London. Blog: www.fennellathewitch.com. Instagram: @fennellathewitch

Neiman Marcus is the first American department store to go bankrupt during the coronavirus shutdown. “Prior to COVID-19, Neiman Marcus Group was making solid progress on our journey to long-term profitable and sustainable growth,” said CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck in a statement. “However, like most businesses today, we are facing unprecedented disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has placed inexorable pressure on our business.”

Macy’s relies heavily on its brick-and-mortar stores and furloughed 125,000 workers during the first two weeks of the shutdown. J.Crew filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of May. JCPenney and Lord & Taylor are reportedly considering bankruptcy as well.

But the pandemic is really just one more nail in the coffin. These businesses were struggling well before the stay-at-home orders went into effect. A recent report from S&P Global Market Intelligence revealed that department stores are considered more at risk of defaulting on their loans than any other consumer sector: their odds of default over the next twelve months is 42 percent.

In 2017, Credit Suisse estimated that 20 to 25 percent of malls would close between 2017 and 2022, mainly because anchor stores like Macy’s, JCPenney, and Sears were closing.

While Neiman Marcus has not yet revealed whether it plans to close stores, many well-known brick-and-mortar stores have done just that. In 2019, major retailers closed more than 9,300 stores (up nearly 60 percent over 2018). Ten years from now, many household names may be a thing of the past. Here’s a look at once-popular stores that went out of business (or soon may).

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10 Department Stores

Department stores have long defined retail shopping. They’re the anchor stores within shopping malls. They take up the most real estate within suburban strip malls and on city retail blocks. But they’re heading for extinction.

Marshall Field’s was founded in the 19th century, and Hecht’s Department Store was founded in 1957. Macy’s purchased both brands in 2005 and converted or closed all of the stores. The following year, Macy’s retired the Kaufmann’s department store brand. But, as noted above, Macy’s (founded in 1929) faces major struggles of its own. It plans to close 125 stores over the next three years.

Bon-Ton stores (including its subsidiaries Bergner’s, Boston Store, Carson’s, Elder-Beerman, Herberger’s, and Younkers) were liquidated in 2018. As a result, 256 stores were closed.

Filene’s Department Store, a Boston-based store founded in 1881, went bankrupt in 2009. None of its brick-and-mortar locations remain. And California-based Mervyn’s was founded in 1949 and had nearly 200 locations at its peak. In 2008, the company declared bankruptcy and closed all of its stores.

Two major department stores, Sears and JCPenney, are hanging on, but they’re in trouble. Sears (along with KMart) have closed more than 3,500 stores and cut about 250,000 jobs in the past 15 years. It filed for Chapter 11 in October 2018 and began closing stores. It was acquired by Transformco in February 2019, which announced that fewer than 200 Sears and KMart stores will continue to operate.

JC Penney had more than 1,100 stores in 2010, but its declining sales forced it to close a good portion of them. The retailer has not reported a quarterly sales gain since the 2017 holiday season. (2019 holiday same-store sales dropped 7.5 percent.) Six stores closed in early 2020. The coronavirus ultimately proved too much to take and this month JC Penney finally filed for bankruptcy.^[1]

9 Clothing Stores

There are stores that sell clothes for the entire family and those that are specialized. Some cater to children, tweens, or teens. Others focus on consumers of a particular size. And there are stores that sell only one type of merchandise: underwear, or socks, or hats, or suits.

As noted above, department stores–those that sell apparel items for every member of the family–are not doing well. But neither are many clothing-only stores.

Filene’s Basement, an off-price store that started in Filene’s department store, closed all 20 of its locations in 2011. The Limited abruptly shut down all 250 of its stores in 2017. And, in January 2019, after 123 years of business, Henri Bendel closed all 23 of its stores.

Charlotte Russe, a women’s clothing chain founded in the mid-1970s, closed more than 500 stores in April 2019. Avenue, a plus-size women’s clothing retailer, closed 222 stores in August 2019. In the same month, San Antonio-based A’Gaci closed all 54 stores. And luxury department store brand Barneys New York, which was founded in New York City in 1923, ceased operations February 2020. DressBarn announced that it will close all 650 store locations as the chain was “not operating at an acceptable level of profitability in today’s retail environment.”

Steve & Barry’s, which sold inexpensive sportswear for teens, closed all of its stores in 2009. Gadzooks, another teen clothing store, opened in 1983 and filed for bankruptcy in 2005, when it was purchased by Forever 21, which then closed all of the stores. Teen apparel store, Wet Seal, permanently closed stores in 2017 and now sells online only.

Gymboree, a chain of clothing for babies and kids, closed 400 stores under Chapter 11 protection in 2017. In January 2019, the retailer filed again and this time shut down all (more than 800) of its Gymboree and Crazy 8 stores. (Gymboree merch is now being sold by its former rival, The Children’s Place.) Premium children’s brand Peek Kids closed its stores when parent company Charlotte Russe (above) went out of business. The brand is now being sold only by new owner Mamiye Brothers Inc.

The retail apocalypse, as well as declining birth rates (which hit an all-time low in 2018), forced Destination Maternity to file for bankruptcy in 2019. Only a handful of its 458 Destination Maternity, Motherhood Maternity, and Pea in the Pod stores will remain open.

Clothing stores that remain open–while closing many of their locations–include Forever21, Gap, Chico’s, Victoria’s Secret, Christopher & Banks, Francesca’s, Abercrombie & Fitch, and J. Crew, among others.^[2]

8 Shoe Stores

Brick-and-mortar stores that specialize in shoes are hurting. They’re feeling the same pinch that clothing stores are, and they’re competing with online powerhouses like Zappo’s, Shoe.com, and Amazon.

Take Kinney Shoes, for example. The store, which opened in 1894, had 467 stores at its peak. All of them closed in 1998. In the 1960s, Thom McAn had more than 1,400 Tom McAn stores. The chain closed in 1996, but the brand is still available via other retailers. In February 2019, Payless ShoeSource filed for bankruptcy and closed all of its 2,500 stores in one of the largest retail liquidations in history.^[3]

7 Toy Stores

How quaint it is to picture children peering into the colorful window of the downtown toy store! But the reality is that toy stores are simply not popular anymore. It’s not that kids aren’t playing, it’s more about what they’re playing with and how they acquire their toys. Gaming and electronics are huge even among the very young, leaving little interest in toy trains, wooden puzzles, and babydolls. And much of what kids play with can be streamed digitally.

The iconic FAO Schwarz toy store was prominently situated on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The retailer closed in 2015 but reopened three years later in a new location in Manhattan. Other toy stores were not as fortunate.

Imaginarium was an educational toy store in the 1980s. Stores started closing in the 1990s, and by 2003, its parent company Toys R Us had closed all of them. Zany Brainy stores filed for bankruptcy in 2001. K·B Toys closed all of its 1,300 stores in 2009. And Toys R Us, the toy store of all toy stores, closed in 2018.^[4]

6 Electronics and Computers

While kids and adults favor electronic entertainment to any other, the stores that sell the stuff aren’t immune to the retail apocalypse. Media Play, which opened as a big-box version of Sam Goody (see below), closed for good in 2006. Electronics chain Tweeter started in 1972 but closed all of its stores in 2008. Circuit City closed 567 stores in 2009. CompUSA, a chain founded in 1984, lost its last store in 2012. Sharper Image sells merchandise via its website, catalog, and third-party retailers, but it no longer has any stores.

And now that video games are so easy to download, players don’t have to go to a store to buy them. That’s a problem for GameStop, which has more than 5,700 locations across 14 countries. The company experienced major losses and sales drops over the past couple of years and closed nearly 200 stores in 2019. And CFO James Bell warned of a “much larger tranche of closures of the coming 12 to 24 months.”^[5]

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5 Music and Video Stores

Before consumers could stream movies and music, they browsed for their favorites in actual stores. Much of the younger set has never experienced music in anything but a digital format. Tower Records, one of the largest record stores in the 1990s, closed all of its U.S. stores in 2006.

The first Sam Goody music store opened in the 1940s, but it, too, was unable to compete with evolving music technology. By 2010, its stores had either closed or converted into other brands (like FYE). Hastings Entertainment shuttered all 123 stores in 2017. And Virgin Megastores, king of the CD market, closed all U.S. locations in the same year.

Fifteen years ago, the video rental store Blockbuster had more than 9,000 stores and changed the way people watch movies. But long before Netflix changed it again, Blockbuster suffered, filing for bankruptcy in 2010. Now, only one Blockbuster store remains: in Bend, Oregon.^[6]

4 Furniture and Home Goods

Despite HGTV’s positive impact on the home improvement and home decorating businesses, furniture and home goods stores are not safe from the retail apocalypse. Levitz Furniture was founded way back in 1910, but it closed all of its stores in 2008. Linens ‘n Things had more than 500 stores in 2006 and zero stores in 2008. (The company still maintains an online presence.)

In October 2019, Hamilton Beach Brands announced that it planned to close all 160 of The Kitchen Collection stores, which sold small kitchen appliances and cooking tools. Craft-store chain A.C. Moore, shut down all of its 145 stores. Parent Company Nicole Crafts is converting about 40 locations into Michaels stores.

Bed, Bath & Beyond felt the heat and closed 60 stores in 2019. Pier 1 Imports announced plans to close 57 stores in 2020. And Z Gallerie, a home furnishings store, will close 17 of its 76 stores as part of its Chapter 11 restructuring.^[7]

3 Book Stores

Book store chains negatively impacted smaller, independent bookstores. Then, electronic readers like Kindles and digital audio apps like Audible put a hurting on the chain businesses. In the end, however, e-book sales leveled off, and the physical book did not. What changed was how real books are purchased: not in bookstores, but online.
In 1987, Barnes & Noble acquired B.Dalton Books and officially closed the bookstore in January 2010. Barnes & Noble is the biggest bookstore chain, but it has struggled and closed about 10 percent of its stores since 2011.

Waldenbooks, founded in 1933, merged with Borders in 1994. When Borders liquidated in 2011, all locations of both brands closed for good.

Family Christian Stores, which had 240 stores that sold books and other religious merchandise, closed in 2017. And LifeWay Christian Stores shut down 170 stores across 30 states.

Book World, the 45-store chain founded in 1976, announced its liquidation in December 2017. “Sales in our mall stores are down this year from 30 to 60 percent,” owner Bill Steur told the New York Times. “The internet is killing retail. Bookstores are just the first to go.” It was Amazon that replaced Book World as the fourth-largest bookstore chain.^[8]

2 Sporting Goods

Even in retail, sports are fiercely competitive.

Oshman’s Sporting Goods was founded in 1933, acquired by Gart Sports in 2001, and rebranded as Sports Authority. Sports Authority, in turn, had more than 200 U.S. locations when competition bankrupted it in 2016. It closed all of them and sold its website to Dick’s Sporting Goods. Dick’s also acquired Galyan’s Trading Post in 2004, Joe’s in 2009, and Golfsmith in 2016.

Sport Chalet, which first opened in 1959, abruptly closed all of its stores in 2016. MC Sports closed in 2017. In 2019, Advanced Sports Enterprises filed for bankruptcy protection and announced the closing of 102 Performance Bicycle stores. Sport retailer JackRabbit purchased Olympia Sports and announced plans to close all 76 of its stores.

And Modell’s Sporting Goods, which opened in 1889 and was the oldest sporting goods chain, announced in March 2020 that it would close all 115 stores.^[9]

1 Discount Chains

Saving money never goes out of style, but the way consumers shop for bargains has.

Ames Department Store, with more than 700 locations, struggled with debt and declining sales before closing all stores in 2002. Dollar Tree converted 200 Family Dollar stores into Dollar Tree stores and closed nearly 400 other Family Dollar locations.

In 2019, Fred’s discount chain closed 159 stores in May, 104 in June, 49 more in July. By the end of the year, all 520 stores were closed permanently.

And Shopko, which got its start in 1962, offered customers “quality service and low prices.” When Amazon arrived and offered the same thing, Shopko went under. It closed all 371 of its stores in 2019.^[10]

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Losing a child is every parent’s worst nightmare, a permanently life-altering event that turns their world upside down. Such tragedies are arguably at their worst when foul play is involved or when a child simply vanishes, leaving the parents deprived of closure.

Some parents who have lost a child in extreme circumstances will take their grief and channel it into a search for answers. These searches can last years (and may not bring closure), but all of the following victims’ parents followed their instincts and just refused to give up.

10 Jerry Michael Williams

Jerry Michael “Mike” Williams went duck hunting on Lake Seminole on the Florida-Georgia border in December 2000 and never returned. His best friend, Brian Winchester, found his boat and car but no trace of his body. Police believed that he had probably drowned and been eaten by alligators.

However, Mike’s mother, Cheryl, had an instinct that they were wrong. She said of visiting the lake: “And all of sudden a voice comes in my head, Mike is not in Lake Seminole, he did not drown.” Mike’s wife Denise didn’t agree and pressed ahead with a memorial service and then collected $1.7 million in life insurance.

Cheryl spent her life savings searching for the truth. She took out billboard adverts and stood on busy streets with handmade signs appealing for help. Cheryl wrote to the governor of Florida every day for nine years. She finally had a breakthrough after meeting with experts who told her that alligators don’t feed in cold weather.

Denise eventually married Mike’s friend Brian and banned Cheryl from seeing her granddaughter unless she stopped digging for clues. The pair ultimately divorced, and in 2016, Brian kidnapped Denise at gunpoint. As part of a sentencing deal, Brian admitted that he had lured Mike to the lake and shot him—in a plot hatched with Denise so that they could be together. Denise was charged with murder and received a life sentence in 2019. In 2016, Brian showed police where he had hidden Mike’s body, and Cheryl was able to bury her son after a campaign lasting 16 years.^[1]

9 Julie Ward

Photographer Julie Ward went missing from the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya in September 1988. Her father, John, immediately flew out to begin a search. It was the first of over 100 visits he would make in a personal investigation that would cost him around £2 million.

John hired spotter planes and found Julie’s abandoned jeep with the letters “SOS” scrawled in dust. Julie’s mutilated and burned remains were discovered nearby. Police claimed Julie had been the victim of an animal attack or suicide. John knew this was impossible, and he suspected Chief Warden Simon Makallah. Makallah claimed he had stumbled across Julie’s charred remains by following the direction of vultures and that John had a vendetta against him.

Police refused to launch a murder inquiry, so John appealed to the British government, who sent detectives from Scotland Yard. Two rangers were arrested for murder. The case collapsed, however, due to lack of evidence, with the judge declaring that there had been a cover-up to protect Kenya’s tourist industry.

John continued to expose the Kenyan police’s corruption, and in 1999, Makallah stood trial for Julie’s murder but was acquitted with no chance of a retrial. In 2004, a UK court ruled that Julie was unlawfully killed, not a victim of suicide or an animal attack.^[2] John has written a book called The Animals are Innocent.

8 Suzy Lamplugh

On July 28, 1986, real estate agent Suzy Lamplugh, 25, went to meet a client and vanished. Witnesses recall a smartly dressed man in a BMW holding a bottle of champagne. He was thought to be the mysterious “Mr. Kipper,” whose name Suzy had written in her diary. Her disappearance is still one of the UK’s biggest mysteries.

By December 1986, Suzy’s parents, Paul and Diana, launched a trust in her honor. The charity was run from an office in the family’s garden, and Diana went on to become a household name in Britain. The case gave her a platform to talk about personal safety in a way that no one had before. They distributed hundreds of free personal alarms, known as “Suzy Alarms,” to students.

The couple worked to push through new laws for stalking and harassment victims and were awarded an OBE. In 1994, Suzy was declared dead. Paul and Diana have both since died, but the Suzy Lamplugh Trust continues their work.^[3]

7 Kendrick Johnson

In January 2013, Kendrick Johnson, 17, was found dead inside a rolled up gym mat at Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Georgia. He had no apparent injuries, and police believed he became trapped after crawling in to retrieve his shoes. Kendrick’s parents believe he was murdered. Their campaign has included protests outside the court and school, where they appealed for Kendrick to be remembered on Graduation Day.

The family have issued lawsuits against the school, Lowndes County, and 38 classmates who they suspect were involved. Three autopsies have been performed, and Kendrick’s body has been exhumed twice at his parents’ request. Two autopsies found the cause of death to be blunt force trauma—contradicting the original ruling of accidental death.

The family owe nearly $300,000 in legal fees but continue their fight for justice.^[4]

6 Suzanne Lyall

On March 2, 1998, Suzanne Lyall, 19, caught the bus home from the mall. Witnesses saw the student get off near her campus in Albany, New York, but she was never seen again.

Suzanne’s parents, Doug and Mary, knew from the start that they had to keep the case in the news. Mary said, “If you don’t sit back and you don’t talk about what is going on, the case is just going to go cold.” They founded the Center for Hope in 2003 to offer advice to families of missing persons. They also pushed through “Suzanne’s Law,” which raised the age at or under which a missing person must be reported to the National Crime Information Center to 21. (It was originally 18.)^[5]

The Lyalls have used their imagination to publicize cold cases. They created a deck of playing cards featuring missing people and placed flyers in tax forms. Doug died in 2015. Mary is working with the Cold Case Analysis Center at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, looking for answers for her and other families of the missing.

5 Keith Bennett

Keith Bennett 12, was walking to his grandmother’s house in Manchester, UK, when he was lured into a van driven by Myra Hindley. She drove him to Saddleworth Moor, where her partner, Ian Brady, was waiting. Keith was murdered and buried on the vast, open moor. In 1966, Brady and Hindley were jailed for killing a total of five children. All the victims’ bodies were found on the moor—except for Keith’s.

His mother Winnie then began a search for his lonely grave that would last her lifetime. The family have made thousands of trips to the moor, sometimes with sniffer dogs and psychics. Winnie appealed directly to the killers by DVD and letter for any scrap of information that could help.

In 1991, Brady told Keith’s brother Alan that he had written a letter, to be opened after his death, revealing the exact location of the body. Brady died in 2017, leaving two locked briefcases with his solicitor. Police went to court to obtain a warrant to open the cases but were refused.

Winnie died in 2012 without finding her son.^[6] The Bennett family are still searching for Keith.

4 The Hillsborough 96

On April 15, 1989, 53,000 football fans began arriving for a match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough in Sheffield, UK. Supporters were separated into two standing areas. Liverpool fans were sent to the Leppings Lane terrace, which had just seven turnstiles for 10,000 people to file through. No checks were in place to count the numbers, so crowds began to build.

Police chief David Duckenfield signaled for the match to begin, despite some fans being trapped in the entrances. Barriers collapsed, and people were crushed due to sheer numbers. Ultimately, 96 people lost their lives. In the aftermath, police altered witness statements and blamed the fans. Newspapers printed false allegations that fans had robbed dying victims and stopped paramedics from getting through.

An inquest found that the deaths were “accidental.” The furious families who had gathered at court formed a protest group to challenge this ruling. The Hillsborough Justice Campaign raised funds and brought a private prosecution against Duckenfield. The manslaughter trial began in June 2000, but the jury failed to reach a verdict.

In April 2016, a new inquest that had lasted 267 days found that the 96 had been unlawfully killed. David Duckenfield will be retried in October 2019 for gross negligence manslaughter. The families’ campaign has now lasted for 30 years.^[7]

3 Su Taraskiewicz

Susan “Su” Taraskiewicz was 27 when she became the first female ramp supervisor at Northwestern Airlines. Su had a tough time in the male-dominated industry. Some employees were involved in credit card fraud at Boston’s Logan International Airport and suspected Su was a police informant. She suffered daily intimidation and abuse. Sinister graffiti appeared around the airport—including a coffin with her name on it.

On September 12, 1992, Su left work at 1:00 AM to pick up sandwiches for her crew. When she didn’t return, no one raised the alarm, and 36 hours later, her body was found in the trunk of her car. She had been murdered. Police confirmed that Su was not an informant, but no arrests were made.

A year later, Su’s mother Marlene finally found the courage to look through her daughter’s bedroom and found a diary detailing the abuse Su had suffered. Marlene used this evidence to bring a sexual harassment claim against the airline and won $75,000. The airline also offered a $250,000 reward for information.

On the 25th anniversary of Su’s death, Marlene held a vigil at Logan Airport. The district attorney has vowed to keep the case open, and Marlene has said, “I am a very healthy woman and I am not going away.”^[8]

2 Helen McCourt

Helen McCourt, 22, disappeared while walking home on a rainy night in 1988. Hundreds of villagers turned out to search for Helen in Billinge, UK. Police interviewed pub landlord Ian Simms, who appeared nervous. They searched his car and found Helen’s earring and spots of her blood. Helen’s body has never been found, and Simms is a rare example of someone who was convicted of murder despite investigators having no body. He received a life sentence in 1989.

Helen’s mother Marie and her family have since spent every weekend looking for Helen in fields, sewers, and ditches. They have drained ponds and crawled through mine shafts in their search. Marie has campaigned for “Helen’s Law,” which stipulates that murderers will not be granted parole unless they reveal where they hid the victim’s body.^[9] This was made law in July 2019.

Simms was recently photographed out shopping on day release. He has never spoken about the murder.

1 Ron Goldman

On June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were murdered outside her home. Nicole’s ex-husband O.J. Simpson was arrested. Millions watched Simpson’s acquittal live on TV and saw the Goldman family react with shock and despair.^[10]

Ron’s father Fred launched a wrongful death lawsuit. The jury heard Simpson testify for the first time, and he was found liable and ordered to pay the families $33.5 million.

Simpson failed to pay, and when he wrote a book called If I Did It, Fred seized the copyright, media, and movie rights. When the publishers pulled out, Fred got it published himself, now titled If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer, as he felt the book was an important confession. The Goldmans donated some of the profits to their charity, the Ron Goldman Foundation for Justice.

I’m a true crime enthusiast and a lover of words and all things off-kilter.

European history is littered with stories of executions for various reasons, and beheading was a rather prominent means of putting the condemned to death. It’s a real wonder that anyone survived, considering the frequency of public executions in the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries.

There are many a tale of those who quite understandably panicked, begged, struggled, or fought as they were dragged step by step to the executioner’s scaffold, but what about those who met their fate well? Read on to discover ten people who met their makers in one of the cruelest fashions imaginable but managed to stay brave and dignified to the end.

10 Sir Walter Raleigh

Poor Sir Walter Raleigh was probably dealt a harsh execution sentence in 1618. After being pardoned by the king in 1617, he traveled to South America to search for new land. One of the conditions of Raleigh’s pardon was that he avoid getting involved in any hostilities. Unfortunately for him, one of his commanders attacked a Spanish outpost, and when news got back to England, the Spanish ambassador demanded some form of retribution. King James I had little choice but to have Raleigh executed.

According to reports of the execution, Raleigh said to his executioner, “Let us dispatch,” after being shown the ax that would be used to hack off his head. Other reports suggest Raleigh did not want the crowd to see any sense of fear from him, saying, “If I appear to tremble, I beg that you don’t put it down to cowardice on my part.” After lying his head on the block, he shouted, “Strike, man, strike!” to his executioner.^[1] The bravery shown by a man who was largely innocent cannot be denied, and Raleigh’s death remains one of the most unjust executions in our dark history.

9 Louis XVI

Louis XVI was executed in 1792 as a result of the French Revolution and the abolition of the monarchy in France. His wife, Marie Antoinette, was also famously beheaded as a result. The execution of Louis is not as notorious as the beheading of the young Marie Antoinette, but he was as brave as possible in the face of what must have been terrifying events. According to reports, Louis took his punishment courageously. The last thing he said to his friend Malesherbes was that he would need to control his tears in front of the sea of onlookers.

Reports from the time indicate that Louis exonerated those who had condemned him to death and hoped that his execution would not be a stain on the history of his country.^[2] By all accounts, Louis appeared calm and resigned to his grisly fate. After his head was cut off by the guillotine, onlookers were said to have dipped their handkerchiefs in the king’s blood.

8 Marie Antoinette

After the overthrow of the monarchy and the execution of her husband Louis XVI in 1792, Marie Antoinette was found guilty of high treason and sentenced to death in 1793. Among the crimes she was accused of were instigating mass orgies and incest with her own son, a crime she vehemently denied. She was relatively young at the time of her death, being only 37 years old. According to reports, Marie Antoinette wore a white dress and endured an hour-long journey on a cart as she was transported to the Place de la Revolution. The crowd is said to have jeered her on this journey.

By all accounts, Marie Antoinette maintained her composure and accepted her cruel fate. Her last words are recorded as being an apology for stepping on her executioner’s toes accidentally, translated as, “Pardon me, sir, I did not do it on purpose.” She was guillotined shortly after. She died having never confessed her “crimes” and wrote in a letter to her sister that her conscience was clear.^[3]

7 Charles I Of England

During an 11-year period between 1649 and 1660, the UK existed as a republic state, rather than the traditional monarchy. The monarchy was abolished at the end of the English Civil War, and the sentence for the reigning monarch Charles I was death. The crime was treason. During this period, the leader of the republic was Oliver Cromwell.

On the day of his execution in 1649, Charles asked for an extra shirt to wear so that he would not be cold and therefore shiver. After making his way to the executioner’s block, Charles made his final speech. He then said a final prayer and signaled his executioner to make the fatal blow.^[4] According to reports, the executioner only took one stroke to execute him. This was unlikely during the time, with some beheadings taking multiple strokes.

Charles’s son, Charles II, ascended to the throne in 1660, when the monarchy was reestablished. Charles II ordered many beheadings upon restoration, including the deceased Cromwell’s body, which was posthumously decapitated.

6 Henry Vane The Younger

Sir Henry Vane the Younger was a politician during the events of the English Civil War and worked alongside Oliver Cromwell at the time of Charles I’s execution. It is said that he did not approve of the execution. However, upon the restoration of the monarchy and ascension of Charles II to the throne in 1660, Henry Vane was in a critically dangerous position. Although the king granted clemency, Vane ended up being found guilty of treason and sentenced to death.

It took over two years to fully sentence him, as the king’s original grant of clemency made his case more complicated. He was spared the grisly fate of being hanged, drawn, and quartered, instead being given a beheading. While on the execution scaffold, he gave an impassioned speech citing his innocence and loyalty to the king. He even blessed Charles II. According to reports, he showed no cowardice or lack of composure and took his fate well.^[5] Perhaps it was a little unjust, considering that he had been against Charles I’s execution a decade earlier.

5 Mary, Queen Of Scots

Mary, Queen of Scots, was the queen of Scotland between 1542 and 1567, before she fled Scotland after a scandal involving the murder of her husband. It is believed that Mary was implicated in the murder. After spending years in custody in England, her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, found Mary guilty of plotting to murder her so that she could ascend to the throne of England. The plan was backed by Catholics, as they wanted to remove the Protestant Queen Elizabeth from power. Mary was caught by an English spy who deciphered one of her letters, thus proving her guilt.

Mary was executed in 1587. According to reports, Mary was courteous while on the executioner’s scaffold and forgave her executioners, who were kneeling and asking for forgiveness. After disrobing (just her outer garments), Mary leaned down onto the executioner’s block, and her final words are recorded as being, “Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.”^[6] It was said that the first stroke of the executioner’s ax did not strike cleanly, as he was forced to swing again to deliver the decisive blow. It was also noted that when he held up her head afterward, it fell to the ground, and the executioner was left holding a wig.

4 James Scott, First Duke Of Monmouth

James Scott, First Duke of Monmouth, was actually the son of King Charles II. However, he was born illegitimately, so he was never considered for ascension to the English throne. After his father died in 1685, he led an unsuccessful rebellion against King James II, Charles’s brother. After being caught, he was immediately found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. King James listened to pleas of mercy from his nephew, but they were to no avail.

Prior to being beheaded, Monmouth requested that his executioner finish him with one blow. Unfortunately for Monmouth, the executioner took between five to eight strikes. It is said that Monmouth was moving in the meantime, so it is likely he was still alive until the final blow.^[7] The excruciating nature of this death cannot be imagined. By accounts from the time, a knife was used to finish Monmouth. The execution was carried out by a man named Jack Ketch, who is now infamous for the botching. Having faced what is by far the most gruesome execution on this list, Monmouth seemed to have been tough to the very end.

3 William Russell, Lord Russell

Lord Russell was an English politician during the reign of Charles II. He advocated the return of a Catholic king in James II and was ultimately found guilty after his involvement in the Rye House Plot. This plot was an attempt to ambush Charles II and murder him. After receiving what was an unusually fair trial for the time, Russell was eventually sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. This was later upgraded to a beheading.

In 1683, William Russell became another victim of the infamous executioner Jack Ketch. By all accounts, the execution was a real disaster, and Russell’s neck had to be hacked at multiple times. After the first blow, Russell was said to have turned to Ketch and retorted, “You dog, did I give you 10 guineas to use me so inhumanely?”^[8] Ketch later issued an apology and claimed that Russell “died with more gallantry than discretion.” After the botched execution of Russell and later Monmouth, Ketch was almost himself hanged for such epic public failures.

2 Robert Devereux, Second Earl Of Essex

Robert Devereux was a notable favorite of Queen Elizabeth I and regularly butted heads with Sir Walter Raleigh. By all accounts, he was an arrogant, impulsive man with a flair for the outrageous. After being sent away to Ireland and leading a miserable command in 1599 (in which he made no advancement with a large English army), he was placed under house arrest. He then attempted a coup d’etat against the queen and the government, which failed. He was immediately found guilty of treason and sentenced to death.

Devereux begged to be executed in private rather than in front of a watching crowd; his request was granted. He was executed in the courtyard of the Tower of London in 1601. Devereux said quiet prayers and put his head on the block, spreading out his arms in a sign of contentment. After three strokes of the ax, he was no more. For such a cocksure man, his execution was quiet. Notably, Sir Walter Raleigh watched the execution and would face his own 17 years later.^[9]

1 Anne Boleyn

Perhaps the most famous of Henry VIII’s six wives, Anne Boleyn was sentenced to death in 1536. The charges against her were given as adultery, treason, and incest. However, it is well-known that the king had grown tired of her and her inability to bear him a son. After her trial, her sentence was set as a beheading, rather than the traditional burning at the stake for women. Henry VIII arranged to have an expert swordsman come from France.

Prior to her execution, she had shown “joy in death” and was reported to have sworn on multiple occasions that she had never been unfaithful to the king. Upon arriving at the scaffold, Anne Boleyn made a short speech, which was said to have moved the crowd in attendance. She asked them all to pray for her and largely accepted her fate. Her last words prior to the fatal blow are noted as being, “Jesus receive my soul; O Lord God have pity on my soul.”^[10] The expert swordsman beheaded the former queen with a single blow.

Ah, murderers. There’s just something so interesting about the worst people in history. We’re obsessed with what motivates them and how they work, especially with the weird little quirks that all the major ones seem to have.

There are calling cards left on the scene, cryptic notes to authorities, and others, but the best serial killer quirk is the trophies (and we’re talking about killers here, so best actually means worst). Whether to relive their crimes, prove them, or just to build a human skin suit, killers sometimes take from those they’ve killed—and some of what they take is insane. More insane than usual, even. This list ranks ten of the weirdest, wildest, or most gruesome trophies killers have ever harvested from their victims.

Related: 10 Creepy Photos Of People Unaware They Are With A Serial Killer

10 The Eyes: Charles Albright

The media has always had a habit of nicknaming every killer they possibly could, and if the killer has ever taken trophies, then there’s your name. That’s certainly true of our first entry, Charles Albright, known as “The Eyeball Killer.”

Albright spent most of his adult life hopping from one crime to another. Theft, illegal weapons, assault, fraud, and his transgressions only escalated. By the time he sexually molested a minor, it was clear that his mental state was degrading. He then moved on to murder, even mutilating the victim’s bodies. His trophies were their eyeballs, which authorities never found despite his arrest and conviction.

9 Camping Gear?: Ivan Milat

You may know Ivan Milat as the “Backpacker Murderer” or as “Australia’s worst serial killer,” but what you might not know is the unusual trophy collection he amassed from his seven victims.

Milat targeted backpackers, offering them rides and then driving them into the forest, where he shot and/or stabbed them. His victims were apparently on their way to or coming from a camping trip, as he chose to take their camping supplies as trophies. When police searched Milat’s home, they found, in their own words, an “Aladdin’s Cave” of camping gear. Sleeping bags, a portable stove, canteens—you name it. And, for some insane reason, Ivan Milat killed for it.

8 Their Baby: John Edward Robinson

Over his lifetime, John Edward Robinson earned no shortage of cruel accolades. He was a scam artist, embezzler, and forger, and his most famous title was “the Internet’s first serial killer” due to his habit of luring victims via chat rooms. Yet another dark deed of Robinson’s came in the form of one possession he stole from one of his victims: their four-month-old daughter.

Robinson met Lisa Stasi in 1985 while she was down on her luck and staying at a women’s shelter in Kansas City. Under a fake name and posing as someone more successful and less murder-prone, Robinson offered Stasi a job, a home, and a better life. Instead, Robinson killed Staci and stole her daughter. Stasi’s body was never found, but the child fared better, thankfully. Robinson only kept her for a short while before giving her to his brother and sister-in-law. Evidently, they were unaware of her kidnapping. They raised her like they would have their own daughter in the end.

7 “The Screaming Boy”: Chris Busch

This entry is a weird one because the trophy in question came only from a serial killer suspect, and therefore could be no trophy at all.

The identity of the Oakland County Child Killer, who killed at least four children in 1970s Michigan, was never conclusively determined. However, one of the suspects, Chris Busch, stood out, if only for the possible trophy. Busch allegedly committed suicide (which is debatable and worth looking into further), and at the scene, taped to the wall above his dead body, was a hand-drawn picture. It showed a young boy, seemingly screaming in pain, who bore a striking resemblance to one of the confirmed victims, a young boy named Mark Stebbins.

6 Bathtubs of Blood: Elizabeth Báthory

Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed was a Hungarian noblewoman whose misdeeds have become legends. Over the years, the stories of her cruel and cannibalistic acts have grown, to the point where she has been hypothesized to be a possible inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. But there is very likely a true core to her legend. Elizabeth Báthory tortured and killed hundreds of young women. The real question is whether or not she kept containers of their blood for drinking and bathing.

Historians disagree on the legitimacy of those claims, citing them as either propaganda, fear-mongering, or just idle gossip. It is true that, as a child, Báthory’s doctors prescribed rubbing on and drinking healthy, young blood to treat her seizures. Combined with her targeting of healthy young virgin women and her extreme sadism, it seems possible that the blood remained a part of Báthory’s life through adulthood, too.

5 37 X’s Mark the Spot: Robert Hansen

How Robert Hansen murdered a possible 37 women sounds like it could only happen in a movie. After kidnapping and torturing his victims, Hansen would fly them out into the remote Alaska wilderness, release them into the frigid wilds, and hunt them for sport. The trophy he kept? A map, hidden behind his headboard, with little X’s on it everywhere he dumped one of their bodies.

The most chilling feature of the map is that Hansen had written 37 X’s on it, while only 17 of his victims have been confirmed. Some of the 17 were found at locations the X’s denoted, including bodies that were previously unknown as Hansen’s victims. This strongly points to the legitimacy of the map, then further suggesting that potentially 20 more of Hansen’s victims await discovery to this day.

4 Their Voice: Eddie Leonski

At first mention, it may seem like killer Eddie Leonski shouldn’t make this list. After all, after three murders, he never once left the scene with a trophy. Instead, Leonski earns his spot because he carried out every murder for the sole purpose of obtaining trophies—he simply failed every time. He failed because it was impossible to harvest the desperately desired trophies, namely women’s voices.

In 1942, while Leonski was an active service member in the U.S. Army during World War II, he strangled three women. From witness reports, it was clear that he had attempted to murder several others similarly. When picked out of a lineup by multiple women, Leonski confessed to his crimes. His reason? Like Ursula the Sea Witch, he was desperately jealous of women’s singing voices and only killed to “get at their voices” himself.

3 Feet, Socks, Shoes: Jerry Brudos

If Jerry Brudos were just into feet, he would be off this list and instead featured in “Top 10 Kinks that You Should Stop Shaming. Who Cares, Anyway? I Mean, Come On” (Name still in alpha). But Brudos loved feet too much. Far too much.

Brudos loved feet so much that he would murder women, cut off their feet, and keep the rotting appendages as models for his shoe collection—also partially taken from his victims. Though feet were by far Brudos’s biggest fetish, it’s worth noting that he also kept victims’ breasts to make plastic molds of them for use as paperweights.

2 Just Everything: David Parker Ray

Suspected of more than 60 murders, David Parker Ray, also known as the Toy-Box Killer, is one of history’s most prolific serial killers. If even half the allegations against him, many by his closest friends and accomplices, are true, then Ray was an abnormally twisted, wicked individual. As befitting such a rare beast, the trophies he took from his victims are horrifying, both in content and in quantity.

The FBI maintains a website that lists, with pictures, every trophy of Ray’s thought to have come from a murder victim. The many trophy pictures are heartbreaking especially knowing the inhuman amount of torture he subjected his victims to. Many are jewelry, but some are personal and intimate. Worst of all, some of them clearly came from young children. Scroll through the collection at your own risk.

1 The Dog: John George Haigh

You don’t get the nickname “The Acid Bath Murderer” because you’re a great guy. But there are even worse things than killing and dissolving people. Specifically, there is stealing someone’s dog, which is as bad as it gets. That’s why John George Haigh, The Acid Bath Murderer, makes it to the top of this list.

In a nutshell, Haigh’s original story revolves around him going to prison for fraud and realizing that the best crimes leave no witnesses or evidence. Hence, when he was released and returned to his life of crime, he started tying up loose ends and throwing them in vats of acid. However, his worst crime came after he murdered Archibald and Rose Henderson to steal their possessions and sell them off. Though he sold most of their estate, he decided to keep and raise their dog for some reason. That’s a tremendous insult to add to an already immense injury.