I’ve compiled a list of the most horrific crimes and disasters that have happened in the past 20 years. These cases will chill you to the bone, but they’re also fascinating and thought-provoking. So if you’re looking for a good scare, or if you’re just interested in learning more about these horrific events, then be sure to check out my blog post!
The mummified remains of a monk
In 2015, the mummified remains of a monk were found inside a nearly 1,000-year old Chinese statue of a Buddha. The mummy inside the gold-painted papier-mâché statue is believed to be that of Liuquan, a Buddhist master of the Chinese Meditation School who died around the year 1100, researchers said.
Jim Heselden
In 2010, Jim Heselden, the owner of the company that makes Segways died after riding one of the scooters off a cliff and into a river near his estate. According to the British media, Heselden, 62, plunged into the River Wharfe while riding a rugged country version of the two-wheeled transporter on Sunday. Police said a witness had reported seeing a man fall over a 30-foot drop into the river near Boston Spa, 140 miles north of London.
Solo descent of Bluejohn Canyon
On April 26, 2003, during a solo descent of Bluejohn Canyon in southeastern Utah, Aron Ralston dislodged a boulder, pinning his right wrist to the side of the canyon wall. After five days, he had to break his forearm, amputate it with a dull pocket knife to break free, make his way through the rest of the canyon, rappel down a 65-foot (20 m) drop, and hike 7 miles (11 km) to safety. The incident is documented in the 2010 film 127 Hours in which he is portrayed by James Franco.
Cow fell through their roof
A Brazilian man died when one night while sleeping alongside his wife when a cow fell through their corrugated roof and landed on top of him. The cow was believed to have escaped from a nearby farm, climbed a hill, and then onto the house which stands next to the steep side of the hill. The house had a corrugated roof, and it gave way under the weight of the one and a half ton cow which then fell on 45-year-old Joao Maria de Souza. He was then taken to a hospital as he had a fractured leg but no other obvious injuries. However, he died of internal bleeding while still waiting to see the doctor.
Carried his immobile parents
In 2017, this Rohingya Muslim man carried his immobile parents for nearly 100 miles to escape Burma’s death squads. It took him 7 days but he eventually reached Bangladesh.
Electrocuted
In 1983, a 22-year-old man named Michael Anderson Godwin was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment at the Central Correctional Institution in South Carolina. An earlier verdict for his crime was to have him electrocuted, but it was overturned on appeal. Six years later, he was sitting on his toilet apparently trying to connect his earphones to his television set when he bit into the wire and was electrocuted to death.
American physician Jesse William Lazear
In 1900, American physician Jesse William Lazear tried to prove that Yellow Fever was transmitted by mosquitoes by letting infected mosquitoes bite him. He then died of the disease. Proving himself right.
Caught a deadly taipan snake by hand
In July 1950, Kevin Budden caught a deadly taipan snake by hand. He lost his grip and was bitten, but bagged the snake and made his driver promise to get it to researchers. Kevin died the next day, but the snake was used to create the first taipan antivenom.
The North Hollywood shootout
The North Hollywood shootout was a confrontation between two heavily armed and armored bank robbers, Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu, and members of the Los Angeles Police Department in the North Hollywood district on February 28, 1997. Both robbers were killed, twelve police officers and eight civilians were injured, and numerous vehicles and other property were damaged or destroyed by the nearly 2,000 rounds of ammunition fired by the robbers and police.
Man who began neuroscience
Phineas Gage is often referred to as the “man who began neuroscience,” because he experienced a traumatic brain injury when an iron rod was driven through his skull, destroying much of his frontal lobe. On September 13, 1848, 25-year-old Gage was working as the foreman of a crew preparing a railroad bed near Cavendish, Vermont. He was using an iron tamping rod to pack explosive powder into a hole. Unfortunately, the powder detonated, sending the 43-inch-long, 1.25-inch-diameter rod hurling upward. The rod penetrated Gage’s left cheek, tore through his brain, and exited his skull before landing 80 feet away. Gage not only survived the initial injury but was able to speak and walk to a nearby cart so he could be taken into town to be seen by a doctor. He was still conscious later that evening and able to recount the names of his co-workers. Gage even suggested that he didn’t wish to see his friends since he would be back to work in “a day or two” anyway. After developing an infection, Gage spent September
Reunited in death
The graves of a Catholic woman and her Protestant husband. who were not allowed to be buried together, Holland, 1888. Colonel Jacobus Warnerus Constantinus van Gorkum of the Dutch Cavalry was laid to rest on the Protestant side of the Roermond Kapel cemetery in Limburg, Netherlands, while his wife, Lady Josephina Carlina Petronela Hubertina van Aefferden, was buried on the Catholic side. The couple, who married in 1842, were reunited in death through two clasped hands on their graves, connecting them across the dividing wall.
French inventor Franz Reichelt
In 1912, French inventor Franz Reichelt had so much confidence in his homemade parachute that he tested it in front of a crowd at the Eiffel Tower. Despite attempts to dissuade him, he jumped from the first platform of the tower wearing his invention. The parachute failed to deploy and he plummeted 57 metres (187 ft) to his death.
Count Dracula
The actor Bela Lugosi, who famously played Count Dracula in the 1931 film, requested to be dressed in his vampire attire during his open casket funeral in 1956.
Teenager was left with her jaw
In 2019, a teenager was left with her jaw attached by just a centimetre of skin after a horror horse riding accident. Emily Eccles suffered one of the worst facial injuries her doctors had ever seen outside a war zone after an exhaust popping on a car spooked her horse. The then 15-year-old, smashed her head into a gatepost as she fell off after the horse bolted along a country path, causing her feet to slip out of her stirrups. She found herself holding what remained of the bottom of her face in her own hands. Her reconstructive surgeon Ricardo Mohammed-Ali rebuilt her face during a 6-hr operation.
Former beauty Queen Joyce McKinney
Former beauty Queen, Miss Wyoming winner 1973 Joyce McKinney being arrested by police after kidnapping Mormon missionary Kirk Anderson from his church, forcing him to be her sex slave for 3 days in 1977.
