Unsolved
Read story →
Jack The Ripper
A warning before this article. The Whitechapel murders involved sustained physical mutilation of the dead, and any honest account of them must say so. This piece does not dwell on graphic detail beyond what the case requires, but the killings…
Murder
See All →
Andrei Chikatilo
A note before this article: the Chikatilo case involves the murder of children, sustained physical mutilation of victims, and the wrongful execution of an innocent man for crimes he did not commit. The physical details of the murders are described…
Jeffrey Dahmer
The Dahmer case involves murder, necrophilia, cannibalism, and the sexual abuse and killing of a fourteen-year-old child. It also involves documented and sustained failures by Milwaukee law enforcement that allowed killings to continue, rooted in the marginalisation of the victims.…
The Yorkshire Ripper
A warning before this article. The Yorkshire Ripper case involves sustained physical violence against women, including women who survived attacks that left them with lifelong injuries. The investigation itself was, by the eventual official assessment, profoundly compromised by attitudes that…
Cult
See All →
The Manson Family
A warning before this article. The Manson Family murders involved sustained physical violence and the killing of a pregnant woman near term. This piece does not dwell on graphic detail beyond what the historical record requires, but the case is…
The Peoples Temple
On the afternoon of 18 November 1978, in a clearing in the Guyanese jungle, 918 people died. Most of them were poisoned. Some of them were children. Their leader, a man who had once been celebrated by mayors and congressmen…
Long Reads
Unsolved
See All →
The Hinterkaifeck Murders
A warning before this article. The Hinterkaifeck murders involved the killing of two children, including a seven-year-old girl whose injuries indicate she remained alive for some hours after the initial attack. The case also involves documented incest within the victim…
Editor's Pick
Jack The Ripper
A warning before this article. The Whitechapel murders involved sustained physical mutilation of the dead, and any honest account of them must say so. This piece does not dwell on graphic detail beyond what the case requires, but the killings…
The Black Dahlia
A warning: this article concerns a murder whose physical particulars are extraordinarily violent. It is not possible to tell the story honestly without referring to them, and they are part of why the case became famous in the way it…
The Zodiac
Five murders. Two survivors. Four ciphers, two of which are still uncracked. More than fifty years of suspects, theories, documentaries, and confessions that turned out to be nothing. The Zodiac is the most famous unsolved case in American criminal history,…