Disappearances | Missing Persons | Unsolved Mysteries
What happened to 2-year-old Thomas Gibson?
Several weeks from now will mark 30 years exactly since the day a 2-year-old little boy mysteriously vanished from his family’s front yard in rural Azalea, Oregon. What exactly happened to little Thomas Gibson all those years ago no one can say for sure, not even today.
Born on July 5, 1988, Thomas Dean Gibson is a Caucasian male with brown hair and brown eyes. At the time of his disappearance, he was 2-years-old and had a gap between his upper front teeth. He also had the nickname “Tommy.”
The Disappearance
The last known sighting of Thomas was of him playing in…
Decades-old ‘Uncrackable Code’ Left By Zodiac Killer Finally Cracked.
Countless attempts and over half a century later and the infamous 340 cipher — so named for its number of characters — has reportedly been deciphered after an astonishing 51 years. Thanks to a team of private citizens working to solve the killer’s code, the message unveils a taunt by the unidentified murderer.
“I hope you are having lots of fun trying to catch me…”
The decoded message also revealed how the killer wasn’t afraid to be caught, further boasting that, by that point, he had already accomplished his twisted goals.
…
Aviation Accidents | Historical Calamities
The Empire State Crash of 1945.
More than 75 years ago, on one foggy morning, disaster struck when a bomber aircraft crashed into the famed Empire State building in a tragic accident.
On the morning of Saturday, July 28, 1945, with World War II still roughly a month shy of finally ending, residents and businesses of the Big Apple were going about their morning. Meanwhile, a B-52 Mitchell bomber aircraft with two pilots, including Captain William F. Smith, and a passenger was on a routine personnel transport mission going from Massachusetts to New York City despite some hazy weather. …
Paranormal Puzzles | Train Wrecks
After disaster struck, one victim’s family receive multiple phone calls over several hours.
More than 12 years ago, a horrific accident happened in which two trains collided and would claim many lives and leave many more injured. However, it’s what happened to the family of one of the victims during the immediate recovery process that to this day defies all logic.
On September 12, 2008, disaster struck at 4:22 p.m. in California’s San Fernando Valley. A Metrolink commuter train carrying 225 riders collides head-on at a combined speed of 83 mph with a Union Pacific freight train with a crew of three. The collision, now known as the Chatsworth collision, occurred at a…
Marvels of History | Sideshow Profiles
The peculiar life of a German-Jewish sideshow performer based in America.
His name was “Oofty Goofty,” or at least, that was the nickname he came to adopt.
In 1900, a reporter for the Houston Daily post was contacted by a peculiar man with an even more strange name. Going by “Oofty Goofty,” the man told his story.
Born Leonard Borchardt in Berlin on April 26, 1862, after which his story really took off when, in 1876, Borchardt, at the age of 14, tried coming to the United States as a stowaway on the S.S. Fresia, only for the ship’s captain to catch him. …
Cryptic Clues | Unsolved Murder
Who wrote the coded messages found in the pocket of a dead man?
Almost 22 years ago to the day, on June 30, 1999, the body of a male murder victim was discovered near a cornfield west of West Alton, Missouri. Even more mysterious than the identity of his killer, is the equally baffling two handwritten pages of coded message found in the deceased man’s pocket. Could these ciphers be the key to leading investigators to the killer?
The Investigation
Given the state in which his body was found, while McCormick’s cause of death was listed as undetermined, authorities came to believe that the manner was a homicide. As investigators soon learned, McCormick…
Update to Case of Missing Virginia Teenager, 17-year-old Alexis Murphy.
Over 7 years ago, Alexis went out for the day saying she would get hair extensions. Then, she was never seen again.
Today, on February 17, 2021, the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office announced that the remains of Alexis Murphy, 17, have been located, recovered, and positively identified.
According to a recent article, Alexis’s remains were found on private property near Stagebridge Road on December 3, 2020. She was positively identified later on February 5.
With Alexis finally found, I hope her loved ones finally get the full closure they needed.
The story I did summarizing Alexis’s case:
My most recent story:
Cold Cases | International Crimes | Unidentified Killers
How can a killer leave so much evidence behind yet remain so elusive?
That is just one of many burning questions left since the day a family-of-four from Tokyo, Japan, were all found brutally murdered in their home in a notoriously unsolved crime.
While so much time has passed since the incident, one can only hope that the sheer amount of evidence left at the scene will lead to the faceless monster responsible.
The Discovery
Around 10 a.m. on December 31, 2000, a woman made a horrifying and heartbreaking discovery at the turn of the past century. That morning, she tragically found four family members brutally murdered in their home in the Setagaya ward in…
Nicole Henley
Freelance writer of true-crime | unsolved mysteries | marvels of history (and more) • Support me here: buymeacoff.ee/nhenley
