In 1973, The Exorcist opened in cinemas. The highest-grossing film of its time, the horror movie was believed to be cursed and had problems from the beginning, including a serial killer on their payroll. The Exorcist Premiere at Leicester Square, London via StartsWednesday The set built to film the house scenes burned down when a bird flew into a fuse box, causing production issues and setting filming back significantly. Vasiliki Maliaros, who starred as Father Karra’s mother

For four months, he shackled, tortured and raped six women in the basement of his Philadelphia home. To outsiders, Gary Heidnik was the founder of the United Church of the Ministers of God and a cunning investor, but to the women in the hole under his house, he was a murderer and a cannibal. The house via allthatsinteresting.com Heidnik was born on the 22nd November 1943 and was raised in Eastlake outside of Cleveland, Ohio. His parents divorced when he was still a baby, and

Robert Hansen hunted his victims and crossed them off on a map. When the police walked into Cindy Paulson’s motel room at Big Timber, she was shaking and hysterical, trying to remove the handcuffs digging into her wrists. She’d survived an attack by a man who had paid her for sex and instead abducted her, tied her up in his home, and would have eventually killed her if she hadn’t escaped. Cindy’s quick thinking and luck helped her get away from her captor, but there were many

He'd already picked out another two victims. Days after Johnny Altinger had disappeared, his friends decided to break into his home. Police had refused to help them as he was an adult, but they knew their friend hadn't gone on holiday; he was missing. On Friday the 10th of October 2008, Johnny was getting ready to meet a woman he'd been chatting to on the dating website Plenty of Fish. They were getting on well, and the 38-year-old had told his friends about the plans he'd ma

Hazel Drew’s death remains unsolved, unlike her on-screen counterpart. In the summer of 1908, the resort town of Sand Lake in Rensselaer County, New York was busy. The usual population of around 2,000 made way for holidaymakers and the July temperature was climbing. However, the visiting families would soon be joined by reporters and investigators, when the body of a woman turned up in Teal’s Pond. Hazel Drew via Times Union courtesy of Bob Moore, Sand Lake Historian Twenty-y

Dennis DePue evaded police for nearly a year before he was finally stopped, but his actions were forever engrained in the cinematic universe for entertainment. On the 15th of April 1990, Ray and Marie Thornton were driving along quiet Snow Perry Road in Coldwater, Michigan. As they drove, they played a game to pass the time. The game was to make words and phrases out of the number plates that passed them. As a green 1984 Chevrolet truck passed them at high speed, Marie won th

Known as the ‘holy grail’ of cold cases, our victim finally has a name Facial reconstruction of the Lady of the Dunes via Wikimedia Commons The Lady of the Dunes case has puzzled local law enforcement and web sleuths across the globe for the past four decades. However, in 2015, the case was brought to the forefront of popular culture when author Joe Hill believed he saw the woman on screen. The woman was found beneath long grass by a young girl walking her dog on the 26th of

The celebrity publicist was shot in her car on the way home from a party. On the 10th November 2010, Ronni Chasen was driving home from the premiere of Burlesque at the W Hollywood hotel when she was shot through the front passenger window. Ten years later, the truth is still unclear as to why this successful publicist was murdered. Born Veronica Cohen in 1946, Ronni Chasen was a high-profile publicist who lived in Los Angeles, California. Brought up on the other side of the

Dubbed “the year of fear”, '74 saw the birth of numerous serial killers, but why did this happen, and why this specific year? Photo by David East on Unsplash John Wayne Gacy (Killer Clown) was already two deep, and Ted Bundy, Dennis Rader (BTK), Coral Watts (The Sunday Morning Slasher), and Paul Knowles (The Casanova Killer) had all started their new vocations this year. As a decade, there were over 450 active serial killers in the US alone and compared to the 67 active seria

The real story behind Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood”. In April last year, the home with a dark history went back on the market. What was once home to the Clutter family was said to fetch between $150,000 and $200,000 in price. The seemingly regular farmhouse continues to attract visitors six decades later to see the place where four people were viciously murdered. Its former owners even charged $5 per visitor and created a flourishing operation before it was closed down due

The murder that inspired The Conjuring III. Sketch of Arne Johnson via UVA School of Law Archives The town of Brookfield, Connecticut, sits close to the New York state border, around an hour’s drive from Hartford. Despite the University of Connecticut’s population projections, the town grew faster than anticipated, and by the early 1980s, nearly 13,000 people were living in the area. One of these was 19-year-old Arne Cheyenne Johnson, who tried to convince a jury that the Dev

Three movie stars, a boat and an alleged cover-up. Natalie Wood via HBO.com The news of Natalie Wood’s death shocked Hollywood. But, with film royalty involved, a seemingly botched autopsy and hushed whispers fluttering through the hills of affairs and murder, what really happened that night on board the yacht? Born Natalia Zakharenko on the 20th of July 1938, Natalie Wood rose to fame at a very young age. Her mother, Maria, was the instigator of Natalie taking this path to f

Kathy Page’s 30-year-old case is still unsolved. The original signs via southernfriedtruecrime.com Director and writer Martin McDonagh was travelling across America on a Greyhound bus when he saw the hand-painted signs on the side of the I-10 in Vidor, Texas. The signs had been written by James Fulton, whose daughter was murdered in May 1991, after frustration that her killer was never charged. The signs have changed over the years, but the message remains the same; his daugh

Best known for her role as Ducky in The Land Before Time, the little girl was killed by her father. Judith Barsi via Wikimedia Commons The daughter of Hungarian immigrants, Judith grew up in Los Angeles, California. Born in 1978, the little girl began her on-screen career at the tender age of five years old. Managed by Ruth Hansen, Judith picked up minor roles on television, and she appeared in numerous commercials. Her prominent roles, as Thea Brody in Jaws: The Revenge and