Shinytalecherryblossom - The Creepy, Paranormal & Unexplained

Austin Yogurt Shop Murders • December 6, 1991

On December 6, 1991, in Austin, Texas, four teenage girls were murdered inside of I Cant Believe its Yogurt. Jennifer Harbison, 17, and Eliza Thomas, 17, were both employees of the shop working the evening shift. Jennifer’s sister, Sarah Haribson, 15, was visiting her sister after shopping with her close friend Amy Ayers, 13, and waiting to get a ride home together after closing up shop.

Just before midnight, a patrolling officer in the area noticed a fire coming from the shop and called it in. After firefighters arrived and extinguished the fire, 4 nude female bodies were found, each shot execution style in the head with a 22 lead bullet. Each body had been found bound and gagged, except for Amy who was found in a different part of the shop. Amy was found with 2nd and very early 3rd degree burns on almost 30 percent of her body. She had a sock around the neck, and had been shot twice when the first bullet missed her brain. It is believed that the bodies had all been stacked on top of each other, however investigators believe Amy had been able to pull herself up and drag herself to a different part of the store. Accelerant was used in an attempt to destroy evidence.

Oddly enough, over 50 people have confessed to committing this disturbing crime. Included are Kenneth Allen McDuff, a known serial killer who was executed for his crimes, and two Mexican nationals, all of which were ruled out in court.

On Wednesday, October 6, 1999, 4 suspects were arrested in connection to the murder. Robert Burns Springsteen Jr, 24, Michael James Scott, 25, Maurice Pierce, 24, and Forrest Wellborn, 23. Using DNA found at the scene, more than 70 people including these men were all tested and none were a match. The Austin grand jury failed to indict Wellborn, leading to the charges against him being dropped. Later, only Scott and Springsteen were brought to trial, as the charges against Pierce also were dropped. Austin police struggled with internal complications when Detective Hector Polanco was fired for coercing confessions, but was later reinstated for suing the city for discrimination. In 2009, Scott and Springsteen were both released on bond pending the upcoming trials, however on October 28, 2009, all charges against them were dropped and they were all free men.

To this day, no new leads have come of the unfortunate case, and the four main suspects are free men with the exception of Maurice Pierce, who was shot during a routine traffic stop gone bad on December 13, 2010.

A recently widowed man took this photograph of his daughter playing with her new Christmas presents only to discover that the developed picture clearly shows a spectral figure crawling across the floor. His daughter seems to have noticed the ghost, as she is looking towards it, smiling. He firmly believes that this is the ghost of his dead wife trying to play with their daughter on her first Christmas without her mother.

The Pit | 1981

Creepy climber. Video and CGI effects created by mbg_core

Ulla Thynell

Waverly Hills Sanatorium is thought to be one of America’s most haunted buildings, and due to it’s imposing appearance, it isn’t hard to see why. Officially opening it’s doors to the public in 1910, it was originally built to house “40 to 50″ tuberculous patients after Jefferson county suffered a severe outbreak. At the time, the swampland surrounding Louisville made the perfect breeding ground for TB bacteria, and the disease quickly spread amongst the population. Sure enough, Waverly Hills was inundated with sick, dying, patients so the government had to intervene.

An expansion was ordered to hold an extra 400 patients, however the doctors didn’t have sufficient training and were swamped with the dead and dying. Reportedly, many patients suffered from depression and committed suicide before the disease could take them, whilst others simply succumbed to the gathering fluid in their lungs.To make things even more horrific, the dead were stripped from their dignity and transported via the infamous death chute (an underground tunnel in complete darkness) as part of their final journey to the grave.

To this day, Waverly Hills Sanatorium remains a terrifying looking building, and has featured on many paranormal shows, hoping to capture the huge building’s long-suffering patients, nurses, and doctors.

Vigilante justice can often be a very dangerous thing. People can be accused of crimes that they did not commit, leading to unjustified revenge. Furthermore, vigilante mobs often consider bloodthirsty violence as a method of revenge for petty non-violent crimes.

In May of 2016, 42-year-old Venezuelan chef, Robert Bernal, fell victim to unjust vigilantes. An elderly man accused Robert of stealing the equivalent of $5 from his pocket while Robert was on his way to work. Following this accusation, a group of men started to beat a bewildered Robert until he was semi-unconscious. While coming around from the brutal beating, a man poured gasoline over Robert’s head and body and set him on fire.

Robert was a well built man from serving years in the army. He spent much of his free time cooking for his friends and family - it was his passion, they would say. He was a deeply religious man; just the night before his death, he sent his loved ones text messages hoping that God filled their day with blessings.

“These guys I work with every day had turned into demons. I could hear the man’s flesh crackling and popping. When I put the fire out, they threw bottles at my head,” said Alejandro Delgado, the only passerby that attempted to help Robert as he was up in flames. Robert was eventually taken to hospital where he perished from his severe burns. Disturbing footage of the event was uploaded online, where people praised the ruthless and cowardly act. 

Before he passed away, he told his wife and children that he was innocent of the crime he was killed for. But even if he was guilty, the punishment certainly doesn’t fit the crime. His brutal murder highlights the growing problem of vigilante and mob justice in Venezuela.

The killing of Elsie Frost is one of the UK’s most violent unsolved murders. On Saturday 9 October 1965, Elsie, 14, set off home on the outskirts of Wakefield from a nearby youth club sailing event. Dressed in a bright red anorak, yellow cardigan and floral skirt, Elsie walked along the canal towpath – so she didn’t get her new leather shoes muddy. But she never made it home.

As she walked through a 30ft tunnel beneath a railway embankment she was attacked. Struck from behind and stabbed – twice in the back, twice in the head and once through the hand. One of the blows pierced her heart. Fatally injured Elsie stumbled through the tunnel to the bottom of a steep flight of stone steps – known as the ABC steps as there are 26 – that led up to the main road.

That’s where she was found, dying by a local dog-walker. Others soon appeared on the scene. An ambulance was called, but Elsie was dead by the time they arrived. The hunt for the killer was national news. Elsie was intelligent, bookish, close to her family – police couldn’t establish any motive.

Officers went door-to-door, interviewed 12,000 men and teenage boys – but her killer was never found. Decades past, her parents, Arthur and Edith, died without seeing justice for their daughter. The case is still one of the UK’s most violent unsolved murders, and Elsie’s family continue to push for justice. Still, over half a century on, the killer, murder weapon and motive remain unknown.

The Borley Rectory Haunting

Borley Rectory was a house that gained infamy as “the most haunted house in England”. It had been alleged to be haunted ever since it was built in 1862. These reports multiplied suddenly in 1929, after the Daily Mirror published an account of a visit by paranormal researcher Harry Price, who wrote two books supporting claims of paranormal activity.

One of the most interesting manifestations of the haunting were the writing on the wall. It is believed the writings had come from a young deceased catholic woman who wanted her body to be discovered and receive a proper christian burial ceremony. she was trying to communicate with Marianne, wife of the reverend Lionel Foyster, the couple living in the rectory in October 1930. 

The scribbled writing is allegedly from the ghost while the writing below is from Marianne’s attempt to communicate with it.

What I can read: -Marianne light mass prayers -Marianne please help get -

The house burned down in 1939 and was later demolished in 1944. LIFE photographer David Scherman was on hand to cover the event. While covering the demolition of England’s most haunted house, Scherman photographed a brick that rose from the ruins and floated in the air for several seconds.