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Captivating Final Words from Death Row Inmates
Robert Alton Harris Harris, along with his brother, were convicted of abducting two teenage boys from a fast food restaurant. They forced the boys to drive to a remote area, shot them in the head, and...
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The Lost King of the Beats
Lucien Carr, the lost King of the Beats. Burroughs, Ginsberg, Kerouac. Names synonymous with the popular post-war literature movement known as The Beat Generation. Their names have echoed across...
View ArticleZombicon Shooting
Saturday evening the ninth annual Fort Myers, Florida Zombicon brought out a crowd of at least 20,000, just in time to celebrate the Halloween season. The festivities were spoiled, however, when a lone...
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Albert Was Everything but Fine
Albert Fine with his premature baby daughter. On August 10 2012, Albert Fine was picked up by Kentucky police, wanted for questioning on the murder and dismemberment of his girlfriend, Catherine...
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The Murder of Shanda Sharer
Shanda Sharer Junior high can be a difficult time in a young girl’s life. Jealousy and drama run rampant in the halls and once someone becomes a target, other students can be relentless in their taunts...
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A Slaying on Devil’s Night
It was October 30, 1975, just a day before Halloween, when the body of 15-year-old Martha Moxley was found bludgeoned to death under a tree within her own yard. Growing up in the quiet, upscale suburbs...
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The Semi-Charmed Prison Life of Luka Magnotta
Regular listeners may recall the story of Luka Magnotta. A story so bizarre, so heinous, that it required two episodes (Episode 33 and Episode 34) to cover the case in full detail. For those who have...
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The Haunted House Murder
Eva Coo, the ‘Mallet Murderer.’ As Sword and Scale’s regular readers know, I like to find crimes with an unusual twist and criminals with a singular distinction in the history of crime. The murder...
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The Bloodstained Hotel That Inspired Ryan Murphy
Sure, art is a way of expression. A medium to make reality approachable and more appealing to those who understand what the artist want to say. However, over the last years, art has entered everybody’s...
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The False Conviction and Unjust Execution of George Stinney
George Stinney was only 14 years old when he was electrocuted in South Carolina. The case of George Junius Stinney could easily be described as a stain on American justice, or the lack thereof. Stinney...
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When Good Men Do Nothing: The Murder of Kitty Genovese
The bystander effect is a sociopsychological phenomena which occurs when someone within a group witnesses an emergency situation and doesn’t attempt to help. Instead that individual assumes that their...
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Tinsel Town’s First Murder
William Desmond Taylor A silent film actor turned film producer is found dead in his Los Angeles bungalow. Police arrive on the scene to find the home filled with major Hollywood starlets and...
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Louisiana’s Only Female Electrocution
This photo was taken in the death cell, only hours before her electrocution. Toni Jo Henry or, to use her proper name, Annie Beatrice McQuiston, holds a singular place in the criminal history of the...
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The World’s First Gas Chamber Execution
Like William Kemmler, Chinese Tong member Gee Jon holds a singular, if unwilling, place in criminal history. Also like Kemmler, while his crime was unexceptional, his punishment was a felonious first....
View ArticleShe Killed for Laughing Jack
It was a little over a year and a half ago when two young Waukesha, Wisconsin girls attempted to stab their friend to death in order to appease the fictional creepypasta.com character Slender Man. Now...
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The Greatest Twitter Story Ever Told
“Okay listen up. This story long. So I met this white bitch at hooters …”, were the words that kicked off a 148-tweet story authored by Aziah “Zola” Wells on October 27, 2015. Two girls, a pimp and a...
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The Deadly Doctor George Henry Lamson
George Henry Lamson, a deadly doctor. “The easiest murder case to break is the one somebody tried to get very cute with.” – Raymond Chandler. Such was the story (and the downfall) of Doctor George...
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Australia’s Last Hanged Woman
I seldom cover Australian cases, but the case of Jean Lee (or Margaret Jean Maude Wright to give her her actual name) is a notable one. Jean Lee was the last woman in Australia to take her final walk,...
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The Waterfront’s Grim Reaper
New York’s waterfront has always been a tough place for tough people. Working the docks was never a sinecure, especially for the ordinary dockworker facing long hours, heavy labor and constant anger...
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The Loved Ones Copycat Killer
In the Australian cult horror film The Loved Ones, a slighted school girl, with the help of her father, kidnaps her crush after he rejects her invite to a school dance. While being held captive, the...
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