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Vintage portrait of a man and a young boy, highlighting terrifying things that happened to real people.

73 Unsettling True Stories That Belong In A Horror Movie Or Netflix Documentary

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True crime fans have a lot to answer for. Somewhere along the way, an entire generation decided the best way to unwind after work was to listen to a stranger describe a gruesome crime while folding laundry. We can't judge, because we're here too, and we have already checked that the front door is locked twice.
The deadhost.exe Instagram page is the reason so many of us are awake past midnight. Their bio promises "a look into forgotten crimes, strange history & eerie moments caught on tape," and they deliver on every word. This collection pulls together the stories that made people stop in our scroll tracks, from narrow escapes to discoveries nobody was meant to make. Read them with the lights on.

#41

Distressed woman touches face in terrifying things that happened to real people case.
In April 2011, 31-year-old Tina Nash was brutally attacked by her boyfriend, Shane Jenkins, at their home in Cornwall, England. During the a*****t, Jenkins gouged out both of Tina’s eyes, leaving her permanently blind.

Despite suffering life-changing injuries, Tina survived the attack and later became an advocate for victims of domestic a***e. She has spoken publicly about her recovery, raising awareness of coercive control, domestic violence, and the long-term impact of a*****e relationships.

In 2012, Shane Jenkins pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of six years. Tina has since shared her story through interviews and documentaries, becoming a powerful voice for survivors of domestic violence.
21points

#42

Landfill with heavy machinery, showing a man inset related to terrifying things that happened to real people.
On March 4, 2022, 40-year-old Aaron Henderson was working as a contracted traffic-control spotter at the North Central Landfill in Polk County, Florida. His job involved working on the ground and directing incoming and outgoing dump trucks. Near the end of the workday, Henderson went inside a portable toilet near the heavy-equipment staging area.

At around 5:10 p.m., another contract worker began driving a bulldozer up an embankment to park it for the night. According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the bulldozer’s front blade was raised approximately three to four feet, obstructing the operator’s view directly ahead. After reaching level ground and beginning a turn, the operator heard a loud crumbling sound and realized he had driven over the portable toilet, unaware that it was there or that Henderson was inside.

The operator immediately got out and discovered Henderson unresponsive inside. Polk County Fire Rescue pronounced him d**d at the scene. Authorities described the d***h as a tragic industrial accident, and the medical examiner ruled it accidental. Henderson was a father of three who, according to his family, had started working at the landfill only a few weeks earlier.
21points

#43

Blonde woman next to an inset mugshot illustrating a terrifying real life story.
In November 2016, 28-year-old doctor Angela Jay returned to her home in Port Macquarie, Australia, and was ambushed by her former boyfriend, Paul Lambert. Their relationship had lasted only a few months, but after Angela tried to end it, Lambert became increasingly controlling and threatening. Angela had gone to police and applied for a protective order before the attack.

Lambert hid inside Angela’s home and attacked her when she returned from work. She was s***bed 11 times and doused in petrol, but managed to escape before he could set her on fire. Despite her injuries, Angela reached a neighbor’s home, where she remained remarkably calm while helping them follow emergency instructions until paramedics arrived.

Lambert fled and was pursued by police. After a high-speed chase, officers confronted him near Bonville, where he lunged toward them with a knife after a Taser failed to stop him. Police s**t and k****d him. Angela survived and later became a prominent advocate against domestic violence.
21points

#44

A photo of a couple overlaid with text about a terrifying crime story that happened to real people.
On October 31, 2019, 26-year-old Kristen Trickle d**d from a g*n sh*t wound while lying in bed at her home in Hays, Kansas. Her husband, Colby Trickle, called 911 and said Kristen had done it herself while he was sleeping beside her.

Investigators remained suspicious and discovered that Colby had researched the amount of Kristen’s military spouse life insurance shortly before her d***h. He eventually collected more than $120,000 from two life insurance policies. Investigators said that only two days after receiving one of the payouts, he spent $1,942 on a life-size doll.

Colby was charged with Kristen’s m****r in 2021 and convicted in September 2023 of first-degree premeditated m****r and interfering with law enforcement. He was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 50 years. In September 2026, the Kansas Supreme Court affirmed his convictions.
20points

#45

Elderly man reading a book outdoors with a suspect insert, depicting terrifying things that happened to real people.
On February 27, 2021, 69-year-old Warren Barnes was k****d near a highway overpass in Grand Junction, Colorado. Warren was unhoused but well known around downtown, where he regularly sat reading books. His k**ler was 19-year-old Brian Cohee Jr., a stranger who later told investigators he had wanted to experience k*****g someone and believed an unhoused victim would be less likely to be missed.

Two days later, Brian’s mother was cleaning his bedroom when she discovered a heavy plastic bag inside a container in his closet. She became alarmed by what she saw and called for help. Police arrived at the house, and bodycam footage captured Brian calmly acknowledging that the human remains belonged to the recently missing Warren Barnes before admitting that he had m******d him.

Brian was charged with first-degree m****r and tampering offenses. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but prosecutors argued that his planning and attempts to conceal the crime demonstrated that he understood what he was doing. A jury convicted him in February 2023, and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
20points

#46

Empty swimming pool with a hole in the bottom, showing terrifying things that happened to real people.
On July 21, 2022, 32-year-old Klil Kimhi was attending a company pool party at a private villa in Karmei Yosef, Israel. Around 50 people were at the gathering, with several swimming in the backyard pool. Suddenly, the ground beneath the pool collapsed, opening a massive sinkhole approximately 43 feet deep. Water, inflatable pool toys and two swimmers were pulled toward the opening as horrified guests watched.

The terrifying collapse was captured on a guest’s phone. Within seconds, nearly all the water disappeared into the underground cavity. One 34-year-old man managed to climb out with minor injuries, but Klil was pulled beneath the surface and vanished underground. Emergency teams rushed to the property, where rescuers carefully entered the unstable cavity to search for him.

After approximately four hours, rescue workers finally located Klil’s body inside the underground passage. He was pronounced d**d at the scene. Investigators later discovered that the swimming pool had been constructed without the required permits over an area containing underground cavities. In 2024, the villa’s owner was charged with causing d***h by negligence. Photographs taken afterward showed an enormous hole torn through the bottom of the pool, with bright pink inflatable flamingos resting beside the opening.
20points

#47

Close-up of a smiling woman tied to a terrifying real life mystery story
On April 22, 1987, 52-year-old Ruthie Mae McCoy called 911 from her apartment in Chicago’s Grace Abbott Homes. She desperately tried to explain that people in a neighboring unit had removed their bathroom cabinet and were trying to enter through hers. The report was initially treated as a disturbance rather than the extraordinary home invasion Ruthie was attempting to describe.

The buildings contained plumbing access spaces behind bathroom medicine cabinets. By removing cabinets, intruders could exploit these spaces to enter neighboring apartments, and similar break-ins had already occurred. Neighbors soon reported screams and g*n sh*ts from Ruthie’s apartment. When authorities finally gained entry, Ruthie had been fatally sh*t and her apartment had been breached through the bathroom medicine cabinet.

Two men were eventually charged, but the case against them did not result in convictions and Ruthie’s m****r remains unresolved. Years later, the horrifying architectural detail became part of the mythology surrounding Candyman. The 1992 film was adapted from Clive Barker’s fiction, but reporting on Ruthie’s m****r helped inspire the movie’s famous concept of an attacker entering through the space behind a bathroom mirror.
19points

#48

Man wearing glasses and a suit, illustrative of terrifying things that happened to real people.
On November 15, 2004, 52-year-old Peter Porco was attacked with an axe while sleeping in his home in Delmar, New York. Despite suffering catastrophic head injuries, investigators determined he briefly regained consciousness after the attack.

In those final moments, Porco reportedly got out of bed, walked downstairs, packed his lunch, loaded the dishwasher, attempted to shave, and tried to leave for work before collapsing. Medical experts testified that these actions were possible because parts of the brain responsible for routine motor functions can continue working despite devastating injuries.

Investigators identified Peter’s son, Christopher Porco, as the attacker. He was convicted of m**dering his father and attempting to m****r his mother, Joan Porco, in 2006 and was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison. The case remains one of the most astonishing examples of automatic human behavior ever documented following a fatal attack.
19points

#49

Police standing near a metal toolbox in the brush, representing terrifying things that happened to real people.
In January 2016, 28-year-old Cory Breton and 31-year-old Iuliana Triscaru were abducted in Queensland, Australia. Prosecutors said they were tied up, brutally a***ulted and forced into a large metal toolbox.

The toolbox was loaded into the back of a ute and taken to Scrubby Creek. Authorities said the box was dumped into the water while both victims were still alive inside. Their bodies were found after the toolbox was recovered from the creek.

The case became infamous because of how unbelievably cruel the method was. Several people were eventually convicted over the m**ders, and the image at the center of the case is impossible to forget: a couple trapped inside a toolbox at the bottom of a creek.
19points

#50

Security camera image of Patty Hearst during a bank robbery, illustrating terrifying things that happened to real people.
On February 4, 1974, 19-year-old newspaper heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped from her Berkeley apartment by armed members of the Symbionese Liberation Army. The group initially demanded that her wealthy family distribute millions of dollars worth of food in exchange for her release.

Instead, Hearst later announced that she had joined the group and adopted the name “Tania.” On April 15, just over two months after her kidnapping, surveillance cameras recorded her carrying a rifle during the SLA’s robbery of a Hibernia Bank in San Francisco.

The FBI captured Hearst in September 1975, 19 months after her abduction. She was convicted of bank robbery, but questions over coercion and her treatment while captive remained central to the case. President Jimmy Carter later commuted her sentence, and President Bill Clinton granted her a full pardon in 2001.
18points

#51

A crime scene house and mugshot illustrating terrifying things that happened to real people in a real life nightmare
Anthony Sowell lived on Imperial Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio, beside a sausage business. Neighbors repeatedly noticed an overwhelming odor in the area, with some believing it came from the nearby meat company or sewer system. The sausage company even replaced equipment and sewer components while trying to eliminate the smell.

In 2009, police went to Sowell’s home while investigating allegations against him and discovered human remains. Investigators eventually recovered 11 victims from inside the house and the surrounding property, including remains buried in the backyard.

The discovery horrified the neighborhood because the warning had seemingly been present for years. Residents had complained about the smell, but its location beside the sausage company provided an ordinary explanation for something far more disturbing happening next door. Sowell was later convicted of multiple m**ders and sentenced to d***h.
18points

#52

Young woman and suspect in a true crime case detailing terrifying things that happened to real people.
On September 24, 2021, 19-year-old Miya Marcano disappeared from the Orlando apartment complex where she both lived and worked. She was supposed to fly to South Florida to visit family that evening but never made the flight. Investigators soon focused on Armando Caballero, a 27-year-old maintenance worker at the complex who had repeatedly expressed romantic interest in Miya and had been rejected.

Detectives discovered that Caballero had a maintenance-issued master key fob capable of opening residents’ apartments. Records showed that the key was used to enter Miya’s apartment at about 4:30 p.m., roughly half an hour before her work shift ended, without her permission or a legitimate maintenance reason.

Caballero was found d**d from an apparent s*****e three days after Miya disappeared. On October 2, search teams found Miya’s body in a wooded area near an apartment complex where Caballero had previously lived. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office identified him as the prime suspect, but he d**d before he could be charged or tried in her k*****g.
18points

#53

A portrait of a smiling man alongside a terrifying true story text overlay about real people.
On September 6, 2018, 26-year-old Botham Jean was sitting inside his Dallas apartment eating ice cream when off-duty police officer Amber Guyger entered. Guyger lived one floor below and said she mistakenly believed she had entered her own apartment after parking on the wrong level of the building’s garage.

Guyger testified that she believed Jean was an intruder and fired her service weapon, k*****g him inside his own home. Prosecutors argued that she had ignored multiple signs that she was on the wrong floor and in the wrong apartment. A jury rejected her claim of self-defense and found her guilty of m****r in October 2019.

Guyger was sentenced to 10 years in prison. On October 1, 2026, the Texas parole board approved her release after she had served about seven years, although an exact release date had not yet been announced.
17points

#54

Terrifying things real people experienced featuring a smashed car windshield accident
On April 19, 2023, 20-year-old Alexa Bartell was driving near Denver, Colorado, while talking to a friend on the phone when a 9-pound landscaping rock was thrown through her windshield. The rock struck Alexa, and her car left the road. Her friend later tracked her phone and found her unresponsive inside the vehicle.

Investigators learned that Joseph Koenig, Nicholas Karol-Chik and Zachary Kwak had been driving around throwing rocks at passing vehicles that night. After Alexa’s car crashed, the group circled back, and Kwak took a photograph of the wreck. According to court documents, he said he believed one of the others would want the image as a “memento.”

Koenig was convicted in 2025 of first-degree m****r and other charges and was sentenced to life in prison without parole plus 60 years. Karol-Chik pleaded guilty to second-degree m****r and received 45 years in prison, while Kwak received 32 years after pleading guilty to a*****t-related charges.
17points

#55

Blue house where remains were found in terrifying things that happened to real people case.
In 2015, 61-year-old Mary Cerruti seemingly disappeared from her bungalow in Houston, Texas. Neighbors became concerned as her mail accumulated, her yard became overgrown and the normally private homeowner was nowhere to be found. She was eventually reported missing, but investigators could not determine where she had gone.

The house was later foreclosed on, renovated and sold. In March 2017, the new residents made a horrifying discovery while moving in: human bones were inside a narrow space within the home’s walls. A pair of red eyeglasses resembling the ones Mary wore was also discovered there.

The remains were ultimately identified as Mary. Investigators found no evidence that she had been m******d, and the evidence suggested she had somehow entered or fallen into the wall space and become trapped. Her disappearance had been a mystery for nearly two years while the answer was apparently hidden inside her own house.
17points

#56

Actor Anton Yelchin alongside a scene of a moving vehicle accident.
On June 19, 2016, 27-year-old actor Anton Yelchin, best known for playing Pavel Chekov in the Star Trek films, was found d**d in the driveway of his Los Angeles home. Anton had apparently stepped out of his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee near the bottom of his steep driveway. While he was outside the vehicle, the SUV suddenly rolled backward, pinning him between its rear end and a brick mailbox pillar and metal security gate.

Anton was crushed so severely that the impact bent the heavy iron gate. Friends discovered his body after he failed to appear for a scheduled rehearsal. The Los Angeles County medical examiner determined that he d**d from blunt traumatic asphyxia, meaning the pressure of the vehicle against his body prevented him from breathing.

The tragedy became even more disturbing when investigators discovered that Anton’s Jeep model was among approximately 1.1 million vehicles recalled just two months earlier. Federal regulators had found that its electronic gear selector could confuse drivers into believing their vehicles were safely in park when they were not. Although the precise cause of Anton’s rollaway was never conclusively established, his parents filed a wrongful d***h lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler. The family reached a confidential settlement in 2018.
17points

#57

A woman sitting with vinyl records next to an old barrel inset, showing terrifying things that happened to real people
In September 1999, a 55-gallon drum was discovered in the crawl space of a house in Jericho, New York. When it was opened, investigators found the mummified remains of a woman who had apparently been hidden there for decades. She had d**d from blunt-force trauma and had been pregnant when she was k****d.

Detectives eventually identified the woman as Reyna Angélica Marroquín, who had disappeared around 1969. The house where the barrel was found had once belonged to Howard Elkins, an executive at the company where Reyna worked, and investigators identified him as the prime suspect in her m****r.

The barrel had remained hidden through years of ownership changes before anyone discovered what was inside. By the time investigators finally connected Reyna to the remains, roughly three decades had passed since she vanished, turning an ordinary old drum beneath a suburban home into the key piece of evidence in a long-hidden m****r.
16points

#58

Smiling woman and inset photo of a man involved in terrifying real life events.
On December 21, 1992, 25-year-old teacher Christy Mirack failed to arrive at the Pennsylvania elementary school where she worked. A coworker went to her home and found her m******d inside. Investigators collected DNA from the crime scene, but no suspect could be identified and the case remained unsolved for decades.

In 2018, investigators used genetic genealogy to narrow the DNA profile to Raymond Rowe, a well-known local wedding DJ who performed under the name DJ Freez. Detectives secretly followed Rowe until he discarded a piece of chewing gum and a water bottle while working at an elementary school event. Testing showed that DNA from both items matched the DNA recovered from Christy’s m****r scene.

Rowe was arrested in June 2018. In January 2019, he admitted k*****g Christy and pleaded guilty to criminal homicide and other charges. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 60 to 120 years.
16points

#59

A terrifying true story feature of a Family Feud contestant who later committed a crime
On February 23, 2023, 41-year-old Rebecca “Becky” Bliefnick was found sh*t to d***h inside her home in Quincy, Illinois, after she failed to pick up her children from school. She and her estranged husband, Timothy Bliefnick, were separated and going through a divorce at the time.

Timothy had previously appeared with relatives on Family Feud in 2020. When host Steve Harvey asked contestants to name the biggest mistake they had made at their wedding, Timothy answered, “I do,” before quickly adding that he loved his wife. The clip resurfaced after Becky’s m****r and drew widespread attention to the case.

In May 2023, a jury convicted Timothy of first-degree m****r, home invasion and using a firearm in the k*****g. He was sentenced that August to life in prison. Timothy has continued to maintain that he did not k**l Becky.
15points

#60

A woman smiling next to a suspect photo in a terrifying real-life missing person case
Raven Campbell disappeared from her apartment in Lomita, California in July 2009. Her family immediately found one detail troubling: Raven’s purse was still inside. Her sister later explained that Raven almost always kept the purse strapped against her chest. Despite the family’s concerns, years passed without Raven being found.

In 2015, Raven’s sister received an anonymous call claiming her body was hidden behind a closet wall in the downstairs apartment. Detectives eventually searched the residence with cadaver dogs, which alerted near the closet. Investigators removed a patched section of wall and discovered human remains inside. DNA confirmed they belonged to Raven, and an autopsy determined she had d**d from blunt force trauma to the head.

Raven’s former roommate, Randolph Garbutt, was arrested in 2016. He later pleaded no contest to voluntary mans***ghter and was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2019. By the time Raven was discovered, another family had been living in the apartment, completely unaware that her remains were concealed behind the wall.
15points
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