In the 1930s in Cleveland there was a serial killer who killed twelve people and was never caught.

The final number puts the victims of the Butcher of Kingsbury Run at 12, but there could be more. There are claims that the number could be as high as 20. The victims of what would also be called the Cleveland Torso Murderer were usually drifters or “working-poor” and many of those killed were never identified.

The Torso Murderer beheaded and dismembered his victims. Many of the male victims were also castrated. Some victims were also shown to have a chemical applied to their bodies. Most of the bodies were discovered months after their killing.

It’s also been thought that the Cleveland Torso Murderer may have a connection to the Black Dahlia murder given the way he tortured and disposed of his victims.

So who was the Butcher of Kingsbury Run? We may never know.

-Gravedigger

There is only one person whose death has been attributed to supernatural circumstances in the Unites States and that is John Bell.

John Bell was born in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. He was a farmer who went on to marry Lucy Williams in 1782. For eight years the family prospered, living comfortably on a property Bell had purchased. The Bells would go on to have a family and moved to the Barren Plains, which is today Robertson County, Tennessee.

It’s said that the Bell Witch appeared to John Bell on his land in the form of an animal. Soon after, the family began to experience violent attacks by an unseen force. The disturbances at the Bell home became so well known throughout the area that even Andrew Jackson visited the home to experience the paranormal activity.

John Bell died on December 20^th 1820 after suffering several what was believed then to be supernatural attacks. Some people believe that John Bell actually suffered from the undiagnosed at the time “Bell’s Palsy,” named for Sir Charles Bell. Some people however still believe that John Bell and his family were tormented by the Bell Witch and after Bell’s death all activity in his home ceased.

So was John Bell killed by a ghost? What do you think? Let us know at Twitter @burialdaybooks

-Gravedigger

The Voynich manuscript is a book that no one can decipher. It’s named after Wilfrid Voynich, a Polish book dealer who paid for the book in 1912. There are pages that are missing, but 240 of the pages are intact. Almost all of the pages contain text – written from left to right, and many of the pages have images. Some of the pages are also foldable, where you can unfold them to see more information. Regardless, no one can decipher what language the book is written in.

Cryptographers, mathematicians, linguists and scholars have studied the book, including codebreakers from both World Wars and no one has been able to determine the language, but it is a language. Scientists do believe that the manuscript contains a genuine message given linguistic patterns they believe to be meaningful text.

The text has been carbon dated to the 15^th century. To date no one can tell what the book says, with some believing it’s a hoax. So what message is the book trying to tell us? Who wrote it? What language is it in? And most importantly, is it a warning of sorts?

The book is currently kept in Yale University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

-Gravedigger

I have fond memories of watching old horror movies growing up. I enjoy watching them today – especially because of the good memories they bring of hiding under blankets when I was a kid, with a bowl of popcorn nearby as the television flickered with monsters and ghosts.

I went ahead and collected a few classic horror movie posters for you to enjoy. It’s easy to say they don’t make monster movie posters like they used to, because they don’t.

Do you have any favorite classic horror films? If so, let us know at Twitter @burialdaybooks

-Gravedigger

It’s presidential election season in the United States – one of the scariest of seasons. Did you know that The White House is one of the most haunted buildings in the United States?

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is not only the home of the president of the United States but it’s also one of the most haunted buildings in America. A few of the ghostly sightings include:

Andrew Jackson

The ghost of Andrew Jackson, the 7^th president, was seen by Mary Todd Lincoln in 1865 in the Rose Room. Mrs. Lincoln claimed to have confronted the angry ghost of President Jackson and she would often hear him stomping around the White House and cussing. People have also felt cold spots in the room and have reported strange noises. The Rose Room is said to be the most active room in the building.

Dolley Madison

Dolley Madison was the wife of the fourth president of the United States, James Madison. It was also Mrs. Madison who set up the first White House garden. The famous White House roses were planted by Mrs. Madison. It was reported that nearly a hundred years after Mrs. Madison planted her roses First Lady Edith Wilson tried to remove the roses. When the workers attempted the remove the roses they claimed to have seen the very angry ghost of Mrs. Madison. The workers abandoned removing the roses immediately and they have remained undisturbed since.

Abraham Lincoln

President Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln lost their second son in 1862. Mrs. Lincoln was so distraught that she turned to spiritualists in order to try to communicate with her lost loved ones. Mrs. Lincoln held séances in the White House and it’s been reported that Mr. Lincoln participated in these sittings as well.

The ghost of President Lincoln was seen frequently during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration. He has been seen in his trademark top hat, sometimes sitting by the fireplace in his former room.

It’s been said that President Lincoln’s ghost is most active during times of crisis as he like to be on hand to assist.

-Gravedigger

We were away for a few days but are back and are trying to get caught up on our 31 Days of Halloween postings. So in order to get caught up we will be posting 7 mini posts today. We hope you enjoy.

Haunted dolls are used often in horror fiction and film. There have been accounts of people claiming that they purchased or were gifted a haunted doll, or discovered that paranormal phenomena revolved around a certain item or object in their house.

The Hands That Resist Him

There have been accounts of paintings that are so haunted people refuse to keep them in their house. One of them is The Hands That Resist Him by artist Bill Stoneham which was painted in 1974. Stoneham claimed the painting is an adaptation of a photograph taken of him in childhood. It’s claimed that several people died shortly after taking ownership of the painting, including a gallery owner.

The Anguished Man

This painting is more disturbing than The Hands That Resist Him. The Anguished Man was stored in Sean Robinson’s grandmother’s attic for 25 years. His grandmother claimed it was haunted by the artist who painted it. It’s believed that those reds used in the painting are the artists’ own blood. Shortly after painting this it’s been reported that the artist committed suicide. Strange noises, doors slamming shut, shadowy figures and violent activity have been reported around this painting. The below video supposedly shows paranormal activity captured around this painting.

Are there any haunted paintings you know about? Let us know at Twitter @burialdaybooks

-Gravedigger

On October 4^th the New York Post posted disturbing video from James Rankin who was hiking deep in a forest on Long Island. Rankin came upon an unnerving scene. The 1:08 minute long clip begins with him saying “Look what these fucking are.” The camera then zooms in on a black and white missing person flyer of a young woman. The flyer is in a plastic cover nailed to a tree. The hiker continues walking and says “Anyway I’ll cut right to the chase because I might die.”

He says ‘look’ and focuses on a cluster of trees with missing person flyers also nailed to them, all of them are of different people and there are dozens of them. He pans the camera around and says “Look where they fuck where are,” and shows that he is in the middle of the woods and says “Who the fuck does something like this?”

He continues showing a close up of several of the flyers, again all are of different people and they are from across the country.

Close by the man finds a blanket on the ground with an empty can of food and a manmade structure made of branches. When he hears voices he runs off. (more…)

This case is so well known but I just can’t get it out of my head, mostly because of how creepy it is. Elisa Lam’s terrible death has become an obsession for internet sleuths, paranormal investigators and conspiracy theorists. It’s clear from the video footage prior to Lam’s disappearance that something strange was going on.

Elisa Lam was a lovely 21-year-old from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In 2013, Lam went down to California to spend some time traveling. She traveled alone, taking the Amtrak or local buses. She kept a Tumblr blog at the time detailing her trip. There were planned stops to San Diego, Santa Cruz and San Francisco. On January 26^th Lam checked into the Hotel Cecil in downtown Los Angeles.

Here’s an aside. Hotel Cecil has a grimy little history. Some of Hotel Cecil’s famous guests include:

Elizabeth Short – also known as the Black Dahlia, one of California’s most famous murder victims.

Goldie Osgood – murder victim

Jack Unterweger – serial killer

Richard Ramirez – serial killer, also known as the Night Stalker

The hotel has also been home to a number of suicides and additional strange deaths.

Lam kept in regular contact with her parents during her travels, but on January 31^st, the day she was due to check out of the Hotel Cecil no one heard from her. Her parents immediately called the Los Angeles Police and flew to L.A. to assist in the search. There was no indication from locals that Lam was acting strange or was not going to continue on with her travels. A local business owner described her as friendly when she stopped in to purchase gifts. The police, and a search dog, searched whatever areas of the hotel they could legally. Lam’s room was searched, the public areas, as well as the rooftop. Officers could not however search any guests rooms as there was no probable cause to do so.

On February 14 LAPD released the last known video of Lam from a video surveillance in an elevator of the hotel. The video has been copied and share across various websites and blogs. One Chinese video sharing site reached over 3 million views ten days after the video became public. In the video Lam is seen entering the elevator and heads to the control panel. She selects several floors and then takes a few steps back into the corner of the elevator. The door does not close. She then looks out of the door, stepping quickly inside. She repeats these movements, looking outside of the elevator and entering quickly heading towards the rear. Theories abound with some claiming she may have been under the influence of drugs, that a later reported mental disorder was at play, that she was possessed, was having hallucinations and so on.

A few weeks after Lam’s disappearance, residents of the Hotel Cecil began to complain about their water pressure. There were also complaints about the waters unusual smell, and off color. When employees went to the roof and opened the 1,000-gallon water tank that supplies water to the hotel they found Lam’s body floating face up naked.

Lams death was officially reported as an accidental drowning. No traces of drugs or alcohol were found in her system.

Other things to consider – the doors that lead to the water tank on the roof were locked and only staff with keys and passcodes could access it. Anyone attempting to access either of the doors or stairways leading to the tank without the keys and access code would trigger an alarm. The tank was also propped up on concrete blocks. Hotel workers needed a ladder to climb up, and then they needed to push off the heavy lid in order to even look at the water. So how did Lam get in?

Here is that video of Elisa Lam in the elevator. What do you think happened? Let us know at Twitter @burialdaybooks

-Gravedigger

You are home alone one night and you hear a knock at the door. You think for a moment if you are waiting on an order from Amazon.com, if it could be anyone of your friends, family, or that annoying ex, but no, it can’t be. You didn’t even order a pizza. So you ignore the knock. A few seconds go by in silence and you feel a sense of relief It was nothing. Wrong person, wrong house, nothing, and you settle back into the folds of your sofa and hit play on that long awaited B movie you have been hoping to finish on Netflix. Then, the knock returns, louder this time, and it’s enough to jolt you into a panic. As you cautiously approach the door there’s another knock, pleading you to please hurry and open up. You’re smart and you know not to just open wide the door without first seeing who it is. You take a peek out the window and you see them standing there, two small children. It’s children after all, children are innocent aren’t they? They can’t possibly be a threat. You crack open the door and you immediately regret it because the children seem odd, awkward. Their clothes are strange, but it’s their eyes that cause your hair to stand on end. Their eyes are completely black. When they ask to come inside you hesitate for a brief second, but quickly you slam the door close.

What I described above has been reported across hundreds of communities in the United States. These children, with the fully black eyes, are called Black Eyed Children or Black Eyed Kids, BEK’s, by paranormal investigators. Whether or not BEK’s have been reported outside of the U.S. I’m not sure. If so, let us know at twitter @burialdaybooks.

The reports are similar in all accounts. A person is home alone. They hear a knock on the door and then another. The knocking becomes persistent. In most cases the person home alone looks out of a window first and notices a child at their doorstep. Typically, there are two children who appear to be between the ages of 8 and 10. The children are pale and stand still at the door once they notice someone is watching them. They have their heads down so that their faces are unseen. When the person opens the door the children ask to come inside, and say that their parents will be there soon. The children stick to this script and will ask only if they can come inside or say only that their parents will be there soon if any additional questions are asked. People have claimed that the moment they open the door they are washed in a feeling of dread. Some people have claimed that the children are plainly dressed in period clothing, perhaps from the 17^th or 18^th century. They have been mistaken as being Mennonite or Amish children. All reports claim that the immediate impression of the children is that they seem off and avoid making eye contact, but when they finally do it’s terrifying. The children have huge black eyes, no whites, just fully black eyes. Typically, it’s then when most people slam the door and call the police, or slam the door and reach for a weapon.

Many of these sightings have been reported on message boards and chat rooms. Paranormal investigator David Weatherly wrote a book about BEKs titled Black Eyed Children. In an interview on paranormal podcast Coast to Coast AM, Weatherly said “It seems as if the whole goal of these encounters is to create this high level of fear in the victim.”

It’s been suspected that BEKs are either demonic in nature or alien.

Now, what happens when you actually open the door to a BEK? One woman claimed that her husband let two BEKs into their home, and it wasn’t until they were inside that they noticed the children’s eyes. The husband immediately had a dizzy spell, a nose bleed, and the children ran off and hid in the bathroom, and then – the power went out. The children appeared in the hallway shortly after and said that their parents had arrived. They fled out the front door and when the husband and wife looked outside they saw two very tall men standing outside in black suits standing next to a black car and all four of them drove off. The woman claims that afterward several of her pets went missing or died, her husband developed an aggressive form of skin cancer only seen with heavy tanning bed users – which her husband was not one, and other odd and horrifying things have occurred, and she blames all of their misfortune on the BEKs.

So, are these BEKs just a made up paranormal tale? Are they just a creepypasta taking over the internet? Or, are there some little demonic children running around knocking on your door hoping you let them in? And, who are their parents? Are these the infamous MIBs, Men In Black who were famously spotted in Point Pleasant around the time of the Mothman sightings and the collapse of the Silver Bridge?

Who knows?

-Gravedigger

I appreciate classic scary stories. Every single town in every single city has those stories, a haunted house, ghost sightings, a spooky cemetery, a mysterious murder or more. It’s exciting to take a haunted tour of a disturbing event that happened decades ago because you feel just enough detached from the terror that you know you’re safe. What’s most frightening however is a scary story that pops up that is recent.

In Westfield, New Jersey there is a stunning turn-of-the-century home that has been for sale since March of 2016. Details from the Zillow listing make me wish I had $1,199,000 just laying around to purchase the property. The home features hardwood floors, a dining room with a coffered ceiling, a gourmet kitchen, a sun porch, four fire places and more. The house also sits on nearly half an acre. Zillow reports that the house has been viewed on their website nearly 90,000 times, but still there have been no offers. Surely there has to be someone living in this area, with enough money to purchase this gorgeous home. Maybe the home hasn’t been sold because the Zillow add is missing a small detail about the property?

Two years ago the house was purchased by a family. Shortly after closing on the home the husband and wife found a series of threatening letters from someone called the Watcher:

The letters contained threatening messages like:

“My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched in the 1960s. It is now my time…I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming.”

“Do you need to fill the house with the young blood I requested? Once I know their names I will call to them and draw them out to me.”

“Have they found out what is in the walls yet? In time they will.”

“I am pleased to know your names now and the name of the young blood you have brought to me. Will the young bloods play in the basement?

“And now I watch and wait for the day when the young blood will be mine again.”

“I am in charge…Let the young blood play again like I once did” and “stop changing it and let it alone.”

“Who has the bedrooms facing the street? I’ll know as soon as you move in. … It will help me to know who is in which bedroom then I can plan better.”

In one letter the Watcher said that the windows and doors of the home allow him to watch and track down the new buyers as they move through the house.

The buyers never actually moved into the home and filed legal complaints stating that their lives are now plagued by anxiety and stress for fear what the Watcher will do.

As you can see, the home is still for sale and the identity of the Watcher is is yet to be known.

-Gravedigger