Cynthia Varady
Bio
Aspiring novelist and award-winning short story writer. Hangs at Twtich & Patreon with AllThatGlittersIsProse. Cynthia resides in Portland, Oregon, with her husband, son, & kitties. She/Her
Stories (38/0)
What Happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke?
In the late 1500s, England tried three times to establish a colony on Roanoke Island. All attempts failed, but the last ended mysteriously, with over 100 people going missing along with critical pieces of the settlement itself. What befell the lost colony of Roanoke and its inhabitants?
By Cynthia Varady3 years ago in Criminal
The Disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
On March 18, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was scheduled to depart Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12:35 a.m. and arrive at Beijing Capital International Airport at 6:30 a.m. The aircraft never arrived. Nearly a decade later, we still don't know what happened to MH370 or the circumstances behind its disappearance, but theories abound. Was there a mass-murder-suicide plot, a hijacking, or an onboard fire? Its disappearance remains one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history.
By Cynthia Varady3 years ago in Criminal
Frank the Christmas Gargoyle
Frank, the Christmas Gargoyle, is, as his name namesake suggests, a gargoyle. Yet the Christmas title wasn’t part of his moniker before December 2019. Frank, a heavy stone sculpture, stood guard on Denise Starr’s porch for three years before a nosy neighbor, we'll call her Karen, began leaving notes complaining that Frank was out of step with the Christmas holiday and demanded his removal. Starr refused and instead doubled down. She topped Frank with a Santa hat, you know, to make him more festive, and added a minature Christmas tree so the Christmas sentiment wouldn't be mistaken. Karen left more notes decrying Frank’s new attire. Starr added friends to stand with Frank including, hippos and a skeleton dog, all dress for the holiday season. When COVID-19 hit, Starr added a plague doctor to the mix.
By Cynthia Varady3 years ago in FYI
Gerbiling or the Colo-rectal Mouse Urban Legend
Society is fraught with urban legends. Each region has its version which reinforces the status quo—the murdered babysitter (moms should stay home and watch their children), teens slaughtered while fornicating at the local makeout point (pre-material sex is evil), and kinky sex legends bordering on animal torture, like Gerbiling.
By Cynthia Varady3 years ago in Filthy
Dorian Corey and the Mummy in Her Closet
Shortly after the death of prominent drag queen Dorian Corey, her caregiver, Lois Taylor, brought two men into her apartment in the hopes of selling them some of Corey’s handmade outfits as Halloween costumes. As they went through the bolts of fabric and boxes of feather boas, they discovered a green garment bag on the closet floor. However, when they Taylor to lift the bag, she found it too heavy. With the help of a pair of scissors, they opened it. Instantly the smell of decomposition hit them. The mummified remains of a human body lay wrapped in Naugahyde and plastic. How the mummified body came to be in Corey’s closet would remain a mystery.
By Cynthia Varady3 years ago in Criminal
The Wonderland Gang Murders
The Wonderland murders, also known as the Four on the Floor Murders and the Laurel Canyon Murders, are four unsolved homicides that occurred in Los Angeles on July 1, 1981. Investigators believe that the targets were the five Wonderland gang members named for Wonderland Avenue, where they rented a house. Yet, only three were there at the time of the assassinations, along with one known associate and the gang leader’s wife. That evening, unknown assailants broke in and bludgeoned four of the occupants to death with hammers and pipes, leaving the fifth barely alive.
By Cynthia Varady3 years ago in Criminal
Ruth Ellis
A little over 60 years ago, Ruth Ellis became the last woman hanged for murder in the UK. Since then, she’s become the subject of television and radio dramas, movies, plays, and books. Why should we bother telling a story of a woman executed over six decades ago?
By Cynthia Varady3 years ago in Criminal
The Disappearance and Murder of Dorothy Jane Scott
An Unexpected Find On August 6, 1984, a partially charred adult human skeleton was discovered half a mile east of Eucalyptus Drive in northeast Anaheim, California. Jesse Loza, a Macco Construction Company foreman, stumbled upon the remains at around 7:15 a.m. as he and his crew readied to lay pipe for Pac Bell telephone lines. Loza discovered the bones minutes after joking with his crew to “watch out for dead bodies.”
By Cynthia Varady3 years ago in Criminal
The Strange Death of Kathleen Peterson
Around 2:40 a.m. on December 9th, 2001, a 911 call came into the Durham, North Carolina emergency dispatch. A frantic man on the other end of the line told the dispatcher that his wife had fallen down the stairs, and he needed help before suddenly hanging up. He phoned again several minutes later and demanded to know why the ambulance hadn't arrived. When the ambulance arrived eight minutes after the initial 911 call, Kathleen Peterson was dead at the scene.
By Cynthia Varady3 years ago in Criminal
Fair Trade
Margot sat on a park bench and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Pain radiated through her eyes and into her head. How could she have gotten laid off? She needed that crappy, low-paying job. Her family needed that job. She imagined her dad’s disappointment. The worry lines eroding his once handsome face. Margot groaned and pushed the heel of her palm into her eyes, trying to slow her racing thoughts. A dull thump on the bench yanked Margot from her thoughts.
By Cynthia Varady3 years ago in Fiction
8 Picture Books That Build Visual Literacy
Visual literacy may be a term many haven’t heard. It’s the piecing together of a story from images and data in graphic form. What are the images telling the reader? Who are the characters? Their emotions? What are they experiencing? Pictures books help develop a child’s visual literacy skills by offering a story they tell themselves through images on the page. The skill of visual literacy lends itself to a myriad of applications beyond picture books.
By Cynthia Varady3 years ago in Education