fact or fiction
Is it fact or merely fiction? Fact or Fiction explores the myths and beliefs we hold about copycat killers, eyewitnesses testimony, what makes a murderer and more.
Echoes of the Crime
The city never truly slept, but some nights it seemed to hold its breath. On one such night, Detective Isla Renn stepped out of her cruiser onto the dimly lit street of Marlowe District. Rain whispered against the cracked pavement, and a neon sign above a shuttered diner blinked its last breath. The body had been found behind the diner — not the first, but certainly the most disturbing.
By Said Hameedabout a year ago in Criminal
The Final Alibi
Detective Claire Monroe stood at the edge of the lake, the cold wind tugging at her coat as the early morning fog rolled over the water. The body had been found just after sunrise—face-down, motionless, with a gunshot wound in the back. Jonathan Reese, 54, real estate mogul, husband, and occasional philanthropist, was dead.
By Said Hameedabout a year ago in Criminal
Beneath the Mask
The ballroom shimmered under the golden glow of chandeliers, each crystal prism catching the light like a whisper of a secret. Guests danced in swirling gowns and crisp suits, every face hidden behind ornate masks of feather, velvet, and gold. It was the annual Masquerade of Delaire, where identities were illusions and truths were left behind at the grand oak doors.
By Said Hameedabout a year ago in Criminal
The Servant Girl Annihilator: Was America’s First Serial Killer the Real Jack the Ripper?. Content Warning.
I. A City Frozen in Fear The humid Texas night of December 30, 1884, carried the metallic scent of blood through Austin’s servant quarters. By dawn, the mutilated body of Mary "Mollie" Smith—a 25-year-old Black cook—would be discovered spiked to her own backyard fence like a butchered animal. Her skull had been crushed with such force that fragments of bone later turned up in the soil ten feet away.
By Cold Case Collectiveabout a year ago in Criminal
The Most Dangerous Cities Around The World. AI-Generated.
From castles positioned on crumbling cliffs to apartment blocks and toxic wastelands, join me as we check out the scariest cities built on the edge of the earth. With each city, we'll be raising the stakes as each one grows more and more precarious. Starting with some canoe culture in Logos, Nigeria. Living by the ocean sounds pretty fun, but in some places, life on the water can be downright dangerous. On the very edge of Logos is a partially floating community called Makoko that consists of six separate villages making up a gigantic slum. Four of them are based on the water of the Lacos Lagoon on the east coast and most of the structures here are built on strong stilts which keep them from collapsing into the dirty and polluted water. This community is squashed together with population estimates of up to 250,000 people. And I thought living in an apartment with six roommates was grand. You have to navigate the slum on canoe and survive with little electricity and sanitation. Furthermore, the residents are particularly vulnerable to disease and the slum faces incredibly high levels of maternal mortality and childbirth. But residents there have made the most of their watery home. The settlement has several general stores, churches, and a motel. It even used to be home to the Makoko floating school, which was held up by recycled plastic barrels that float on the water and a triangular roof, which kept the structure balanced. But this way of life is under threat. In recent years, Logos has seen increasingly intense floods and rains that pose a threat to the whole city. Makoko's location on the water makes it particularly vulnerable, and there's dangers that rising sea levels caused by climate change will sink the entire slum into the ocean. Several buildings like the floating school have already collapsed, and in future decades, the whole of Makoko might fade away forever, meaning it's literally on the current edge of the earth. Man, there's something eerily scary about knowing your city will eventually be sunk by the sea. Mother Nature is a cruel mistress. sometimes. But Makoko isn't the only community that was built in a life-threatening location. We usually think of a city as a great sprawling metropolis with loads of buildings and bustling streets spread out over different neighborhoods. Yet, Yanzhen in China's Yunan Province is a busy city that's incredibly compact because the entire thing runs along the banks of the Hang River. Trying to fit an entire city on a handful of long winding roads sounds crazy, but incredibly Yanjin has 450,000 residents, which for context beats the population of American cities like Orlando, New Orleans, and Honolulu.
By taylor lindaniabout a year ago in Criminal
Echoes of the Dead
The rain had been falling for hours, turning the streets of Chicago into slick mirrors reflecting neon signs and the occasional glow of a cigarette. Detective Jack Marlowe lit one up, his fingers trembling slightly from more than just the cold.
By Esther Sunabout a year ago in Criminal
