The Weird, the Outré, the Unusual

I mentioned the case to a friend, and she said the same thing–thinking it was the mother. In fact, one of the former FBI agents they hired says in the story that “…several old-fashioned tics in the letters…pointed to an older writer.” I agree, especially in light of the “M/M” for “Mr. and Mrs.”

While there are some letters that I can imagine her writing, there are also some that seem overly melodramatic in a modern way (someone else in the story mentioned Game of Thrones or something–I’ve never seen that show, but that’s what I mean; it feels modern, all the talk of blood and gore). I wonder if she wrote some letters and someone else wrote some others. What is infuriating is that the police gave up that family as suspects, and we don’t know why!

I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that it’s not the Broadduses–it went on too long for no real reason, and in many ways it wrecked their lives–but his letters obviously don’t help things. Apparently he wrote similar letters to neighbors who had accused them of being responsible for the letters.

www.spiked-online.com/2019/04/19/sark-really-is-a-world-apart/

A fascinating case from 2016 but which I only read about a few months ago: www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/29/damon-baehrel-the-most-exclusive-restaurant-in-america?verso=true

And something more recent, on a completely different subject: www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-haint-blue-means-to-descendants-enslaved-africans

This is on Derek Murphy, an amateur detective who exclusively investigates people who cheat in marathons and other races. Really interesting, twisty story; I read it a month or so ago and forgot to post here.

www.wired.com/story/marathon-investigation-cheaters-racing-data/

Real (or supposedly real) ghost stories aren’t “story-shaped,” as Neil Gaiman has noted.

newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com/2020/03/a-giant-woman-and-man-faced-dog-strange.html