Top 10 Real-Life Paranormal Murder Investigations
#10: The Red Barn
How much stock do you place in dreams? Back in 1827, English couple Maria Marten and William Corder were planning on eloping to Ipswich and had arranged to meet at a local landmark known as The Red Barn. Marten’s family later received letters from Corder claiming that they were happily married. But then Marten’s stepmother began having troubling dreams that Maria had been murdered. She instructed her husband to dig in the Red Barn’s grain storage bins, where he found his daughter’s body. Corder was publicly executed. While the paranormal element received much attention, there may be a mundane explanation: there were rumors that Maria’s stepmother was having an affair with Corder before he ran off, and helped plan the murder.
#9: Leading Police to a Body
When six-year-old Australian girl Kiesha Abrahams went missing in 2010, Cheryl Carroll-Lagerwey believed she had the answers. The Aboriginal elder had a dream about young Kiesha, and claimed that her body would be found in a nature preserve near Sydney. She and a friend traveled to the location and did indeed find a body - just not that of young Kiesha. Instead, they discovered another homicide victim. The body is thought to be that of missing woman Kristi McDougall, and two people were charged with her death. As for Kiesha Abrahams, it was sadly discovered that she had been killed by her mother, who was sentenced to a maximum term of 22 years in prison.
#8: Mary Jane Reed & Stanley Skridla
On the evening of June 24th, 1948, young Navy veteran Stanley Skridla and telephone operator Mary Jane Reed went out for a date in Oregon, Illinois. They were last seen at a local tavern around 11:30pm, before heading out to a local lover’s lane. Their bodies were later found in separate locations. Leading suspects included Mary Jane’s former beaus, but the case was never solved. However, some believe that Mary Jane’s ghost haunts the tavern in which she was last seen. Shortly after buying the building, the new owner started getting odd sensations. Some employees refused to work night shifts and reported objects moving on their own. Is it possible that Mary Jane is still trying to get her case solved?
#7: Ghosts & a Mass Grave
Every Thanksgiving, the grandfather of twin brothers Bill and Frank Watson told them the same ghost story. Back in 1909, a man was walking home in Malvern, Pennsylvania when he saw a pair of dancing ghosts at Duffy's Cut, a stretch of railroad tracks in the woods. The man believed that they were among 57 Irish railroad workers who supposedly died from a cholera outbreak. In 2002 the Watson brothers started digging in the area of Duffy's Cut and found a mass grave. Divots on the skulls suggest that they were clunked on the heads. The motivation behind the possible slayings remains unknown.
#6: The Devil Made Me Do It Case
You may be familiar with this case from the third “Conjuring” movie. On February 16, 1981, Connecticut man Arne Cheyenne Johnson stabbed his landlord, Alan Bono, to death. Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren claimed that Johnson was possessed by a demon when he committed the killing. Johnson pleaded innocent on the grounds of demonic possession, making this the first court case in United States history in which such a defense had been tried. The case earned national attention owing to the bizarre defense. Johnson was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison.
#5: The Ghost of Ann Walker
In 1735, author Arthur L. Hayward published a book called “Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals.” The following account of an apparition in Durham, England, comes from his book. One night, the bloody spirit of housekeeper Ann Walker appeared to miller James Graham and recounted her story. She had gotten pregnant by a relation of hers, Mr. Walker, who killed her with an accomplice named Mark Sharp. Graham went to a Justice of Peace and had Walker’s death investigated. The body was where the ghost claimed it would be, as were the belongings of Mark Sharp. Both Sharp and Walker were found guilty of the crime and sentenced to death.
#4: Anneliese Michel
The story of Anneliese Michel is quite famous, having been adapted into several movies, including the 2005 horror film “The Exorcism of Emily Rose.” Michel was diagnosed with epileptic psychosis and depression as a teen and suffered years of mental anguish. When medication failed to help, her family suspected that she was possessed by a demon and subjected her to 67 exorcisms. She subsequently died of malnutrition at 23 years old. Following an investigation, her parents and the two priests that conducted the exorcisms were charged with negligent homicide. They were all found guilty of Michel’s death and given suspended sentences. It’s often seen as a tragic case where mental illness was misdiagnosed in favor of a supernatural interpretation.
#3: Teresita Basa Speaks Through Another
Chicago resident Teresita Basa was found dead in her apartment on the night of February 21, 1977. Her body was discovered when the fire department was called to deal with a blaze, and it’s believed that the perpetrator set the fire to cover up their crime. It seemingly worked, as the trail quickly went cold. A few months later, Basa’s co-worker Remibias "Remy" Chua helped crack the case. According to Remy’s husband, Remy woke from a nap in a trance, spoke in a different voice, claimed to be Teresita, and told him that her killer was another co-worker named Allan Showery. Following a homicide investigation, it was proven that Showery did indeed commit the crime, and he was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
#2: The Greenbrier Ghost
In 1897 Elva Zona Heaster Shue supposedly died of natural causes in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The official story was that Shue died in childbirth, but her mother wasn’t so sure. Mary Jane Heaster claimed that her daughter’s ghost visited her in the night and told her that her husband, blacksmith Erasmus Shue, was the true culprit. Heaster approached a local prosecutor, and he had Shue’s body exhumed. Following an autopsy, it was found that Shue had been strangled and that her neck was broken, which thoroughly debunked the childbirth story. Shue’s husband was later found guilty of her death and sentenced to life in prison.
#1: The Hammersmith Ghost Case
Locals in the Hammersmith area of London became terrified after a spate of ghost sightings in the winter of 1803. The Hammersmith Ghost was said to be tall, terrifying, and clad in white. The stories got so out of hand that armed citizens began patrolling the area. One night, Francis Smith, who was out on patrol, encountered bricklayer Thomas Millwood, who was dressed in white, and mistook him for the ghost. Armed with a shotgun, Smith shot and killed Millwood. Charged with homicide, he was eventually sentenced to one year’s hard labor. Following the trial, shoemaker John Graham came forward and admitted to being the real Hammersmith Ghost. He had been dressing in a white sheet to scare his apprentice.