Dvaowlot - Unexplained Events, Paranormal, True Crime

Tamara Samsonova, known as the “Granny Ripper,” defied the common stereotype of a serial killer, as she was a 68-year-old grandmother. Her arrest in 2015 shocked the world and launched one of the most bizarre true crime cases in history.

Authorities arrested Samsonova on suspicion of murdering 79-year-old Valentina Ulanova, whose dismembered body was found in a pond. Samsonova shared an apartment with Ulanova and was caught on CCTV disposing of her body, which led to her becoming a suspect. When police searched the apartment, they discovered a gruesome diary containing details of not just this murder, but several others.

The diary contained Samsonova’s confession to killing at least 13 people, including her husband, whom she murdered in 2005, and another tenant. She described how she dismembered their bodies with a knife in the bathroom and disposed of the remains in different locations. Shockingly, Samsonova also confessed to cannibalizing her victims and getting rid of unwanted body parts and organs.

Were there ever any Western depictions of the himantopodes? They became popular in the Middle East but I've never seen any European art of them...

i've never heard of them before and i don't remember seeing anything like that, but i'll keep an eye out for them. i'm not an expert though. maybe some professional art historians/medievalists etc know more?

for context (from the wikipedia article on iranian folklore): "Himantopodes (davālpā): an evil creature that uses its flexible, leather-like legs as tentacles to grip and capture human beings. The captives will be enslaved and forced to carry the creature until they die of fatigue."

Here's a more in-depth lexicon entry

Mikhail Kalashnikov, the man who created the AK-47 assault rifle, wrote a letter in which he professed his guilt and regret over his creation shortly before his death in 2013. He explained that he felt responsible for all of the deaths caused by his creation: “The pain in my soul is unbearable. I keep asking myself the same unsolvable question: If my assault rifle took people’s lives that means that I, Mikhail Kalashnikov, … am responsible for people’s deaths.” He expressed that he wished he would have created a tool to benefit farmers instead.

What is that? Strange figure caught on camera at Amarillo Zoo

The City of Amarillo is asking for help identifying a strange figure seen on surveillance...

KFDA reports security cameras captured the image around 1:25 a.m. on May 21 inside a perimeter fence at the Amarillo Zoo.

City officials said there were no signs of vandalism or attempted entry into the zoo and no animals or people were harmed.

Now, the city is encouraging the public to submit ideas for what the figure could be.

The Puzzling Case of Mateusz Kawecki

January 02, 2023

Mateusz Kawecki was a 30 year old man from Poland who had been working in Hanover, Germany as a construction worker. He lived with his father who also worked in Hanover. 

On March 28, 2018, Mateusz went to Poland to see his pregnant fiancé, who he was in a long distance relationship with at the time. His fiancé was about to give birth, and lived in a village called Lipia Góra, Poland. Mateusz began driving his 1998 BMW 525 around 11:30 pm to make it to the village. He was supposed to arrive there between 8-9 am the next morning, March 29. Mateusz never made it. 

Mateusz’s father spoke to him on March 29, around 10:30 am, and Mateusz told his father there was really bad traffic jams on his route and he was currently stuck in Szzecin at the time, which is a town on the Polish-German border. Mateusz had about 133 miles to go before he would reach Lipia Góra. Around this time Mateusz sent his fiancé a text message saying he would arrive in about 2 more hours. 

However, after not hearing from him, and several missed phone calls, his fiancé became worried and tried to contact Mateusz’s sister, Katarzyna Piotrkowicz around 5 pm, but could not get a hold of her either. 

Later in the evening Mateusz’s mom went to the police to let them know no one had any contact with her son for quite some time, but the police discouraged her from filing a missing persons report, claiming it was too early to do so. 

A few more days went by and in early April 2018, Mateusz’s family officially reported him as a missing person in Germany and Poland. The Germany police refused to investigate, claiming the Polish police were on the case. His family asked Polish police if they could locate Mateusz’s cellphone, but they were unable to do so as his sim card was German. It was also said that his cellphone had been on for a couple of days after he stopped having contact. 

The German police eventually began investigating but could not locate the cellphone either, as Mateusz had gone missing in Poland. Polish police later said that Mateusz’s phone was never connected to any networks so no one was sure how he had spoken to his father earlier on March 29.

Katarzyna, Mateusz’s sister, said that officials believed her brother had never crossed the German-Polish border as CCTV monitoring at the border showed Mateusz had never entered Poland. Mateusz’s family became frustrated with police efforts, and began their own search, including putting up posters with Mateusz’s picture around. The family spoke on TV several times in Germany and Poland claiming the police were not doing enough. 

However, the case took a strange turn on September 12, 2018, almost 6 months after the last known contact from Mateusz, when a neighbour went to Mateusz’s mothers house to ask about her barn, claiming that a horrible smell was coming from their barn since July and neighbours were starting to complain. 

The neighbour asked if he could check the barn and she agreed. Half of the barn was walled off, which created a room. There was an attic level on top of the room. The neighbour climbed up and saw a pile of clothes in the attic space. When the neighbour checked more thoroughly he found a severed head and torso. The remains were too decomposed to be identified. 

It was discovered that there were two rope nooses hanging from the roof and a backpack on the floor which was later identified as belonging to Mateusz. DNA evidence eventually determined that the remains were indeed that of Mateusz Kawecki. Some of his teeth had been knocked out and stuck to his clothes which had bloody patches on them. 

Inside the backpack were a Polish water bottle with cigarette butts inside and an orange juice box. Mateusz’s family claimed he never drank orange juice. A cellphone was also found in the backpack and showed there had been one call made to Mateusz’s uncle on March 30, 2018, but it appeared to be an accidental call as it lasted for less than a second and never actually went through. 

There was no DNA of another person found on any of Mateusz’s items. The police believed that this was a suicide and refused to investigate further, despite the families pleas. It was believed that Mateusz had planned his death and there was no evidence of foul play. 

Four days after Mateusz’s body was found, his family found his shoe in the barn with his detached foot still inside. This determined that the police hadn’t even searched the barn properly according to his family. 

Prosecutors gathered lots of evidence, including DNA, and an analysis of Mateusz’s cellphone. German police got security camera footage and searched Mateusz’s apartment in Hanover. All of this evidence was reviewed by experts in Warsaw. 

Prosecutors believe that Mateusz lied to his family on the day he disappeared. He had not been in Szczecin when he’d spoken to his father and was not driving at the time the phone call happened. According to them, Mateusz had still been in Germany according to the receipts found with his belongings. 

It is believed that Mateusz took a train to the German border, in Frankfurt an der Oder and walked over a bridge to the Polish town of Slubice about 24 hours after telling his family he was in Poland. Prosecutors believe he checked into a hotel in Slubice with another person. 

Mateusz then took a train to Warsaw the next day, followed by a bus to Zamość, which is the largest town close to his home village, Hutków. He arrived in Zamość around midnight, but it is unknown how he got to Hutków. 

Mateusz’s car had never been found despite a search for it, and there was never any evidence found indicating it had been bought or driven by a new owner. They keys to his BMW were also never found, but his wallet was in the backpack that was found in the barn. 

The attic where the body was found was visible from the ground, so it didn’t make sense that Mateusz had been there for months without his family noticing. Mateusz’s family also said that they had used the barn in the summer of 2018. 

Mateusz’s cousin, Edyta Dabska claimed the family does not think Mateusz was hanging in the barn because no one had seen him. 

To this day it is unknown how Mateusz got to the barn from Zamość and if he was in the barn for months how would his family not notice? There are so many unanswered questions in this case and hopefully someday it will make more sense. 

When authorities arrived at Ed Gein's residence to question him about Bernice Worden's disappearance, they were unprepared for the horrors they would uncover. Inside the house, they made a chilling discovery. Worden's lifeless body was found suspended by her heels from a pulley, her head severed and her abdomen opened. She had been arranged like a hunted animal. Immediately, additional assistance was called to the scene.

As they further explored the premises, they were confronted with a macabre collection of objects. Skulls had been fashioned into soup bowls, chairs were upholstered with human skin, lampshades were crafted from the same material, and a box contained preserved female genitalia. They also encountered a disturbing assortment of body parts, including noses, nipples, and lips. One of the most horrifying sights was the discovery of nine dried faces, carefully mounted on the wall.

Gein later admitted to donning a vest made from female skin, complete with breasts, which he would wear on certain nights while he danced around his house, assuming the role of his deceased mother.

After confessing to the murders of tavern owner Mary Hogan in 1954 and hardware store owner Bernice Worden in 1957, Gein was deemed unfit for trial. He was confined to a mental health facility. However, in 1968, he was deemed competent to stand trial and was found guilty of Worden's murder. Despite the conviction, his legal status was determined to be legally insane, leading to his confinement in a psychiatric institution.

Ed Gein's life came to an end on July 26, 1984, at the Mendota Mental Health Institute. He succumbed to respiratory failure caused by lung cancer at the age of 77. He was laid to rest beside his family members in Plainfield Cemetery, though his grave no longer bears a marker due to perpetual vandalism.

Unique case of Fake Persian Princess Mummy - Unexplained Mysteries

A "mummy" that duped archaeologists and nearly sparked a diplomatic row between Pakistan and Iran is finally being laid to rest.

The Persian Princess or Persian Mummy is a mummy of an alleged Persian princess who surfaced in Pakistani Baluchistan in October 2000. After considerable attention and further investigation, the mummy proved to be an archaeological forgery and possibly a murder victim.

are chimps as unpredictable and dangerous as people say? I remember there being a famous mauling story from a woman who had one as a pet, but he was drugged with xanax or something similar and was having withdrawals, something like that. Definitely not a normal set of chimp circumstances, so I was wondering if they are usually randomly violent and difficult for humans to predicts

Lets talk about Travis, the tragic chimp that famously mauled Charla Nash.

(source)

Travis was a chimpanzee that was raised in a human household and acted in several commercials in his youth. He was taken from his mother and sold to his owners at 3 days old and lived with them until his death at 13 years of age. What makes us think of Travis as dangerous and unpredictable is that when he was young he was known for being docile, intelligent, obedient, and kind to the humans around him. He even play wrestled with people and was known to stop if his wrestling buddy became overwhelmed or he was told to stop. Travis did not lead a normal or natural life for a chimpanzee by any means; not only was he socialized as human and was raised to do chores and take part in human enrichment (he even knew how to drive a car, which is absolutely not good), but as you can see he was very overweight as a result of eating ice cream, tea, and other human foods instead of the balanced and diverse diets chimpanzees need.

Circumstances escalated with Travis when one of his owners and their only son died, and his remaining owner Sandra Herold became increasingly attached to Travis. The two would sleep in the same bed and bathe together. This was all at a time when Travis was entering adolescence and the divergence between his chimpanzee instincts and human socialization was widening. While human teenagers are able to journal, have conversations, and express themselves in order to process the challenges of puberty, Travis had no outlets for the natural frustration, aggression, and challenges he was facing. This led to the 2003 incident where Travis was on the loose for several hours after a pedestrian threw an empty soda bottle at the car that he was in, which went through a partially open window and struck him while stopped at a traffic light. Travis unbuckled his seat belt, opened the car door and chased his assailant. He also escaped from a police car when apprehended and chased the police officers around the car. Basically, there were warning signs that Travis was becoming too much to handle 6 years before the incident where he mauled, but because he had been a member of the family and community for so long he was allowed to continue to live with Sandra Herold.

The main thing I take away from Travis’ story here, even before the mauling incident, is that Travis’ behavior makes perfect sense for a chimpanzee. Because he was anthropomorphized to the point where his owner essentially thought of him as her son, the media sensationalized the story as a beloved animal “turning” on his loved ones. The thing is though, he didn’t really act unpredictably at all, the signs were there from the beginning and his behavior escalated gradually before it came to a head in 2009, the people around him just ignored the warnings. Even taking xanax out of the question which can have some pretty adverse effects on humans let alone chimps, the 2009 incident began with Travis leaving the house with his owners car keys (his property, as far as he is concerned), and his owners friend Charla Nash trying to lure him back to the house with his favourite toy. Essentially, Travis was leaving his territory when he saw someone who he may not have recognized as a member of his troupe in his territory, with his treasured item. When he tried to defend his territory by attacking her, Herold began to attack him which escalated the conflict. Additionally, chimpanzees are 5-6 times stronger than humans and as he grew up play fighting with humans he was not really capable of conceptualizing how disproportionate his strength was.

Now, lets turn to talk about another chimp. Meet September: 

(source)

Like Travis, September started her life as a pet. She was raised as a human child would be, and when she reached adolescence her owners recognized that she was too large and strong to safely keep in the house, and began keeping her in a cage in their backyard. Luckily, her owners recognized that this was no life for a chimp and surrendered her and two other chimpanzees to Save the Chimps, a sanctuary in Florida in 2002 when September was 23. She is now 42 years old, and despite having tragically similar circumstances to Travis, is thriving. Due to her history as a pet, September found it very difficult to become accustomed to living with other chimps, even the two other chimpanzees that lived with her when she was a pet, but has become a member of a troupe and spends her days painting, braiding strips of fabric, and exploring her island home.

Basically, there are no bad chimps, only tragic circumstances. Even when chimps in the wild are violent there are rational explanations for their behavior such as territorial disputes and interpersonal conflicts. They are only difficult to predict if you expect them to act like humans, and not chimpanzees.

In September of 1990, the Dugard family moved from from Los Angeles to South Lake Tahoe in California under the presumption it was a safer community to raise a family. Unfortunately, they couldn’t have been more wrong. Jaycee Dugard was close to her mother, Terry, and her half-sister, Shayna. The couple lived with Jaycee’s stepfather, Carl, who was married to her mother. She never knew her birth father. He had no involvement in her life whatsoever.

It was a prickling hot day on 10th of June, 1991, when Jaycee was 11-years-old. On that morning, Jaycee got up for school and left the family home to walk the short distance to the bus stop. However, she never made it. In full view of Carl, who was watching Jaycee from the garage, a man and woman pulled up alongside her in a grey car and rolled down the window. Assuming they were looking for directions, Jaycee walked over. Next, the man produced a stun gun and zapped Jaycee before bundling her into the car. Carl, who didn’t have a car at the time, jumped onto his bike and peddled as fast as he possibly could. It was no use, however, and Jaycee was gone.

Over the forthcoming days, weeks, months, and years, Jaycee was in the forefront of her families mind. Despite an exhaustive search, Jaycee could not be found. As the years passed, hope began to fade that she would ever be found. But then, on the 24th of August, 2009, 18 years after her disappearance, there was a breakthrough. A man and two young girls appeared at the University of California, where witnesses said they were acting very peculiarly and the two girls seemed sullen and extremely pale, as if they hadn’t seen sunlight in a prolonged period. The man told an employee he wanted to hold an event in which he would speak about “God’s Desire Church” which he explained involved mind control. After leaving his name, a background check was ran and it was discovered he was a registered sex offender and on federal parole for kidnapping and rape. The man was Philip Greg Garrido, who in 1976 had kidnapped and raped a young woman. As part of his parole, Garrido could not be around minors.

Thinking something was awry, the employee contacted police who drove to Garrido’s home and arrested him. On the 26th of August, Garrido went to the parole office with his wife, Nancy, and the two girls who had been with prior. Also in attendance was Jaycee who initially claimed her name was “Allissa” and defended Garrido. She was showing signs of Stockholm Syndrome in which she sympathised with her kidnapper. Eventually the truth came out - both Phillip and Nancy had abducted Jaycee on that hot summer’s day 18 years ago. The two young girls were Jaycee’s and were a product of rape from Garrido.

Over the past 18 years, Jaycee had been raped numerous times. Initially, she was kept in handcuffs and had to use a bucket as a toilet. Garrido would often go on methamphetamine binges in which he would tell Jaycee ludicrous tales of him being a chosen servant of god and that she was kidnapped due to “demon angels” granting him permission to use her as a sex slave. By the age of 13, Jaycee was pregnant. She gave birth while locked up and took care of her two daughters with information learned from watching tv. Eventually, Jaycee was granted more and more freedom. The handcuffs disappeared and the bolts on the doors were dismantled. Never did she once mention to anybody her true identity due to Stockholm syndrome.

After her eventual discovery, the Dugard family were ecstatic. While they had never given up hope on Jaycee, as the day’s passed, it seemed more and more unlikely that she would ever return home. Jaycee and her two daughters were in well health despite their living condition. In 2011, Jaycee wrote a book titled “A Stolen Life” in which she details her abduction. Phillip was sentenced to 431 years to life while Nancy was sentenced to 36 years to life.

disarticulation of the four fingers and metacarpals.

Jean-Baptiste Léveillé, from Précis iconographique de médecine opératoire (A text book of operative surgery), by Claude Bernard & Charles Huette, Paris, 1848.

(Source: archive.org)