Dec 8, 2015 | Unsolved Mysteries
By all accounts, Christopher Mittendorf and Kristina Branum were a happy young couple living in Hardin County, Tennessee. On July 27, 2006, twenty-one-year-old Mittendorf went shopping with Branum, his 17-year-old fiancee. Although the couple was living together, they...
Dec 2, 2015 | The Writing Life
Before I was a published author, I came across many posts from writers revealing how much it hurt that their family and friends didn’t support them. These posts invariably received responses like, “Well, just because they’re our friends doesn’t...
Dec 1, 2015 | Scary True Stories
When little Olga Chardymova was just ten years old, she insisted on being able to leave the apartment by herself for the first time. She wanted to show she was a “big girl” by walking to Grandma’s house on her own. She never made it. A drug dealer...
Nov 27, 2015 | The Life Less Ordinary
November 27th and 28th are grim anniversaries for me–on both days, a wonderful person I loved lost his battle with depression. I initially wrote this post for my friend Stan Mak, who passed away on November 27th, 2013, but I’m sharing it again in...
Nov 24, 2015 | Mysterious Places, Scary True Stories
Aside from wars and natural disasters, it was the greatest loss of life in modern times. This month marks the 37th anniversary of the Jonestown Massacre, when over 900 men, women and children swallowed cyanide-laced juice at the behest of their deranged leader, Jim...
