Mysteries

Hannah Upp was a young woman with a positive attitude and a zest for life. Despite having divorced parents and struggling with her personal understanding of religion, she was a&nbsp;seemingly happy, successful woman <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/02/how-a-young-woman-lost-her-identity/amp">aspiring to become a Montessori teacher</a> in order to effect positive change in the world.Unfortunately, she also suffered from a rare disorder best known for afflicting Jason Bourne, the fictional protagonist from The Bourne Identity and its sequels. Because of this condition, she went missing twice and was later found with no recollection of what had happened. In 2017, Upp <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/what-happened-to-hannah-upp-the-mystery-around-the-young-womans-disappearance-continues">went missing for a third time</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/paula-jean-welden-disappearance-vermont/patrick-thornton">has never been found</a>.

A Teacher With A Rare Form Of Amnesia Disappeared Three Times And Hasn't Been Found

General

A Teacher With A Rare Form Of Amnesia Disappeared Three Times And Has Not Been Found

Stephen Morin

Anna Moriah Wilson's death left friends and family devastated, and as of this article's publishing, police continue to search for her killer. Wilson, a competitive gravel and mountain bike cyclist known to many as “Mo,” was found shot to death in a friend's home on May 11, 2022. After an initial investigation, law enforcement soon suspected a woman named Kaitlin Marie Armstrong of murdering Wilson. Both Armstrong and Wilson had relationships with professional cyclist Colin Strickland, and Armstrong had previously made contact with Wilson about staying away from him.Wilson had been scheduled to participate in a race that Saturday and was considered “a favorite” by the close-knit gravel cycling community. She had recently quit her job as a demand planner to become a full-time competitive cyclist and had already won multiple races in 2022.As this case continues to unfold, we're gathering up all of the essential facts about the murder of Mo Wilson and the impending arrest of Kaitlin Marie Armstrong.

A Cyclist Was Fatally Shot In Her Friend’s Home, And The Investigation Is Quickly Unfolding

Who Killed Cyclist Anna Moriah "Mo" Wilson?

Patrick Thornton

Interesting

Living in the city may present&nbsp;a litany of problems for people who are unprepared for urban&nbsp;life. Living in a metropolitan&nbsp;area comes with a myriad of external problems&nbsp;unique to city landscapes including&nbsp;dense populations, expensive living costs, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/hostile-architecture-examples/rachel-souerbry" target="_blank">hostile architecture</a>, as well as health risks including an increased chance of depression and anxiety.&nbsp;

This doesn&#39;t mean that living in the country is the answer to your problems. The realities of rural America comes with its own issues,&nbsp;and when choosing where you want to spend your days, you should think about what&rsquo;s best for you.&nbsp;If, however, you&rsquo;re aware of the problems that can occur within a city, you can be more prepared to combat them.&nbsp;

All The Ways The Design of Cities Are Psychologically Damaging

How Cities Hurt People: Dangerous Urban Design

Jacob Shelton

Whoa Facts

The mob. The Mafia. La Cosa Nostra. We&#39;ve all heard of it, and seen it portrayed in movies such as The Godfather or on&nbsp;TV shows like The Sopranos. But what was the Mafia&nbsp;really like? How did the organized operation that brought us <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/al-capone-trivia-facts/jeffrichard" target="_blank">Al Capone</a>, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/weird-gangster-stories/kate-gardner" target="_blank">Bugsy Siegel</a>, and&nbsp;Lucky Luciano actually operate?

Some believe the presence of the mob was exaggerated from the start, yet others&nbsp;insist that its presence is as pervasive today as it was 100 years ago.&nbsp;To answer some of the most common <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/til-facts-about-the-mafia/will-morgan-1" target="_blank">questions people have about the Mafia</a>,&nbsp;Reddit&#39;s &quot;Ask Historians&quot; community is a handy place to turn. Just as they have helped shed light on everything from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/historians-answer-bible-questions/setareh-janda" target="_blank">the Bible</a>&nbsp;to what life was really like in the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/historians-answer-wild-west-questions/will-morgan-1" target="_blank">American West,</a>&nbsp;these historians will shine a light on a group that thrived on operating in the dark.

Actual Historians Answer Questions About The Mafia

Chrissy Rose

1990s

The decade that brought us The X-Files, The Silence of the Lambs, and Men in Black also brought plenty of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/local-solved-mysteries/chrissy-rose" target="_blank">real-life drama and mystery</a> as well. It was the decade when little beauty&nbsp;queen JonBen&eacute;t Ramsey first looked out at the country&nbsp;from the cover of People magazine, her brutal killing shocking the world. It was the decade that involved a double homicide and a beloved former football player. It was also a decade that included plenty of suspected alien activity.&nbsp;

Like the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/unsolved-mysteries-of-the-1980s/chrissy-rose" target="_blank">decades before</a>, the &#39;90s had its own share of mysteries, many of which are still unsolved today. Some of them you may have heard of, but never fathomed all of the details. Other <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/unresolved-mysteries/chrissy-rose" target="_blank">mysteries</a>&nbsp;might be shockingly new, yet no less disturbing or mind-boggling.&nbsp;If you&#39;re looking for a blast from the past that will neither settle nor soothe you, this is the right list.&nbsp;

The Biggest Mysteries From The '90s That Are Still Unsolved

Pop Culture

Crime-related dramas on TV and in film often make even the most mysterious cases seem relatively easy to solve. After a few scenes depicting frustration and bewilderment, the expert CSI agent or forensic scientist suddenly makes a case-breaking discovery by analyzing a piece of hair, pulling together cellphone data, or having a witness crack under pressure. Often, the heroes of these stories overcome another corrupt entity within their division to ensure that justice is served as they save the day.&nbsp;While these dramas make for excellent and entertaining stories, they're often a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/how-forensic-science-actually-works/zack-howe">far cry from reality</a>. What happens when a killer leaves behind all his clothes at a crime scene, full of DNA, and experts still can't identify the perpetrator? Or when crooked law enforcement agents don't have anyone there to expose their evidence-meddling tactics? Or when a serial killer strikes a city, and no one finds out about it for years?&nbsp;Unlike the popular mystery-solving dramas in the entertainment industry, these true crime stories are a collection of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/creepy-history-moments/lauren-glen">eerie mysteries that remain unsolved</a> - despite the evidence and clues the murderers left behind.&nbsp;

Creepy And Disturbing Mysteries That Sent Shivers Down Our Spines

Lauren Glen

Are we all alone in the universe? Probs not.

Close Encounters

People have flying-related phobias&nbsp;for a number of reasons:&nbsp;Maybe they&#39;re worried the plane will&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/airplane-close-calls/amandasedlakhevener" target="_blank">malfunction</a>&nbsp;or that they&#39;ll&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/creepy-pilot-stories/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">see something strange</a> while they&#39;re up there. After all, plenty of <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/ufos-seen-by-pilots-and-astronauts/scottmarcano" target="_blank">pilots have reported</a> seeing all sorts of weird things miles off the ground.&nbsp;

Frederick Valentich was one of these pilots - he&nbsp;radioed into traffic control midair one night to report seeing an object&nbsp;flying near him in the sky. His last words were, &quot;It&#39;s not an aircraft,&quot; before being cut off by a&nbsp;metallic scraping sound, followed by radio silence. Valentich was never seen again.

What happened to him? We may never know for sure, but here&#39;s a full breakdown of the situation&nbsp;and some of the most likely theories surrounding the mystery.

Did Pilot Frederick Valentich See A UFO Before He Mysteriously Disappeared?

Linda Meyers

Lists about real people who were held against their will, the monsters who tormented them, and the grisly details of what went on during those dark times.

Human Captives

In July 1976, summer school was in full swing in the small California town of Chowchilla, and bus driver Ed Ray had 26 children in his care as he drove them home. Out of nowhere, three men blocked the bus and perpetrated one of the largest-scale kidnappings in US history.

As if the abduction&nbsp;from a school bus - what is supposed to be a safe location - weren&#39;t enough, the three male kidnappers loaded their 27 targets into windowless vans for transport to a poorly made&nbsp;underground prison&nbsp;without sufficient food or water. Luckily for the children, Ray was determined to protect them and, joined by one of the students, succeeded in <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/lisa-mcvey-noland-surivor-story/april-a-taylor?ref=collections_page" target="_blank">securing their escape</a>.

Still, while the story&nbsp;has a seemingly happy ending, the long-term effects of captivity on the children,&nbsp;as well as the senseless reasoning behind the event, continue to haunt survivors and the town itself.

The Story Of The Chowchilla Bus Kidnapping, One Of The Biggest Abductions In US History

Facts About The Chowchilla Bus Kidnapping

Jodi Smith

Getting a little too close to the legendary beings that survive by drinking the essence of life: human blood.

Vampires: Who's Thirsty?

Vampires

The Louisiana city of New Orleans is infamous for many things, like the streets filled with debauchery during Mardi Gras and&nbsp;infamous murderers like <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/scary-madame-lalaurie-facts/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">Madame LaLaurie</a>. Its blood-soaked history is filled with monsters disguised as regular people, with tales of witchery, ghosts, and vampires around every corner. Two&nbsp;of the lesser-known fiends of New Orleans are&nbsp;actually a pair of brothers named John and Wayne Carter.

Legend has it that the two dock-worker brothers were vampires who snatched up more than a dozen victims in the 1930s, holding them captive in their shared home in order to drain and drink their blood. After one of their prisoners escaped their shared home and alerted police, the full scope of their mania was revealed. While the brothers were tried and executed for their crimes, many claim to see them still haunting the streets of New Orleans, taking their place in the grand lore of the city.

The Legend Of The Carter Brothers, New Orleans’s Sibling Vampire Duo

The Legend Of The Carter Brothers, New Orleans’ Sibling Vampire Duo

Strange True Stories

Bryce Laspisa was supposed to be driving to his parents&#39; home in Southern California when he vanished without a trace. The Bryce Laspisa case remains one of the most perplexing <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/people-who-disappeared-mysteriously/alby-thompson" target="_blank">missing person</a> cases in modern true crime, with no viable leads since the teen&#39;s disappearance in 2013.

Laspisa had spent the summer at his parents&#39; home&nbsp;and had only returned to school two weeks before the events of August 28-30. His parents, who have repeatedly stated&nbsp;that nothing seemed wrong when he left to go back to school, have described the 19-year-old college student as&nbsp;an &quot;open book&quot; who could talk to them about anything.

However, somewhere between Laspisa returning to school and police finding his car in a ravine, something seems to have gone horribly wrong. Despite years of theorizing, the question still remains: What happened to Bryce Laspisa?

Bryce Laspisa's Car Was Found Overturned In A California Ravine, But He Had Completely Vanished

The Strange Disappearance Of Bryce Laspisa

No matter the circumstance, a missing persons case is always mystifying, eerie, and heartbreaking. That is seldom more true than when people vanish&nbsp;in the midst of seemingly mundane activities, such as these people who disappeared from cars, often left in the middle of the road -&nbsp;sometimes with the engine still running. Some of these missing people who left their cars behind were later found, either as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/attempted-murder-victim-escape-stories/stefanie-hammond" target="_blank">victims</a> of foul play or simple misfortune. Others&nbsp;remain missing to this day.

Whatever the circumstances, these strange and haunting tales of car vanishings leave us with more questions than answers. Within the abandoned vehicles&nbsp;are often a plethora of clues, but they rarely piece together&nbsp;a satisfying image of&nbsp;these people&#39;s last known sightings. Whether abducted midday or simply gone without a trace, these eerie tales of people who disappeared from cars are pretty much all unforgettable.

People Who Seemingly Vanished From Their Own Cars

Orrin Grey

Fascinating facts and interesting stories about organized crime: gangs, gangsters, mobsters, the mafia, and other criminals & crime syndicates all over the world.

Feels Good to Be a Gangster

Organized Crime

Life in the mafia&nbsp;is rife with secrets, crime, and violence. To grow up in a mafia&nbsp;family may mean a blissful lack of awareness of the nefarious dealings around you. It can also put children of mob members at a bitter crossroads, torn between accepting and rejecting their loved ones.

The mafia in the United States, generally referred to as <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/organized-crime/history-of-la-cosa-nostra" target="_blank">La Cosa Nostra</a>, grew out of the Sicilian and Italian underworlds. From the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the mob developed syndicates in major cities like Chicago and New York, with the latter dominated by the so-called Five Families. The Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese families, and the Chicago Outfit - overseen by a body known as the Commission - were just as likely to cooperate with one another as they were to feud, creating a tension and danger for members and their families alike.

What it&#39;s like to grow up in a mafia&nbsp;family is, without a doubt, complex. Children of mob members, in the United States and in Europe, may go on to enter the criminal underworld or they may reject it entirely. It&#39;s&nbsp;a unique experience outsiders can never understand, but here are some insights from those&nbsp;who grew up in a mafia family.

Firsthand Accounts Of What It Was Really Like Growing Up In A Mafia Family

What Is Growing Up In A Mafia Family Like? Firsthand Accounts

Melissa Sartore

Nicknamed &quot;Shelby&#39;s Sweetheart&quot;&nbsp;by her community, Asha Jaquilla Degree was last seen walking down a foggy highway in the early hours of Valentine&#39;s Day&nbsp;2000. She was only 9 years old. Over the past two decades, there have been multiple theories explaining why Asha left her Shelby, NC, home in the middle of the night, and as of 2016,&nbsp;there were&nbsp;350 leads on the case.

Despite these leads, one fact remains clear: No one has seen, heard from, or been able to find Asha Degree in over 20 years. Even after two decades of searching, Asha&#39;s family still believes she is alive; while this may strike some as wishful thinking, there are numerous <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/missing-people-who-were-found-alive/rydavis" target="_blank">missing persons</a> who have been found, sometimes years after they disappeared.

The Asha Degree case is still considered an open investigation; here&#39;s everything we know.

Everything We Know About The Mysterious Disappearance Of Asha Degree

Lists about real and fictional spies, agents, operatives, and the very exciting, deceitful, and dangerous lives they lead.

I Spy

Spies

You're walking home late at night. The street's deserted, but it feels like someone's watching you. You ask yourself, &quot;<a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/signs-you-might-be-being-watched-by-the-cia/christine-aprile?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Am I being followed</a>?&quot;It's hard to know if you're just&nbsp;paranoid, or if someone&nbsp;really is&nbsp;trailing you. Thankfully, there are more than a few&nbsp;real surveillance techniques you can study to help discern genuine threats from <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/weird-coincidences-throughout-history/christopher-shultz" target="_blank">eerie coincidences.</a>&nbsp;If you feel like you're being watched, it's important to remember how difficult it is&nbsp;to keep someone under surveillance. If you're correct, the person or entity you think is spying has to bend over backwards to keep tabs on you 24/7.If you're up to something illegal, then you might have a tail you need to shake. But if you're just a regular person, you probably don't need to worry about anyone secretly watching you. Unless maybe you do.&nbsp;

How To Tell If You Are Under Surveillance

How To Tell If You're Under Surveillance: 11 Things To Look For

Keeping <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/terrifying-drunk-confessions-from-friends/erin-maxwell" target="_blank">secrets</a> isn&#39;t easy, but these Redditors have been holding in some particularly dark ones for quite a while. When asked, people around the internet started revealing the darkest secrets they knew about other people that those people don&#39;t know they know.

People Confess The Darkest Secrets They Know About Someone Else

People Confess Dark Secrets They Know About Someone Else

Damon Davis

Mob movies are one of cinema&#39;s enduring subgenres. Even if they&#39;re not based on a true story, like&nbsp;Goodfellas was, most of them are still at least inspired by real-life Mafiosi and their exploits -&nbsp;The Godfather&nbsp;borrowed elements of&nbsp;every mobster from Bugsy Siegel to Lucky Luciano to Frank Costello.&nbsp;

But no movie that&#39;s &quot;based on a true story&quot; is ever going to be 100% accurate. Screenwriters and directors routinely bend the truth for the sake of telling a better story. Maybe that means streamlining a series of complicated events to make it more coherent onscreen,&nbsp;or maybe that means inventing entire scenes that never really happened just to show the audience who a mobster &quot;really&quot; is.

Because of this, you might think the real-life Mafia is much more boring than the Mafia of the movies. And you&#39;d be wrong. Plenty of the most violent and most shocking moments in these films really did happen. In some cases, they were even more shocking than the fictionalized versions. Here are some&nbsp;ridiculous moments in mob movies that really did happen.&nbsp;

Ridiculous Moments In Mob Movies That Actually Happened

Jim Rowley

Unspeakable Times lists at Ranker - the ultimate source for lists and rankings in all categories