Lists about what's going on on Capitol Hill and in your own backyard.

US Government & Politics

History

Laws named after victims remain a source of debate. While plenty of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/crimes-by-rich-white-women/elle-tharp" target="_blank">brutal crimes</a> occur within any given year, only a very small percentage&nbsp;lead to changes to our legal system. When it comes to US laws created because of crimes, public outrage is key. Particularly <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/crimes-by-rich-white-women/elle-tharp" target="_blank">horrifying kidnappings</a>, murders, and suicides receive&nbsp;an unusual amount of press coverage, often resulting in&nbsp;the widespread backlash needed to pressure politicians into reforming the legal system.&nbsp;The crimes that resulted in new laws&nbsp;were already illegal when they were committed. The resulting legislation is usually seen&nbsp;as closing a loophole or addressing a unique aspect of the crime. However, there is much public debate on whether such laws are ethical or effective. People who have laws named after them are honored and memorialized, on the one hand, but critics argue such laws are often too reactionary to be truly effective.&nbsp;If you're unsure where you stand on the issue, browse this list. It will help you develop a more detailed understanding of how and why some crimes lead to new laws.&nbsp;

Every US Law Named After A Victim And What It Does

General

Jodi Smith

Lists about real and fictional policemen & women, detectives, and other law enforcement.

Police: Blue Lives  on Patrol

Police & Law Enforcement

There are plenty of <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/best-movies-about-undercover-cops/ranker-film">movies or TV shows about cops who had insane undercover operations</a> to bust all sorts of criminals - and while these tales seem too crazy to be true, some are real. There are plenty of real-life examples of&nbsp;cops going deep undercover in the pursuit of justice.Sometimes in order to crack the case, law enforcement officials have to <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/becoming-a-cop/stephen-tompkins">put themselves in some serious danger</a> and investigate from the inside. For undercover cops, revealing their true identity could not only cost them their job but possibly their life. Cops who went deep undercover have taken down drug lords, hate groups, and even busted animal fighting rings. These crazy stories from undercover cops are true and often had huge impacts for all those involved.&nbsp;Cops who had insane undercover operations were often left shattered, isolated, and alone,&nbsp;rather than rewarded.

14 Insane Stories of Cops Who Went Deep Undercover For Years At A Time

14 Fascinating Stories Of Cops Who Went Undercover For Years

Brent Sprecher

Organized Crime

Whether you love&nbsp;Mob Wives&nbsp;or&nbsp;The Godfather (and you no doubt enjoy at least one), the organization holds an allure for many on the outside. <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/mafia-nicknames/amylindorff" target="_blank">Mafia lore</a> and <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/how-lemons-led-to-criminal-organizations/beth-elias" target="_blank">mob history</a>&nbsp;have long inspired everything from entertainment to the creation of unions to legal policy framework.&nbsp;Though Rudy Giuliani allegedly took out the American mafia, the Five Families, and the Commission in the 1980s, many say <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/things-the-mafia-controls/philgibbons" target="_blank">the mob is still active</a> throughout the world. Certainly, different countries possess their own iterations of the mob, but even in the US the institution still holds power.&nbsp;These Redditors claim to have encountered it&nbsp;-&nbsp;and lived to tell their tales on the internet.&nbsp;

Disturbing Stories From People Who Have Actually Encountered The Mafia

13 Normal People Share Their True Stories About Mafia Encounters

Beth Elias

Mysteries

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

Patrick Thornton

Strange True Stories

Most people would agree that the Internet has improved daily life. But the web has a dark side, too - the rise of social media has led&nbsp;to a rise in creepy online stalkers. These real-life creepy stalker stories are absolutely chilling, and it’s telling that so many of them begin with a seemingly innocent online meeting.If you’re looking for an excuse to limit your Internet time, these Reddit stalking tales&nbsp;will give you plenty of reasons to log off. They contain some of the most skin-crawling&nbsp;descriptions of stalking that you'll ever read.&nbsp;From ex boyfriends who just can't take a hint to strangers who lovingly pen poems to the objects of their obsessions, this list has them all.

14 People Describe Their Terrifying Encounters With Creepy Stalkers

14 People Describe Their Scary Stories About Creepy Stalkers

Jacob Shelton

Lists about punishments, penalties, systemic harm, and execution methods used then, now, here, and all around the world.

Crime & Punishment

Torture

Capital punishment: the age-old way for humans to&nbsp;dispose of one another for crimes perceived to be the most egregious in a particular moment and place. As an ancient practice carried out countless times <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/state-sanctioned-execution-methods/shonna-wright" target="_blank">throughout history</a>,&nbsp;there have predictably been some horrifically failed&nbsp;attempts. These failed executions have resulted in sheer agony for the condemned, adding insult, injury, and intense suffering to their final moments.

This list serves as a lowlight reel for history&#39;s most brutally botched executions - some from as recent as 2015. What follows goes to show that the process of capital punishment still seems to be working out a few bugs, even after hundreds of years of testing. In fact, some of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/horrible-executions-still-used/harrison-tenpas" target="_blank">these methods are still used</a>&nbsp;around the world.

Botched Execution Attempts That Went Horribly Wrong

Harrison Tenpas

First-hand accounts from real people who have met very creepy people and done very unsettling things.

People Who Give You the Creeps

Living

MTV struck gold when they picked up Nev Schulman and Max Joseph&#39;s&nbsp;show&nbsp;Catfish: The&nbsp;TV&nbsp;Show&nbsp;in 2012; the network televised many of the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/how-catfish-changed-peoples-lives/jessica-bedewi" target="_blank">craziest catfish stories</a>. However, there are tons of other <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/online-flirting-that-ended-in-murder/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">tales of failed romance</a> that never get told. Reddit is the place where many lied-to-lovers flock&nbsp;to air their grievances about fake dates and liars.

Occasionally, these people even find themselves in dangerous situations. Maybe it&#39;s about time for people to stop&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/people-describe-their-tinder-horror-stories/katia-kleyman" target="_blank">the disastrous Tinder dates</a> and meet each other in random bars, like the good old&nbsp;days.

People Share Their Craziest, Borderline-Dangerous Catfish Stories

Craziest Catfish Stories That Are Borderline Dangerous

Lowe Saddler

Arizona is beautiful, with its picturesque mountains, desert landscape, and welcoming residents. However, beneath this tourist-friendly facade is&nbsp;a dark underbelly of&nbsp;depravity and murder. These true crimes from Arizona might make you think twice before heading on a family road trip to the desert. You may have heard of Arizona's most notorious killers, which include Jodi Arias&nbsp;and&nbsp;Pamela Phillips.But did you know about Cynthia Lynn Coffman and James Marlow, serial killers who targeted women? How about&nbsp;Winnie Ruth Judd, a married woman who killed her two best friends because they had slept with her boyfriend, then stuffed their bodies in trunks bound for Los Angeles, CA?&nbsp;There is much more than meets the eye in Arizona, and these shocking stories will show what terrifying things can happen&nbsp;after dark.&nbsp;

Heinous Crimes And Unsolved Mysteries From Arizona

Most Chilling Unsolved Crimes From Arizona

Stefanie Hammond

Private investigators don't just exist in movies and books. The occupation is a legitimate one, and almost as sordid&nbsp;as fictional detectives make it appear in <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/the-most-bizarre-true-crime-stories-in-history/justin-andress" target="_blank">true crime</a>&nbsp;shows. Reddit&nbsp;investigators might not encounter as many bizarre cases as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/what-happened-to-richard-lancelyn-green/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">Sherlock&nbsp;Holmes</a>&nbsp;or Jessica Jones, but their tales can still be pretty sensational.&nbsp;Real PI work requires intense preparation and lots of training; you can't solve a mystery without a certain skill set. It's impossible to plan for everything private investigators see, though. Most of these professionals treat their work&nbsp;with respect, but they're still shocked when cases go off the rails. A detective's day is full of surprises.&nbsp;

Private Investigators Describe The Most Bizarre Things They've Seen On The Job

15 Real Private Investigators Tell Their Craziest Stories

Lists of true accounts of real people who survived unfathomable situations and depictions of fights for survival in film, TV, video games, and other media.

Stayin' Alive

True Stories

Most people only die once. If you're lucky, you'll make through your life without anybody trying to take it away. But, not everybody is so fortunate. Every year, people across the world are brought within an inch of their lives by another human being. What happens to those unlucky people? Who hurts them, why, and what does it feel like to be left for dead?Some <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/4ahxt1/survivors_of_attempted_murder_whats_your_story/ " target="_blank">brave souls at Reddit</a> have shared their horrifying real life stories of surviving an attempted murder. The stories will definitely upset you... almost as much as the lack the number of people who got away with it.

Survivors Of Attempted Murder Tell Their Grisly Stories

Survivors of Attempted Murder Tell Their Grisly Stories

Rosa Pasquarella

Lists of unsettling and grisly details about what happened to kidnapping victims who were held against their will. 

While They Were Held Hostage

Unspeakable Times

On November 4, 1970, Los Angeles child services discovered an unprecedented case of child neglect. At 13, Susan Wiley had the demeanor and appearance of a 6 or 7-year-old girl. When the authorities began investigating parents Irene and Clark Wiley, they found that two of the four Wiley children passed within months of their births. A third child lived with Clark&rsquo;s mother until her unexpected passing, and the fourth was Susan, also known as &ldquo;Genie.&rdquo; Genie, despite her age, was unable to speak, feed herself, or use the toilet. At less than 60 pounds, the girl walked with an unusual gait, the result of years of confinement.&nbsp;

After child services rescued Genie, child psychologists devoted themselves to the girl&rsquo;s recovery. Known as a &ldquo;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-feral-children/justin-andress" target="_blank">feral child</a>,&rdquo; Genie&rsquo;s isolation from society in her formative years caused her to have stunted cognitive and behavioral abilities. She never developed the ability to communicate with language, although her behavioral and social skills improved with years of positive reinforcement and therapy. Since Genie, other cases of feral children have come to light, such as <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/dani-girl-in-the-window-florida-feral-child/nathan-gibson" target="_blank">Danielle Crockett</a>, known as &ldquo;The Girl in the Window,&rdquo; and Ukraine&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/oxana-malaya-feral-child-facts/erin-wisti" target="_blank">Oxana Malaya</a>.

The courts arrested Genie&rsquo;s parents, but Clark took his own life&nbsp;before the trial. The judge subsequently dismissed the charges against Irene. In 1994, Nova - a PBS series - released an Emmy-winning documentary about Genie called Secret of the Wild Child. As of 2016, Genie lives in a Los Angeles facility as a permanent ward of the state.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

A Little Girl Was Locked In A Basement By Her Own Parents For More Than A Decade

Laura Allan

Many look back on their high school years fondly, remembering them as the best time of their life. For others, the thought of&nbsp;high school brings back <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/elementary-school-teachers-discuss-gross-students/alexfurlin" target="_blank">painful memories</a>&nbsp;of being bullied. No matter what type of school someone attended, they likely know all about bullies - whether through personal experience or stories.Some students <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/kids-standing-up-to-bullying/anabel-conner" target="_blank">stand up to bullies</a> and put a stop to the mistreatment. Others, meanwhile,&nbsp;suffer from the life-long effects of being beaten up, called names, or having their school days made a living hell. For&nbsp;those who dealt with bullying in high school, however, sharing stories of their harassment on Reddit&nbsp;can prove cathartic.

People Share Their Stories Of Sadistic High School Bullying

Real People Share Their Heartbreaking High School Bully Stories

Jessika M. Thomas 

Brittanee Drexel told her parents she was staying with a friend for spring break before she went <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/lost-children-who-were-found/anabel-conner" target="_blank">missing</a> in 2009. Leading up to her disappearance, the 17-year-old high school senior from Rochester, NY,&nbsp;was under an immense amount of stress from&nbsp;her parents&#39; separation. While her vanishing&nbsp;may at first sound like the case of a runaway teen, Brittanee Drexel&#39;s disappearance quickly turned ominous.

The Brittanee Drexel case has remained unsolved since she was last seen on April 25, 2009, though the investigation fluctuated between hot and cold throughout the 2010s. While murder and human trafficking are the two leading theories in Brittanee&#39;s disappearance, the events of April 25&nbsp;remain just as perplexing now as they were in 2009.

Here are the facts of the case and a general timeline of events. We&#39;ll also explore plausible theories and suspects in Brittanee Drexel&#39;s confounding disappearance.

Brittanee Drexel Was On Spring Break When She Vanished In 2009, And Her Case Is Still Unsolved

True Crime

There has been a recent&nbsp;increasing fascination with true crime in media and entertainment. Recounting unspeakable&nbsp;stories usually feels more like a work of fiction than something that actually happened. Few people have literally been on the wrong side of a gun, a knife, or a deranged person and lived to tell the tale. There are some, though, who have been attacked by someone with an intent to kill and are still here to share their story.

There are plenty of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/crazy-survival-stories/lea-rose-emery" target="_blank">survival stories</a>&nbsp;that have been sensationalized by popular culture, and rightfully so, but these <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/bojhpr/serious_people_who_have_survived_a_murder_attempt/" target="_blank">Redditors</a>&nbsp;aren&#39;t likely to show up on any screen, big or small.

People Who Survived An Attempted Murder Tell Their Stories

Samantha Dillinger

What's happening in the next realm? Lists about fictional depictions and real experiences real people have really had with the paranormal.

Paranormal Activity

Exploring those otherworldly, metaphysical phenomena inexplicable by the laws of nature.

Soul and Spirit

Supernatural & Paranormal

People have claimed to possess&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/clairvoyance-and-telekinesis-stories/jacobybancroft">clairvoyant</a>&nbsp;powers allowing&nbsp;them to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/actual-psychic-predictions/amandasedlakhevener">predict the future</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;solve mysteries&nbsp;for thousands of years. Today, many are&nbsp;scornful of the idea that&nbsp;psychics help&nbsp;the police with criminal cases, yet law enforcement personnel,&nbsp;trained to be&nbsp;skeptical and discerning, admit to using&nbsp;psychics as investigative&nbsp;tools.While serious&nbsp;publications may resist the idea&nbsp;that there are&nbsp;psychics who aided&nbsp;the police, there is one&nbsp;medium that allows police, psychics, and victim's family members to tell their stories to the public: reality television. Shows like Psychic Investigators and Psychic Detectives present viewers with firsthand accounts of citizens who use their paranormal abilities&nbsp;to uncover clues in criminal cases.&nbsp;In going public with these stories, law enforcement personnel are willing to put&nbsp;their professional integrity on the line.&nbsp;The&nbsp;stigma surrounding&nbsp;psychic ability&nbsp;is apparent&nbsp;in the dated&nbsp;cliches&nbsp;some reporters use to describe&nbsp;psychics, painting them&nbsp;as carny types staring into crystal balls. The New York Times manages to sniff at the idea of cops working with psychics while simultaneously citing a survey&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/us/09psychic.html">that acknowledges</a> 35% of the 50 largest US&nbsp;police stations admit to doing just that. That&nbsp;percentage could be even higher. As Captain Bob Ingalls&nbsp;notes in the &quot;Blood Money&quot;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACpM0EmkBgs">episode</a> of Psychic Detectives,&nbsp;&quot;using psychics&nbsp;is employed by many police agencies. Some agencies don’t talk about it, and some do.”It's clear that many&nbsp;psychic <a href="http://www.livescience.com/7425-bad-journalism-encourages-psychic-detectives.html">claims</a> are bogus and may even hinder investigations, but the&nbsp;testimony of detectives and police officers who've worked successfully with psychics is difficult to summarily dismiss. In the following&nbsp;police investigations that used <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/famous-cases-of-clairvoyance-and-telekinesis/katherine-ripley">psychics</a>, the psychic&nbsp;was credited by law enforcement as providing helpful information.

10 Police Investigations Aided By Psychics And Their Aftermaths

10 Times Cops Were Aided By Psychics And How They Helped

Caroline H. Cooney

Weird

While it&#39;s now considered history to younger students, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, are moments permanently etched in Americans&#39; minds. Most everyone can tell you exactly what they were doing when they heard about the events, and many&nbsp;who lost loved ones can recall the day in excruciating detail. 2,753 people lost their lives at the World Trade Center alone, and tens of thousands&nbsp;of survivors still live with physical and psychological health problems. The idea that someone would pretend to be involved in such a horrifying event is both shocking and distasteful - but one woman did exactly that.

Alicia Esteve Head - known primarily by her alias, Tania Head - was a graduate student in Barcelona during the events of 9/11. Despite not even being in New York City at the time, she joined the World Trade Center Survivors&#39; Network and told a dramatic story of being severely injured and losing her fianc&eacute;. Although this tale won her sympathy and friendship, those close to her - and reporters - started to sense something wasn&#39;t right. Her narrative wasn&#39;t always consistent, and after&nbsp;The New York Times&nbsp;opened up an investigation, people learned Tania Head&#39;s story was completely fabricated.

Her ruse was conveyed&nbsp;in the&nbsp;documentary&nbsp;<a href="http://target.georiot.com/Proxy.ashx?TSID=5036&amp;GR_URL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FWoman-Who-Wasnt-There%2Fdp%2FB00AHGXIE2%2F&amp;amazon-ids-by-cc=US%3Drankercom2758741-20" target="_blank">The Woman Who Wasn&#39;t There</a>. Head&#39;s then-friend Angelo J. Guglielmo&nbsp;Jr.&nbsp;directed and produced the movie, and he originally intended to showcase the lives of survivors. He had to change tactics when Head&#39;s true story came out.

Like the documentary&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/worst-moments-from-mommy-dead-and-dearest-documentary/stefanie-hammond" target="_blank">Mommy Dead And Dearest</a>,&nbsp;the movie delves into a web of intricate lies and speculates about the motivation behind such harmful deceit. Trauma - especially collective grief - can make people act out in a strange manner, and Tania Head appears to be no exception.

'The Woman Who Wasn't There' Tells The Shocking Story Of A 9/11 Survivor Who Wasn't All She Seemed

The True Story Behind 'The Woman Who Wasn't There'

Anna Lindwasser

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