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

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

Unspeakable Times

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 

A look at the happenings and goings-on in and around America's wang.

Meanwhile, in Florida...

True Crime

Though Florida may seem warm and sunny, there&#39;s a dark side to the Sunshine State. The crimes on this list are sinister and mysterious, and they all have one thing in common - they remain unsolved. There are no easy answers when it comes to these unsolved murders, disappearances, and unidentified victims discovered in the state of Florida.

Creepy Unsolved Crimes And Mysteries From Florida

Creepy Florida Unsolved Mysteries

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

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

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

While They Were Held Hostage

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

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

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

Even before Rey Rivera&#39;s case aired on Netflix&#39;s&nbsp;Unsolved Mysteries&nbsp;revival, the baffling story&nbsp;caught the attention of true crime fans, web sleuths, and professional detectives&nbsp;alike. The confounding pieces of evidence and bizarre leads that emerged from the investigation have made this <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-unsolved-murders/ranker-crime" target="_blank">unresolved</a> case one of the most baffling in recent history.&nbsp;

While the&nbsp;Unsolved Mysteries&nbsp;episode introduced Rey&#39;s story to a much larger audience, it left out some important details that add even more complexity to the case&#39;s standard narrative. To this day, new testimony and clues continue to come forth, leaving Rey&#39;s loved ones hopeful the truth will eventually be exposed.

Rey Rivera’s Mysterious Death Has Baffled The Public Since 2006

Everything We Know About Rey Rivera's Mysterious Death

Megan Summers

In 2019,&nbsp;podcaster Chris Lambert created an eight-part series entitled&nbsp;<a href="https://www.yourownbackyardpodcast.com" target="_blank">Your Own Backyard</a>&nbsp;to investigate the 1996 disappearance of college student Kristin Smart.&nbsp;The&nbsp;case had fascinated him&nbsp;since he was a boy, as he had passed a billboard about Smart&#39;s disappearance almost daily for 20 years.&nbsp;

He&#39;s not the only one intrigued by the story - the Kristin Smart case has captured the attention of countless people across the US, and over two decades later, investigators may have finally found a lead:&nbsp;On April 13, 2021, Paul Flores and his father, Ruben, were arrested in connection with Smart&#39;s disappearance.

After 20-Plus Years, We May Finally Get Some Answers In Kristin Smart’s Mysterious Disappearance

Here's What We Know About Kristin Smart's Mysterious Disapperance

Michelle Nati

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

Police & Law Enforcement

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

When most people think of Maine and mysteries, Stephen King&#39;s horror stories come to mind. Those take place in fictional locations across the state, but there are a number of real and disturbing unsolved&nbsp;Maine mysteries. While Maine certainly isn&#39;t the only state with an eerie history - the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/unsolved-texas-mysteries/steve-wright" target="_blank">unsolved mysteries in&nbsp;Texas</a>&nbsp;alone are staggering - it certainly does have its fair share of mystifying&nbsp;atrocities.

One of the state&#39;s earliest publicized mysteries is&nbsp;the disappearance of a&nbsp;plane flown by&nbsp;Charles Nungesser and Fran&ccedil;ois Coli in 1927 - people heard it&nbsp;and found pieces of the wreckage, but no one saw it happen, and&nbsp;its pilots remain&nbsp;missing. In another tale,&nbsp;four men claimed aliens took them from a canoe in 1976 before returning them to Earth. The state also has its share of odd disappearances and slayings with no leads. Perhaps the eeriest of the unsolved crimes in Maine involves the theory that a maniac targets&nbsp;young men in the state, but law enforcement has not announced any connection between the slayings of these individuals.

The Scariest Unsolved Crimes And Mysteries From Maine

11 Scary Unsolved Mysteries From Maine

Lists about people who were tried, convicted, and even executed for crimes they didn't commit.

Wrongful Convictions

In 1991, a tragic fire burned down a house in&nbsp;Corsicana, Texas, and killed three children. Cameron Todd Willingham, the father of the kids, was quickly found guilty in the aftermath&nbsp;and was&nbsp;executed for the crime in 2004. His death was one of the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/controversial-us-death-penalty-executions-093015/mike-rothschild" target="_blank">most controversial US death penalty cases</a> in history.&nbsp;In the years leading up to his execution, and even after,&nbsp;evidence has been mounting that addresses a pressing question:&nbsp;was Cameron Todd Willingham&nbsp;really guilty?&nbsp;

There is plenty of evidence that points toward&nbsp;Willingham&nbsp;being innocent. From weird witness testimonies&nbsp;to a jailhouse snitch who got a secret deal, there are many factors that make Willingham&#39;s&nbsp;guilt questionable. In the minds of many, all of the unearthed&nbsp;evidence over the years&nbsp;shows&nbsp;that Texas killed an innocent man for what may very well have been an accident. Even Cameron Todd Willingham&#39;s last words proclaimed his innocence, and he&#39;s certainly not the first person to be potentially&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/california-innocence-project/jodi-smith" target="_blank">falsely accused</a>. Read on below to discover the disturbing&nbsp;facts that make&nbsp;Willingham&#39;s&nbsp;guilt questionable.&nbsp;

The Disturbing Capital Punishment Case Of Cameron Todd Willingham

Disturbing Evidence That Texas Executed An Innocent Man, Cameron Todd Willingham

Hugh Landman

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