Mystery Biography

A revered Buddhist monk tells the bracing and beautiful story of a singular life compelled to contemplation, sharing lessons about the power of mentorship and an open mind.

First published in 1924, Charles E. Pearce’s account of some of the most gruesome and intriguing unsolved murders of the 19th century continues to captivate amateur sleuths to this day. Pearce guides us through a fascinating world of wicked assassinations, missed clues, ingenious stratagems, and cunning deceits in one last attempt to track down historical villains who evaded justice. It is impossible to establish the truth beyond reasonable doubt in any of the cases at this distance, but the light which Pearce sheds on the investigations and contemporary testimony, encourages us to evaluate the evidence anew.

A tutt'oggi sono poche le certezze sul caso Orlandi, la ragazzina di 15 anni scomparsa nel nulla il 22 giugno 1983. Forse la sola certezza è che di lei non si è saputo più niente di concreto. In questa brutta storia entrano a più riprese e a vario titolo bande criminali, terroristi internazionali, il Vaticano e, forse, addirittura servizi segreti di diversi paesi.

The truth is more terrifying than fiction. Step into the darkest corners of the human mind with this chilling collection of real-life true crime cases—featuring unsolved murders, twisted serial killers, cold cases, and the most baffling criminal investigations ever recorded. Written by Dr. Cassandra Blake, a seasoned criminologist, and George Masterson, a former FBI investigator who tracked cold cases across the US, this book takes you behind the scenes of some of the most haunting and disturbing crimes in modern history.

Ever listened to a mystery that didn’t try to solve anything? Idk What Happened: Here’s What I Know is a cozy, weird, kinda-sorta-hilarious campfire collection of real-life unsolved whatevers. Each chapter explores a strange event, story, or anomaly—from the Bermuda Triangle to the Hum—with no screaming, no preaching, and no conspiratorial yelling. This isn’t your uncle’s podcast. It’s a chill night of “wait, what?” moments, shared with someone who’s just as curious as you are. So pull up a log, warm your hands by the fire, and settle in. You’re not alone in wondering.

County Kerry, Ireland, 1825. Nóra, bereft after the sudden death of her beloved husband, finds herself alone and caring for her young grandson Micheál. Micheál cannot speak and cannot walk, and Nóra is desperate to know what is wrong with him. What happened to the healthy, happy grandson she met when her daughter was still alive? Mary arrives in the valley to help Nóra just as the whispers are spreading: the stories of unexplained misfortunes, of illnesses, and the rumours that Micheál is a changeling child who is bringing bad luck to the valley.

A group of people have a memorial party for their fallen friend, however, little do they know that just miles away, an insane asylum that closed down still holds crazed men, looking to spill the friends blood before the night is over!

London, 1938. Alma Fielding, an ordinary young woman, begins to experience supernatural events in her suburban home. Nandor Fodor - a Jewish Hungarian refugee and chief ghost hunter for the International Institute for Psychical research - begins to investigate. In doing so, he discovers a different and darker type of haunting: trauma, alienation, loss - and the foreshadowing of a nation’s worst fears. As the spectre of fascism lengthens over Europe, and as Fodor’s obsession with the case deepens, Alma becomes ever more disturbed.

David Sussillo has made a career at the cutting edge of neuroscience and technology—yet his path there was anything but a straight line. Born to drug-addicted parents in New Mexico, he navigated a childhood marked by violence and neglect. But a seed was planted at the unlikeliest of places—the local arcade. What follows is a remarkable journey of resilience and transformation, from the chaotic corridors of group homes to the halls of Columbia and Stanford.

The sensational case of Leo M. Frank is undisputedly Atlanta's and the south’s greatest murder mystery of modern years. The story of how little Mary Phagan was foully murdered us she went to get her pay at the National Pencil factory, revolting and horrible as it is in its details, naturally interests every working man and every working woman. The Mary Phagan murder mystery, however, lost its identity when Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the big factory, was arrested. The reason of the unusual importance of the case is that Frank was being persecuted because he was a Jew.

Judith Ford was a successful psychotherapist with a relatively new second marriage, a full-time clinical practice, and three children. She was also a runner, a yoga-practitioner, a dancer, and a writer when she came down with a mysterious illness that landed her in the hospital for a full summer and nearly ended her life. She recovered through a combination of Western medicine and shamanic journeys. A few years later she helped her parents through their final illnesses.

Intrepid voyager, writer and comedian Michael Palin follows the trail of two expeditions made by the Royal Navy's HMS Erebus to opposite ends of the globe, reliving the voyages and investigating the ship itself, lost on the final Franklin expedition and discovered with the help of Inuit knowledge in 2014.

In the late 1950s, as America prepared for the Civil War centennial, two very old men lay dying. Albert Woolson, 109 years old, slipped in and out of a coma at a Duluth, Minnesota, hospital, his memories as a Yankee drummer boy slowly dimming. Walter Williams, at 117, blind and deaf and bedridden in his daughter's home in Houston, Texas, no longer could tell of his time as a Confederate forage master. The last of the Blue and the Gray were drifting away; an era was ending.

De gruwelijke, maar waargebeurde moord op Elizabeth Short drijft de agenten Bleichert en Blanchard van afschuw tot complete waanzin. Een absolute misdaadklassieker. In 1947 wordt Los Angeles opgeschrikt door de vondst van het zwaar verminkte lijk van een jonge actrice. 'De Zwarte Dahlia’ beheerst wekenlang de krantenkoppen, net als de levens van rechercheurs Bucky Bleichert en Lee Blanchard – collega’s, vrienden, rivalen. De zoektocht naar Elizabeth Short's moordenaar voert ze langs de schaduwkanten van het naoorlogse Hollywood, en de zwarte randen van hun eigen duistere verlangens.

In the village of Great Wyrley near Birmingham, someone is mutilating horses. Someone is also sending threatening letters to the vicarage, where the vicar, Shahpur Edalji, is a Parsi convert to Christianity and the first Indian to have a parish in England. His son George - quiet, socially awkward and the only boy at school with distinctly Indian features - grows up into a successful barrister, till he is improbably linked to and then prosecuted for the above crimes in a case that left many convinced that justice hadn’t been served.

America's first African American heavyweight boxing champion, Jack Johnson, has a chance encounter with a mysterious Irishman, named Altamont, when they meet at the boxer's restaurant, Café de Champion, in August 1912. Johnson's new relationship with the unusual man, with beady eyes and hawk-like nose, places him in an unusual circumstance to help Altamont get out of a tough situation.

The county of East Lothian, previously known as Haddingtonshire, is an often-overlooked gem nestled in Scotland's central lowlands. Its boundaries include the Scottish Borders to the south, Edinburgh to the west, and Midlothian to the south-west. The central administrative hub is the Royal Burgh of Haddington, which can trace its heritage back 900 years.

A relentless evil possessing an already depraved man...gruesome and perverse acts of brutality... Will anyone survive? Centuries ago the natives captured and imprisoned a life force of pure evil and unending hunger. Thirteen years ago, an eight-year-old boy woke the darkness. It grows in strength every day and now the boy is a man. A man skilled in terror and violence, the very things the darkness needs to finally break free.

Just when the residents of Crest Hill are getting past a shocking unsolved murder in the nearby groves, their greatest unspoken fear materializes a string of serial killings amongst their own citizens. There is now no mistaking the fact that one member of their small population is not what they seem to be. Detective Anita Heath finds herself perplexed at the crime scenes when the bodies begin turning up. Something about these murders just doesn’t profile right. As her suspicions are soon bent in unusual directions, she discovers she has attracted the attention of the culprit.

Reader's Digest presents some of the most thrilling tales found in its digital library, including stories of kidnappings, art heists, and missing persons - enough to rivet thriller fans for hours.