Karin Catherine Waldegrave was a person of note for posting hundreds of cryptic posts and comments on her personal Facebook page.
Karin was born in London and studied at the University of Toronto, where she received a PhD. She then settled in Toronto. She was known for being smart and well versed, with high profile connections in the academic world. She is also known for speaking several languages.
In 2011, she began to post long, rambling posts in her Facebook, and would comment on her own posts, up to 700 times within a 12 hour period; her comments would almost all be posted within a single minute. Her posts mention conspiracies of the FBI and CIA mind controlling her. She claimed to be privy to the illegal doings of the “Elite”, as well as knowing of several criminal networks. Karin’s profile had a few personal photos, but all photos appeared to be water damaged.
Readers speculated that she was schizophrenic, or was a spy posting espionage communications. It was also speculated that she may have had a mental breakdown under the pressure of academia, or that her account was in control by several people.
As of 2016, there are no known whereabouts of Karin and her Facebook profile has been deleted. People have said she was diagnosed as schizophrenic and was in an institution, though there is no proof of that. A fan page exists that attempts to keep track of her.
On October 4, 1986, journalist and news caster Dan Rather was walking to his apartment on Park Avenue in New York City. He was punched from behind by an unknown assailant. A second assailant joined in the pummeling, and the first assailant kept demanding to know “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?” or “Kenneth, what’s the frequency?” Rather responded with “You must have the wrong person.” Rather called out for help and a doorman of the building stepped in and the assailants fled. The police took a statement, but no one was charged at the time. Rather had no idea why he was attacked or what the phrase meant. He was quoted to say “I was mugged”, thought nothing was taken from him.
In 1994, a man from North Carolina named William Tager shot and killed a NBC technician outside of the Today Show studio. Tager was attempting to enter the studio with an assault rifle and murdered the tech as he tried to stop him. He was convicted of murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Rather saw a photograph of Tager after he was arrested and identified him as the first assailant.
Tager told a psychiatrist that he was a time traveler from a parallel world in 2265. He was a felon in the future and was a test subject for a dangerous time travel experiment. If successful, he would be freed. Authorities kept track of him with a chip implanted in his brain. He apparently missed his chance to travel back to the future world, and was being bombarded with messages to return, and it was driving him insane. Tager mistook Rather for the Vice President of the future, named Kenneth Burrows, and attacked him thinking he was Burrows and needed the correct “frequency” to return. He fled the scene and missed another opportunity to return, and was still being transmitted messages. In 1994, he attempted to contact someone who could help stop the messages being beamed into his head at the NBC studio and the murder occurred. He said the messages repeat every 20 minutes while he sits in jail. While in jail, Tager confessed to assaulting Rather. Tager wrote stories and drew photos of his adventure while in prison.
Some people questioned Rather’s side of the story until Tager was apprehended and confessed, because the event was so bizarre.
Tager was released from prison in 2010 and is monitored by parole officers and mental health professionals.
The incident has become a staple in pop culture. The phrase “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?” has become a pop culture reference in itself. Cartoonist Daniel Clowes referenced the incident in a scene in his graphic novel Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron. In 1994, the band R.E.M. released a song titled “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?”, the title of which is in reference to this incident. Rather accompanied the band in a performance of the song in a sound check when they played at Madison Square Garden, and the footage of the performance was shown on the Late Show with David Letterman.
Six Flags New Orleans is an abandoned theme park in New Orleans, Louisiana that has been closed since August 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit the town. Six Flags had previously owned the park, but after assessing the damage done by the hurricane, they sought to terminate their 75 year lease with the city. They succeeded with this in September 2009, and the park is now owned by the city of New Orleans. As of this writing, the park is abandoned still and in very bad condition.
The park to first operated as Jazzland in the year 2000. Jazzland opened with the Mega Zeph, a wooden rollercoaster designed to withstand hurricane force winds, two smaller coasters, and two water rides. This park was not profitable, and Six Flags purchased the lease for the park in March 2002.In 2003, the park was upgraded and opened as Six Flags New Orleans. The park included more shaded areas, a DC super heroes themed area and rides, and more kid friendly rides and attractions. There was a planned water park expansion, but the park closed before that could happen.
The last day the park was open was August 21, 2005. Weekday operations had halted as schools were back in session. It was scheduled to be open on the 27th and 28th, but was canceled as Hurricane Katrina was scheduled to hit on the 26th.
The park is located on a low lying section of East New Orleans, and because of this, the area was badly flooded in the aftermath of the hurricane. The park was submerged in up to seven feet of rain and brackish salt water; the water was corrosive to the metal in the park, and was left sitting for up to a month. The park was closed indefinitely with no plans to reopen.
Initial reports by inspectors stated that 80% of the park’s buildings were demolished in the storm, and the Mega Zeph and other rides were damaged beyond repair. In July 2006, Six Flags announced that the park was a “total loss”, and they had no desire to undertake the cost to repair the park; they were in talks to end their 75 year lease with the city. However, Mayor Ray Nagin held the company to their lease and would force them to rebuild. If held to the terms of their lease, Six Flags would be legally obligated to rebuild, but only to the extent to the monies received by insurance. The company valued their assets at $32.5 million, but had only received $11.5 million by 2006.
Batman: The Ride was dismantled for refurbishment in December 2006 and was relocated to another park. It was considered the only salvageable ride in the park. Three other rides were removed and replaced in 2009.
Six Flags exited their lease in 2009, and all references to the New Orleans park were removed from their website.
In 2008, Southern State Amusement proposed a take over lease to build a RV/water park. By September of that year, the plan fell through. With a scaled down plan, they attempted another take over in February 2009, but this fell through as well.
The city of New Orleans proposed redeveloping the park as an outlet mall in 2011. This plan was given the green light in March 2012. Construction would have taken four years; however, in March 2013, construction was halted, as a nearby marketplace was expanding. As of 2013, development companies are back to the drawing board; bringing back the original Jazzland has been considered, but there have been no updates available on this.
The park is notable for being a site for urban exploration. There are many videos on YouTube of urban explorers exploring the park. However, it is worth mentioning that the park is now locked up, and any trespassers will be arrested. It is also notable for being used as a film set, due to the look of the park and the destruction still apparent there. It was featured in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, as the fictional Circeland; Mega Zeph was most notably featured in this film. Most recent, the parking lot of the park was featured in Jurassic World. The lease for movie studios to use the park for films ends in late 2015, and as of this writing, no movie studios have signed up to use the park.
Links and references:
A video about the history of Six Flags New Orleans, pre and post Katrina.
Photorapher Jason Lanier documented his experiences at Six Flags New Orleans, as he was shooting wedding photos there. This video includes him being busted by police and being arrested.
The North Hollywood shootout, also known as the Battle of North Hollywood, was an armed confrontation between two armed bank robbers and LAPD police officers on February 28, 1997. Both robbers were killed, and 11 police officers and seven civilians were injured. Though the shootout only lasted 44 minutes, it is considered one of the longest and bloodiest events in American history.
Larry Phillips Jr. (left) and Emil Matasareanu (right) were the perpetrators of the shootout. Phillips had a criminal record prior to their meeting, consisting of shoplifting and real estate scams. Matasareanu was an electrical engineer who ran an unsuccessful computer repair business. They met at a Venice gym in 1989, On July 20, 1993, the two robbed an armored car outside a bank in Littleton, Colorado. On October 29, the two were arrested in Glendale, California, for speeding. A search of their car came up with two semi-automatic rifles, over 2,000 rounds of ammo, police scanners, bombs and explosives, body armor, and three different license plates. They were charged with conspiracy to commit robbery and both served 100 days in jail plus three years probation.
On June 14, 2995, the pair ambushed an armored car in Los Angeles, killing a guard and severely wounding another. In May 1996, they robbed two branches of Bank of America in LA, stealing $1.5 million. They were nicknamed the “High Incident Robbers”, due to the weaponry used in their robberies and the amount of money taken.
After months of preparation, the two planned to rob the Bank of America at 6600 Laurel Canyon Boulevard. Phillips and Matasareanu loaded two Norenco Type 56S rifles, a fully automatic Norinco Type 56 S1 (these three rifles were illegally modified to be fully automatic), a semi-automatic HK-91, an illegally converted Bushmaster XM15 Dissipator, and about 3,300 rounds of ammunition into their car. They left jars of gasoline in the back seat, which was meant to be used to light the car on fire and destroy the car and evidence after the robbery. Phillips wore 40 pounds of equipment, including a bulletproof vest and groin guard, a load bearing vest with pockets for extra ammo, and several pieces of homemade armor to cover his arms and legs. Matasareanu wore only a bulletproof vest, but included a trauma plate to cover his vital organs. They took phenobarbital to calm themselves before the robbery.
The two, driving a 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity, arrived at the Bank of America at 9:17AM, and set their watches (which were sewn into the armor on their arms) for eight minutes, the estimated police response time. Phillips had come up with this time by listening to police scanners prior to the robbery. As the two walked into the bank, they happened to be spotted by two LAPD police officers who were on patrol on Laurel Canyon. They issued a call, requesting assistance for a possible 211 - 211 being code for an armed robbery.
As the robbers entered the bank, they forced a customer who was leaving the lobby down on the floor. A security guard inside saw this and radioed to another guard outside to call the police, though this call was never received. Phillips shouted “This is a fucking hold up!” as they fired their rifles into the ceiling. There were approximately 30 staff and customers inside the bank at the time. Matasareanu shot open the bulletproof door, as it was made to withstand small calibre rounds only, and gained access to the tellers and the vault. They forced the bank’s assistant manager to open the vault and fill their money bags. Due to a schedule change, however, the vault had significantly less than the $750,000 the pair had expected. Matasareanu became angry and fired almost 100 rounds into the vault, destroying some of the money inside. In the end, the robbers only walked away with $303,305.
The first responding police officers heard the gunfire and called for additional units, while taking cover behind their cars. More units surrounded the bank. At 9:32, Phillips exited through the north facing doorway and surveyed the scene outside. Officers shouted at him to drop his weapon, but he went back inside the bank. Minutes later, Phillips exited again from the north and Matasareanu exited from the south.
The robbers began to shoot at the officers. Officers returned fire, but their ammo couldn’t penetrate the armor the two were wearing, which provided more resistance than Kevlar. Their heads were uncovered, but the officer’s weaponry was insufficient at long ranges and couldn’t get a head shot.
Many officers and civilians were injured in the seven minutes it took the robbers to get to the getaway vehicle. Matasareanu was in the vehicle and was urging Phillips to get in, but Phillips stayed outside, and continued to shoot at officers. As he approached the passenger side of the vehicle, he was hit by an officer’s shotgun blast in the left wrist. He backed away from the car and started shooting again, holding his rifle in the injured arm. His gun was hit by an officer’s bullet, so he retrieved a Norinco Type 56 S1 from the getaway vehicle’s trunk.
A tactical alert was issued after a second officer was down. SWAT arrived 18 minutes after the shootout had started. They commandeered an armored car from the bank to extract wounded officers and civilians from the scene.
Phillips had been using the getaway vehicle as cover when, at 9:52, he separated from Matasareanu. He took cover on Archwood Street and fired at officers until his gun jammed. He continued to fire with a handgun after discarding the jammed rifle. He was then shot in the right hand, causing him to drop the gun. After retrieving it, he appears to place the muzzle under his chin and fire, severing his spine and killing him instantly. Some speculate that he did not intend to kill himself, and may have been trying to fix another jammed gun with his wounded hand and accidentally killed himself. Officers continued to shoot at Phillips after he was down, and then cuffed him.
The tires of the getaway vehicle were shot out and the vehicle was inoperable. At 9:56, Matasareanu attempted to hijack a yellow Jeep on Archwood Street, three blocks east from here Phillips was killed, and he put all his guns and ammo in this car. Matasareanu was unable to start the Jeep, as the owner fled with the keys or shut off the fuel pump with a manual kill switch. He left the Jeep and took cover behind the original getaway car, and engaged in gunfire for three minutes straight. He armor deflected an officer’s double tap; it briefly winded him, but he continued to shoot. A SWAT officer that was laying on the ground saw Matasareanu’s unprotected legs and saw that as an opportunity to take him down. The officer fired 20 rounds into Matasareanu’s legs, making him unable to continue. After surrendering, he was cuffed by SWAT members. They asked him his name and he responded with “Pete”, and repeatedly asked the officers to kill him. He would not respond to questions of there being a third assailant, and because of this, they had to keep the scene on lockdown and wouldn’t let Matasareanu receive any medical attention, fearing there was another shooter. He died from blood loss before the EMTs could reach him. Matasareanu’s family later tried to sue the LAPD for his death, but the case was dropped under malicious prosecution from the family’s side.
Below is a video of the raw footage from the news helicopter covering the shootout. It should be watched with descretion, however, as it shows the death of Phillips, and Matasareanu being taken down.
By the end of the shootout, the robbers had fired 1,100 rounds - or a round every two seconds. Police only fired 650 rounds.
This event started a change in the United States toward arming police officers with heavier gunpower, such as semi-automatic weapons. The LAPD was equipped with M16s months after the shootout, as well as Kevlar plating on the doors of their police vehicles. Police also were allowed to carry heavier calibre sidearms.The year following the shootout, 19 officers who were involved received the Medal of Valor. There is an exhibit at the LAPD Historical Museum featuring the armor worn by the robbers, as well as a police car that was involved in the shootout.
Links and reference:
A National Geographic documentary about the event, including the raw footage and interviews from officers, bystanders, and bank employees.
Sabina (pictured above) and Ursula Eriksson are Swedish twin sisters, born in 1967. They came to public attention in May 2008 after an episode of “folie a deux”, or shared psychosis - a rare psychiatric disorders in which the same delusional beliefs are shared between two people. The episode resulted in a bizarre incident on the M6 motorway, and the subsequent murder of Glenn Hollinshead of Fenton, Staffordshire.
The twins were traveling to England from Ireland, and had boarded a bus at Liverpool, going to London. They exited the bus at a rest stop on the M6 and started exhibiting strange behavior, including not letting the bags they carried with them be checked. The driver of the bus would not allow them back on the bus. The manager of the rest station also became suspicious of them and called the police.
The two began to walk on the shoulder of the motorway and tried to cross into the traffic, causing chaos and sustaining injuries. Cops and paramedics then arrived on the scene, as well as a camera crew recording an episode of the show Motorway Cops. Police were speaking to the twins on the hard shoulder when, without warning, Ursula ran into traffic and hit the side of a 40 ton truck traveling at 60MPH. Sabina followed and was hit by a Volkswagen traveling at the same high speed. Both survived, but Savings was paralyzed as the truck crushed both her legs. Sabina was unconscious for 15 minutes. Paramedics attempted to treat both, but they resisted, claiming the paramedics and police were “not real” and they they were going to “steal (their) organs”. Sabina attempted to stand when an officer tried to make her stay down to receive medical attention. Instead, she struck the officer and attempted to cross traffic again. She was then restrained and sedated. Ursula was taken to the hospital.
Sabina calmed down and seemed less deranged in police custody. She was released on May 19, without a psychiatric evaluation, and pleaded guilty to trespass on a motorway and assault on an officer. She was sentenced to only one day in custody, which she already served. After being released, she began wandering the streets of Stoke-on-Tent, trying to find the hospital where her sister was.
She was spotted by two men at 7PM. They were Glenn Hollinshead and Peter Molloy. They started a conversation with Sabina. Molloy described her as friendly but was acting odd and she worried him. Hollinshead pitied get and offered her shelter in his home; she accepted. They then walked to Hollinshead’s home and Sabina informed them she was looking for her sister.
Her odd behavior intensified at his house. She kept looking out the windows, gave them cigarettes she claimed were poisoned, and carried multiple cell phones and a laptop on her at all times. She stayed the night at Hollinshead’s home.
The next day, Hollinshead called the local hospitals to help find Ursula. Before 8PM, Hollinshead borrowed tea bags from his neighbor. A minute later, he staggered back to the neighbor and said “She stabbed me.” Sabina stabbed him five times with a kitchen knife. He died from his injuries. The neighbor called the authorities and Sabina fled.
Sabina had a hammer with her and hit herself in the head with it repeatedly as she walked down the street. A passing motorist saw this and attempted to stop her. As he tried to wrestle the hanger from her hand, she hit him with a piece of roof tile and stunned him. Paramedics and police then arrived and she fled again. Sabina jumped from a 40 foot tall bridge onto a motorway. She survived but was taken to a hospital for broken bones. She was charged with murder and was taken into police custody from the hospital on September 11.
Her trial started in September 2009. Sabina pleaded guilty to manslaughter with diminished mental capacity on September 2. She never explored her actions or defended herself, instead only replying with “no comment”. Both the defense and prosecution claimed Sabina was insane, thought she was sane during trial. The defense claimed she was a secondary sufferer of foile a deux, influenced by her sister, who was the primary sufferer. Her plea was accepted and she was sentenced to five years in prison. Taking time already spent in custody, she was eligible for parole in 2011.
In 2011, a documentary named Madness in the Fast Lane was released about the case. It featured the footage from the Motorway Cops episode. The footage is very disturbing and graphic.
Hi! This is Coraline’s Oddities - my blog where I post about my weird, unusual interests, including true crime, weird events, unusual disappearances, among other things. I love to read and research these topics, so doing an informative blog about them comes naturally to me.
I’m starting it as a blog, but will also be doing videos eventually as well.
Please follow this blog and send me your ideas for topics! :)
Sneha Phillip was an Indian American citizen and doctor who was notable for her disappearance. She was last seen on September 10, 2001 in Manhattan, New York. The day after she was last seen, the September 11 terrorist attack occurred, and her family believed she was killed trying to help victims. However, upon investigating her life, it was discussed she was having marital problems, alcohol problems, pending criminal charges, and was possibly having an affair with other women. Her body or remains were never recovered and there is no physical evidence that she was ever at the World Trade Center during the attack.
Sneha Philip was born in India in 19th and moved to New York shortly after with her parents. She pursued a career in medicine and enrolled in the Chicago School of Medicine in 1995. At the school, she met Ron Lieberman, and they married in May 2000; they moved into an apartment in the Battery, a mile away from the World Trade Center. They both landed jobs at hospitals - his at the Jacoby Medical Center in the Bronx, and hers at the Cabrini Medical Center in the East Village.
On September 10, Ron went to work while Sneha had the next two days off. She spent most of the day indoors, and talked to her mother online for two hours. At 4PM, she went shopping at a Century 21, according to security camera footage and credit card statements. She bought lingerie, a dress, pantyhose, bed sheets, and three pairs of shoes.
Ron returned home from a long shift at midnight, and Sneha was not home. It wasn’t unusual for her to go out and start with family, though Ron was annoyed he wasn’t told. Investigators later discovered someone called Ron’s cell phone from the house phone at 4AM. Ron has no recollection of this, but believe he checked his cell phone voice mail from the house phone.
On the next morning, September 11, Sneha still hadn’t returned. That morning in Manhattan, at 8:46AM, a hijacked aircraft struck the north World Trade Center tower. At 9:03, another hijacked plane hit the south tower. The south tower collapsed at 9:58, and the north tower collapsed shortly after at 10:28. 2,750 people died in the collapse of the two towers. While this was happening, Ron was attempting to contact Sneha to no avail. He went to the hospital where she worked, going to find her there, but she was not. When he was allowed to return to the apartment, dust had accumulated on the floor from an open window, showing no evidence of human footprints.
By the 12th, she still has not returned. Her family became worried, believing she had perished in the terrorist attack. Ron attempted to get attention to her disappearance, but news reporters would not listen after hearing she disappeared before 9/11. Sneha’s brother John talked to reports and fabricated a story about how she called him from Ground Zero, saying she “needed to help”. Based on this story, police couldn’t do much more with her case.
Ron and Sneha’s family hired a private investigators to try to retrace her steps on the 10th. The investigator was the one who discovered the security camera footage from Century 21. In the footage from the store, she is an with an unidentified woman. He also discovered footage of a woman in the apartment building lobby who he believes is Sneha. The time stamp on the footage corresponds to the time the first tower was hit, and she is seen leaving after this, so it could be plausible that she heard the plane crash and left to see what was going on.
Sneha was initially listed as one of the victims of 9/11, but because there was no evidence to support the claim that she died in the attack, she was removed from the list in January 2004. This prevented Ron from having access to the 9/11 Victims Fund, from which he stood to get almost $4 million; he said he only wanted the money to make a charity in her name. In 2008, judges overturned the ruling and officially named Sneha as the 2,751 victim of the attack on the twin towers, and had her official death date set to September 11, 2001. Her name is listed on the 9/11 memorial.
After she was listed as an official victim, the New York Police Department ran their own investigation into Sneha’s life and disappearance. They discovered some unsavory things about her life.
It was discovered that in early 2001, Sneha’s contract with Cabrini would not be renewed due to “tardiness and alcohol related problems”. She then went to Saint Vincent’s Medical Center, though she was required to see a substance abuse counselor, and was later suspended for not doing so.
After leaving Cabrini, she got into a bar fight and was placed in jail for a night. While in jail, she attempted to file charges against a co worker who touched her “inappropriately”. The DA dropped the charges and charged Sneha for filing a false report. She wouldn’t back down and was put in jail for the night.
After this incident, Sneha began to frequent lesbian bars. She supposedly was meeting women at bars and staying the night with them, thought Ron had said it was completely platonic. Investigators believe Sneha was questioning her sexuality and was experiencing anguish over it. Sneha’s brother also confessed to catching Sneha in bed with his then-girlfriend at one point.
And that’s all that’s known about Sneha, her life, and her disappearance. There are many theories about what happened to her. She could have ran away and started a new life elsewhere, though she didn’t take any belongings or money. She could have been killed, either by the unidentified woman she was with in the 10th or a stranger, and the chaos of 9/11 made hiding the body easy. She also could have been killed by Ron. It was reported that she and Ron had gotten in a huge fight on the morning of the 10th Street a court hearing, and Sneha stormed off. And the phone call at 4AM was never explained. Ron and Sneha’s family are the only ones who know the story and are the ones in control of the information.
This story is so fascinating to me because I believe we will never have an answer to what happened to Sneha. There is no evidence proving she was in the Twin Towers, but I personally like to believe she died in the Twin Towers, trying to help, and was not a victim of foul play.
The Gilco-Morinaga Case was an extortion case during the 1980s in Japan, directed at food companies Ezaki Gilco and Morinaga. The case spanned over 17 months and was perpetrated by an unknown person or group named “The Monster With 21 Faces”. The case remains unsolved and the people/person responsible were never caught and convicted.
On March 18, 1984, at 9PM, two armed and masked men broke into the home of Gilco’s president Katsuhisa Ezaki. Prior to breaking into his home, the men broke into the home of Ezaki’s mother, bound her, and stole his house key from her. Upon entering Ezaki’s home, the men tied up Ezaki’s wife and daughter. Ezaki believed that these men were robbers and offered them money, which they declined. The men abducted Ezaki and took him to an abandoned warehouse. The next day, the men called the company’s director and demanded a ransom of 1 billion yen or 100 kilograms of gold bullion. Ezaki managed to escape before the ransom was met.
On April 10, all of the vehicles in the parking lot of the Gilco headquarters were set on fire by unknown subjects. On April 16, a plastic container containing hydrochloric acid was found in Ibaraki, along with a letter threatening Gilco.
On May 10, Gilco began receiving letters from a person or group named “The Monster with 21 Faces”; named after the villain of Edogawa Rampo’s detective novels. The name has also been translated as “The Man With 21 Faces” or “The Phantom With 21 Faces”. The Monster claimed that they had laced all of Gilco’s candies and food products with potassium cyanide. Gilco pulled all of their products off of store shelves, which cost the company $21 million and resulted in 450 employees being laid off. The Monster then threatened to place laced Gilco products on store shelves. After announcing this, a man in a baseball cap was seen on security cameras placing Gilco products on a store shelf. This man was never caught, but was believed to be the man behind the Monster.
The Monster eventually stopped contacting Gilco and issued an apology to them on June 26, publically stating “We forgive Gilco!”. The Monster then began extorting another company - Morinaga, and the food companies Marudai Ham and House Foods Corporation.
Police were closing in on the Monster and finding out who the mastermind was, when on June 28, the Monster agreed to stop harassing Marudai in exchange for 50 million yen. The Monster arranged for a Maradai employee to toss the money onto a local train that had a white flag on it. A detective went disguised as a Maradai employee and followed the instructions, when the detective saw a suspicious man watching him. He was described as tall, well built, wearing sunglasses and a short haircut, and had “eyes like those of a fox”. When the flag was not displayed, the detective and the Fox Eyed Man both got off the train. The detective sat on a bench while the Fox Eyed Man continued to watch him.The detective got on a train headed to Osaka and the Fox Eyed Man got on a different car on the same train. The detective got off at the station at Takatsuki, and the Fox Eyed Man got on a train headed back to Kyoto. Investigators attempted to trail the man but lost him.
Investigators first identified Manabu Miyazaki, a known yakuza, as the Fox Eyed Man and the man in the baseball cap due to his resemblance, but he was cleared as a subject as his alibi cleared him from being the perpetrator.
On November 4, the Monster attempted to extort 100 million yen from the House Foods Corporation in a secret deal at a rest stop near Otsu. Investigators saw the Fox Eyed Man again, but he evaded capture. The delivery van that they were tailing headed to the drop zone, where they were to drop the money in a can under a white flag, but the flag was not there. The investigators believe this was a test by the Monster to test the police’s response.
However, an hour before this, a patrol officer in Shiga stopped to check on a station wagon that had its lights off but still had its engine running. The car was sitting 50 yards away from a white flag. The officer described the man as being in his 40s, thin cheeked, wearing a golf cap as well as a wireless receiver with headphones. The driver sped off and was lost in pursuit. The car was later found in Kusatsu and had been previously reported as stolen. In the car, they discovered a police scanner, and a transmitter that could hear what was being said between police radios; however, the person in the car was never caught and there is no evidence to show that they were involved with the Monster.
The Monster turned its attention to Fujiya in December. In January 1895, police publically released sketches of the Fox Eyed Man, shown at the top.
In August 1985, after public pressure to find the Monster and his own personal embarrassment that the Monster was not caught, Shiga Police Superintendent Yamamoto killed himself. Five days after Yamamoto’s death, the Monster sent its last message to the media:
“Yamamoto of Shiga Prefecture Police died. How stupid of him! We’ve got no friends or secret hiding place in Shiga. It’s Yoshino or Shikata who should have died. What have they been doing for as long as one year and five months? Don’t let bad guys like us get away with it. There are many more fools who want to copy us. No-career Yamamoto died like a man. So we decided to give our condolence. We decided to forget about torturing food-making companies. If anyone blackmails any of the food-making companies, it’s not us but someone copying us. We are bad guys. That means we’ve got more to do other than bullying companies. It’s fun to lead a bad man’s life. Monster with 21 Faces.”
After this, the Monster was never heard of again. No one has been arrested or convicted of the crimes associated with the Monster, and police had virtually no known suspects. In 1995, the statute of limitations ran out on the kidnapping of Ezaki, and the statute of limitations ran out for the charge of attempted murder for the laced food products in February 2000.
The Toynbee tiles are messages of unknown origin found embedded in asphalt in major cities in the US and some in South America. Several hundred have been discovered since the 80s. They are generally the size of a license plate, though some are larger. They all contain some variation of the following:
Some of the more elaborate tiles make reference to cryptic political statements or encourages viewers to make their own tiles. The person or persons behind these tiles have not been discovered, nor have their true intentions with the tiles been found.
The Toynbee tiles were first photographed in the late 80s, and were first reported on by the Baltimore Sun in 1994. In the US, the tiles have been reported in Kansas City, Massachusetts, Washington DC, Indiana, San Francisco, Portland, Tulsa, Detroit, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Cleveland, and some cities in South America. The vast majority of the tiles have appeared in Philadelphia, making investigators to believe that the maker of them is from Philadelphia. Tiles have been found as recent as 2013, and newer ones have appeared on several major highways. The newer tiles are larger and have red italic writing on them. The material used to make the tiles was discovered to be linoleum and asphalt-crack filling compound.
Justin Duerr, who is a researcher of the Toynbee tiles and made a documentary on them, assumes that “Toynbee” is in reference to the British historian Arnold Toynbee - letters written by the alleged tile maker reference the “Toynbee idea”, in which “No one has ever been, or ever met, a living human soul without a body… Someone who accepts—as I myself do, taking it on trust—the present-day scientific account of the Universe may find it impossible to believe that a living creature, once dead, can come to life again; but, if he did entertain this belief, he would be thinking more ‘scientifically’ if he thought in the Christian terms of a psychosomatic resurrection than if he thought in the shamanistic terms of a disembodied spirit.” This could be what is meant by “resurrecting dead”. It could also be a reference to the Ray Bradbury story “The Toynbee Convector”, the title of which is also a reference to Arnold Toynbee. “Kubrick’s 2001” is a reference to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film about a manned mission to Jupiter. The majority of the tiles contain text similar to what is above, but there is usually a second accompanying tile that makes reference to a mass conspiracy to the press, the US government, the USSR, and the Jews. The writing of these tiles are in a similar style and quality, so they are assumed to be made by the same person.
A tile that used to be located in South America mentions an address of “2624 S. 7TH PHILADELPHIA, PA”. This is the home of a known recluse and alleged tile maker, though the resident claims to know nothing of the tiles and is annoyed by the people who ask about it.
In 1983, a man named James Morasco contacted talk shows and newspapers with his theory of colonizing Jupiter with the dead people of Earth, and claimed to come up with the idea while reading a book by Arnold Toynbee. Morasco claimed that Toynbee’s book contained a theory on bringing dead molecules back to life, and this was supposedly depicted in 2001: A Space Odyssey. A called called into the talk show Moresco was on, saying he had founded a “Jupiter colonization organization” called the Minority Association. Police who were investigating tiles in Kansas City concluded that despite referring to a “movement”, the creator was acting alone. An investigator discovered that Moresco had died in 2003, and his widow said he knew nothing of the tiles.
New tiles have appeared in Philadelphia since 2003, displaying different fonts and styling and with words left out from the original tiles. Beginning in 2007, the tiles have been similar to the original tiles, leading investigators to believe that the same person has been making them throughout the lifespan of the tiles.
There is no agency dedicated to the conservation of the tiles, as most cities consider them vandalism and remove them almost as soon as they are placed. Many tiles now only exist in photographs. There are several websites made that document tiles, with photos and maps of where past and present tiles have been found.
The Taman Shud case, also known as the Somerton Man, in an unsolved case. The man, who is still unidentified, died on December 1, 1948 on Somerton Beach, south of Adelaide, Australia. The case is often referred to as the Taman Shud case because the man was found with a scrap of paper in his pocket that said “taman shud”, which means “ended” or “finished”, which was from a specific translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The case is considered one of Australia’s most profound mysteries, and the case still attracts attention to this day due to the secret code discovered, his lack of identification, and a possible unrequited love being involved.
On December 1, 1948, at 6:30 AM, the police were called after a man’s body was found on the Somerton Beach, in Glenelg. He was found with his head resting against a wall, with his legs outstretched and his feet crossed. It is believed he died in his sleep. A couple came forward saying they saw him alive at 7 PM the night before, and another couple saw him between 7:30 and 8, and said they did not see him move and assumed he was sleeping or was drunk.
According to the pathologist, the man was of British descent, was around 40 - 45 years old, and was in good health and good physical condition. All labels from his clothing were removed. He carried no identification and his dental records didn’t match anyone. The autopsy found congestion that is usually associated with poisoning, but there was no poison found in his system. A half eaten pastry was found in his stomach but it had no poison in it. The corner couldn’t find a definitive cause of death or identity. His fingerprints were not in any Australian records, so they expanded their search. Scotland Yard was called to help the case but they found nothing as well.
The Adelaide newspaper The Advertiser reported a possible identity on December 2 - they believed it to be a man named EC Johnson. Johnson came to the police the next day, alive and well. Newspapers published photos of the man. Many possible identifications of the man were made but none were positive. By 1953, police received over 250 possible identifications.
The scrap of paper with the phrase “taman shud” is considered the biggest, and one of the few, pieces of evidence in the case. Police conducted a continent-wide search for the book the scrap came from. A man came forward saying he found a 1859 translation of the Rubaiyat in the backseat of his unlocked car around the time the Somerton Man’s body was found. The book was given to police who discovered that the “taman shud” phrase was ripped out of his copy, and microscopic tests proved it came from that copy.
In the back of the book were five lines of handwritten capitalized text with the second line crossed out. Code experts were unable to decipher it, and the Australian Department of Defense said there were insufficient characters to provide a decipher code and that it would be impossible to provide an adequate solution to the code.
A phone number was found in the back of the book that belonged to a nurse who lived near the beach where the body was found. She said she owned a copy of the Rubaiyat, but she gave it to a man named Alfred Boxall, a lieutenant in the Australian Army, in 1945. She received letters from Boxall, but she was now married. A stranger was talking to her neighbor about her on the day of the Somerton Man’s death as well. Police believed Boxall to be the Somerton Man, until he was discovered in July 1948, in Sydney, still having possession of his copy of the Rubaiyat with the “taman shud” phrase still intact.
The woman denied all knowledge of the Somerton Man and why a stranger would be looking for her the same day he died. Investigators showed her a photo of the Somerton Man’s corpse; she denied knowing who it was, but was reported to be very distressed over the photo and was on the verge of fainting. She asked to not have her name released to the media. However, a television program about the case referred to her as “Jestyn”, which was a name written in the copy of the Rubaiyat. It could have been a pet name for her. The investigator claimed Jestyn was cold and evasive, and believes she knows more than she is letting on. It is also speculated that Jestyn’s son was a love child between the two. Jestyn died in 2007, and her son died in 2009.
The Somerton Man’s body was buried in the West Terrace Cemetery, in Adelaide, in 1949.
In 1994, the chairman of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine reviewed the case and believed the man died from digitalis poisoning. It is also speculated that he could have been poisoned through his cigarettes, as the cigarettes he was found with were more expensive than the box they were in (a common practice in the army at the time was to buy cheap cigarettes and put them in an expensive box).
In 2001, an Adelaide woman contacted a biological anthropologist about an ID card she found in her father’s possession of a man named HC Reynolds. The card was a card given to foreign seamen by the US. It was used in comparison to the Somerton Man, and came back as a “very good” match, as they both had moles in specific places and the same shape of ears. HC Reynolds was given the card in 1918, was 18 years old at the time, and gave British as his nationality. However, this lead went nowhere, as searches of Reynolds in the US, UK, and Australian military databases failed to find any records of him.
Apparently Thinking Sideways linked my blog post about Karin Waldegrave on their blog (http://thinkingsidewayspodcast.com/karin-catherine-waldegrave/). I was literally just listening to this episode yesterday at the gym. I’m nerding out about it so bad right now. Thinking Sideways is one of my favorite podcasts and one of the reasons why I started this blog. I’m so happy. 🖤
