10 Creepiest Craigslist Stories That Actually Happened

5. The Tulsa Killer

A Craigslist user shocked the city of Tulsa when they anonymously boasted about a murder they claimed to have committed. The chilling note appeared in Craigslist’s personals section and showed the killer taunting locals about evading arrest and promising to strike again. The user also referenced an Oklahoman judge and several Department of Corrections officers by name, which leads police to think the threat could be legitimate.

Police have subpoenaed Craigslist for the user’s private information. But one thing’s for sure: the people of Tulsa won’t rest easy until this creepy case is solved.

4. Job of a Lifetime

In 2011, Richard Beasley used Craigslist to lure unsuspecting men to their deaths. He did this by posting a fake job listing offering a laid back, well-paid caretaker position on his secluded farm.

Hundreds of applicants responded, giving Richard a smorgasbord of potential victims. His plan involved luring lonely men to Ohio and killing them in some deserted woods. He successfully pulled this off three times, but his fourth victim – Scott David – narrowly escaped with superficial gunshot wounds. Scott then spent the next few hours creeping through the woods being hunted like an animal. He eventually came across a rural property where he was able to notify police.

Richard was caught and given the death penalty while his sixteen-year-old accomplice was sentenced to life in prison. The case shows Craislist users should be suspicious when an offer seems too good to be true.

3. Anthony Brinkman

Anthony Brinkman definitely wins the award for Worst Father of the Century.

The 32-year-old Missouri man tried to solicit a stranger on Craigslist to sexually assault his eleven-year-old daughter.

Fortunately the post was flagged and brought to the attention of Missouri police. They began corresponding with Anthony as part of an undercover operation. Anthony willingly sent them inappropriate pictures of his daughter and arranged a time and place to enact his plan.

When Anthony arrived at the meeting spot with his daughter he was swarmed by undercover officers. The little girl is extremely lucky police intervened, as things could have been a lot worse if someone bad had responded to Anthony’s ad.

2. The Roommate

In 2003, Brian Boucher was looking for a roommate to help pay his rent. He put an ad on Craigslist and soon found the perfect candidate. John Williams was tidy, considerate and mostly kept to himself. Their arrangement worked perfectly for several months. But after a while Brian grew suspicious of the many hours John was spending alone in his room. One day when John was out, Brian broke into his room to conduct a search. What he found made his blood run cold.

John had collected a huge folder full of things that Brian had thrown in the trash. There were letters, credit card statements, confidential medical documents and even a list of Brian’s internet passwords. John also had a list of all Brian’s family members, including their names, addresses and other creepy bits of intel.

To top it all off, Brian found John’s diary, which was full of chilling admissions and paranoid rants about the police. This terrified Brian, so he did a little investigating on Google and found that his roommate was on the front page of America’s Most Wanted. Brian immediately called the police and John – who turned out to be a notorious jewel thief – was arrested. I bet Brian never went looking for roommates on Craigslist again.

1. Craigslist Cannibal

Armin Meiwes is a German computer technician who’s better known as the notorious Craigslist Cannibal. This disturbed individual has fantasized about eating human flesh since he was eight years old – and, in 2001, he finally made this fantasy a reality.

Armin’s victim was forty-three-year-old Bernd Brandes. The pair met when Bernd responded to Armin’s Craigslist ad. The most shocking part is Armin was completely open about his cannibalistic intentions. Bernd was also curious about eating people, so he willingly consented to having Armin cut a piece of him off.

Their original plan was to eat Bernd’s flesh together, but Bernd ended up losing so much blood that Armin was forced to kill him. After that, he cut his victim’s body up into fillets and chops, stored them in his freezer and slowly consumed them over the next ten months.

Armin was eventually arrested in 2002 when police came across one of his follow-up ads. He is now serving a life sentence in prison.