During the worst moments of our lives, we typically count on the police and other investigators to come to our rescue, find the answers, and restore peace and normalcy to our lives. However, some eerie mysteries are beyond the expertise of even the world’s most seasoned detectives. Let’s take a look at a few of the most terrifying mysteries that have left authorities baffled.
4. Eerie Mysteries – Animals Found in Walls
There are many things you might imagine when moving into your dream home. What color you will paint the walls. Where you will place your family photos. What will be the first meal you will cook in your beautiful new kitchen. However, you probably won’t be thinking about what horrible things could be waiting for you behind the walls of your new home.
The Bretzius family thought they had found their dream home in a small town in Pennsylvania in the US. They purchased the home in 2011 and quickly began preparing to move in with their four children. The home inspector found nothing wrong with the home, so they only planned a few upgrades to the space. One of the projects that they planned was adding insulation to the room that they planned to use as a nursery for their youngest child. When they opened up the walls, the eerie mysteries began.
Immediately, they were hit with an awful stench. It didn’t take long to discover why. The walls were full of animal carcasses. Based on the newspapers the rotting animals were wrapped in, they had been there since the 1930s and 40s. The walls also turned up assorted herbs and spices, indicating that the carcasses had been placed in the walls as part of a black magic ritual.
The Bretzius family spent $20,000 removing all traces of the carcasses from their home. Authorities attempted to determine which of the former owners may have been responsible for the disgusting discovery, but no one has been able to solve this strange mystery.
Truly one of the scariest things discovered inside walls.
3. The Exorcism of Kennedy Ife
Daily ExpressOne of the eerie mysteries that left England’s authorities baffled begins in Hadley Wood, Enfield, north London.
Kennedy Ife was a typical 26 year-old living with his parents and five brothers. One day, he began to complain of some symptoms including stomach and throat pain and difficulty sleeping and breathing. At first, his family just thought he was coming down with a minor illness. However, he started to act differently, becoming withdrawn and sullen: very different from his usual demeanor. This behavior eventually escalated to extreme violent mood swings in which he lashed out at his family members, in one instance even attempting to violently bite his own father.
After this violent incident, Kennedy’s family confronted him about his bizarre behavior. He told them that there was a seed inside of him that was growing into a serpent. Kennedy seemed incredibly agitated about this, even attempting on several occasions to mutilate himself with a knife to dig out the offending seed. He also rambled about the mark of the beast, the number 666 being on him. The family had these types of conversations with Kennedy repeatedly over the course of about two weeks before they eventually decided to take action. They believed that there was another personality inside of him, most likely a demon, that was trying to kill him. They believed that they had to restrain him to protect him from himself.
The family overpowered him and tied him to a bed with cables and handcuffs. They kept him there for three days while they prayed over him, hoping that their constant vigil would force the demon to leave him. Throughout the three days, Kennedy alternately barked and growled like an animal. Near the end of the three days, he began to complain of dehydration and being unable to breathe. Kennedy Ife died of cardiac arrest after being tied to the bed for three days without food, water, or rest.
The medical examiner later determined that the family most likely attempted to perform some sort of resuscitation based on the bruises on the body. However, numerous family members were arrested on charges of manslaughter, false imprisonment, and causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult. They denied the charges, insisting that they were only trying to help him and that they never believed that he was in any danger from their attempt at exorcism. In the end, all were acquitted and set free. Even so, what really happened behind the closed doors of the Ife home remains one of the eerie mysteries that authorities will likely never solve.
What do you think, was there really demonic possession at play here? Was an exorcism justified or was it gross negligence at the hands of an impressionable family? Let us know in the comments below.
2. Teacher Involves Students in Sinister Ritual
RankerNo one suspected that a Florida teacher named Danielle Harkins would be at the center of one of the eerie mysteries that authorities would be puzzling over for years.
On the outside, she seemed like a perfectly respectable literacy teacher at a local community center. She was married with two children. Shortly before the events that put her at the center of a media frenzy, she and her husband went through a painful divorce. Still, she was a popular teacher with students who were devoted to her. In fact, the bizarre circumstances of her infamy suggest that her students may have been a little too devoted.
It turns out that Harkins had been grooming a group of students for years. They were so devoted to her that they would believe anything that she said. So much so that when she told them that they had demons inside of them that only she could get out, they believed her.
On June 9, 2012, she asked seven students to meet her at dawn in her classroom to perform a blood ritual to remove the demons from their bodies. The ritual would involve making large cuts on their skin and then using a lighter to cauterize the wounds. During the ritual, the flames Harkins planned to use to cauterize the wounds got out of control, and one student received second-degree burns. Another was accidentally cut on the throat with a broken bottle.
The students who participated in the ritual were so loyal to Harkins that none of them mentioned the ritual to their parents after the fact, even though two students were hurt. One of them did mention it to a friend, who immediately told her own parents. They reported the incident to police, who arrested Harkins.
To this day, authorities have no idea what pushed Harkins to commit such bizarre acts against her own students. Some theorize that the bitter divorce from her husband combined with a zealous interest in religion may have been the trigger, but because the loyal students have remained tight-lipped about the incident, the truth remains a mystery.
1. Eerie Mysteries – The Watcher
Coast To Coast AMWhen the Broaddus family bought their new home at 657 Boulevard in New Jersey they thought that they were fulfilling a dream, not beginning a series of eerie mysteries that would haunt their nightmares for years to come. In a case that has been dubbed “The Watcher,” the beautiful new home purchased by the Broadduses became tainted by a mysterious individual who refused to leave the family in peace.
Derek Broaddus grew up in a working class family, so he was ecstatic when he was able to work his way up to a vice president level at the insurance company where he worked. With his new salary, the family was able to afford the beautiful new home at 657 Boulevard.
Three days after they closed on the house, Derek and his wife Maria were in the house doing some renovations before moving in when they stepped outside to check the mail. Inside, they found an envelope addressed only to “the new owner.” The note inside began simply enough: by welcoming the new owners to the neighborhood. However, as the letter went on, it began to take sinister turns.
The writer stated that their family had been watching the house since it had been built, and that they have “been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming.” The writer then listed the things they had already noticed about the new owner’s family, indicating that they had been already begun watching. The note included a warning about the renovations, stating, “I see already that you have flooded 657 Boulevard with contractors so that you can destroy the house as it was supposed to be…Tsk, tsk, tsk … bad move. You don’t want to make 657 Boulevard unhappy.”
The writer also ominously mentioned Derek and Maria’s three children, even asking if they planned to have any more: “Do you need to fill the house with the young blood I requested? Better for me. Was your old house too small for the growing family? Or was it greed to bring me your children? Once I know their names I will call to them and draw them too [sic] me.” The letter had no return address, and was signed “The Watcher.”
In a panic, Derek Broaddus called the police. He even sent an email to the home’s former owners to ask if they had had similar experiences while living in the home. They stated that they had received only one letter, but had disregarded it.
Over the next few months, the Broadduses continued working on renovating the house while also attempting to identify the identity of The Watcher. They installed a security system and did research on the home’s history, but the letters kept coming and continued to become more ominous, such as claiming that something was in the home’s walls. When the time came to move into the home, the family was terrified to have their children living so close to The Watcher. They only lived in the home for a short time. Six months after the first letter arrived, they put the house on the market. Not long after, they decided to file a legal claim against the previous owners, claiming they should have been informed about the previous Watcher letter. This caused the story of The Watcher to go viral. Yet, despite the story’s fame, no one has succeeded in discovering the identity of the terrifying stalker who managed to turn Broaddus family’s dream home into a nightmare.
