🕵️‍♂️ TRUE CRIME & HAUNTED HISTORIES 👻

TRUE CRIMES & HAUNTING HISTORIES

THE LOVER IN THE ATTIC 🏚️

Dolly Oesterreich (née Korschel) was born in 1880 to German immigrants in Wisconsin. When she was quite young, she began working at a textile factory. It was at this factory where she met her future husband and owner of the factory, Fred Oesterreich. When Dolly turned 17, she married Fred and began helping him with business affairs.

In 1913, Dolly began affairs of a different type involving one of Fred's employees, Otto Sanhuber. Dolly's sewing machine had stopped working, and Fred sent Otto to the house for a repair. This marked the beginning of their romantic relationship. While Fred was busy working at the factory, Dolly would invite Otto over to their home. She became concerned about the neighbors witnessing Otto entering and leaving the house, so she suggested that Otto move into the attic. Otto agreed.

At the time, Otto was an aspiring writer. Dolly would bring Otto food and books while he wrote his fiction novels. While Fred was at work, he would come down from the attic to spend time with Dolly. This went on for five years, until Fred proposed they move to Los Angeles; Fred was concerned about the mysterious sounds he was hearing in the house. Dolly ensured that the new house had an attic and moved Otto in before they arrived.

Consequently, Fred continued to hear noises; this caused strain in their relationship. One day, a fight between Dolly and Fred escalated to the point where Otto intervened and shot Fred in the chest. To establish her alibi and frame a robber, he locked Dolly in a closet.

Strangely, even after eliminating Fred and covering their crimes, Otto continued to live in Dolly's attic. Dolly even found a new husband—a successful businessman named Hermann, who eventually discovered Otto and turned Dolly in to the police.

TRUE CRIMES & HAUNTING HISTORIES

THE CROOKED QUEEN OF CRYPTOCURRENCY 💻💰

In 2014, Ruja Ignatova founded OneCoin, a cryptocurrency that had investors believing it was the next big thing. Unfortunately for these investors, OneCoin became known as one of the largest scams in all of history.

Ruja Ignatova is a graduate of the University of Oxford and earned her Ph.D. from the University of Constance. She was a charismatic and promising businesswoman, boasting work experience with reputable institutions and front-page features on magazines like Forbes.

In the beginning, OneCoin paid profitable returns to investors and shared impressive market reports. In reality, the business was actually a Ponzi scheme—a form of fraud in which investors profit from money coming into the business from new investors as opposed to the earnings of the business itself. While OneCoin was being marketed as one of the largest, most powerful cryptocurrencies and promising to revolutionize global finance, it was simultaneously worth less than a penny.

There were a number of contributing factors to the success of this scam. First off, OneCoin was a closed system. This meant that the company had control over the value of exchange within the OneCoin platform. In addition, the company also attempted to control OneCoin's public image by banning negative members and refusing to answer any questions that seemed to threaten the cryptocurrency's reputation.

Central banks and financial institutions began to question the validity of OneCoin; in 2017, shortly after widespread scrutiny, Ruja disappeared. Her brother was arrested and convicted in 2019, admitting to fraud. He claims to not know the whereabouts of Ruja. To date, OneCoin has scammed investors out of several billion dollars in investments.

TRUE CRIMES & HAUNTING HISTORIES

MARTY AND THE SHRINK 🧠🛋️

Marty Markowitz was a wealthy textile businessman who sought help from psychiatrist Dr. Isaac Herschkopf to deal with personal loss and stress. Over time, Dr. Herschkopf began to abuse the doctor-patient relationship, gradually isolating Marty from his remaining family members by convincing him that his family was to blame for all his problems.

Dr. Herschkopf convinced Marty to turn away from his sister and embrace the doctor's family as his new kin. The psychiatrist exploited this trust to manipulate Marty's business affairs, reorganize his will, and gain control over his assets. He even persuaded Marty to invite him into his lavish Hamptons mansion.

Dr. Herschkopf slowly tried to acquire everything Marty owned—even his home. He would host extravagant parties at the mansion and lead his guests to believe it was his own estate. While Dr. Herschkopf cooked for guests and cleaned up after them, many guests assumed Marty was merely a household helper.

In 2010, Marty was admitted to the hospital for an operation. When Dr. Herschkopf did not bother to pay him a visit, Marty began to question the merit of their friendship. It was at this point, nearly 30 years later, that Marty reconnected with his estranged sister and began to reclaim his life and fortune.

TRUE CRIMES & HAUNTING HISTORIES

"I HAVE A BRIDGE TO SELL YOU!" 🌉🤥

In the 1880s, George C. Parker established himself as a cunning conman in New York City, known at the time as the "Golden Door" to America. Parker targeted wealthy tourists and immigrants looking to invest their savings in the rapidly growing metropolis.

Parker's most famous scam involved "selling" the Brooklyn Bridge. He would convince unsuspecting buyers that they could own the bridge and make a fortune by charging access tolls to pedestrians and vehicles crossing between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Parker would negotiate to sell the bridge for whatever price his victims could afford, ranging from a couple hundred to tens of thousands of dollars.

The new "owners" of the Brooklyn Bridge would attempt to set up toll booths on the bridge, only to be stopped by the New York police department, who informed them of Parker's deception. Parker didn't stop there—he also "sold" Madison Square Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Statue of Liberty. Although arrested several times, Parker escaped trial by stealing a sheriff's coat and walking out. In 1928, he was finally sentenced to life in prison after attempting to cash a fake check for $150.

TRUE CRIMES & HAUNTING HISTORIES

DEATH BY IMMUREMENT 🧱💀

Immurement describes the process of burying someone alive, or trapping them in an enclosed space until they die of starvation or asphyxiation. Immurement has been used as a torture mechanism by multiple civilizations throughout human history. In some ancient cultures, immurement was even utilized to make sacrifices to their gods.

In medieval and ancient traditions, certain practices involved voluntary immurement. For instance, in ascetic practices such as Sokushinbutsu, monks would undergo self-mummification. They engaged in a strict diet called mokujikigyo, consuming only pine needles, seeds, roots, bark, and tea to eliminate body fat. In the final stage, the monk would fast on water until he was sealed in a small underground tomb with nothing but a bamboo tube for air. Every day, the monk would ring a bell to signify that he was still alive. When the bell stopped ringing, the bamboo tube was removed and the tomb was permanently sealed.

After 1,000 days, the tomb was opened to inspect if the body remained mummified. If successful, the monk was revered as a sokushinbutsu. The practice was eventually outlawed in the late 19th century as assisted suicide laws were established.