In medieval societies , it was always quite important to preserve law and order, and to rightfully dispense justice. A just ruler secured himself an obedient populace, and often enough, justice was...
Sark , the tiny Channel Island with a deeply criminal pirate history is once again “awash” with crooks, according to a police report. At a mere 2.10 square miles (5.44 square kilometers), with only...
It is no surprise that the medieval period was filled with all kinds of undesirable jobs. There were leech collectors, cesspool cleaners, serfs, and gong farmers, to name a few. But one vocation that...
A sacred symbol of Scottish identity, a late medieval bell, has been stolen from a remote ruined chapel on an uninhabited Scottish isle which featured as the ‘Black Lake’ in the Harry Potter films...
Researchers in Scotland believe that they are closer to understanding a man who was brutally killed 1,400 years ago. His body was placed in a most unusual position in a cave and investigators believe...
Waves of violence, corruption and crime in a Columbian city are to be addressed with an audacious exorcism by a Catholic bishop who plans to launch holy water over the city from a helicopter...
A quaint Bavarian hotel has become the scene of a murder mystery with medieval links. When hotel employees found the dead bodies of three people the scene was described as something akin to a scene...
For as long as societies have had to deal with crime, they’ve had to deal out punishment. In some, places, and situations the process was only meant to humiliate the guilty, but most of the following...
The Gadianton robbers were a band of robbers in the ancient Americas according to the Book of Mormon. This dangerous group operated as a ‘secret combination’, a term used to describe various...
Egyptian kings and pharaohs conquered entire nations, but if a person stole so much as an animal hide he could be whipped with 100 lashes and stabbed five times in the back… and then be sent back to...
Wicklow Gaol is a historic prison located in the town of Wicklow in Ireland, which gained notoriety for the brutality of the prison wardens, and the harsh treatment suffered by its inmates, many of...
When an actress in ancient Rome was brutally gang-raped by a group of young men who’d come to see her show, she started a very public battle for justice. The story of her fight and her failure is...
Back in 1200 BC, a man named Paneb was accused of corruption and sexual assault and those charges likely cost him his job. His crimes were recorded on an ancient Egyptian papyrus and have been known...
An innovative US research program is underway to sniff out smuggled antiquities. Called K-9 Artifact Finders, it is a project set up to train sniffer dogs to aid in the battle against cultural...
Sawney Bean is a legendary figure from Scotland, who is said to have been a prolific cannibal. Together with his equally cannibalistic family, Sawney Bean murdered and robbed unfortunate victims from...
On an ordinary day in 1980, a Californian mom decided to spend the afternoon cleaning out her garage – a long neglected chore. She found a lot of trash and plenty of knick-knacks; some forgotten...
Catherine Monvoisin was a woman with a dark story. Her life influenced the world of the occult and the court of Louis XIV, a famous king whose golden palace brought him immortal fame and countless...
Looters have been skulking around and digging up family treasures as long as rich sites filled with valuable artifacts have existed, but now gangs have become sophisticated and organized, and are...
One of the most well-known forms of punishment today is imprisonment. One could argue that for any society to function properly, public order has to be maintained. This is an important function of...
Edgar Allan Poe is considered a literary genius and one of the fathers of horror literature as well as the inventor of the detective story. Poe was gifted with an undoubtedly brilliant mind able to...
Swedish archaeologists have discovered the remains of a brutal massacre in which peaceful town’s people were mercilessly slaughtered approximately 1,500 years ago. The violent attack took place on...
