Jenny Ashford is a horror, true crime, and paranormal writer, graphic designer, and podcaster. Her most recent books are a three-volume true crime compilation collectively known as The Faceless Villain: A Collection of the Eeriest Unsolved Murders of the Twentieth Century. Volume One was published in 2017, Volume Two in 2018, and Volume Three in 2019. Her other books include four paranormal nonfiction books: The Unseen Hand: A New Exploration of Poltergeist Phenomena, The Mammoth Mountain Poltergeist (with Tom Ross), House of Fire and Whispers: Investigating the Seattle Demon House, and The Rochdale Poltergeist (both with Steve Mera); as well as three horror novels, Red Menace, Bellwether, and The Five Poisons; two short story collections, Hopeful Monsters and The Associated Villainies; and a graphic novel, The Tenebrist. A second edition of The Associated Villainies was published in 2019, featuring four new stories, an enhanced print layout, and an audio book version. A second edition of The Five Poisons was published in 2020. Her short stories have appeared in several anthologies, including The Nightmare Collective, History Is Dead, 2012AD, ChimeraWorld #3, and ChimeraWorld #4. Her horror blog, Goddess of Hellfire, contains writing news, short stories and articles, and her reviews and opinions on horror films and books. She also co-hosts a podcast with Tom Ross called 13 O'Clock, on which they discuss true crime, unexplained mysteries, paranormal weirdness, horror movies and books, food, and other fun, creepy topics. They recently collaborated on a 13 O'Clock cookbook. Jenny's graphic design work can be seen on everything from books and business cards to posters and packaging. She runs an online store called Gravecake selling products with her designs, and also has a board-and-card game concern called Giallo Games, which produces games based around the beloved Italian horror/crime genre, among many other themes.
Thirty-three-year-old Xiong Zhang was a Chinese national who had come to the United Kingdom seeking economic opportunity. Like many undocumented immigrants, he survived by working in the informal economy. Investigators later revealed that Zhang sold counterfeit DVDs near the River Roding in Barking, East London, a trade that exposed him to both criminal competitors and … More Xiong Zhang
Sixteen-year-old Jonathan Matondo had been born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo before moving to England with his family when he was a young child. By all accounts from relatives and church leaders, he was a bright, personable teenager with a strong religious faith. Members of the Light of Christ Church in Burngreave remembered … More Jonathan Matondo
On the evening of November 14th, 2007, seventeen-year-old Etem Celebi was shot and killed just yards from his family home on the Smalley Close Estate in Stoke Newington, Hackney, North London. His death became one of the defining tragedies of London’s surge in teenage gun and knife violence during 2007, a year in which more … More Etem Celebi
In the mid-summer months of 2007, a quiet residential street in South Woodford, northeast London, became the scene of one of the city’s more unusual and disturbing unsolved homicides. The attack occurred during the early morning hours of Sunday, August 5th, on Priory Close, a residential cul-de-sac in South Woodford. Twenty-four-year-old Daraj Asghar was seated … More Daraj Asghar
On the morning of April 21st, 2007, sixty-one-year-old Henry McHarron was carrying out a routine newspaper-delivery route in north Liverpool, England. It was work he had done many times before: stopping his van, unloading bundles of newspapers and moving on to the next destination while most of the city was still waking. That morning, however, … More Henry McHarron
Forty-seven-year-old Diane Carrington lived in a first-floor flat at 24E Fern Court on Drakefell Road, New Cross, southeast London with her fifteen-year-old daughter. During the night of October 4th, 2007, someone targeted the home with extraordinary violence. According to investigators, gasoline was poured through the front door letterbox before being deliberately set alight. The fuel … More Diane Carrington
Kellie Telesford was a forty-year-old transgender woman originally from Trinidad who had lived in the United Kingdom for many years. Born Kayiode Dexter Telesford, she had been living openly as a woman for several years before her death and was known by friends and acquaintances simply as Kellie. She was a familiar face within London’s … More Kellie Telesford
In the early hours of May 12, 2007, a devastating attack at a travelers’ site in the Cambridgeshire village of Murrow left one woman dead, her husband critically injured, and investigators facing a case that remains unresolved despite an arrest and a murder trial. The victim, seventy-one-year-old Lavinia Branch, was living with her husband in … More Lavinia Branch
On the evening of March 4th, 2006, forty-seven-year-old Jamie Campbell was gunned down in the Drumchapel area of Glasgow, Scotland in what investigators believed was a targeted gangland assassination. The murder took place during a turbulent period in Glasgow’s organized crime landscape, when rival criminal factions were engaged in a series of violent confrontations that … More Jamie Campbell
Twenty-four-year-old Akim Akin Jidie Oriola was a well-liked young man who lived in London, England. At approximately ten forty-five p.m. on Saturday, July 15th, 2006, Akim was inside the Village Bar Chinese takeout restaurant on Hoe Lane in Enfield, north London when he became involved in an argument with another customer. Witnesses reported that the … More Akim Oriola
Crime Immemorial 