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.
On the morning of Friday, March 22nd, 1968, twenty-five-year-old Geraldine Lempke Maggert was at the apartment in Cedar Rapids, Iowa that she shared with her four-year-old daughter Richine. Geraldine and her husband Richard had divorced in mid-1967, after which Richard had moved to Ithaca, New York, and Geraldine had taken a job as a secretary … More Geraldine Lempke Maggert
Seventy-six-year-old Andrew “Andy” Hatges, a Greek immigrant who had come to the United States at the age of eighteen and subsequently served in the military before opening his first grocery store in 1962, was a much-loved fixture in Mason City. By 1968, he was running the West Vu Market on Fourth Street, and lived alone … More Andy Hatges
In Iowa, the first week of March 1968 would see a bizarre missing persons case that bore eerie similarities to the 1962 murders of Christine and Julie Louise Maps in Pennsylvania, though the two crimes were almost certainly unrelated. Twenty-year-old Gary Eugene Sebek shared an apartment in Hamburg, Iowa with his young wife Shirley and … More Gary Sebek
Forty-six-year-old Catherine Duncan and her husband Thomas had spent the evening of Friday, February 2nd, 1968 engaging in one of their favorite pastimes: playing bingo at the Wallyford Miners’ Welfare Society Social Club, which was only a short walk from their home in the little Scottish mining village. The couple had, by all accounts, had … More Catherine Duncan
Eighteen-year-old Sheila Jean Collins was originally from Evanston, Illinois, but moved to Ames, Iowa shortly after graduating high school to attend Iowa State University, where she was a freshman in the early part of 1968. By all accounts, she was a well-liked and studious young woman who worked part-time in the cafeteria in her dorm, … More Sheila Jean Collins
Eighteen-year-old Christine Rothschild was a freshman at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, having just moved into a dormitory on campus the previous autumn from her native Chicago. She was studying journalism, and had even managed to get some work modeling for department store catalogs on the side. On the morning of Sunday, May 26th, 1968, … More Christine Rothschild
Carrie Brumfield lived in Franklinton, Louisiana, but worked at a shipyard in Mississippi. On September 12th, 1967, passersby discovered him dead in the front seat of his car, which was parked on a deserted rural road. He had been shot once in the chest with a .22 caliber pistol. Police seemed to be at a … More Carrie Brumfield
Fifty-four-year-old Dr. Helen Davidson had been practicing medicine in the market town of Amersham, Buckinghamshire for more than two decades. On the afternoon of Wednesday, November 9th, 1966, after her husband had gone off to work, Helen hopped into her car, accompanied by her beloved terrier Fancy. Presumably, Helen was heading toward Hodgemoor Wood to … More Dr. Helen Davidson
In late July of 1966, there would be another racially-motivated murder in Louisiana that tragically recalled the 1965 slaying of Deputy Sheriff Oneal Moore. Twenty-four-year-old Clarence Triggs was an Army veteran and a bricklayer who had only just moved to Bogalusa, Louisiana with his wife Emma from their former home in Jackson, Mississippi. Though he … More Clarence Triggs
On May 23rd, 1966, forty-year-old Ohio State University professor and rocket scientist Loren E. Bollinger was found dead in a pool of blood in a storage room. The well-liked and unmarried professor had tempered his resignation with the college shortly before, and had planned to open up his own office that July in the building … More Loren Bollinger
