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.
As 1981 was drawing to a close, a young girl in Canada would disappear while trying to thumb a lift. Fourteen-year-old Dana Bradley had been hanging out at a friend’s house in St. John’s, Newfoundland on December 14th, but at around five p.m., decided she had better start heading toward home, as her mother was … More Dana Bradley
The first week of June of 1991 would see the appalling slaughter of a successful businesswoman in broad daylight in a parking lot in England. Ruth Penelope Bell, better known to family and friends as Penny, was a forty-three-year-old woman who ran a thriving employment agency called Coverstaff Ltd., which placed candidates in catering positions. … More Penny Bell
Not long after the end of the 1980s and the dawn of a new decade, an elderly woman looking forward to a sunny Florida retirement would instead turn up murdered in her own home. Sixty-seven-year-old Eileen Jones had only moved to Gainesville, in north Florida, in 1989. She had always been something of a loner, … More Eileen Jones
In the summer of 1990, in France, a gay pastor would be spirited away by supposed police officers and later be found dead, possibly the victim of a nefarious conspiracy. Joseph Doucé had been born to a Catholic family in Belgium, but in later years converted to the Baptist faith, studied to become a pastor, … More Joseph Doucé
A few days before Halloween of 1990, there would be a horrific murder of a handsome gay man in the streets of Tinseltown, a crime that was sadly largely forgotten until recently. William Arnold Newton was originally from Wisconsin, but eventually ended up in Los Angeles in 1985 after wandering around the country for a … More William Newton
On the day after Valentine’s Day of 1991, a group of windsurfers was enjoying a camping trip at the Bahia Honda State Recreation area on West Summerland Key in South Florida. The location where they had set up camp was a thickly wooded copse not far off the beach and quite close to the Bahia … More Wanda Kirkum: Valentine Jane Doe
Twenty-nine-year-old Lynne Trenholm lived in the town of Failsworth, in Greater Manchester. Though she had always told her family that she worked as a receptionist, she was actually a sex worker, using the pseudonyms Blondie and Marilyn, and plying her trade out of a brothel-slash-massage-parlor known as Pinky’s, in Boughton. On the morning of Sunday, … More Lynne Trenholm
Thirty-three-year-old Sandy Drummond lived in a cottage in the village of Boarhills, near Fife, Scotland, with his brother James. Sandy had worked as a laborer at the nearby Guardbridge Paper Mill for the past seven years, but in late June, he abruptly quit his job, and also withdrew a large sum of money from his … More Sandy Drummond
In September of 1988, there would be a brutal double murder in New York that would result in a controversial familial conviction and later acquittal. Seymour and Arlene Tankleff lived in the well-heeled village of Belle Terre, on the North Shore of Long Island. Seymour was an insurance broker, and he and his wife often … More Seymour and Arlene Tankleff
On October 11th, 1991, a sixty-two-year-old man by the name of Colin Oliver was walking from Cuckfield back to his home in Burgess Hill, via Broxmead Lane in the village of Bolney, in Sussex. As he wandered a little way off the road to urinate, he was horrified to discover part of a human body … More The Bolney Torso
