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.
It was the evening of October 31st, 1963 in Newcastle upon Tyne. Seventy-year-old Katherine Lillian Armstrong, who usually answered to her middle name, was preparing to go to the nearby Methodist church for choir practice, as she did every Thursday evening. Lillian, a retired headmistress and lifelong spinster, had been a member of the congregation … More Katherine Lillian Armstrong: The Halloween Murder
Rikki Neave was six years old, and already hardened beyond his tender age. His mother Ruth, who had been the victim of abuse and neglect herself as a child and whose own parents had died in a bizarre suicide pact, was tragically repeating the cycle. She was a known amphetamine addict, and no stranger to … More Rikki Neave
In a small parish called Cockley Cley in the English county of Norfolk, a nineteen-year-old farm worker named Andrew Head was crossing a field when he noticed something covered with a large sheet of white plastic, lying in the overgrown grass. It was August 27th, 1974. Andrew lifted up the corner of the plastic to … More The Norfolk Headless Body
In the spring of 1972, in Australia, a man would be murdered by a gang of men suspected to have been police officers, and his death would spearhead a significant leap forward for LGBTQ+ rights in the country. Forty-one-year-old Dr. George Duncan had moved to Adelaide, South Australia on March 25th, 1972. Prior to that, … More Dr. George Duncan
On the day after Christmas of 1996, a crime occurred that would go on to become one of the most iconic and hotly debated child murders in the history of American crime, a baffling case of a six-year-old beauty queen, her affluent parents, a bizarre ransom note, and a less-than-ideal police investigation. This is the … More JonBenét Ramsey
Forty-two-year-old Bernita White, a computer engineer at Electronic Data Systems Corporation, was spending June 23rd, 2001 with her five-year-old daughter Michala in Potter Park in Lansing, Michigan, where one of Michala’s friends had been having a birthday party. Mother and daughter were at the park with Artis White, Bernita’s husband and Michala’s father. Notably, Bernita … More Bernita White
In the spring of 1974, in the American Midwest, a young woman would go missing from an adult bookstore and then turn up dead two days later. Twenty-four-year-old Patricia Webb was a complicated individual. Described by friends and family as beautiful, popular, compassionate, and loving, she was also something of a restless spirit. She had … More Patricia Webb
It was the afternoon of Thursday, October 6th, 1921. A twelve-year old girl named Janette Lawrence had a babysitting job after school in her hometown of Madison, New Jersey. She was seen leaving the house on Fairview Avenue where she’d been babysitting, but an hour later, she still had not arrived at her own home, … More Janette Lawrence: The Kluxen Woods Murder
On October 8th, 1996, a farmer in Decatur, Texas stumbled upon the nude body in a pile of dead branches. It appeared the girl had been raped and strangled, though cause of death was not entirely clear, due to the state of decay. The victim bore no particular distinguishing marks, and would eventually come to … More April Lacy: Brush Girl
It was late on the afternoon of Saturday, September 28th, 1974, and seven-year-old Patty Lee Kuzara had been at the home of her babysitter, located in a subdivision in Poway, a suburb about twenty miles from San Diego. At around dusk, with the permission of her mother, she decided to walk the two-and-a-half miles back … More Patty Lee Kuzara
