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 April 13th, 1992, a decomposed body was recovered from a ditch parallel to Interstate 90, only five miles from the border between Wyoming and Montana. The victim—still unidentified and referred to as Sheridan County Jane Doe—was white, between sixteen and twenty-one years old, standing about five-foot-five and weighing one-hundred-ten pounds. She had shoulder-length brown … More Sheridan County Jane Doe
On the afternoon of March 1st, 1992, a truck driver named Barbara Leverton, who had pulled over to the side of Interstate 80 in Sweetwater, Wyoming to change out her fuel tanks, beheld the appalling sight of a naked, frozen corpse lying face down at the bottom of a slope off the roadside, near an … More Bitter Creek Betty
On the morning of January 25th, 1993, another set of skeletal remains would turn up around the area of Shaw Creek in South Carolina, the same location which had earlier seen the discovery of two very similar bodies: that of Jackie Council, who had disappeared in 1986 and was found dead in 1991; and Aiken … More Aiken County Jane Doe Two
On the morning of March 22nd, 1991, a crew of loggers cutting down pine trees near Highway 191 south of Eureka, South Carolina happened upon a set of skeletal remains not far from the banks of Shaw Creek, the very same location where the body of the unidentified Aiken County Jane Doe had been discovered … More Jackie Council
On November 16th of 1987, a pair of hunters patrolling an area near Shaw Creek in Eureka, South Carolina stumbled upon a disturbing scene, one that in hindsight may have been the first inkling of a possible serial killer prowling through the forest. The dead woman had clearly been there for some time, probably between … More Aiken County Jane Doe
In the spring of 1971, the English coastal city of Bournemouth would play host to a crime that bore many similarities to the so-called Coronation Street Murder of Annie Walker from 1969. On May 1st, 1971, seventy-three-year-old Rose Lifely was found dead in the front room of her home on Northcote Road in Bournemouth, where … More Rose Lifely
Chinese immigrants Shum and Toki Sang were in many ways living an American dream. In early 1971, they owned two successful restaurants in New Jersey, and lived in a pleasant two-story home on North Beverwyck Road, the first floor of which they rented out to about a dozen of their employees. On the evening of … More Shum & Toki Sang
In Port Huron, Michigan, police responded to a report of a car accident that had occurred at around two a.m. on the morning of October 8th, 1970. When officers arrived on the scene, however, they were met instead with a bizarre murder. There was indeed a vehicle involved, but it had actually backed into the … More Donald Simons
At around quarter to seven p.m. on Friday, May 15th, 1970, eighteen-year-old Olive Walker left her home on the outskirts of Rotorua, New Zealand to walk to her sister Mary’s house a short distance away. She had agreed to baby-sit Mary’s children that evening. At about seven-fifty p.m., Olive was spotted near the Odeon Theatre … More Olive Walker
It was August 7th, 1969, and workers along I-93 near Salem, New Hampshire spotted what appeared to be human remains in a small pit of water on the side of the highway not far from the Pelham Road exit ramp. Examination of the corpse demonstrated that the individual was a white male between twenty-eight and … More Winston Richard Morris: Salem Unidentified Male
Crime Immemorial 