This poem, often attributed to an anonymous Native American, was actually written by Baltimore housewife Mary Frye in 1932. Mary was moved by the grief of a young Jewish woman staying with them whose mother fell ill and died in Germany. The woman was unable to attend her mother’s funeral due to rising anti-Semitic sentiment back home and was upset at not being able to visit the grave. The poem later became popular with families of servicemen killed in war, especially when no body is recovered.

On 24 February, 1970, 14-year-old Keith Sapsford hid in the weel housing of a Japan Air Lines airplane that was travelling from Sydney to Tokyo. As it was taking off, he plunged to his death. The moment was captured on photograph.

do you think the skelton brothers are alive?

Sadly not, no.

Sheree Beasley was a grade-one pupil at Rosebud Primary School and lived on South Road. According to her mother, Kerrie Greenhill, she was a very talkative and lively little girl; she said that she was her first born and was very special to her. While Sheree was exceptionally friendly, she still knew of stranger danger and would never speak to somebody that she didn’t know. In fact, Kerri had always told Sheree if a stranger approached her, to run to the nearest house for help.

That afternoon, Kerri handed Sheree money to pick up a litre of milk, a bottle of lemonade, meat pies and some cigarettes. She also handed her 50 cents to buy herself some sweets. As she left the home that afternoon, Sheree called out to her mother: “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes, mum. I love you.” Unbeknownst to Kerri, this was the last time she would ever speak to her daughter.

Around an hour after Sheree left the milk bar with the groceries, the alarm was raised. A local resident discovered Sheree’s abandoned bicycle and groceries in the middle of Parkmore Avenue, a dirt road located just off the Nepean Highway, around 100 metres away from the milk bar. The man who found the bicycle placed it against a nearby tree and moments later, another local woman spotted the bicycle. This woman knew Sheree and her family and recognized it immediately as Sheree’s bicycle. The woman contacted Sheree’s other, Kerri Greenhill, who in turn called police to report her daughter missing.

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞:

you ever hear of the belcher island murders? one of the more obscure cases that has been the object of obsession for me.

I don’t think I have actually, but I’m going to look it up now!!

Dr. Arthur Duperrault had always promised his family they would one day go sailing. That day finally rolled around on 8 November, 1961, when Arthur, his wife, Jean, and their three children, 14-year-old Brian, 11-year-old Terry Jo, and 7-year-old Renee, departed Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to sail to the Bahamas. Also in attendance was WWII and Korean War veteran, Julian Harvey, and his wife, Mary Dene. Julian was on board to skipper the yacht.

While the trip started out as idyllic, it soon turned to horror. One night, Terry Jo was awoken by piercing screams. As she came up to the deck, she was met by a bloodbath - her entire family and Mary had been brutally murdered. Standing at the other side of the deck was Julian, who shouted to Terry Jo to stay on board as he escaped on a dinghy. Terry Jo soon realised that the yacht was quickly sinking but she managed to untie a small cork float which she launched into the ocean.

Four days later, Terry Jo was rescued by a passing ship. She had been floating on the cork float with no food or water. Meanwhile, Julian was picked up by a different ship and claimed that the yacht had mysteriously sunk, killing everybody onboard. Unbeknownst to him, Terry Jo had survived and was able to refute his claims, telling the captain of the ship that Julian had killed everybody on board before escaping.

As it was later revealed, Julian had planned to kill his wife to pick up the insurance money and he killed Terry Jo’s family as a way to cover up the murder. Terry Jo later said she believed that Julian hadn’t killed her because he expected her to sink with the yacht.

After discovering that Terry Jo was still alive, Julian took his own life.

Lorenz Peter Elfred Freuchen was a Danish explorer who is most notable for his role in Arctic exploration, in particular the Thule expeditions, which took place between 1912 and 1933. While on one of these expeditions, Freuchen got caught in a horrendous blizzard while in Greenland. The weather was so bad that he took cover under a dogsled. When the blizzard ceased, he realised he was buried under a thick layer of snow, unable to move. After being stuck for 30 hours under the dogsled, clawing and digging at the ice and snow, Freuchen used another tactic - he fashioned a knife out of his own frozen faeces and chiselled his way out. It took him three hours to crawl back to base where he then realised he had severe gangrene on his toes. He then amputated his toes with pliers and a hammer.

On the 30th of December, 2016, 12-year-old Katelyn Nicole Davis from Cedartown, Georgia, hanged herself in her garden. The tormented young girl live streamed the heart-breaking event. After the footage went viral, police were powerless to take it down.

In the first half of the 42-minute video, Katelyn reveals to her viewers that she had been sexually abused by a family member. She can be seen in her front yard, tying a rope around a tree branch. The sadness on her face is evident as she states: “I’m sorry that I’m not pretty enough. I’m sorry for everything, I’m really, truly sorry. But I can’t do this.” Katelyn then ties the rope around her neck, says goodbye to her friends and family and then kicks a bucket out from underneath her feet.

The footage doesn’t end when her life ends, however. It continues for another 20 minutes and at the end, a woman shouts her name off camera. By the time police finally arrived, it was much too late. Katelyn was pronounced dead at Polk Medical Center’s emergency unit.

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞:

Latvian-born photographer, Philippe Halsman, lived two very different lives. On one hand, he was a celebrated photographer, most known for his work on Dali Atomicus with Salvador Dali. As a young man, however, Philippe was a victim of a horrendous miscarriage of justice.

Born in Riga, Latvia, to Jewish parents - Morduch, a dentist, and Ita, a teacher - Philippe studied engineering in Dresden. The family were well educated and well travelled. In late summer of 1928, Philippe and his father, Morduch Halsman, were hiking in the Zillertal valley in the Austrian town of Tyrol. While once a popular holidaying spot, the area had since become a centre of the Heimwehr movement.  Morduch was hiking a little behind Philippe when he tripped and fell down the steep cliff face. By the time Philippe found a safe route down to his father, he realised that Morduch had been beaten to death and robbed.

At the time of the murder, there was a series of unsolved crimes as well as a growing anti semitic movement. For reasons unknown, local police decided to arrest Philippe and charge him with his father’s murder and sent to Innsbruck to stand trial. Despite the fact that there was no evidence against Philippe, he was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in solitary confinement. There was an uproar across Austria and Germany and ultimately, the Supreme Court of Austria reversed the verdict and Philippe was sent to stand trial again. This time, he was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to four years behind bars.

His case drew national attention; Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Mann and other intellectuals endorsed his innocence and after two years, Philippe was released. Following his release, he became interested in photography and soon turned his hobby into a career. He developed a unique photography style and sought out well-known figures to capture; he worked with the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Alford Hitchcock.

 In November of 1940, Philippe arrived in New York City with little more than just his trusty camera. By now, he was married with children and fleeing from the Nazis in Paris where he had lived. In fact, it was Albert Einstein who had helped him flee to the United States. Within three months, he had a contract with a photography agency and within two years, his work featured on the cover of Life magazine as well as numerous others. He was known for his ability to combine glamour, sex and wholesome energy in just one shoot.

Philippe Halsman died on the 25th of June, 1979.

FLEETWOOD MAC — Don't Stop (Official Music Video 1977) [4K Remaster] ☽ [stevie gifs] ☽

In Derbyshire, England, a mass grave consisting of 300 soldiers from the Great Viking Army was discovered. While this isn’t unusual, the fact that a grave of slaughtered children found beside it certainly is. The second grave consisted of four people aged between eight and 18. They had been buried together in a single grave with a sheep jaw at their feet. At least two of the bodies showed evidence of traumatic injury which suggests they may have been sacrificed in a ritual to accompany the dead soldiers. There are historical accounts that human sacrifice may have formed part of the Viking funeral.

𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐋𝐞𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞

Cascades, located in Portadown, Northern Ireland, was once a bustling leisure centre, boasting a 33-meter, 6-lane pool, a smaller pool for children and learners, and fitness suites including a full gym and steam room. Its doors closed in August 2020, as part of a strategic move to amalgamate with two other leisure centres in the borough, paving the way for a more contemporary facility in Craigavon.

Full report and history on site: https://urbexhub.com/cascades-leisure-centre/

𝐖𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤!

It's been just over a year since we've shared an update here - but worry not, we've not disappeared!

We've been extensively traveling across Europe and America and can't wait to share with you locations from:

🇦🇱 Albania 🇧🇾 Belarus 🇺🇦 Chernobyl 🇪🇪 Estonia 🇮🇪 Ireland 🇱🇻 Latvia 🇱🇹 Lithuania 🇲🇰 Macedonia 🇵🇱 Poland 🇪🇸 Spain 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 🇺🇸 USA

Highlights include abandoned ghost towns, former military bases, hospitals, hotels, abandoned fighter planes, Soviet relics and more!

Furthermore, we've revamped the site with a new urbex map, allowing you to discover nearby locations. Plus, our urbex guides cover everything from essential equipment to location scouting, safety measures, and the legal aspects of urbex exploration.

We're thrilled to be back! Stay tuned for a new report tomorrow.

On Christmas Day of 1951, it was the 25th wedding anniversary of Harry and Harriette Moore from Mims, Florida. The couple were pioneer activists and lead re of the early civil rights movement in the United States. Unbeknownst to them, later on that night, they would become the first martyrs of the movement.

In 1934, Harry founded the Brevard County, Florida, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter. NAACP worked towards achieving equal pay for equal work for teachers of any race and fought to have lunching prosecuted and attempted to register voters of colour in the region. Harry saw some success during the nascent civil rights movement; voters of colour doubled in Florida during the last half of the 1940s and lawsuits started to be filed to challenge the policy of paying teacher of colour less than their white counterparts.

Due to their civil rights activity, both Harry and Harriette were fired from the school where they both worked. Orange County was a hotbed of racism and violence during the 1940s and early 1950s; the Orange County Ku Klux Klan was gaining popularity and turning more violent by the day.

On that fateful Christmas afternoon, Harry and Harriette had celebrated their anniversary with Harry’s mother and their 24-year-old daughter. They spent the evening eating cake and chatting. At around 10:15PM, the couple climbed into bed and switched off the light. Moments later, there was an almighty explosion; somebody had planted 3 pounds of dynamite under the bedroom floor of the couple.

The force of the dynamite tore open the floor and slammed the mattress to the ceiling before crashing back down. The bedroom was completely obliterated, the front porch had been shredded and the frame of the house destroyed.Harry died on the way to Stanford hospital in the back of a relative’s Buick; Stanford hospital was the closest hospital that would treat people of colour. Harriette died nine days later due to massive internal injuries; she lived long enough to see her husband be buried.

When police arrived at the scene, a sniffer dog picked up a scent which led to nearby Dixie Highway before abruptly stopping. Sure enough Sheriff H.T. Williams found footprints alongside the scent but since he walked through them, the plaster imprint made was useless. Officially, the murders remain unsolved but according to FBI documents, the Orange County Ku Klux Klan are responsible.

Four suspects were known high ranking members of the Ku Klux Klan: Earl J. Brooklyn, Tillman H. Belvin, Joseph Cox and Edward L. Spivey. Despite the evidence against them, no arrests were ever made and all four main suspects are now deceased.

Anti-German sentiment was rampant in the United States following World War One. Numerous German language newspapers were shuttered and the names of so-called “disloyal” German-Americans were published in newspapers. It wasn’t uncommon for German immigrants to be attacked.

On the 18th of August, 1918, men in Luverne, Minnesota, forced their way into the home of John Meints, a local German-American farmer. They dragged him from his hone and drove him to the South Dakota border where he was beaten, whipped and threatened. Afterwards, the men tarred and feathered him and told him to cross the border into South Dakota, threatening to kill him if he returned to Minnesota.

Meints sued all 32 men involved in the attack, however the judge ruled in their favour and they were set free without charge.

Zanjeer was a Labrador retriever who trained at the Dog Training Center of the Criminal Investigation Department in Pune, India. Following his training, he was enlisted in the Mumbai Police Bonn Detection and Disposal Squad in December of 1992. During his service, Zanjeer helped to recover 11 military bombs, 57 country-made bombs, 175 petrol bombs and 600 detonators. Moreover, he assisted in detecting the bombs during the 1993 Mumbai bombings, averting three more planned attacks.

Due to his outstanding performance, Zanjeer was honoured with a full state funeral after perishing from cancer on the 16th of November, 2000.

88-year-old Russell Dermond and 87-year-old Shirley Dermond had enjoyed 68 years of blissful marriage. They lived in 3,300-square-foot home in Reynolds Plantation, a gated community on the banks of Lake Ocenee, Georgia, around 80 miles southeast of Atlanta.

Russell was raised in New Jersey. He graduated from north Jersey’s Farleigh Dickinson University in three years. In the mid-1940s, he served in the Navy and went to work for General Time Corp. where he was director of information services and data processing. He had owned a number of restaurants before his retirement.

Throughout his career, he was said to be a hard worker. Shirley graduated from Barnard College and was a stay at home mother, looking after the couple’s children.

The couple were nothing out of the ordinary. They were regular churchgoers and enjoyed reading, playing golf, going to the movies, and lunching with friends. This uniformity is exactly why it was so shocking when Russell and Shirley were brutally murdered....

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞: