15 Most Disturbing, Vicious and Evil Serial Killers

15. Bloody Benders – America

 

Bloody Benders is a family of serial killers who owned a small general store and inn in Labette County, Kansas. They are known to have killed 11 rich travelers who stayed at their inn. The Bender family home had a large room that was divided by a curtain. They used to give a seat of honor to their rich guests, with his back to the curtain. Kate, the daughter of John Bender, would distract the guest, while John Bender or his son would come from behind the curtain and strike the guest on the skull with a hammer. The throat of all the victims was then cut to ensure their death. They used to strip the body in their secret cellar and bury it. They are the subject of many novels, books and plays, including Hell Benders (1999) by Ken Hodgson, Lyle Brandt’s novel Massacre Trail (2009), Cottonwood (2004) by Scott Phillips, Candle of the Wicked (1960) by Manly Wade Wellman and They Bite (1943) by Anthony Boucher. They could never be caught.

14. Shen Changyin and Shen Changping/Cannibal Brothers – China

 

These Chinese serial killers also known as Cannibal brothers, targeted prostitutes. They killed 11 prostitutes in 1 year from June 2003 to August 2004 along with 3 female accomplices. They ate their livers, burned the bodies with Sulphuric acid and flushed them down the toilet. They had plotted the murders after they lost money when their Lanzhou auto parts business failed. The Shens and Li were sentenced to death in September 2005. Three other female accomplices were sentenced to 3 to 20 years in prison.

13. Dennis Nilsen/Muswell Hill Murderer/The Kindly Killer – England

 

This vicious and psycho serial killer killed at least fifteen men and boys between 1978 and 1983 and retained their corpses. He was eventually caught when someone complained of drain blockage. The drain cleaning company found that the drains were congested with human flesh and contacted the police. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was initially given a 25 years sentence which was later extended to whole life tariff.

12. David and Catherine Birnie/Moorhouse murders – Australia

 

This vicious and soulless Australian couple kidnapped and abducted 5 women ranging in age from 15 to 35 in their home in the 1980s. They repeatedly raped them and brutally killed 4 of them. The way they raped and killed these women was extremely inhuman, vicious and brutal. They buried them in a forest. Their final and the only victim to survive their attacks was seventeen-year-old Kate Moir. She managed to escape and contacted the police. He pleaded guilty. When asked why he pleaded guilty, he pointed toward the victims’ families and said, “It’s the least I could do.” He was sentenced to four consecutive sentences of life imprisonment along with Catherine. He committed suicide by hanging in his cell in 2005. Catherine is still in the prison under the orders ‘never to be released’.

11. Ted Bundy – America

 

This prolific and vicious American serial killer murdered over 30 white middle-class females between the ages of 15 and 25. Bundy’s victims were beaten then strangled. He was also guilty of rape and necrophilia. He collected the heads of the victims as souvenirs. He was executed by electric chair by the state of Florida in 1989. He killed women who resembled his fiancée Stephanie Brooks and had similar hair styles.

10. Dean Arnold Corll/Houstan Mass Murder/The Candy Man – America

 

He lured and killed 27 young boys with two younger accomplices David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley. He raped them and then shot or strangled them to death. His accomplices found his victims for him for $200 each. This case is known as ‘Houston Mass Murders’ and is one of the worst case of serial killing in American history. He was killed by one of his accomplices.

9. Ahmad Suradji – Indonesian

 

He was a witch doctor and a ritualistic serial killer. He killed 42 young or middle aged girls and women in 11 years. He buried his victims up to their waists and then strangled them. In his confession he told that he had done so to become a mystic healer. He put the blame on the ghost of his father who came in his dream and directed him to kill these women and drink their saliva if he wants to become a mystic healer. He was executed by firing squad on July 10, 2008.

8. Alexander Pichushkin/Chessboard Killer/The Bitsa Park Maniac – Russia

 

This vicious and cruel evil minded killer killed 48 people, most of which were elderly homeless men in Southwest Moscow’s Bitsa Park. He found pleasure in killing and killed in competition with Russia’s most notorious serial killer, Andrei Chikatilo, who was convicted in 1992 of killing 52 children and young women in 12 years. He killed them by smashing their heads with a hammer from the back to avoid splashing of blood on his face. He asked the Russian court to add an additional 11 victims to his body count, bringing his claimed death toll to 60 and 3 surviving victims. He is in life imprisonment, the first 15 years of which he will spend in solitary confinement.

7. Gary Leon Ridgway/The Green River Killer – America

 

This brutal murder had 48 charges of aggravated first degree murder. He is also known as the Green River Killer because his first 5 victims were found by the Green River. He in a statement said that killing young women was his career, most of which were prostitutes. In 2005 he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

6. Andrei Chikatilo/The Red Ripper/The Rostov Ripper – Russia

 

The vicious evil beast killed 53 women and children (of both genders) for sexual satisfaction. They were killed in different ways but all were mutilated. Andrei Chikatilo was shot and executed on February 14, 1994.

5. Yang Xinhai/Monster Killer – China

 

This cruel and soulless serial killer committed 65 murders and 23 rapes between 1999 and 2003. His DNA got him caught. Yang was executed on February 14, 2004, by a gunshot to the back of the head

4. Carl Eugene Watts/Coral – America

 

Watts was an African American and killed more than 100 white females between the ages of 14 and 44. He did the first murder at the age of 20 in 1974. He kidnapped his victims from their homes, torturing them, and then murdering them. Watts initially confessed the murder of 12 women. Later he claimed to have killed 40 women and has also implied that there were more than 80 victims in total. Police considers Watts a suspect in 90 unsolved murders. He was given a 60 years life sentence and died of cancer.

3. Luis Garavito/ The Beast – America

 

 

This Colombian rapist and serial killer brutally killed at least 140 young boys. He drew a map in prison indicating the locations of the skeletons of the victims. According to that the count exceeds 300. He raped his victims and then had their throats slit.  He was initially imprisoned for 30 years which was later reduced to 22 years.

2. Countess Erzsébet Báthory/Blood Countess/Blood Queen – Hungry

 

 

This evil soul Hungarian countess slaughtered six hundred or more innocent young virgin women in order to improve her complexion and also to maintain her failing grasp on her youth. She bathed in their blood. Her accomplices were executed. She, on the other hand, was bricked into rooms of her castle for house arrest till death. Her character has appeared in many dramas, plays and film.

1. Thug Behram – India

 

Thug Behram was one of the most lethal and prolific serial killers of all times. He was a member of Indian Thuggee cult. He may have murdered up to 931 victims by strangulation between 1790–1840. He used his ceremonial cloth for all the murders. Today Behram’s ‘confession’ is available in a manuscript on Thuggee written by James Paton, an East India Company officer working for the Thuggee and Dacoity Office in the 1830s. According to that he probably killed 125 men or 50 more and was present on the site at the time of the killing of 931 men. The evil was brought to an end in 1840 by hanging.

10 Most Terrifying Places on Earth

Riddle House

The History
The Riddle House in Palm Beach County, Florida, was originally a funeral parlor. The Victorian house was dismantled and rebuilt in Yesteryear Village at the South Florida fair grounds. In the 1920’s the house became privately owned by Karl Riddle.
The Terror
Joseph, one of Riddle’s former employees, committed suicide by hanging himself in the attic of the house. Joseph, for whatever reason, hated men, and displays this hatred by attacking men who enter the attic. One man had a lid flung at his head, and men are now no longer allowed in the attic. Other places in the house are haunted as well, with furniture being frequently moved.

Helltown

The History
The Northern part of Summit County in Ohio is known by the eerily blunt moniker, Helltown. In the 70’s, Boston Township was the site of a government buyout, and subsequent mass eviction of citizens. The houses were intended to be torn down and the land used for a national park, but the plans never quite manifested. Legends spawned wildly, and who can blame the legend mongers? Driving through the dark, wooded landscape was enough to give you chills even when it was populated, let alone when you have to drive by boarded up houses standing next to the burnt out hulks of others (the local fire department used some buildings for practice).
The Terror
Whether based on a kernel of truth or cooked up in the heads of creative visitors, the persistent legends of Helltown add to the creep factor. The steep Stanford Road drop off, immediately followed by a dead end, and is aptly named The End of the World. If you get stuck at this dead end for too long, according to ghost story enthusiasts, you may meet your end at the hands of many members of the endless parade of freaks patrolling the woods. Satanists, Ku Klux Klan members, an escaped mental patient, an abnormally large snake, and mutants caused by an alleged chemical spill proudly march in this parade. And if you stray from the roads, you may find Boston Cemetery, home to a ghostly man, grave robbers and, the quirkiest of all, a moving tree.

Stull Cemetery

The History
Stull, Kansas, is a tiny, unincorporated town in Bumfuck, Douglas County. Ten miles west of Lawrence and thirteen miles east of Topeka puts it far from anything resembling a large population center. The population of Stull is approximately 20 people. But, don’t let the deceptively quaint village fool you. A darker side lurks behind the bushes and in the shadows.
The Terror
In the early 20th century, two tragedies rocked the tiny settlement (please observe, these are not legend or folklore, but fact). First, a father finished burning a farm field, only to find the charred corpse of his young son in the aftermath. The second incident to occur was a man went missing, and was later found hanged from a tree. As far as legends go, the infamous cemetery is where you can find your fill of supernatural lore. The book Weird US has this to say on Stull Cemetery:
“There are graveyards across America that go beyond merely being haunted and enter into the realm of the diabolical. They are places so terrifying that they say the devil himself holds courts with his worshippers there. The cemetery on Emmanuel Hill in Stull, Kansas, is one of these places.”
Rumors exist stating that Stull Cemetery is one of the 7 gateways to Hell. While the old church is now demolished, many attempt to sneak in at night for a peek at the unsavory goings-on. But be warned, the police patrol heavily, especially on Halloween and the spring equinox. The place is supposed to be so unholy, in fact, that some claim Pope John Paul II refused to allow his plane to fly over eastern Kansas, on his way to an appearance in Colorado. The validity of this last claim is up for debate, but none can deny that legends or not, Stull Cemetery is a terrifying place to be.

The Ridges

The History
Originally known as the Athens Lunatic Asylum, The Ridges was renamed after the state of Ohio acquired the property. The hospital saw hundreds of lobotomies, and often declared masturbation and epilepsy to be the causes of insanity in patients.
The Terror
Athens, Ohio, is listed as the 13th most haunted place in the world, as per the British Society for Psychical Research. The nearby Ohio University (which currently owns most of the property on which the Ridges is located) is said to be heavily haunted. The notorious rapist with Dissociative Identity Disorder, Billy Milligan, was housed at the facility for years. The most famous story; however is that of a 54 year old female patient who ran away and was missing for 6 weeks. She was found dead in an unused ward. She had taken off all of her clothes, neatly folded them, and lay down on the cold concrete where she subsequently died. Through a combination of decomposition and sun exposure, her corpse left a permanent stain on the floor, which is still visible today. Her spirit now haunts the abandoned ward.

Humberstone and LaNoria

The History
These two abandoned mining towns in Chile were recently featured on an episode of the SyFy Channel’s show, Destination Truth. In 1872, the town was founded as a saltpeter mine, and business boomed. However, after several heavy blows (including the Great Depression), the business declined and then collapsed in 1958, and the town of Humberstone and it’s surrounding towns were abandoned by 1960. Treatment of workers in both towns bordered on slavery, and now the towns are left standing derelict.
The Terror
It is rumored that the dead of the La Noria cemetery rise at night and walk around the town, and ghostly images frequently show up in photographs in Humberstone. These towns are so terrifying; the residents of nearby Iquique refuse to enter them. The former residents never left, and can be seen walking around, and children have been heard playing. The cemetery of La Noria, regardless of whether its occupants actually walk at night, contains opened graves where the bodies are fully exposed, leaving you to wonder why. Is it ghosts, or is it grave robbers? As if either prospect is very appealing.

Byberry Mental Asylum

The History
The Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry, or known simply as Byberry, was the poster image for patient maltreatment. The hospital, in its most popular form, was founded in 1907, and known as the Byberry Mental Hospital. It exceeded its patient limit quickly, maxing out at over 7,000 in 1960. It housed everything from the mentally challenged to the criminally insane. Due to its atrocious conditions, and the sub-human treatment of its patients, the hospital was closed and abandoned in 1990. It had since become a nuisance for the neighborhood, as it was a breeding ground for vandals, arsonists, Satanists, and urban explorers. It was demolished in 2006, in spite of the fear of spreading asbestos, (which is what kept it standing for 16 years).
The Terror
The terrifying aspect of this location isn’t so much its haunting or the unsavory characters that lurked after dark. The terror here comes from the facts of the how the hospital was run. Human excrement lined the hallways, which were also where many patients slept. The staff was abusive, and frequently exploited and harassed patients. One patient had a tooth pulled without Novocaine, while another killed and dismembered a female patient. Although the killer, Charles Gable, was never found, the victim’s body was found strewn across the property. Her teeth were found being played with by another patient. Even as the hospital was in the process of closing, two released patients were found dead in the Delaware River, two successive days after their release. Perhaps that gate in Stull Cemetery opens here.

Leap Castle

The History
While this Irish castle is perhaps the most popular location featured on the list, it is worth recapping the long and often gruesome history. Although it was built by the O’Bannons in the late 15th century, the castle was taken over by the ruling O’Carrolls, to whom the O’Bannons were subject. After the death of Mulrooney O’Carroll, a fierce rivalry erupted, culminating in two brothers struggling for control. One of the brothers, a priest, was brutally murdered in his own chapel, in front of the family, by the other brother. This chapel is now known as the Bloody Chapel, for obvious reasons. Many people were held prisoner and even executed at the castle.
The Terror
The castle is rumored to be haunted by a vast number of spirits, including a violent, hunched beast known only as the Elemental. It is most recognizable by the accompanying smell of rotting flesh and sulphur. While renovating the castle, workers discover an oubliette, which is a dungeon accessible only through a ceiling hatch, into which prisoners are thrown, then forgotten and left to die. This particular oubliette contained three cartloads of human remains, and was filled with spikes to impale those thrown into its depths.

Shades of Death Road

The History
This New Jersey road winds through 7 miles of countryside, and along that stretch it gives us no definitive clues as to the origin of its eerie name (for those wondering, Shades of Death is not a nickname given by locals, but is in fact the road’s official moniker). While the explanation for this highly unusual name has been lost, many theories abound. Some say that murderous highwaymen would rob and kill those along the road. Others say the reason was because of violent retaliations by the locals against the very same highwaymen, resulting in their lynched corpses being hung up as a warning. Some attribute it to three murders that occurred in the 20’s and 30’s. The first murder saw a robber beating his victim over the head with a tire iron, the second saw a woman decapitate her husband and bury the head and body on separate sides of the road, and the third consisted of poor Bill Cummins being shot and buried in a mud pile. Some attribute it to massive amounts of fatal car crashes, while others consider it the fault of viscous wildcats from the nearby Bear Swamp. The most likely explanation, however, is that malaria-bearing mosquitoes terrorized the locals year to year, and the remoteness of the area prevented good medical attention from being prominent in the area. This is supported by the fact that, in 1884, most of the swamps in the area were drained.
The Terror
Gruesome history and spooky name aside, you have much to fear along this byway. South of the I-80 overpasses lies an officially unnamed lake that most will tell you is called Ghost Lake. This lake is frequently the home of specter-like vapors, and the sky is supposed to be unusually bright, no matter what time of night you are there. As per the name, ghosts of the highwaymen’s victims roam the area, and they are most frequent in the abandoned cabin across the lake. The dead-end road known as Lenape Lane is home to thick fogs and apparitions, you may be chased off the road by a white light. I’ll let Wikipedia detail the most disturbing aspect of the road:
“One day during the 1990s, some visitors found hundreds of Polaroid photographs scattered in woods just off the road. They took some and shared them with Weird NJ, which published a few as samples. Most of the disturbing images showed a television changing channels, others showed a woman or women, blurred and somewhat difficult to identify, lying on some sort of metal object, conscious but not smiling. Local police began an investigation after the magazine ran an item with the photos, but the remainder disappeared shortly afterwards.”

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

The History
Welcome to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, home of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. This former high school was converted, in 1975, to Security Prison 21 by the Khmer Rouge. The prison was used as a base to torture and murder prisoners. Most of the prisoners were former soldiers and government officials from the Lon Nol regime. However, the Khmer Rouge leaders’ paranoia soon caught up with them, and they began shipping people from their own ranks to the prison. Many prisoners were tortured and tricked into naming their family and associates, who were them also arrested, tortured and murdered.
The Terror
The ghosts of the estimated 17,000 victims of Tuol Sleng continue to roam the halls, and odd happenings around the place are often attributed to them: and it isn’t hard to see why. Most were forced to confess to crimes they didn’t actually commit. Although most victims were Cambodians, many foreigners fell victim to the death machine, including Americans, French, a New Zealander, a Briton, Australians, Arabs, Indians, Pakistanis and Vietnamese. Only 12 people are thought to have survived. To close the entry on this sad history, I’ll leave you with the actual security regulations, the ten rules all prisoners had to abide by. All imperfect grammar is said in context due to poor translation.

1.      You must answer accordingly to my question. Don’t turn them away.
2. Don’t try to hide the facts by making pretexts this and that; you are strictly prohibited to contest me.
3. Don’t be a fool for you are a chap who dares to thwart the revolution.
4. You must immediately answer my questions without wasting time to reflect.
5. Don’t tell me either about your immoralities or the essence of the revolution.
6. While getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all.
7. Do nothing, sit still and wait for my orders. If there is no order, keep quiet. When I ask you to do something, you must do it right away without protesting.
8. Don’t make pretext about Kampuchea Krom in order to hide your secret or traitor.
9. If you don’t follow all the above rules, you shall get many lashes of electric wire.
10. If you disobey any point of my regulations you shall get either ten lashes or five shocks of electric discharge.

The Mines of Paris

The History
The seemingly infinite tunnels that run below the streets of Paris should not be confused with the Catacombs of Paris; the famous underground ossuary, although the mines are also mistakenly referred to as the catacombs. Exploring the mines is illegal, and penalties include heavy fines. The mines were used to dig out minerals from Paris’ varied sediment (the location where Paris is was submerged for millions of years), and the tunnels are what got left behind.
The Terror
The mines are now unkempt, unpatrolled and unsafe. As far as legends go, ancient cults and creatures patrol the depths. Spirits dwell in the infinite shadows, and if one wanders deep enough, and survives, they may even enter Hades itself. As far as reality goes, those legends can take a back seat. The tunnels stretch for close to 600 kilometers throughout the Parisian underground, and most of them are unmapped. Saying it is easy to get lost is an understatement. It is nearly impossible not to get lost. Many parts of the catacombs are hundreds of feet below street level. Some hallways are flooded, or are so narrow you have to crawl through them. There are holes that drop hundreds of feet, and manholes that are unreachable, luring unwary urban explorers in with false promises of freedom. The infinite underground maze absorbs sound, mutes it, making it unlikely you will hear somebody yelling for help, even if they are not far away. Or, worse yet, making it unlikely somebody will hear you. Thousands of human bones litter the tunnels, due to overcrowding in many of Paris’ cemeteries. Weird paintings adorn the walls. Are they ancient? Are they new? Are they warnings? Or pleas for help? If you have claustrophobia, you will want to avoid the mines at all costs. If you don’t have claustrophobia, you probably will after a trip through the mines. Bring plenty of batteries, backup flashlights, clean water, a friend, and say a prayer before entering the mines of Paris. You will need them all.

Top 10 J-Pop Songstresses

J-pop, short for Japanese pop, is, according to Wikipedia, a loosely-defined musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in 1960s music such as The Beatles and replaced kayokyoku (“Lyric Singing Music”, a term for Japanese pop music from the 1920s to the 1980s) in the Japanese music scene. The term was coined by the Japanese media to distinguish Japanese music from foreign music, and now refers to most Japanese popular music.”—-Wikipedia

10. Angela Aki

 

Angela Aki is notable in that her musical style is, for the most part, quite unlike that of the others on this list. Much of her music is orchestral or acoustic and in nearly, if not ALL, of her songs she plays the piano, one of her trademarks, and for good reason, being incredibly gifted at it. Her look is also very unique in the Jpop industry-her wild black hair, black glasses, and distinctly non-Japanese features are an incredibly refreshing sight. Aki was born to a Japanese father and Italian-American mother and is fluent in both Japanese and English and sings in both. She may also be known to fans of the Final Fantasy series for her song “Kiss Me Good-Bye”, used as the theme song for Final Fantasy XII, as well as singing a cover of the Final Fantasy VIII theme song “Eyes On Me.” Her most successful singles include the aforementioned “Kiss Me Good-Bye”, “This Love”, “Sakurairo”, and “Tegami (Haikei Jugo no Kimi e).”

9. Nami Tamaki

 

Nami Tamaki is truly talented, being known for her powerful dancing. Making her debut in 2003 with her single “Believe”, she has since put out 6 studio albums and 2 compilation albums, 4 of those albums making it into the top 10 and 2 of those four making #1 in Japan. Her voice is pleasant and her dancing is unique and powerful. Her music also steps out of just J-pop, sometimes taking very a very dark rock sound. Also, it probably doesn’t hurt to mention that she’s gorgeous.

8. Yuna Ito

 

Yuna Ito is an interesting artist on this list. First, it should be noted that she is in fact American, being born in Los Angeles and raised in Hawaii (though she is of Japanese ancestry). She is thus fluent in both Japanese and English. Additionally, she is one of the few on this list that is an actress as well, making her debut in film along with music in 2005 with her role in the film “Nana” and her single “Endless Story”, used as the theme song for the movie. She has since released three studio albums, her debut album, “Heart” ranking #1 in the charts in Japan. Quite honestly, it’s hard not to find her charming. Her sweet appearance and strong vocals, being inspired by the vocals of Celine Dion, are just downright pleasant. Also, it’s interesting to note that she and Angela Aki are good friends in real life.

7. Hitomi

 

Another singer on this list that I am less fond of, Hitomi is notable in that she is one of the artists on this list that has been active the longest, starting her music career in 1994. Also, her success is another reason she’s on this list, having sold over 8,830,000 copies of all her albums, singles, and video releases in Japan, according to Wikipedia. She is perhaps one of the first major J-pop artists and her biggest hits include “Candy Girl”, “Love 2000″, and “Samurai Drive.” Since her debut, she has put out 9 studio albums and 1 compilation album. She has also written the lyrics to nearly all of her songs. She is known in Japan for her supermodel allure.

6. Yui

 

One of my favorites on this list, Yui is an incredibly talented young woman, writing, composing, and arranging her own music, playing multiple instruments (she is well known for her guitar playing), and being an actress. Despite being J-pop artists, she often delves into rock and it suits her well. Her voice and looks are strangely deceiving, having typical cute qualities (high voice, sweet features. She has released 4 studio albums and one compilation album and many of her songs have been used in animes (Bleach, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, etc). It must be said, I highly recommend her.

5. Kumi Koda

 

Koda is another interesting artist on this list. She is well known for delving into the Urban and R&B genres as well as her provocative and sexy. She is a talented dancer and has also won many fashion awards. Yet, despite that, it’s hard not to love listening to her dance tracks. Koda’s songs have explored themes of sexuality and taboos, a few of them even dealing with homosexuality since the start of her career in 2000, she has written the lyrics to her songs and has released 9 studio albums and countless compilations. Her number one singles include “You”, “Feel”, “Yume no Uta / Futari de…”, “Freaky”, “Taboo”, “Stay with me”, and “Alive / Physical Thing.”

4. Namie Amuro

 

Notable for being the longest active singer on this list, Namie Amuro is incredibly popular in Japan, even being revered as the “Queen of Japanese pop music.” At the height of her popularity, she was also a fashion leader in Japan, leading to the Amuraa craze in Japan which evolved into ganguro, for better or for worse (mostly for worse…just look up ganguro.) Her popularity fell in the mid 2000′s, though in more recent years, she has gained it back. She is without a doubt a huge contributor to Japanese pop culture and fashion.

3. Ayumi Hamasaki

 

She is among the most successful musical artists in Japanese history, selling over 50 million albums there. She also holds many records in Japan, such as most number one hits overall by a female artist, most consecutive number one hits by a female artist, highest sales, and most million-sellers. Since 1999, she has had at least one single top the charts each year.  Hamasaki is the first female singer to have eight studio albums since her debut to top the Oricon (Japanese music charts) and the first artist to have a number-one album for 11 consecutive years since her debut. She also writes all of her own music and dabbles in composing her songs (Her album, “I Am…” was composed entirely by her). She is known for her honest and heartfelt lyrics. However, her voice and dancing have been negatively compared to other popular Japanese artists and even her fans have labeled her voice as screechy. Despite this, she remains enormously popular in Japan and is an icon of the Japanese musical and fashion industries.

2. BoA

 

Boa…No Top Ten anything dealing with Jpop list could be without her. However, despite her being number 2 on this list. The major difference between her and everyone on this list is that she isn’t even Japanese. She is Korean, but this does not keep her from being incredibly popular in both countries. Heck, she’s popular all around the world! She even released an album in the US back in 2009. She covers quite a few genres, though her area of expertise is dance music, being an INSAAAANELY talented dancer. Since her debut in 2000, she has released NINE Korean albums, SEVEN Japanese albums, and the aforementioned English album. Needless to say, Boa’s pretty successful. And onto number one…

1. Utada Hikaru

 

Number one goes to Utada Hikaru. Making her debut in 1998 at the age of 15, Utada Hikaru, or affectionately known amongst her fans as Hikki, has been labeled a J-pop goddess. Her debut album, “First Love”, is to this day the best selling album in Oricon history. In other words, Japanese music history. Utada has had three of her Japanese studio albums in the list of the Top 10 best selling albums ever in Japan (“First Love” at number 1, her sophomore album “Distance” at 4, and her third album “Deep River”)and has had six of her albums be in the top 275 best selling albums ever in Japan. Utada has an estimated 52 million records sold worldwide.
Born in New York and raised both there and Japan, Utada is fluent in both English and Japanese. She has released 5 Japanese studio albums and 2 English studio albums and 3 compilation albums. She is particularly well known for singing the theme songs to the Kingdom Hearts series, “Hikari” (“Simple and Clean” outside of Japan) and “Passion” (“Sanctuary” outside of Japan). She writes all of her music herself (excluding her English albums) and has arranged and produced nearly all of her music. Additionally, she plays both piano and guitar.
In 2010, she announced that the following year she would go on hiatus. She released her final album till her hiatus, Utada Hikaru Singles Collection Volume 2, a compilation album that included 5 new recordings. Without a doubt, she is most certainly a J-pop goddess.

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Top 10 Most Mysterious Disappearances in History

It is a fact that literally thousands of people go missing every year in this country alone; some of these are likely well-covered up homicides, but most are voluntary—either teenage runaways or people who just want to start over again—with a few as yet undiscovered suicides thrown in for good measure. However, there are a few vanishings that remain inexplicable or have so captured the public imagination that they continue to intrigue us to this day. Here is my listing of the top ten most mysterious or famous disappearances over the years that continue to baffle investigators to this day.

10. Harold Holt, 1967

It’s not every day that an active head of state—in this case the Prime Minister of Australia—goes disappearing, but that’s precisely what happened one Sunday morning in December of 1967 when the Prime Minister went for a swim and was never seen again. Of course, a massive hunt was undertaken, but despite one of the largest search-and-rescue operations ever mounted in Australia, his body was never found. There were many rumors surrounding Holt’s death, including claims that he had committed suicide or faked his own death in order to run away with his mistress. His death even became the subject of numerous urban myths in Australia, including outlandish but persistent stories that he had been kidnapped by a Chinese submarine, or that he had been abducted by a UFO. Most likely, however, the 59-year-old Prime Minister—not in the best of health at the time anyway—was simply swept away at a beach notorious for its strong and dangerous rip currents and the rest is, as they say, history.

9. John Cabot, 1499

It’s not really that big a mystery what happened to famed Italian explorer, John Cabot—the second European to step foot on North America in 1497—who disappeared along with his five ship fleet during an expedition to find a western route from Europe to Asia. This was, after all, 1499, when things like the Coast Guard and GPS was not yet around to help someone out of such situations. Still, it is unusual that nothing was heard again from at least one of the ships from the ill-fated cruise, but such was the case with Mister Cabot’s fleet. In fact, considering that his ships were primitive wooden vessels that averaged less than 100-foot in length, the prospect that they were all destroyed in a storm or became entangled in an ice flow—or even that the crew succumbed to disease—must be considered not only possible, but considering the era, practically inevitable.

8. Raoul Wallenberg, 1945

Never heard of Raoul Wallenberg? It’s not surprising, as few people outside of Sweden have heard of the courageous Swedish diplomat who was credited with saving the lives of at least 20,000 Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust (ten times more than Oskar Schindler, by the way). Such, however, are the vagaries of fame. Arrested on espionage charges in Budapest following the arrival of the Soviet army, his subsequent fate remains a mystery despite hundreds of purported sightings in Soviet prisons, some as recent as the 1980s. In 2001, after 10 years of research, a Swedish-Russian panel concluded that Wallenberg probably died (most likely executed by the Russians) in July of 1947, but to date no hard evidence has been found to confirm this. In any case, he rightfully remains a genuine hero for his actions, however, especially in his home country of Sweden and to thousands of Jews around the world.

7. Judge Joseph Force Crater, 1930

Though not well known today, at the time the disappearance of Judge Crater—an associate justice for the Supreme Court for the State of New York—along with his “girlfriend” Sally Lou Ritz, was quite a sensation that prompted one of the biggest manhunts of the 20th century. Some speculated the judge ran afoul of the mafia, which is not all that outlandish a prospect, considering that there were any numbers of judges during that era known to have connections with organized crime. Others, however, believe the judge and his mistress planned their own disappearance and probably skipped town with bags of loot in an effort to start a new life elsewhere—like, say, Rio de Janeiro. In any case, whatever became of the good judge and his mistress has remained a well-kept secret for eighty years and one that isn’t likely to be solved anytime soon. One legacy he did leave behind, however, was that for many years the term “pulling a Crater” was used as slang for a person who mysteriously disappeared under suspicious circumstances.

6. Charles Nungesser and Francois Coli, 1927

1927 was a big year in aviation, and nothing was bigger than the race to be the first to make the Paris to New York Atlantic crossing. At one point, as many as a half dozen aviators were vying for the honor of being the first, but most dropped out due to mechanical or funding problems, leaving only a few genuine contenders. Of course, we know today that Charles Lindbergh was the one who eventually pulled it off, but it was a close call as just days before he made his flight, a well-known French aviator named Charles Nungesser attempted to take the prize by flying from Paris to New York. Unfortunately—or perhaps fortuitously from Lindbergh’s standpoint—the man, along with his navigator, François Coli, disappeared somewhere over the Atlantic and were never heard from again. They are presumed to have crashed into the sea, of course, though some maintain they made it to Newfoundland or Maine and went down in the vast forests of those sparsely populated regions, though no wreckage that could be confirmed to be from their biplane, The White Bird, has ever been found.

5. Glenn Miller, 1944

When the popular American jazz musician and bandleader vanished reroute from England to France to play for troops in recently liberated Paris, few people knew about it at the time. This is because it happened the same day the Germans launched their last major offensive against the allies in what would be known as the Battle of the Bulge, pushing such news to the back page. What happened to the single-engine Norseman he was riding in over the English Channel some 10 days before Christmas has never been explained, and no trace of Miller or the plane has ever been found. There is speculation a German fighter got it, or that the plane got hit by ordnance being dropped by British bombers on their way back from a canceled bombing mission. (Bombers couldn’t land with unexploded ordnance on board and had to jettison their bomb loads—preferably over the ocean—before they could land.) Whatever the case, Miller’s death was a huge loss to the American musical scene and one that it never quite recovered from.

4. D.B. Copper, 1971

In what has to be considered one of the most bizarre events in aviation and criminal history, a man calling himself D.B. Cooper skyjacked a Boeing 727 over Washington State and, after collecting a ransom of $200,000 dollars from authorities, jumped from the rear stairs of the plane from an altitude of 10,000 feet, never to be seen again. Of course, such a feat is made to order for conspiracy buffs, which came up with all sorts of scenarios—not to mention alleged suspects—about who the mysterious man was and what became of him. The mystery appeared destined to remain unsolved, however, until a boy playing on the banks of the Columbia River in 1980 found a stack of decaying bills later confirmed to have been part of Cooper’s ransom, suggesting that the man probably didn’t survive the plunge after all. However, it was only a small part of the ransom (about $5,000 dollars), forcing one to ask what became of the rest of it—or of the man who almost got away with the perfect crime.

3. Percy Fawcett, 1925

When British archaeologist and explorer, Percy Fawcett, together with his eldest son, Jack, and friend Raleigh Rimmell, set out for the jungles of Brazil in search for a hidden “city of gold”, who could have imagined that something could possibly go wrong? As was wont to happen when people set off on adventures of this nature, they were never heard from again and their fate remains unknown to this day. Several unconfirmed sightings and many conflicting reports and theories explaining their disappearance followed, but despite the loss of over 100 lives in more than a dozen follow-up expeditions, and the recovery of some of Fawcett’s belongings, their fate remains a mystery. Probably ended up as shrunken heads on some witch doctor’s coffee table, but who knows? Sounds a little like an Indiana Jones movie to me.

2. Jimmy Hoffa, 1975

So what’s the payoff for being one of the most obnoxious—if successful—union leader ever to put on a tirade? A cement overcoat, which is probably what Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa got when his organized crime chums decided he was more trouble than he was worth. In any case, when he went missing sometime after, 2:45 pm on July 30, 1975, from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox Restaurant near Detroit, nobody was really that surprised. Of course, what do you expect when you’re meeting with a pair of Mafiosos with fun-loving names like “Tony Jack” Giacolone and “Tony Pro” Provenzano. While it’s pretty apparent he was “offend” by some mob hit man, the real mystery remains as to where they buried the body. One of the more popular suggestions is the fifty-yard line at Giant’s Stadium in New Jersey, which would seem a fitting final resting place for arguably one of the most corrupt—though effective—union leaders in American history.

1. Amelia Earhart, 1937

Easily the most famous disappearance in history, what happened to the 39-year-old aviatrix and her navigator, Fred Noonan, has remained a source for speculation to this day. On one of the last legs of a circumnavigation of the globe, the pair left Lae, New Guinea en route to a tiny speck of land known as Howland Island, never to be seen or heard of again. Of course, the most likely explanation is they simply got lost and ran out of fuel, forcing her to ditch in the sea—a precarious and probably fatal prospect in the heavy, two-engine Lockheed Electra she was flying. Conspiracy theorists had had a field day ever since, claiming that she was captured by the Japanese when she flew too near the Marshal Islands on a secret spying mission for President Roosevelt, while others think she set down on some other deserted island and played Gilligan’s Island with Fred for awhile. Even as late as 1970 there were those who claimed she was still alive, having somehow survived to make her way to America to live under an assumed name. Gotta who love those conspiracy theories?

Top 10 Exclusive Foods

Of the top ten exclusive and most sought after foods a few come to mind while others come as a bit of a surprise. Often these foods are quite expensive due to the rarity of the product, astronomically expensive in some cases, appearing only at the tables of the rich and famous. Of those tasty morsels that are the most prized, some are meats, spices, fungi, fish eggs, melons, chocolate, saliva, yes, you heard me right, saliva, and even precious metals.

10. Saffron

To start off, what is life without spice? The highest ranking of spices is the elusive Indian spice Saffron. Although Saffron is not hard to grow and is harvested worldwide, it is derived from the saffron flower which requires painstaking care to collect. The labor and resources needed to harvest just 1 pound of saffron takes 50,000 to 75,000 flowers to make. The sum total of an entire football field of these small flowers. The spice costs between $500 per pound to $5,000. With that price tag, the crocus saffron stamens pack the sweetest nectar and the biggest buck blooming in at number 10.

9. The Dansuke Watermelon

Watermelons may line the sides of country roads in summertime but these costly watermelons won’t be at any common picnic. These watermelons are not large in size, a measly 17 pounds, but in Japan they cost a great deal more than their weight and are made up mostly of water. The Dansuke Watermelon is a black watermelon, the most expensive watermelon in the world that is harder and crisper than the American watermelon. One watermelon can cost as much as $6,100.  They grow only on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido and are usually given as rare gifts. Only a few grow, perhaps 65 in a season bringing the Dansuke Watermelon to number 9 of the top ten expensive, exclusive foods.

8. Yubari Melon

Another Japanese fruit, the Yubari melon can cost anywhere between $60 to $150 in the US. Generally, the best of the variety cost $200. In 2008 two Yubari melons went for $26,000. What do you think of them melons? They are grown in Yubari, Hokkaido, a small populated town close to Sapporo. They are similar in appearance to the common cantaloupe except they are perfectly round and have smooth skin. They are exceptionally sweet although the sweetness is not considered overpowering. It is said that the high volcanic ash content in the soil makes it the sweetest, juiciest melons in the world bringing these very special melons in at number 8.

7. Matsutake Mushroom

Mushrooms are mysterious, neither plant nor animal, and the Matsutake mushroom, another Japanese delicacy is one mystery that costs between $90 to $905 per pound. It has been highly prized in Japan for centuries and is found on particular pine trees in Japan, Korea and China and a few other places in the world. They form a symbiotic relationship with the tree’s roots and never grow again in the same spot more than one time. The flavor is pungent, spicy and meaty like Portobello mushrooms. The Japanese refer to it as the “the king of autumn flavor” and “the king of the mushrooms.” For such royal mushrooms, they pop up into the top ten lists at number 7.

6. Chocopologie by Knipschildt

The most prized chocolate in the world is by Chocopologie by Knipschildt. It costs $2,600 per pound. It is a handmade chocolate truffle that contains 70% Valrhona cacao and black truffle. Dark chocolate is the most expensive and it can only be pre-ordered. The exclusive chocolate was created by Fritz Knipchildt, a Chocolatier from Denmark who moved to the US and founded his famous bittersweet delicacy in 1996. It is made with no preservatives or additives and from what can be told about it, is a tiny morsel that any chocolate lover should not pass within the top ten of exclusive foods at number 6.

5. Kobe Beef

Where’s the beef? The best of it comes from the most pampered cows in the world, the Wagyu cows of Japan. The heftiest priced beef, Kobe beef, comes from Japanese cows that are fed the best grass and beer! They are bovines raised in the lap of luxury receiving daily massages to ensure the tenderness of the product. The most expensive and sought after beef is the tenderest in the mouth and the most hard on the wallet. A 200 gram filet costs more than $100. Up to $770 per kilo, the Kobe beef has a heavy marbling of fat that adds to the flavor of this legendary meat, bringing the Wagyu cow’s home at number 5.

4. Caviar

The Alma’s Caviar variety is the most highly esteemed because the eggs of the Beluga Sturgeon fish are very hard to come by. They are tiny, pale, amber eggs that cost an astounding $8,400 to $15,500 a pound. The word ‘Almas’ is Iranian for diamond and these little fish eggs sparkle the brightest. It is because the Beluga fish takes over 20 years to mature making its eggs limited.  These fish are rare although they have existed for over 120 million years; they are the oldest survivors of the dinosaur era. The fish are found mainly in the Caspian Sea and live up to 80 years old. The Almas Caviar is prepared in Iran and is sold only in London at one outlet called, The Caviar House and Punier. The waiting list to buy this caviar is 4 years and it is sold in a 24 karat, gold tin box spawning in at number 4.

3. White Truffle

Who when they think of the most expensive foods does not think of truffles? The holy grail of mushrooms is the White Truffle. Pigs root them out in the woods in search of the truffle’s unique aroma that resembles their own sex hormones. Neither animal nor plant, the White Truffle crowns the forest floors with the most prized truffle because of its intense flavor, aroma and scarcity. The White Truffle sells for between $1,360-$4,200 per pound and resists the measures man has taken to domesticate and cultivate it. The fungi are only found underground and grow on the roots of certain trees in particular regions in Italy and Croatia. The most expensive White Truffle ever sold was for $330,000! How’s that for a magic mushroom? It comes in at number 3!

2. Bird’s Nest Soup

One of the rarest foods, and one of the highest sought after, is Bird’s Nest Soup. Otherwise known as the “Caviar of the East” this is a food that has been served in China for over 400 years. It is made up of the saliva nests built by cave swifts, a bird found in southeast China. It is dissolved in water to create a gelatinous soup. It is the most expensive animal product consumed by humans. In Hong Kong a bowl costs up to $30, the red version can cost $10 per gram, the most prized nests of them all. Per pound the cost ranges from $910 to $4,535. The saliva is believed to have nutritional, medicinal and aphrodisiac properties bringing in just a simple bit of spit at number 2.

1. Gold

No, these consumers do not have Pica, the nutritional disease where people eat things like plaster, dirt or newspaper; these people eat a precious metal because it has no ill effect on the human body and just because you can say you did. Eat this as the number one top ten of exclusive and highly sought after foods and you too will be able to say you’ve eaten gold. It is the world’s most expensive food, a product with a flavorless taste, used mainly in small quantities as flakes or gold leaves for decoration to adorn other expensive foods. The price for edible gold is $33,000-$110,000 per kilo. One gold-eating customer paid to cover an entire Christmas turkey with gold leaf. It is insanely popular around the time of the Oscars where people use it for drinks and to make Oscar-shaped cookies where gold, celebrities, and goodies gain certain attention.