- 6 hours ago
These seemingly ordinary places hide extraordinary horrors... Join us as we explore infamous locations where serial killers once walked! From ancient French castles to modern American suburbs, these sites have become grim landmarks in the history of true crime. Have you ever unknowingly visited a killer's former hunting ground?
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:0025 Cromwell Street in Gloucester has become one of the most infamous addresses in Britain.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at 10 places around the world that have famous
00:10connections to serial killers. It would be another 10 months before Lesley-Anne's body
00:15was discovered on the moors in a shallow grave.
00:20Number 10, Chateau de Tiffouge, Gilles de Rey.
00:23Gilles de Rey, Marshal of France. Formidable to men, fascinating to women, feared by all.
00:32Nestled in the Vendée Department of France, the Chateau de Tiffouge once belonged to Gilles de Rey,
00:38a 15th-century French nobleman who fought alongside Joan of Arc in the Hundred Years' War. But after
00:44his military days ended, his legacy took a horrific turn. De Rey was accused of abducting hundreds of
00:50children and taking them back to his castle, where he would engage in bizarre occult rituals
00:55before murdering them. Historians still debate how much of the legend is true,
00:59but most believe that he was guilty, and his reputation as a real-life bluebeard endures.
01:05Today, the fortress hosts medieval reenactments and historical tours,
01:09though guides rarely dwell on the grisly crimes that happened behind its thick stone walls.
01:15You would be perfect to sit on my throne. So perfect that you might like it too much and
01:23therefore disturb my fragile peace of mind. Number 9, 25 Cromwell Street, Fred and Rosemary
01:30West. For 20 years, Fred and Rose West quenched their appetite for sex and murder inside this house
01:36of unimaginable horror. This quiet townhouse in Gloucester looked utterly ordinary from the outside,
01:42but inside, Fred and Rosemary West were concealing unthinkable crimes. Throughout the 70s and 80s,
01:49the couple tormented, sexually assaulted, and murdered a number of young women inside its walls,
01:55including their own daughter. When police began investigating the disappearance of their daughter,
02:00it led them right to the west front door. Detectives were only just beginning to unearth
02:05the murderous history of Fred and Rose West. Many victims were buried in the garden and cellar
02:10beneath 25 Cromwell Street, earning it the nickname, the House of Horrors. When police uncovered the
02:16remains, the country was utterly stunned. The property quickly became a morbid attraction,
02:21until it was demolished in 1996, to prevent it from becoming a shrine. Today, the lot hosts a concrete
02:28walkway, linking Cromwell Street to St. Michael's Square.
02:31It's horrible to think that there are, you know, dead bodies in a garden just down the road.
02:36It's, it's just thoroughly disgusting. I mean, it's, it's horrifying to think.
02:41Number eight, 8213 West Somerdale Avenue, John Wayne Gacy.
02:46John, I'm sorry to disturb you, but that hideous stench coming from under your house is getting worse.
02:51It's moisture buildup in my crawl space. I'm taking care of it, I promise. Now,
02:55don't forget the 4th of July, right? In suburban Chicago, the modest house at 8213 West Somerdale
03:01Avenue looked like the picture of normality, until investigators found what lay beneath,
03:06literally. Between 1972 and 1978, John Wayne Gacy, a respected Chicago contractor and part-time
03:14clown performer, murdered at least 33 young men and boys. Most of these victims were buried in the
03:30crawl space under his home, their remains carefully layered in lime to accelerate decomposition.
03:36When Gacy's horrific crimes were eventually unearthed, the home was soon demolished,
03:40and the lot stood vacant. A new house was eventually built on the same lot,
03:44but it was given a different address, perhaps to help symbolically divorce the lot from its
03:49grisly past. Bring one of the guys by in the morning. I need you to dig a trench in my crawl
03:53space to lay some pipes. That's your thing, boss. Number seven, Whitechapel, London, Jack the Ripper.
03:58Maybe one of these red Indians wandered into Whitechapel and indulged his natural inclinations.
04:06With all due respect, sir, I believe this was done by someone with at least a working knowledge of
04:14dissection. In the late 19th century, Whitechapel was one of London's poorest and most overcrowded
04:20neighborhoods, filled with poverty and women making a desperate living on the seedy streets.
04:25As such, it became the perfect hunting ground for Jack the Ripper.
04:28Between August and November of 1888, at least five women were murdered and mutilated in the
04:42shadowy alleys of Whitechapel and nearby Spitalfields. Of course, the Ripper was never
04:47caught, turning the area into a lasting symbol of mystery and fear. Today, Whitechapel has been
04:52extensively modernized and is virtually unrecognizable, but you can still walk the
04:56same streets on popular Ripper tours that visit crime scenes like Hanbury Street and Mitre Square.
05:03What else do you know about her?
05:04All we know is that she was an unfortunate who lived in the Whitechapel district.
05:11Number six, the Cecil Hotel, Various.
05:14In so many ways, the Cecil is like, you know, a metaphor for the city of Los Angeles and Hollywood.
05:20It's all facade. It's all glitz on the outside. And it's got this romantic, turbulent, sinister
05:27history. Standing in downtown Los Angeles since 1924, the Cecil Hotel has earned a reputation as
05:33one of America's most cursed buildings. Over the decades, it's been the site of numerous acts of
05:39violence, mysterious deaths, and has even hosted serial killers. Richard Ramirez, aka the Night Stalker,
05:45lived there during his infamous killing spree of the 1980s, although he never killed inside of
05:50its walls.
06:01Austrian murderer Jack Unterweger also stayed there in 1991 while pretending to be a journalist,
06:07murdering at least three sex workers. With its grim history, the Cecil has inspired numerous pieces
06:13of pop culture. And while it has since been converted into an affordable housing complex,
06:18its legend continues to draw curious onlookers.
06:21Now, the entire hotel has been remodeled and it can house up to 600 low-income residents.
06:27And improvements also include a secured entry, plus community laundry and kitchen facilities,
06:32making good use of the property.
06:34Number five, Taylor Mountain, Ted Bundy.
06:37Night after he'd attacked and killed Linda, Bundy moved her away from the campus. He dumped her body
06:45in the dense woods of Taylor Mountain Forest, a 30-minute drive from the university.
06:51In the dense forests outside Seattle lies Taylor Mountain, peaceful and popular hiking area that
06:56hides a gruesome past. In 1975, searchers found the remains of several missing women scattered around
07:03the mountain soil, all of them victims of Ted Bundy, one of America's most notorious serial killers.
07:09Bundy used remote locations like this to dispose of his victims after abducting and murdering them,
07:15believing that the local wildlife would dispose of the evidence.
07:17He doesn't just leave them where they are. He wants to be able to know where they are. He wants
07:22to have control over them. So he chooses a local beauty spot, Taylor Mountain. It's a place that
07:28people generally go to enjoy. But for him, it really is a macabre dump site.
07:35Bundy was known to frequently hike in the area, and he later confessed to dumping a number of victims
07:40on the mountain. Today, Taylor remains a scenic destination for nature enthusiasts. But for those
07:45who know its history, the whispering evergreens and misty slopes carry a chilling weight.
07:51I never wanted to think people were born evil.
07:54Number four, Saddleworth Moore, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.
07:58Eventually, with the use of the photographs that had been taken of Myra with her dog and Ian
08:03up on the moors, they managed to actually find a place where they thought that they might
08:08fruitfully start digging for bodies.
08:10Sweeping and desolate, Saddleworth Moore, outside of Manchester, is one of Britain's most haunting
08:16landscapes. During the 1960s, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley abducted and murdered five children,
08:22and then buried their bodies across the moors' remote terrain. The crimes horrified the nation,
08:27and have remained in the public consciousness thanks to continued persistence.
08:30Ten-year-old Leslie Ann Downey had mysteriously gone missing from the area six months earlier.
08:36David Smith told the police that Ian had joked about burying children on the moors.
08:41One body wasn't discovered until 1987, more than two decades after the murders occurred,
08:47and searches continue even to this day as investigators attempt to find the body of Keith Bennett,
08:52who was believed to be buried on the moors. Regardless, the area remains extremely popular,
08:57being part of the country's Peak District National Park.
09:00Police believed that the bodies of four missing children might have been buried on the moors.
09:05Their fears were well-founded. On the 10th of October, 1965, the body of Leslie Ann Downey was discovered.
09:13Number 3. 35 Pine Street, Son of Sam.
09:17Although police didn't know it, it had been written by a 23-year-old resident of an apartment block in Yonkers,
09:25David Richard Berkowitz.
09:28In the mid-1970s, New York City lived in terror of the Son of Sam,
09:32a killer who stalked young couples and shot them on the street.
09:36His real name was David Berkowitz, and he lived quietly in an apartment complex at 35 Pine Street in Yonkers,
09:42just off the Hudson River.
09:44From that building, Berkowitz penned his infamous taunting letters to police and the press,
09:49claiming that a demon-possessed dog commanded him to kill.
09:53In 1976, Berkowitz moved to a top-floor apartment in Yonkers, New York.
09:59Neighbors began to notice strange incidents.
10:02In fact, Berkowitz was finally caught right outside this building,
10:05with police approaching him as he entered his vehicle.
10:07The building still stands today, with Berkowitz's personal apartment still being rented out.
10:13At least it's been renovated.
10:15Follotico went up to the driver's side of the car, Berkowitz was already in the car,
10:19he had his gun out, and he said,
10:21put your hands on the dashboard and don't move.
10:25Berkowitz turned to Detective Follotico and said,
10:28you got me.
10:30Number 2. Ed Gein's Farm.
10:32Ed Gein.
10:32The Gein's 150-acre farm was located on the corner of Archer and 2nd Avenue.
10:40Ed rarely got to leave the property and socialize with other children.
10:44The isolated farm of Ed Gein in Plainfield, Wisconsin, became the template for American horror,
10:50spawning some of the most popular villains in the history of pop culture.
10:53When police raided it in 1957, they discovered furniture, clothing, and masks made from human skin,
11:00as well as exhumed body parts from local graves.
11:04Gein also confessed to murdering two women,
11:06technically making him a serial killer by the standards of the FBI.
11:10He went back out to his truck, then came back inside and asked her to see a rifle that was in the window.
11:16When Bernie Swarden turned her back to him, he shot her in the back of the head,
11:21and then loaded her corpse in his truck and drove back to his farm.
11:25Many true crime historians also believe that he murdered his own brother,
11:28although this has never been proven.
11:30The grotesque farmhouse burned down in 1958, leaving only scorched earth and eerie rumours.
11:37The property on the corner of Archer and 2nd Avenue has never been redeveloped,
11:41and the forested land is now privately owned.
11:43In 1958, the property that Gein had lived in was due to be auctioned off,
11:48and I think the last thing that local people wanted was for this to become some kind of shrine,
11:53some kind of attraction for people who were morbidly fascinated.
11:57So a few days before the auction, the property was burned to the ground, essentially.
12:03Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
12:09You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
12:13If you're on your phone, make sure you go into settings and switch on your notifications.
12:17Number 1. Lake Berryessa, the Zodiac Killer
12:22Don't move!
12:24I want your money and your car keys.
12:26Okay.
12:27We're not gonna do anything, okay?
12:29We're gonna cooperate.
12:30Just tell me what you want us to do.
12:32On a bright September afternoon in 1969, Lake Berryessa seemed like the perfect spot for a picnic.
12:38And then the Zodiac Killer arrived.
12:40Wearing a homemade executioner's hood and a bib marked with his cryptic crosshair symbol,
12:45the Zodiac tied up and stabbed a young couple who were picnicking in the area.
12:49We didn't complain when you tied our hands.
12:51Okay, you have everything that I have.
12:53We have done everything that you've asked.
12:55It's okay.
12:57She tied you loose, didn't she?
12:59All right.
13:02Get on your stomach so I can tie your feet.
13:04One victim survived to give the police a rare description of the masked killer,
13:09resulting in his now-famous pop culture depiction.
13:12The attack is arguably the most famous crime in the Zodiac's reign of terror,
13:16embodying his blend of mystery, symbolism, and cruelty.
13:19Now serene and shimmering, Lake Berryessa conceals a grotesque history,
13:24one of the most infamous crimes in the annals of American true crime.
13:27Early last Saturday evening, Celia Shepard and Brian Hartnell,
13:31both in their early 20s, were sitting on this knoll of land
13:35overlooking part of Lake Berryessa.
13:37They thought they were alone, but there was a third man on this knoll,
13:42a man who wore a medieval-style executioner's hood,
13:46carried a knife and gun, and intended to use them.
13:49Have you been to any of these places?
13:51What did you think?
13:52Let us know in the comments below.
13:53Let us know in the comments below.
Be the first to comment