In 1863, a slave known only as Gordon escaped from a Louisiana plantation where he was nearly whipped to death. His story was quickly published — along with a gruesome photo of his injuries.

The vengeful ghost of a murdered slave named Daniel Robitaille, Candyman may be fictitious, but one real murder did help inspire the classic film's horrors.

For six years, Fritz Haarmann used his position as a police informant to hide in plain sight while he carried out at least 24 grisly murders that earned him the nickname of the "Vampire of Hanover."

Held in Kinshasa, Zaire in 1974, the Rumble in the Jungle saw Muhammad Ali challenge George Foreman for the world heavyweight title that had been stripped from him seven years earlier.

Known as a "devil in jump boots" and a "petty tyrant," Herbert Sobel was one of the strictest U.S. Army officers during World War II.

Under the code of omertà, anyone who spoke to the police was marked for torture and death — and so were their families.

Though some have suspected that Cheryl Crane simply took the blame for her mother, Lana Turner, she nonetheless bore the brunt of the scandal which rocked mid-century Hollywood.

Amie Huguenard spent three years with her boyfriend Timothy Treadwell studying and filming grizzly bears in Katmai National Park — until a brown bear killed them both.

After a beautiful English woman named Mary Ann Bevan developed acromegaly, she was forced to perform in sideshows and circuses to support her family in the early 20th century.

The heart attack gun fired a dart made of frozen shellfish toxin that would enter the target's bloodstream and kill them in mere minutes without leaving a trace.

William T. Anderson became known as the deadliest Confederate raider of the Civil War after perpetrating several horrific massacres in Kansas and Missouri.