13. Getrude Baniszewski – Girl Next Door
In 1966, Getrude Baniszewski committed a crime so terrible it was called the “single worst crime perpetrated against an individual in Indiana’s history”. A teenage girl called Sylvia Likens had been taken into her home and over time was tortured and mutilated to death. Sylvia was 16-years-old and her sister, Jenny, was 15-years-old when their traveller parents put them in the care of Baniszewski in return for $20 a week. When a payment was late from their parents they were both beaten and this was the start of the child abuse they were forced to endure. SEE ALSO: 13 Evil serial killers who escaped from custody (With Pictures)
Baniszewski would encourage her own children and others who lived in the neighbourhood to regularly beat Sylvia and push her down the stairs. Baniszewski also locked the young girl in the basement of the house, poured scalding hot water over her body then rubbed salt into the wounds of the burning, sexually assaulted her with glass bottles, forced her to eat her own faeces and carved “prostitute” into her skin with a hot knitting needle.
The young girl was eventually murdered when Baniszewski bludgeoned her to death with a wooden paddle after Sylvia attempted to escape from the house. Panicked by her death, the family forged a note and called the police trying to cover up the murder as a suicide. When the police arrived to the scene of the crime, her sister Jenny whispered to them, “Get me out of here and I’ll tell you everything”. Baniszewski was charged with first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The 2007 movie The Girl Next Door was based on the murder.
12. Phantom Killer – The Town That Dreaded Sundown
The Town That Dreaded Sundown was released in 1976 and was based on the violent crimes committed in Texarkana in 1946. Still to date the crimes remain unsolved and the serial killer known as “Phantom Killer” or “Phantom Slayer” was never identified. The Phantom Killer attacked eight people in and around the area always when the sun went down.
The attacks spread fear across the town. In a panic locals boarded up their homes and bought all the guns, ammunition and locks in stores. Heavily armed police would patrol the street at night but gangs of youths started taking matters into their own hands and began setting out at night as bait for the killer.
Since the release of the movie the rumours and old folklore began stirring up again in the town especially as the tagline on the posters was: “In 1946 this man killed five people…today he still lurks the streets of Texarkana, Ark.” Nowadays, the movie is played in an outdoor cinema for the locals at Spring Lake Park every Halloween.
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