The terrible truth

March 7, 2014 1:40 AM

Give me your true stories, your unhappy endings, your mysteries. I really enjoyed this question, but the answers I found the most compelling were the true stories about people. Give me links to investigative writing that I can get my teeth into.
posted by superfish to Grab Bag (20 answers total)

Mod note: Note that despite the "your" usage in the beginning, the request is actually for links to investigative writing. Thanks.
posted by taz (staff) at 4:26 AM on March 7, 2014

"Raising the Dead" (posted here by the man of twists and turns) might do; it's a compelling and haunting story of fatal cave dives at Bushman's Hole.
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:43 AM on March 7, 2014 [2 favorites]

I find checking longform regularly gives me a steady diet of this sort of stuff (there are other things too but many may meet your requirements)
posted by pointystick at 5:52 AM on March 7, 2014 [3 favorites]

Picking Cotton (Flash required)

Also on Amazon Picking Cotton
posted by Lesser Shrew at 5:59 AM on March 7, 2014

Weird U.S. has a category for People and Places but there's probably some category overlap for your concerns. You won't find longform investigative stories there but it should provide a few jumping off points for you.

If you are open to filmed stories, the Huell Howser Archive is a treasure.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:21 AM on March 7, 2014

Longform.com and longreads.com are my go-to for these kinds of narratives, both recently published and decades old. I just finished up this one recently, for example (found through longreads.com; there's probably a hit for these kinds of stories about once a week on both sites). You do have to wade through a fair amount of overindulgent, first person dross, but the gems are really gems.
posted by blue suede stockings at 6:35 AM on March 7, 2014

National Geographic this month has a really good personal geography that you might like. Edit: make that February 2014.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 7:58 AM on March 7, 2014

Two of the best articles I've read on this are about Ken Brennan, who specializes in solving cold "unsolvable" cases.

The Case of the Vanishing Blonde

The Body in Room 348

So good.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 8:39 AM on March 7, 2014 [6 favorites]

The Guardian Newspaper in the UK has a long running series of short first-person articles called Experience, where people talk about unusual experiences that they have had (recent examples "I was trapped in my car hanging off a motorway bridge", "I discovered a new species up my nose").
posted by Jabberwocky at 9:13 AM on March 7, 2014 [1 favorite]

The Boy in the Box.
posted by Oriole Adams at 11:37 AM on March 7, 2014

Benjamin Kyle.

Henry Darger.
posted by capricorn at 11:51 AM on March 7, 2014

I should note that there are no mysteries, murders, or crimes involved in Henry Darger's story (except very tangentially) but that reading about him and watching the documentary seemed to scratch the same itch for me.
posted by capricorn at 11:53 AM on March 7, 2014

The Story Of a Suicide

A Murder Foretold

What Really Happened Aboard Air France 447

The Chameleon

Also, Texas Monthly (linked by blue suede stockings above) is, I think, the best for true crime longreads.
posted by triggerfinger at 2:19 PM on March 7, 2014 [2 favorites]

Taken - The Coldest Case Ever Solved (Previously on the blue.)
posted by SisterHavana at 10:59 PM on March 7, 2014

There's Kaspar Hauser. The article is from the Fortean Times so do apply your judgement; I've read numerous articles and books about Hauser ever since Suzanne Vega's song Wooden Horses came out (subtitled "Caspar Hauser's song", despite some big inconsistencies with the scanty facts) and theories are rife: it was a huge conspiracy by the royal family of Baden or maybe its enemies; it was a really clever con by Hauser; Hauser had uncanny abilities to learn and sense information that most people can't; there is a very long list. He is definitely one of those people who have captured the imagination; in addition to Vega's song, there are other songs, stories, films, books, TV shows that are either about him or refer to him. Endlessly fascinating, from the time he first showed up onwards.
posted by Athanassiel at 9:42 PM on March 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

Also, the Beaumont children, who are legendary in Australia along with Harold Holt (also mentioned in that article). Lots more on the Beaumonts.
posted by Athanassiel at 11:15 PM on March 9, 2014

She's a flight risk
posted by yoHighness at 3:40 PM on March 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

Cold a Long Time
posted by daisyk at 3:26 PM on March 15, 2014

(Sorry for the double post, but I actually just made an FPP about Cold a Long Time with more links that might interest you.)
posted by daisyk at 10:41 AM on March 16, 2014

Response by poster: Thanks everyone, these are just what I wanted. Though isn't it interesting how time takes the shadow away from things? MH370 went missing just hours after I posted this. It would fit right in, if it wasn't so tragic.
posted by superfish at 11:30 PM on March 18, 2014