17 Shocking, Unsettling, And Wild True Crime Stories That DON'T Involve Murder

"'Tania Head' joined a network for 9/11 survivors and eventually became the president of that group, a poster woman for survivors, and often talked about her experience. Then, the truth came out; it turned out Tania wasn't in the WTC on the day of the attacks. She had actually been in class in Barcelona, Spain."

We recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about a true crime story that DOESN'T involve murder. Here are their wild and fascinating responses:

1. Belle Gibson, an Australian con artist who lied about having cancer (among many other things) in order to scam people into believing she was a wellness expert.

60 Minutes Australia / Via youtube.com

"She's infamous in Australia but very rarely talked about outside of it. If you look at her, you'll see a pretty girl who gives office worker/influencer vibes. Just your average, unassuming young woman. But when you look into her story, you realize how truly vile she is. She began posting on Instagram about how she had several forms of cancer and not much [time] left to live, only to announce that she had given up on chemo so she could start a 'clean eating' diet combined with meditation that, lo and behold, cured her. 

She wrote a book and had an app created called The Whole Pantry that had become one of the most downloaded apps in Australia. She was seen as a glimmer of hope for cancer patients who couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel anymore. And then, it turned out that she had NEVER had cancer. All the stories about her experience were either made up or stolen from a friend."

—phandabox

2. The baffling disappearance of Lars Mittank who was last seen on security footage running out of an airport and into a nearby forest.

Grunge / Via youtube.com

"Mittank was a German tourist vacationing in Bulgaria who disappeared on July 8, 2014. He had allegedly been involved in a fight, did not fly home the day he was supposed to, and had called his mother to say people were trying to kill him.

It's not fully understood if there was murder involved, but the video of him running away at full speed and disappearing is something that terrifies me to this day. He was running for his life. But from what has never been known."

—thebonelady

3. The dark story of the Final Fantasy VII cult, also known as the Final Fantasy House, that started sometime in 2002 in Pennsylvania and involved fans of the popular role-playing video game.

Irabassi / Getty Images/iStockphoto

"It was a mini cult run by a woman who lured people in using the fandom. She insisted they were reincarnations of the Final Fantasy VII characters and forced them to have relationships accordingly. The woman would abuse people in the household both mentally and physically, and take advantage of them financially, too."

—Anonymous

4. The unsettling Max Headroom TV signal hijacking in 1987 that actually remains unsolved to this day.

WGN Channel 9 / The Museum of Classic Chicago Television / Via youtube.com

—madshoe

On November 22, 1987, two Chicago TV stations had their broadcast signals hijacked by an unknown person wearing a Max Headroom* mask. In the videos, the person made references to things like the "real" Max Headroom, various shows, and people, and then ended with having their naked butt spanked by a woman with a flyswatter. To this day, no one knows who was behind the bizarre and unsettling prank.

*Max Headroom, for those who don't know, was a character created in the mid-'80s for Channel 4 in the UK that was meant to look like a computer-generated AI being (although he was played by actor Matt Frewer IRL). He had a whole origin story TV movie and then went on to host The Max Headroom Show — a kind of UK version of MTV. Max Headroom would go on to reach '80s pop culture icon status and even became the spokesperson for New Coke.

You can watch the bizarre incident here, if you feel like being creeped out (the first interruption starts at the :33 mark):

WGN Channel 9 / The Museum of Classic Chicago Television / Via youtube.com

5. The shocking story of Tania Head (real name, Alicia Esteve Head), a Spanish woman who tricked everyone into believing she was a survivor of the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001.

CNN / Via youtube.com

"She claimed to be a 9/11 survivor, and her story had every element possible that made it all the more amazing: She claimed she had been on the 78th floor of the South Tower — making her one of the only 19 survivors at or above the point of impact. She then said she lost her fiancé in the North Tower and was rescued by Welles Crowther (the man in the red bandana). She also claimed a man gave her his wedding ring to give to his wife before he died. 

She joined a network for 9/11 survivors and actually became the president. She even founded a support group herself. Tania became the poster woman for 9/11 survivors and often talked about her experience while also showing support for other people who had survived. Many said that they felt even somewhat guilty because not only was Tania so involved in helping them cope with the events, but she also seemed to cope so well herself despite the tragedy of the attack, as well as losing her fiancé. 

Then, it turned out Tania wasn't in the WTC on the day of the attacks. She had actually been in class in Barcelona, Spain."

—phandabox

6. The unbelievable Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist in 1990, which remains unsolved and still has a $10 million reward to this day.

Bettmann / Bettmann Archive

"On March 18, 1990, 18 pieces of art were stolen from the museum by two men dressed as police officers. The total value of the loss was around $500 million. Theories range from it being an inside job and the security guard who was on duty being involved, to a job completed by members of the mafia. The art has still never been found, and some of the most notable pieces stolen were paintings by Rembrandt, Manet, and Vermeer. There’s just no evidence as to what happened to it or where it went."

—jkxoxo

7. The unsolved disappearance of international passenger flight Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which resulted in the loss of all 239 people on board.

Handout / Getty Images

On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia to Beijing Capital International Airport with 239 people on board. The flight was lost on air traffic control radar but picked up by military radar, hundreds of miles off course from the planned flight path. The flight never arrived at its destination. Although various pieces of plane debris have been found in the years since, most of it is unconfirmed to have actually belonged to MH370.

"I wonder if the MH370 plane went to the same place Amelia Earhart did."

—gattagatta

8. The wild Elizabeth Holmes/Theranos saga, which saw Holmes rise to the top of Silicon Valley, being named Forbes's youngest and wealthiest self-made female billionaire in the US, then fall after it was revealed Holmes and her company had committed massive fraud.

Cnbc / NBCU Photo Bank / NBCUniversal via Getty Images

"I’ve been following the Elizabeth Holmes/Theranos saga from the jump, and it is wildly interesting. How could anyone build something so huge and so influential to the world’s most powerful people…on nothing but a con? It’s fascinating psychologically. Even if you’ve watched the documentary and seen the series (which are both very well done), I highly recommend reading the book Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou."

—kminfl

9. The case of Mary Willcocks, who posed as "Princess Caraboo of Javasu" and pretended to be from a fake island kingdom in the early 1800s.

Powerofforever / Getty Images

In 1817, an unknown woman appeared in the town of Almondsbury in England. Wearing strange clothes and speaking a language no one could understand, she was taken in by a local cobbler, and later thought to be speaking Portuguese. According to a sailor, she was supposed to be "Princess Caraboo" from an island called Javasu in the Indian Ocean. She carried on with the ruse until it was eventually discovered she was actually a servant from Devon, England. She had invented the fictitious language and basically hoaxed everyone into thinking she was royalty.

"One of the most memorable cases I heard from the podcast Criminal was the story of Princess Caraboo of Javasu."

—gattagatta

10. The upsetting disappearance of Native American girl Anthonette Cayedito, a case that actually had a couple of suspicious leads that sadly never panned out.

KOAT / Via youtube.com

Back in April 1986, Anthonette answered the door at her home after someone knocked on it in the early morning. This would be the last time her family reportedly saw her. One of Anthonette’s sisters initially told police that it was one of their uncles who had knocked on the door, but he was eventually ruled out as a suspect. There have been some strange instances over the years potentially related to Anthonette's disappearance — including an unknown girl calling the police to say she's Anthonette and a suspected sighting in Carson City, Nevada — but none of these leads ever panned out.  

"She was 9 years old when she was abducted from her home nearly 37 years ago. She lived in Gallup, New Mexico. I go there every week and sometimes pass by her old house and wonder who took her and why."

—crafty_gm

11. The stressful story of Dr. Isaac Herschkopf, a psychiatrist who got very close to one of his patients, Martin Markowitz, and eventually abused their relationship in order to exploit Markowitz.

Apple TV

—Anonymous

The real story served as the inspiration for both a popular podcast, The Shrink Next Door, and then an Apple TV+ miniseries of the same name.

Markowitz started seeing Herschkopf in 1981 and has alleged that over the course of 30 years, Herschkopf took control of his finances, moved into his home (and acted like HE owned it), and basically coerced Markowitz to become estranged from his family.

In 2021, Herschkopf was ordered by authorities to surrender his medical license.

12. The truly unbelievable D. B. Cooper hijacking, which remains the only unsolved case of air piracy in the history of aviation.

Bettmann / Bettmann Archive

D. B. Cooper is the pseudonym of an unidentified man who hijacked a plane on November, 24, 1971. After the hijacker demanded four parachutes and $200,000, the flight landed in Seattle. There, the flight's passengers were exchanged for the ransom money and parachutes. The flight then took off again and headed for Mexico City. But somewhere between Seattle and Reno, the hijacker jumped out of the plane with a parachute and the money. The hijacker has not been found to this day. However, there are many theories about who he was. (Side note: The hijacker bought his plane ticket under the name "Dan Cooper," and after a misunderstanding, people/the media thought it was "D.B. Cooper," and the wrong fake name has stuck ever since.)

"Dude hijacks a passenger plane, demands a ransom of $200K (nearly $1.5 million today), and bails out mid-flight with the cash...and is never heard from or seen again! Over 50 years later, no trace of him or his true identity has ever been found."

—scottaaronm

13. The headline-grabbing story of Anna Delvey/Sorokin, a Russian con artist who pretended to be a wealthy heiress in order to be a part of New York's social and art scenes, and defrauded $275,000 out of businesses and people.

Timothy A. Clary / AFP via Getty Images

"I've been following it ever since it broke on the internet for the first time way before the Netflix series, and it never ceases to amaze me the way she was able to scam not only New York socialites but big-name, luxury hotels and even banks. She is the true definition of 'fake it 'til you make it,' and I truly believe that had she not gone on that Morocco trip that cost her (former) friend Rachel 60k in card debt, she would have managed to somehow get the money that she needed to found her dream, the Anna Delvey Foundation. Too bad she probably saw the Kardashians' Instagram posts at that one hotel for the 0.1% and wanted to stay there, too."

—phandabox

14. The very mysterious disappearance of Asha Degree, a young girl who went missing on February 14, 2000, in Shelby, North Carolina.

WCNC / Via youtube.com

"The disappearance of Asha Degree always gives me chills. She was 9 and was seen walking along a highway in the middle of the night by a motorist. When she saw him, she ran into the nearby woods. That was the last time anyone saw her. Some of her belongings, like a hair bow and candy wrappers, were found by a shed, but nothing came out of that. Then years later, her backpack was found at a construction site wrapped in a plastic bag. Like, WHAT!?"

—haightashbury1967

15. The messy-as-all-heck (and very popular) story of Joe Exotic and all the Tiger King madness.

Netflix

Joseph Maldonado, known professionally and more widely as Joe Exotic or "The Tiger King," is one of the stars of Netflix's wildly popular docuseries Tiger King. Maldonado ran the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma from 1998 to 2018. Shortly after, he was arrested on suspicion of hiring people to murder rival Carole Baskin of Big Cat Rescue. Maldonado was eventually convicted and sentenced to 22 years in prison. However, he later appealed and had his sentence reduced by 1 year, to 21 years.

"Tiger King has entered the chat. That sent me down a rabbit hole of crazy true crime documentaries during the pandemic."

—brilynmit

16. Rollen Stewart, also known as the Rainbow Man, who used to hold up "John 3:16" signs at sports stadiums in the '70s and '80s. He was later arrested in 1992 and charged with several felonies including kidnapping and hostage-taking.

Focus On Sport / Focus on Sport via Getty Images

"I only just learned about the guy who started the thing of people holding up 'John 3:16' signs at sports events. The Rainbow Man, or Rollen Stewart, is a Christian zealot who is apparently trying to spread God’s word by showing up at televised sporting events. He’s now serving multiple life sentences. Go on and look up why."

—gracers

17. Finally, the bizarre story of Edwin Rist, an American studying in London who was also the mastermind behind a feather heist in 2009. Yes, a case of stolen feathers.

Andrew Holt / Getty Images

"He stole millions of dollars worth of bird specimens from a British national museum so that he could sell them to salmon fly tiers to make money to support his studies, buy a new flute, and have a 'better lifestyle.' The museum didn't even register it had happened until 35 days later. There's a new and great This American Life on it, as well as a book by Kirk Wallace Johnson."

—Anonymous

Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.

If you or anyone you know has information on a missing person case, call local law enforcement first. You can also contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 (THE-LOST) or visit the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System site for regional case assistance.

Do you know of a particularly interesting or dark true crime story that DOESN'T involve murder? Tell us in the comments below and, who knows, maybe there'll be a part two!