The Skeleton Key Chronicles is your source for creepy content, true crime, haunted history, customs & lore, missing persons and oddities.
Ladies and gentleman step right up and let me introduce the incomparable Fanny Mills, more commonly known as The Ohio Big Foot Girl. Fanny wasn't originally from her namesake Ohio, she immigrated to the Sandusky area from England in 1859 when she was just an infant. It was around that same time her family became…
Today marks 43 years since the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire. My parents used to visit this establishment on special occasions and were supposed to be there just a few days before the fire. The Beverly Hills Supper Club was the real deal. Elegant for days and if you were headed that way, especially back…
It's Memorial Day, a day to remember and celebrate all of those brave people who lost their lives defending our freedom. Prior to being declared a federal holiday back in 1971, Memorial Day was often referred to as Decoration Day and has it's own roots and even a particular set of customs, dating back more than…
Smallpox. A potentially deadly, highly contagious, infectious disease that is caused by the variola virus. The emblematic symptom being the numerous round ulcerated pustules with a center hole referred to as an umbilication. If you find this repulsive, you're not alone. Upwards of 15% of the population suffers an aversion to the sight of repeating…
Continue reading ➞ HOLE-Y COW: THE SMALLPOX TRYPOPHOBIA CONNECTION
On this day back in 1980 the horror classic, Friday the 13th was released to eager audiences. The film follows a group of freshly minted, teenaged, camp counselors as they attempt to re-open a long abandoned and neglected summer camp. Unfortunately throughout this process, the teens are quietly stalked and murdered one by one. You…
Continue reading ➞ JASON VOORHEES WAS CERTAINLY NO BOY SCOUT
A complex virus that spreads rapidly person to person. Some experience mild symptoms and may not even know they're infected, while others experience catastrophic complications and even death. Sound familiar? I'm talking Polio, people. Which at its peak in the 1950s, would paralyze or kill over half a million people worldwide. Did you know Cincinnati…
While scrolling through my Facebook feed I saw a meme proclaiming the Pringles potato chip mascot was inspired by none other than the notorious H.H. Holmes. What?? Needless to say that inspired a trip down the rabbit hole and what I found there was a really interesting story about those Pringles cans I'd like to…
When I first heard about all the work Laura Brand was doing with serial killers, specifically the Toolbox Murder case, I was seriously impressed. I never dreamed that in a matter of months I'd be on her research team, helping her track down witnesses more than 40 years after Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris commited…
Continue reading ➞ WELCOME TO OUR NIGHTMARE: THE TOOLBOX MURDERS INVESTIGATION
On this date back in 1912 the RMS Titanic sank in the icy waters of the North Atlantic Ocean during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City. The ship struck an iceberg on the previous evening that damaged the starboard side of the vessel. In a matter of hours, in the early…
It's been 45 years since one of the deadliest shootings inside a private residence in U.S. history, and it all happened right here in southwest Ohio. It was Easter Sunday, 1975 on a quiet street when 41-year-old James Ruppert killed eleven members of his family while they gathered for a holiday dinner. Multiple generations annihilated…
Continue reading ➞ EASTER MASSACRE: THE RUPPERT FAMILY MURDERS
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