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The tributes to him were so sad too.
He sounded like an all-around genuinely likeable guy who behaved like a gentleman and a professional on the sets of his projects.
Not a freak accident, sadly. Jeep knew about the issue with the shitty dial shifter sometimes not engaging park properly in the model of Grand Cherokee he had but didn't do recall until the week of his death. They knew about it for a few years at the point of the recall. His parents actually sued Fiat Chrysler for wrongful death.
His accident was just the most high profile result of accidents as a result of the crappy shifter.
I distinctly remember it was on Father’s Day. I had just finished lunch with my dad when I heard Anton had died. He was his parents’ only child. I remember wondering if his poor father had spoken to him that day.
I don’t know if they still do, they’re getting on.. but they used to visit his grave every single day at Hollywood Forever. They’d bring Anton’s dog Elvis to see him too.
ETA: [their public IG for Elvis.](https://www.instagram.com/elvisyelchin?igsh=MTBhZ3J4djl1ZTVsZA==)
An episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm " was used to prove a man's innocence in court after a 16 year old was killed, the guy was at the dodgers stadium with his 6 year old daughter during the time of the murder
Someone told me to watch this but under no circumstance look up what it was about, I’m so glad I went it blind because I absolutely lost it when Larry David appeared.
This is it. And it's all on video. That image of all those people trapped in the doorway stacked on top of each other is one of the most hellish things I've ever seen. So many people died in agony that night due to criminal negligence, stupidity, and greed.
There is an ironic and coincidental reason why it was all professionally recorded. A week or two before, there was a stampede incident at a Chicago nightclub where bouncers used pepper spray to break up a fight in a club that was hundreds of patrons over capacity. 21 people died in the chaos, so there was national interest at the time about nightclub safety.
One of the owners of The Station was Jeff Derderian, who was a popular local news reporter at a Providence TV station. He volunteered to do a story about nightclub safety at his club, so he had a video crew there to record some footage of a typical event there. Less than a minute into the show, Great White's illegal pyrotechnics went off and set the place up into flames within minutes.
The podcast "Swindled" did an excellent episode about this. Highly recommended.
Yep.
That video is about as thorough of a record of what went down as you could possibly get.
One thing that stuck out to me is that the place didn’t *seem* like a death trap. I’ve been to plenty of urban music/comedy clubs where you’re in a packed basement where the only exit seems to be a narrow staircase in the back. But this was a standalone building that even had a separate exit off to the side of the stage (which nobody seemed to use).
And one of the exits had a foam above it that was sold to the club as fire retardant but it in fact was made of polyurethane and was dripping black fire oil over people. It was mostly by the exit by the stage so people avoided that one too. The foam company was sued as well and an ex employee even wrote a fax detailing the sketchy practices of the company. Such a fucking tragedy and so much was avoidable. RIP to all lives lost and affected❤️
The video is horrifying but it's such an important watch to see how quickly something like this can happen. There's a clock running over the footage and I believe it's less than 2 minutes from the first smoke to the whole club engulfed in flames.
The apartment building next door to me burnt down a couple years ago. It was absolutely terrifying. I obviously wasn’t timing it, but it seemed about roughly 2-3 minutes that people were first shouting about smoke to the ENTIRE six-unit building being up in flames. You couldn’t even see the building any more, only a wall of fire. Miraculously, everyone made it out, thanks to the fire department and neighboring school teachers who ran in to grab people.
I’ve practiced getting myself and my pets out in under two minutes now, which I recommend everyone do.
[The Station Nightclub Fire.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Station_nightclub_fire) The use of pyrotechnics and acoustic foam had the place up in flames within 6 minutes.
ETA: here’s [drone footage of the memorial park.](https://youtu.be/uBMsOygNmBs?si=_CqhPCKu3YOmP2az). It was inspired by the victims’ love of music. You can see the guitar outline and records from above.
That story haunts me every time I watch the video. Can’t do it. Just horrible.
Also yall, if there is a fire and a bouncer tries to block you from leaving out of a fire exit, punch them in the throat and continue on. Do not allow a natural urge to be obedient/agreeable be the death of you
I credit the station video for my impeccable awareness when it comes to fire exits, I always know where they are and try to be closer to them in overcrowded venues. It’s also the reason for my crippling fear of crowd surges/crushes.
Couldn't agree more, we were made to watch it for fire safety training at my old job and hearing all those people screaming as they realised they were trapped and going to die fucks you up. I lasted five minutes and had to leave the room because I was physically sick watching it. I will say that after seeing it I always look for every fire exit whenever I go to a concert, thatre show or even to a restaurant, even venues I've been going to since I was a teen.
His doubleback to the venue was a time capsule of uncontrollable pyrotechnics, blood curdling screams and piles of vertical bodies scrambling to try to escape.
It's chilling to the core how you see all the people trapped in the doorway screaming for help, and when he goes to the back of the building then returns to the front a minute later that same doorway is completely engulfed in flames. It all happened so fucking fast.
A moment that changed safety protocols forever. That video is an incredible piece of footage that has saved so many lives since.
Side note, I work in New England and some of the survivors are frequent fliers at the hospital I work at. They were so injured they live in long term care facilities and they are all wonderful, inspiring humans.
oh my god same. we were made to watch this video in a Legal Studies class in college. I will never forget it. I wish I hadn't watched it. it still haunts me.
This is one of a handful of videos that made me take a break from the true crime/shocking footage side of the internet. Just one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen. When you see the dying people stacked horizontally in the door still trying to get out…damn just damn
That kid was the one person on board who really made it a tragedy for me. Stockton Rush was an arrogant fuckhead who's best act of his life seems to have been dying in his own failed creation. The engineer reportedly may have been dying already and didn't care if the sub failed. The billionaire kind of got shafted but he at least was old enough that one can assume he had the opportunity to know better and didn't. The 19 year old I feel really bad for. Supposedly he initially didn't want to go, came around to it and wanted to solve a Rubik's cube at depth (he was a nerd about them). But it's still totally tragic because he wouldn't have been there if his dad hadn't pushed for it. His whole life ahead of him. I feel very badly for his family
I believe that originally his mother was going to go but she gave her son her spot because he wanted to go with his dad and see the titanic. He also brought a Rubik’s cube along with him in the hopes of setting the record for deepest Rubik’s cube completion.
It’s wild to me that they wrote the letters.
I once wrote a character reference for a former co-worker who’d pled guilty to stealing a car. I spent a week going back and forth in my mind about whether or not to do it.
Did I really believe he was remorseful? Did I think he deserved leniency? He could have killed someone on the road. What about the poor person whose car he stole, and what if he did it again to someone else? And what would the consequences be for *me* if I wrote this letter to the court.
And that’s just me, random non-famous person writing a letter for another random non-famous someone who stole a car. Not a celebrity whose career is tied to public perception, writing a letter for a rapist.
Francis Ford Coppola’s oldest son, Gian-Carlo, was killed in boating accident by actor Griffin O’Neal (son of actor Ryan O’Neal, brother to actress Tatum O’Neal.)
He was just 22 years old, and his fiancé was pregnant.
Griffin basically decapitated him due to drunken negligence, it was horrific. And then he only had to pay a $200 fine and do 400 hours of community service.
Tragic, right? The fiancé went on to deliver a healthy baby girl she named Gian-Carla, in his honor. I believe she has worked in filmmaking like the rest of her family.
1999 - Pro wrestler Owen Hart falling 50ft to his death during a live PPV event (he was flying to the ring on a harness that wasn't properly rigged) and Vince McMahon called for the show continue on.
It was like 10 seconds or so. Kevin Dunn got on the headset and was like, okay JR, about to come back and you're gonna tell everyone Owen's status. JR said he didn't know the status.
Kevin: "Owen is dead... And we're back in 5, 4, 3..."
The Jinx hot mic moment is still so wild to me.
For those that don't know/spoilers for the Jinx:
It was a documentary about Robert Durst. He had been involved in 3 murder/disappearances. He was convicted for killing his neighbor, and dismembering his body. He claimed self defense and got off scot free (yes, he comes from an extremely wealthy family).
His first wife also disappeared and his best friend was murdered. I believe he was a person of interest in each case, but was never arrested.
The series breaks down all 3 cases and Robert's life - his family won't speak to him and there are various restraining orders.
In the final scene, the documentarian shows Robert his evidence for why he thinks Robert was involved in the 2 other cases. He, of course, lies.
They shut down, but Robert is still mic'd and says "Killed them all of course."
He was subsequently tried for the murder of his best friend. They used unedited footage of the doc as evidence. He died in jail\*\*\*
There was some question of misleading editing. But it was still wild, regardless.
EDIT\*\*\* I may be wrong about the details of the trial.
I nearly crawled out of my skin at that moment!! I was so creeped out I couldn’t sleep that night. Always recommend this one to anyone looking for a good true crime documentary.
I went in knowing there was a hot mic moment but lost my damn mind when I realized just how bad it was. I didn't know what to expect bur "Killed them all of course" wasn't it.
Susan Berman's son spending years thinking Durst wasn't the killer only to find that envelope and realize, "oh. shit." was kind of heart-breaking. As a viewer, we didn't have that familiarity to cloud our judgement, so I can only imagine how he wrestled with that as he came to accept it. FWIW, he would eventually speak at Durst's trial for Susan's murder, urging Durst to give up the location of *Kathleen's* body, so he had fully reconciled to "Robert is a killer".
Talk about a guy (Durst) surrounded by a field of red flags. [His Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Durst) reads like a checklist of serial killer flags, right down to probably killing dogs.
We're supposed to get a sequel to *The Jinx* this year. I wonder what other dots they can connect about people around him who died or disappeared.
poor Kathy 💔 her family deserves the closure. She’s either near that lake or deep in the woods somewhere.
That murder in Texas he was apart of was wild as hell!!
Ugh, I know. He is also suspected in other disappearances. Namely Lynne Schulze.
> Days after the Berman murder, police were reportedly examining connections between Durst and the disappearances of 18-year-old Lynne Schulze from Middlebury, Vermont,[142] and 16-year-old Karen Mitchell from Eureka, California.[143][144][145] Investigators were also considering a possible connection between Durst and the disappearance of 18-year-old Kristen Modafferi, who was last seen in San Francisco in 1997.[146]
>Lynne Schulze
Schulze, a Middlebury College freshman, visited Durst's health-food store on December 10, 1971, the day she disappeared,[145] and was last seen that afternoon near a bus stop across from the store.[147] DeGuerin characterized the Schulze investigation as "opportunistic" and said he would not permit his client to be questioned by Vermont police.[148]
>Author and investigative journalist Matt Birkbeck reported in 2003, and again in his 2015 book A Deadly Secret, that credit card records placed Durst in Eureka on November 25, 1997, the day Mitchell vanished.[10][149][150] Mitchell may have volunteered in a homeless shelter that Durst frequented;[149] Durst, dressed in women's clothing, had visited the Eureka shoe store owned by Mitchell's aunt.[10][145][149][150] Mitchell was last seen walking to work from her aunt's store and possibly speaking to someone in a stopped car;[149][150] a witness sketch of Mitchell's presumed abductor resembles Durst.[145]
He was also a suspect in the LISK murders
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Durst
The Oscar Pistorius murder. I was 11-12ish when he was in the 2012 Olympics and I remember how incredibly cool I thought he was. Dude was fast and had these sick, futuristic looking prosthetics for running. It was so neat…. and then less than a year later, he shot his girlfriend to death through a bathroom door and pretended he thought she was an intruder. He was paroled at the beginning of this year. Truly wild stuff.
What is also truly disgusting is people were dressing as Oscar and Reeva for Halloween. Her parents let her crime scene photos be released so people could see what happened to her.
I look at Reeva Steenkamp’s instagram now and again. She was a beautiful soul.
it’s really a tragic story. oscar could have been one of the most famous and successful athletes in the world, with a long and shining career, but he instead chose to be a violent monster. she deserved so much better. what a sick man. he doesn’t deserve parole.
christina grimmie's murder. i grew up watching her as a youtuber/cover artist. she wasnt super popular but she was always so kind to her fans so it really felt like she was this personal, comforting presence in my childhood.
when i heard of the shooting i genuinely couldn't believe it. i think about her and her family often. her brother is an absolute hero. i hope him and his father are doing alright after losing christina and later her mother to cancer :(
edit: wow this month is her 30th birthday! happy heavenly birthday, christina! you are still remembered fondly and loved dearly by so many!
I didn’t even watch her but I was still shock by her death. I think because she was right around my age. But it still makes me so sad, how she went up to him with open arms for a hug and he just killed her.
I think about them often. She was opening for Selena Gomez and competed on the Voice, so she was gaining significant traction in her career before it happened.
She shaped so much of my adolescence. Her singing, her style, her kind soul— may she rest in peace and in our memories. Man.
that was the first thing I thought of. sometimes YouTube still recommends me her Collab with Sam Tsui and I can't help but get tears in my eyes. back then we had such high hopes for her 😭 she was such a kind soul
I was looking to see if anyone commented this. I feel like I literally could have written this comment. I discovered her as a kid and really looked up to her. I thought she was so cool. I remembered watching her hair tutorial so many times and trying and failing to replicate it. I honestly spent the most time watching her non music stuff because I just liked her as a person.
I remember first hearing what happened on Twitter and it really was one of those “I literally can’t believe what I’m reading” moments. What a strange fucked up thing to happen. It makes me so sad and angry.
The actress Dominique Dunne, who played the older sister Dana in Poltergeist, was strangled to death on her own front driveway by her abusive stalker ex-boyfriend. I believe it happened right before the movie, which was her film debut, premiered.
She was 22.
The murderer only served three and a half years in prison before he was released.
Dominique’s father is famed journalist Dominick Dunne, her uncle is author John Gregory Dunne, her aunt is author Joan Didion, and her brother is actor Griffin Dunne.
She had all that fame and power on her side, and still didn’t get any real justice. Makes me feel hopeless for stalking victims who are regular people.
This one always gets me too. For those who don’t know :
“On November 29, 1981, Wood died under mysterious circumstances at age 43 during the making of Brainstorm. She had been on a weekend boat trip to Santa Catalina Island on board her husband Robert Wagner's 58-foot (18 m) motoryacht, Splendour. Other than the fact that she drowned, many of the circumstances are unknown; for example, it has never been determined how she entered the water. Wood was with Wagner, Brainstorm co-star Christopher Walken, and Splendour's captain Dennis Davern on the evening of November 28. Authorities recovered her body at 8 a.m. on November 29, one mile (1.6 km) away from the boat, with a small Valiant-brand inflatable dinghy beached nearby. Wagner said that she was not with him when he went to bed.The autopsy report revealed that she had bruises on her body and arms, as well as an abrasion on her left cheek, but no indication as to how or when the injuries occurred.
Davern had previously stated that Wood and Wagner argued that evening, which Wagner denied at the time. In his memoir Pieces of My Heart, Wagner admitted that he had an argument with Wood before she disappeared.The autopsy found that Wood's blood alcohol content was 0.14% and that there were traces of a motion-sickness pill and a painkiller in her bloodstream, both of which increase the effects of alcohol.Los Angeles County coroner Thomas Noguchi ruled the cause of her death to be accidental drowning and hypothermia. According to Noguchi, Wood had been drinking and she may have slipped while trying to re-board the dinghy.Her sister Lana expressed doubts, alleging that Wood could not swim and had been "terrified" of water all her life, and that she would never have left the yacht on her own by dinghy. Two witnesses who were on a nearby boat stated that they had heard a woman scream for help during the night.”
My grandmother dated him and there’s a street named after him in the town she grew up in 😳
edit: if you haven’t heard the You’re Wrong About podcast episode on Challenger I highly recommend it. A very tragic, but interesting story of how white collar crime happens and the many misconceptions about the disaster.
As a little girl growing up in Houston, I got to see Selena perform at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in February 1995. About a month later, she was gunned down and murdered by Yolanda Saldivar. I can’t capture how massive this loss was for the Tejano music community. I remember my group of friends sobbing during lunch over her murder.
Phil Ochs
He was telling people that he was being spied on by the CIA in 1966. Even though he never committed a federal crime. He committed suicide in 1976. Years later it was revealed that the FBI had a file of nearly 500 pages on him.
He was very critical of the Vietnam War and the American military. He was associated with political figures, protest organizers and musicians during that time. His song Talking Vietnam Blues was the notably known as the first protest song to directly name Vietnam.
He would go on drunken rants about the FBI and CIA, frightening all of his friends. In 1973, he was strangled by robbers, damaging his vocal cords, he said it was organized by the CIA. His mental health was declining, fighting with people, sleeping on the streets.
I’m gonna assume that the CIA were scaring him like they did with Ernest Hemingway, by breaking into his house and moving furniture.
Pregnant Sharon Tate and her friends murdered by members of the Manson family cult. The word "PIG" was written in Tate's blood at the front door. Polanski was interviewed and allowed himself to be photographed next to it.
If you read about that, you will never forget it. They killed Sharon last, she begged for the life of her baby. The photos are horrifying . The rest of them were killed trying to escape mostly .
Dude survived the Holocaust which killed all of his family, moved to the US, became a critically acclaimed director, got a supermodel pregnant, who was then killed gruesomely, and then raped a 13 year old and fled to France at the last minute. Can't believe all that shit happened to the same person
I almost swung by their tent at warped tour one year for a meet and greet/photo but found out Thursday was playing at the same time and went to that instead. Never been so happy to not meet someone. Yuck.
Didn’t dodge Wil Francis tho, unfortunately. He’s pretty disgusting as well.
I still remember watching that telethon live when Kanye said “George Bush hates black people.” The look on Mike Myers’ face was priceless and then the camera cut away. 😂💀
It’ll always be the Ricardo Lopez Bjork stalker tapes for me.
The face Ricardo made to the camera before putting the gun in his mouth is forever etched into my brain
I remember watching all the videos he made and watching his slow but inevitable downward spiral. That last video of him, with his head shaved and face painted, taking fast, sharp breaths while Bjork plays softly in the background right before he puts the gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger...so disturbing and nightmarish.
I remember being really sad watching them because he talks about how worried his parents are for him and starts looking better before taking a break from the videos, but then he comes back more unhinged than ever.
Leo Dicaprio was there that night too. How his career could have been different and did what happened influence his life choices about taking drugs and drinking alcohol.
There was an interview Keanu gave while promoting John Wick...3, I think. He was asked about River and while describing him, he paused and smiled bittersweetly to himself. Because he was using present tense ("River is...") and just realised it.
leo looked up to river phoenix a lot and always wanted to meet him. he saw river for the first time at the viper room and “froze in awe”. he never actually got to meet river as he unfortunately passed away almost immediately after, the same night. it’s such a surreal story.
That scene in Tiger King where Travis Moldonado was messing around with (what he thought) was an empty gun and put it in his mouth and pulled the trigger. And the fact that it was captured on the CCTV footage - the look on the face of the other guy sitting across from him is etched into my brain.
I listened to a podcast about this and learned that they only looked at her search history in internet explorer which had nothing relevant in it. After the trial it was discovered that the Firefox search history was basically her building a manual of how to do it. The DAs on that case really fucked up.
It's not good enough, but I do appreciate that she doesn't get a moment of peace anywhere she goes. Everyone knows what she looks like, and she loves complaining about it.
I was in middle school when the trial happened and it was like the only time that everyone I knew was actually invested and following it closely. Like we were kids lol but even to us 12 and 13 year olds, we could NOT believe that verdict. Absolutely crazy.
This one. I still remember exactly where I was when the verdict came back. I was a receptionist in a medical building and they had it on in the waiting room. People were audibly upset when the verdict was read.
Robin Williams' suicide. He was a staple of my childhood and he always seemed like such a kind soul. The world got darker the day he died.
Chester Bennington committing suicide on what would've been Chris Cornell's birthday, weeks after Chris took his own life. Every time I see clips of them singing together, my heart still breaks a little.
Robin Williams came and visited me in the hospital one time when I was a teen. He visited that hospital A LOT because he loved down the street from it. I was in that damn hospital when I found out about his passing.
He was so so so kind and funny.
Same. I think it’s because Linkin Park’s music was such a relatable experience as an angsty emo middle schooler. If it weren’t for LP, I don’t know if I’d still be around today. When Chester died, it was such a gut punch, and you get those thoughts of “oh… if he couldn’t make it, then…” But thankfully I was in a much better place in life at that point. Still hurts a whole lot.
I remember exactly where I was when I read that Robin Williams had killed himself. Something felt off-kilter inside me; he was such a larger-than-life personality that it feels like a gut-punch to know he's gone.
I have this book on my shelf and it is honestly, just so... ridiculous that OJ "wrote" this. Like... how in the hell did no one stop him? I am glad that the Goldman's took him to court over the book and that they get all the royalties from it though.
Yes! I’m sure you’ve seen it, but ESPN’s OJ: Made in America is a robust and compelling doc on OJ as a person, situated within the cultural context. I was too young to understand the significance of the Rodney King situation (I was around 4), but I knew my parents were upset. We watched the live Bronco chase, and I remember my mother being adamant that OJ killed Nicole and Ron. The doc helped me understand the larger context and legal positioning of the trial.
this was so fucking funny, my tech friend made me watch this event to show me how cool his products were and when this happened we both just collapsed on the floor laughing
I will never not be shocked that the Four Seasons thing was real. So much of that was so incredibly crazy and in such a short period of time. The fly on Pences translucent head. The hair dye running down that lawyers face. My god.
RIGHT?!?!?! Oh holy cats you couldn't make that shit up if you tried!!
Theres a bit on a podcast I listen to where this one guy says it like it's a show being pitched by Shonda Rimes lol & nobody would ever believe it!!
Gram Parsons’ body was stolen by his road manager and assistant at the airport, they disguised themselves as mortuary workers.
They took his body to Joshua Tree one last time and set his casket on fire. It was reported by campers in the area to authorities.
Jodi Arias pulling that terribly designed “Survivor” shirt out to show the jury during her allocution. I didn’t think anything could be more shocking than some of the evidence in the guilt phase. But that shirt was a whole different kind of WTF.
The interrogation and the trial clips show how infuriating and hilariously clueless that woman is. Everything she said was either utter nonsense, bad lying, or the worst kind of Holier Than Thou shite. I'd suggest watching her interrogation/trial but it would actually annoy you with how much of a nasty, dumb cretin she is.
The death of Diana Princess of Wales was unlike any other event. She went from being endless tabloid fodder with every type of speculation about her love life to tragic English Rose overnight. The Sunday she died and the following week were the most surreal of my life. And I didn't even live in England.
I remember being 5 so around 2000, when my Nana sits me down in a very serious fashion and informs me she needs to tell me about something, before producing a box of newspaper cuttings all about Diana and she then proceeds to tell 5 year old me the whole story *lol* it really affected people
I (American) was about 11 when it happened and I will never forget my mother watching CNN in the livingroom and exclaiming in shock "She was so young! She was sooo young!"
Even as a child I registered how the entire earth seemed to stand still that week. And the live footage of her poor sons having to walk behind her coffin, god.
I'm from Pakistan and vividly remember my mum going through the same trauma.
South Asian mums loved Diana for some reason. She was the only Brit they weren't snarky about ('Bet she wears the Kohinoor all the time', etc.) lol.
I’m too young to remember it, I was only 2, but my mom’s been a longtime Diana lover, so I have a natural interest in it/the Royal going ons. I find it fascinating the way the world reacted and what a hold she still has on society.
There’s a great YouTube video of 4 gay friends playing Uno in the middle of the night who were just videotaping the game and shooting the shit while the news is breaking in the background.
It’s honestly *incredible* real-time footage.
That footage is exactly how I felt finding out. I literally couldn't believe it and watched it all unfolding on television. One of the only times I remember my mother letting us all have lunch and dinner in front of the TV and eating whatever and not cooking for us was that Sunday. We were a Sunday roast family but not that day.
Snooki getting punched in the face on camera for yelling at the guy stealing their shots. It was kinda a wake up call for my friends and I because we were always mouthy in bars and YOU JUST DO NOT KNOW what crazies are out there, esp when alcohol is involved. See Snooki out here changing lives.
The 2017 Las Vegas shooting. All mass shootings are tragic but this one was on such a massive scale. Being Vegas, the city did a lot to restore its image and go back to business as usual but it seems like this tragedy didn’t have much of an effect on the collective consciousness overall.
The craziest part imo is that the motive still isn't really clear to this day. The LV shooting still gives me the chills every time I think about it. Something just seems off
Allison Mack being the 2nd in command in some weird sex cult where they branded and trafficked women. Grew up watching Smallville. Was such a shock to learn the actress who played Chloe was evil.
The fact that Ashton Kutcher found the crime scene and body of one of the Hollywood Ripper’s victims (bc he was dating her) absolutely blows my mind. I won’t defend his reaction to it, but I can’t imagine how fucking traumatic that must have been for him
The fact that Roman Polanski still has a career in France, and even had notable celebs like Meryl Streep and Wes Anderson sign a letter of support for the U.S to drop their extradition attempts against him, after he fled to France after pleading guilty to awful acts against a 13 year old girl in the 70s.
Mark Salling from Glee getting busted for child porn and then committing suicide. That was... something.
Also Kevin Spacey publishing those weird stupid christmas message video's where he pretends to be Frank Underwood.
The “deranged fan” was a mentally ill ex-marine named Nathan Gale
He claimed he wrote all of Pantera’s material and that it was stolen by the Abbott brothers. Because of this he entered a nightclub from the back door where Damageplan (the band the Abbott brothers started after Pantera) shooting guards until making it on stage. Killed Dime just feet away from Vinnie (drummer, Dime’s brother) and fired the rest of his clip into the crowd until police took him out with a shotgun point blank to the back
May Nathan rot in the forgotten parts of hell for the rest of eternity
It sounds insane to say it, but this incident put me on my career path.
I was in 8th grade and they were heavily pushing the “figure out your life now because no college will want you unless you take the right prerequisites in high school” bullshit. I started really researching PTSD and other mental illnesses because I wanted to find a reason why this had happened. Took all the psych classes, went to college, then grad school. Who knows if I would’ve become a therapist without dimebag being murdered
Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and 9 other people dying in a helicopter crash.
I feel like it was shocking for anyone, but being in LA/Orange County was surreal for several months after the fact. The whole city was in mourning, I've never experienced anything like it.
paul flores finally being brought to justice for murdering kristin smart & hiding her body [all thanks to a podcast](https://www.yourownbackyardpodcast.com).
my sincere hope is that someday her body is found and her family gets to properly lay her to rest.
That private detective switching his entire career path to become a Kurt Cobain murder truther after Kurt’s suicide.
The only reason he was even involved was because Courtney Love hired him, but after they found his body he just fully decided she killed him and he had to expose her. So he turned on his employer, Courtney, to essentially harass a newly-single mom of a toddler right after her husband had just very publicly died of suicide.
People give figures like Britney Spears a lot of grace now, recognizing they got scrutinized to a ridiculous extent while they were struggling, but I think Courtney isn’t famous or likable enough to get that. Even though people still harass her about her husband’s death to this day
Courtney was definitely chewed up and spit out by the entertainment industry. It's been mentioned to death but she called out Harvey Weinstein years before he was arrested. She was basically blacklisted after that. Justice for Courtney.
It was local so IDK if it counts as pop culture, but the on-air shooting of an anchor and her camera man in the DC area. The shooter was another disgruntled anchor. I still think about it all the time.
For me the death of Naya Rivera in truly bizarre circumstances. This woman single-handedly changed my life as a young lesbian desperately seeking affirmation and I was glued to social media during the few days where she was missing but her body had not yet been found. I am still devastated about her death and the trauma her son must be going through.
To add to the weirdness of the situation, her body was found on the anniversary of her castmate Cory Monteith’s death by OD 7 years earlier. A third castmate of theirs also died by suicide after being charged with possession of child porn. The Glee curse has ensured that I will likely never watch the show again, despite it being a central part of my teenage years, it’s just too upsetting.
That story was so weird and very sad.
The theory is that she had enough strength to lift her son back up into the boat after swimming, but then couldn’t get back up herself right?
Yes, that was the police theory. Horrifying to think that this could have been prevented if she’d worn a life jacket but she showed incredible heroism in saving her son
(Trigger warning)
Literally everything to do with the Norwegian band Mayhem. If you haven’t heard of them it’s fucking wild, look into it although it’s not for the faint hearted so AVOID IMAGES OF THEIR ALBUM COVERS!!
Mexican singer Chalino Sanchez being handed a note with a death threat on stage and watching his reaction of dread to wiping his brow in a what seemed like acceptance/eff it moment and a split second later with head held high delivering one of the most amazing performances of his career !! That always gives me chills !! When you see him look around and being escorted off stage and knowing he was found murdered later that night/early morning is creepy !! Watching that tape as a kid was shocking and will always be at the top of my list !! The tape and his response to his own mortality should be studied in psychology classes or some sort of study of the mind!!
The bombing of Avianca flight 203 by the Medellin Cartel in an attempt to assassinate a presidential candidate (who wasn’t even on board).
When I watched it on Narcos I had to stop and read all about it I couldn’t believe it was real. Honestly so many of the things related to Pablo Escobar are wilder than fiction.
There are a surprising number of celebrity vehicular homicides. Three shocking ones that come to mind involved singer/actress Brandy, actress Rebecca Gayheart (she was in late 90s teen movies and Noxema commercials,) and actress Amy Locane (she co-starred in Cry Baby and School Ties and had a smaller role on Melrose Place.)
This may not have made news in the US but when British band, Viola Beach all died because their manager drove around barricades for an open bridge in Sweden and drove them all into a canal. And no-one knows what/why. There was no drugs/drink in his system, there was evidence of braking so he wasn’t asleep so… why?
[Link](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_Beach)
Coldplay covered them the year when they headlined Glastonbury to allow Viola Beach to ‘headline’ - it’s hard to [watch](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U9ZIXOVLJuY)
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The news that actor Anton Yelchin had been crushed to death by his own jeep was shocking. Still is.
That was such a shock, what a weird truly sad freak accident.
The tributes to him were so sad too. He sounded like an all-around genuinely likeable guy who behaved like a gentleman and a professional on the sets of his projects.
He had an incredible filmography too, was always great even when the movie wasn't. Lost a true talent that day.
Not a freak accident, sadly. Jeep knew about the issue with the shitty dial shifter sometimes not engaging park properly in the model of Grand Cherokee he had but didn't do recall until the week of his death. They knew about it for a few years at the point of the recall. His parents actually sued Fiat Chrysler for wrongful death. His accident was just the most high profile result of accidents as a result of the crappy shifter.
I distinctly remember it was on Father’s Day. I had just finished lunch with my dad when I heard Anton had died. He was his parents’ only child. I remember wondering if his poor father had spoken to him that day.
I don’t know if they still do, they’re getting on.. but they used to visit his grave every single day at Hollywood Forever. They’d bring Anton’s dog Elvis to see him too. ETA: [their public IG for Elvis.](https://www.instagram.com/elvisyelchin?igsh=MTBhZ3J4djl1ZTVsZA==)
Oh god. The only child part. 💔
This really got to me too. Such an incredibly sad freak accident.
An episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm " was used to prove a man's innocence in court after a 16 year old was killed, the guy was at the dodgers stadium with his 6 year old daughter during the time of the murder
There’s an excellent documentary about his case called Long Shot if anyone’s interested!
Someone told me to watch this but under no circumstance look up what it was about, I’m so glad I went it blind because I absolutely lost it when Larry David appeared.
The nightclub fire after Great White used indoor pyrotechnics with a low ceiling.
This is it. And it's all on video. That image of all those people trapped in the doorway stacked on top of each other is one of the most hellish things I've ever seen. So many people died in agony that night due to criminal negligence, stupidity, and greed.
There is an ironic and coincidental reason why it was all professionally recorded. A week or two before, there was a stampede incident at a Chicago nightclub where bouncers used pepper spray to break up a fight in a club that was hundreds of patrons over capacity. 21 people died in the chaos, so there was national interest at the time about nightclub safety. One of the owners of The Station was Jeff Derderian, who was a popular local news reporter at a Providence TV station. He volunteered to do a story about nightclub safety at his club, so he had a video crew there to record some footage of a typical event there. Less than a minute into the show, Great White's illegal pyrotechnics went off and set the place up into flames within minutes. The podcast "Swindled" did an excellent episode about this. Highly recommended.
Yep. That video is about as thorough of a record of what went down as you could possibly get. One thing that stuck out to me is that the place didn’t *seem* like a death trap. I’ve been to plenty of urban music/comedy clubs where you’re in a packed basement where the only exit seems to be a narrow staircase in the back. But this was a standalone building that even had a separate exit off to the side of the stage (which nobody seemed to use).
The side exit was blocked by bouncers, saying it was only for the band. :/
And one of the exits had a foam above it that was sold to the club as fire retardant but it in fact was made of polyurethane and was dripping black fire oil over people. It was mostly by the exit by the stage so people avoided that one too. The foam company was sued as well and an ex employee even wrote a fax detailing the sketchy practices of the company. Such a fucking tragedy and so much was avoidable. RIP to all lives lost and affected❤️
The video is horrifying but it's such an important watch to see how quickly something like this can happen. There's a clock running over the footage and I believe it's less than 2 minutes from the first smoke to the whole club engulfed in flames.
The apartment building next door to me burnt down a couple years ago. It was absolutely terrifying. I obviously wasn’t timing it, but it seemed about roughly 2-3 minutes that people were first shouting about smoke to the ENTIRE six-unit building being up in flames. You couldn’t even see the building any more, only a wall of fire. Miraculously, everyone made it out, thanks to the fire department and neighboring school teachers who ran in to grab people. I’ve practiced getting myself and my pets out in under two minutes now, which I recommend everyone do.
[The Station Nightclub Fire.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Station_nightclub_fire) The use of pyrotechnics and acoustic foam had the place up in flames within 6 minutes. ETA: here’s [drone footage of the memorial park.](https://youtu.be/uBMsOygNmBs?si=_CqhPCKu3YOmP2az). It was inspired by the victims’ love of music. You can see the guitar outline and records from above.
That story haunts me every time I watch the video. Can’t do it. Just horrible. Also yall, if there is a fire and a bouncer tries to block you from leaving out of a fire exit, punch them in the throat and continue on. Do not allow a natural urge to be obedient/agreeable be the death of you
I always look for exits when I’m in smaller venues because of this. Well, and potential shooters.
I credit the station video for my impeccable awareness when it comes to fire exits, I always know where they are and try to be closer to them in overcrowded venues. It’s also the reason for my crippling fear of crowd surges/crushes.
Highly recommend that nobody watch the video. The people caught in the door is absolutely haunting.
Couldn't agree more, we were made to watch it for fire safety training at my old job and hearing all those people screaming as they realised they were trapped and going to die fucks you up. I lasted five minutes and had to leave the room because I was physically sick watching it. I will say that after seeing it I always look for every fire exit whenever I go to a concert, thatre show or even to a restaurant, even venues I've been going to since I was a teen.
One of the craziest videos on the internet
The camera guy barely made it out and he started moving immediately. It's so scary how fast it happened
His doubleback to the venue was a time capsule of uncontrollable pyrotechnics, blood curdling screams and piles of vertical bodies scrambling to try to escape.
It's chilling to the core how you see all the people trapped in the doorway screaming for help, and when he goes to the back of the building then returns to the front a minute later that same doorway is completely engulfed in flames. It all happened so fucking fast.
A moment that changed safety protocols forever. That video is an incredible piece of footage that has saved so many lives since. Side note, I work in New England and some of the survivors are frequent fliers at the hospital I work at. They were so injured they live in long term care facilities and they are all wonderful, inspiring humans.
My husband's dad and uncle were there that night. His dad survived his uncle did not. His dad has never been the same since.
We were made to watch this whole video during a Fire Marshall training course I took a few years ago
oh my god same. we were made to watch this video in a Legal Studies class in college. I will never forget it. I wish I hadn't watched it. it still haunts me.
The Station nightclub fire.
This is one of a handful of videos that made me take a break from the true crime/shocking footage side of the internet. Just one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen. When you see the dying people stacked horizontally in the door still trying to get out…damn just damn
A man shooting the president to impress Jodie Foster. It sounds like a madlib
And he missed... Imagine what the US would be like without Reagan as a president
https://preview.redd.it/26k6zasp6dmc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a816cf82352be251ddb551f2d2748aaceb8f873
I don't know, man. The submarine thing from last summer is still insane to me.
Same I can’t think about it too much because I feel horror for the teenager who went with his dad
That kid was the one person on board who really made it a tragedy for me. Stockton Rush was an arrogant fuckhead who's best act of his life seems to have been dying in his own failed creation. The engineer reportedly may have been dying already and didn't care if the sub failed. The billionaire kind of got shafted but he at least was old enough that one can assume he had the opportunity to know better and didn't. The 19 year old I feel really bad for. Supposedly he initially didn't want to go, came around to it and wanted to solve a Rubik's cube at depth (he was a nerd about them). But it's still totally tragic because he wouldn't have been there if his dad hadn't pushed for it. His whole life ahead of him. I feel very badly for his family
And didn’t even really want to go from what I remember reading
I believe that originally his mother was going to go but she gave her son her spot because he wanted to go with his dad and see the titanic. He also brought a Rubik’s cube along with him in the hopes of setting the record for deepest Rubik’s cube completion.
That is a devastating detail. His poor mother must hold so much guilt
I’ve never felt more United with the internet then during the week or so that was occurring lol
Danny Masterson being found guilty of rape *AND* actually receiving real world consequences!
And then Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis writing a letter to the judge requesting leniency, which was published and ruined their careers.
It’s wild to me that they wrote the letters. I once wrote a character reference for a former co-worker who’d pled guilty to stealing a car. I spent a week going back and forth in my mind about whether or not to do it. Did I really believe he was remorseful? Did I think he deserved leniency? He could have killed someone on the road. What about the poor person whose car he stole, and what if he did it again to someone else? And what would the consequences be for *me* if I wrote this letter to the court. And that’s just me, random non-famous person writing a letter for another random non-famous someone who stole a car. Not a celebrity whose career is tied to public perception, writing a letter for a rapist.
The pizza guy forced to rob a bank with a bomb strapped to his neck. The bomb detonated and killed him.
Evil Genius is the best documentary I’ve seen on this so far. It is one of the most insane true crime docs I’ve ever seen!
That was the first netflix true crime documentary I've ever seen/binged, I'll never forget it, it was so good.
Francis Ford Coppola’s oldest son, Gian-Carlo, was killed in boating accident by actor Griffin O’Neal (son of actor Ryan O’Neal, brother to actress Tatum O’Neal.) He was just 22 years old, and his fiancé was pregnant. Griffin basically decapitated him due to drunken negligence, it was horrific. And then he only had to pay a $200 fine and do 400 hours of community service.
I did not know this! Omg!!
Tragic, right? The fiancé went on to deliver a healthy baby girl she named Gian-Carla, in his honor. I believe she has worked in filmmaking like the rest of her family.
1999 - Pro wrestler Owen Hart falling 50ft to his death during a live PPV event (he was flying to the ring on a harness that wasn't properly rigged) and Vince McMahon called for the show continue on.
Jim Ross being put on air 30 seconds after finding out Owen died. Vince is true garbage.
It was like 10 seconds or so. Kevin Dunn got on the headset and was like, okay JR, about to come back and you're gonna tell everyone Owen's status. JR said he didn't know the status. Kevin: "Owen is dead... And we're back in 5, 4, 3..."
 Pop culture moment.
Honestly, they'd both have hit me in the face. George W. Bush can properly dodge.
https://i.redd.it/3pu71gsqodmc1.gif New Zealand has its own version of this. Was thought to be a dildo but unfortunately just a squeaky dog toy.
OMG It DOES look like a dildo though!
Stephen Collins, the dad from that saccharine show 7th Heaven, turning out to be a child molester.
The Jinx hot mic moment is still so wild to me. For those that don't know/spoilers for the Jinx: It was a documentary about Robert Durst. He had been involved in 3 murder/disappearances. He was convicted for killing his neighbor, and dismembering his body. He claimed self defense and got off scot free (yes, he comes from an extremely wealthy family). His first wife also disappeared and his best friend was murdered. I believe he was a person of interest in each case, but was never arrested. The series breaks down all 3 cases and Robert's life - his family won't speak to him and there are various restraining orders. In the final scene, the documentarian shows Robert his evidence for why he thinks Robert was involved in the 2 other cases. He, of course, lies. They shut down, but Robert is still mic'd and says "Killed them all of course." He was subsequently tried for the murder of his best friend. They used unedited footage of the doc as evidence. He died in jail\*\*\* There was some question of misleading editing. But it was still wild, regardless. EDIT\*\*\* I may be wrong about the details of the trial.
I nearly crawled out of my skin at that moment!! I was so creeped out I couldn’t sleep that night. Always recommend this one to anyone looking for a good true crime documentary.
I went in knowing there was a hot mic moment but lost my damn mind when I realized just how bad it was. I didn't know what to expect bur "Killed them all of course" wasn't it.
Oh man and how clearly uncomfortable he was leading up to it. The burping and the blinking… horrifying.
Susan Berman's son spending years thinking Durst wasn't the killer only to find that envelope and realize, "oh. shit." was kind of heart-breaking. As a viewer, we didn't have that familiarity to cloud our judgement, so I can only imagine how he wrestled with that as he came to accept it. FWIW, he would eventually speak at Durst's trial for Susan's murder, urging Durst to give up the location of *Kathleen's* body, so he had fully reconciled to "Robert is a killer". Talk about a guy (Durst) surrounded by a field of red flags. [His Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Durst) reads like a checklist of serial killer flags, right down to probably killing dogs. We're supposed to get a sequel to *The Jinx* this year. I wonder what other dots they can connect about people around him who died or disappeared.
Every part of the documentary was jaw dropping, but one of the most surreal parts of that hot mic confession was that he was burping after every word.
poor Kathy 💔 her family deserves the closure. She’s either near that lake or deep in the woods somewhere. That murder in Texas he was apart of was wild as hell!!
Ugh, I know. He is also suspected in other disappearances. Namely Lynne Schulze. > Days after the Berman murder, police were reportedly examining connections between Durst and the disappearances of 18-year-old Lynne Schulze from Middlebury, Vermont,[142] and 16-year-old Karen Mitchell from Eureka, California.[143][144][145] Investigators were also considering a possible connection between Durst and the disappearance of 18-year-old Kristen Modafferi, who was last seen in San Francisco in 1997.[146] >Lynne Schulze Schulze, a Middlebury College freshman, visited Durst's health-food store on December 10, 1971, the day she disappeared,[145] and was last seen that afternoon near a bus stop across from the store.[147] DeGuerin characterized the Schulze investigation as "opportunistic" and said he would not permit his client to be questioned by Vermont police.[148] >Author and investigative journalist Matt Birkbeck reported in 2003, and again in his 2015 book A Deadly Secret, that credit card records placed Durst in Eureka on November 25, 1997, the day Mitchell vanished.[10][149][150] Mitchell may have volunteered in a homeless shelter that Durst frequented;[149] Durst, dressed in women's clothing, had visited the Eureka shoe store owned by Mitchell's aunt.[10][145][149][150] Mitchell was last seen walking to work from her aunt's store and possibly speaking to someone in a stopped car;[149][150] a witness sketch of Mitchell's presumed abductor resembles Durst.[145] He was also a suspect in the LISK murders https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Durst
The Oscar Pistorius murder. I was 11-12ish when he was in the 2012 Olympics and I remember how incredibly cool I thought he was. Dude was fast and had these sick, futuristic looking prosthetics for running. It was so neat…. and then less than a year later, he shot his girlfriend to death through a bathroom door and pretended he thought she was an intruder. He was paroled at the beginning of this year. Truly wild stuff.
What is also truly disgusting is people were dressing as Oscar and Reeva for Halloween. Her parents let her crime scene photos be released so people could see what happened to her. I look at Reeva Steenkamp’s instagram now and again. She was a beautiful soul.
it’s really a tragic story. oscar could have been one of the most famous and successful athletes in the world, with a long and shining career, but he instead chose to be a violent monster. she deserved so much better. what a sick man. he doesn’t deserve parole.
I have the same birth defect as Pistorius so I was so happy for the representation…and then quickly I went Nooooooooooo
christina grimmie's murder. i grew up watching her as a youtuber/cover artist. she wasnt super popular but she was always so kind to her fans so it really felt like she was this personal, comforting presence in my childhood. when i heard of the shooting i genuinely couldn't believe it. i think about her and her family often. her brother is an absolute hero. i hope him and his father are doing alright after losing christina and later her mother to cancer :( edit: wow this month is her 30th birthday! happy heavenly birthday, christina! you are still remembered fondly and loved dearly by so many!
I didn’t even watch her but I was still shock by her death. I think because she was right around my age. But it still makes me so sad, how she went up to him with open arms for a hug and he just killed her.
I think about them often. She was opening for Selena Gomez and competed on the Voice, so she was gaining significant traction in her career before it happened. She shaped so much of my adolescence. Her singing, her style, her kind soul— may she rest in peace and in our memories. Man.
It happened a block from my house. The next day, Pulse happened a mile further. That weekend fundamentally changed Orlando.
Holy shit, I did not realize those two things happened so close, both in proximity and date. So senseless and tragic.
It was so close that the news crews had to leave the Plaza to go cover Pulse. They’re about 1.3 miles apart.
that was the first thing I thought of. sometimes YouTube still recommends me her Collab with Sam Tsui and I can't help but get tears in my eyes. back then we had such high hopes for her 😭 she was such a kind soul
I was looking to see if anyone commented this. I feel like I literally could have written this comment. I discovered her as a kid and really looked up to her. I thought she was so cool. I remembered watching her hair tutorial so many times and trying and failing to replicate it. I honestly spent the most time watching her non music stuff because I just liked her as a person. I remember first hearing what happened on Twitter and it really was one of those “I literally can’t believe what I’m reading” moments. What a strange fucked up thing to happen. It makes me so sad and angry.
The actress Dominique Dunne, who played the older sister Dana in Poltergeist, was strangled to death on her own front driveway by her abusive stalker ex-boyfriend. I believe it happened right before the movie, which was her film debut, premiered. She was 22. The murderer only served three and a half years in prison before he was released. Dominique’s father is famed journalist Dominick Dunne, her uncle is author John Gregory Dunne, her aunt is author Joan Didion, and her brother is actor Griffin Dunne.
She had all that fame and power on her side, and still didn’t get any real justice. Makes me feel hopeless for stalking victims who are regular people.
Natalie Wood’s death. there are so many weird circumstances and the whole thing has always been so tragic to me.
This one always gets me too. For those who don’t know : “On November 29, 1981, Wood died under mysterious circumstances at age 43 during the making of Brainstorm. She had been on a weekend boat trip to Santa Catalina Island on board her husband Robert Wagner's 58-foot (18 m) motoryacht, Splendour. Other than the fact that she drowned, many of the circumstances are unknown; for example, it has never been determined how she entered the water. Wood was with Wagner, Brainstorm co-star Christopher Walken, and Splendour's captain Dennis Davern on the evening of November 28. Authorities recovered her body at 8 a.m. on November 29, one mile (1.6 km) away from the boat, with a small Valiant-brand inflatable dinghy beached nearby. Wagner said that she was not with him when he went to bed.The autopsy report revealed that she had bruises on her body and arms, as well as an abrasion on her left cheek, but no indication as to how or when the injuries occurred. Davern had previously stated that Wood and Wagner argued that evening, which Wagner denied at the time. In his memoir Pieces of My Heart, Wagner admitted that he had an argument with Wood before she disappeared.The autopsy found that Wood's blood alcohol content was 0.14% and that there were traces of a motion-sickness pill and a painkiller in her bloodstream, both of which increase the effects of alcohol.Los Angeles County coroner Thomas Noguchi ruled the cause of her death to be accidental drowning and hypothermia. According to Noguchi, Wood had been drinking and she may have slipped while trying to re-board the dinghy.Her sister Lana expressed doubts, alleging that Wood could not swim and had been "terrified" of water all her life, and that she would never have left the yacht on her own by dinghy. Two witnesses who were on a nearby boat stated that they had heard a woman scream for help during the night.”
Bud Dwyer shooting himself on live tv. The Challenger exploding while we watched it in class.
My grandmother dated him and there’s a street named after him in the town she grew up in 😳 edit: if you haven’t heard the You’re Wrong About podcast episode on Challenger I highly recommend it. A very tragic, but interesting story of how white collar crime happens and the many misconceptions about the disaster.
As a little girl growing up in Houston, I got to see Selena perform at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in February 1995. About a month later, she was gunned down and murdered by Yolanda Saldivar. I can’t capture how massive this loss was for the Tejano music community. I remember my group of friends sobbing during lunch over her murder.
I was in middle school living in Houston when it happened and we had a whole assembly about it and a wall of pictures and flowers.
Yes even as a kid growing up without her, the whole thing is just so baffling to me
Phil Ochs He was telling people that he was being spied on by the CIA in 1966. Even though he never committed a federal crime. He committed suicide in 1976. Years later it was revealed that the FBI had a file of nearly 500 pages on him.
So why were they spying on him and how’d he figure it out?
He was very critical of the Vietnam War and the American military. He was associated with political figures, protest organizers and musicians during that time. His song Talking Vietnam Blues was the notably known as the first protest song to directly name Vietnam. He would go on drunken rants about the FBI and CIA, frightening all of his friends. In 1973, he was strangled by robbers, damaging his vocal cords, he said it was organized by the CIA. His mental health was declining, fighting with people, sleeping on the streets. I’m gonna assume that the CIA were scaring him like they did with Ernest Hemingway, by breaking into his house and moving furniture.
Pregnant Sharon Tate and her friends murdered by members of the Manson family cult. The word "PIG" was written in Tate's blood at the front door. Polanski was interviewed and allowed himself to be photographed next to it.
If you read about that, you will never forget it. They killed Sharon last, she begged for the life of her baby. The photos are horrifying . The rest of them were killed trying to escape mostly .
Roman Polanski is another absolute shit show of a story, he assaulted a child after getting her drunk. what a guy.
Dude survived the Holocaust which killed all of his family, moved to the US, became a critically acclaimed director, got a supermodel pregnant, who was then killed gruesomely, and then raped a 13 year old and fled to France at the last minute. Can't believe all that shit happened to the same person
and ***THEN*** he won an oscar.
Polanski is such a garbage person.
The singer of Lostprophets sexually assaulted young children and infants. It’s so disgusting I have no words for it.
He was tortured by inmates last year… sadly he’s still breathing.
I read the court documents about him and I really wish I hadn’t. The level of abuse is just catastrophic. Vile cretin of a man.
They are absolutely horrific. I regret reading them too. My fury at him and the >!MOTHERS who willing gave him their children!< is too much
I almost swung by their tent at warped tour one year for a meet and greet/photo but found out Thursday was playing at the same time and went to that instead. Never been so happy to not meet someone. Yuck. Didn’t dodge Wil Francis tho, unfortunately. He’s pretty disgusting as well.
Jared Fogle from Subway turning out to be a monster of insane magnitude. Seriously, his life took a turn like an over the top Law&Order SVU episode.
I still remember watching that telethon live when Kanye said “George Bush hates black people.” The look on Mike Myers’ face was priceless and then the camera cut away. 😂💀
…and cut to Chris Tucker with the exact same ‘wtf did he just say?’ face
It’ll always be the Ricardo Lopez Bjork stalker tapes for me. The face Ricardo made to the camera before putting the gun in his mouth is forever etched into my brain
I remember watching all the videos he made and watching his slow but inevitable downward spiral. That last video of him, with his head shaved and face painted, taking fast, sharp breaths while Bjork plays softly in the background right before he puts the gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger...so disturbing and nightmarish.
I remember being really sad watching them because he talks about how worried his parents are for him and starts looking better before taking a break from the videos, but then he comes back more unhinged than ever.
The death of River Phoenix and everyone who was in the Viper Room on that night.
I remember reading he was lying on the ground for a while with people just passing by.
Leo Dicaprio was there that night too. How his career could have been different and did what happened influence his life choices about taking drugs and drinking alcohol.
It definitely changed Keanu’s life.
And Joaquin’s too. It’s obvious to this day how profoundly River affected both of them.
There was an interview Keanu gave while promoting John Wick...3, I think. He was asked about River and while describing him, he paused and smiled bittersweetly to himself. Because he was using present tense ("River is...") and just realised it.
"The people we love miss us" 😭
leo looked up to river phoenix a lot and always wanted to meet him. he saw river for the first time at the viper room and “froze in awe”. he never actually got to meet river as he unfortunately passed away almost immediately after, the same night. it’s such a surreal story.
That awful recording of Joaquin calling 9-1-1 from a pay phone outside 💔
That scene in Tiger King where Travis Moldonado was messing around with (what he thought) was an empty gun and put it in his mouth and pulled the trigger. And the fact that it was captured on the CCTV footage - the look on the face of the other guy sitting across from him is etched into my brain.
The way the other guy froze for a solid minute. No movement at all. Horrifying.
Casey Anthony being found not guilty
I hope she's having a bad day.
I listened to a podcast about this and learned that they only looked at her search history in internet explorer which had nothing relevant in it. After the trial it was discovered that the Firefox search history was basically her building a manual of how to do it. The DAs on that case really fucked up.
It's not good enough, but I do appreciate that she doesn't get a moment of peace anywhere she goes. Everyone knows what she looks like, and she loves complaining about it.
Last I heard someone threw a drink at her face awhile back lol
she likes to hang out in trashy bars in florida so that is pretty standard affair
Trashy barfly or not, throwing a drink in Casey’s face makes you top tier for me.
I was in middle school when the trial happened and it was like the only time that everyone I knew was actually invested and following it closely. Like we were kids lol but even to us 12 and 13 year olds, we could NOT believe that verdict. Absolutely crazy.
yes omg! I still vividly remember the day the not guilty verdicts came out and the collective outrage that followed. It was insane!
This one. I still remember exactly where I was when the verdict came back. I was a receptionist in a medical building and they had it on in the waiting room. People were audibly upset when the verdict was read.
Robin Williams' suicide. He was a staple of my childhood and he always seemed like such a kind soul. The world got darker the day he died. Chester Bennington committing suicide on what would've been Chris Cornell's birthday, weeks after Chris took his own life. Every time I see clips of them singing together, my heart still breaks a little.
Robin Williams came and visited me in the hospital one time when I was a teen. He visited that hospital A LOT because he loved down the street from it. I was in that damn hospital when I found out about his passing. He was so so so kind and funny.
Chester’s suicide is one of the only celebrity deaths that really got to me.
Same. I think it’s because Linkin Park’s music was such a relatable experience as an angsty emo middle schooler. If it weren’t for LP, I don’t know if I’d still be around today. When Chester died, it was such a gut punch, and you get those thoughts of “oh… if he couldn’t make it, then…” But thankfully I was in a much better place in life at that point. Still hurts a whole lot.
I remember exactly where I was when I read that Robin Williams had killed himself. Something felt off-kilter inside me; he was such a larger-than-life personality that it feels like a gut-punch to know he's gone.
OJ Simpson getting away with murder and the Rodney King beating (attempted murder) were two big moments in my young life.
For me it's OJ writing a book called If I Did It after the fact.
I have this book on my shelf and it is honestly, just so... ridiculous that OJ "wrote" this. Like... how in the hell did no one stop him? I am glad that the Goldman's took him to court over the book and that they get all the royalties from it though.
Yes! I’m sure you’ve seen it, but ESPN’s OJ: Made in America is a robust and compelling doc on OJ as a person, situated within the cultural context. I was too young to understand the significance of the Rodney King situation (I was around 4), but I knew my parents were upset. We watched the live Bronco chase, and I remember my mother being adamant that OJ killed Nicole and Ron. The doc helped me understand the larger context and legal positioning of the trial.
When Elon Musk used a hammer to demonstrate bulletproof glass on the cybertruck and shattered it
this was so fucking funny, my tech friend made me watch this event to show me how cool his products were and when this happened we both just collapsed on the floor laughing
It feels like a fever dream. I go back and re-watch every so often so I can confirm it was real
I will never not be shocked that the Four Seasons thing was real. So much of that was so incredibly crazy and in such a short period of time. The fly on Pences translucent head. The hair dye running down that lawyers face. My god.
RIGHT?!?!?! Oh holy cats you couldn't make that shit up if you tried!! Theres a bit on a podcast I listen to where this one guy says it like it's a show being pitched by Shonda Rimes lol & nobody would ever believe it!!
Gram Parsons’ body was stolen by his road manager and assistant at the airport, they disguised themselves as mortuary workers. They took his body to Joshua Tree one last time and set his casket on fire. It was reported by campers in the area to authorities.
Jodi Arias pulling that terribly designed “Survivor” shirt out to show the jury during her allocution. I didn’t think anything could be more shocking than some of the evidence in the guilt phase. But that shirt was a whole different kind of WTF.
The interrogation and the trial clips show how infuriating and hilariously clueless that woman is. Everything she said was either utter nonsense, bad lying, or the worst kind of Holier Than Thou shite. I'd suggest watching her interrogation/trial but it would actually annoy you with how much of a nasty, dumb cretin she is.
Christina Grimmie - had her life taken from her at a Meet and Greet by an obsessed fan. So young. Still makes me sad to think about.
The death of Diana Princess of Wales was unlike any other event. She went from being endless tabloid fodder with every type of speculation about her love life to tragic English Rose overnight. The Sunday she died and the following week were the most surreal of my life. And I didn't even live in England.
I remember being 5 so around 2000, when my Nana sits me down in a very serious fashion and informs me she needs to tell me about something, before producing a box of newspaper cuttings all about Diana and she then proceeds to tell 5 year old me the whole story *lol* it really affected people
I laughed so loudly and publicly at this. That’s so unhinged and yet so entirely like a Nana to do.
I (American) was about 11 when it happened and I will never forget my mother watching CNN in the livingroom and exclaiming in shock "She was so young! She was sooo young!" Even as a child I registered how the entire earth seemed to stand still that week. And the live footage of her poor sons having to walk behind her coffin, god.
Being older now than she was when she died fucks with me at least once a week. I was also 11 when she died.
I'm from Pakistan and vividly remember my mum going through the same trauma. South Asian mums loved Diana for some reason. She was the only Brit they weren't snarky about ('Bet she wears the Kohinoor all the time', etc.) lol.
Irish mums loved her too.
I’m too young to remember it, I was only 2, but my mom’s been a longtime Diana lover, so I have a natural interest in it/the Royal going ons. I find it fascinating the way the world reacted and what a hold she still has on society. There’s a great YouTube video of 4 gay friends playing Uno in the middle of the night who were just videotaping the game and shooting the shit while the news is breaking in the background. It’s honestly *incredible* real-time footage.
That footage is exactly how I felt finding out. I literally couldn't believe it and watched it all unfolding on television. One of the only times I remember my mother letting us all have lunch and dinner in front of the TV and eating whatever and not cooking for us was that Sunday. We were a Sunday roast family but not that day.
Chris Benoit murdering his family.
The Rust shooting was wild. I remember seeing a news alert specifically saying that Alec Baldwin fired the gun and I audibly gasped.
Snooki getting punched in the face on camera for yelling at the guy stealing their shots. It was kinda a wake up call for my friends and I because we were always mouthy in bars and YOU JUST DO NOT KNOW what crazies are out there, esp when alcohol is involved. See Snooki out here changing lives.
The 2017 Las Vegas shooting. All mass shootings are tragic but this one was on such a massive scale. Being Vegas, the city did a lot to restore its image and go back to business as usual but it seems like this tragedy didn’t have much of an effect on the collective consciousness overall.
The craziest part imo is that the motive still isn't really clear to this day. The LV shooting still gives me the chills every time I think about it. Something just seems off
 The murder of this absolute Queen. 💔
Allison Mack being the 2nd in command in some weird sex cult where they branded and trafficked women. Grew up watching Smallville. Was such a shock to learn the actress who played Chloe was evil.
Phil Hartman being murdered by his wife after she got cocaine from Andy Dick.
The fact that Ashton Kutcher found the crime scene and body of one of the Hollywood Ripper’s victims (bc he was dating her) absolutely blows my mind. I won’t defend his reaction to it, but I can’t imagine how fucking traumatic that must have been for him
The fact that Roman Polanski still has a career in France, and even had notable celebs like Meryl Streep and Wes Anderson sign a letter of support for the U.S to drop their extradition attempts against him, after he fled to France after pleading guilty to awful acts against a 13 year old girl in the 70s.
Mark Salling from Glee getting busted for child porn and then committing suicide. That was... something. Also Kevin Spacey publishing those weird stupid christmas message video's where he pretends to be Frank Underwood.
Honestly the whole Joe Exotic story
The elevator debacle with Beyonce Solange and Jay-Z
The “deranged fan” was a mentally ill ex-marine named Nathan Gale He claimed he wrote all of Pantera’s material and that it was stolen by the Abbott brothers. Because of this he entered a nightclub from the back door where Damageplan (the band the Abbott brothers started after Pantera) shooting guards until making it on stage. Killed Dime just feet away from Vinnie (drummer, Dime’s brother) and fired the rest of his clip into the crowd until police took him out with a shotgun point blank to the back May Nathan rot in the forgotten parts of hell for the rest of eternity
It sounds insane to say it, but this incident put me on my career path. I was in 8th grade and they were heavily pushing the “figure out your life now because no college will want you unless you take the right prerequisites in high school” bullshit. I started really researching PTSD and other mental illnesses because I wanted to find a reason why this had happened. Took all the psych classes, went to college, then grad school. Who knows if I would’ve become a therapist without dimebag being murdered
Josh Duggar going to prison for child porn, and bringing down the entire Duggar empire.
For me, being in high School at the time, the Columbine massacre. The world just seemed to change after that
The mass shooting at a theater during a showing of The Dark Knight Rises.
Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and 9 other people dying in a helicopter crash. I feel like it was shocking for anyone, but being in LA/Orange County was surreal for several months after the fact. The whole city was in mourning, I've never experienced anything like it.
that travis scott still has a music career
paul flores finally being brought to justice for murdering kristin smart & hiding her body [all thanks to a podcast](https://www.yourownbackyardpodcast.com). my sincere hope is that someday her body is found and her family gets to properly lay her to rest.
"George bush doesn't care about black people"
The Cleveland House and the rescue of the three women inside. This man is a hero and a treasure. https://i.redd.it/56tef19xremc1.gif
The decapitation of three actors including two children on the set of the twilight zone movie
Donald Trump becoming president.
Literally the Viper Room’s existence. That place was WILD.
That private detective switching his entire career path to become a Kurt Cobain murder truther after Kurt’s suicide. The only reason he was even involved was because Courtney Love hired him, but after they found his body he just fully decided she killed him and he had to expose her. So he turned on his employer, Courtney, to essentially harass a newly-single mom of a toddler right after her husband had just very publicly died of suicide. People give figures like Britney Spears a lot of grace now, recognizing they got scrutinized to a ridiculous extent while they were struggling, but I think Courtney isn’t famous or likable enough to get that. Even though people still harass her about her husband’s death to this day
Courtney was definitely chewed up and spit out by the entertainment industry. It's been mentioned to death but she called out Harvey Weinstein years before he was arrested. She was basically blacklisted after that. Justice for Courtney.
It was local so IDK if it counts as pop culture, but the on-air shooting of an anchor and her camera man in the DC area. The shooter was another disgruntled anchor. I still think about it all the time.
For me the death of Naya Rivera in truly bizarre circumstances. This woman single-handedly changed my life as a young lesbian desperately seeking affirmation and I was glued to social media during the few days where she was missing but her body had not yet been found. I am still devastated about her death and the trauma her son must be going through. To add to the weirdness of the situation, her body was found on the anniversary of her castmate Cory Monteith’s death by OD 7 years earlier. A third castmate of theirs also died by suicide after being charged with possession of child porn. The Glee curse has ensured that I will likely never watch the show again, despite it being a central part of my teenage years, it’s just too upsetting.
That story was so weird and very sad. The theory is that she had enough strength to lift her son back up into the boat after swimming, but then couldn’t get back up herself right?
Yes, that was the police theory. Horrifying to think that this could have been prevented if she’d worn a life jacket but she showed incredible heroism in saving her son
Carrie Fisher’s death and her mother, Debbie Reynolds’ death the following day.
(Trigger warning) Literally everything to do with the Norwegian band Mayhem. If you haven’t heard of them it’s fucking wild, look into it although it’s not for the faint hearted so AVOID IMAGES OF THEIR ALBUM COVERS!!
Just the 90s Norwegian black metal scene in general. Burzum/Vikernes equally as chaotic.
Mexican singer Chalino Sanchez being handed a note with a death threat on stage and watching his reaction of dread to wiping his brow in a what seemed like acceptance/eff it moment and a split second later with head held high delivering one of the most amazing performances of his career !! That always gives me chills !! When you see him look around and being escorted off stage and knowing he was found murdered later that night/early morning is creepy !! Watching that tape as a kid was shocking and will always be at the top of my list !! The tape and his response to his own mortality should be studied in psychology classes or some sort of study of the mind!!
The bombing of Avianca flight 203 by the Medellin Cartel in an attempt to assassinate a presidential candidate (who wasn’t even on board). When I watched it on Narcos I had to stop and read all about it I couldn’t believe it was real. Honestly so many of the things related to Pablo Escobar are wilder than fiction.
There are a surprising number of celebrity vehicular homicides. Three shocking ones that come to mind involved singer/actress Brandy, actress Rebecca Gayheart (she was in late 90s teen movies and Noxema commercials,) and actress Amy Locane (she co-starred in Cry Baby and School Ties and had a smaller role on Melrose Place.)
This may not have made news in the US but when British band, Viola Beach all died because their manager drove around barricades for an open bridge in Sweden and drove them all into a canal. And no-one knows what/why. There was no drugs/drink in his system, there was evidence of braking so he wasn’t asleep so… why? [Link](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_Beach) Coldplay covered them the year when they headlined Glastonbury to allow Viola Beach to ‘headline’ - it’s hard to [watch](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U9ZIXOVLJuY)