Cheryl Eddy

This Carpenter Bee Can’t Sting You, But He’s Certainly Giving You the Eye

He looks like a bumble bee, but this is Xylocopa virginica, the Virginia Carpenter Bee. While females have a stinger, the males don’t, but they do step to other males who invade their turf, watching over females and young. “Carpenter” comes from the bees’ nesting habits: they tunnel into wood to lay eggs. Photo credit:…

The Heart-Eating Hippie Who Admitted “I Am a Cannibal” When He Was Arrested

“I have a problem. I’m a cannibal.” These matter-of-fact words, uttered by 22-year-old “Satan cultist” Stanley Dean Baker, chilled the California Highway Patrol officer who arrested him in July 1970. And it wasn’t long before that horrifying statement was proven to be completely true. The particulars of Baker’s crime, which was discovered just as the…

Here’s Why Hannibal Is the Best Crime Show on Television

Oh man. Have you been watching Hannibal? There are only two episodes left in the entire series, and despite its cancellation and its death-knell move to Saturday nights, it’s still the best crime show on TV. And amazingly, as season three has progressed, it’s only gotten better with each episode. Spoilers if you’re not yet…

In the Andes Mountains, A Long-Quiet Volcano Blasts Ash and Vapor

Today, 30 miles south of Quito, Cotopaxi—a volcano that first erupted in 1534, but has been quiet since the early 1940s until a few recent months of unrest—spewed plumes of ash and vapor. Though the blasts spread gray powder across the area, scientists in Ecuador do not believe a major eruption is imminent. AP Photo…

In 1929, the Newfangled Realm of Forensics Helped Catch a Cruel Killer

Sidney Harry Fox had already caused his mother plenty of grief by the time he decided to end her life in 1929, greedily eyeing her insurance policy as just the cash infusion he needed to continue his shiftless lifestyle. But Rosaline Fox would get her revenge in death, with the help of forensic science. From…

True Detective Season Two Is Over … And Frankly, We Won’t Miss It Much

True Detective’s uneven second season wound down with “Omega Station,” a moody finale that spelled doom for many of its main characters. We finally learn who killed Caspere … but the reveal is so anticlimactic amid the limp to the end, it only emphasizes how insanely overlong 90 minutes can feel. Spoilers, of course. We…

Humans Are the Most Dangerous Animals on This Week’s Zoo

“This is What it Sounds Like” raises the expectation that we might hear some Prince on Zoo this week, but don’t hold your breath for any more Purple Rain references beyond the episode title. Instead, hold your breath during the following: bear attacks, macho stand-offs, a horrifying bit of ocular surgery, and a big-ass betrayal!…

Don’t Expect Fear the Walking Dead to Be Just Like The Walking Dead

For anyone who’s wondering why we needed another Walking Dead TV series, we’ve seen the first two episodes of Fear the Walking Dead, and we have a (spoiler-free) answer. YES, there are similarities; ahem, zombies. But Fear is its own tense and gory beast, and we can’t wait for more. We gave you a sneak…

A Super Typhoon Gathers Strength As it Moves Across the Pacific

This is super typhoon Soudelor, captured by NASA instruments as it attained Category Five status on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale earlier today. Its eye is 12 nautical miles wide; its winds are up to 161 miles per hour; and the extremely rough waves below it are up to 48 feet high. According to NASA’s Goddard…

In 1957, He Was Executed for Murder—But Was He a Victim of Circumstance?

Sixty years ago, 14-year-old Stephanie Bryan vanished while walking home from school in Berkeley, Calif. Two months later, her belongings were uncovered in an Alameda basement. Suspicious, police made the 300-mile trek to the homeowner’s vacation cabin … and found Stephanie’s body stashed nearby. Burton W. Abbott was a married 27-year-old who was studying accounting…

All the Evidence Against Lizzie Borden—And Why She Was Acquitted

On August 4, 1892, Andrew Borden and his wife, Abby, were found hacked to death in their Fall River, Mass. home. The top suspect: Andrew’s daughter, Lizzie, who was acquitted but thereafter lived under the shadow of the crime. Why was Lizzie accused, and how did she beat the rap? Let’s take a look. Motive…

The Far Side of the Sun Gets Its Moment to Shine

The “blue moon” made news on Friday, but what about a blue sun? This eerie and gorgeous image of the sun was snapped on July 15 using the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager aboard NASA’s STEREO-A spacecraft, “which collects images in wavelengths of light that are invisible to the human eye.” Why does it look blue? NASA…

The “Murder Husbands” Reluctantly Re-Team on Hannibal, and It’s Magic

“And the Woman Clothed With the Sun …” is the second Hannibal episode named for William Blake, and it continues the Red Dragon storyline delightfully. Despite misgivings, Will and Hannibal form an uneasy partnership to track down the new “shy boy” on the scene. He’s got his quirks, that one. Spoilerzzz… “That’s the same atrocious…

True Detective‘s Second-to-Last Episode Gets Lost in the Dark

It’s nearly the end of the line for True Detective’s second season, and if “Black Maps and Motel Rooms” is any indication, none of our troubled leads are heading toward anything resembling closure or a happy ending. (Remember how season one finished?) And everyone is in the same state of mind: desperation. Spoilers follow. After…

RIP “Rowdy” Roddy Piper

Today, we join director John Carpenter in remembering the life and career of Roddy Piper; just days ago we were celebrating the actor, wrestler, and all-around big personality’s participation in one of the greatest the greatest fight scene in cinema history, as seen in Carpenter’s They Live. Here’s that epic brawl again, because it never…

“We did plan to do a museum about social history of women, but as the project developed we decided a more interesting angle was from the perspective of the victims of Jack the Ripper”—former Google exec Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe, explaining why a proposed women’s history museum was revealed, once constructed, to be a Ripper museum instead.…

What’s the Most Revolting Thing You’ve Ever Seen in a Horror Movie?

Some horror movies are carefully constructed operas of psychological dread. And others are just out to make you feel like you’re gonna yak into your popcorn. While we love the former, today’s question is all about the latter: what is the single most repulsive, gore-gastic thing anyone’s ever dared to put onscreen? NO SCENE TOO…

The Case of the Killer Who Really, Really Hated Her In-Laws

Meet Hella and Stavros Christofi. He was from Cyprus and worked as a waiter; she was from Germany and worked in a shop. In 1953, they enjoyed a simple but happy life in London with their three kids. Happy … until Stavros’ mother Styllou became a part of the household. A little background on Styllou,…

He Killed His Girlfriend … And Planned to Make Her His Corpse Bride

No less an authority than the Weekly World News dubbed Forrest Fuller the “Groom of Doom” for the grim plan he set in motion after jealously stabbing Jodie Myers to death in 1994. She’d told him she wanted to start seeing other people, but the New Jersey man had other plans. Those plans were, most…

Boris Karloff Suits Up for Horror Duty in This Behind-the-Scenes Photo

Boris Karloff sits for adjustments to his mask while prepping to film 1953 spoof Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Despite this still, Hollywood lore suggests that Karloff only appears in the film as Dr. Jekyll, while the evil Mr. Hyde was portrayed by an uncredited stuntman. Here’s a pic of Karloff…