My Innocence Died After Learning These Disturbing Truths

Hi, friends! I'm Crystal, and I constitute the That Got Dark newsletter, BuzzFeed's play roundup of each things creepy, macabre, and horrible AF. And if you looooove this benignant of content, you should subscribe!!!!!

Here's what the newsletter is covering this week:

Warning: Graphic contented ahead, including stories of kid intersexual battle and murder.

1. I’m starting things disconnected tiny this week — very tiny — acknowledgment to a viral video of a alleged “mini extremity unit” successful China that had maine shouting, “NOPE!” astatine my screen. In this nightmare of a circuit (which you tin spot here), idiosyncratic walks america done a 40-centimeter-wide (that’s little than 16 inches) apartment, implicit with a tiny bed, a azygous powerfulness outlet, and a TV mounted sideways.

What sent maine implicit the edge, though, was the entrance. It’s truthful constrictive that the idiosyncratic filming has to crook sideways conscionable to compression in. 🥴 Now, I wouldn’t telephone myself claustrophobic, but the thought of sleeping successful determination is making maine reconsider everything.

2. The genuinely bizarre disappearance of 18-year-old Zebb Quinn, who vanished connected Jan. 2, 2000, and near down immoderate of the strangest clues investigators had ever seen.

Zebb was a Walmart worker successful Asheville, North Carolina, who vanished aft going to look astatine a utilized car with a coworker named Robert Jason Owens. When Zebb’s car turned up 2 weeks later, wrong was recovered a postulation of unsettling oddities: agleam reddish lipstick smeared connected the rear windshield, a random edifice keycard, a overgarment that wasn’t his, bare bottles, and a unrecorded puppy sitting inside. The puppy didn’t beryllium to Zebb, his family, oregon immoderate of his friends.

Two days aft Zebb disappeared, idiosyncratic adjacent called his occupation pretending to beryllium him. The telephone was aboriginal traced backmost to Owens, the precise aforesaid coworker who’d gone car buying with Zebb that night. In 2017, Owens was charged with first-degree murder, and successful 2022, helium pleaded blameworthy to accessory aft the fact, admitting helium helped screen up Zebb’s killing. But with nary body, nary transgression scene, and nary implicit mentation of what went down, we inactive don’t cognize the afloat information astir Zebb…and we astir apt ne'er will.

3. The beingness of "creepy" municipality Mooseheart, Illinois.

“They disguise themselves arsenic a municipality for children, chiefly orphans, but determination person been terrible, atrocious stories astir the attraction of those kids, including a intersexual maltreatment lawsuit successful the ‘90s."

—Submitted by BuzzFeed Community idiosyncratic cnilechild.

In 1996, a antheral named Joseph Paul Dinges, a erstwhile Mooseheart children’s location worker and ex-police officer, was arrested aft a months-long probe and charged with 5 counts of kid intersexual maltreatment worldly and 2 counts of aggravated transgression intersexual maltreatment for incidents involving boys astatine the installation successful May 1995. Mooseheart officials reported they had instantly removed him from field and notified constabulary erstwhile suspicions surfaced.

The lawsuit unfolded against the backdrop of respective earlier enactment maltreatment scandals astatine Mooseheart, which had already led to stricter hiring and background-check procedures. Dinges yet pleaded blameworthy and was sentenced to 15 years successful prison.

4. This weird Wikipedia leafage astir the "Superman curse" — a long-standing Hollywood fable that claims radical progressive successful Superman movies and TV shows, particularly the actors who represent him, often conscionable tragic oregon unfortunate fates.

For example, George Reeves died of a gunshot coiled to the head, which was officially ruled a suicide, but determination were galore underlying mysterious circumstances, leaving his decease highly controversial.

Christopher Reeve was paralyzed successful a 1995 riding accident, struggled for years with wellness issues arsenic a result, and yet died of cardiac apprehension little than 10 years aboriginal successful 2004.

Even Marlon Brando, who played Jor-El successful the 1978 film, saw his beingness spiral into turmoil. His lad was convicted of killing his half-sister’s boyfriend, and his daughter, Cheyenne, aboriginal died by suicide.

Add successful Lee Quigley, the babe Superman from the 1978 movie, who died astatine 14, and it’s casual to spot wherefore the story persists.

5. The tragic and untimely decease of comedian Chris Farley connected Dec. 18, 1997 from an accidental overdose.

Farley was conscionable 33 years aged erstwhile helium was recovered dormant successful his Chicago flat aft a nighttime of dense cause use. The comedian, known for his high-energy characters connected Saturday Night Live and films similar Tommy Boy and Black Sheep, had agelong struggled with addiction. His autopsy revealed that helium died from a operation of cocaine and morphine — a “speedball” — akin to the overdose that killed his idol John Belushi 15 years earlier.

Farley was discovered lying connected the level of his apartment, and aesculapian examiners noted precocious bosom disease, important artery blockage, and carnal deterioration accordant with years of substance abuse. No foul play was suspected.

6. Finally, the communicative of serial slayer Douglas Edward Gretzler, whose 1973 cross-state transgression spree with spouse Willie Steelman near 17 radical dormant crossed Arizona and California.

The brace targeted hitchhikers, couples, and families successful a bid of robberies and executions that rapidly became 1 of the Southwest’s astir notorious execution cases. Gretzler was arrested successful November 1973, pleaded blameworthy to aggregate murders successful California, and aboriginal received a decease condemnation successful Arizona for further killings. After spending much than 2 decades connected decease row, helium was executed by lethal injection successful 1998.

His past meal: Six fried eggs (over easy), 4 strips of bacon (chewy), 2 slices of buttered toast, 1 cupful of coffee, and 2 bottles of Coca-Cola (served with ice).

Do you person a weird, creepy, oregon shocking communicative you privation to share? Perhaps there’s a unusual Wikipedia leafage you privation to speech about? Tell maine each astir it astatine thatgotdark@buzzfeed.com, and who knows, possibly it’ll beryllium featured successful a aboriginal variation of That Got Dark!