Urban Legends: The Brides that Haunt Trivale Forest in Pitești

Photo by Andres Molina

In the Trivale Forest in Pitești, Romania there are two brides that haunt it. Both women have met their own demise in their own sad and terrible ways.

The first bride was the daughter of a rich landowner. She had fallen in love with a poor servant, but her father had other arrangements. He had found an old rich man for her to marry. The maiden decided that she could not marry someone she did not love. On the wedding day, she and the servant would run into the Trivale Forest. Her father not far behind would find the couple and in his anger kill the servant and then behead her. It's said that she would give her father nightmares by visiting his dreams in her wedding dress. It's believed that this is what led to his death. It's said that she haunts an abandoned home, possibly her own that's in the forest.

The second bride story would happen in the 1970s to 2000s. A taxi driver would take a fair and the woman would ask him to drop her off at an abandoned site in the forest. The woman told the driver that she would go inside and get the money and come back out. For reassurance, she would wrap her wedding ring in a handkerchief and give it to him. Tired the taxi driver would fall asleep and when he woke up he was elsewhere. He was in a nearby housing estate and he drove around confused. He would find ask around about the woman and would find out that yes she used to live in the area, but died 10 years before. Her husband had died in a car crash (or trampling) and she killed herself. Taxi driver would find that the ring was attached to a rotting finger.

SOURCES:
Wikipedia
POV21st
Steemit

Murders of Jessica Watson and Mathew Macerato

On the night of December 26, 2004, 22-year-old Jessica Watson and 18-year-old Mathew Macerato were working the closing shift at the Casual Male Big and Tall at 3924 Kirkwood Highway in Wilmington, Delaware. As the two were closing up someone with a gun appeared and forced the two into the basement. The person would then shoot the two to death by shooting them in the back of the head. They would then take the money in the store. It's unknown what exactly happened in the store as there were no security cameras. 

The families of the victims don't believe that robbery was the sole reason for the murders. They believe it wasn't a random act as instead of bringing the two to the register and killing them there the killer brought them to the basement. Also, nothing in the store seemed to have been ransacked. It seemed that the stolen money was a way to cover up the reason for the executions.

SOURCES:

Delaware State Polic

Delaware State Police (PDF)

Delaware Online December 23, 2014

Delaware Online January 3, 2022

Murders of of Dequincy Antonio Smith and Dontay Williams

Dontay Williams                                 Antonion Smith

On August 28, 2007, around 8:46p.m. officers responded to an apartment on the 200 block of Southerly Rd. in Baltimore, Maryland. Inside they found two men who had been shot. 23-year-old Dequincy Smith was already dead and 21-year-old Dontay Williams was still alive. Dontay would pass away later at the hospital.

Witnesses stated that two suspects entered the apartment and shot both men before fleeing to a vehicle outside. 

SOURCES:

Anne Arundel, Maryland

The Baltimore Sun August 29, 2007

Murder of Margaret and Bruce Moser

 

On Jan. 4 1978 20-year-old Bruce Moser left work to pick up his wife, 22-year-old Margaret, at their home located at State Road 3, 1/8 mile north of Wells and Blackford County Line in Indiana. No one would hear from the couple for a couple of days.

When they were found both Margaret and Bruce had been murdered, but their 2-year-old daughter was unharmed. Bruce's hands were tied behind his back with boot laces in the living room near the front door. He had been shot in the head. It's believed that the killer was interrupted by Bruce when he came home.  Margaret was tied to the bed with only a torn shirt on. She had been raped and shot in the head. The gun used was Bruce's .22 caliber single-shot rifle. The home was also robbed. It's unknown if the killer or killers initially intended to kill the couple.

SOURCES:

Indiana State Police (Margaret)

Indiana State Police (Bruce)

Find a Grave (Bruce)

Find a Grave (Margaret)

Medium

South Bend Tribune Jan 7, 1978

The Daily Journal Jan. 7, 1978

The Star Press Jan. 10, 1978

Bog Bodies: Weerding Men

 

In 1904 two bog bodies were found in Drenthe, Netherlands in the southern part of Bourtange Moor. The two were laid together in the bog initially making people think they were a couple and or related. This would lead to one of the bodies (the smaller one) being thought of being a woman. Leading for them to be called the Weerding Couple, or Mr. and Mrs. Veenstra. Later DNA tests showed that they were both males and were not Maternally related. 

The Weerding Men likely died between 160 BC and 220 AD. One of the men (the better preserved one) was found with a large wound in his chest with his intestines spilled out. It may have been ritualistic and may have been in an attempt to divine the future by reading entrails. It's unknown if this was the way he died or was killed. It's unknown how the other man died. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Mummipedia

Murders of Octavio "Chico" Martinez and Ann Bergman

 

On the night of August 7, 1962 18-year-old Ann Bergman and her roommate Rachel thought that they were going to spend the night at home. That is when 32-year-old Octavio "Chico" knocked on the door and wanted to take Ann out dancing.The two would go to the Town Lounge on 600 West State Street in Rockford, Illinois.

That evening the Town Lounge was having a dancing competition with the first prize being a bottle of pink champagne. Chico would park a block away and the two would go to the competition. The night ended on a happy note as they had won the pink champagne with their moves. The couple would leave around 12:50 a.m.

What people didn't know was that Chico and Ann did not make it to his vehicle. The two were abducted and forced into a vehicle. At 1:20 a.m. just 30 minutes after people saw Chico and Ann the Police Department got a call. 

A truck drive spotted a man's body on a part of Belt Line Rd close to the Kishwaukee intersection. Police would arrive and find Chico's body. He had signs of a struggle and had been shot three times. Once in the shoulder and twice in the chest. He had other wounds and his shoes were scuffed up.

It's believed that Chico struggled with his killer or killers and was shot. It's thought that Chico attempted to leap from the vehicle. The driver then stopped the car and shot Chico two more times and leaving with Ann.

When Chico was identified a frantic search for Ann was done as the couple had been together that morning. The police were able to trace the couple's whereabouts throughout the night except for a seven-minute window where they were forced into a vehicle and driven to the outskirts of town.

Ann would be searched for, but not found for another 6 days in Ogle County. On August 14th a man was walking with his children down a road by his home. He would spot a foot sticking out of the grass along Highway 72 on the east side of  Rock River. It was Ann and unfortantly before the police could notify the family, they found out from the news.

A coroner would conduct and autopsy under a tent placed where she was found. She had injuries including a shattered shoulder and was shot through the heart. It's believed that Ann died the same morning that Chico did. It's possible that Ann was even killed the same time that Chico was and for some reason was transfered to where she was found.

Their case remains unsolved.

SOURCES:

Winnebago County Sheriff's Office

Haunted Rockford

RR Star

Mt. Vernon Register-News August 15, 1962

Murder of Catherine and George Peacock

 

76-year-old George and 73-year-old Catherine Peacock lived in Danby, Vermont. On September 17, 1989, George did not show up to work and no one had seen the couple for a few days. Someone would go and check on the couple that day and find their bodies inside. 

In the home, their bodies were found. Catherine's body was found in an unfurnished bedroom upstairs and George was found at the bottom of the stairs. The two had been stabbed by the same double-edged knife more than an inch wide. Robbery may have been motive by  The house was secured and there was no evidence of a forced entry was discovered. 

SOURCES:

Vermont State Police

The Battleboro Reformber September 21, 1989

Rutland Daily Herald October 3, 1989

The Bennington Banner October 3, 1989

The Battkeboro Reformer Ocotber 4, 1989

Jan 14, 1953 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Babes in the Woods

 

On Jan. 14, 1953, the bodies of two young boys (initially believed to be a boy and a girl) were found in a brush-filled area of Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia. They were covered by what looked like a woman's rain cape. They were laying in a straight line with their feet almost close together and heads in opposite directions. They could have been dead for up to the fall of 1947. 

There was a hatchet found at the scene. Both boys had wounds to their heads. One of the victim's skull had a wound in the back of the head that the hatchet fit perfectly. The other skull was fractured by what may have been the hammer of the hatchet. It's believed that the killer was the mother. 

It's believed that the body of Boy A was laid down first where they were found. He was faced down in a shallow depression. Boy B was then placed down where he was found and it's believed that the killer (a woman) lost her shoe underneath his left shoulder and between a log. Before she left she covered the boys in her coat and in a panic left her shoe where she lost it. 

The boys weren't identified. It wasn't until a DNA test in 90's that Boy b was found to be a boy instead of a girl. 

There was a possible lead to identifying the children. In 1949 or 1950 a man working in a logging camp, and his companion picked up a woman and two children. During the ride, she told them that she had been in trouble with Mission Police for vagrancy charges. They learned that one or both children at some time attended Cedar Valley School and she lived on Cherry St. in Mission B.C. It's possible that the men mistook "Vag C" instead of vagrancy which was the code for prostitution at the time. 

The woman was described as having red hair. The two boys were around 6 or 7 years old with one of them wearing an aviator flying helmet. The lead managed the find the family name of Grant, but this lead was exhausted after speaking to family members. 

There was a report a few years before the bodies being found of an adult male and female walking in the woods with two young boys. One of the boys was carrying a hatchet. Later that day the couple was seen again this time without the boys and the woman was without one of her shoes. 

Police don't believe that they'll catch the person who murdered these young children. It's likely that the killer would be deceased by now anyway. They just want to give the children back their names. 

Boy A is a white male between 7 and 10 years old. He was described as having a sturdy build. He had many cavities. Clothing deteriorated. He was wearing brown oxfords with white crepe rubber soles, a belt and a leather aviation helmet with goggles, and a zipper jacket or sweater (one article states it's a red Fraser Tartan Jacket). 

Boy B is a white male and was between 7 and 10-years-old. He was described as having a slender build. He had more cavities than his brother. He was wearing identical brown oxfords with white crepe rubber soles, but 1/2 an inch longer, a belt, a zipper jacket or sweater, an aviator helmet with goggles, and the underwear he was wearing was deteriorated but believed to be too big as a safety pin was used in the elastic to keep them up. 

The hatchet at the scene was typically used by shinglers and lathers. It was rusty and the handle was broken into two by the time it was found. 

The coat was a cheap dark brown (dyed rabbit) with leg-of-mutton shoulders that were popular in 1943. The coat is a size 16 and is 40 inches long. The lining material of the coat indicated it had been worn for 2 or 3 years. The woman's show was a moccasin style size 5 1/2 with crepe soles with a light grey plastic quarter lining and a red plastic quarter binding. 

There was a light blue with white trim children's lunch box by the bodies. It isn't stated if there was anything inside the lunchbox when the children died. 

There is no mention of a bracelet that I could find, but one article has a picture of a piece of a child's bracelet with a button from the coat. 

SOURCES:

Doe Network Boy A

Doe Network Boy B

Mysterious Universe

Wikipedia

The Globe and Mail

Global

The Vancouver Sun Jan 19, 1953

The Vancouver Sun April 15, 1953

Murder of Gary "Pop-Pop" Cooley and Regina Keck

 

On April 29, 2014, an employee of 57-year-old Gary Cooley walked past his home on 4100 Alma Ave. in Knoxville, Tennessee. They saw the front door was open and grew suspicious because it wasn't like Gary to do that and when Gary didn't show up a friend was sent to the house. The door was still open and nside they would find bodies of Gary Cooley and 46-year-old Regina Keck. 

Regina and Gary were friends and would visit him often. The Afternoon before Gary had thrown a party and Regina stayed afterward. It's believed that someone would force their way into the home and shoot and kill both victims. 

SOURCES:

Knoxville, Tennessee

East Knox

Knox News

Murder of Dr. Tsunao Saitoh and his daughter Loullie

On May 8, 1996, 46-year-old Dr. Tsunao Saitoh and his 13-year-old daughter Loullie returned to their home in San Diego, California around 11 p.m. from the research lab a UCSD where Tsunao was a well-respected research neuroscientist. When their car pulled up to the front of their house unknown person or persons ambushed the two in the driveway. Tsunao was killed and slumped over in the car and Loullie had run a short distance away before being shot and killed. Neighbors heard the gunshots and passers-by found the bodies a short time after the shooting. 

The gun used was a .380 caliber as casings for one was found in the driveway and the street where the shots were fired. A ballistics analysis found the weapon to be a Grendel P-12 .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol. It was a gun manufactured in limited quantities. The weapon was not found. 

The motive for this killing is unknown. 

SOURCES:

City of San Diego

October 8, 1994 Princeton, British Columbia, Canada The Princeton Angels

On October 8, 1994, the bodies of newborn twin girls were found inside a black garbage bag in a pit toilet at Allison Lake Provincial Park about 30 km north of Princeton, British Columbia, Canada, along Highway 5A. The girls were born alive and killed. It's believed that the mother did not receive aftercare as there were no hospital records supporting that. She may have come from another province and it's possible the mother was a victim herself. 

The twins are known as the Princeton Angels and a memorial plaque marks their burial in the Princeton Cemetary.

SOURCES:

Doe Network

CBC

Murders of Earl and Clarissa Gonzales

On September 2, 1999, 51-year-old Earl Gonzales's girlfriend, MaryJo Resse went to his home in Questa, New Mexico. Inside she found the bodies of Earl and his daughter 10-year-old Clarissa. Earl was likely shot with his own .45 Ruger Blackhawk, which was missing from the scene and Clarissa was assaulted and strangled to death. There was little evidence and seemed to be no motive in this case. 

A week before their deaths Earl had confronted a few people he suspected about his vehicle that had just been stolen. His vehicle was located a month later with two juveniles and they were charged with the theft. 

SOURCES:

New Mexico State Police 

New Mexico Survivors of Homicide

Find a Grave (Clarissa)

Find a Grave (Earl)

Murder of Eddie Verdugo and Joyleen Chavez

On April 16, 2004, an anonymous tip came to the police that two people were badly injured at 27 Dean Lane in Los Lunas, New Mexico. When police arrived they found 48-year-old Eddie Verdugo and his girlfriend 44-year-old Joyleen Chavez. When they were discovered by police Eddie was in an entryway near the front door. Joyleen was found in an adjoining room. They were both were alive and sent to the hospital, Eddie died a few hours later and Joyleen two days later.

Neighbors stated that they didn't hear or see anything at the time of the murders. Police believed that it had happened at least 30 minutes before they arrived.

SOURCES:

New Mexico Department of Public Saftey 

Albuquerque Journal

News Bulletin 

Murder of Kenneth and Anjanette Murphy

On April 14, 2000, someone kicked in the door of  31-year-old Kenneth and 30-year-old Anjanette Murphy home on Montecrest Ave. in Richmond, Virginia. The killer or killers had shot and killed the couple. 

SOURCES:
Richmond Virginia
Find a Grave (Kenneth)
Find a Grave (Anjanette)

Murders of Maria Celeste Mayon and Daniel Edward Sullivan

On February 18, 1994, 20-year-old Maria Mayon's and 41-year-old Daniel Sullivan's bodies were found on Lema Rd. in Redding, California. Their cause of death has not been released. 

SOURCES:

City of Redding

The Press Democrat Feb 20, 1994

Fox Sports Redding Feb 18, 2019

Wonnangatta Murders: Murders of Jim Barclay and John Bamford

Government Gazette page 6

On December 14, 1917, James "Jim" Barclay hired a cook named John Bamford worked for the Wonnangatta Station he managed in a secluded valley in the Victorian Alps in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. The two workers were last seen when they left Talbotville on December 21, 1917, after voting. They then returned to the Wonnangatta Station. 

On Jan. 22, 1918, Harry Smith, a good friend, and stepson of the original owner of Wonnangatta Station went to the station to drop off mail. He found that Jim and John were not there. Their bedroom doors were locked and "Home Tonight" was written on the kitchen door in chalk. 

Harry stayed for two nights and they never arrived. He left on the 24th thinking they were probably doing something. When he arrived back on Feb. 14th and the mail was still untouched and the chalk on the door was still there. The dog that Jim owned looked bad as he had been starved. The next day he arranged for a telegram to be sent to Arthur Philips the current owner.

They searched for the two lasting several days. They eventually found Jim's body in a shallow grave near Conglomerate Creek around 420 paces from the station. He had been dead for several weeks and it was found he was shot in the back possibly with his own shotgun. Food in the homestead was found to be covered in strychnine, but neither one (Johns body hadn't been found yet) was found to have been poisoned. 

Police initially thought John had killed Jim and ran off. John was known to have had a short temper. In November though they found John's body 20 miles away from the Station buried under some logs near Howitt Plains Hut on Mount Howitt. It was revealed he had been shot in the head. 

It's unknown what had happened to the two or even the motive as some of Jim's personal items had been stolen(including a handgun he recently purchased), but other valuable items were left behind. If Jim and John were killed by the same person or person's why did they take John so far away to be killed and Jim so close to the Station? Or did the murders start at the Howitt Plains Hut while they stayed there to fix some fencing? 

Some assume that John had killed Jim and Jim's friend killed him in retaliation. But there's no proof in this and why would they allow it to take so long for them to be rediscovered. Jim also wrote to a friend that he was in fear of his life of "three blokes". He had bought a handgun to protect himself. The crops he planned in mid-Jan. Were cut when Harry arrived on Jan 22nd and it's believed he may have been killed around that time. 

No one will really happen that night.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

The Line Up

Harry's Hut

ABC

Murder of Terry and Darleen Anderson

On October 21, 2005, a coworker of 60-year-old Terry Anderson went to pick him up for work at his home in LaGrange, Indiana. She walked into the home and first found Terry's wife 57-year-old Darleen. She was on the couch dead covered in blood. Inside the pole barn was Terry. Both had been beaten to death with a hatchet. There were items stolen from the home also including a rifle, crossbow, and some coins.

The two did what they typically did after work the night before. Terry was in the barn working on a tractor and Darleen stayed inside the home relaxing. She briefly went to visit with her mother at the trailer she was staying at on the property. Darleen's mother noted that she noticed headlights that night, but the dogs didn't bark so she assumed it was someone they knew.

When they were attacked it was fast and swift as there were no signs of defensive wounds. It's believed that they also had their guard down around the murderer and knew them. Darleen was in a comfortable position with her legs up and reading a book and eating popcorn.  Terry had been attacked from the back, but possibly felt comfortable enough to turn his back to the killer.

SOURCES:
Indiana State Police (Terry)
Indiana State Police (Darleen)
WNDU
Huffington Post 
ABC 57

Murders of Charles Henry Morris and Esther Jones Morris

On the night of September 28, 1879, around 8:30 p.m. Esther and Charles Morris were going to bed in their home in Decatur, Michigan

A woman who worked for the Morris's, Jennie Bull, was sleeping upstairs and knew nothing until the next morning. A more recent article from 1987 stated Jennie heard Charles arguing with a man, it scared her, but she didn't hear anything else. Older articles that came out at the time contradict this and state that even though Jennie's room was directly above where Esther was murdered she heard nothing.

The next morning Jennie woke up to find the couple dead. Shortly after sunrise when she told a farmhand as soon as he arrived about their deaths. Another article states it was the handyman who first found Charles when he came over.

Charles was laying on the front porch he had died from a shot to the neck and one to the chest. Esther was laying in a closet and was shot three to four times she was shot in the arm and chest. At her time of death, she was pregnant.

It's believed that it had happened around 9 p.m. the night before. A young man who lived near them saw a man on a horse wearing a funny hat between 9:30 and 10 pm.

Someone must have knocked on the back door and it brought Charles to wake up and answer. This was where he was shot to death. Esther was in the sitting in the sitting room as evidence of a bullet in the wall. She ran and tried to hide in her bedroom closet where she was found dead. Charles's revolver was found on the ground it was believed that she dropped it in the panic of hiding from the killer.

Robbery wasn't a motive of the murder as nothing was stolen except for a horse the killer road off with. The horse was found a few days later in South Bend, Indiana. The horse seemed to be in a jaded and exhausted. It was bearing an unrecognizable branding on the left rear flank.

The family believed that Charles knew the murderer as he didn't answer the door with his gun.

There were suspicions on a handyman that was previously fired by them. He never confessed to it and he had to leave the town because of the accusations. The police tried to beat a confession out of him, but he never did. There were no witnesses to the crimes. So it was never known who really committed the crime. This crime will never be solved.

SOURCES:
Wikipedia
Detroit Free Press
St. Joseph Herald
The True Northerner
The Herald-Palladium

Murder of Maurice and Ellen Wilkinson

On the morning of August 16, 1974 around 7:30 a.m. one of Maurice and Ellen Wilkinson's young children discovered their bodies in their home on Route 16 in Center Ossipee, New Hampshire. 48-year-old Maurice was found sitting in a chair in the living room and 39-year-old Ellen was laying in bed. They had been shot to death by a 9mm weapon. Maurice was shot once while Ellen was shot multiple times.

None of the four children were harmed and there was no evidence of a break-in.

SOURCES:
New Hampshire Department of Justice (Maurice)
New Hampshire Department of Justice (Ellen)

Nashua Telegraph 

The Portsmouth Herald

Murders of Wejewen Briston Byers and Robert Lee Cooper

Wejewen Byers                         Robert Cooper

On June 4, 1991, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers found the bodies of 16-year-old Wejewen Briston Byers and 20-year-old Robert Lee Cooper on the street in the area of 3100 block of Poinsett St. in Charlotte, North Carolina. They were both shot to death.

SOURCES:
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (Wejewen)
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (Robert)