True Crime Stories You Won't Believe 
Romeo Vitelli
Providentia Books
April 4, 2022

 

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 Here is a collection of true crime stories from different countries and time periods that defy simple description. They include:

·        The strange tale of a psychotic geisha who severed her lover’s genitals to carry as a token of her love and who inspired a cult following

·        How a small-town murderer helped inspire the movie Psycho and left his hometown with a reputation they never lived down

·        A father who sacrificed his daughter to prove his faith in God and his followers who fully expected her to be raised on the third day (she wasn’t)

·        A Sorbonne graduate student who killed and cannibalized the woman he loved and went on to become a bizarre media celebrity

·        A 19th century serial killer who earned the title of “the worst woman in the world” by killing a series of husbands for profit

·        The assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy you never heard about but which very nearly succeeded.

·        George Stinney, the fourteen-year-old child who died in the electric chair for a crime he didn’t commit.

·        Joseph Vacher, the “French Ripper” whose crimes shocked France but tried to blame it all on the rabid dog that bit him.

·        How mob boss Vincent Gigante earned himself the nickname of “the Oddfather”

·        Leonarda Cianciulli, the Corregio “Soapmaker” who killed three women as a sacrifice to protect her own children.

These stories, and more, are all featured here making this book a must for any connoisseur of true crime and bizarre justice.

My Review
True Crime Stories You Won't Believe is a fascinating collection of tales about actual crimes that have been committed throughout the last 200 or so years. Some may be known (like Ed Gein), while most of these may be new even to true crime buffs. I'll admit, as a teenager, I was OBSESSED with serial killers and true crime stories. I've always been a bit morbid and intrigued by macabre things, but to be fair to my teenage self, I had plans to become a criminal profiler/psychologist at the time, hence my reading material. While that career path was something I lost interest in closer to adulthood, my love of true crime never really died. And this collection of stories really satisfied my interest in such things. 
There are tales that seem almost unbelievable in how they played out (like the Phantom Cannibal one). There are tales that are a bit sad/disappointing (mainly because of how they played out), but they're also not surprising considering how sucky the justice system is in a lot of countries (and for the time period). And some of the tales are absolutely astonishing (in terms of the actual crime committed). 
I think the one that upset me the most was the story about the Drain sisters. As the parent of a special needs child who, mentally, is younger than his actual age, the punishment for this crime seemed a bit harsh. Especially because the "criminal" in question was innocent and had mental incapacities. I felt both sadness and anger while reading about that case. 
I also noticed that one of the stories (which I think is one of the slightly more well-known ones) reminded me a bit of Stephen King's The Green Mile. 
Overall, I found this to be a fascinating, eye-opening read, and my husband, good sport that he is, listened to me ramble on about many of the stories because I just needed someone to talk to about them. 
If you're a fan of true crime, definitely give this book a whirl. You won't be disappointed.
5 stars!

Author Bio 
Romeo Vitelli received his doctorate in Psychology from York University in Toronto, Ontario in 1987. He spent 15 years as a staff psychologist in Millbrook Correctional Centre, a maximum-security prison run by the Ontario government. In 2003, he went into full-time private practice and has been an avid blogger since 2007.


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