Cynthia Varady
Bio
Award-winning writer and creator of the Pandemonium Mystery series. Lover of fairy tales and mythology. Short stories; book chapters; true crime. She/Her.
Stories (43)
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Halloween Urban Legends: Fact or Fiction?. Top Story - October 2021.
Halloween abounds with stories that raise the hair on the back of our necks, but how true are they? Are they all fiction, or is there just enough fact mixed in, duping us into believing these farfetched tales?
By Cynthia Varady4 years ago in Horror
The Unsolved Murder of Evelyn Hernandez
Seven months before Laci Peterson’s disappearance and murder, another pregnant woman went missing. Later, her torso washed up near the Embarcadero in San Francisco, California, under the Bay Bridge. The fetus was never found. While Laci Peterson’s case received worldwide coverage, Evelyn Hernandez, a legal immigrant from El Salvador, became lost in the press. The most horrible part of Evelyn Hernandez’s case is that she didn’t go missing alone. Her five-year-old son Alexis Geraldo Hernandez went missing alongside her. Who murdered Evelyn Hernandez, and what happened to Alexis?
By Cynthia Varady4 years ago in Criminal
The Strange Underground World of Produce Theft
While I browsed an article in the Atlantic about the Cannes Film Festival jewel heists, I ran across a link to a similar piece. “The Great Virginia Grape Heist” jumped off the page. What in the world is a grape heist? How exactly does that work? Intrigued, I read the article and dropped down a rabbit hole I didn’t know existed: the high-paying underworld of produce theft.
By Cynthia Varady4 years ago in Criminal
The Carter File
Molly slowly opened her large green eyes and blinked at the glowing red numbers on the bedside clock. 1:30 a.m. silently cut through the dark. Perfect. The meeting started in half an hour. That gave her more than enough time to grab a quick snack and check on the house before heading out. She stretched her long, lithe limbs, arched her back, and let out a satisfied sigh. Once on her feet, she stretched once more for good measure. The catnap had been a good one. The kind that left one feeling rejuvenated and clear-headed.
By Cynthia Varady5 years ago in Fiction
The Night Stalker
The Intruder On a hot August night in 1985, 13-year-old James Romero couldn’t sleep. Earlier that day, his family had driven home from a camping trip near the Mexican-American border to their home in Mission Vallejo, and he’d slept most of the way. Wide awake and unaware that there was a killer on the loose, James headed to the garage to work on his bike.
By Cynthia Varady5 years ago in Criminal
What Happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke?
In the late 1500s, England tried three times to establish a colony on Roanoke Island. All attempts failed, but the last ended mysteriously, with over 100 people going missing along with critical pieces of the settlement itself. What befell the lost colony of Roanoke and its inhabitants?
By Cynthia Varady5 years ago in Criminal
The Disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
On March 18, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was scheduled to depart Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12:35 a.m. and arrive at Beijing Capital International Airport at 6:30 a.m. The aircraft never arrived. Nearly a decade later, we still don't know what happened to MH370 or the circumstances behind its disappearance, but theories abound. Was there a mass-murder-suicide plot, a hijacking, or an onboard fire? Its disappearance remains one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history.
By Cynthia Varady5 years ago in Criminal
Frank the Christmas Gargoyle
Frank, the Christmas Gargoyle, is, as his name namesake suggests, a gargoyle. Yet the Christmas title wasn’t part of his moniker before December 2019. Frank, a heavy stone sculpture, stood guard on Denise Starr’s porch for three years before a nosy neighbor, we'll call her Karen, began leaving notes complaining that Frank was out of step with the Christmas holiday and demanded his removal. Starr refused and instead doubled down. She topped Frank with a Santa hat, you know, to make him more festive, and added a minature Christmas tree so the Christmas sentiment wouldn't be mistaken. Karen left more notes decrying Frank’s new attire. Starr added friends to stand with Frank including, hippos and a skeleton dog, all dress for the holiday season. When COVID-19 hit, Starr added a plague doctor to the mix.
By Cynthia Varady5 years ago in FYI
Gerbiling or the Colo-rectal Mouse Urban Legend
Society is fraught with urban legends. Each region has its version which reinforces the status quo—the murdered babysitter (moms should stay home and watch their children), teens slaughtered while fornicating at the local makeout point (pre-material sex is evil), and kinky sex legends bordering on animal torture, like Gerbiling.
By Cynthia Varady5 years ago in Filthy
Dorian Corey and the Mummy in Her Closet
Shortly after the death of prominent drag queen Dorian Corey, her caregiver, Lois Taylor, brought two men into her apartment in the hopes of selling them some of Corey’s handmade outfits as Halloween costumes. As they went through the bolts of fabric and boxes of feather boas, they discovered a green garment bag on the closet floor. However, when they Taylor to lift the bag, she found it too heavy. With the help of a pair of scissors, they opened it. Instantly the smell of decomposition hit them. The mummified remains of a human body lay wrapped in Naugahyde and plastic. How the mummified body came to be in Corey’s closet would remain a mystery.
By Cynthia Varady5 years ago in Criminal
The Wonderland Gang Murders
The Wonderland murders, also known as the Four on the Floor Murders and the Laurel Canyon Murders, are four unsolved homicides that occurred in Los Angeles on July 1, 1981. Investigators believe that the targets were the five Wonderland gang members named for Wonderland Avenue, where they rented a house. Yet, only three were there at the time of the assassinations, along with one known associate and the gang leader’s wife. That evening, unknown assailants broke in and bludgeoned four of the occupants to death with hammers and pipes, leaving the fifth barely alive.
By Cynthia Varady5 years ago in Criminal
