Hi, friends! I’m Crystal, and I write the That Got Dark newsletter, BuzzFeed’s weekly roundup of all things creepy, macabre, and horrible AF. And if you looooove this kind of content, you should subscribe to get your weekly dopamine fix of the macabre delivered RIGHT to your inbox!
Here’s what the newsletter is covering this week:
1.
The tragic and heartbreaking story of Rosemary Kennedy, John F. Kennedy’s sister, who was often referred to as the Kennedys’ “Dark Secret.”
During Rosemary’s birth, the attending doctor was delayed, and a nurse instructed her mother, Rose, to keep her legs closed to postpone the delivery. For two hours, this restriction deprived baby Rosemary of oxygen, which is believed to have caused a brain injury that resulted in lifelong developmental disabilities.
As Rosemary grew older, her behavioral struggles and mood swings increasingly alarmed her family, who were extremely conscious of their public image. In 1941, at age 23, her father arranged a secret lobotomy — without telling her mother — that involved drilling holes into both sides of her head and inserting a medical spatula into her cranium. The procedure was reportedly botched, and it left Rosemary with the mental capacity of a toddler. She spent the rest of her life in institutions, hidden from public view.
For decades, little was known about Rosemary, while the rest of the Kennedys projected an image of glamour, intelligence, and success. However, in the 1960s, her story began to surface through journalists and biographers. The secrecy surrounding her contrasted sharply with the family’s polished image, and she was often described as their “dark secret.” Eventually, Rosemary’s siblings acknowledged her more openly and shifted their narrative toward disability advocacy, particularly through the Special Olympics.
2.
The haunting mystery of Amy Lynn Bradley, an American woman who mysteriously vanished on March 24, 1998, while on a Royal Caribbean cruise with her family.
Amy was last seen on a balcony in her family’s cabin early in the morning, but by the time her family woke and the ship docked in Curaçao, she was gone. Despite extensive searches, no trace of Amy was found on board.
Over the years, there have been multiple theories and unconfirmed sightings suggesting she may have been kidnapped or even forced into sex trafficking, but her disappearance remains unsolved and one of the most haunting missing-person cases at sea.
Black-eyed children, sometimes called “devil children,” are described as pale kids with completely black eyes who appear on doorsteps or roadsides, asking to be let in. The legend began in the 1990s with a Texas reporter’s unsettling account and spread through online forums, television, horror films, and tabloids. Believers claim they are ghosts or aliens, while skeptics dismiss them as pure urban myth — one that endures for its eerie, unsettling appeal.
4.
The tragic and shocking death of Grace Kelly on Sept. 14, 1982.
Grace Kelly — once one of Hollywood’s biggest movie stars and later the Princess of Monaco — died after suffering two strokes while driving with her daughter, Princess Stéphanie. The initial stroke caused Kelly to lose control of the car on a winding mountain road, sending it down an embankment. Stéphanie survived the crash with serious injuries, but Kelly was critically injured.
After being hospitalized, doctors determined Kelly had also suffered a second, more severe stroke that left her in a coma. She never regained consciousness and died the next day from a brain hemorrhage.
5.
Finally, the horrifying story of serial killer Jack Harrison Trawick, often called the “Birmingham Killer” in the media, who was convicted of two murders and suspected of several more in Alabama.
In 1992, Trawick killed Aileen Pruitt and Stephanie Gach, receiving a life sentence for the first crime and the death penalty for the second. Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, he later claimed responsibility for other killings, though most were never verified. Trawick even reportedly taunted his victims’ families from prison by describing details of the murders and showing no remorse in letters and drawings that were posted to the internet. After years of appeals, Trawick was executed by lethal injection in 2009.
His last meal: Fried chicken, French fries, onion soup, and a roll.
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