’Over the course of his career, former FBI agent and behavioral analyst John E. Douglas has interviewed criminals ranging from repeated hijacker Garrett Trapnell and cult leader Charles Manson to serial killers Edmund Kemper (a.k.a. the Co-Ed Killer) and Dennis Rader (a.k.a. B.T.K.). In his new book, The Killer Across the Table, Douglas takes readers into the room as he interviews four very different offenders.…’

Via Mental Floss

’In the bizarre world of vanishings and people who have seemingly ceased to exist there is the phenomenon of whole groups of people or towns that have just sort of evaporated out of existence with no real known reason. To think that a whole population of people could just disappear without a trace is a sobering thought, leading to much speculation on what could possible be at the root of such mass vanishings, and it is a topic I have covered here before. One very curious such account that has popped up in recent times has to do with a rural village in a remote area of China, which supposedly just blinked out of existence one day to leave stories of strangeness and conspiracies in its wake.

Located in a region of Central China is the province of Shaanxi, which stretches over 79,151 sq mi and encompasses the majestic Wei Valley, the Loess Plateau, the Ordos Desert, and the Qinling Mountains. Here there once supposedly stood a rural village much like many others like it that dot the region, with nothing particularly out of the ordinary or exceptional about it other than its proximity to a rocket launch center, but it would suddenly begin making the Chinese news and generating buzz on social media in 2010 when the story came out about how this little village one day just completely vanished off the face of the earth.

According to numerous reports taken from Chinese media, in 1987 it was found that the village had been completely abandoned overnight. There was apparently not a soul remaining of the estimated population of 1,000, and every single man, woman, child, and even all of the town’s livestock and pets were simply gone without a trace. Apparently there were no signs of how they had even gotten out of there, and the homes all seemed as if they had been very rapidly vacated, with meals set out and belongings left behind. All very mysterious and spooky indeed, but it would apparently get even weirder still.…’

Via Mysterious Universe

’“He lost the election, and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf.”…’

Via Vox

’The American Civil Liberties Union released internal NSA memos received under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit revealing that, once again, the NSA improperly collected phone call and text message metadata of US citizens.

A spokesperson for the agency was quick to pin the blame on the telecommunications companies that provided the information:

“While NSA lawfully sought data pertaining to a foreign power engaged in international terrorism, the provider produced inaccurate data and data beyond which NSA sought,” NSA’s media relations chief Greg Julian told The Wall Street Journal.

In other words, “We didn’t want the data we took, and anyway, we were busy catching TERRISTS.…’

Via Boing Boing