Since surveillance has become so prevalent in the world, a large number of crimes have been recorded and used as evidence in court. In many cases, these tapes are extremely sensitive and sealed from the public eye. This is to protect the families of the victims and prevent the spread of the videos via the Internet. However, this doesn’t stop people from searching the web for the clips. This article will examine ten real videos that you will not be able to find on the Internet. Most are part of an investigation or display sensitive material. In the research for this article I came across a large amount of urban legend clips that supposedly show a wide range of disturbing images. These videos were not included in the list because I intended to focus on real videos. In some cases there have been videos that were thought to be lost forever and then suddenly appeared on YouTube. One example is the 1969 short Mickey Mouse in Vietnam. The short is one minute long and shows Mickey Mouse being shot to death in Vietnam. It was thought lost until April 22, 2013 when a silent version of the video was uploaded to YouTube. The clip has since been removed from YouTube and is once again hard to locate.
On February 18, 2013 eight masked gunmen stole approximately US$50 million in diamonds from the belly of a plane at the Brussels Airport. The heist was carried out after the men accessed the airport through a hole created in a security fence. After breaching the airport fence, the criminals, who were dressed like police officers, drove two vehicles directly to the area where the a Brink’s armored van was moving diamonds to the plane. In 15 minutes, the robbers loaded 130 bags of diamonds into their vehicles and left. They used automatic weapons, but never fired a shot during the heist. It is thought that the robbery was an inside job because the criminals had prior knowledge of an unlocked gate, construction work at the airport, and arrived immediately after the diamonds had been unloaded. The men also showed knowledge of how to quickly work the plane’s hatch and had military training. The heist occurred during a five minute window in which the diamonds were being transported to the plane. It has since been realized that a large percentage of the diamonds were uncut, which makes them extremely hard to trace. The entire event was captured by the airport’s security system. The police have since attempted to identify the culprits, but have not been able to because of their masks. The video remains sealed to the public and it is unlikely to be released in the near future. This has caused some people to express concern because exposure of the tapes could help find the diamonds. It is possible that somebody could recognize specific mannerisms of the criminals. In May of 2013, it was announced that police in France, Switzerland, and Belgium had arrested more than two dozen people who are thought to be involved with the diamond heist. The police confiscated a significant amount of cash and diamonds. However, a huge percentage of the stolen gems remain at large. It was reported that one of the people arrested in France is thought to be one of the eight masked gunman who participated in the heist. It has also been reported that the robbers thought they were stealing money instead of diamonds. On three separate occasions in the last ten years a major diamond heist has been carried out in the middle of February. All of the events have been connected to Antwerp. They include the 2003 Antwerp diamond heist, the 2005 Schiphol Airport diamond heist, and the 2013 Brussels Airport diamond heist.
On February 10, 1976 episode #847 of the American children’s series Sesame Street aired on television. The episode features Margaret Hamilton in her famous role as the Wicked Witch of the West. The Wicked Witch is one of the most notable villains in history and the character seems to have an influence on children. Hamilton was aware of her impact on children and continually tried to explain to kids that she was just acting. Margaret even appeared on an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in which she showed children how she dressed up as the witch. Despite this, when Hamilton is viewed on television as the witch, kids get freaked out. In episode #847, the Wicked Witch comes to visit Sesame Street and loses her broom. The broom falls into the hands of David, who refuses to give it back to the witch. This doesn’t make her happy and the witch threatens to turn Big Bird into a feather duster. Meanwhile, Oscar the Grouch becomes friends with the witch. As the episode continues, the witch tries to regain her broom in a variety of ways. Even dressing up like a harmless old lady in order to deceive the group. The educational curriculum for the episode is fear and the value of planning, which was used by the witch to develop methods for retrieving her broom. After the episode was aired in 1976, the television station received a large amount of complaints from parents. It was reported that children were scared by the show and refused to watch any more Sesame Street. Some kids had problems sleeping and others experienced fits of terror. The response was so abundant that the creators of Sesame Street decided to conduct an experiment with the episode. The group organized a large sample of kids who were willing to watch the episode in the presence of their parents. It was reported that the children were much more attentive during the scenes with the witch. However, the emotion of fear was difficult to judge as the kids had their parents present. After the experiment was completed it was requested that the episode with Hamilton not be shown on television again. The creators of Sesame Street agreed and the episode has not been aired since 1976. It is currently impossible to find on the Internet and has not been released on DVD.
One of the most disgusting stories you will ever read is that of Armin Meiwes. In 2001, Meiwes ran an advertisement on a website named The Cannibal Café looking for a willing victim to be “slaughtered and consumed.” A man named Bernd Jürgen Armando Brandes from Berlin responded to the message and agreed to meet Meiwes. On March 9, 2001, the two met at Meiwes house in Rotenburg, Germany and Brandes was killed. The entire event was filmed on a 2 hour long videotape. The details of the massacre are gruesome and hard to describe. Meiwes started by amputating the penis of Brandes and the two ate it. Meiwes then slaughtered Brandes and placed the body on a meat hook. Over the next 10 months Meiwes consumed approximately 20 kilograms (44 lb) of the flesh. He even ground up some of Brandes’ bones and tried to use the substance as cooking flour. All of the events were recorded on the video, which was later seized by authorities and forever sealed from the public. In December of 2002 Meiwes was arrested by the police after they had received a phone call from a concerned man who had seen a new advertisement from Meiwes on the Internet. It was also discovered that Meiwes had bragged about the crimes in chat rooms. On January 30, 2004, Armin Meiwes was convicted of manslaughter and given a prison sentence of eight years. It was ruled that Brandes was a voluntary participant in the killing, so it was not murder. However, in 2006 the case was revisited and Meiwes was convicted of murder and given a life sentence in prison. It has been written that Meiwes is sorry for his crimes and has become a vegetarian in jail. He believes that there are about 800 cannibals living in Germany.
Timothy Treadwell was a bear enthusiast that was fatally mauled at Katmai National Park in Alaska on October 5, 2003. At the time of his death Treadwell was with his girlfriend Amie Huguenard, who was also killed in the attack. For thirteen straight years, Treadwell had visited Katmai in the summer months to spend time with grizzly bears. He loved being with the bears in their natural habitat. Treadwell recorded over 100 hours of videotape at Katmai and took countless still photographs. The material was later used by filmmaker Werner Herzog to produce the documentary titled Grizzly Man. In the years before his death, Treadwell had received a considerable amount of media attention for his annual trip to the park. He appeared on U.S. talk shows and was often criticized by researchers for his lack of safety in the presence of bears. In October of 2003, Treadwell and his girlfriend decided to stay in the park for an extra week in order to locate a bear that had not been viewed that summer. It was a dangerous decision because grizzly bears always become more aggressive in the fall months as they fatten up for hibernation. On October 5, 2003 Timothy spoke to a friend in California on a satellite phone and indicated that he was having no problems with the bears. The following day, a Kodiak air taxi pilot went to pick up Treadwell and Huguenard and discovered an abandoned camp. Park rangers were called to the scene and it was revealed that Timothy and Amie had been mauled and partially eaten by grizzly bears. The rangers located a bear protecting the camp and shot it. A few minutes later a smaller bear charged the men, so they killed it as well. It was the first time in the history of Katmai National Park that a human had been killed by a bear. The deadly bear can be seen in one of Treadwell’s last recordings in which it is referred to as “The Grinch.” In the moments leading up the mauling, either Treadwell, but probably Huguenard turned on a video camera and captured audio of the attack. The camera was either in a bag or had its lens cap on because the video is completely black, but the audio is chilling. The tape lasts roughly six minutes in which Treadwell can be heard screaming for two-thirds of the time. Sadly, Timothy struggled for his life. The bear makes very little noise during the attack and it was reported that only small growls and grunts can be heard from the animal. Towards the end of the recording, Treadwell is heard being dragged away from the camp by the bear. After Treadwell is killed, the screams of Amie become extremely loud and the tape stop. It is believed that Amie was mauled shortly after. In the film Grizzly Man Herzog is recorded listening to the tape with headphones on, but no sections of the video are played in the movie. His reaction to the material is horrifying and Herzog urges the videos owner to destroy the tape. The recording has since been placed in a bank vault by Treadwell’s ex-girlfriend Jewel Palovak. In 2008, a section of the clip was supposedly leaked to the Internet, but the recording is thought to be faked. The real recording has never been released.
The Scarborough Rapist is a man named Paul Bernardo who terrorized the community of Scarborough, Ontario during the late 1980s and early 90s. In 1988, the police began to realize that a serial rapist was attacking young women in Scarborough. In response they created a task force to find the rapist. Between 1987 and 1989 Paul Bernardo attacked around 20 separate women and raped half of them. In 1990, the police gathered DNA evidence from 130 suspects in the case. One of the suspects was Paul Bernardo, who submitted DNA evidence and was released in November of 1990. In 1990, Bernardo also got engaged to a woman named Karla Homolka and became infatuated with her younger sister Tammy Homolka. Bernardo eventually convinced Karla to drug her sister and allowed him to rape her. The two videotaped the event and mocked Tammy. During one attack on Tammy she began to vomit and choked to death. In response, Karla took the camera and filmed herself in Tammy’s clothes and pretended to be her. After an investigation, Tammy Homolka’s death was ruled an accident. On June 15, 1991, Paul Bernardo kidnapped a young girl named Leslie Mahaffy and brought her back to his home with Karla Homolka. The pair attacked the girl and videotaped themselves torturing her to the music of Bob Marley and David Bowe. The following day Leslie Mahaffy was murdered by the couple. Bernardo claimed that Homolka killed Mahaffy with an overdose of Halcion, while Homolka claimed that Bernardo strangled her. In April of 1992 both Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka abducted a girl named Kristen French. French was taken back to the couple’s house where they filmed themselves torturing her in horrible ways. The following day Kristen was murdered. Twenty-six months after his DNA evidence was submitted, Paul Bernardo was linked to the Scarborough rapist case and arrested. However, authorities could not implement him in the murders, so they turned to Karla Homolka who was given a plea bargain deal in order to testify against him. Homolka accepted the deal and was sentenced to 12 years in jail for her role in the murders. During the trial, Karla painted herself as a victim to Bernardo and in 1995 Paul Bernardo was sentenced to life in prison. He is eligible for parole in 2020. In 1993, after Homolka was given the plea bargain deal, Bernardo led the police to a collection of videotapes that were hidden in his house. He also confessed to over thirty rapes. The tapes showed Karla Homolka participating and instigating the crimes. She was seen sexually assaulting and drugging multiple victims without Bernardo in the room. If admissible in court, the content of the tapes probably would have led to a conviction of murder for Karla Homolka. In response to this fact, the Canadian media began to refer to her plea bargain as the “Deal with the Devil.” In December of 2001, Canadian authorities determined that they had no need for the torture tapes and destroyed them. An interview taken with Homolka as she watched the tapes with police remains sealed to the public. In 2005, Karla Homolka was released from prison and is currently living in Guadeloupe with her husband and three children under the name Leanne Bordelais.
On July 15, 1974 Christine Chubbuck committed suicide on live television during her program Suncoast Digest. The program was a community affairs talk show in which Chubbuck interviewed guests on a wide variety of issues. Chubbuck started her career with WXLT-TV as a reporter and then was given the opportunity to host the talk show. WXLT-TV was an ABC affiliate station in Sarasota, Florida. Leading up to her suicide Christine was said to be severely depressed. She had told her family that she was having a hard time connecting with people and had not had a boyfriend for a long time. Three weeks before the event Christine did a news story on suicide and visited a local sheriff’s department to discuss the risks. During the interview, a police officer explained the most efficient way to commit suicide, which was said to be a gunshot to the back of the head with wadcutter target bullets. Sadly, Chubbuck used the same method to take her life. In the week leading up to her suicide Christine told a news editor at the station that she had brought a gun to work and joked about killing herself on the air. She was also disappointed with the news stations decision to focus on “blood and guts” stories instead of educational and inspirational news. On the morning of her suicide, Chubbuck told her co-workers that she had to read some news stories before starting her Suncoast Digest interview. Christine covered three stories and then started to discuss a shooting that had occurred in a restaurant at the Sarasota–Bradenton International Airport. The station attempted to run a short clip of the shooting, but the tape jammed and the camera went back to Chubbuck. At this time Christine spoke her last words: “In keeping with Channel 40’s policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts, and in living color, you are going to see another first, attempted suicide.” She then drew a gun and shot herself in the back of the right ear. It was reported that Chubbuck fell violently forward, hit her head on the desk, fell to the ground, and then began to violently twitch. The camera quickly went to black and the station ran a public service announcement. It was later realized that Chubbuck had scripted the entire event, including her suicide. She told her colleagues to list her condition as “critical,” which they did. Chubbuck died at the hospital 14 hours after the shooting. She was only 29-years-old. Following her death, Christine’s family filed an injunction against the news station to prevent the release of the video footage. The tape was seized by the police and then given to the family. No copies have surfaced and the video is thought to have been destroyed. The event occurred before VHS tapes were widespread, so it is unlikely that it was recorded by a viewer. However, it is possible that someone captured the event with a primitive form of videocassette recording, such as the U-matic.
On April 15, 2013, two pressure cooker bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon and caused horrific damage, including the deaths of three people and the maiming of dozens. Due to the location of the bombs, thousands of videos and pictures of the event were taken. The FBI immediately asked the American public to send in videos to help with the investigation. Others conducted their own investigations over the Internet in an attempt to locate suspicions characters. A couple of days after the attack, the FBI directed their attention to a pair of brothers named Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. A manhunt was carried out for the brothers and they were located in the Boston suburb of Watertown. After a shootout in which a MIT police officer was killed, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot dead and Dzhokhar escaped only to be captured alive later in the day. It was realized that the brothers were born in different republics of the former Soviet Union, and are half Chechen and half Avar. They hold strong Extremist Islamic beliefs and blamed America for wars in Muslim countries. One of the main factors that caused the FBI to directly target the brothers was video surveillance footage. It was widely reported that the police hold a video of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev dropping his backpack at the site of the second explosion. This is an extremely important piece of evidence that can be used to prove that Dzhokhar planted the bomb. For this reason, the video should be released under public domain for all to see after the trial has taken place. However, it appears the video could be sealed from the public. A huge collection of conspiracy theories have emerged surrounding the bombings The attack sparked one of the largest Internet investigations in history, which caused many people to be misidentified and accused. One of the most notable cases involved a Saudi national named Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi who was detained at the scene of the bombings and later released. In the wake of the disaster, conservative radio talk show host Glenn Beck insisted that the Saudi national was responsible for helping the Tsarnaev brothers. On the day of the attack, it was reported by multiple witnesses that a bomb squad drill was being conducted at the marathon. People were warned not to be alarmed by the large presence of officers at the scene. It was also widely reported in the wake of the disaster that multiple bombs had been discovered and that a controlled demolition was going to take place, but this information was later disregarded. Probably the most prevalent conspiracy theory surrounding the bombing suggests that a series of members from the elite private security firm Craft International were behind the false flag attack. This has been suggested because in the initial days after the bombings numerous pictures surfaced on the Internet of team members at the marathon. The men were filmed with communications gear and wore large black backpacks. One of these individuals was photographed fleeing the scene with his backpack missing. To add more fuel to the fire, the black backpack on one of the Craft members looked very similar to one used in the first attack. A couple months before the bombings, the leader of Craft International Chris Kyle was murdered.
On September 11, 2001 American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked by terrorists and flown into the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., killing all 59 people on board as well as 125 people in the building. The event was witnessed by dozens of people and was recorded by a large number of security cameras surrounding the Pentagon. Despite the large amount of footage, the FBI confiscated the tapes and refused to release them to the public. This has caused people to speculate about why the videos are being kept secret. In the wake of 9/11, it was widely reported that a Citgo service station right next to the Pentagon had recorded the impact of Flight 77 on its security cameras. The plane traveled over the gas station at an altitude of 50 feet and crashed three seconds later. The FBI visited the gas station minutes after the event and gathered the tapes. In the wake of the crash, the FBI confiscated approximately 85 surveillance tapes, including one notable clip from the Doubletree Hotel. Despite all of the evidence, the U.S. government initially refused to confirm that the videos showed the crash. In response, a group named Judicial Watch filed a request on December 15, 2004 under the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to the “Nexcomm/CITGO gas station, Pentagon security cameras and the Virginia Department of Transportation videos.” On May 16, 2006, the Department of Defense released the first official videos of the crash with only one video showing Flight 77. The clip was taken from a security camera at the Pentagon and shows a blurry image of what appears to be a plane for 1 frame. The Citgo and Doubletree videos were also released, but Flight 77 is not visible. Despite the release of the videos, the FBI continues to hold at least 84 surveillance tapes of the crash. There is currently an ongoing lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act to have all the tapes made public. According to Special Agent Jacqueline Maguire of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, the FBI has gathered approximately 85 tapes that are “potentially responsive,” but the plane was only captured on one, which was released in 2006.
Steve Irwin was a wildlife enthusiast that devoted his life to helping animals. On September 4, 2006 Irwin was killed by a stingray while traveling in Port Douglas and filming an underwater documentary titled Ocean’s Deadliest. During the event, Irwin was snorkeling at Batt Reef (part of the Great Barrier Reef) in Port Douglas, Queensland when the weather turned bad. In response, Steve entered the shallower waters of the area and decided to film some segments for his daughter Bindi’s television program named Bindi the Jungle Girl. As Irwin approached a stingray in hopes of getting some good television shots, the creature turned and jabbed its spine into Steve’s chest. The spine of the stingray pierced Irwin’s heart and caused extensive bleeding. Steve was pulled from the water, but it was too late and he died shortly after being struck. It is believed to be the only time in history that a person’s death by stingray was caught on video. After the tragedy, Irwin was given a private funeral at the Queensland Zoo, but it is unclear if he currently holds a grave at the location. He was not given a coroner’s report and very little specific information is available on his death. It has been reported that Irwin’s last words were “Don’t worry, they usually don’t swim backwards,” which shows that he recognized the stingray was acting strangely. After the accident, the video of Steve Irwin’s death was reviewed by law enforcement, but was eventually destroyed at the request of his family. Despite the fact, millions of people continue to search the web for Steve Irwin’s Death Video.
On December 14, 2012 Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people in Sandy Hook Elementary School. Following the tragedy, it was reported that the school had recently upgraded their surveillance system and installed video cameras, so visitors who attempted to enter the school during business hours were required to be individually identified by video. The system was placed at the front of the school, but it is unclear if other cameras were spread over the grounds. At about 9:35 am, which was five minutes after Sandy Hook had locked its doors for the day, Adam Lanza shot his way through a door at the front of the school with a Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle and started the killing spree. At this time, he was caught on camera by the school’s security system. However, the tape has yet to be released to the public for viewing. The police have not even released a still shot of Lanza at the school, which has only fueled the incredible amount of conspiracy theories that exist around the event. Immediately after the shooting people all over the Internet claimed the attack was a false flag attempt by the U.S. government to pass more severe gun control laws. The media initially made numerous mistakes in reports about the shooter, how he entered the building, what weapons were used, and his social history. Helicopter footage was taken at the scene of two men running from the school into the woods. These men were later identified as SWAT police officers, but it was never explained why they were fleeing the scene. During the attack, it was reported that the school’s principal turned on the intercom system and a collection of different shooters were heard by witnesses. In some accounts, one shooter is said to have been tackled and taken into custody. The culprit in this attack was an expert in the area of high powered weapons, military tactics, and assassination. This has caused some to step back and wonder how a 20-year-old American boy could have carried out the Sandy Hook shooting. In the Sandy Hook Elementary attack, every victim was shot multiple times by Adam Lanza. He made sure that the victims were deceased. In one case, he shot a victim 11 times. In response to this, it has been suggested the massacre looked like the tactics of a trained death squad. A large collection of bizarre conspiracy theories have been presented on the Sandy Hook shootings, including one that says the entire event was staged, which is quite absurd. Others have pointed to smaller coincidences, such as the fact that the words “Sandy Hook” appear on a map in the movie Dark Night Rises when Commissioner Gordon is talking about an attack on “Strike Zone One.” Others have pointed to the fact that Lanza’s father worked for GE Energy Financial Services and that Adam committed suicide with a handgun that was initially not identified among his weapons in the school. In response to all of this information, it would be nice if a short section of the video of Adam Lanza in the school was made public.
