It's the biggest trope in horror: the mysterious entity who seems to know everything about you. It really happened in Circleville, Ohio, and no one knows who was behind the secret-filled letters that started showing up in 1976.
Gizmodo took a look at what we know about the mysterious Circleville Letter Writer, and it's just enough to make you remember to close your curtains at night. The deadliest series of letters started with one that accused a woman named Mary Gillispie of having an affair with the school superintendent. Her husband, Ron, also got some letters, informing him of the alleged affair. Friends and family were questioned, and the letters stopped... but whoever was behind the accusations apparently wasn't done yet. Ron got a phone call on August 17, 1977, and it made him angry. He grabbed his gun and left the house in a rage. He died that day, found after apparently driving into a tree... and, ominously, firing his gun. No one knows who was on the other end of the phone, what was said, or what led to his death.
Mary's brother-in-law, Paul Freshour, was ultimately arrested for the whole mess, but handwriting tests and other evidence proved inconclusive. Despite that, Freshour was still found guilty and served a 10-year prison sentence, during which time he received his own cryptic letter. He maintained his innocence until his death in 2012 — and still, no one knows the whole truth about where the letters came from or how the writer knew so many small-town secrets.
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