10 BEST LEAP MOTION APPS

10 Best Leap Motion Apps
By Lisa Eadicicco, Laptop, 29 July 2013.

The Leap Motion controller may sound like a gadget from the fictional world of Minority Report, but its Airspace store is filled with nearly very-real 100 apps and games aimed at bringing gesture controls to everyday computing. Available for Windows and Mac, the US$79.99 Leap Motion peripheral uses two cameras and three infrared LED lights to track your hand’s movements, allowing you to control your laptop with a simple flick of the wrist.

Since the app store is so new, it can be hard to distinguish the smooth and intuitive apps from the buggy applications that still need some work. After perusing through Airspace, here are some must-have apps to help you make the most of your Leap Motion controller.

1. Sugar Rush (US$1.99, Windows and Mac)

Whether or not you’re a fan of Pixar’s “Wreck It Ralph,” “Sugar Rush” is one of the most impressive games we’ve seen for the Leap Motion yet. The cart racer requires you to hold both hands above the Leap Motion as if you’re grasping a virtual steering wheel and tilt from left to right to steer your vehicle. Since the Leap Motion’s gesture controls vary between apps, each game has its own learning curve, but we find Sugar Rush’s to be among the most responsive and intuitive.

More: Top 25 iPhone Games

2. PhotoScape (US$1.99, Windows and Mac)

An app like PhotoScape reminds you that the Leap Motion is for so much more than just casual games. PhotoScape allows you to explore various photo feeds on the Web such as Flickr, Instagram and Tumblr through a 3-D gesture-optimized interface.

We’re not just talking about scrolling up and down through your feed, however. PhotoScape presents images in a variety of templates, but our favourite one arranges images in a three-dimensional virtual collage that you can explore by pointing and swiping toward the screen. Paired with a dark night sky-themed backdrop, it looks as if you’re navigating through a universe of photos.

More: How To Use Instagram

3. Touchless for Windows and Mac (Free, Windows and Mac)

Just likes its name implies, these apps let you navigate your laptop using gesture controls. The two separate apps, Touchless for Windows and Touchless for Mac, run in your notebook’s system tray and can be enabled by right-clicking the corresponding icon. We preferred Touchless for Windows simply because the Windows 8 interface is better optimized for gesture controls, but both apps were equally responsive.

More: Windows 8.1 Tips and Tutorials

4. NYTimes for Leap Motion (Free, Windows and Mac)

The New York Times app for the Leap Motion turns your desktop into a full-screen news hub. With a wave of your hand, you can browse through the Times’ top stories for the day without worrying out a pay wall. Twirling your fingertip lets you scroll up or down when reading a story, which can be dismissed by shaking your hand.

The New York Times app demonstrates the potential for reader apps when it comes to gesture controls. We loved the easy-to-navigate interface and the way articles popped forward after selecting them.

More: 5 Best News Apps

5. The Power of Minus Ten (US$0.99, Windows and Mac)

Science geeks are sure to love this one. The Power of Minus Ten lets you dive into the human body using dynamic 3D-based gesture controls. Pointing your finger toward the screen plunges you forward into the human body, letting you explore cells in the skin and their components.

Pointing at a certain component will pull up information about that specific part, and pulling your hand away from the computer will let you zoom out once again. We were impressed with the captivating science and education apps available for the Leap Motion, and the Power of Minus Ten is certainly among the best.

More: 10 Best Science Apps for Your iPhone

6. Cut the Rope (Free, Windows and Mac)

If you thought playing “Cut the Rope” on your smartphone was fun, trying solving those puzzles with just a swipe of your finger. The game is by far one of the most responsive apps available for the Leap Motion, and the experience truly translates to the larger screen.

You can now play one of the world's top casual games, Cut the Rope, using gesture controls alone. Using slight movements, we pointed at areas on the screen with our index finger to navigate the screen and made unexaggerated slashing motions to cute the ropes. The app ran smoothly and wasn’t sluggish at all during our testing, which is a marked improvement from some other apps in Leap Motion’s burgeoning Airspace Store.

More: 12 Best Android Games

7. Corel Painter Freestyle (Free, Windows)

This app utilizes the Leap Motion as a painting and drawing tool, allowing you to create hand-drawn images by tracing with your finger in front of the screen. Corel Freestyle Painter isn’t as complicated to use as apps that are targeted specifically at artists, such as the less intuitive Deco Sketch, but still comes with enough features to get creative.

The Leap Motion supports 10-finger gesture controls, allowing us to create drawings using multiple fingers at one time. With Corel Painter Freestyle, you can choose to sketch your own works from scratch or upload an existing image to make modifications.

More: Best Photo-Editing Apps 2013

8. Frog Dissection (US$3.99, Windows and Mac)

As the name implies, Frog Dissection lets you virtually dissect a frog with step-by-step instructions to simulate the laboratory experience. Like “Cut the Rope,” Frog Dissection is one of the more polished Airspace apps with extremely responsive gesture controls. In addition to tearing open a virtual frog, the app also lets you explore the specimen’s internal organs in a 3D panoramic view by swirling your hand.

It may not be the most practical app  for everyday use, but Frog Dissection lands in our top picks for its well-designed interface, reactive motion controls and ability to showcase the educational potential of a device like the Leap Motion.

More: Back to School Guide 2013

9. Unlock (Free, Windows)

This almost seems like a no-brainer when it comes to gesture controls. Unlock allows you to wave your hand over the Leap Motion to gain access to your computer rather than having to type in a tangible password.

When setting up the app, Unlock requires you to perform a variety of different gestures and take a number of hand positions so it can create a detailed map of your fingerprints. During our testing, our Windows 8 notebook unlocked immediately after scanning our hand, but rejected a co-worker that tried to log on to the device.

More: Best Android Security Apps 2013

10. Beautiful Chaos (US$1.99, Mac)

Beautiful Chaos is one of the best visualize apps for the Leap Motion controller, allowing you to manipulate colourful entities on screen with both hands. One hand is used to control the coloured clouds while the other rotates the camera, taking full advantage of the Leap Motion’s dual cameras. We enjoyed watching colours blend together on screen as we moved our hand from side to side, especially when using full screen mode and hiding the mouse cursor and parameter icons.

More: 10 Best iPhone Apps You're Not Using

[Source: Laptop. Edited. Links added.]

10 BADASS GANGS FROM HISTORY

10 Badass Gangs From History
By Aaron Short, Listverse, 30 July 2013.

Everyone’s heard of gangs like the Triads, Yakuza, the Mexican cartels, or the Bloods and the Crips. Even fictional gangs like The Warriors and Crazy 88 have received attention. Some people call such groups of young, violent men a symbol of social decay as the modern world of video games, violent movies, and music eats away at our values - but we’ve had gangs like this for a long time. Gangs like...

10. Les Apaches

Les Apaches were a French street gang that operated in turn-of-the-century Paris before the advent of World War I. They were called Apaches because they were so ferocious during attacks that a policeman, upon hearing of their crimes, exclaimed that they were as vicious as Apache warriors.

They were stylishly dressed, looking like old-timey French hipsters with fancy, striped shirts and berets, creating their own distinct style that would catch on and end up becoming popular in Bohemian circles. But they weren’t just fashion victims - they could actually fight. They practiced their own down-and-dirty martial art called “savate.” This was a fighting style that relied upon kicks and open-handed punches. A group of Apaches would mug Parisian gentlemen with a combination of savate and great numbers creating such a fear in Paris that the upper classes also picked up on it to protect themselves from constant Apache attacks. But it’s not like the Apaches needed martial arts to protect themselves: they had a very specialized weapon that would make James Bond jealous. The Apache pistol also functioned as a knife and folded into a pair of brass knuckles. As you can see, the Apaches didn’t just believe in overkill. They believed in over-overkill.

9. The Forty Elephants Gang

What distinguishes the Forty Elephants gang from the other gangs on our list is that it was entirely female. Before feminism existed, these gals took advantage of the patronizing sexism of the age that meant women were afforded extreme levels of privacy while shopping. It only took a few of these ladies working together to practically strip a store clean of clothing, jewellery, and other loot during a shoplifting spree. The gang operated from some point after the late 1700s right up until the 1950s, mostly targeting areas around London. The most impressive thing about this gang is that men had a completely subservient role within their hierarchy. Their leader was a woman called Maggie Hill who was as deadly as she was pretty - she wore diamond-studded rings like brass knuckles in case things got messy and she had to start swinging her fists.

8. The Know-Nothings (aka The Bloody Tubs)

The Know-Nothings were a group of toughs from Civil War-era Baltimore who fought for something more terrifying than drugs or territory: politics. Working on behalf of nativists (politicians opposed to immigrants), they intimidated people into voting for the candidates they endorsed.

The Know-Nothings got their name from the politicians they supported, who always exclaimed “I know nothing!” when quizzed about the gang. They would block voting booths, stab voters with awls, beat people up, and dunk them into vats full of blood (which earned them their other name “The Bloody Tubs”). They even rounded up voters and kept them in dank basements until they voted the way the Know-Nothings told them to. One of the voters unfortunate enough to receive this treatment was Edgar Allen Poe, who turned ill a few days later and died. They also fought with volunteer fire-fighters for control of fire hydrants during fires, causing bloody riots while houses burned to the ground. All in all, a nasty bunch.

7. Kabukimono

The Kabukimono (“crazy ones”) are what became of lordless samurai who formed into drunken gangs of what can only be described as feudal Japanese glam rockers. They were mostly heavily armed, disenchanted teenagers who wore women’s clothes and makeup and had their own slang and long hair - sometimes styled ridiculously. Just imagine roving gangs of them, trained to kill, armed with the sharpest swords ever invented - if you have pee in your pants, you’re getting the picture.

Although they looked ridiculous, they were actually deadly - drunkenly duelling in the streets with their swords, committing petty crimes, and generally not caring about anything, having now become wandering gangs of hooligans. Their motto was “I have lived too long!” which paints a pretty clear picture of how much fear the Kabukimono had of the rule of law: zero. Also, there’s a theory floating around that they may have eventually became the yakuza, although modern yakuza don’t really like to equate themselves with the sort of guys who might go to a My Chemical Romance concert (we’re too afraid of the yakuza to press the issue).

6. The Vorovsky Mir

The Vorovsky Mir (“thieves in law”) were formed in the gulags of Soviet Russia as collections of thieves, bandits, and murderers who banded together for mutual protection. They had little love for the short-sighted and brutal regime that created them, and in a kind of wacky echo of the Communist ideal, they created their own criminal code that they each vowed to uphold. If members broke this code, they were put on trial by the gang.

The Vorovsky Mir identified each other with elaborate tattoos, a tradition that still exists today in Russian organized crime (as in the film Eastern Promises). Because it was hard to get certain luxury items before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Vorovsky Mir thrived on smuggling, bringing in clothes and food to Russia. They were so successful that they’ve survived to the present day - in a fashion - eventually evolving into the Russian mafia.

5. Mohocks

Like Les Apaches, this London-based gang from the 18th century also modelled themselves after a Native American tribe and are the sort of gang you only expect to find in movies and nightmares. After a delegation of Native Americans arrived in London to visit the Queen, they created such a stir that a youth gang was formed in their honour who called themselves “mohocks.” They assaulted people at night, slashing and disfiguring their faces, cutting their noses off with knives, beating people up, and even stuffing women into barrels and rolling them down hills.

This was all the more shocking to 18th-century London when rumours that the Mohocks were upper-class youth started going around. This caused moral panic among the lower classes (which mistrusted the gentrified rich folks of London) and plain old fear among the higher classes. And it’s not surprising people were scared. The Mohocks had a habit of getting drunk and creating huge riots. They would attack pedestrians willy-nilly, disfiguring their faces for no real reason, Clockwork Orange-style, gouging out people’s eyes and stabbing them with swords.

4. The Five Points Gang

The Five Points gang was a pre-Prohibition Italian-American New York gang, operating from the mid-19th to the early 20th century from the Five Points district of Manhattan. Al Capone was a member at one point before he went on to bigger and more horrible things. In fact, he received the facial scar which gave him the nickname “Scarface” during a bar fight while serving in the Five Points gang.

And although it was the Mafia who would later go on to popularize the image of the Italian gangster in an expensive designer suit, it was the Five Points gang that was the first to require that all members dressed sharply. They rose to prominence as the worst gang in New York, and possibly the whole of America, with even the Mafia poaching members from them.

3. Thuggee

The Thuggee of 1800s India were a gang of killers, robbers, and assassins who were as deadly and shadowy as ninjas. They left such an impact with their activities that the word “thug” literally derives from them, and they operated with such brutality that they put the Mafia to shame with a Guinness World Record for highest gang death toll (yes there is a record for that, apparently). Every member gave the appearance of being a law-abiding citizen, even telling their wives that they were traveling tradespeople in order to explain their various murderous commutes.

Admittance into the gang was hereditary. So, if your father was a Thuggee, you had to join the family business: murder. The Thuggee chose their victims almost at random, following certain signs that they believed were left by Kali, the goddess of death. They would then befriend the victim and travel with them until the time was right. One of them would say the code words “Bring the tobacco” and the Thuggee would strangle their victim to death and rob them.

2. Live Oak Boys

The Live Oak Boys were a New Orleans group of nasties from the mid-19th century that managed to terrify a city that was already terrified enough. Around this time, cops would only travel in large groups - and even then only during the day and armed to the teeth. And it’s little wonder why. The Live Oak Boys carried the oak clubs they were named after, which they used to spread pandemonium by attacking local bars and saloons and smashing them to pieces. If the proprietor was smart, he would disappear when he saw them coming; if he wasn’t smart he would likely soon be dead.

The Live Oak Boys would usually do this because a rival proprietor had paid them to put a competitor out of business. Of course, sometimes they did it just because they were bored. The leader of the gang was a man named Red Bill Wilson, whose beard was so manly that it was able hold a hidden knife in case of emergencies. We like to imagine that if he and the Forty Elephants leader met up, they’d instantly start dating.

1. Scuttlers

“Scuttlers” is a collective term for the gangs of youths who terrorized Manchester, England, in the 19th century. Each subset came from a different area of the city, which sub-groups of Scuttlers would name themselves after. Scuttlers usually fought among themselves for territory with bottles, knives, sticks, and iron bars. But not over money or drugs or anything else - just to control streets that were probably identical to the ones they already controlled.

They even looked like your average street gang with their own distinctive dress code: scarves and peaked caps on bald heads, shaved around a fringe that came down over one’s left eye. And in case you’re thinking that they don’t sound too bad - like average, yet rough teenagers - maybe you’ll change your mind. They were so hooligan-ish that the term “hooligan” was essentially coined for them, and the Scuttlers absolutely went to war when they got worked up. They went to war in force, with up to 600 of them all fighting for control of a street, avenue, or corner while business owners and householders barricaded themselves inside in fear.

Top image: The Thuggee. Source: Wikipedia.

[Source: Listverse. Edited. Top image added.]

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14 INTRIGUING FOLD-UP, ALL-IN-ONE BATHROOMS

Small Space Design: 14 Fold-Up, All-In-One Bathrooms
By Steph, Web Urbanist, 29 July 2013.

Making the most of limited living space requires modular solutions that can be moved around and altered at will, and that includes bathroom fixtures. Smart, compact modular or all-in-one bathroom solutions add extra luxuries to tiny rooms, rather than taking them away, making room for tubs, saunas, spacious vanities and storage along with necessities like toilets and sinks. Here are 14 intriguing space-saving bathroom concepts.

1. Fold-Up Bathtub

Few people in small urban apartments are lucky enough to have a bathtub. But that kind of relaxing amenity would be more possible if more bathtub designs resembled this one. Designer Dominik Chojnacki envisions a fold-up tub that nestles up against the wall when not in use. Too bad it doesn’t double as a shower for ultimate adaptability.

2. ‘Oneself’ For the Person Who Lives Alone

In a one-room apartment where privacy isn’t a problem, perhaps something like this would work (though it would be better if it was at least partially walled off): a gridded wall that opens to reveal a sink, toilet and shower along with storage for towels and other items.

3. Super-Compact Flight Concept

This modular all-in-one bathroom concept combines a shower, sink, tub and vanity in one compact unit. A portion of the ‘Flight’ cabinet folds down to become an elevated bathtub.

4. Bathroom on a Wall

Here’s another concept that hides bathroom fixtures in a wall so they’re out of the way when not in use. Each panel of the Fluid Wall has identical hidden mounting points so various components can be swapped out as desired by the user including sinks, toilets, shelves and storage.

5. Space-Saving Tulip Shower

The Tulip Shower is an actual dual-usage, fold-up fixture that serves as a shower when standing or a tub when laying down. It looks sort of like a futuristic space pod full of high-powered massagers and underwater jets. The back surface of the shower provides a space to lean against when you’re lounging in the tub.

6. All-In-One Water-Saving Toilet

A sink, vanity platform and toilet are contained within the Home Core Integrated Toilet by Dang Gingwei, with wash water from the sink going into the toilet tank to conserve resources. You can also add fresh water at the push of a button, and control the water pressure to the sink.

7. Flat-Folding Shower

For something most of us use once a day at most, showers certainly take up a lot of room. This clever design entitled ‘OpenSpace’ features folding glass doors that can be pressed flat against the wall, helping the room to feel larger. Optional mirrored shower doors provide even more extra function.

8. Fold-Out Bathroom Fixtures

This wall-mounted fold-out bathroom wall is more compact than those previously featured, with three panels containing the minimum fixtures required including a tub, sink and toilet. The Cirrus MVR modular bathroom is built around a central water recycling and purifying unit, so it saves water, too.

9. Aquabox Modular Bathroom

Another water-conserving modular concept sets the bar a little higher in terms of aesthetics, with a sleek and modern look. Massimo Brugnera’s Aquabox is a shower stall with attached toilets and sinks, and includes a grey water capture and purification system capable of cleansing up to 80 litres of water captured from the drains. This water is then used to flush the toilet.

10. Shower Cubicle for Two

Here’s an interesting modular concept for luxury applications. The Revolution is a shower for two with a dry sauna and steam bath in a glass-enclosed cubicle with built-in coloured LED lighting.

11. Modular Bathroom Hides Fixtures When Not In Use

A thin and narrow shelf-like system contains the toilet, a bidet and wash basins. The G-Full can be customized to add more or fewer functions as needed, and includes built-in storage. The two modular benches can either be placed on the wall side-by-side, or in an L-shape.

12. Simple and Elegant Block System

Every element of the Modular Home bath series by Japanese furniture brand TOTO is modular in design, including vanity units and storage cabinets, so they can be arranged any way you like. Storage cabinets double as benches and roll under the sink or vanity.

13. Solid Black Bath/Sink Combo

A sink, a tub and built-in storage come together in one simple black unit. The ‘Be Yourself’ collection by Sieger Design for Alape can be customized with various fixtures and finishes.

14. Customizable Modular Shower Unit

Build your own modular bathroom exactly the way you want it with this system, which consists of various elements like a rain shower, basin, cabinet, and even a foot shower that can be arranged in different ways.

[Source: Web Urbanist. Edited.]

INFOGRAPHIC: 5 UNCONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES

5 Weird Energy Sources
By Save On Energy, 31 May 2013.

Smokestacks, turbines - these are the commonly accepted tokens of energy production. Have you ever wondered what else is out there? Our most recent infographic covers some of the more unconventional power sources you'll find.

Created by SaveOnEnergy.com

[Source: Save On Energy.]

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10 FEMALE SERIAL KILLERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

10 Female Serial Killers From Around The World
By Kate Morgan, Listverse, 30 July 2013.

Money, revenge, pure insanity - these are the main reasons why these women committed their crimes. Some operated alone, and some had accomplices, but they had one thing in common: pure evil.

10. Beverley Allitt

Beverley Allitt was born in 1968 and started working as a paediatric nurse in 1991. During a period of 58 days, she murdered four children and attacked another nine, who were lucky enough to survive. From an early age, she showed signs of Münchausen syndrome and later Münchausen by proxy, which may explain her actions. Münchausen is a mental disorder in which a person feigns illness or trauma to attract attention. She was finally arrested and tried at Nottingham Crown Court in 1993, pleading not guilty. She received 13 life sentences for murder and attempted murder.

9. Raya And Sakina

Sisters Raya and Sakina ran a drug and prostitution ring (along with their spouses) in Alexandria. Being business women, they saw great financial opportunity in killing and robbing women. Their victims were known to wear gold jewellery and carry large amounts of money. The sisters would lure the victim into a rented house where one of the husbands would suffocate them. Afterward, the body was stripped of valuables and buried under the house. The disappearances didn’t go unnoticed, and the investigations eventually led back to them. Both couples received death sentences. Raya and Sakina were the first women to be executed in modern Egypt.

8. Martha Needle

Born in 1863 in Morgan, South Australia, Martha Charles grew up in a poor and abusive family and showed signs of instability from an early age. In 1882, she married Henry Needle and had three children: Mabel, Elsie, and May. By 1891, she poisoned all four of her family members, one by one. She then collected the insurance money, most of which she used for a family grave that she often visited.

A year later, she was hired as a housekeeper by two brothers: Otto and Louis Junken. She began an affair with Otto, but Louis opposed the engagement. He mysteriously fell ill and died a few months later. Otto’s second brother, Herman, also fell ill after moving in with the couple. This time, the autopsy revealed the arsenic Martha was feeding Herman. An investigation began, and the bodies of her husband, children, and Louis body were exhumed. All but Mabel tested positive for arsenic. Martha professed her innocence in court but was found guilty and sentenced to death. Surprisingly, Otto stuck by her side to the end.

7. Jeanne Weber

Jeanne Weber was born in 1874 and had three children, two of whom died in 1905. In March of that year, she murdered four children by strangulation, including her third (and last) son and two nieces. All of them showed visible signs of strangulation that were ignored by the physicians who examined the bodies. That April, Weber stayed home with her 10-year-old nephew while her two sisters-in-law went out shopping. When they came back early, they found Maurice gasping for air and Weber standing over him with a crazed expression on her face.

Eight murder charges were filed, including all three of her children and two others who died in her care. She was acquitted on February 1906 due to her brilliant lawyer and misguided jurors. She then started working as a babysitter, which resulted in two more deaths. In 1908, a father found her strangling his 10-year-old son and had to punch her three times to make her let go of the lifeless body. Weber was ultimately declared insane and spent two years in an asylum before hanging herself in 1910.

6. Juana Barraza

Juana Barraza was born in 1956. Her mother was an alcoholic who traded her own daughter to a man for three beers. That man repeatedly raped Barraza, who gave birth to four of his children. Experts believe that Barraza began her killings sometime around 1990. Her victims were always women over 60 - typically ones who lived alone. Posing as a government official, she would gain access to the victims’ houses and then murder and rob them.

Witnesses led the police to believe the suspect was a male dressed in women’s clothes due to Barraza’s masculine features. Imagine their surprise when they arrested a woman who was trying to flee the house of the latest victim. Fingerprints taken from Barraza linked her to 10 murders, but at least 40 more were suspected.

Barraza confessed to four murders but denied involvement in all other cases. She was tried in 2008 and found guilty on 16 charges of murder and aggravated burglary and 11 separate counts of murder. She was sentenced to 759 years in prison.

5. Helene Jegado

Helene Jegado was born in 1803, and she was trained as a domestic servant at an early age. Like most women, Jegado poisoned her victims with arsenic. Her first suspected poisoning was in 1833. Seven people died over three months, including a priest and Jegado’s own sister. Due to a recent cholera outburst in the area, no one suspected anything. In 1850, she poisoned several servants in another household. When the doctors requested an autopsy for one of the victims, Jegado declared her innocence out of the blue, before she was even suspected. She was arrested and tried in 1851 but was accused only of three murders, three attempted murders and 11 thefts. Jegado denied all accusations but was found guilty, sentenced to death by guillotine, and executed in 1852.

4. Maria Swanenburg

Maria Swanenburg received the nickname Goede Mie (Good Me) because she loved to care for the children and ill people in her poor neighbourhood. Over the course of three years, she poisoned every family she worked for, starting with her own parents. She would then collect the inheritance of the deceased, claiming she earned it for her services - often leaving no money to cover a burial. Some of her victims managed to escape death but sustained irreparable damage. The survivors eventually led to her discovery.

She was caught in 1883 and tried for 90 murders - but found guilty of only three. She was sentenced to life in a correctional facility, where she died in 1915.

3. Amelia Sach And Annie Walters

Sach and Walters, better known as the Finchley Baby Farmers, also began their horrible operation in hopes of wealth. Sach owned two “lying-in” homes in London around 1900. One day, she started advertising that babies “could be left” and cared for - for a fee, of course. The clients were mostly servant girls who couldn’t keep both their children and their jobs. Parents were charged both for lying-in and for the adoption to a total amount of £25 to £30.

After a baby was born, Walters would poison it with chlorodyne. They were caught after Walters raised the suspicion of her landlord (who was also a police officer). A total number of victims could not be determined. Sach and Walters were tried and sentenced to death by hanging in 1903.

2. Vera Renczi

Vera Renczi was born to a wealthy family in 1903. Renczi was beautiful, and she was known to be involved with older men from the age of 15. Early childhood friends described Renczi as possessive and jealous. Her first marriage was with a wealthy businessman, who fathered her son Lorenzo. Renczi suspected him of cheating, so she poisoned his wine with arsenic, claiming he abandoned her to anyone who asked.

Her second husband disappeared the same way a few months later. Renczi decided she had enough of marriage - but not of men. Her boyfriends kept vanishing until she was reported to the police by an angry wife (she dated married men too). Searching her house, the police found a scene right out of an Edgar Allan Poe tale in her wine cellar: 32 male bodies in various stages of decomposition, each in his own coffin. She also murdered her son Lorenzo when he discovered her secret. Renczi confessed to all the murders and was sentenced to life in prison, where she died of brain haemorrhage.

1. Magdalena Solis

Magdalena Solis (also known as the High Priestess of Blood) was a Mexican serial killer and cult member. She became a prostitute at a young age and is one of the few documented cases of female serial killers who had clear sexual motivations.

In 1963, Solis and her brother were contacted by a pair of criminals, the Hernandez brothers. They tricked the poor and illiterate people of a small town into believing they were prophets of the Inca gods. The villagers would pay economical and sexual taxes to the brothers, after being promised that the gods would reward them with treasures.

After a few months, the villagers realized they weren’t getting any richer, despite doing everything the “prophets” said. That’s when the brothers claimed Magdalena was the reincarnation of a goddess - to restore faith. Magdalena demanded human sacrifice and devised a ritual that consisted of the brutal beating, burning, cutting, and maiming of the victim. The priests would drink the victim’s blood after mixing it with chicken blood. In the last sacrifices, they reached the point of dissecting the heart of the victim alive.

In May 1963, a 14-year-old local accidentally witnessed one of those rituals. He immediately reported it to the police, and a detective escorted him back to the village. That was the last day either was seen alive, resulting in a further police investigation. The Solis siblings were arrested and the Hernandez brothers killed. Magdalena and Eleazar were sentenced to 50 years in prison for only two homicides (those of the boy and the detective) because the police were unable to confirm their participation in the other murders.

[Source: Listverse. Edited.]

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