Andersonville Prison was created to house Union soldiers during the Civil War. Prisoner negotiations ceased, creating an influx of med being detained. Georgia was one of the sites that new prisons were erected to house these men. There the conditions were horrifying. Men were not given clothes, housing, or adequate nutrition. Men suffered from scurvy and fleas. They dealt with chain gangs and the stockade. As the war ended, almost half of the men that died in the south, died as prisoners of Andersonville.

Sources:

https://www.nps.gov/ande/learn/historyculture/camp_sumter_history.htm

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/andersonville-prison

https://artsandculture.google.com/story/daily-life-at-andersonville-prison-georgia-public-broadcasting/GgUBE3JvqMsmIQ?hl=en

https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/andersonville-prison/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOci27e2V8g

https://blogs.loc.gov/maps/2021/09/the-maps-of-andersonville-prison/

https://npshistory.com/publications/civil_war_series/5/sec1.htm

James Madison Page. 1908. The True Story of Andersonville Prison. A defense of Major Henry Wirz

Charles Rivers Editors. 2026. Andersonville Prison. The history of the civil war’s most notorious prison camp

Gary Heidnik was born in Cleveland, OH to abusive, alcoholic parents. At a young age he suffered a head injury. Shaping him into the grotesque man he was to become. He joined the military and was honorably discharged with a diagnosis of Schizophrenia. From there he became a bishop, embezzled funds, raped members of his clergy and became rich. His delve into darkness spiraled until a woman emerged from the depths of his dungeon and exposed him for the monster he was. The resulting sentence was death. Carried out in 1999.

Sources:

Green, R. The Pit. The true crime story of six women, one monster, and the nightmare below. 2025

https://www.michaelmatza.com/heidnik

https://6abc.com/post/gary-heidniks-house-of-horrors-30-years-later/3429565/

https://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvania/supreme-court/1991/526-pa-458-1.html

https://www.aetv.com/articles/gary-heidnik

On March 17th 1990, 14 year old Rachel Hurley was out on a boat with friends. She was dropped off on the pier and ran along the beach to another park, before turning to a path as a short cut. She never made it to her destination. After a search, her body was found along the path, nude and strangled. In 2004 the cold case team took over, but as of yet, there are no answers.

Sources:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/three-decades-later-st-patricks-164858569.html

https://thedeckpodcast.com/rachel-hurley/

https://www.facebook.com/palmbeachcountysheriff/videos/35-year-anniversary-of-the-murder-of-rachel-hurley/538530202138298/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBiQFeRXLss

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/crime/2021/03/17/who-killed-14-year-old-rachel-hurley-search-enters-31st-year-today/4729835001/

https://cbs12.com/news/local/jupiter-inlet-march-17-1990-carlin-park-who-killed-rachel-hurley-the-jupiter-teens-death-remains-cold-32-years-later-palm-beach-county-sheriffs-office

https://truecrimediva.com/the-1990-unsolved-murder-of-rachel-hurley/

https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/loved-ones-still-fighting-justice-31-years-after-st-patrick-n1261667