Top 20 SHOCKING Real Life Revenge Stories

Top-20-SHOCKING-Real-Life-Revenge-Stories

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most sensational times people sought devastating revenge for an injustice.

#20: Marvin Heemeyer

The Killdozer Creator
For years, Heemeyer had clashed with people in Granby, Colorado, including neighbors, town officials, and the press. After one last injustice, he sold off his property and spent 18 months turning his bulldozer into a weapon. Heemeyer reinforced it with concrete and steel, fitted video cameras and slots for firearms, and filled the interior with supplies. In 2004, Heemeyer drove the vehicle, known as the Killdozer, through Granby, destroying properties belonging to those who wronged him. This included the town hall, the concrete plant, and the home of the former mayor. No one perished from the rampage, but it’s believed Heemeyer caused around $7 million in damage. After the bulldozer got stuck in debris and was badly damaged, Heemeyer took his own life.

#19: Olga of Kiev

The Saint Who Destroyed a Tribe
In 945, Igor, the Prince of Kyiv, confronted the Drevlian tribe after they stopped paying him a tribute. After getting money and leaving, Igor went back to get more, only to be murdered by them. Igor’s wife, Olga, then took over the regency of Kyivan Rus’. The Drevlians sent multiple parties of ambassadors to take advantage of the chaos. Instead, each group was lured in by Olga before being slain. She then went to Igor’s tomb in Drevlians territory to hold a funeral. While the tribe paid their respects, Olga had thousands of them killed. Over the course of a year, her army wiped out the remaining Drevlians and set their settlements ablaze. Olga later converted to Christianity and was canonized a Saint.

#18: Julius Caesar

From Hostage to Tormentor
Before he became the ruler of the Roman Empire, Julius Caesar traveled from Rome, Italy, to Rhodes, Greece, to study oratory. However, pirates attacked and took the 25-year-old for ransom. But when Caesar heard how much they were asking for him, he laughed. Not because it was an impossible figure but for being far too low. Instead, Caesar told them to substantially increase it due to his status. For his 38 days there, he threatened the pirates that he would crucify them, yet none believed him. After his release, Caesar gathered an army and a fleet. They found the pirates at the island they had held him at and arrested them. Casar followed through on his promise by executing them all.

#17: Ken McElroy

The Vengeance of Skidmore
For decades, Ken McElroy terrorized the town of Skidmore, Missouri. He was accused of committing many crimes, including thieving livestock, arson, animal cruelty, and burglary. McElroy also assaulted an underage girl, who he later married after a reign of terror against her family, including slaying their dog. In 1981, after appealing his conviction for the attempted murder of the local shopkeeper Ernest Bowenkamp, McElroy went on a rampage of harassment against Bowenkamp’s supporters. The town was done with him. As McElroy sat with his wife in his truck, he was fatally shot multiple times. While there were dozens of witnesses to the slaying, no one said anything. To this day, the perpetrator has never been identified.

#16: Alan Ralsky

The Poetic Spam Revenge
No one likes junk mail, whether email or postal. Sure, for every coupon book you might want, there are numerous advertisements for products you’ll never use. One of the biggest scourges of sending this was Alan Ralsky. In his spamming prime, he was reportedly sending one billion emails a day. But in 2002, Ralsky had an interview with The Detroit News. The article was then shared online, along with the address for his new property. People then added Ralsky to every mailing list they could find, flooding his home with junk mail and giving him a taste of his own medicine. In 2009, Ralsky was sentenced to jail for four years for various felonies, including fraud, spamming, and money laundering.

#15: Jeanne de Clisson

Taking to the Seas Against the French
How there hasn’t been a blockbuster biopic on her life, we’ll never understand. Jeanne was a Breton-French noblewoman who was married to Olivier IV de Clisson. In 1343, Olivier was executed by King Philip VI of France for apparent treason. After showing their sons their father’s head on display, Jeanne sold the family estates and began her plan of piracy. She gathered ships, with the main one called “My Revenge,” and started attacking French vessels and aiding the English. Jeanne’s feats earned her the nickname “The Lioness of Brittany.” Eventually, the French sank “My Revenge,” causing Jeanne and her sons to be adrift for days. But she continued pirating for years more.

#14: Udham Singh

The Retaliator of a Massacre
In 1919, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in India, with British soldiers firing on protestors, taking the lives of up to 1500 and injuring as many as 1200. Singh was a revolutionary who fought for India’s independence from British colonialism. While in London, England, he planned his revenge against Michael O'Dwyer, who was the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab during the terrible event. In 1940, O'Dwyer, who had ties to pro-Nazi groups, was speaking at Caxton Hall. Singh walked in with a firearm concealed in a book. He approached O’Dwyer and shot him, ending his life and injuring several others. Singh was arrested yet was defiant during the court case for his beliefs. He was found guilty and executed.

#13: Genghis Khan

Obliterating an Empire from History
In 1218, Genghis looked to trade with the neighboring Khwarazmian Empire and sent an envoy of several hundred merchants. However, the governor of Otrar, Inalchuq, who was related to the Khwarazmian ruler Muhammad II, arrested the caravan for treason and executed them. Aiming to avoid a war and get revenge against Inalchuq, Genghis sent ambassadors to Muhammad II. One was executed by the ruler, while the others were shaved and sent back to Genghis. With that, the Mongol ruler was livid. Genghis took most of his army and decimated the Khwarazmian Empire, assassinating Inalchuq along the way. The Mongols destroyed Khwarazmian cities and took the lives of millions of people as they wiped an empire from history.

#12: The Dachau Liberation Reprisals

In 1945, the US soldiers approaching the infamous Dachau concentration camp had no idea of the horror they would witness. In the weeks leading to the liberation, prisoners were shipped to Dachau as they started hiding the evidence of what had happened. As the US fought the SS soldiers to surrender, they discovered thousands of bodies in piles, some shoved into train boxcars, and the extremely malnourished and abused survivors. Many of the US soldiers couldn’t wrap their heads around the atrocities and were filled with unbridled rage. The exact details of what went down are hazy. However, it’s believed the US soldiers and some of the prisoners took the lives of between 35 and 50 SS guards.

#11: The 47 Rōnin

Avenging Their Master’s Memory
One of Japan’s most famous legends, the tale of the 47 rōnin is actually rooted in reality. After their master, Asano Naganori, was forced to commit seppuku in 1701 by the ruthless Kira Yoshinaka, the former samurais spent over a year biding their time until Kira’s forces believed they weren’t a threat. Then, they struck. In 1703, the rōnin attacked Kira’s residence, fighting many of his retainers. Eventually, they located Kira and offered to let him to commit seppuku. However, he couldn’t do it. So, their leader, Ōishi Yoshio, did it for him and took Kira’s head to Asano’s grave. Each rōnin was sentenced to death for their revenge but was given the choice to commit seppuku, which they all took.

#10: Pierre Picaud

The Real Count of Monte Cristo
“The Count of Monte Cristo” is one of the greatest revenge stories in literary history. And though it’s a work of fiction, the main character, Edmond Dantès, is said to be based on a real man named Pierre Picaud. A 19th-century shoemaker from southern France, Picaud was falsely accused of being an English spy by his alleged friends. Following years of forced servitude, Picaud was released, and, after some careful plotting, murdered the three men who’d betrayed him. He was particularly ruthless in dealing with Loupian, the man who’d married his former fiancée. Picaud tricked the man’s children into lives of crime before finally stabbing their father to death.

#9: Alexander ‘Alec’ Turner

The Ex-Slave Who Got Even
Reminiscent of a real-life version of Django, Alec Turner was born into slavery on a Virginia tobacco plantation in 1845. At a young age, he was taught to read and write in secret by the plantation owner’s granddaughter. They were eventually caught however, and Turner was badly beaten and whipped. Eventually able to escape at the start of the Civil War, Turner joined the Union Army. In 1863, Turner returned to his old plantation with his regiment and personally shot and killed his former overseer. He survived the war, eventually settling on a farm in Vermont, appropriately named “Journey’s End.”

#8: Nakam

The Jewish Avengers
Understandably, many people were dissatisfied with the result of the Nuremberg Trials, where only 24 individuals were indicted. And so a group formed named Nakam, shortened from “Dam Yehudi Nakam” or “Jewish Blood Will Be Avenged,” with the goal of seeking their own form of justice. The group poisoned 3,000 loaves of bread that were being sent to an American PoW camp, intended for former SS members. Over 2,000 prisoners were reportedly made ill, but, to the retroactive disappointment of former Nakam member Joseph Harmatz, there were no confirmed fatalities. According to some members, however, the group had originally desired to kill six million Germans by poisoning the water supplies of the country’s main cities.

#7: Frank Eaton

The Man Who Avenged His Pa
Born in the mid-19th century in Connecticut, Frank Eaton moved to Kansas with his family when he was eight years old. Around this time, his vigilante father was killed by six ex-Confederate soldiers. A family friend told Eaton “My boy, may an old man’s curse rest upon you, if you do not try to avenge your father.” Frank began training, quickly earned the nickname “Pistol Pete,” and was said to be faster on the draw than Buffalo Bill. As the story goes, he managed to seek out and kill five of the murderers before he turned 30, with the last, John Ferber, escaping Eaton’s wrath only by dying before Eaton could get to him.

#6: Aaron Burr

The Vice-President Who’d Had Enough
We’ve heard of political rivalries before but nothing quite like this. Both Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were big players on the political stage at the turn of the 19th-century. Burr had gone up against Thomas Jefferson for the Presidential nomination, but lost, thanks in part to Hamilton’s influence. A few years later, Burr ran for Governor of New York, only to once again see his ambitions dashed by the counter-efforts of Hamilton, who campaigned aggressively against him. Fed up, Burr, who was still Vice-President at the time, challenged Hamilton to a duel. The pair met in Weehawken, New Jersey, and Hamilton was mortally wounded.

#5: Buford Pusser

The Sheriff Who Walked Tall
During his time as sheriff of McNairy County, Buford Pusser waged a one-man war on crime, focusing primarily on the State Line Mob, which operated along the border of Mississippi and Tennessee. Naturally this didn’t sit well with the gang, who severely wounded Pusser and murdered his wife in a drive-by assassination attempt. Pusser’s ensuing quest for revenge inspired a trilogy of films in the ‘70s and a 2004 remake starring Dwayne Johnson. Though the exact details are largely obscured in mystery and rumor, various authors and local law enforcement have suggested that Pusser had a hand in the killing of three of the four men he accused of being behind his wife’s death.

#4: Carl V. Ericsson

The Retiree Who Really Held a Grudge
High school can be a difficult time, particularly if you aren’t considered one of the so-called “popular kids.” Carl Ericsson experienced this firsthand when he was the victim of a cruel prank. While exact details of the incident are unclear, it did involve a jockstrap being placed on Ericsson’s head in front of a group of students. Ericsson blamed Norman Johnson for the prank, and took the idea that “revenge is a dish best served cold” a little too far. He waited over 50 years to get even, confronting Johnson and killing him in his home in 2012. Both men were in their 70s, and Ericsson was given a life sentence for his crime.

#3: Jared Harris

The Avenging Amateur Tattoo Artist
Prison is a rough place in general, but for those who’ve been convicted of crimes against children… it is living hell. Back in 2006, Anthony R. Stockelman was sentenced to life in prison after assaulting and murdering the young Katie Collman. To the ignorance of officials, Stockelman was placed in the very same prison as Katie’s older cousin, Jared Harris, who was serving time for burglary. From what investigators could put together, it seems that Harris cornered Stockelman, and with the help of other inmates, tattooed the words found on the inmate’s forehead the next morning. The script in question? “KATIE’S REVENGE.”

#2: Lorena Bobbitt

The Knife-Wielding Wife Who Refused to be the Victim Anymore
We’ve heard of volatile marriages before, but this case caught the attention of the international community. According to Lorena Bobbitt, she’d suffered various forms of abuse at the hands of her husband for years, and on the night that she finally snapped, he had forced himself on her. That was June 23rd, 1993, a date ex-hubby John Wayne Bobbitt is unlikely to ever forget. While her husband slept, Lorena took a carving knife from the kitchen and cut off his penis, drove several miles, and threw it into a field. It was eventually found after an extensive search and reattached during an over-9 hour operation.

#1: Akku Yadav

The Accused Predator Who Met Mob Justice
In 2004, Akku Yadav, real name Bharat Kalicharan, was standing trial in India. Yadav was a locally known predator and murderer, having allegedly assaulted over 200 women during a 10-year span, and reportedly murdered at least three individuals. The women of Kasturba Nagar, where Yadav was from, had finally had enough. A lynch mob of around 200 women interrupted the proceedings and assaulted Yadav. They reportedly threw chili powder in his face, stabbed him over 70 times and cut off his penis. While several women were arrested, it seems that all were eventually released due to lack of evidence.

Have you ever gotten revenge for something in your life? Was it instant or did you play the long-game? Let us know your story below.