Stories from Montreal, Quebec, Canadá

The “Montreal Cannibal”: Jun Lin’s murder and what the trial established

Student Jun Lin was murdered in Montreal in 2012. An international investigation reached Germany, and Luka Rocco Magnotta was convicted of first-degree murder in 2014. This dossier separates the verdict and documentary record from a sensational nickname that came to dominate the case.

394 km · Salem

Salem: how accusations became trials, sentences and memory

Between 1692 and 1693, the Massachusetts witchcraft crisis spread from a minister's home through several communities and left 25 people dead. Examination records, petitions and later reversals show how untestable evidence gained force, and how survivors fought to undo the judgments.

469 km · New Haven

The Voynich Manuscript: the real book behind the unread script

Held at Yale as MS 408, the codex contains hard-to-identify plants, celestial diagrams, bathing figures and a script still without an accepted reading. This dossier follows the object, its ownership, the dating of its parchment and the actual limits of linguistic analysis.

529 km · Nova York

Death Avenue: freight trains, children and cowboys on New York streets

For nearly a century, freight trains shared Manhattan streets with pedestrians. The nickname “Death Avenue” grew from real accidents and fueled protests, legislation and the High Line. This dossier traces the route, the West Side Cowboys, Seth Low Hascamp’s death, conflicting casualty figures and the railroad’s transformation into a park.