Claims extracted
20
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
5%
1 of 20 hedged
("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
66/100
New York Post's corrections and
hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
The Pet Cemetery Murders: A Ghost Story, directed by Philip Cairney, is a three-part HBO docuseries that goes into the brutal murder of Dorothy Lou Thompson in 1985, and what was uncovered when the cold case was reopened in 2004.
asserted
case → direct → 2004
Dorothy Lou Thompson owned a pet cemetery in the tiny town of Toca in Louisiana’s St. Bernard Parish.
asserted
Thompson → own → Parish
She inherited it from her mother, whom she lived with after an adult life full of abuse and drug and alcohol abuse.
asserted
she → inherit → abuse
Thompson’s body was found in the Mississippi River, strangled and bound up with chains, two weeks after she disappeared from the Victorian mansion on the cemetery’s property.
asserted
she → find → property
Through interviews with Thompson’s neighbors, friends and law enforcement, including John Doran, the sheriff department detective who reopened the case, we hear about Thompson’s rough life, and how her mother started the cemetery.
asserted
mother → include → cemetery
We also find out about how the land that the cemetery was built on was the site of the 1868 St. Bernard Parish Massacre, where dozens of formerly-enslaved Black people were murdered by mobs of white men.
asserted
dozens → find → men
So the land was certainly cursed.
asserted
land → curse → ?
But it seems like people have heard and maybe even seen a ghostly representative of Thompson haunting the area and seeking justice.
asserted
people → seem → justice
What Shows Will It Remind You Of?
asserted
It → remind → You
The Pet Cemetery Murders: A Ghost Story has a similar vibe to other true-crime docuseries like Welcome to the Family: The Murder of Dan Markel.
asserted
Murders → have → Markel
Cairney does a good job of exploring the strangeness surrounding Thompson’s murder 41 years ago, but not just because it seemed that it was the brutal end to a very difficult life.
asserted
it → do → life
But the strangeness also incorporates the cemetery itself, filled with memorial statues of beloved pets, which fell into disrepair after Thompson inherited it from her mother, then got destroyed in 2006 when Hurricane Katrina left St. Bernard Parish under 20 feet of flood water.
asserted
Katrina → incorporate → water
This story goes deeper than just a cold case that was hampered by Katrina destroying all of the evidence that had been kept from the initial investigation.
asserted
that → go → investigation
The spiritual element is taken seriously, in that a witness that claims that they’ve communicated with Thompson’s restless spirit is questioned by the sheriff’s department.
uncertain
they → take → department
But what eventually comes out of the investigation, in which another witness came forward to say that they witnessed the murder, is even more evidence that the cemetery, as well as the town of Toca, has an extremely dark history.
asserted
cemetery → come → history
It’s those layers that make the investigation of this 41-year-old murder so intriguing to watch.
asserted
investigation → ’ → murder
Doran talks about the man who came forward claiming to have seen Thompson’s ghost.
asserted
who → talk → ghost
The Pet Cemetery Murders: A Ghost Story is effectively spooky and creepy, exploring a four-decade-old murder that revealed a whole lot more than just the story of a woman and her strange pet cemetery.
asserted
that → explore → woman
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie.
asserted
he → write → himself
His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
asserted
writing → appear → Times
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