The traumatic experience of having a loved one be kidnapped can be made all the more terrifying when a ransom note suddenly arrives in the mail.
YouTube user Dark5 has compiled a creepy collection of five of the most infamous and chilling ransom notes from the annals of true crime history.
Demanding outlandish sums of money for the safe return of the kidnapping victim, these missives provide an unnerving glimpse of pure evil.
They are made all the more heartbreaking when the kidnappers do not hold up their end of the deal.
Such was the case with the 1927 kidnapping of Marion Parker, who saw her captors demand $1,500 for her freedom.
When her desperate father met the kidnappers to provide them with the money, they cruelly took the ransom and then gave him a box containing her dismembered body.
Another notable note on the list was written by 1988 kidnapping victim Annie Laurie Hearin, who pleaded with her husband to save her or else she would be sealed in the basement of a house.
Other cases featured include the abduction of oil scion John Paul Getty III, who suffered the gruesome fate of losing an ear when his kidnappers felt they needed to prove that his life was in danger, and the infamous unsolved mystery of Jon Benet Ramsey.
Check out the complete video for the full array of truly troubling ransom notes that are certain to make your skin crawl.