These people proved that revenge is definitely a dish best-served cold. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most sensational times people sought devastating revenge for an injustice.
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00:00I took the sheets off and... I caught him.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most sensational times people sought devastating revenge for an injustice.
00:13Many were implicated in war crimes, and then a cam now planned to kill them.
00:21Number 20, Marvin Heemeyer, the Killdozer creator.
00:25This is a bad situation guys, we might as well kill.
00:28For years, Heemeyer had clashed with people in Granby, Colorado, including neighbors, town officials, and the press.
00:34After one last injustice, he sold off his property and spent 18 months turning his bulldozer into a weapon.
00:40Heemeyer reinforced it with concrete and steel, fitted video cameras and slots for firearms, and filled the interior with supplies.
00:48In 2004, Heemeyer drove the vehicle, known as the Killdozer, through Granby, destroying properties belonging to those who wronged him.
00:56He was upset that a batch plant was built next to his muffler shop.
01:01But no one expected this.
01:03This included the town hall, the concrete plant, and the home of the former mayor.
01:08No one perished from the rampage, but it's believed Heemeyer cost around $7 million in damage.
01:13After the bulldozer got stuck in debris and was badly damaged, Heemeyer took his own life.
01:18Did he actually say he was going to take a bulldozer and armor it?
01:23Well, he didn't say he was going to armor it. He said, I'm going to take a bulldozer and just... to the town.
01:29Number 19. Olga of Kiev, the saint who destroyed a tribe.
01:33In 945, Igor, the prince of Kiev, confronted the Drevlian tribe after they stopped paying him a tribute.
01:40After getting money and leaving, Igor went back to get more, only to be murdered by them.
01:45Igor's wife, Olga, then took over the regency of Kievan Rus.
01:54The Drevlians sent multiple parties of ambassadors to take advantage of the chaos.
01:59Instead, each group was lured in by Olga before being slain.
02:02She then went to Igor's tomb in Drevlian's territory to hold a funeral.
02:06While the tribe paid their respects, Olga had thousands of them killed.
02:15Over the course of a year, her army wiped out the remaining Drevlians and set their settlements ablaze.
02:23Olga later converted to Christianity and was canonized as a saint.
02:28Number 18. Julius Caesar, from hostage to tormentor.
02:45Before he became the ruler of the Roman Empire, Julius Caesar traveled from Rome,
02:49Italy to Rhodes, Greece to study oratory.
02:52However, pirates attacked and took the 25-year-old for ransom.
02:56But when Caesar heard how much they were asking for him, he laughed.
02:59Not because it was an impossible figure, but for being far too low.
03:09Instead, Caesar told them to substantially increase it due to his status.
03:13For his 38 days there, he threatened the pirates that he would crucify them.
03:17Yet none believed him.
03:19After his release, Caesar gathered an army and a fleet.
03:22They found the pirates at the island they had held him at and arrested them.
03:26Caesar followed through on his promise by executing them all.
03:37Number 17. Ken McElroy, the vengeance of Skidmore.
03:43For decades, Ken McElroy terrorized the town of Skidmore, Missouri.
03:53He was accused of committing many crimes, including thieving livestock,
03:57arson, animal cruelty, and burglary.
04:00McElroy also assaulted an underage girl,
04:02who he later married after a reign of terror against her family,
04:06including slaying their dog.
04:14In 1981, after appealing his conviction for the attempted murder of the local shopkeeper
04:19Ernest Bohnkamp, McElroy went on a rampage of harassment against Bohnkamp's supporters.
04:24The town was done with him.
04:26As McElroy sat with his wife in his truck, he was fatally shot multiple times.
04:30While there were dozens of witnesses to the slaying,
04:33no one said anything.
04:34To this day, the perpetrator has never been identified.
04:44Number 16. Alan Rolske, the poetic spam revenge.
04:59No one likes junk mail, whether email or postal.
05:02Sure, for every coupon book you might want,
05:04there are numerous advertisements for products you'll never use.
05:07One of the biggest scourges of sending this was Alan Rolske.
05:11In his spamming prime, he was reportedly sending 1 billion emails a day.
05:16But in 2002, Rolske had an interview with the Detroit News.
05:20The article was then shared online, along with the address for his new property.
05:24People then added Rolske to every mailing list they could find,
05:27flooding his home with junk mail and giving him a taste of his own medicine.
05:32In 2009, Rolske was sentenced to jail for four years for various felonies,
05:36including fraud, spamming and money laundering.
05:40Number 15. Jeanne de Quisson, taking to the seas against the French.
05:52How there hasn't been a blockbuster biopic on her life, we'll never understand.
05:56But there's a story to tell.
05:59In 1343, Olivier was executed by King Philip VI of France for apparent treason.
06:04After showing their sons their father's head on display,
06:07Jeanne sold the family estates and began her plan of piracy.
06:11She gathered ships, with the main one called My Revenge,
06:15and started attacking French vessels and aiding the English.
06:18Jeanne's feats earned her the nickname the Lioness of Brittany.
06:21Eventually, she was given the title of Queen of France.
06:25Jeanne's feats earned her the nickname the Lioness of Brittany.
06:28Eventually, the French sank My Revenge,
06:30causing Jeanne and her sons to be adrift for days.
06:33But she continued pirating for years more.
06:36Number 14. Udham Singh, the retaliator of a massacre.
06:40In 1919, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in India,
06:44with British soldiers firing on protesters,
06:46taking the lives of up to 1,500 and injuring as many as 1,200.
06:54No meetings.
06:58Singh was a revolutionary who fought for India's independence from British colonialism.
07:02While in London, England, he planned his revenge against Michael O'Dwyer,
07:06who was the lieutenant governor of the Punjab during the terrible event.
07:09In 1940, O'Dwyer, who had ties to pro-Nazi groups, was speaking at Caxton Hall.
07:15Singh walked in with a firearm concealed in a book.
07:25He approached O'Dwyer and shot him,
07:27ending his life and injuring several others.
07:30Singh was arrested, yet was defiant during the court case for his beliefs.
07:34He was found guilty and executed.
07:41Number 13. Genghis Khan, obliterating an empire from history.
07:46With his wife rescued, it was now that Genghis first emerged
07:50as the brutal mass murderer of history.
07:53In 1218, in 1218, Genghis looked to trade with the neighboring Khwarezmian Empire
07:59and sent an envoy of several hundred merchants.
08:02However, the governor of Otrar, Inalchuk,
08:05who was related to the Khwarezmian ruler Muhammad II,
08:08arrested the caravan for treason and executed them.
08:16Aiming to avoid a war and get revenge against Inalchuk,
08:19Genghis sent ambassadors to Muhammad II.
08:21One was executed by the ruler,
08:23while the others were shaved and sent back to Genghis.
08:26With that, the Mongol ruler was livid.
08:29Genghis took most of his army and decimated the Khwarezmian Empire,
08:32assassinating Inalchuk along the way.
08:34The Mongols destroyed Khwarezmian cities
08:37and took the lives of millions of people as they wiped an empire from history.
08:51Number 12. The Dachau Liberation Reprisals.
09:03In 1945, the U.S. soldiers approaching the infamous Dachau concentration camp
09:08had no idea of the horror they would witness.
09:10In the weeks leading to the liberation,
09:12prisoners were shipped to Dachau
09:14as they started hiding the evidence of what had happened.
09:16As the U.S. fought the SS soldiers to surrender,
09:19they discovered thousands of bodies in piles,
09:22some shoved into train boxcars,
09:24and the extremely malnourished and abused survivors.
09:35Many of the U.S. soldiers couldn't wrap their heads around the atrocities
09:38and were filled with unbridled rage.
09:41The exact details of what went down are hazy.
09:44However, it's believed the U.S. soldiers
09:47Number 11. The 47 Ronin.
09:50Avenging their master's memory.
10:05One of Japan's most famous legends,
10:07the tale of the 47 Ronin is actually rooted in reality.
10:11After their master, Asano Naganori,
10:13was forced to commit seppuku in 1701
10:16by the ruthless Kira Yoshinaka,
10:18the former samurai spent over a year biding their time
10:21until Kira's forces believed they were not a threat.
10:24Then, they struck.
10:25In 1703, the Ronin attacked Kira's residence,
10:29fighting many of his retainers.
10:38Eventually, they located Kira and offered to let him commit seppuku.
10:42However, he couldn't do it.
10:43So their leader, Oishi Yoshio, did it for him
10:46and took Kira's head to Asano's grave.
10:49Each Ronin was sentenced to death for their revenge
10:51but was given the choice to commit seppuku,
10:54which they all took.
11:06Number 10. Pierre Picot.
11:08The real Count of Monte Cristo.
11:14The Count of Monte Cristo is one of the greatest revenge stories
11:17in literary history.
11:19And though it is a work of fiction,
11:21the main character, Edmond Dantès,
11:22is said to be based on a real man named Pierre Picot.
11:25A 19th century shoemaker from Southern France,
11:28Picot was falsely accused of being an English spy
11:30by his alleged friends.
11:32Following years of forced servitude,
11:34Picot was released and, after some careful plotting,
11:37murdered the three men who had betrayed him.
11:39Picot tricked the man's children into lives of crime
11:42before finally stabbing their father to death.
11:45How did you ever call yourself my friend?
11:48We were friends, Edmond.
11:50Number 9. Alexander Alec Turner.
11:53The ex-slave who got even.
11:55Reminiscent of a real-life version of Django,
11:58Alec Turner was born into slavery on a Virginia Tide ship
12:01and was a member of the Royal Navy.
12:03He was a member of the Royal Navy,
12:05but he was not a member of the Royal Navy.
12:07Alec Turner was born into slavery
12:09on a Virginia tobacco plantation in 1845.
12:12At a young age, he was taught to read and write in secret
12:14by the plantation owner's granddaughter.
12:16They were eventually caught, however,
12:18and Turner was badly beaten and whipped.
12:20Eventually able to escape at the start of the Civil War,
12:23Turner joined the Union Army.
12:25In 1863, Turner returned to his old plantation
12:28with his regiment and personally shot and killed
12:30his former overseer.
12:32Now, all you black folks,
12:35I suggest you get away from all these white folks.
12:39Not you, Stephen.
12:40He survived the war,
12:41eventually settling on a farm in Vermont,
12:44appropriately named Journey's End.
12:46He's the guy who's the talk of the town
12:50With a restless gun
12:53Number 8. Nakam, the Jewish Avengers.
12:57Understandably, many people were dissatisfied
13:00with the result of the Nuremberg Trials,
13:02where only 24 individuals were indicted.
13:04And so a group formed named Nakam,
13:07shortened from Dam Yehudi Nakam,
13:09or Jewish Blood Will Be Avenged,
13:11with the goal of seeking their own form of justice.
13:13The group poisoned 3,000 loaves of bread
13:16that were being sent to an American POW camp,
13:18intended for former SS members.
13:21I don't know how many,
13:22but what I know is that the American army
13:26has mobilized all the ambulances,
13:30and they had thousands.
13:31Over 2,000 prisoners were reportedly made ill.
13:34But to the retroactive disappointment
13:36of former Nakam member Yosef Harmatz,
13:38there were no confirmed fatalities.
13:41According to some members, however,
13:42the group had originally desired
13:44to kill 6 million Germans
13:46by poisoning the water supplies
13:47of the country's main cities.
13:49To kill 6 million Germans,
13:52that's even insane to say that.
13:55Which 6 million? Where? How?
13:58Number 7. Frank Eaton, the man who avenged his PAW.
14:02Born in the mid-19th century in Connecticut,
14:04Frank Eaton moved to Kansas with his family
14:06when he was 8 years old.
14:07Around this time, his vigilante father
14:09was killed by six ex-Confederate soldiers.
14:12A family friend told Eaton,
14:14quote,
14:14"'My boy, may an old man's curse rest upon you
14:17if you do not try to avenge your father.'"
14:19Frank began training,
14:21quickly earned the nickname Pistol Pete,
14:23and was said to be faster on the draw
14:24than Buffalo Bill.
14:26As the story goes,
14:27he managed to seek out and kill
14:28five of the murderers before he turned 30,
14:31with the last, John Ferber,
14:32escaping Eaton's wrath only by dying
14:35before Eaton could get to him.
14:37Number 6. Aaron Burr,
14:39the vice president who'd had enough.
14:41We've heard of political rivalries before,
14:43but nothing quite like this.
14:45Both Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr
14:47were big players on the political stage
14:49at the turn of the 19th century.
14:51Burr had gone up against Thomas Jefferson
14:52for the presidential nomination,
14:54but lost,
14:55thanks in part to Hamilton's influence.
15:02A few years later,
15:13Burr ran for governor of New York,
15:15only to once again see his ambitions dashed
15:17by the counter-efforts of Hamilton,
15:18who campaigned aggressively against him.
15:21Fed up,
15:21Burr, who was still vice president at the time,
15:24challenged Hamilton to a duel.
15:26The pair met in Weehawken, New Jersey,
15:28and Hamilton was mortally wounded.
15:33Number 5. Buford Pusser,
15:36the sheriff who walked tall.
15:47During his time as sheriff of McNary County,
15:49Buford Pusser waged a one-man war on crime,
15:52focusing primarily on the state line mob,
15:55which operated along the border of Mississippi and Tennessee.
15:58Naturally, this did not sit well with the gang,
16:00who severely wounded Pusser
16:02and murdered his wife in a drive-by assassination attempt.
16:05Pusser's ensuing quest for revenge
16:07inspired a trilogy of films in the 70s
16:09and a 2004 remake starring Dwayne Johnson.
16:12I grew up in this town.
16:14People used to walk tall in this town.
16:18They wouldn't have traded the mill for a crooked casino.
16:20Though the exact details are largely obscured in mystery and rumor,
16:24various authors and local law enforcement
16:26have suggested that Pusser had a hand in the killing
16:28of three of the four men he accused of being behind his wife's death.
16:32People need or looking for maybe a hero type,
16:36somebody that stood up for the underdog.
16:38Number 4. Carl V. Erickson,
16:41the retiree who really held a grudge.
16:43High school can be a difficult time,
16:45particularly if you aren't considered one of the so-called popular kids.
16:49Carl Erickson experienced this firsthand
16:51when he was the victim of a cruel prank.
16:53While the exact details of the incident are unclear,
16:56it did involve a jockstrap being placed on Erickson's head
16:59in front of a group of students.
17:01Erickson blamed Norman Johnson for the prank
17:03and took the idea that revenge is a dish best served cold a little too far.
17:08He waited over 50 years to get even,
17:10confronting Johnson and killing him in his home in 2012.
17:14Both men were in their 70s
17:16and Erickson was given a life sentence for his crime.
17:19Number 3. Jared Harris,
17:21the avenging amateur tattoo artist.
17:24Prison is a rough place in general,
17:26but for those who've been convicted of crimes against children,
17:29it is living hell.
17:30Back in 2006, Anthony R. Stockelman was sentenced to life in prison
17:34after assaulting and murdering the young Katie Coleman.
17:37To the ignorance of officials,
17:38Stockelman was placed in the very same prison
17:41as Katie's older cousin Jared Harris,
17:43who was serving time for burglary.
17:45From what investigators could put together,
17:47it seems that Harris cornered Stockelman
17:49and with the help of other inmates,
17:51tattooed the words found on the inmate's forehead the next morning.
17:54The script in question? Katie's revenge.
17:57Number 2. Lorena Bobbitt,
17:58the knife-wielding wife who refused to be the victim anymore.
18:07We've heard of volatile marriages before,
18:09but this case caught the attention of the international community.
18:12According to Lorena Bobbitt,
18:14she'd suffered various forms of abuse at the hands of her husband for years,
18:17and on the night that she finally snapped,
18:19he had forced himself on her.
18:21That was June 23, 1993,
18:23a date ex-husband John Wayne Bobbitt is unlikely to ever forget.
18:34While her husband slept,
18:35Lorena took a knife from the kitchen and cut off his appendage,
18:39drove several miles, and threw it into a field.
18:41It was eventually found after an extensive search
18:44and reattached during an over nine-hour operation.
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19:12Number 1. Aku Yadav,
19:13the accused predator who met mob justice.
19:16For over a decade, Indian gangster Aku Yadav,
19:19real name Bharat Kalicharan,
19:21terrorized locals in a slum outside the city of Nagpur.
19:24He sexually assaulted over 40 women and killed at least three people.
19:29After a mob burned down his house,
19:31Yadav had the police, who were in his pocket,
19:33arrest him for his own protection.
19:35In response, hundreds of women stormed the courtroom
19:38where his bail hearing was being held and stabbed him to death.
19:41The women openly admitted responsibility,
19:44and while some were arrested,
19:46the police eventually backed down and released them.
19:49Have you ever gotten revenge for something in your life?
19:51Was it instant or did you play the long game?
19:54Let us know your story below.
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