Legends for October Nights
Serial killers, Area 51, the Mafia and pirates: the stories Americans tell after dark, checked against the record.
October 2026 · 5 books · The editors
October is the month for stories that grow in the telling. These five books start from the legend everyone knows and go back to the files, the court records and the historians.
Myths of American Serial Killers
Miguel Thornton
Twenty assumptions from television, tested against FBI research and documented cases.
Area 51
Miguel Thornton
The folklore of the Nevada base, and the real military programs behind its secrecy.
20 Myths That Made the Mafia Legendary
Miguel Thornton
How gangsters became American icons, and what the record says about them.
Pirate Myths Unmasked
Miguel Thornton
The real buccaneers of the Caribbean, behind the novels and films.
