Stories

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The Wetsuitman

One of those rare stories that captivate you right from the start and never let you go. Last winter, two bodies washed ashore in Norway and the Netherlands. They were wearing identical wetsuits. The police never managed to identify them. This journalist did. A sad, true story, masterly reported and told.

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From Weekly Filet #214, in June 2015.

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The Untold Story of Silk Road

The thrilling story of the obscure online marketplace Silk Road, often referred to as the Ebay for drugs. Created by one man in 2011, it created more than 1 billion dollars in sales before it was shut down by the FBI (but not before Silk Road’s founder allegedly hired a hitman to kill one of his employees the FBI had tracked down). Great reporting, great storytelling. This is part one, part two will be released on May 14.

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From Weekly Filet #206, in May 2015.

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The Knowledge, London’s Legendary Taxi-Driver Test, Puts Up a Fight in the Age of GPS

A fascinating insight into what it takes to master The Knowledge, the legendary test every London cab driver needs to take. It has been called the hardest test, of any kind, in the world — and after reading this, it feels hard to disagree.

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From Weekly Filet #183, in November 2014.

Cities

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You’re 16. You’re a Pedophile. You Don’t Want to Hurt Anyone. What Do You Do Now?

The story’s editor wrote about it: «Some stories should ruin your afternoon, the rest of your day, your whole week. This is one of them.»

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From Weekly Filet #173, in August 2014.

Best of 2014

Unputdownable Stories

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The mind readers

«Imagine you wake up, locked inside a box. It’s only just big enough to hold your body but sufficiently small that you can’t move.» A stunning story about people suffering from locked-in syndrome and a doctor who thinks he has found a way to communicate with them.

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From Weekly Filet #161, in May 2014.

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Thomas Quick: the Swedish serial killer who never was

Forget about Stig Larsson, this is a real Skandinavian crime thriller. Thomas Quick was Sweden’s most notorious serial killer, having confessed to more than 30 murders. Until, well until a documentary filmer took a closer look and found that no evidence linked Quick to any of those murders. Quick had simply fooled the police and judges. But why? Read the piece, and you’ll know. Great read.

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From Weekly Filet #90, in November 2012.

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Air France Flight 447: ‘Damn it, we’re going to crash’

It happened three years ago and you’ve read the story multiple times. Yet this article reads like a thriller, still: How brilliant cockpit design made Air France 447 crash into the ocean and killed 228 people.

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From Weekly Filet #66, in May 2012.