History Main / EvidenceDungeon

* In ''TabletopGames/BetrayalAtHouseOnTheHill'', explorers of the eponymous house have a chance of coming across a medieval torture chamber complete with iron maiden and floor drain in the basement.

A SmugSnake or TheStarscream might collect an Evidence Dungeon, too arrogant to believe that they would be caught. A BigBad or BigBadWannabe has [[StringTheory far-ranging plans]] with the correspondingly abundant evidence. Often it is the SerialKiller either collecting [[FingerInTheMail trophies of their work]] or too insane to realize all the clues just laying around. If the evidence is part of a creepy collection, you might be in TheDollEpisode.

* Patrick Bateman in ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'' uses both his apartment and appropriates Paul Owen/Allen's apartment[[spoiler: after killing him]] to commit most of his murders. In his apartment, there is a head in the fridge and numerous implements of murder and torture. In Paul Owen/Allen's apartment, there are two bodies hanging on hooks in a closet, another on the bathroom floor and [[RoomFullOfCrazy a room with 'Die Yuppie Scum' scrawled on the walls.]] [[SubvertedTrope Subverted as ]][[spoiler: the ending implies that Bateman may be having psychotic delusions about his murders. As he is an [[UnreliableNarrator incredibly unreliable narrator]], it calls into question everything we've seen and whether the 'evidence' was really there.]]

It is the inverse of an OrgyOfEvidence which is done intentionally to mislead. An Evidence Dungeon is unintentionally discovered, a convenient dumping ground of evidence and plot clues for TheProtagonist.

TropeNamer is from Episode 8 of Podcast/TheFlopHouse podcast.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* This is played with, in ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', with Castle Heterodyne. The ''entire castle'' could be said to be a house with extensive proof of tortuous experimentation labs, monstrous creations, and hideous traps, so for the hero who manages to really amuse the castle, they have a torture chamber filled with... light music, bright colors, and a rather extensive waiting list. As a cast member puts it, "It's more like ''psychological'' torture."

The Evidence Dungeon is the lair of the villain, which is full of all the things a good villain needs to do their work...and to be charged with said work when the police find it.

The defining feature of an Evidence Dungeon is the expositional shit lying around that any sane person would hide or dispose of immediately. It's a place that is not only the villain's lair but is also where all the incriminating evidence is kept. This may make for a [[IdiotBall very foolish]] criminal, or just the right kind of delusional mind that would commit the crimes in the first place.

* In his apartment, Jeffery Dahmer had muriatic acid used to flense corpses, photos of dismemebered corpses in various stages of decomposition, four severed heads in the refrigerator, seven cleaned skulls, a full torso in the freezer, three torsos in a 57 gallon plastic drum and two full skeletons. The chief medical examiner later stated: "It was more like dismantling someone's museum than an actual crime scene." All it took was police officers just walking into his apartment to provoke an arrest.

* Doug's train car/lab in ''Disney/{{Zootopia}}'' is packed with incriminating evidence including a map with the photos of all the fourteen missing mammals.

* In the ''Series/MastersOfHorror'' episode "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road", the [[EvilAlbino albino]] serial killer Moonface performs all his kills in his dungeon underneath his cabin. He typically [[EyeScream carves his victims' eyes out]] with an electrical drill.

The defining feature of an Evidence Dungeon is the [[ChronicEvidenceRetentionSyndrome expositional shit]] lying around that any sane person would hide or dispose of immediately. It's a place that is not only the villain's lair but is also where all the incriminating evidence is kept. This may make for a very foolish criminal, or just the right kind of delusional mind that would commit the crimes in the first place.

The Evidence Dungeon combines ChronicEvidenceRetentionSyndrome, the villain's lair and a [[IdiotBall healthy dollop of stupidity]]. It can overlap with [[StringTheory conspiracy theories]], [[RoomFullOfCrazy the proof of their insanity]] and [[FingerInTheMail gruesome bad guy trophies]]. If the evidence is part of a creepy collection, you might be in TheDollEpisode.

A SmugSnake or TheStarscream might collect an Evidence Dungeon, too arrogant to believe that they would be caught. A BigBad or BigBadWannabe has far-ranging plans with the correspondingly abundant evidence. Often it is the SerialKiller either collecting trophies of their work or too insane to realize all the clues just laying around.

* Ed Gein's home combined this trope with [[RoomFullOfCrazy Entire Farmouse Full Of Crazy]]. He decorated his home with body parts from graves he dug up, and eventually two victims. This included (but was far from limited to): A wastebasket made of human skin, human skin covering several chair seats, skulls on his bedposts, a corset made from a female torso skinned from shoulders to waist and a mask he'd made from victim Mary Hogan's face in a paper bag. The police arrested him immediately on investigating.

* ''Franchise/TheTexasChainsawMassacre'': The house is an abattoir with damning evidence in every room. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as the murderous family's house is so far removed from civilization that it is only discovered by accident.

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Danganronpa}}'', one character finds an entire hidden room stacked with revelation-packed documents, left there for no apparent reason. The room held enough importance that The Mastermind was willing to come out of their hiding place to attack TheHero.

* ''Film/KissTheGirls'' had an evidence dungeon kind of like that in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but it was way lower tech.

* ''Film/MinorityReport'' [[SubvertedTrope subverts]] this. When John Anderton searches Leo Crow's apartment, he finds the bed is covered in photos implying that Crow kidnapped and molested dozens of children (including Anderton's own son). It turns out that the photos had been faked and what appeared to be an Evidence Dungeon was actually an OrgyOfEvidence.

* Ed Gein's house would be an example. He decorated his home with body parts from graves he dug up, and eventually two victims. This included (but was far from limited to): a wastebasket made of human skin, human skin covering several chair seats, skulls on his bedposts, a corset made from a female torso skinned from shoulders to waist and a mask he'd made from victim Mary Hogan's face in a paper bag. The police arrested him immediately on investigating.

* ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'' has a variation of this with the meat room of Mrs. Lovett's pie shop. Sweeney Todd starts murdering Sweeney's customers and baking them into pies. The smell of the human flesh burning is pumped into the air and just by the nature of butchery, loads of visera must be left around.

* In ''Literature/{{Unique}}'', [[WhiteMage Sajan]] and [[MonsterHunter Jan]] unwittingly team up to find the serial killer's dungeon. It's supposed to be a furniture workshop, so all the power tools and even the welding equipment belong, but the dentist's chair, bondage equipment, surgical instruments and reek of disinfectant definitely don't (not to mention the psychic aura of cruelty and agony that [[AllergicToEvil makes Sajan physically sick]]).

* Noticeable in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''. Whenever you get a quest to investigate someone, you usually find three or four pieces of evidence of wrongdoing laying around or in easily accessed safes.

* The Water Street Butcher from ''Film/ThePoughkeepsieTapes'' saved RIDICULOUS amounts of evidence in his lair.

* ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'': As noted above, once Clarice finds Gumb's lair she discovers ALL the evidence. Gumb's house has pictures of butterflies all over the place, swastika quilts, and dead people. He also has a collection of newspaper clippings of his exploits, plastered on the inside of the door of a large cabinet. Directly in front of it is his in-progress woman suit.

->'''Clarice:''' Did she leave any records here? Tax or business records? Maybe a list of employees? \\
'''Mr. Gumb:''' No, nothing at all. Has the FBI learned something? Because the police here don't seem to have the first clue. \\
* ''Proceed to find Gumb's torture chamber, victim, Death's Head Moth collection, sewing machine, skin suit''*
-->-- ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''

* In both comic and [[Film/{{Watchmen}} movie]] versions of ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'', [[spoiler:Veidt didn't erase the computer files]] that detailed his plan to [[spoiler: unbalance Dr. Manhattan into leaving Earth]], and information on his ultimate plan, even though the [[spoiler:Manhattan plan]] had been successful (so far as he knew) and he'd already kicked off the second, so there was no need to keep the files at all.
** Most likely [[spoiler:Veidt knew his friends would pursue and confront him and wanted to control that variable in his plan. I mean, why else would the "smartest man in the world" keep them in a computer with not only an obvious password but a prompt that basically says "Password incorrect: you need to ADD ANOTHER WORD"?]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* ''NewspaperComics/TheFarSide'' has a rat in prison talking to his cellmate: "I would have gotten away scot-free if I'd gotten rid of the evidence... but shoot, I'm a pack rat."

[[folder:Pod Cast]]
* Stuart Wellington of Podcast/TheFlopHouse podcast was worried (pre-marriage) that his apartment could be taken as an Evidence Dungeon, if you looked at it with the wrong set of eyes.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* The nature of Chaos-inspired madness in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' means loads of evidence just left around for the Inquisition.
* In ''TabletopGames/BetrayalAtHouseOnTheHill'', explorers of the eponymous house have a chance of coming across a medieval torture chamber complete with iron maiden and floor drain in the basement.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Clue}}'', the very premise is finding all the evidence that the murderer left just laying around.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]
* ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'' has a variation of this with the meat room of Mrs. Lovett's pie shop. Sweeney Todd starts murdering Sweeney's customers and baking them into pies. The smell of the human flesh burning is pumped into the air and just by the nature of butchery, loads of visera must be left around.
[[/folder]]

* The assault on Makarov's safehouse in ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare2''. Inside, you can find schematics related to his terrorist attacks, enormous caches of weapons to outfit his personal army, valuable computer data your commanding officer needs to find Makarov, [[AllThereInTheManual easy-to-miss expository newspaper clippings that are the only place in the game explaining Makarov's motivations]], and....a blow-up doll.

* This is played with, in ''WebComic/GirlGenius'', with Castle Heterodyne. The ''entire castle'' could be said to be a house with extensive proof of tortuous experimentation labs, monstrous creations, and hideous traps, so for the hero who manages to really amuse the castle, they have a torture chamber filled with... light music, bright colours, and a rather extensive waiting list. As a cast member puts it, "It's more like ''psychological'' torture."