Recent Posts
Colorado Blacksmith Dies in Dynamite Blast
In Trinidad, Colorado, in 1908, James R. Howard, a 28-year-old blacksmith, went with his friend Fred Long to a bluff to blast out rock. The…
Wilmington Workhouse Prisoner Gets 40 Lashes
At the Newcastle County Workhouse in Wilmington, Delaware, James Dudley Major, also known as Earl White, was fastened to the whipping post and given 40…
Headless Body Found Beneath Wrecked Auto Near Roseburg
In a ravine three miles west of Roseburg, Oregon, a burned and wrecked car belonging to Dr. R.M. Brumfield, a local dentist, was found twisted…
Smoke Poured From Pittsburgh’s Western Penitentiary Windows
Shortly before one o’clock in the afternoon, emergency calls rang out from Western Penitentiary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The first reports were alarming enough: prisoners had…
Was Edgar Allan Poe’s Dark Reputation Partly His Brother’s?
Edgar Allan Poe has always been difficult to separate from his legend. To many readers, Poe is remembered as the haunted genius of American literature….
The Collapse of America’s Stage Queens
In 1902, newspapers reported what they called an “epidemic” of sudden illness and nervous collapse among some of the most celebrated actresses of the day. …
Headless Body Mystery Baffles Missouri Officers
Near Patton, not far from Cape Girardeau, the headless body of 30-year-old John Zoubeck was found in December 1926. At first, the circumstances raised more…
A Lonely Georgia Highway, A Murdered Educator, and the Swift Execution That Shocked Milledgeville
It started as a simple act of kindness on a lonely Georgia highway. In March 1925, Professor William C. Wright pulled his car over to…
Newark Judge Fines Couple for Kissing in Park
In 1902, a few kisses in a Newark park were enough to land one couple before Judge Herman Schalk and cost them $10. The story…
Mystery Light Over Washington Revealed
For a time, Washington, D.C., had a mystery hanging over it. In the western sky, residents saw a strange light that seemed to take the…
