Recent Posts
Georgia School Wanted a Teacher Too Ugly to Marry
In 1923, a rural school in Monroe County, Georgia, faced a problem its patrons considered both serious and exasperating. The teachers kept getting married. According…
Child Labor Loophole Let Employers Escape Injury Claims
In 1924, Maryland’s child labor laws contained a cruel loophole. Children could be working illegally. They could be injured on the job. And still, according…
Florida Teacher Shot on Highway, Friend Claims Stranger Did It
On an August evening in 1924, a young Florida school teacher was brought into Gainesville with a gunshot wound so serious that doctors held out…
Groans Heard From Coffin as Woman Came Back to Life
There were few fears more terrifying in the old days than being buried alive. Before modern monitoring equipment, before reliable life-support machines, and before doctors…
Foundry Worker Killed When Flywheel Burst Without Warning
The machinery was running at the Payne and Joubert Machine and Foundry Company when a sudden burst turned an ordinary morning into tragedy. Around 10…
Ohio Undertaker Used a Corpse as a Business Sample
Mr. Pearce, an undertaker in Ardmore, Ohio, believed his work deserved to be seen. After all, shoemakers displayed their shoes, tailors hung their finest garments…
Why Some People Buried the Dead With “Hell Shoes”
A pair of shoes placed on the dead might seem like a small kindness, but in many old-world traditions it carried a much deeper meaning….
Passengers Thought Ship Hit a Mine During Storm
The passengers aboard the Albania were dancing in the dining salon when the sea behind them exploded. During a violent electrical storm, a lightning bolt…
Woman’s Coin Toss to Organ Grinder Hid a Stolen Pin
The organ grinder outside the jeweler’s shop seemed like nothing more than an annoyance. A well-dressed woman had entered a Paris jewelry store and asked…
Chorus Girls Told to Wear Tights Despite Heat Wave
Even a heat wave could not loosen Birmingham’s rules about bare knees on the stage. In the summer of 1926, chorus girls appearing in the…
