5 Insane Stories About Notes Pinned to Bodies

Hi everyone, this is Elizabeth from StrangeAgo and today my mood is rather dark. And so for this article we are going to take a look at bodies found with notes pinned to them.

1. Kentucky Rafters

Now this archive search began shortly after I read the article about the three Kentucky men found on a raft with notes pinned to them, and I wondered if pinning notes to bodies was a thing in the past. It was.

Here is one of the Kentucky rafter articles from 1911:

“With their skulls crushed to a pulp and a note pinned to their lapels bearing the grim remark, ‘dead men tell no tales,’ the bodies of three unknown raftsmen have been found in the Kentucky river at Campton, Wolf County, in the Kentucky mountains. The bodies were tied to a log raft and had apparently been in the water several days. The authorities have taken the matter up and every possible effort has been made to identify the bodies, but without avail.” [Source]

2. Dare Devil

This next story is from 1904 and details a Norwegian dare devil whose last stunt was fatal.

“Peter Nissen, the Norwegian who went over Niagara Falls in a boat, and who expected to be able to roll over the ice of the Arctic regions to the North Pole, is dead, a victim to his foolhardy trip across Lake Michigan during a gale.

“Nissen’s body was discovered on the beach… Thursday morning. His balloon-shaped craft, the ‘Foolkiller No. 3,’ was 200 feet farther down the beach, a total wreck.

“The doctor who examined the body as it lay on the beach declared that he had died from suffocation, and his opinion was born out by the note which was found pinned to Nissen’s body, it read: ‘In the chair, cannot use the hose.’ An examination of the balloon showed that the air tube had been torn in two and the supply thereby shut off. Had it not been for the breaking of the air tube he would unquestionably have made the trip in safety.” [Source]

3. Burned Money First

For this next story, we will read about a man who wanted to prevent his family from fighting over his money. From out of Chicago, 1926:

“No relatives of John Kelnar will quarrel over the $4,000 he saved during his 63 years of life. He made sure of that before he slashed his wrists and throat and died.

“He withdrew the entire amount from the bank, asking for it in new $10 bills of which he made a bonfire. Police found charred remnants of the money when a note pinned to his body told the disposal of the savings ‘because I didn’t want anybody to fight over it.’” [Source]

4. White Caps

While I plan on writing an article focusing on white cappers shortly, for today we are going to take a look at one article detailing the actions of this violent movement.

From Georgia, 1907:

“The continual circling of buzzards over a dense swamp caused two hunters to investigate and they found the body of John Hagan, a wealthy planter, who had been missing since Sunday morning, tied and riddled with bullets. A note was pinned to the body stating ‘men must lead decent lives in this community,’ and signed ‘Whitecaps.’

“Mrs. Hagan says that Sunday morning about 2 o’clock a hail at the gate aroused her husband, who went to the door and was told by an unknown man at the gate that he was wanted to attend a dying neighbor. Hagan dressed and left.

“During Sunday Mrs. Hagan learned that the story about the sick neighbor was false and since then the search for her husband has been in progress. There is no clue to the whitecaps.” [Source]

5. Snored

And finally, let’s end on a more comical note.

From out of Portland, Oregon, 1890:

“A burglar entered the house of M. Zan, a broom manufacturer…, this morning and took $7. When Zan woke up he found the following note pinned to his vest: ‘Anybody who snores as much as you do ought to be robbed.’ The burglar then went to the house of Mr. Lang near by, and took $476 in coin.” [Source]