Giants, voodoo dolls, and witchcraft are the subjects of today’s article. After all, it is getting relatively close to Halloween, and the decorations have come out of storage.
1. 18-Foot Giant Skeleton
First, let’s begin with a 1919 report of a giant skeleton found in Seymour, Texas.
W.J. McKinney, an oil prospector, found the skeleton while excavating a narrow watershed. The fossilized bones were near the surface.
McKinney said, “I estimate that this man weighed from 2,000 to 2,500 hundred pounds. According to my deductions, he lived about 2,800 years ago. The skull is six times the size of that of an ordinary man.”
Many people came to see the skeletal remains of the giant, so there were eyewitnesses at the time.
However, McKinney made plans to donate the remains to the Smithsonian… [Source]
2. Wizard Arrested
Next, we have a wizard who was arrested in 1912 for using the U.S. postal service to deliver his black magic secrets.
Felix Markiewicz claimed to be an old-fashioned black magician, and he apparently sold so-called magic formulas that were, in reality, bits of practical advice.
For example, to bewitch a cow into giving more milk, his formula read:
“First, get the cow. If she gives only a moderate amount of milk, feed her bran mixed with oats and corn, and she will give more.”
That’s not exactly a spell, but that didn’t stop people from paying for his deep, occult insight. [Source]
3. Voodoo Doll Kit
Now, let’s take a look at past voodoo doll trends. You might not think that voodoo dolls were a thing in the 50s, but you’d be wrong.
In fact, people loved voodoo dolls, and they were so trendy that the post office was annoyed about kits being sent through the mail.
In 1957, distributors of do-it-yourself voodoo kits had to promise the post office that they would stop sending the kits through the mail.
The kits often included a witch doctor’s pouch, straw doll, voodoo needles, and secret incantations.
Advertised as a gag gift for “the man who has everything,” the post office decided the kits represented fraudulent advertising. [Source]
4. Voodoo Doll Swizzle Sticks
A year later, in 1958, we again find voodoo dolls in the newspapers. This time it was for novelty voodoo doll swizzle sticks for beverages.
According to one article, the swizzle sticks contained an oil in them similar to poison ivy. The doll heads were made from cashews nuts that had not been roasted.
Together, these poisonous doll ingredients caused over 50 youngsters in the Washington, D.C. area to break out in blisters. [Source]
5. Witchcraft Blamed for Deaths of Children
Finally, let’s take a look at the following horrendous article from out of Reading, Pennsylvania, 1910, where the parents of 17 dead children blamed witchcraft…
“That seventeen of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Carl’s children died here as the result of witchcraft was stated by the parents. A daughter, 28 years of age, was buried last week. The majority of the children died when quite young. The parents have never been ill a single day, while their children wasted almost to skeletons. Several, physicians said, were afflicted with marasmus, a wasting of the flesh without any fever or apparent disease, while ‘pow wow’ doctors [which were Pennsylvania faith healers] declared the little ones were bewitched by an old woman.” [Source]
