Category: U.S. Historical News
North Carolina Man Couldn’t Hear the Passenger Train Coming Behind Him
J. I. Costner likely thought he was stepping out of danger when he moved from one railroad track to another. The 65-year-old North Carolina hotel…
Doctors Believed Cancer Could Linger in Houses and Infect New Residents
At the beginning of the 20th century, doctors were still trying to understand what caused cancer, and some of the theories now sound deeply unsettling….
Cats Once Saved the Brooklyn Navy Yard Thousands of Dollars by Hunting Rats
At the turn of the 20th century, the Brooklyn Navy Yard had a rat problem so severe that traps, poison, and even dogs had failed…
Lightning Struck Two Hunters’ Shotguns and Blew the Barrels Apart
Two California hunters were caught in a storm in 1901 when a flash of lightning turned their shotguns into explosives. R. Cutlar and E. McClarnon…
Baby Found Inside Arlington Cemetery Was Buried Among Unknown Soldiers
In March 1927, a disturbing discovery was made just inside the walls of Arlington Cemetery. A truck driver working at the cemetery found the body…
Rescue Tug Sank in a Great Lakes Collision, Killing Three Crewmen
The tug General left Sault Ste. Marie on a rescue mission. A steamer had gone aground on Martin’s Reef, and the 90-foot tug was sent…
Baby Hospitalized After Rats Gnawed Her Legs During the Night
Neighbors in Charleston, South Carolina, were awakened by the screams of a baby left alone through the night. When they entered the room, they found…
Abandoned as a Baby, She Returned 49 Years Later Hoping to Adopt Another Foundling
Nearly half a century after she was abandoned as a newborn, one Pittsburgh woman found herself looking into the face of a baby whose story…
Profane Parrot Talked Its Way Out of the St. Louis Zoo
The St. Louis Zoo had a parrot problem. Its red-headed bird had developed such a colorful vocabulary that newspaper reports claimed it talked like a…
Rats Attacked a Man Trapped for Days Inside a Wrecked Schooner
Albert Jackson was supposed to be dead. When the schooner Jessie P. was caught in a violent Gulf storm in 1896, the crew abandoned the…
