Tag: Iowa
Lightning Struck Crowded Iowa Fair Tent, Killing 4 and Injuring Dozens
When rain began falling over the county fair in Indianola, Iowa, men, women, and children crowded into the poultry exhibition tent for shelter. Then lightning…
Des Moines Woman Won Divorce After Family Jokes Turned Sour
In 1905 Des Moines, Iowa, Mrs. Roslie Pohlman went to court with an unusual complaint: her husband would not laugh. According to her divorce petition,…
Woman Saw Mastodons After a Worm Entered Her Brain
According to a 1902 report, Freiburg’s love of flowers led to a horrifying and bizarre end. She would gather roses and sweet peas in great…
Father and His Three Daughters Drown in Mississipi River
A quiet boat ride on the Mississippi River turned into a terrible family tragedy near Le Claire, Iowa, in August 1914. Thomas Thomas lived with…
Denison Man Downs a German Submarine
Months before the end of World War I, a Denison, Iowa man, chief gunner on the steamer Tidewater, reportedly took part in shooting down a…
Jack the Hugger Attacks Women in Iowa
The first time I learned about men who would jump out and accost women, common called a “Jack the Hugger,” was when I found the…
Karen-esque lawyers sue restaurant for cooking with onions
Male Karens existed back in 1911, as you will see in this article where a group of lawyers take a restaurant to court over the…
8 Heinous Crimes Committed By Children
They were called fiendish youths in the 1800 and 1900s, but they were simply children who sadistically hurt and sometimes murdered other people, both children…
7 Upsetting Stories of American Ghouls
A ghoul is traditionally a living person who steals from the dead, and it was quite an occupation back in the early 1900s when incidents…
5 Strange Accounts of Spell Casting
How would you react if you thought someone cast a spell on you? Hopefully not the way any of the following people reacted. Casting spells,…
