August/September, 2010
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(Yeah, I'm back... did ya miss me?) August 27, 2010 Today's Exasperating Yet Truly Morbid Fact! Have you ever heard of Fox's Book Of Martyrs? It's a circa-1563 morbid delight - tale after tale of early Christians suffering imaginatively brutal fatalities. It's online for your perusal... and here's a taste. "Timothy was the celebrated disciple of St. Paul, and bishop of Ephesus, where he zealously governed the church till A. D. 97. At this period, as the pagans were about to celebrate a feast called Catagogion, Timothy, meeting the procession, severely reproved them for their ridiculous idolatry, which so exasperated the people, that they fell upon him with their clubs, and beat him in so dreadful a manner, that he expired of the bruises two days after." Culled
from: Fox's Book Of Martyrs
by John Foxe It's also available from The Library Eclectica if you'd prefer a copy of your own, complete with woodprints of the tortures. (That is, if you want to help the Comtesse out by buying it through her store.) |
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August 28, 2010 Today’s Legendary Yet Truly Morbid Fact! The facts: On August 27, 1891, a passenger train jumped the tracks on a tall bridge near Statesville, North Carolina, sending seven rail cars below and about 30 people to their deaths. The legend: On the wreck’s anniversary, the sounds of screeching wheels, screaming passengers and a horrific crash might still be heard. You might also see a uniformed man with a gold watch. Shortly before 3 a.m. Friday (8/27/10), on the 119th anniversary of the Bostian Bridge train tragedy and at about the same time, between 10 and 12 ghost hunters were on that approximately 300-foot long span. They were hoping to hear the sounds of the crash, and perhaps see something. Instead, a real Norfolk-Southern train — three engines and one car — turned the corner as it headed east to Statesville, about 35 miles north of Charlotte, authorities said. The terrified “amateur ghost watchers” ran away, back toward Statesville, trying to cover the nearly 150 feet to safety, said Iredell County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Darren Campbell. All but two made it. Christopher Kaiser, 29, of Charlotte, was struck and killed. A woman who witnesses say Kaiser pushed to safety fell about 30 to 40 feet from the trestle and was injured. Her name and condition were not known Friday night. She was being treated at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. “There was no way out, said Campbell. “They almost made it.” The engineer of the train, which was traveling at its customary 35 to 40 mph, hit the horn and “stopped as fast as he could”. A woman who did not want to be identified, but who was part of the group of onlookers, told CNN affiliate WCNC, “We were there looking for what people say happened. You hear the train wreck or hear people screaming. We were just watching.” Culled from: CNN Can’t wait to hear the EVP’s and see the videos for *that* ghost hunt. Way more fruitful than a normal one, that’s for sure. |
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August 29, 2010 Today's Questioning Yet Truly Morbid Fact! Famous
Last Words: On her deathbed in 1946, American writer Gertrude Stein
asked, "What is the answer?" When no answer was given, she
laughed and said, "In that case, what is the question?" Culled from: Death: A History Of Man's Obsessions and Fears |
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August 30, 2010 It's always a rare occasion when I can feature a morbid fact that has personal significance to me and today's fact is just such one occasion. I grew up in Butte County, California, and, as you might expect, frequented the cemeteries of the area. One of my favorites is Clear Creek Cemetery - a tiny pioneer-era graveyard along Clark Road just south of my hometown of Paradise. One of the gravestones in the cemetery has always intrigued me - a modern stone that commemorates the Lewis children, Jimmy and Johnny, with the inscription, "Killed by Mill Creek Indians". I always wondered the full story of the 1863 murders and my friend, author David Kulczyk, satiated my curiosity by detailing the tale in his excellent 2009 tome, Death In California. Today's Notorious Yet Truly Morbid Fact! The notorious Mill Creek Indians, led by a cruel, six-toed native called Bigfoot, began vicious attacks in the early summer of 1863; the most despicable was the abduction and subsequent murder of the Lewis children on July 5 or 6 of that year. Sam Lewis owned a ranch near Dry Creek off Cherokee Road. His children - eleven-year-old Jimmy, nine-year-old Arenia, and six-year-old Johnny - left their school together, along with their teacher and a couple of other students. They parted ways at Littlefield Creek. Little Johnny wasn't old enough to go to school, but Mrs. Lewis had allowed the little boy to go with his siblings that day. Stopping for a drink of water, Jimmy was shot and fell face first into the water. Natives sprung out of the bushes and threw heavy rocks onto his lifeless body, while his sister and little brother trembled in fear. A group of ten natives grabbed the surviving two children and headed for the hills, with Chief Bigfoot leading them. They forced the barefooted children to run through the rocky terrain, until they came to Nance Canyon, where they camped for the night. Arenia cuddled her little brother throughout the chilly night. They left the camp early in the morning, and when Johnny started crying, four of the Mill Creek Indians took the little boy away and killed him. They rejoined the band, wearing his clothes. After crossing several creeks, the band came across some of Captain Bidwell's cattle. They killed one and ate strips of meat raw. After making moccasins from the cowhide, the natives were ready to start hiking again, taking much of the beef along with them, but only after two of the natives expressed their desire to tear Arenia's two gold earrings out of her ear. The girl took the earrings out, causing the two natives to fight over who would get them. Arenia settled the matter by handing each of them an earring. The native in charge of Arenia was crippled, and he was additionally encumbered by the stolen meat. He told the girl that he had been shot by a white man. The two lagged farther and farther behind the rest of the group and when they got to Big Chico Creek, Arenia asked if she could sit down. The lame native told her yes, but he told her he would shoot her if she moved off the boulder that she was sitting on. As soon as the natives were out of sight, Arenia rolled off the rock and scurried through the brush and down a creek. As she hid in the water, she could hear the natives looking for her. They eventually gave up and Arenia ran to the nearby Thomasson Ranch and safety. After her ordeal, Arenia Lewis changed her name to Thankful. She lived to a ripe old age, marrying three times. Culled
from: Death
In California by David Kulczyk While I was back home visiting my family last February, I took an excursion to the cemetery with my Holga and took a shot of the Lewis grave. Unfortunately, the focus was off so the gravestone is not legible, but you can get a sense of the beautiful, lonely atmosphere of the cemetery, in any event. Next time I go back home, I'll be sure to get a better shot of the grave.
Oh, and I'll have a full review of Death In California tomorrow. |
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September 1, 2010 So I was reading a news story today about a man in NYC who plunged 40 stories, landed atop a car, and survived. (Apparently, he survived thanks to the rosary beads in the car he landed on; he's in critical condition so if he dies, I suppose we can blame his death on the rosary beads too?) Anyway, this story didn't strike me as particularly factworthy, but it reminded me of one of my all-time favorite photographs: a famous Life magazine photograph of a woman who plunged to her death from the Empire State Building in the 40's, landed atop a car, and managed to pull off the all-too-rare feat of making a stunningly beautiful corpse. I did a search and found that Salon.Com had done a story on the woman, entitled "The Most Beautiful Suicide". Which brings me to... Today's Composed Yet Truly Morbid Fact! The 102 story landmark, Empire State Building has been the launching pad for 31 successful suicides. Some say as many as 36 people have leaped to their death from the famed structure. The first suicide jumper fell to his death landing on the 86th floor soon after the building had opened. Sixteen more suicides occurred during the period of 1932 to 1947. In one suicide the body struck a pedestrian on the street below seriously injuring her. One 23-year old woman leaped from the building and her body struck a United Nations limousine below. The incident resulted in a famous Life Magazine photograph by Robert Wiles.
The photo ran a couple of weeks later in LIFE - magazine accompanied by the following caption and story: "At the bottom of the Empire State Building the body of Evelyn Mchale reposes calmly in a Grotesque Bier, Her Falling Body Punched Into the Top of a Car. On May Day, just after leaving her fiancé, 23-year-old Evelyn McHale wrote a note. 'He is much better off without me ... I wouldn't make a good wife for anybody' ... Then she crossed it out. She went to the observation platform of the Empire State Building. Through the mist she gazed at the street, 86 floors below. Then she jumped. In her desperate determination she leaped clear of the setbacks and hit a United Nations limousine parked at the curb. Across the street photography student Robert Wiles heard an explosive crash. Just four minutes after Evelyn McHale's death Wiles got this picture of death's violence and its composure." Culled from: Salon.Com |
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September 2, 2010 Today's Inexpressible Yet Truly Morbid Fact! Henry Moore's "Complete Protestant Martyrology" (1809) gives a horribly detailed account of the death of Dr. John Hooper, Lord Bishop of Gloucester, who was burned for heresy during the reign of the Catholic Mary I in 1555: "Being now in his shirt, he trussed it betweeen his legs, where he had a pound of gunpowder in a bladder, and under each arm the same quantity. He now went up to the stake, where three iron hoops were brought... The iron hoop was then put round his waist, which being made too short, he shrank and put in his belly with his hand; but when they offered to bind his neck and legs he refused them, saying, 'I am well assured I shall not trouble you' ... Then the reeds were thrown up, and he received two bundles of them in his own hands, and put one under each arm. "Command was now given that the fire should be kindled; but, owing to the number of green faggots, it was some time before the flames set fire to the reeds. The wind being adverse, and the morning very cold, the flames blew from him, so that he was scarcely touched by the fire. Another fire was soon kindled of a more vehement nature: it was now the bladders of gunpowder exploded, but they proved of no service to the suffering prelate. He now prayed with a loud voice, 'Lord Jesus, have mercy upon me; Lord Jesus, have mercy upon me; Lord Jesus, receive my spirit': and these were the last words he was heard to utter. "But even when his face was completely black with the flames, and his tongue swelled so that he could not speak, yet his lips went till they were shrunk to the gums; and he knocked his breast with his hands until one of his arms fell off, and then continued knocking with the other while the fat, water, and blood dripped out at his finger ends. At length, by renewing of the fire, his strength was gone, and his hand fastened to the iron which was put round him. Soon after, the whole lower part of his body being consumed, he fell over the iron that bound him, into the fire... This holy martyr was more than three quarters of an hour consuming, the inexpressible anguish of which he endured... moving neither forwards, backwards, nor to any side: his nether parts were consumed and his bowels fell out some time before he expired." Culled
from: The
History Of Torture From which only one conclusion can be drawn: Jesus hated that guy. |
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September 3, 2010 Today's Amorous Yet Truly Morbid Fact! A woman in Australia has been killed by her pet camel after the animal may have tried to have sex with her. The woman was found dead at the family's sheep and cattle ranch near the town of Mitchell in Queensland. The woman had been given the camel as a 60th birthday present earlier this year (2007) because of her love of exotic pets. The camel was just 10 months old but already weighed 152kg (336lbs) and had come close to suffocating the family's pet goat on a number of occasions. On Saturday, the woman apparently became the object of the male camel's desire. It knocked her to the ground, lay on top of her and displayed what the police delicately described as possible mating behaviour. "I'd say it's probably been playing, or it may be even a sexual sort of thing," the Associated Press news agency quoted Queensland police Detective Senior Constable Craig Gregory as saying. Young camels are not normally aggressive but can become more threatening if treated and raised as pets. Culled
from: BBC
News |
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September 4, 2010 Today's Nonsensical Yet Truly Morbid Fact! One reporter called Keith Williams' crime "nonsensical". Others would go so far as to label it "just plain stupid". Williams used a stolen check to buy a used Plymouth Roadrunner, but three days later he told friends that he should have just killed the car owner instead of paying him, and vowed to steal back his stolen check. He and a friend returned to where they had purchased the car and shot the owner and his cousin execution style, then drove one man's girlfriend to a field where Williams raped her, fatally shooting her four times during the act. His lawyers attempted to blame Williams' behavior on epilepsy, severe head injuries suffered during childhood, and mental illness resulting from fetal alcohol syndrome. He was executed in California by lethal injection on May 3, 1997. His Last Meal: Fried pork chops, a baked potato, asparagus, French bread with butter, a salad with bleu cheese dressing, apple pie with vanilla ice cream and one glass of cold milk. Culled from: Last Suppers: Famous Final Meals From Death Row |
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September 5, 2010 Today's Surly Yet Truly Morbid Fact! William Bonin (a.k.a. The Freeway Killer) was executed in California on February 23, 1996 by lethal injection after being convicted of beating, raping, and strangling 14 teenage boys. His last meal consisted of two large sausage and pepperoni pizzas, three pints of coffee ice cream, and three six-packs of Coke. Prison spokesmen reported that Bonin seemed quite relaxed on the day of his execution. He spent the afternoon visiting with close friends and whiled away the evening hours making ice cream floats and watching Jeopardy on television. But as the hour of his execution drew near, Bonin became more surly and used his final statement as an opportunity to slander the system that had sentenced him: "I feel that the death penalty is not an answer to the problem at hand. I feel it sends the wrong message to the young of the country. I would suggest that when a person has thought of doing anything serious against the law, that before they did, they should go to a quiet place and think about it seriously." Culled
from: Last
Suppers: Famous Final Meals From Death Row Three six packs of Coke? Perhaps he was trying to throw himself into a diabetic coma so that he wouldn't have to face his execution while conscious? |
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September 7, 2010 Today's Prospective Yet Truly Morbid Fact! An estate agent who took a prospective buyer to view a house in central England found the owner hanging dead in a closet in February, 2008. It was the first viewing of the 350,000-pound ($700,000) house which had been on the market for a week. The owner was hanging from a belt inside a walk-in closet in the main bedroom. "It was quite a shock," said a spokesman for estate agents Hartleys. "Our agent quickly ushered everyone out, locked the property and called the authorities." The owner, a single man in his 40s, is thought to have committed suicide. He inherited the house from his mother who died recently. Culled
from: Reuters Hey, throw in the body and we might have a deal! |
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September 8, 2010 Today's Raging Yet Truly Morbid Fact! A furious gale on November 19, 1824 caused the Neva River to spill over its banks, flooding the Russian city of Saint Petersburg with amazing speed. When the storm continued to rage, rapidly rising waters overtook people in the city's low-lying areas before they could escape. In just a few hours, Saint Petersburg was inundated by floodwaters one story high. Struggling to survive, the hapless citizens watched their homes, livestock, and businesses float away. A whole regiment of soldiers was lost when their barracks were completely covered by the rising waters. Although the waters receded just eight hours after the flood began, some 10,000 people had lost their lives, and property losses were enormous. Perhaps the worst news, however, was that nearly all stores of food for the coming winter had been destroyed. Saint Petersburg's agony had just begun. Culled from: The Pessimist's Guide To History |
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September 10, 2010 Today's Bewitching Yet Truly Morbid Fact! Mary Bateman was known as the Yorkshire Witch. At the time of her crime Bateman lived in Leeds, Yorkshire, where she earned her living telling fortunes and swindling gullible clients out of their cash and possessions. In 1806, the 38-year-old Bateman was consulted by William Perrigo and his wife Rebecca. He was worried by chest palpitations but was reassured by a message from Miss Blythe that these would soon disappear - and they did. Over the next few months the trusting couple consulted Bateman many times and gave to her most of their money and quite a few of their belongings as well. It became obvious to Bateman in spring 1807 that there was little more to be milked from the Perrigos and that she risked exposure. So on one of their visits she gave the couple six numbered powders saying that they were to add them to their food over the next six days, beginning Monday, May 11, 1807. The magic powders would ward off a terrible misfortune. In fact the sixth powder was to be the cause of that misfortune, because it contained a corrosive sublimate. As a result, Mrs. Perrigo fell ill and eventually died, but Mr. Perrigo, who had taken only a little of the powder, survived. There is evidence that poor Rebecca Perrigo may have been taking poisoned powders for some time, judging by the state of her corpse, which was recorded as being covered in black spots of gangrene and stinking so appallingly that those who had to deal with it could only do so while smoking tobacco. Eventually, Mr. Perrigo informed authorities of his suspicions and as a result Bateman was arrested and her home searched. A bottle containing a solution of mercury chloride was discovered as well as a jar of honey dosed with arsenic. Bateman was put on trial in March 1809 and was hanged on the 20th of that month before a large crowd, many of whom regarded her more of a martyred mystic than a manipulative murderer. After her execution her body was cut down and the public were allowed to view it on payment of a small charge, the money raised going to the aid of local charities. Finally the corpse was skinned and pieces of her skin were sold as charms. Culled
from: The
Elements Of Murder Ah, the good old days - when you could sell pieces of murderers as charms! I wish I could run across something like *that* in an antique store! |
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September 11, 2010 Today's Sadistic Yet Truly Morbid Fact! Dr. Walter Freeman performed 228 transorbital lobotomies during a two-week period in 1952 At Spencer State Hospital in West Virginia, through a state-sponsored lobotomy project dubbed "Operation Ice Pick" by newspapers. Frontal lobotomies were performed by inserting a two-pronged device in the orbit of the eye, and with a sharp blow, driving it into the brain. The promised result - relief or change from the person's traumatic mental condition. One account says Freemen did nearly 800 such surgeries in WV, while hundreds of others were performed not by surgeons, but by ordinary doctors with little or no surgical training. Former employees of Spencer State Hospital claim the surgery was crudely done by a staff doctor and "a thrown-together staff of hospital workers." Many of the 1200 Spencer patients in the 1950s were unwanted individuals and children. They were cared for by three doctors and 150 psychiatric aides. In an interview published October, 1980 in the Charleston Gazette, Dr. Thomas C. Knapp, superintendent at Spencer when the first frontal lobotomies were performed, called it "a grim time for our profession." Dr. Freeman, known as the father of lobotomies in America, just "dropped in" to Spencer State Hospital "without prior announcement," Knapp recalled. "He was a big name in neurology and he had all the proper papers and signatures-all I could do was watch. It was a real grisly thing." Knapp recalled that Freeman forgot the surgical hammer he used to pound the spikes into the brain. "We finally found a wooden mallet in the kitchen and that's what he used," said Knapp. "I was never convinced that the operation was helpful and it appeared to me we were dealing with a sadistic bastard," he told the reporter. The purpose of performing a lobotomy was to sever the nerve tracks from the frontal lobe of the brain, where ideas originate, and the mid-brain, the seat of the emotions. Culled
from: The
Hur Herald I always shudder quite intensely when I read about lobotomies because, let's face it, if I were born two decades earlier, I surely would have been a recipient. Oh, BTW - "Operation Ice Pick". Great band name, or what? |
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September 12, 2010 Today's Sulfuric Yet Truly Morbid Fact! The Izu Islands are a group of volcanic islands stretching south and east from the Izu Peninsula of Honshu, Japan. Administratively, they form two towns and six villages, all part of Tokyo. The largest is Izu Oshima, usually called simply Oshima. Because of their volcanic nature, the islands are constantly filled with the stench of sulfur. Residents were evacuated from the islands in 1953 and 2000 due to volcanic activity and dangerously high levels of gas. The people returned in 2005 but are now required to carry gas masks with them at all times in case gas levels rise unexpectedly. Culled
from: ListVerse I don't care if it's dangerous and smelly (I've been to Sulfur Works at Lassen Volcanic Park on many occasions so I think I can handle it), I want to go to this island! Check out the interesting sights to see on this gemhunter's blog: |
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September 13, 2010 Today's Brutal Yet Truly Morbid Fact! Early morning shoppers at a supermarket in Jeddah were left reeling on March 2, 2008, with some falling unconscious, after a well-built Syrian man clinched a knife and decapitated his 15-month-old nephew in front of his mother in the store’s fruit and vegetable section. In a brutal murder that has shocked the city, the 25-year-old man beheaded the boy, who was out shopping with his mother — in full glare of shoppers and staff at Al-Marhaba supermarket on Sari Street around 9.30 a.m. The man, who is the boy’s maternal uncle, apparently killed the boy following a dispute with his sister and brother-in-law. Eyewitnesses said that the man picked up a knife from inside the store and severed the boy’s head. The mother and a shopper standing close by fainted, while several other stood in shock and disbelief over what had happened. A police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Arab News, “The murderer was in a dispute with the boy’s mother and her husband. He chopped off the boy’s head in front of the mother to get back at her.” He added that the mother has been left traumatized and is in hospital. The boy’s father was at work at the time of the incident. Culled
from: Samir Al-Saadi That's really rude to do that sort of thing in front of the fruit and vegetable section. Think of all the vegetarians he may have grossed out! Decapitating babies should only ever be done in front of the meat section. Sheesh. |
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September 15, 2010 Today's Relentless Yet Truly Morbid Fact! Howard Unruh was an unemployed WWII Veteran who lived with his mother in her Camden, New Jersey home. He kept his medals in his bedroom and a firing range in his basement. He didn't get along well with his neighbors who teased the war hero relentlessly. Unruh began logging a diary with everything he thought his neighbors were saying or doing to him. At 3:00 in the morning on September 6, 1949 he came home from a double feature at the movies to find a gate he had made for the front of his house had been stolen. At 8:00, he woke up, dressed in his brown tropical-worsted suit, white shirt and striped bow tie, then with his mother, he had a breakfast of fried eggs. At 9:20, America's first mass murderer, left his house with his German Luger, a six inch knife, and six tear gas shells. In only twelve minutes he would shoot and kill 13 people with 14 shots. One of his victims was a young blond boy inside a barbershop on a white carousel horse getting his hair cut. Unruh was pronounced insane and resided at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital until his death on October 19, 2009 at the age of 88. Shortly after his arrest, he was reported to have said to a psychiatrist, "I'm no psycho. I have a good mind. I'd have killed a thousand if I had bullets enough." Culled
from: Huffington
Post Howard was rockin' the sure shot! |
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September 16, 2010 Today's Final Yet Truly Morbid Fact! "I can't sleep." James
M. Barrie (1860-1937), author of Peter Pan, was wrong. Culled from: Weird Wills and Eccentric Last Wishes |
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September 17, 2010 Today's Hierarchical Yet Truly Morbid Fact! Michael Stone, a forensic psychiatrist from Columbia University, researched hundreds of killers and their methods and motives to develop a hierarchy of "evil." The scale ranges from Category 1, those who kill in self defense, to Category 9, psychopathic jealous lovers, to the "most evil" Category 22, serial torturers and killers. The
Scale Of Evil Culled
from: Wikipedia Hmmmmm... so if I were to kill my upstairs neighbors for annoying me (which I would never even think of doing, of course), I'm thinking that would place me in category 8. But maybe I flatter myself as "non-psychopathic"? Perhaps I might really be a 13? But never a 14. Definitely not. |
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September 19, 2010 Today's Windblown Yet Truly Morbid Fact! In early October of 1825 a fire of unknown origin began deep in the vast woods of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. A long season of drought had baked the forests as dry as tinder, and the fire spread relentlessly. Heat and smoke from the advancing flames eventually reached the town of Fredericton, but no one even guessed the extent of the blaze then. Finally heavy winds swept through the area on October 7, carrying torrents of burning cinders and driving flames into the towns of Fredericton and Newcastle. Houses were instantly incinerated, killing many people in their beds. Those fortunate enough to have time to escape fled onto the Saint John River in boats, canoes, and log rafts. There they were pelted by windblown cinders, and some boats burned on the river. Meanwhile, the night sky was lit with the reflection of fires extending for miles into the distance. Before the fire finally burned out, the smoke burned the eyes and lungs of people as far away as Montreal and even Baltimore. Some 160 people died in the flames, and four million acres of forest were destroyed. Culled
from: The
Pessimist's Guide To History I often think of how we've lost a certain spontaneity in modern times, with our satellites and rapid communication systems that warn you of incoming peril. Imagine what it was like to not know that a hurricane was hitting until... it hit! Or not knowing that a fire was approaching until... it incinerated you in your sleep! (Well, I guess that sort of thing still happens... witness the recent gas line explosion in San Bruno.) Oh, and I can't see the term "Fire Of Unknown Origin" without thinking of this: |
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September 20, 2010 Today's Unconventional Yet Truly Morbid Fact! Instead of more conventional items, like baseball cards and comic books, little Jeffrey Dahmer collected roadkill. According to neighbors, he also liked to nail bullfrogs to trees and cut open live fish to see how their innards worked. Culled from: The A to Z Encylopedia of Serial Killers |
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September 21, 2010 Today's Completely Fabricated Yet Truly Morbid Fact! There are few greater ignominies that can be perpetrated upon the corpse of a king than to cast it into the sea in an effort to lighten a ship's load. King Henry IV (1367-1413), first Lancastrian king of England, elected to be buried at Canterbury and was transported from London down the Thames to Feversham. En route the wind freshened and the ship got into difficulties. It was then that, allegedly, the crew jettisoned their royal cargo. Alas, the story proved to be complete fabrication. In 1832 Henry's tomb at Canterbury was opened and '... to the astonishment of all present, the face of the deceased king was seen in complete preservation.' Culled from: Death: A History Of Man's Obsessions and Fears "Feversham". What a fabulous name. I love the English. |
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September 22, 2010 Today's Strongly Caustic Yet Truly Morbid Fact! During the 1882 murder trial of Dr. George Henry Lamson, accused of fatally poisoning his disabled brother-in-law with aconitine so his wife could collect the insurance money, one of the key pieces of expert testimony was given by Dr. Thomas Stevenson, a poison analyst. At that date it was impossible to detect vegetable poisons by any chemical test, and the only analytical experiment which could be undertaken was that of tasting extracts from the various organs. The following is Stevenson's testimony of the result of his analysis: "[Specimen]
No. 3, the contents of the stomach, contained about 3 ounces of fluid...
The fluid contained a raisin and a piece of pulp of some fruit, which
agreed in microscopic appearance with that of an apple. From that fluid
I obtained from Stass's process an extract which, when tasted, produced
a very faint sensation like that of aconitia. Though placed upon the
tongue, there Stevenson identified this peculiar sensation as being unique to the poison aconitine. Lamson was convicted of the murder and hanged in London in 1882. Culled
from: The
Trial of George Henry Lamson And you thought YOUR job left a bad taste in your mouth? By the way, I tried to find out exactly what "Stass's Process" entailed but I haven't been able to find that exact process explained in detail anywhere. It's also referred to as the "Otto-Stass" method of chemical extraction, and I think it's similar to the following method I found described in an 1893 State Agriculture College textbook: "One
kilogram (2.2 lbs.) of the dried and finely ground powder was extracted
with strong alcohol I suppose that's a little bit more appetizing than just mushing up some stomach juice and tasting it... |
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September 23, 2010 Today's Well-Hung Yet Truly Morbid Fact! Gibbeting was the practice of hanging the body of an executed prisoner in an iron cage in a public place. We picture this practice as something out of medieval Europe, some grisly sight that Robin Hood might pass. Think again. Gibbeting occured in the American colonies. Two slaves were convicted of poisoning their master, Captain John Codman of Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1755. After a speedy trial, the female, Phyllis, was burned at the stake and Mark was hung at the gallows, then put up in a cage in the center of town, in Charlestown Commons. An army surgeon, Dr. Cabel Ray, passing by in 1758 noted in his diary: "His skin was but very little broken, altho he had hung there over three or four years." When Paul Revere took his famous ride on April 18, 1775, he mentioned racing past the spot "where Mark was hung in chains." Culled
from: An
Underground Education Isn't it sweet that they burned women at the stake to "protect their modesty"? (Because, you know, if you hung them... men could see up their skirts!!!!) But burning their clothes off keeps them modest. Have I mentioned lately that I hate people? |
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September 24, 2010 Today's Torturous Yet Truly Morbid Fact! Houston serial killer Dean Corll subjected his young male victims, ranging in age from nine to twenty-one, to sexual tortures, which included plucking their pubic hairs one by one, shoving glass rods up their penises and then crushing them, and shoving large bullet-like objects in victims' rectums. A sheet of plastic was placed under the plywood torture board to catch the excreta, blood and vomit that would invariably be discharged during the abuse, and the radio would be cranked up full blast to drown out the victim’s screams. Occasionally he'd castrate his victims, often their severed genitals would be buried next to the bodies in small plastic bags. At least one boy's corpse was found with his penis gnawed nearly in two. He was shot and killed by a teenage accomplice, who he had paid $200 per head to procure victims, in 1973. Culled
from: Wikipedia How have I never heard of this monster, Dean Corll, before? I simply must get a copy of this book about him: The
Man With The Candy: The Story Of The Houston Mass Murders |
