On the morning of Thursday, May 23, 1889, David W. Vandeveer woke to find his Newfoundland dog, Rebel, dead. Nine other dogs in Stanford, Kentucky, would be found “sleeping the sleep that knows no waking” that day.[1] Who, or what, had killed ten dogs in this small town? Stanford’s newspaper, the Interior Journal, reported on... Continue Reading →
The Elopement of Lida Pratt Hornsey
Seventeen-year-old Lida Pratt Hornsey gathered up her schoolbooks and scurried out the door of 75 North Broadway in Lexington, Kentucky on the morning of Tuesday, October 12, 1897.[1] The shouts of her younger sister, Tommie, to wait up faded as her booted feet carried her down the cobblestone street.[2] Lida tightly clasped her fur-trimmed cape... Continue Reading →
Mabel Holle & the All-American Girls Professional Ball League
An inspiration for the film "A League of Their Own", our cousin Mabel Bernice Holle was one of the first professional female baseball players in the United States.
Hugh Lonney & the Cholera Epidemic of 1833
Learn about our miasmaphobic ancestor, Hugh Lonney, and his response to the 1833 cholera epidemic of Lexington, Kentucky.
Helene Krüger and the Creek
It was a warm summer day in Denver, Colorado when three boys made a gruesome discovery in the waters of Little Dry Creek [9, 23]. The children had been searching the park for golf balls, but instead found the lifeless body of Mrs. Helene Müllner, who had been reported missing ten days prior [23]. Helene... Continue Reading →
Not All That Glitters is Gold: The Murders of Golden Helen Ebrecht & Said Alawi
In the wee hours of June 16, 1923, Golden Helen Ebrecht and her husband, Said Alawi, are found dead in their St. Louis apartment. Who killed them, and why?
The Life of James H. Turpin
Tracking down my most mysterious ancestor to date, James H. Turpin.