Clik here to view.
Man's Head Hammered into the Ground
We all know that being a lumberjack is a dangerous job, but even most lumbermen would find the death of William Jarvis Corbin to be shocking. From the October 1, 1884 edition of The Forest...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Columbia County Woman Struck By Race Horse
One of the more unusual stories to come from Columbia County.... From the Oct. 17, 1907 edition of the Bloomsburg Columbian:Mrs. Emma Polk, of Iola, attempted to cross the race track at the fair...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Skeleton Found in Bucks County Chimney
For most people, finding a dead person inside your chimney would be cause for great alarm. However, based on the nonchalant tone of the following newspaper article, from the April 19, 1884 edition of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Treasure in Pike County
From the September 17, 1897 edition of the Pike County Press: Adam Uhl, of Greeley, sends to the Press an account of a rare find of coinds made by Earnest Goetz, a prominent young man, while working on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pittston's Prehistoric Man
In 1901, an interesting discovery was made in the coal mines of Pennsylvania by an immigrant miner named John Silenski. This story appeared in the Little Falls (Minnesota) Herald on June 28, 1901:A...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Three Boys Killed in Spruce Creek Tunnel
The tragic tunnel at Spruce Creek, on right. The newer tunnel was completed in 1900.The Spruce Creek Tunnels have attracted hundreds of Pennsylvania "railfans" throughout the years, but most be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mastodons in Union County
In 1851, an enormous ivory tusk was found near Lewisburg by a man digging a ditch. Here is a newspaper article describing the incredible find, from the May 10, 1851 edition of the Sunbury American:We...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mystery Graves in Dickson City
Johnson Breaker, Dickson CityFounded by German immigrants shortly before the Civil War, the borough of Dickson City was originally known as Priceburg (later changed to Priceville). It was a tiny...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Petrified Human Head Found in Mahanoy City!
The following is a story so weird that it ran in newspapers all over the country in the fall of 1909. The following article was published in the Suwanee Democrat of Florida on October 1, 1909:Mahanoy...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Skull Crushed to Atoms!
Those of you who have a soft spot for the gory and graphic depictions of accidents which often appeared in the newspapers of yesteryear will be interested in the following story about a train accident...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Allison Hill's House of Mystery
133 South Fourteenth Street as it appeared in 1914Today, the Allison Hill neighborhood of Harrisburg is regarded as a dangerous place, where gunshots ring out during all hours of the night and drug...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Infamous "Shorty" Jones
Shamokin Cemetery, the final resting place of Shorty JonesDuring the late 19th century, farmers in northern Dauphin County were terrorized by a gang of mountain-dwelling bandits led by the colorful...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Death by Lemonade
From the July 19, 1910 edition of the Laporte Republican News Item:Alfred Young, of Weatherly, employed on the farm of Hiram Schuler, in Evergreen Valley, near Hazleton, Pa., dropped over dead in the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Doc killed by mental patient
Danville State HospitalIn 1901, a patient at the Danville State Hospital murdered a doctor while his temperature was being taken. The following is the description of the killing, as it appeared in the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A new way to kill babies
Present-day Guinea Hill section of Pottsville (Photo by Jacqueline Dormer/Republican Herald)"A new way to kill babies", was the chilling description given by a young school boy in Pottsville to a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Ghost of Adam Volkovitch
The Luzerne County prison as it appears todayIn the early hours of the 14th of August, 1887, a gruesome crime was committed just outside the city of Wilkes-Barre. It was a crime so cold-blooded and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Cat's Funeral and a Philadelphia Mystery
The Bond Hotel, demolished in 1990.In April of 1882, a crowd of mourners gathered in Philadelphia to pay their last respects to one of the city's most beloved citizens. However, the dearly departed was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Strange Connection Between Bucknell University and the RMS Titanic
RMS TitanicBucknell University sits on a verdant rural hill in the historic river town of Lewisburg, and has a rich tradition dating back to 1846, when a school known as the University at Lewisburg was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dead Baby Found in Abandoned Mine
A Montour County Unsolved MurderIn 1901, two teenagers playing in the woods north of Danville discovered the lifeless body of an infant inside of an abandoned mine. Sadly, the perpetrator of this...
View Article