The Assassination of Joseph Smith
The Assassination of Joseph SmithToday, the town of Palmyra, in western New York, is a town of some 7,600 residents, which also includes the village of Palmyra, with nearly 3,500 inhabitants. Among...
View ArticleThe train station murder
The town of Macedon, not far from Palmyra, New York has today an area just over 23,000 acres with a gently rolling, irregular surface and a population of nearly 8,700. The town was founded in 1789....
View ArticleThe execution of Joseph Tice
The Execution of Joseph TiceIn 1891, Joseph Tice, also known as “Daredevil Joe,” lived in Rochester, New York, where he’d moved shortly after the Civil War. The city was entering a new era: the...
View ArticleThe strange defense of Manley Locke
The Strange Defense of Manley LockeHoneoye Falls is a village within the town of Mendon in Monroe County, New York. Today its population is just under 3,000. The village, founded in 1791, includes a...
View ArticleThe women who got away with murder
A nineteenth-century gazetteer describes the town of Avon, New York, as celebrated for its mineral springs and having three churches, five large hotels, and 879 inhabitants. First settled in 1785,...
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The execution of Charles Eighmey
Oaks Corners, New York is exactly what it sounds like: A community grown up at the intersection of two roads. Today, there isn’t much more than a post office and a few houses. It is not much changed...
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The Torture Tree
Today a small town of about 2,500 residents, the western New York town of Leicester was until the American Revolution a major stronghold of the Seneca. Three major Seneca villages were located in the...
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Execution by hanging in 19th century Rochester
Execution by hanging is arguably one of the more brutal methods for carrying out a death sentence. Though this form of capital punishment is now outlawed in the United States, it was widely relied...
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Famous killers
Throughout history, murders have always seemed to rivet the attention of the public. Hapless victims, their calculated killers, and all the gruesome details of the crime seem to fascinate most people,...
View ArticleMurdering brothers
Robert and Stephen Spahalski, twin brothers raised together in childhood but separated by decades with one isolated in prison, may be excellent study subjects to determine why people develop the...
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Famous supernatural events in 19th America
Supernatural or paranormal events have long been a newsworthy topic, attracting the attention of believers and skeptics alike. It seems that when anything seemingly unexplainable happens, especially...
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The Haunted Hotel
While researching the history of Freemasonry for my documentary titled, "The Strange Disappearance of Captain William Morgan", i spent considerable time at the American Hotel as the hotel was the...
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The ghost of the hoodoo doctor
In November of 1859 an abolitionist, and "hoodoo doctor" named Mathias was caught at a Savannah Georgia plantation while organizing an escape of slaves and was murdered. But some say he cursed his...
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Mad~House
In October 2012 I took my grandson to a Boy Scout camp located near Ovid, New York, located about 40 miles south east of Rochester. As we were entering Ovid I spotted a sign that read, 'Willard Drug...
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Architecture of Madness (Part One)
Architecture of Madness (Part One)The discovery of trephine skulls in archaeological sites has proven there were attempts to treat mental illness as far back as 5000 BCE. Trephining, or trepanning,...
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Architecture of Madness (Part Three)
The First AsylumsCustody and care of the mentally ill was typically left to the patient’s family, but occasionally outside intervention occurred. In 792 Baghdad, the first mental hospital was...
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Testimonials, Reviews, Accolades
Mad~HouseThe Hidden History of Insane Asylums of 19th Century New York"Great Read" Richard M. Ryan, PhD, Professor of Psychology University of Rochester  ...
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