Crime
Underworld Lingo
Source: page 51 of this magazine.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jun 12, 2017 -
Comments (6)
Category: Crime, Languages, 1930s
Helpful Dead Wife
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 02, 2017 -
Comments (3)
Category: Crime, Death, Superstition, Marriage, 1900s
Unauthorized Dwellings 1
The theme of people living secretly where they should not be living is a perennial one. Here is an instance from the Sixties.
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue May 16, 2017 -
Comments (2)
Category: Crime, Unauthorized Dwellings, 1960s
Groucho & Chico Go To Jail
I cannot find any subsequent info on this case, which I had never heard of before. Did the Marx Bros. win on appeal? I certainly don't think they ever went to jail.
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri May 05, 2017 -
Comments (5)
Category: Crime, Humor, Comedians, 1930s
Billie Carleton’s Death and the Birth of a Genre
Original article here.
How did the hedonistic death of one minor actress lead to Fu Manchu and the Yellow Menace?
Read the whole story here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 21, 2017 -
Comments (0)
Category: Addictions, Crime, Death, Literature, Stereotypes and Cliches, 1910s
Musical Prisoner
In 1949, LIFE told us about Frank Grandstaff, who composed a cantata while jailed, and earned a brief release to hear it performed. But what happened afterwards?
Original story here.
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Apr 19, 2017 -
Comments (6)
Category: Crime, Music, 1940s, 1950s
Makes bomb threat from jail
October 1971: While being booked on charges of malicious mischief at Los Angeles police headquarters, Frank Elby Taylor asked to exercise his right to make a phone call. He was allowed to do this, so he called the airport and made a bomb threat. The call was quickly traced back to the police station. The police got Elby out of his cell and booked him again on felony charges.
Reno Gazette-Journal - Oct 30, 1971
Posted By: Alex - Tue Mar 21, 2017 -
Comments (1)
Category: Crime, 1970s, Pranks
The Monopoly Killer
July 1991: While preparing to play a game of Monopoly, Marc Cienkowski and Michael Klucznik got into a fight over who would use the car playing piece. Cienkowski insisted that since they were at his house, he got to be the car -- and not the hat or thimble. But Klucznik insisted that he was going to be the car, and continued to insist this even after Cienkowski hit him in the face. So Cienkowski fetched his bow and arrow and shot Klucznik through the heart. Cienkowski later pleaded guilty to criminal homicide.
Philadelphia Daily News - Feb 7, 1992
Click to enlarge
Posted By: Alex - Wed Mar 08, 2017 -
Comments (3)
Category: Crime, Games, 1990s
Very Long Prison Sentences Served
Original article here.
Try to guess where Honeck's stint places him in the Top Ten "Longest Times in the Stir."
Posted By: Paul - Mon Feb 27, 2017 -
Comments (2)
Category: Crime, Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, 1960s
Blackguardiana
You can surely amuse yourself for hours reading this 1793 guide to rogues. And I think we should resurrect these old terms for modern times. For instance, if a woman is inconveniently pregnant, let us say she has "sprained her ankle."
Posted By: Paul - Sat Feb 18, 2017 -
Comments (3)
Category: Crime, Eighteenth Century, Slang
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |