Category:
Marriage
Marriage
Allergic to wife
1966: After suffering from asthma for 15 years, Sigurd Lindh learned that he was allergic to his wife, Greta. He moved into a cabin 600 yards from their home, and his asthma cleared up.It's pretty rare for spouses to be allergic to each other (as in, actually having a physical reaction to the other's presence, not just hating each other's guts). But it's doubly rare for a husband to be allergic to a wife. So Lindh was pretty unique. For whatever reason, the overwhelming majority of these spousal allergy cases involve wives allergic to their husbands. See here and here.
Detroit Free Press - June 2, 1966
Akron Beacon Journal - Sep 12, 1966
Posted By: Alex - Tue Apr 18, 2017 -
Comments (1)
Category: Health, Marriage, 1960s
Accidental Marriage
The final paragraph of this article sounds like it could be the start of a novel:Mr. and Mrs. de Leon decided several days later they no longer were in love. It was then they learned they were married.
The Canonsburg Daily Notes - Aug 30, 1952
Posted By: Alex - Sun Apr 16, 2017 -
Comments (2)
Category: Marriage, 1950s
Runaway Groom
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Apr 01, 2017 -
Comments (0)
Category: Drugs, Marriage, 1950s, Brain Damage
Target Practice
Did she hit her target, or miss?
Grand Prairie Daily News - May 13, 1954
In Gutersloh, Germany, police arrested Friedelina Kleine-Beek after she followed her husband to a local tavern, watched through the window as he raised a glass of beer to his lips, then carefully aimed a rifle and fired, shattering the glass, but leaving her husband unscathed.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Mar 24, 2017 -
Comments (1)
Category: Marriage, 1950s, Couples
Secret to a successful marriage
February 1954: J. Frank Winebrenner, wed 72 years, when asked what the secret to his successful marriage was, replied, "We did little fussin'. We said little. Mostly we just set."Looks like Frank died in March 1955 and Tressa in 1956. They're still "setting" together, saying little.
Chicago Daily Tribune - Feb 10, 1954
Los Angeles Times - Feb 4, 1954
Posted By: Alex - Fri Feb 24, 2017 -
Comments (2)
Category: Marriage, 1950s
Allergic to her husband
BBC News reports on the case of Johanna Watkins who has a rare disorder (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome) that has caused her to become allergic to a whole bunch of stuff, including the scent of her husband. The allergy only developed after they got married.At this point, they live in the same house but can no longer get close to each other. Instead they communicate via phone. Their "date night" involves watching a show together: "he will be three floors below me in a room on his laptop and I will be on mine and we'll watch the show at the same time and then text about it as we're watching it."
Scott and Johanna Watkins
This reminds me of the 1949 case of Joyce Holdridge, aka the "Allergic Bride," who broke out in a rash every time she was near her husband. She was the first reported case of a wife who developed an allergy to her husband. (I wrote a fairly long article about her for about.com, but it looks like about.com has since deleted it.)
After the Holdridge case, quite a few women came forward claiming to be allergic to their husband. So allergic wives are definitely a recurring theme in weird news. For whatever reason, cases of husbands who are allergic to their wives are much rarer (although not nonexistent).
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jan 17, 2017 -
Comments (5)
Category: Health, Marriage
Owen Smells and Mary Knows
In its July 5, 1943 issue, Time magazine noted the marriage in Pryor, Montana of Owen Smells and Mary Knows.The marriage only lasted three years, but in that time they had a daughter, Theresa, who eventually married Joseph Rock Above and became Theresa Smells Rock Above.
Findagrave.com lists a grave for Owen Smells which may or may not be the same Owen that married Mary. I'm not sure. But the dates seem about right.
Helena Independent Record - Oct 1, 1946
Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 08, 2016 -
Comments (1)
Category: Odd Names, Marriage, 1940s
Must Get Married by August 15th
August 1973: Jean Roth sat in the lobby of a building at Southern Illinois University with signs that read: "I must be married by August 15th for inheritance purposes."
She explained to anyone who asked that she would give $50,000 to any man who agreed to marry her for a year. Many men immediately volunteered to help her. In addition, "Scores of men called the campus newspaper to get the girl's telephone number."
But it turned out, not surprisingly, that the offer was bogus. It was all just a sociology experiment dreamed up by Dr. James M. Henslin, the teacher of a Sociology of Deviant Behavior class that Jean was enrolled in. Explained Dr. Henslin: "In this [class], we deal with deviance from the norm or deviance from what is expected of people. It was an experiment to create a form of deviance and look at the reactions."
So it sounds like it was one of those breaching experiments that became all the rage in sociology classes around that time (late 60s/early 70s).
The class had chosen Jean to be the heir in need of a hubby and had then coached her on how to respond to potential questions. In fact, Jean was already married. Her husband, also a student at the university, reportedly thought the experiment "was stupid."
Ogden Standard-Examiner - Jul 29, 1973
It reminds me of the Dormitory Escape Plan of 1967 that I posted about a couple of months ago, in which a young woman had advertised for a husband as a way to escape from the all-female dormitory that she hated living in.
Also, it seems that Dr. Henslin is the author of several sociology textbooks that are still in use — Essentials of Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach and Social Problems: A Down to Earth Approach. He's now retired from Southern Illinois University.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Sep 17, 2016 -
Comments (3)
Category: Experiments, Marriage, 1970s
Mother-In-Law Beneath Bed
There's in-law problems, and then there's this:
The Morning News (Wilmington, Delaware) - Sep 18, 1956
Wife Complains In-Law Under Bed
SINGAPORE, Sept. 17 — A young Chinese wife complained in court today that her mother-in-law always slept under the bed she shared with her husband.
Them Kim Kow said she had left her husband but would go back to him if her mother-in-law could be forced to sleep in a separate room.
An adjournment was asked while the court and attorneys considered the case.
SINGAPORE, Sept. 17 — A young Chinese wife complained in court today that her mother-in-law always slept under the bed she shared with her husband.
Them Kim Kow said she had left her husband but would go back to him if her mother-in-law could be forced to sleep in a separate room.
An adjournment was asked while the court and attorneys considered the case.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jul 14, 2016 -
Comments (4)
Category: Divorce, Marriage, 1950s
His wife’s brother was really her husband
A bizarre love triangle on a Wisconsin farm.
Freeport Journal-Standard - Dec 13, 1952
Farmer Learns Wife's 'Brother' Is Actually Her Undivorced Husband
WAUSAU, Wis — Farmer Walter Brandt was married six years, he testified Friday, before he learned that the man living with him and his wife was his wife's undivorced husband, not her 'brother."
Brandt, 36, told County Judge Frank G. Loeffler that his wife, Minnie, had identified Joseph Ruddock as her brother before they were married in 1946. Brandt said Minnie and Ruddock at that time were living on a farm near Vesper.
But when Brandt married Minnie and moved to his farm in Town of Eau Plaine, he said, Ruddock moved in with them. Last July Brandt said Minnie's sister told him Ruddock was Minnie's husband, not her brother.
Joe and Minnie admitted deception but claimed they had been divorced, Brandt stated. But, he said, he "blew up" and started annulment proceedings.
Judge Loeffler told Ruddock his story of how he got a divorce was implausible and that he and Minnie still were married. Brandt was granted his annulment.
WAUSAU, Wis — Farmer Walter Brandt was married six years, he testified Friday, before he learned that the man living with him and his wife was his wife's undivorced husband, not her 'brother."
Brandt, 36, told County Judge Frank G. Loeffler that his wife, Minnie, had identified Joseph Ruddock as her brother before they were married in 1946. Brandt said Minnie and Ruddock at that time were living on a farm near Vesper.
But when Brandt married Minnie and moved to his farm in Town of Eau Plaine, he said, Ruddock moved in with them. Last July Brandt said Minnie's sister told him Ruddock was Minnie's husband, not her brother.
Joe and Minnie admitted deception but claimed they had been divorced, Brandt stated. But, he said, he "blew up" and started annulment proceedings.
Judge Loeffler told Ruddock his story of how he got a divorce was implausible and that he and Minnie still were married. Brandt was granted his annulment.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Dec 14, 2015 -
Comments (2)
Category: Marriage, 1950s
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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 |