Hart Island's History

Hart Island Lighthouse, by Dennis Jarvis, CC By-SA 2.0

Hart Island is located at the western end of Long Island Sound to the east of City Island, in Bronx, New York City. It's not large, only 1 mile long by .33 miles wide. However, its ground has been broken many times and used for many purposes and perhaps the most touching, and haunting purpose is a potter's field. 

In 1870 victims of Yellow Fever were quarantined on Hart's Island. In 1885, a building to house Tuberculosis victims was built. In 1895, a workhouse for men was established followed by a workhouse for boys in 1905. Also in the early 1900s Hart Island housed a prison until approximately 1966 when penial code changed.  In 1967 a drug rehabilitation center was opened called "Phoenix House" It grew to houses, 350 residents. The center hosted festivals, published a newsletter, had a garden, and hosted baseball games. The center remained on Hart Island until the late 70s when it moved to a building in Manhattan.

A Trench at the potter's field on Hart Island, circa 1890 by Jacob Riss

Those buildings are now decaying in the background as bodies are committed to the ground. According to Wikipedia.com, the first to be buried on the island were Union Army soldiers during the Civil War. After New York City purchased the island in 1868, city burials began on the island. There are now over one million people buried on Hart Island. People buried on the island are unknown, unclaimed or indigent people. Many buried on Hart Island couldn't afford a private funeral and were not claimed by their relatives.  According to reuters.com, "about a thousand people are now buried on Hart Island each year." 

During the height of the AIDS crisis starting in the late 80s, more than 100,000 people died in NY of AIDS. There was fear that the victims of the virus would contaminate others so hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people infected were buried on Heart Island. The first child victim of AIDS who died in NYC is buried on Heart Island with a marker that reads simply "SC (Special Child) B1 (Baby 1) 1985."

Due to the taxpayer expense, the burials are now conducted by inmates. Instead of being housed on Hart Island like in the past, prisoners now help to bury the dead. They are paid 50¢/hr. 

The only way to Hart Island is by ferry. Much like the ferryman boating the dead across the river Styx in Greek Mythology, many of NYC's dead are now ferried across Long Island Sound to Hart Island. Ferries go to the Island from Fordham Street Pier located on City Island.

All burial records are kept within the prison system, making it difficult for the public to get information about their loved ones. The Hart Island Project, a nonprofit charitable organization since 1994, has helped family members obtain burial records of their loved ones.

There are frequent disinterments when families of someone previously unknown buried on Hart Island are identified through DNA, photos, or fingerprints which are kept on file at the Medical Examiner's Office.

In 2013 legislation was passed requiring the Department of Corrections to make public an online database of the burials on the island, which has over 66,000 entires.

Visitation to Hart Island is restricted and NY City Department of Corrections schedules any visits family members wish to have. They have to have proof that their family member is buried on the island. Currently, no one is allowed on the island without prior approval from the Department of Corrections.

However, November 2019, a bill was passed that transferred jurisdiction of Hart's Island from the Department of Corrections to NYC Depart of Parks and Recreation ultimately making it easier for the loves of the dead buried on Hart's Island to visit their graves.

Hart Island's soil is full of history. It's hollowed ground, especially to those who have loved ones buried on the island. With all the mass graves, violence and sickness Heart Island has seen through the centuries, it no doubt, paints a picture of Hart Island being a cold, desolate, and haunting place. 

Where Spirits Conjure- A List of Haunted Places

Stanley Hotel
Estes Park, Colorado

Stanley Hotel by Miguel Vieira from Walnut Creek, CA, USA, Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, CC BY 2.0

Freelan Oscar Stanley circa 1910

The co-inventor of the Stanley Steamer, Freelan Oscar Stanley, came to Estes Park in 1903. He was suffering from tuberculosis and came West due to his doctor's orders. Stanley's health began to improve. He fell in love with the area and decided to invest money into it. The Stanley Hotel was opened in 1909 and catered to the rich and famous, including Titanic survivor Molly Brown, President Teddy Roosevelt, and Emperor Hirohito of Japan.

The Stanley Hotel has quite the reputation of being haunted. Staff have reported hearing a party going on in the ballroom when it's empty. Guests of the hotel have claimed to see to have seen a man standing over their bed at night before running into a closet or just disappearing. Phantom voices and a child's laughing have also been heard. With a reputation like this, it's no wonder the hotel was the inspiration for Stephen King's novel "The Shining". Scenes from the TV adaption of the novel were also filmed here.

Bird Cage Theater
Tombstone, Arizona

Birdcage Theater | RE Hawkins, BirdcageTheater, CC BY-SA 3.0

The Bird Cage Theater, in addition to being a theater also served as a brothel, saloon and gambling parlor. It opened in 1881. There were 14 cages, that were situated on balconies above the stage. "Soiled Doves" or prostitutes would drawback curtains in the cages or "cribs" and dance and entertain their clients.

The theater was the second home of entertainers, cowboys, and outlaws alike. The smell of liquor, smoke, and sex must of hung heavy in the air. In 1882, the New York Times reported that "the Bird Cage Theater is the wildest, wickedest night spot between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast." Hundreds of bullet holes in the walls of the theater lay claim to that statement.

Poker Table in the Birdcage Theater | Marine 69-71, Tombstone-Building-Bird Cage Theatre-Poker Room Table, CC BY-SA 4.0
According to legend, the longest-running poker game is said to have been played there. Played non-stop for 24 hours a day, for eight years, five months, and three days. The players included Doc Holliday, Diamond Jim Brandy, George Hearst, and Bat Masterson.

Tombstone in the late 1800s wasn't a place for the weak of heart. It was a town full of violence, and death. Some say that the ghosts of people who died in Tombstone still walk the streets at night and the Birdcage Theater is where the spirits still find entertainment that they found in life.

Employees and visitors of the theater have reported seeing ghosts of prostitutes, and cowboys. Some have claimed to have been touched or even pushed by these ghosts. It's said that you can hear the distant sounds of laughter and yelling, poker chips being thrown on a table, and liquor glasses still being filled.

Bachelor's Grove Cemetery
Midlothian, Illinois

Bachelor's Grove Cemetery by Mark Bergner, CC BY-SA 4.0

The first burials recorded in Bachelor's grove date back as early as the 1830s. There are stories that the cemetery was a favorite spot in the 20s and 30s for Chicago's organized crime to dump their victims.

A fallen tree in Bachelor's Grove
Many sightings of paranormal activity have been reported there for quite some time. Including, orbs, a lady in white, a phantom farmhouse is said to appear then vanish, a two-headed ghost, a black dog, and the famous image of the "Madonna of Bachelor's Grove"- a photo taken in August of 1991, by the Ghost Research Society which ran in the Chicago Sun-Times, showing a transparent woman sitting on a tombstone. Reportedly, the photographer said there was no one in the cemetery when the photo was taken.

Ghost Research Society- Official Website
Bachelors Grove Cemetery

The Myrtles Plantation
Saint Francisville, Louisiana

Bogdan Oporowski, Myrtles Plantation, CC BY-SA 3.0

The history of the Myrtles Plantation starts with a man named General David Bradford. Bradford was a lawyer, a deputy attorney general, in Pennsylvania who protested the whiskey tax. The whiskey tax was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed United States. It became law in 1791. The whiskey tax applied to all distilled liquor but whiskey was the most popular spirit. It was often used in bartering by the frontier regions of the U.S., such as Pennsylvania. The revenue generated from the tax was intended to combat the debt accumulated during the Revolutionary War. 

Bradford was an open protester against the tax, giving several anti-government speeches.  In 1794 President George Washington and troops went to Washington, Pennsylvania arresting suspected rebels, Including Bradford. Bradford fled to Spanish West Florida now know as New Orleans, LA and obtained a land grant of 650 acres and built the plantation in 1796. In 1820, Bradford's son-in-law, Judge Clarke Woodruff, remodeled the mansion. In 1834 the plantation was owned by Ruffin Gray Sterling and it was once again remodeled.

Stirling and his wife, Catherine doubled the size of the former house, and changed the name to "The Myrtles". The house changed owners several times in the late 1800s until the 1970s when it was purchased by James and Frances Kermeen Myers. The mansion is now a bed and breakfast. It is on the National Historic Register and is a perfect example of antebellum splendor, and grandeur.

There is a story of a slave named Chloe. She was a slave owned by Judge Woodruff and his wife Sara. The judge was, which unfortunately was all too common at the time, was having sex with, one of his slaves, a young woman named Chloe. The Judge caught her eavesdropping on his business dealings, and as punishment cut off one of her ears. She then wore a green turban to hide her missing ear. The legend goes that she poisoned Sara and her children's food as revenge for her missing ear, other reports say Chloe poisoned the food only to make Sara and her children became sick, not kill them. Chloe was in fear of being sold to another plantation and making them sick would allow her to stay and nurse them back to health. Whatever the reason all the stories end with the same result, Sara and her daughters died. Chloe was then hung and thrown into the Mississippi River.

Another story says that the spirits of Sara and her children haunt one of the mirrors in the mansion. Traditionally mirrors were covered with cloth or sheets after the death of a person. The legend goes that a mirror was missed when Sara and her children died, which trapped their spirits inside the mirror. Apparitions are sometimes seen in the mirror along with handprints.

There is another ghost story associated with the plantation. A man named William Drew Winter was a lawyer who lived at the plantation from 1865 to 1871. It's said that he was shot outside the mansion and died while trying to climb the stairs in the house. Supposedly, he died on the 17th step.

Wikipedia contributors. "Myrtles Plantation." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 21 May. 2019. Web. 17 Jun. 2019.

Tomahawk. “One of the Most Haunted Homes in History | The Myrtles.” The Myrtles Plantation | Visit St. Francisville, www.myrtlesplantation.com/history-and-hauntings/history-of-myrtles-plantation.

“MYRTLES PLANTATION’ LEGENDS, LORE AND LIES.” American Hauntings, American Hauntings, Ink., www.americanhauntingsink.com/myrtles.

 Lineup, The. “The Myrtles Plantation: Who's That Girl in the Window?” HuffPost, HuffPost, 7 Dec. 2017, www.huffpost.com/entry/the-myrtles-plantation-wh_b_8741576.

 Guss, Jon. “The Bradford House and the Whiskey Rebellion.” The Bradford House and the Whiskey Rebellion | Pennsylvania Center for the Book, 2007, pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/feature-articles/bradford-house-and-whiskey-rebellion.

Wikipedia contributors. "David Bradford (lawyer)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2 Jun. 2019. Web. 17 Jun. 2019.

 Wikipedia contributors. "Whiskey Rebellion." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 14 Jun. 2019. Web. 17 Jun. 2019.

The Baker Hotel
Mineral Wells, Texas

The Baker Hotel | Renelibrary, Baker4 (1 of 1), CC BY-SA 4.0

It was built by Theodore Brasher Baker in 1926 and completed in 1929. The opulent hotel boosted 14 stories, 450 guest rooms, 2 ballrooms, a beauty shop, bowling alley, gymnasium, and the first swimming pool built at a hotel in Texas. Many celebrities and stars have stayed at the Baker Hotel including, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Lawrence Welk, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, and it's rumored the famous outlaw couple Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow have also stayed at the Baker.

It was permanently closed in 1972 and has suffered the ravages of time, and vandalism. There are stories of orbs, disembodied voices, strange sounds, and moving objects in the Baker. There are said to be ghosts of people who have committed suicide in the hotel, and even Bonnie and Clyde's spirits are said to haunt the halls. There are now, plans, to restore the Baker Hotel with a budget of $54 million.

The Winchester Mansion
San Jose, CA

TilTul, Winchester House, CC BY-SA 3.0

Gun magnate William Wirt Winchester was the President of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1880. He married a woman named Sarah Pardee in 1862. They had a baby girl named Annie. Sadly Annie died five short weeks later of marasmus, a form of malnutrition. Sarah suffered another blow when her husband, William also died in 1881 of tuberculosis.

Sarah Winchester, 1865

Grief-stricken Sarah consulted a psychic who told her she lost her baby girl because the spirits of all the people killed by the Winchester rifle wanted revenge. The psychic told her to move West from Connecticut.
Sarah moved to San Jose, California and hired architects and construction workers to renovate a farmhouse in 1884. Under Sarah's guidance, the construction on the house never stopped until Sarah's death on September 5, 1922. Dubbed "The House That Fear Built." Sarah believed that as long as construction continued the ghosts would be appeased.

Sarah wanted to confuse the malicious spirits and keep herself safe. So the mansion has stairways that lead to walls, doors that open to nowhere, and windows overlooking other rooms.  There are 160 rooms, which include 40 bedrooms, 2 ballrooms, 47 fireplaces, 2 basements, and three elevators. The money Sarah received from the proceeds from the sales of the Winchester Rifle allowed Sarah to continue to build the mansion. There was an earthquake in 1906 that reduced the number of stories of the mansion from seven to four.
When Sarah died in 1922, oddly there was no mention of the mansion in her will. So it was sold at auction for $135,000 to John and Mayme Brown. The mansion is now open to the public and is owned by Winchester Investments, LLC. A private company that represent the descendants of John and Mayme Brown.

Ghost stories abound with this mansion. Workers and guests claim to hear strange noises, to seeing spirits of construction workers who have accidentally died in the mansion, servants of Mrs. Winchester, to that of Sarah herself.

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum
Weston, West Virginia

Photo By Tim Kiser (CC BY-SA 2.5, Wikipedia Commons)

Opened in 1864 it was a state-run to house the mentally ill. It was designed to hold 250 people but became overcrowded with over 2,400 patients. The acceptable treatment of mentally ill patients back then would be considered downright torture today. For example, a common treatment was insulin shock therapy. Large doses of insulin were injected into the patient to put them in a coma, to "reset" their brain. Many patients died due to this course of "treatment". This treatment, along with lobotomies, and bloodletting, this place of care, was more like a place of horror.

The hospital was closed in 1994 due to reports of mistreatment and abuse of the patients. A man named Joe Jordan bought the hospital in 2007 and opened it for tours. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1990.

Disembodied voices, strange noises, and apparitions are said to abound within Trans-Allegheny's halls. It seems to me that a life of neglect and abuse behind closed doors is a recipe for a tortured spirit. I hope these souls have found some peace in death, but it seems according to people who have been to Trans-Allegheny, they have not.

Gettysburg Battlefield
Gettysburg, PA 

Gettysburg by Dorian Wallender from Lake Havasu City, Arizona, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0

The town of Gettysburg became the place of the violent death of over 46,000 soldiers in July 1863.  "General Robert E. Lee marched his Army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania in late June 1863. On July 1, the advancing Confederates clashed with the Union’s Army of the Potomac, commanded by General George G. Meade, at the crossroads town of Gettysburg."

"The Harvest of Death": Union dead on the battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, photographed July 1863, by Timothy H. O'Sullivan
"It's estimated that between 46,000 and 51,000 casualties were suffered by each side when the battle was over."

President Lincoln spoke his now-famous words of the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863, when a national cemetery was dedicated to the fallen soldiers.

"....But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract...."

Photographers such as Mathew Brady, Timothy O'Sullivan, and Alexander Gardner helped to bring a realization of the terrible cost of war with there photos of the dead. The bodies lying lifeless on the ground where someone's brother, father, or husband.

No doubt that with all the blood that was spilled on Gettysburg, there are numerous reports of phantom soldiers walking the hallowed ground. Maybe the battle never ended for them but continues to play out into eternity.

"Battle of Gettysburg." History Channel. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 15 Aug. 2015.

"Battle of Gettysburg." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 14 Aug. 2015. Web. 16 Aug. 2015.

"Gettysburg Address." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 9 Aug. 2015. Web. 16 Aug. 2015.

Titanic and The Blonde Little Boy

Titanic, everyone knows the story. The great passenger liner, full of beauty and grace only to end up on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean on her maiden voyage.

It gets to me every time, the stories. Those who boarded Titanic and how their lives played out for the next few days, only to end in the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean. A total of 2,200 passengers and crew set sail from south Hampton and over 1,400 of those people died when the ship sank on April 15, 1912. 

Titanic Construction | Wikicommons

Titanic was the second in a series of ocean liners that was commissioned by the British shipping company, White Star.

These liners were to be the most luxurious, fastest, and largest of their day. Titanic's construction began in 1908 in Belfast, Ireland. Titanic was constructed by the shipbuilding company, Harland and Wolff.

There was a coal strike in the UK which caused many ship crossings to be canceled. Titanic's maiden voyage was only a few days after the strike was over. Coal from other ships was brought to Titanic so she could set sail as scheduled. It was because of this coal strike, that the Goodwin family original passage was delayed and their passage was transferred to RMS Titanic instead. 

Goodwin Family | Wikicommons

Fredrick Goodwin, his wife, Augusta, and their six children, Lillian, 16; Charles, 14; William, 11; Jessie, 10; Harold, 9 and Sidney, 19 months (not pictured) were third-class passengers who boarded in Southhampton, England.  

Frederick was moving his family to America for the same reason so many others did, for the chance at a better life. Fredrick's brother, who previously immigrated to America, had written Fredrick and spoke of a job for Fredrick at a power station in Niagara, NY.

Titanic was a symbol of status. It was the best, of everything. Along with the rich and prestigious that Titanic attracted there was also the poor who saw Titanic as a first step to a better life in America. 

Sidney's Grave in Nova Scotia | Wikicommons

For 90 years, there has been a grave in Fairview Cemetery in Nova Scotia. The body buried in the grave was of an unknown child. A blonde-haired baby boy. His body was recovered from the water by the crew of the ship, Mackay-Bennett. 

The following notes were taken when his body was recovered:

"No. 4- MALE- ESTIMATED AGE, 2 - HAIR, FAIR
CLOTHING- Grey coat with fur on collar and cuff; brown serge frock; petticoat; flannel garment; pink woolen singlet - brown shoes and stocking.
NO MARKS WHATEVER
PROBABLY THIRD CLASS"

The crew was so grief-stricken by the site of this little boy that they paid for his funeral and burial.
His body was laid in a white coffin and carried out of a crowded Saint George's Anglican Church on May 4, 1912. His gravestone read "Erected to the memory of an unknown child whose remains were recovered after the disaster to Titanic, April 15, 1912."

Sidney Leslie Goodwin | Wikicommons

In 2002 an exhumation took place followed by DNA testing in 2008 that positively identified the unknown child as 19 Month Old Sidney Leslie Goodwin. 

Sidney's body was the only recovered and sadly his entire family also died. For over 90 years his body laid under a gravestone with no name. Now, because of DNA his story and name are finally known, he has a name.

So many perished in that cold April night. Since the release of James Cameron's film, Titanic, there has been a new appreciation and curiosity about the ship, but to me, the true-life stories of Titanic's victims will always be much more interesting and wonderful than what TV and films can offer. 

It has been over two hundred years since the ship sank but her hold on my heart and imagination will never fade.

Citations

https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-victim/sidney-leslie-goodwin.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unknown_Child

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic

The Day The Sky Turned Black

New London Elementary School Before The Explosion | Photo courtesy of nlsd.net

Sometimes a regular, mundane, day can turn into a living nightmare. Everything can seem normal, even wonderful, then disaster can strike. The calm before the storm can happen without warning. No one knows that the blue skies are about to turn black. Thursday, March 18th, 1937 was one of those days for the children and teachers of New London, Texas Elementary School.  By the end of the day, unknown to the school and the residents of New London, there would be a massive explosion killing 294 students and teachers.

When the school was built, the school board opted to install gas heaters instead of using boilers and steam to heat the building, which was common at the time. The school received its gas by tapping into Parade Gasoline Company's residual gas line. Though it wasn't necessarily sanctioned by the gas companies, it was overlooked and was a common practice. The gas that the school tapped into was considered a waste product. This gas varied in quality and was odorless and colorless. 

Gas started leaking from the tapped line and had filled the crawlspace beneath the school and leaked into the upper floors of the building. The gas had been building up for months, so much so, that students had been complaining of headaches.

A shop instructor going about his day turned on an electric sander, unknown to him, by doing this simple action, the sander caused a spark that ignited the gas-filled air, triggering a huge explosion. It's said the explosion caused the school to lift into the air and fall back to the ground. A piece of concrete weighing two tons flew 200 feet and crashed into a 1936 Chevrolet. [1]

 

New London Elementary School After The Explosion | Photo courtesy of nlsd.net/index2.html

The scene was full of screaming children, bodies mangled under bricks, and dirt and debris everywhere. It's said that some children were hanging from the roof before it collapsed.

William Grigg, a student who was only 11 years old at the time recalled: 

"The building and ground shook like an earthquake, and the building seemed to suck in then blew out. I didn't hear anything, though it was heard for miles away. I ran away and in doing so I climbed a fence that was around the school. I had never been able to climb it before. But I did that day! Then I climbed back over and started to look for my brothers. I went around towards the front and remember seeing a girl who sat in front of me in class. All that remained of her was her head and upper torso." [2]

Molly Ward, who was a fourth-grader at the school, commented that 

"It's something that scars your mind--the screams, the cries--like some horrible disease you just can't shake." [3]

Heavy-duty equipment was used to speed up the search for victims. Texas Governor James Allred sent the highway patrol to help. Mother Francis Hospital in the city of Tyler was having a dedication ceremony but canceled it to help aid the injured. [4] 25 embalmers were also sent from the Texas Funeral Directors Association to help aid with the dead. "Of the 500 students and forty teachers in the building, approximately 294 died." [5]

Grave of one of the victims at Pleasant Hill Cemetery | Photo by: Diann Bayes via Flickr.com CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The news of the disaster spread across the country and throughout the world. A young reporter who worked at the United Press in Dallas, came to New London to cover his first major story. His name was Walter Cronkite. "Walter Cronkite went on to cover wars and other major events. He became the nation's leading nightly news anchorman. But he would later write that nothing could have prepared him for what he witnessed that day in New London, and no other story ever equaled it." [6]

 

Photo by QuesterMark via Flickr.com | CC BY-SA 2.0

Unaware commuters on Texas State Highway 42 might notice a large granite structure in the median. They may not know what it is or why it's there. Time has blanketed the disaster erasing the devastation from recent memory. This structure is a cenotaph, a reminder of what happened, to say many were lost, many were affected, and many felt the pain and agony of the aftermath.

Some days start out normal, mundane even. There are no warning signs. There is nothing to indicate what is about to come. Sometimes blue skies turn black. Sometimes disaster strikes without warning forever scaring that moment in time.

Citations:

1.  “The New London Texas School Explosion.” The New London Texas School Explosion, New London Museum, 2017, nlsd.net/index2.html.

2.  Hillard, Robert E. “The New London Texas School Explosion.” New London School Explosion, New London Museum, 2017, nlsd.net/index2.html.

3.  INMAN, WILLIAM H. “1937 Schoolhouse Explosion 'Scars Your Mind': Texas Town Haunted by Blast That Killed a Generation.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 22 Mar. 1987, articles.latimes.com/1987-03-22/news/mn-14795_1_natural-gas-leak. 

4.  “History and Heritage of CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances.” History and Heritage of CHRISTUS Trinity, www.tmfhc.org/about-us/history-and-heritage-of-trinity-mother-frances/.

5. Hillard, Robert E. “The New London Texas School Explosion.” New London School Explosion, New London Museum, 2017, nlsd.net/index2.html.

6. LAPIDUS, FAITH. “The Day a Texas School Exploded, and a Generation Died.” VOA, VOA, 18 Mar. 2012, learningenglish.voanews.com/a/texas-school-tragedy-remembered-75-years-later-143104106/611155.html.

Bobby Never Came Home

People are fascinated with murder. Cases like Lacy Peterson, Casey Anthony, and Amanda Knox are a few cases that have been at the forefront of newspaper headlines, talk shows, and podcasts in recent years. These cases can be fascinating. The who, the what, and especially the why are the questions that come to mind who read or hear about murders, particularly the murders of children.

This post is about a murder that occurred in the 1920s. This case has captivated me for years. The haunting photo of the victim, the brash attitude of the murderers, and how the murders were caught, hold my attention.

Two men by the names of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb wanted to premeditate and conduct the perfect murder, in their minds the perfect murder meant they could kill someone and never get caught.

Leopold and Loeb were lovers who met in 1920. They both came from wealthy Jewish families. Leopold enrolled in the University of Chicago at the age of only 15. He was an amateur ornithologist (the study of birds) who had published two papers, in an ornithological journal. Leopold's father made the family fortune in the shipping business. Loeb graduated from high school at the age of 14 and enrolled in the University of Chicago that same year. Loeb's father was the vice president of Sears, Roebuck & Company.

Leopold was attracted to Loeb's good looks and charm. Loeb however, had destructive behaviors. He craved the thrill of committing crimes. He had committed several burglaries, and acts of vandalism, including starting several fires.

Loeb started talking to Leopold about committing a much bigger crime. A crime that would be in all the newspaper's headlines. A crime that wouldn't be easily forgotten. A crime like murder, the murder of a child. It needed to be perfect though, they would have to figure out a way not to get caught. It was going to be the "perfect crime". They spent months planning the murder.

Bobby Franks | Wikimedia Commons

Robert Franks, Bobby as his friends and family called him, was born on September 19, 1909, to  Jacob and Flora Franks. Bobby's Father, Jacob immigrated to the US from England in 1855. He started working in a pawn shop and eventually the loan business. He earned his fortune in real estate. He became the president of The Rockford Watch Company in 1901. Jacob married Flora, 20 years his junior, in 1906. They had three children together,  Josephine,  Jack, and Bobby.

On May 21, 1924, Loeb and Leopold drove a rented car under an assumed name, around the streets of Chicago looking for a victim. They spotted Bobby walking down Ellis Ave in South Side Chicago. He was on his way home from a baseball game.

So with Leopold driving, Loeb opened the back door and called out to Bobby, offering Bobby a ride home. Bobby at first turned him down. It was only a short distance to Bobby's house that he could easily walk. Loeb insisted. Loeb said he wanted to talk to Bobby about a tennis racket that Loeb wanted to buy for his brother. Bobby had no real reason to say no, this wasn't a stranger asking him to get into the car. Loeb was family. Loeb was Bobby's cousin and neighbor. Bobby in fact often played Tennis at Loeb's house. So Bobbie got in the car but he never made it home.

Loeb struck Bobby with a chisel to the head. Bobby was sitting in front of Loeb in the passenger seat next to Leopold who was driving. Loeb stabbed Bobby several times in the head. He covered Bobby's mouth with his other hand to prevent him from yelling out. I imagine Bobby suddenly terrified and overcome with shock, his brain trying to process the oncoming pain. Loeb then pulled Bobby into the back seat, where he gagged Bobby, stuffing a sock in Bobby's mouth, and putting tape over his mouth. Loeb continued to stab Bobby with the chisel as blood, covered anything that was near. Bobby died in the back seat of a rented car, killed abruptly by the hands of his cousin Richard Loeb.

Loeb and Leopold then removed and discarded Bobby's clothes, poured hydrochloric acid on Bobby's face and genitals, and dumped the body in a culvert next to railroad tracks in Hammond, Indiana. However, Unknown to Leopold, he had just broken an unwritten rule of murder, never leave evidence behind. Leopold had just mistaking dropped his eyeglasses on the ground.

When the pair returned to Chicago, they mailed a ransom note to Bobby's parents and Leopold called the Franks and told Mrs. Franks his name was George Johnson and said he had kidnapped Bobby.

Mrs. Franks was at home, located at 5052 S. Ellis, in Chicago. She was naturally worried because Bobby had not come home from the game yet. The phone rang, when she answered this is what she heard:

“This is Mr. Johnson. Of course, you know by this time that your boy has been kidnapped. We have him and you need not worry; he is safe. But don’t try to trace this call or to find me. We must have money. We will let you know tomorrow what we want. We are kidnappers and we mean business. If you refuse us what we want or try to report us to the police we will kill the boy. Good-bye.”

Loeb and Leopold burned their blood-stained clothing and cleaned the blood from the rented car.

The mailed ransom note arrived at Frank's house the following morning. Leopold called again and gave Mrs. Franks instructions for delivering the ransom. However, the ransom was never delivered because a man named Tony Minke found Bobby's lifeless body that same day.

Now that the Franks and the police knew Bobby had been murdered Loeb and Leopold destroyed the typewriter they used to write the ransom note, and the car robe they used to move Bobby's body.

A car robe or lap robe was used during the time of buggies and carriages. They were also used in the early days of the invention of the automobile. It was a blanket that was used by passengers to keep warm in an unheated car.

An investigation was started by the Chicago Police, and a reward was offered for any information. Leopold had a hard time keeping quiet and staying under the radar. He spoke to anyone that would listen, giving his theories on who killed Bobby. He even told a detective, "If I were to murder anybody, it would be just such a cocky little son of a bitch as Bobby Franks."

A detective at the scene found Leopold's glasses. The detective asked the Franks if Bobby wore glasses, they replied no. He had perfect vision. The glasses were discovered to have a rare hinged mechanism. The glasses were traced to Almer, Coe & Company. Only three had been sold in the Chicago area. One of those customers was Nathan Leopold.

Loeb and Leopold were brought in for questioning on May 29. They stated they were with two women, Edna and May, in Leopold's car, and had dropped off their dates later that night without ever learning their last names. However, Leopold's chauffeur told the police he had been doing repairs on Leopold's same car that night.  The chauffeur's wife backed up her husband's story stating she saw the car parked in the garage that night of Bobby's murder. Loeb and Leopold's "perfect murder" was starting to become faulty.

The pair eventually confessed to the murder but Loeb claimed he was driving, and Leopold struck the killing blow to Franks, while Leopold insisted that Loeb was the actual murder, while Leopold was the driver of the rented car.

Clarence Darrow | Wikimedia Commons

Dubbed "The Trial of The Century", Loeb and Leopold's families got the prominent lawyer, Clarence Darrow, to represent them.

Darrow was known to be against the death penalty. Darrow wanted his clients to plead guilty. He wanted to avoid a trial that he felt could lead to the death penalty.

Darrow argued during the trial:

"Has the court any right to consider anything but these two boys? The State says that your Honor has a right to consider the welfare of the community, as you have. If the welfare of the community would be benefited by taking these lives, well and good. I think it would work evil that no one could measure. Has your Honor a right to consider the families of these defendants? I have been sorry, and I am sorry for the bereavement of Mr. and Mrs. Franks, for those broken ties that cannot be healed. All I can hope and wish is that some good may come from it all. But as compared with the families of Leopold and Loeb, the Franks are to be envied—and everyone knows it.

I do not know how much salvage there is in these two boys. I hate to say it in their presence, but what is there to look forward to? I do not know but what your Honor would be merciful to them, but not merciful to civilization, and not merciful if you tied a rope around their necks and let them die; merciful to them, but not merciful to civilization, and not merciful to those who would be left behind. To spend the balance of their days in prison is mighty little to look forward to if anything. Is it anything? They may have the hope that as the years roll around they might be released. I do not know. I do not know.

I will be honest with this court as I have tried to be from the beginning. I know that these boys are not fit to be at large. I believe they will not be until they pass through the next stage of life, at forty-five or fifty. Whether they will then, I cannot tell. I am sure of this; that I will not be here to help them. So far as I am concerned, it is over."

Leopold (top) and Loeb (bottom) | Wikimedia Commons

Leopold and Loeb were sentenced to life plus 99 years each. They would avoid the death penalty.

Bobby's classmates carry his coffin

Bobby's funeral was held on May 26, 1924, in the family home. The Frank's buried their boy in the family mausoleum in Chicago's Rose Hill Cemetery.

Written upon the crypt was: "Life is because God is, infinite, indestructible, and eternal. Bobby E. Franks Sept 19, 1909- May 22, 1924"

Bobby's mother, and his uncle and sister at the internment of Bobby at Rosehill Cemetery

Loeb died in prison in 1936. He was attacked by a fellow inmate, James Day in the shower with a straight razor. Day claimed that Loeb tried to sexually assault him but there was no evidence to support the claim. Reminiscent to the way Bobby had died, 10 years earlier, Loeb was stabbed and his throat was slashed.

Leopold was released on parole in 1958 for good behavior. He later formed the Leopold foundation to help disturbed, retarded, and delinquent youth. The foundation was later voided by Illinois claiming it violated the terms of his parole.

Leopold moved to Puerto Rico and married. He earned a master's degree at the University of Puerto Rico and taught classes. He also published two books, one while in prison, Life Plus 99 Years, and another in 1963: The Checklist of Birds of Puerto Rico and The Virgin Islands.

He died in 1977 from complications to diabetes and donated his corneas to science.

Bobby's mother, Flora, and his brother Jack at the memorial dedication

Shortly after the verdict, Jacob Franks moved his family out of their home on Ellis Ave and into a suite at the Drake Hotel on Michigan Ave. Jacob Franks died in 1928. He left $100,000 for the creation of a memorial for Bobby.  A  gymnasium was dedicated on December 7, 1930, with Bobby's mother, Flora, and his older brother Jack, in attendance.

Rumors have surfaced over the years that the ghost of a boy with dark hair and a baseball cap was seen around Bobby's crypt.

Citations:

Leopold and Loeb's Criminal Minds
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/leopold-and-loebs-criminal-minds-996498/

The Other Frank's Son, Jack M. Franks
http://undereverystone.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-other-franks-son-jack-m-franks.html

Vintage Threads- Automobile Lap Robes
http://fountainheadauto.blogspot.com/2014/11/vintage-threads-automobile-lap-robes.html

Wikipedia- Leopold and Loeb
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_and_Loeb

Franks Family
https://loebandleopold.wordpress.com/franks/ 

Find A Grave- Franks' Mausoleum
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4578

The Chicago Crime Scene Project Blog
http://chicagocrimescenes.blogspot.com/2009/10/bobby-franks-home.html

Evil Summer, Babe Leopold, Dickie Loeb, and the Kidnap-Murder of Bobby Franks
Book by John Theodore
https://www.amazon.com/Evil-Summer-Leopold-Kidnap-Murder-Criminology/dp/0809327775

The Most Beautiful Suicide

Her legs are crossed, one ankle resting on the other. Her hands are clasped near her head. One hand is clutching her pearl neckless. Her head is tilted up and her mouth is slightly open. It's as if she fell asleep looking up at the sky, daydreaming. The scene at first glance seems to be peaceful, tranquil. However, it is anything but tranquil. The woman in the picture is dead. Her name is Evelyn McHale and she jumped to her death from the Empire State Building. The force of the collision is evident in the crumpled roof that molded around her body.

On May 12th, 1947 Evelyn climbed 1,576 steps 1 to the 86th-floor observatory of the Empire State Building. Once there, she folded her coat and laid it over the observation deck wall. 2 She then jumped off the building to her death, landing 1,050 feet below. 3 Her body landed on the roof of a limousine on 34th ave.

A young photographer named Robert Wiles, was across the street when he heard what sounded like an explosion, he ran over as a crowd was gathering around the crushed car and quickly snapped a photograph of Evelyn's body on the hood.

Detective Frank Murray found the suicide note she left, along with with her coat, and makeup kit.

"I don't want anyone in or out of my family to see any part of me. Could you destroy my body by cremation? I beg of you and my family, don't have any service for me or remembrance for me."

The following part of the suicide note was crossed out:
"My fiance asked me to marry him in June. I don't think I would make a good wife for anybody. He is much better off without me."

The note continued:
"Tell my father, I have too many of my mother's tendencies."

Evelyn was born in 1923 in Berkeley, California to the parents of Vincent and Helen McHale. Evelyn's parents divorced sometime around 1940 and Evelyn and her siblings lived with their Father.

Evelyn McHale | Photo: Geni.com

After high school, Evelyn joined the Women's, Army Corps. In 1944 she moved to Long Island, NY and started work as a bookkeeper in Manhattan. It was there, in New York that she met an Air Force navigator named Barry Rhodes. They became engaged. 4

The photo was subsequently published in Time Magazine on a full page in May 1947 and dubbed it "The Most Beautiful Suicide." The famous artist Andy Warhol used the photo in his prints entitled "Suicide (Fallen Body)". 5 It's ironic, that her wish was to not have her body viewed when the result of her suicide became so public, macabre as it is.

Evelyn's solution to her problems was permanent and tragic. No one really knows why Evelyn felt like she needed to end her life. Outwardly she seemed to have all the makings of happiness, a fiancee, a job, and a family. It's said that her mother, suffered from depression and Evelyn, obviously did too. I hope she has found some peace that she wasn't able to find in life.

Due to the nature of this blog post, I feel compelled to say that if you are contemplating suicide or know someone who is suicidal please reach out for help!

National Suicide Help Line
1-800-273-8255

Crisis Text Line
Text CONNECT to 741741