UNIDENTIFIED: 1959 Highland County, Virginia John Doe

In 1959 or 1960 a human cranium was found in Highland County, Virginia. It was then stored in a closet at the county jail until it was found and transferred to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner. It is believed that the person died between 1958 to 1959. There is little information in this case. 

John Doe is an African American male between 21 to 45-years-old. 

SOURCES:

NamUs

End of Watch: Murder of Constable James Corcoran

On October 30, 1850, in Philidelphia, Pennsylvania. 32-year-old Constable James Corcoran spotted a man who had a warrant for assaulting his wife. He arrested the man. They were only a few blocks from the magistrate's office and when they were on Vine St and 13th St the man kicked the constable in the abdomen twice. He would flee.

A citizen saw what had happened. The citizen walked the Constable back to the magistrate's office. The citizen reported what had happened and was deputized to arrest the man. The citizen and Constable Corcoran went to serve the warrant. The subject was spotted walking past the magistrate's office and he was quickly arrested. 

Constable Corcoran would return home and a doctor would be summoned the following morning. He was still having pain in his abdomen, and surgery was performed. His health would decline and he would die on November 1st. 

The man was charged with murder and was found guilty of manslaughter on March 21, 1851. A motion for a new trial was denied by a local judge the following month. 

SOURCES:

Criminal Justice Research Center

Criminal Justice Research Center PDF pg 32

Officer Down Memorial Page

UNIDENTIFIED: October 26, 1856 Stockton, California Antione

On October 24, 1856, a man around 36-years-old named Antoine was admitted to Ward No 2. to Stockton State Hospital in Stockton, California. He would die 2 days later on the 26th from Epilepsy. There is little information in this case. He was described as being an "idiot" and was French.  He was also a Charity Patient. 

SOURCES:

Unidentified Wiki

Find a Grave

HAUNTED: Pupa The Doll

 

Pupa the Doll was a doll made for a little Italian girl in the 1920s. She would own the doll up until her death in 2005. Since she was a girl the owner stated that the doll was alive and would talk to her throughout the years. The doll was a friend who helped a little girl grow up and kept her secrets.

Pupa and her owner's family would travel a lot throughout Europe and the U.S. At the end of WWII, her owner's grandmother would pass away and as a memento, they sewed a button from her grandmother's clothes onto Pupas. Pupa and her owner would eventually settle in the U.S. and her owner would start a family. 

Her owner would often tell family members how special Pupa was and it wasn't until after death that they realized it was true. After her owner's death, she was still active. She is now kept in a glass case and isn't happy about it. When someone decided to clean the case they fogged up the window and saw the message Pupa Hate on the glass. Sometimes tapping can be heard on the glass and at times a strange faint laugh can be heard.

SOURCES:

ObscUrban Legends

Emadion

The Paranormal Guide

Unsolved Murder of Joseph "Joe Stevenson

 Around 12:30 a.m. on October 22, 1953 police received a call for a shooting at the Blue Goose Jook in Belle Glade, Florida. The Blue Goose Jook was a gambling location in Zellwood owned by Lee Grant, who was at the location. The body of Joseph Stevenson who went by Joe Stevens was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds near The Blue Goose Jook.

SOURCES:

Orange County Sheriff's

Murder of Baker Tilley

 On October 21, 1871, 31-year-old Pompey Lyon stabbed  Baker Tilley in Orange County, North Carolina. The motive for the murder was a fracas at a husking bee. Pompey would be executed on December 15, 1871.

SOURCES:

Legal Executions in North Carolina and South Carolina pg 18

Tri-Weekly Era November 7, 1871

The Wilmington Morning Star December December 23, 1871

MONSTERS: Tano Giant

 

In the Upper parts of the Boin Tano Forest in Ghana, Africa, a tale is told by the natives of the area of the Tano Giant. It seems to be a bigfoot-like creature described as a white ape of extraordinary structure and human instinct. They are described as larger than a man with arms as thick as a man's body. His skin is white, but black hair grows on it. They only have four fingers and no thumbs, the head is flat and small for its size, but the same size as a large monkey's head. His facial features are similar to monkeys, their mouth is the same, and has large teeth. It's said that they carry the skin of a bush cow and during the when cold. The creature is also dangerous.

A hunter once tried to shoot the Tano Giant, but the creature broke the gun and the hunter's arms. There are other similar stories. It attacked two women gathering plantains and kidnapped one and the other woman left screaming. This woman was never found again. It's said that several children were kidnapped by it and their bodies were later found mutilated with their bowels devoured. 

To help keep the Tano Giant away doors are barricaded at night and broiled plantains and cassava are left on the jungle paths to the village. This is to help appease his hunger and hope he does not find his next meal in the village. But if they do appear in the village he only runs away when a fire is thrown at them.

SOURCES:

Cryptid Wiki

Kook Science

Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology Volume 2 page 535

UNIDENTIFIED: October 10, 1914 Yuma, Arizona John Doe

 On October 10 1914 the body of a man was found in Yuma, Arizona. He had been murdered the same day, but it's unstated how. The murderer was unknown. 

John Doe was a black male around 40-years-old. 

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

Unidentified Wiki

MISSING: Sveinbjörn Jakobsson

 At 7 p.m. on October 9, 1930, 46-year-old Sveinbjörn Jakobsson, an Icelandic fisherman, took a taxi to a household in Reykjavík, Iceland. He left the taxi without paying and went inside the household. When Sveinbjörn didn't return to the car the taxi driver contacted the police. 

Police would ask residents of the home the taxi driver claimed that he went into. People inside claimed to have not seen him, and he had not been there. Sveinbjörn was never seen again, and foul play was suspected in his case.

The next day he was supposed to return home on a cruise ship. He was a fisherman and was believed to have had a significant amount of money on himself at the time because it was the end of Herring season. 

 His case was the first disappearance to be investigated as a homicide in Iceland. 

Sveinbjörn is a white male and was 46-years-old at the time. He had false teeth.

SOURCES:

Internation Missing Persons Wiki

Facebook

IMDB2

UNIDENTIFIED: October 9, 1901 Somerville, Indiana John Doe

On October 8, 1901, a young unknown man would be seen in Somerville, Indiana. On the 9th he would be seen walking up and down the streets stopping to rest once in a while in front of stores. He spoke very little, but people could tell he was of more than ordinary intelligence. He had gone to the train station several times to ask when the train was going to arrive. 

He would start walking down the track about 30 minutes before the train would arrive. When the train got close to him he ignored it. The engineer in the cab blew the whistle and it alerted the man. He looked up at the train and walked to the edge of the track as if he was going to walk off the track, but stopped just before doing so with one foot on the rail. Instead of walking off he turned and walked towards the train.

The Train tried to stop but was not able to. The man was struck but was still alive and unconscious. The train crew would bring him aboard and physicians aboard tried to help him. It seemed that he broke his arm, his back was injured and he had internal injuries. He died a few minutes after his arrival. 

The man seemed to have taken precautions before his death. There did not seem to have been any way of identifying him. It may have been his plan to kill himself in this town where no one knew him.

John Doe was around 21 years old. He was well dressed and may have been middle class. 

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

Evansville Courier and Press October 10, 1901

Evansville Courier and Press October 11, 1901

Suspicious Deaths: Edgar Allen Poe

 

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most known Authors of America. He was a poet, writer, critic, and editor that  Many of his short stories and poems haunted the minds of the readers. He’s even credited with giving birth to the detective story.  He’s even inspired many like Alfred Hitchcock. His poems and stories have even been adapted into a film and T.V. Poe even wrote a poem that the Baltimore Ravens were named after.

Born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts, but was raised in Richmond Virginia. It’s not surprising that Poe’s young life was not shy from death at an early age. Before he was 3 years old both of his parents had died, his first love died when he was 15, and his foster mother when he was 20.

Poe did not know his parents and was separated from his brothers and sisters after their mother had died. He was sent to live with John and Frances Valentine Allan who were tobacco merchants. They never officially adopted Poe. He had gone to a good school and grew up in a good environment. But John and Poe did not get along, but Frances and he did. John did not like the fact that Poe wasn’t following in the family business and wanted to do literature.

When Poe was 6 he was sent for schooling in England. He returned to America when he was 11.

By the time Poe was 13, he was considered a prolific poet. Both his foster father and headmaster tried to discourage him. Neither could as he focused on his poetry. It was rumored that Poe even wrote poetry on the back of his foster father's paperwork.

By the time he was an adult, Poe did not mend his relationship with his father. Poe had gotten into the University of Virginia in 1826. Poe was a great student who excelled in his classes but did not get enough money from Allan to pay for everything. In order to help Poe turned to gamble, but it backfired causing him to go into debt. This was also the time that Poe started to drink excessively.

When he returned home he found that his fiance Sarah Elmira Royster was engaged to someone else. This made Poe decide to move to Boston and join the military. In 1827 Poe published his first poetry book called Tamerlane and Other Poems. In 1829 he published his second collection of poems called Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems.

In 1829 Poe was honorably discharged from the military. He had acquired the label regimental sergeant major. Poe’s father refused to give him the money to stay a cadet, and when Poe began to ignore his duties and violating regulations the military discharged him. Some think that he did it to spite his father.

He then went to New York City where he published his third poetry book Poems in 1831. Poe then moved to Baltimore to live with his Aunt Maria Clemm and her daughter Virginia. Poe was not rich and could not sustain himself on his own. Even after his father’s death in 1834, he wasn’t left with anything extravagant. In 1835 though Poe found a job at the Southern Literary Messenger as an editor in Richmond, Virginia. Poe brought with him his Aunt and his 12-year-old cousin. While being an editor he published many of his own poems and stories.

In 1836 when he was 26 he married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia. The two were first cousins when Poe started to live with His Aunt Maria Clemm and Virginia he began doting on her. She eventually became the inspiration and a love interest. It was not uncommon at the time for first cousins to marry.

In the late 1830’s and 1840’s Poe’s works began to get more attention, but he didn’t make much profit from his works. He started editing for Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine and Graham’s Magazine in Philadelphia and the Broadway Journal in New York City.

Sadly on January 30, 1847, Virginia died from a 5 year-long battle with tuberculosis. She was 24 years old. This affected Poe deeply. He was reported to not want to see his wife’s face dead and would have wanted to remember seeing her as alive. Not having a picture of her he hired a painter to paint her.

On October 3, 1849, Poe was found wandering the streets of Baltimore delirious. He was brought to Washington Medical Hospital. It was found out that he was not wearing his own clothes. It was said that Poe was never coherent enough to say what had happened to him.

On October 7, 1849, at the age 40-years-old, Poe met with death and like many of his poems and stories, it’s a mystery. At the time Newspapers claimed that it was congestion of the brain from his alcoholism. In reality, no one is sure how he had died. There are many theories on what had happened.

Some think it might have been caused by a beating, or epilepsy, or even Alcohol poisoning, and many more theories. Even one theory is that he was a victim of electoral fraud which citizens force people to vote repeatedly for a candidate. They make the person change their clothes and force them to vote for a certain candidate which would have accounted for him not wearing his own clothes. It can sometimes lead to violence and sometimes death.

And the man who wrote about mysteries death involved a large mystery.

SOURCES:

Biography

Poetry Foundation

Poe Museum

Wikipedia