The Narrabeen Man

  In Jan. of 2005, the skeletal remains of a man were found by contractors digging for electricity cables near the corners of Octavia St. and Ocean St. in Narrabeen, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. It was determined that the remains were around 4,000-years-old. The man would be named the Narrabeen Man.

He was a man between 30 to 40-years-old when he died. He was 183 cm (6ft) which was tall for an Aboriginal man at the time. He was likely not from a tribe in the Sydney area as he still had his two front teeth. 

He was found in a posture that was not like tribal ceremonial burial. He was found on his side with one arm across his head instead of lying on his front with his arms across the chest or by his sides. He also seemed to have been speared to death with several spears ends seemingly broken off in his vertebrae and near other body parts. It's possible he may have been killed in a ritual murder for a crime.

SOURCES:
Wikipedia

Northern Beaches

Academic

History of Sydney

INFANTICIDE: April 28, 1879, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Baby Jane Doe

 On April 28, 1879, the body of a 2-week old infant girl was found in the Milwaukee River in Wisconsin. She was drowned. She was buried in the Milwaukee County Almshouse and Poor Farm Cemetery in Wauwatosa. 

The Find a Grave states that the info was gleaned by Robert J. Felber from Milwaukee Co death records vol 13 page 363

SOURCES:

Find A Grave 

Suicide of Minnie Quay and her ghost

James and Mary Ann Quay moved to Forester, Michigan in 1852, they would own a tavern called "Quay". Their firstborn, Minnie, would be born in May of 1861, their second, James Jr., in 1870, and their youngest Charles in 1874. Forester was a bust lumbering town and had a busy ship port for the lumber. 

Like many of the people in Forester Minnie would also go see the ships. Like many of the girls in town, she fell in love with a sailor. It's unknown now as to who the sailor was, but no one in town approved of the relationship between the young girl and the sailor. People in town would often warn her about the relationship, and her mother would tell her that she would rather see her dead than with that man.

 In April of 1876, 14-year-old Minnie would be devastated by the news of her sailor's ship had gone down in the sea. She was greatly upset especially since she was never able to tell the sailor goodbye. Her parents had not allowed her to go see him before he left for the last time. 

A few days later on April 27, 1876, Minnie would walk through town to Lake Huron. She would then commit suicide by jumping off of the town pier into the icy waters. Her suicide was witnessed by her little brother and he alarmed others of what she did. Though they were quick to help Minnie's body would be found an hour later. 

It's said that her ghost haunts the beaches. She is seen crying mournfully waiting for her sailor to return back home.  Others state that she tries to beckon young girls to the water and try to drown them.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Find a Grave 

Lost in Michigan

Murder of Eliza Wilkinson

 On April 26, 1880, 9-year-old Eliza Wilkinson and her sister 16-year-old Elizabeth went around Derby, England selling comb boxes that their father, James, made. They left their home on 67 Bridge St. with 14 comb boxes they were selling for half a penny each. They would sell 12 of the 14 boxes and decided to take a box each.  About 11 a.m. they would make it to Green St. and Elizabeth gave her a comb box to sell on her own. Eliza would speak to a number of people and would be unsuccessful in selling the box. This was when Eliza went missing.

Elizabeth didn't know what happened to her young sister and would return home around 11 a.m.and asked her father if Eliza returned home. The girl did not. Elizabeth explained to her father that she was trying to sell hers on one side and Eliza on the other. Her father would send her and her younger brother, James, to look for Eliza again.

When they returned to look for her they asked residents if they had seen her. One woman would tell the two young children of their sister's fate. "A man has killed your sister." The children shocked made their way to Tan Yard and in the house of 28-year-old John Wakefield that he shared with his mother and brother was the police. Inside Eliza had been murdered. 

James would return home and tell him that a man has Eliza in his house. The two would head to where Eliza was. The father would see his daughter lying near the stairs inside in a puddle of blood.

John had Eliza come into the home and had slit her throat cutting it twice. Her death wouldn't have been sudden, she would have died between 5 to 10 minutes. Eliza had bruises on her knees it was unknown if this happened before the murder or during. One knee had fresh scratches though. She was not sexually assaulted.

After he had murdered her he turned himself into the police. It's believed that it was a homicidal impulse that he had killed the girl. He would state that he was "tired of his life" was the reason he killed the girl. He was quiet about why he killed the girl though.

John was a quiet homebody. There is little information on his criminal past, but according to the book Deadly Derbyshire" Tales of Murder & Manslaughter c.1700–1900, in 1871 John was convicted of assaulting a young child.

John would be convicted and set to be executed. He was hanged on August 16, 1880.

SOURCES:

Murder Research

The Derby Mercury May 5, 1880

Birmingham Daily Post August 17, 1880

Deadly Derbyshire: Tales of Murder & Manslaughter c.1700–1900 by Scott Lomax Chapter 38

The Lancet, Volume 2; Volume 119 pg. 269

UNIDENTIFIED: April 23, 1910 Naco, Mexico John Doe

 On April 23, 1910, a man was found in Naco, Mexico. He had been beaten and shot to death that day.  The man was in his mid to late 40s. There is little information in this case.  

SOURCES:

Unidentified Wiki

Find a Grave

Murder of Samuel "Sam" Martin

 In the Spring of 1872, 20-year-old Sam Martin was murdered by 42-year-old York Lattimore (Lattimer) and 24-year-old Jerry Thompson in Rutherford County, North Carolina. It's unstated how Sam had been killed, but the motive for it was because of the rivalry for a white whore. All three men were intimate with her.

On April 18th the two had escaped jail with two other prisoners. They would be caught and tried for the murder. The two would be found guilty and executed on November 8, 1872.

SOURCES:

Legal Executions in North Carolina and South Carolina page 19

The New Berne Times April 19, 1872

Tri-Weekly Era May 9, 1872

Carolina Watchman October 10, 1872

Tri-Weekly Era November 18, 1872

STRANGE HISTORY: Aurora, Texas UFO

 

On April 17, 1897, around 6 a.m. early risers in Aurora, Texas were surprised by the sight of something crashing from the sky. The UFO was seen flying over the town and was only going twelve or ten miles per hour. It slowly started descending as if there was something was wrong with the machinery. It eventually hit Judge Proctors windmill in the north of town.

There were pieces of destruction for several acres. The windmill was demolished, the UFO was also demolished, and the judge's flower garden and water tank were destroyed from the crash.  

The only casualty was the lonely pilot of the ship. Even though he was badly mutilated it was obvious that he was not of this world. There were also papers from the wreckage in an unknown language that was similar to hieroglyphics. 

The next day they gave the spaceman they assumed to have been from Mars an Earthly funeral.

In the Aurora Cemetery the body of the "pilot" they then named Ned. In 1972 scientists wanted to dig up the body and investigate. The cemetery association blocked their requests because only the next of kin are allowed to give permission to exhumations. Even though there was no known next of kin or if Ned was a spaceman or even a poor animal casualty of the supposed crash. At this same time, the grave marker was stolen.

It's believed that the whole event may have been a hoax by the townspeople. They had previously had many tragedies happen in the town. The cotton fields were destroyed by a boll weevil infestation, a fire on the west side destroyed some building and killing some people, and a spotted fever that caused some to be quarantined. It didn't help that the railroad was 27 miles from Aurora. So it's possible that in threat of dying out caused the townspeople to create a hoax that would attract many to their small town.

SOURCES:
Wikipedia
Texas Hill Country
Roadside America
Mutual UFO Network
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Aurora Texas