John David owed Arvid Helloian a debt. Arvid was content...

  It was cold that early February morning as the...

When Olive Funk was killed, nearly everyone saw it happen....

    The handgun glinted in the sun, shaking slightly...

In 1906, everyone loved Grace Reed. Everyone wanted to be...

  It was a beautiful evening, Grace Reed thought. She...

In 1940, a burning car in rural South Dakota held...

  Warning: This material contains content that may be sensitive...

  Guy Gilbert was probably a little surprised when his...

Guy Gilbert returned to his South Dakota home to find...

Mary Schultz was a young, well-educated 20-year-old with her whole...

  After a long, cold winter, spring had finally arrived...

Another collection of short tales from Midwest history, Volume 3...

  I’ve always been fascinated by the little stories, the...

Shortly before Christmas 1946, 35-year-old Bessie Moore trip to bake...

Bessie smiled to herself as she carefully wrapped her cookie...

Heartrending events in the life of Margaretha Nehlsen had brought...

  Starting in about 1820 and ending at the turn...

Mary Schlais was murdered on a cold February morning in...

  When the residents of Dunn County, Wisconsin woke up...

  Mary Schlais was a beautiful young artist with her...

The young woman walked slowly along the shoulder of the...

  Steamboats are an iconic part of the history of...

  The Mississippi River, despite its nickname the “Big Muddy,”...

The first time that I remember hearing about a place...

The Death Curve of Cambridge, Illinois, will forever be linked...

Horace and Geneva’s marriage began to fall apart for all...

Living with another person is not always an easy thing....

When I was growing up, western movies were just starting...

Stories of the American West have captivated generations of people....

By 1930, 68-year-old George W. Appleby had practiced medicine for...

Dr. George Appleby was everything a small-town doctor should be:...

In 1922, Myrtle Belden was a rural mail carrier around...

In many true crime tales, women are all too often...

William Koenig came to America with his family for a...

Some have said that the most dangerous people that you...

In 1921, 18-year-old Marie Wick checked into a Fargo hotel...

Earlier this  year, I was driving down Illinois Route 84,...

In 1918, Americans on the home front were supporting their...

As America prepared to fight World War I, the deadliest...

Mt. Zion is a small cemetery outside of Newton, Iowa....

I have always loved Adams County. Located in the southwestern...

When I was attending Iowa State University, I decided that...

History is a forgetful creature. While there is much about...

One night several years ago – longer ago than I...

I’m not afraid of the dark. I take my trash...

Charles Englehart was attacked outside of his car one dark...

If history is made up of small stories, then some...

When I was younger, I spent a year working for...

In the early 1900’s, a Nebraska schoolteacher visited an unspeakable...

Jeffery McCain was going to school. Jeffery, or Jeffy, as...

An early December blizzard chilled Iowa to the bone. It...

The rain began to fall steadily across Iowa. The weather...

Malone, Iowa, is perhaps the best hidden town in Clinton...

No expects to see a life-sized hippo along an Iowa...

If you had just spent eight years in prison, would...

Paul Schroeder ran through the repair shop, trying to avoid...

In 1921, a former newspaper editor and a barber decided...

Some people just don’t know when to quit. Granted, that’s...

The murder of the Spencer family was one of the...

Most of us take our lives for granted. We wake...

Willis James was just going to work in 1877. Instead,...

  Welcome to the first story of the new year,...

In the 1870’s, the town of Delmar, Iowa, had a...

George Scott was a loving family man. All of a...

   In 1927, William Coffey was a middle-aged newlywed on...

January is a cold month in the Midwest, especially in...

In 1943, Naomi Cheney was murdered in Sioux Falls, South...

December 7, 1941 was a day that changed America. After...

Mabel Moore and William Stewart each lost a spouse in...

In 1940, a burning car in rural South Dakota held...

In a St. Louis hotel room in 1912, Mabel Moore...

16-year-old Augusta Bartz was murdered in  1892. Even though her...

Fall is a transitional season. The temperatures start to get...

We all love ghost stories, but not all of them...

I love a good ghost story. Ever since I was...

In 1933, William Kelly made a horrific decision. He would...

Hauntings are a hallmark of the Halloween season. A common...

The desecration of human remains and burial sites are regarded...

In 2002, a friend of mine and I took a...

When Indiana police heard that Leonard Grubb had killed a...

A large part of making it through prison is learning...

   Some relatives are unwelcome at Christmas. Some are rude....

Christmas morning is something that’s looked forward to by families...

When Iowa policemen arrested a robbery suspect in 1947, they...

   By March 8, 1947, police in Davenport, Iowa, were...

In 1924, Cora Raber was a young woman who found...

On August 10, 1924, the decomposed body of a young...

Charles Strelow couldn’t watch over his hidden fortune all the...

I hate movies where the dogs die. I always have....

Charles Strelow lived as a virtual hermit. For decades, there...

Theodore Strelow had been born in Germany, but had come...

Even familiar noises can seem odd in a new house....

There’s nothing quite like moving into a new house. In...

Carl Albright was in his mid-twenties, with his whole life...

The wind howled, and the dog howled, too. The air...

Locals suspected that something was off when Harry Singer started...

When May Lewis came home, no one else was there....

On the afternoon of January 20, 1922, May Lewis returned...

Mary and Alonzo Singer were murdered in their rural Indiana...

In 1907, Henry Warren walked into a local newspaper and...

The following subject matter is of a very sensitive nature....

Sod houses and dugouts were dwellings that faded away on...

Pioneers who rolled across the Midwestern Prairies during the 19th...

The world was breathing a little easier at the end...

August 30, 1945, was a day like any other in...

We love getting presents in the mail. But what happens...

Getting mail is a strange thing. On one hand, we...

Lt. Naomi Kathleen Cheney looked at the solider standing guard...

In 1943, Lt. Naomi Cheney came to Sioux Falls, South...

In 1898, Judge John Dillon was rich and successful. But...

John F. Dillon stood, inspecting the monument in front of...

People love stories of buried treasure, but that’s not the...

For centuries, people have been fascinated by the idea of...

The day had started out normally for 18-year-old Walter Garenz....

In 1905, a St. Paul, Minnesota butcher was brutally murdered...

Thomas Clark was hungry. A lot of people think they’ve...