The Kitchen Table Historian

I am an author and historian who writes about long-forgotten and out of the way events and places. I love the bizarre, the unusual, and the downright weird. I write a regular blog at my website, www.johnbrassardjrcom.wordpress.com, and also manage a facebook page about things of historical interest called The Kitchen Table Historian.

Episode 104: Percy Smith: A “…Cold, Calculated, Premediated Murder.”

No one had seen Percy Smith since he had gone to buy cattle from a man near Council Bluffs, Iowa. When police were called, their search led to Corliss Bruntlett, a man with a hidden past. They soon discovered that he was concealing an even darker secret that would shock their community.   Sources Haws, …

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Percy Smith: A “…Cold, Calculated, Premediated Murder.”

  Eulalia Smith had been worried about her husband since that Lundgreen man had called her. There was just something not right about that phone call. Looking out the window of their home in Council Bluffs, Iowa, an anxious look crossed Eulalia’s face. Lundgreen – whoever he was – had told her that Percy wanted …

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Episode 103: Andreas Bichel: A Fortune Told In Blood

Christine Leidel thought the fortune teller seemed nice enough, but you couldn’t be too careful in 1808 Bavaria. When he offered to look into her future, she decided to trust him. Christine Leidel had just made an appointment with one of the most infamous murderers in European history.   Sources Germany from c. 1760 to …

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Beyond Recognition: What Started the St. Elizabeth’s Fire?

  The fire had started at around 2 a.m. in the early morning hours of January 7, 1950. Half an hour later, St. Elizabeth’s Mental Hospital would be engulfed in flames. Firemen and other rescuers hacked at the iron bars covering the windows to the patient’s rooms. Many of the patients screamed desperately into the …

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Episode 100: Beyond Recognition: What Started the St. Elizabeth’s Fire?

In this, the second part of the tragic story of the St. Elizabeth’s Mental Hospital Fire of 1950, people across America were shocked by the disaster that had claimed the lives of 41 people. Fire and police investigators were eager to find out what had caused the blaze. When they did, the truth was almost …

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