April 21,1823, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania John Doe

On April 21, 1823, an unknown man died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

John Doe was a black male and was around 50-years-old. 

SOURCES:

Find A Grave

August 12, 1823, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania John Doe

  On August 12, 1823, a man died or was found dead in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There is little information in this case. 

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

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

Cryptids: Jackalope and Jackanape

Image created in Bing Image Creator

Jackalope is a well-known fearsome critter. It is described as a jackrabbit with antelope antlers sometimes even a pheasant tail or hind legs. The name "Jackalope" derives from jackrabbit and antelope. There have been similar cryptids in history, but this one is based in America. It's said that the first sighting was in 1829 in Douglas, Wyoming.

Jackalopes are said to be extremely shy unless approached. They can often run fast around 90 miles per hour. It is said that they can imitate almost any sound including human voices. When they use human voice usually it's in phrases such as "There he goes! That way!". It's said that if you leave a flask of alcohol out a Jackalope would drink it and become intoxicated making it easier to hunt. 

Jackanapes are the female version and are said to be able to milk while sleeping lying face up. Their milk is said to have medicinal uses. It is said that Jackanapes usually only breed during electrical storms or hail.

It's possible that the first sightings and some of them afterward were rabbits infected with the Shope papillomavirus. Which causes kreatine growths in rabbits typically near its head. It is probably the most common hoax taxidermied animal.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia (Jackalope)

Wikipedia ( Shope Papillomavirus)

Cryptid Wiki

Unknown Artist: Ehre Vater Artist

The Ehre Vater Artist was an American fraktur artist active between 1782 to 1828, It was found that the artist could be traced in every county in Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, and Ontario that saw the settlement of German immigrants. The name given to this artist is a german phrase meaning "honor father and mother", which is frequently found in the artist's art. It's believed that the artist lived among the Moravians of Salem, North Carolina. He however did accept patrons from other religious groups for example Roman Catholics. 

The artist included aspects of Moravian Hymnody and had a particular skill in their cursive. It is also drawn on special paper with engraved scenes, which was unique in the works of known fraktur artists. Other common symbols in their art are pilasters used as portions of borers, large geometric balls that are sometimes surrounded by a piece of verse, and snakes twined with texts such as hymn lyrics. 

Four known artists of this artist are in the collection of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, and other works are owned by the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, and Winterthur Museum.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Mutual Arts

Christies

September 24, 1825 Natchez, Mississippi John Doe

 On September 23, 1825, a man would arrive in Natchez, Mississippi on foot. He had a fiddle and a small bundle of clothes with him. The next morning the man would be found dead on a bench in the Market house. It was believed that he had died from some unknown disease. 

The man was believed to have been around 35-years-old.

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

Curses: The Chained Oak

Near to the village of Alton, England, there is an old oak tree wrapped in chains on a footpath to the left of the Chained Oak B&B. The tree is known as The Old Oak and according to legend, it holds a deadly legend for a family.

One autumn day in the 1800s the Earl of Shrewsbury was on his way to the Alton Towers in a horse and coach. Suddenly there was an old woman who showed up in front of them. The coach would stop to find out why the woman was there. The woman would then ask them for a coin. The Earl would ignore and cruelly dismiss the poor woman. She would then tell the Earl that she had cursed him and each time a branch fell off of the old oak tree one of his family members would die. The Earl refused to listen to her silly curse and continued on his way.

That same night a violent storm would happen. It would cause a single branch from the cursed tree to fall. A member of the Earl's family would die mysteriously that night. The Earl now believing in the curse would order servants to chain every branch together to prevent branches from falling and the premature death of a family member.


There are some variants from retelling the tale. Sometimes it's an old man, sometimes the branch falls on the Earl's son with the old woman watching, and in some tellings, the Earl takes the branch and does experiments on it to find a way to end premature deaths. But did it happen?

The legend may have been around since 1821 which would make it the 15th Earl of Shrewsbury, Charles Talbot. But other sources say that the legend has been around since the 1840s which would make it the 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, John Talbot. 

Now if it was John Talbot this legend does not match what he was known as. He was remembered as "Good Earl John", he had a very good reputation of being charitable. He supported and helped communities build in the Midlands. He was known to have supported schools and churches, and even helped build new Catholic chapels in the Midlands. He was also known to help build almshouses for the poor and elderly in Alton. 

He did have 4 deaths of family members after the 1840s, but none of them was sudden or mysterious. His youngest daughter Lady Gwendoline Catherine Talbot died in 1840 at 22 in Rome by Scarlet Fever and 3 of her children died shortly after from measles.  Making it unlikely that the man was him if some of the legends were true.

On April 9, 2007, one of the main branches from the tree fell off and no one from the Talbot family mysteriously died. 

The tree may have been chained in an attempt to preserve it. The 15th and 16th Earls extended Alton Towers and planted many new trees. The old trees like the chained oak were greatly prized and since it was in a highly visible place it was chained to keep it from collapsing under its own weight.

SOURCES: 

Wikipedia

BBC

Alton Towers

Atlas Obscura

Oddity Central

Ramblers Retreat

Murder of Joseph Hedley

80-year-old Joseph Hedley was a master at quilting so much so it was his job and people nicknamed him Joe the Quilter. People claimed he was very welcoming and described as a harmless and inoffensive man.

It was believed that the crime happened on Jan 3, 1826, Joseph was found inside his cottage in Northumberland, England. It had started in his cottage, he was hit upon the head with a coal rake. He was able to get out of his home, but the killer followed behind. The struggle continued across the road from the cottage where the killer continued to beat the old man. The killer then dragged him back to his home where it caused him to lose his shoes and tear his clothes. The killer then began to use a clasp knife on him. His throat was slit and his face mangles. He was still alive when this happened as he had cuts on his hand from the knife.

Having not seen Joseph for a few days neighbors got worried and went to check up on him. What they found was a bloody mess. The room seemed to have been covered in his blood. The killer even wiped his hands and then folded the towel and placed it upon a quilting frame. The cupboards and drawers seemed to have been rummaged through. Money may have been stolen.

It was believed that Joseph knew his killer.

SOURCES:
New Castle Weekly Courant
The Bury and Norwich Post 
Caledonian Mercury 
BBC
Unsolved Murders

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

'Twas the Night Before Christmas is a poem that many are familiar with. What most people aren't familiar with is the original author of the poem. The poem was sent in anonymously to the New York Troy's Sentinel in 1823. On December 23, 1823 the poem was published and now we have a classic that's been around for almost 200 years.

The poem that finally gave Santa's reindeer's names wasn't claimed until 13 years later.  A Professor and Poet, Clement Clarke Moore, confessed he had written the poem and was embarrassed by it. He had written it for his children, and it was sent in by housekeeper. There are doubts that Moore had written the poem though as there were references to Dutch culture and it was written in a way that he's never written any of his other poems.

Henry Livingston Jr's family came forward claiming he had been reciting the poem for at least 15 years before it was published. Another thing that adds to the claim is that Livingston had a Dutch background. The Reindeer's Donner and Blitzen were originally Dunder and Blixem meaning thunder and lightning in Dutch. The family and even a neighbor girl claimed to have heard the poem as early as 1807. They even had evidence of revisions of the poem Livingston wrote, but it burned up when the family home burned down.

Even though Moore is more often credited for the poem. It is still a mystery on who had actually written it.

SOURCES:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/26719/mystery-behind-worlds-most-famous-christmas-poem
https://www.poetrynation.com/mystery-behind-twas-night-christmas/