August 8, 1838 Manhattan, New York John Doe

 On August 8, 1838, an unknown man died at the City Hospital in Manhattan, New York. He would be buried at Potter's Field Fiftieth Street. There is little information in this case.

John Doe was a man around 45-years-old.

SOURCES:

Find A Grave

December 2, 1838 Akron, Ohio Jane Doe

 On December 2, 1838, an elderly woman would die in Akron, Ohio. She had died from consumption.

Jane Doe was a woman and was around 70-years-old. 

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

The Ballgudden Woman and Infant

In 1831 the body of a woman and an infant were found in a bog in Northern Ireland. The woman was determined to have had blonde hair. The infant was skeletonized next to her body. It's unstated or unknown if the bodies were related. The bodies are now either lost or destroyed. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Irish Central

Mummipedia

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

Who Were The First People Photographed?

The first surviving photograph with people was taken in 1838 by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre. The photo isn't of a particular person, but of the scenery of Boulevard du Temple, Paris. The type of photograph that this is is called a Daguerreotypes after this famous photographer.

The street itself looks empty, but it was actually busy at the time. Due to the exposure time being more than 10 minutes and the traffic was too fast to be caught on camera. If you look at the bottom right of the photo you could see a man getting his boots polished by another long enough to show. Another man can be seen reading a newspaper on a bench to the left of the duo. To the right underneath one of the street lantern, a woman is standing. You may be able to spot some possible ones such as a man standing under an awning of the third building or the two faces in the windows in the closest building.

It's believed that Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre didn't know any of the people he photographed, or if he did he didn't do it on purpose. Some believe though that the duo seen very clear were planted there by him to pull the photograph together. It'll never be known but either way, Daguerre was probably pleased with seeing people in the photograph.

SOURCES:
Wikipedia

Alistar Scott

Open Culture