September 17, 1849 Manhattan, New York John Doe

On September 17, 1849 a man would die in the hospital in Manhattan, New York.

John Doe was a male around 35-years-old.

SOURCES:
Find a Grave

The Clarendon Dry Pile

 

The Clarendon Dry Pile is also known as the Oxford Electric Bell has the longest-lasting battery to date. The experimental electric bell was built by instrument makers Watkins and Hills in 1840. The electric bell have continuously rung since it was built, but it is currently inaudible due to two layers of glass protecting it. There have been short interruptions due to high humidity, but the bell still rings regardless. 

The experiment consists of two brass bells both positioned beneath a dry pile. The pair of piles connect in series giving the bells opposite electric charges. The clapper is a 4mm metal sphere suspended between the bells ringing them. When the clapper touches one bell it is then charged by the pile and repelled due to the same charge and attracted to the other bell. This process repeats and continues. The use of electrostatic forces means that even though it's a high voltage little charge is carried between the bells producing 2 Hertz being the oscillation frequency. This leads the drainage of the battery to drain slowly and may be the reason the bells still ring to this day.

The bell was purchased by clergyman and physicist Robert Walker and resides in the corridor adjacent to the foyer of the Clarendon Laboratory at the University of Oxford in England. Until the bell stops working either by the batteries not working or the clapper breaking the dry pile won't be looked at to see why it's still going. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Atlas Obscura

Department of Physics

August 1845 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Jane Doe

 In August of 1845, a woman would die in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There is little information in this case.

She was of African descent and was around 54-years-old.

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

Bog Bodies: Frær Mose Woman

 The Frær Mose Woman was found four feet beneath a Denmark bog in 1842. Only her foot, a well-preserved wool garment, and a shoe were found. It's not stated whether or not this was a recent death or historical. There is no time window stated for when she lived and died. 

SOURCES: 

Mummipedia 

Wikipedia

Academic

Liqui Search

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

September 17, 1849 Manhattan, New York Unknown Man

  On September 17, 1849, an Unknown Man around 35-years-old died in a Manhattan, New York Hospital. It is unstated his cause of death, but he was buried at a potters field on forty-fifth street in Manhattan.  

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

Unidentified Wiki

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe is one of most known Author’s of America. He was a poet, writer, critic, and editor that  Many of his short stories and poems haunted the minds of the readers. He’s even credited with giving birth to the detective story.  He’s even inspired many like Alfred Hitchcock.His poems and stories have even been adapted into film and T.V. Poe even wrote a poem that the Baltimore Ravens were named after.

Born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, but was raised in Richmond Virginia. It’s not surprising that Poe’s young life was not shy from death at an early age.Before he was 3 years old both of his parents had died, his first love  died when he was 15 and his foster mother when he was 20.

Poe did not know his parents and  was separated from his brothers and sisters after their mother had died. He was sent to live with John and Frances Valentine Allan who were tobacco merchants. They never officially adopted Poe.He had went to good school and grew up in a good environment. But John and Poe did not get along, but Frances and him did. John did not like the fact that Poe wasn’t following in the family business and wanted to do literature.

When Poe was 6 he was sent for schooling in England. He returned to America when he was 11.

By the time Poe was 13 he was considered a prolific poet. Both his foster father and head master tried to discourage him. Neither could as he focused on his poetry. It was rumored that Poe even wrote poetry on the back of his foster father's paperwork.

By the time he was an adult Poe did not mend his relationship with his father. Poe had gotten into the University of Virginia in 1826. Poe was a great student who excelled in his classes, but did not get enough money from Allan to pay for everything. In order to help Poe turned to gambling, but it backfired causing him to go into debt. This was also the time that Poe started to drink excessively.

When he returned home he found that his fiance Sarah Elmira Royster was engaged to someone else. This made Poe decide to move to Boston and join the military. In 1827 Poe published his first poem book called Tamerlane and Other Poems. In 1829 he published his second collection of poems called Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems.

In 1829 Poe was honorably discharged from the military. He had acquired the label regimental sergeant major. Poe’s father refused to give him the money to stay a cadet, and when Poe began to ignore his duties and violating regulations the military discharged him. Some think that he did it to spite his father.

He then went to New York City where he published his third poem book Poems in 1831. Poe then moved to Baltimore to live with his Aunt Maria Clemm and her daughter Virginia. Poe was not rich and could not sustain himself on his own. Even after his father’s death in 1834 he wasn’t left with anything extravagant. In 1835 though Poe found a job at the Southern Literary Messenger as an editor in Richmond, Virginia. Poe brought with him his Aunt and his 12 year old cousin. While being an editor he published many of his own poems and stories.

In 1836 when he was 26 he married his 13 year old cousin Virginia. The two were first cousins when Poe started to live with His Aunt Maria Clemm and Virginia he began doting on her. She eventually became inspiration and a love interest. It was not uncommon at the time for first cousins to marry.

In the late 1830’s and 1840’s Poe’s works began to get more attention, but he didn’t make much profit from his works. He started editing for Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine and Graham’s Magazine in Philadelphia and the Broadway Journal in New York City.

Sadly on January 30, 1847 Virginia died from a 5 year long battle with tuberculosis. She was 24 years old. This affected Poe deeply. He was reported to not want to see his wife’s face dead and would had wanted to remember seeing her as alive. Not having a picture of her he hired a painter to paint her.

On October 3, 1849 Poe was found wandering the streets of Baltimore delirious. He was brought to Washington Medical Hospital. It was found out that he was not wearing his own clothes. It was said that Poe was never coherent enough to say what had happened to him.

On October 7, 1849 at the age 40 years old Poe met with death and like many of his poems and stories it’s a mystery. At the time Newspapers claimed that it was congestion of the brain from his alcoholism. In reality no one is sure how he had died. There are many theories on what had happened.

Some think it might have been caused from a beating, or epilepsy, or even Alcohol poisoning and many more theories. Even one theory is that he was a victim of electoral fraud which citizens force people to vote repeatedly for a candidate. They make the person change their clothes and force them to vote for a certain candidate which would had accounted for him not wearing his own clothes.It can sometimes lead to violence and sometimes death.

And the man who wrote about mysteries death involved a large mystery.

SOURCES:
https://www.biography.com/people/edgar-allan-poe-9443160

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/edgar-allan-poe

https://www.poemuseum.org/poes-death

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe