Ruth Baumgardner was, according to the vast majority of newspaper and magazine articles written about her, a very pretty young woman. In 1937, Ruthie was a senior at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio (otherwise, her home was in the Lakewood suburb of Cleveland). Most people found Ruthie to be personable, friendly even, and there […]
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History, True Crime, Unsolved Unresolved
When you think of truly great American writers, what names come to mind? Mark Twain? Edgar Allen Poe? What about Harper Lee or F. Scott Fitzgerald? Steinbeck? Bradbury? Capote? Hemingway? What about Stephen King or Toni Morrison or Alice Walker or Tennassee WIlliams or Arthur Miller or Raymond Chandler? Okay, I can hear you say,
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Ohioans You Should Know, People
Today’s Ohioan You Should Know didn’t start her life in Ohio. In fact Agnes Robertson Moorehead was born on December 6, 1900 in Clinton, Massachusetts. Her mother, Mary, had once performed as a singer. Her father, John, was a Presbyterian minister. So, you can probably guess that she was raised in a fairly strict, religious
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Ohioans You Should Know, People
On September 24, 1990, the world’s attention shifted to Cincinnati, Ohio for what was surely going to be among the most controversial trials the city had ever seen. On the surface, it’s simply a trial about obscenity. But, for both sides of the issue – it’s about a lot more than that. On one side
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History, Landmark Cases
When we think about unsolved mysteries, especially ones connected to Ohio, the last thing we’re going to think about is the assanation of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth. On April 14, 1865, while attending a theatrical production of Our American Friend, Booth entered Lincoln’s box, shot him, then leapt to the stage for
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History, People, Unsolved Unresolved
Rogue’s Hollow is, depending upon who you ask, one of the more haunted places in the state. There is no shortage of tales that include words like “murder” or “ghost” or “curse” or “moonshine” or, I kid you not, “headless horse” (not headless horseman, sorry Ichabod Crane fans). Even though the town no longer exists
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Ghost Towns and Lost Places, Myths and Legends, Places
According to some, there’s some lost French gold buried somewhere in Ohio. How The French Lost Some Gold This story begins not in Ohio, but in a land not-so-far away called New France (don’t worry, it wasn’t called that for long). At the time, The French and Indian War was about to lead into The
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History, Unsolved Unresolved
When we think about potentially supernatural cryptids, like Bigfoot or The Loch Ness Monster or that stupid gremlin who lives in your dishwasher that steals tupperware lids, they usually are little more than a side note of history (and maybe geography). We’ve all heard the legends where some people are out hiking and camping and
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History, Myths and Legends
In 1986, the city of Cleveland, Ohio was having a bit of an identity crisis. For the longest time, the city had been somewhat associated with things like Organized Crime, pollution, corruption, and … well, a whole bunch of less than desirable things. For the past several years, the city had been trying to clean
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History