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In the early 1790s, a Lutheran family in Appalachia fell victim to a menacing spirit that Lutheran, Methodist and Episcopal clergy as well as Folk magic practitioners failed to remove. The entity, which came to be known as the Wizard Clip, was said to cut or slice anything made of cloth or leather. Was it a ghost or a demon? After years of torment, the deeply Protestant family finally found respite from a seemingly impossible ally, a Catholic exorcist....
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Discover the history most Chicagoans don't know---the real Chicago Way.
The Windy City is full of forgotten landmarks and unusual stories that rarely get the benefit of a guided tour. Meet the African-American congressman who paved the way for Harold Washington and Barack Obama, the South Side Jewish girl who became the president of a South American country, and the visiting Romanian queen who charmed the city. Learn when Chicagoans were paid to...
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Everyone loves an underdog who succeeds against the odds. CCNY Made. Profiles in Grit is the story of City College of New York alumni who beat the odds to reach the pinnacle of their professions and in the process transformed our world.
Here are just a few:
• Andrew Grove, hearing impaired and a survivor of Nazi occupation and Communist rule became the visionary CEO of Intel Corporation, the manufacturer of the semiconductor chip found in most...
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Beyond the world famous artists, singers, actors and more from Pittsburgh are the city's celebrities known locally for their quirky style, unique mannerisms, and outlandish behavior.
From Joe Barker, the violent "street preacher" who was elected mayor in 1850--while in prison!--to Curt Wootton, the comedian whose celebrity status comes from being "Pittsburgh Dad," on Youtube, the Steel City has had a number of colorful characters throughout its history...
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Fighting for Ecological Heritage
In 1992, a Hawaiian developer proposed a subdivision on Cougar Bay's northern shore, just two miles south of Coeur d'Alene. Dedicated, tenacious locals took on the seemingly impossible goal of stopping the "Cougar Beach" development. Unlikely allies--environmental activists and a cantankerous landowner--banded together. Private and public groups stepped up. In 1997, The Nature Conservancy purchased major shoreline...
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Join author Carol Matthews on a galloping romp through the long history of Florida's cracker horses and cattle.
The first horses and cattle to set foot on the North American continent stepped onto Florida land, brought by Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon in 1521 just south of present day Fort Myers. The animals were abandoned, formed wild herds and would be used by different groups for food, work, trade and transportation for the next 500 years....
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Prudery, Polygamy and Politics
Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon was no hands-on-the-plow pioneer. She was no stereotypical polygamous wife. Nor was she a prim lady who blushed at the word "legs." Victorian Mormons were proud to lead the way in empowering women. "Verily the world progresseth," exclaimed the Deseret Evening News on March 17, 1869, celebrating a Congressional bill to give Utah women the vote. But the federal intention to have female suffrage...
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The Scary Side of Arkansas
Immerse yourself in the captivating allure of Arkansas, where mysterious phenomena beckon the curious. Embark on a journey to the healing waters hidden within the lush landscape of the Ozarks. They possess extraordinary healing powers, drawing seekers of health and rejuvenation to their mystical waters. Venture into the realm of the enigmatic spook lights, where luminescent orbs dance and flicker, intriguing all who witness...
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Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt changed America with a government on the side of the people that put Americans back to work and inspired confidence that the nation could overcome the Great Depression.
This is the story of their progressive legacy when FDR was Governor during the era of Prohibition and the advent of radio in the Roaring Twenties, a decade that ended with the Great Depression upending life for most Americans. This is the story of how...
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Author Kathy Benjamin accompanies the pioneering women of the Lone Star State's funeral business.
The intimate task of caring for the dead had long fallen under women's sphere of responsibilities. But after the Civil War, the sudden popularity of embalming offered new financial opportunities to men who set up as undertakers, pushing women out of their traditional role. In Texas, from the 1880s to the 1930s, women slowly regained their place by the...
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Author Mark Neaves guides readers on an incredible tale through the life of one of America's greatest adventurers.
Born into slavery in the Mississippi Delta in 1847, Holt Collier was taught to hunt at an early age, killing his first bear at age 10, the first of 3,000 bears he killed during his lifetime, more than Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone combined. The number sounds impossible, until considered in the context of a life that reads like the...
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In just over a decade, a tiny, do-it-yourself stand-up scene on the North Side of Chicago produced some of the most successful and influential stand-up comedians of their generation. Hannibal Buress, T.J. Miller, Kyle Kinane, Cameron Esposito, Pete Holmes, Beth Stelling, Matt Braunger and Kumail Nanjiani make up a partial list of names of comics who emerged from a scene that had very little industry attention--or even a home club.
It was also a...
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Authors Ryan Starrett and Josh Foreman chart a Gulf Coast odyssey with French adventurers, English colonists, Spanish Dons, American filibusters, Indian warriors, African Maroons, and pirate outlaws .
For centuries, the shoreline between Galveston and Tallahassee was marked by the desperate deeds of men who fought for God, gold, and glory, as well as those who simply wanted to be left alone. Regardless of motive, the Gulf Coast has seen its share...
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A Legacy of Conservation
Every year thousands flock to the Pennsylvania Wilds to be among nature and its famous elk herd. In the past, dangerous levels of hunting and industrial development forever altered Pennsylvania's natural landscape and drove its native elk to near extinction. In response, concerned sportsmen and conservationists pushed the state legislature to create a game commission in the late 1800s to enforce game laws and protect the...
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Digging into a forgotten past - and the dead left behind.
San Francisco is famous for not having any cemeteries, but the claim isn't exactly what it seems. In the early 20th Century, the city relocated more than 150,000 graves to the nearby town of Colma to make way for a rapidly growing population. But an estimated fifty to sixty thousand burials were quietly built over and forgotten, only to resurface every time a new building project began....
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Vermont's hills hold the echoes of a spirited past. Haunting stories and wandering ghosts are found in numerous burial places from the Riverside Cemetery in Burlington to the Green Mount Cemetery in Montpelier.
The Bowman mausoleum in Cuttingsville contains some heartbreaking symbolism. Throughout the state, disturbing tales of mountain madness, murder and "vampires" can be found carved in stone. Discover the graves of humble farmers with independent...
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Meet one of Richland County's most colorful citizens.
There are those who thought Phebe Wise was a witch. More thought that the cranky old lady was "tetched," meaning crazy. And she was crazy--like a fox. An eccentric who outwitted violent robbers, a mad stalker, and a society that expected her to marry and raise children, Phebe alternated between dressing up in men's clothes and strutting to town in an antique ball gown, the trail dragging behind...
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