These articles and episodes are ©2019-2024 by their respective authors, and published by the Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope. They are licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 License. All rights reserved, all wrongs reversed.
Designed by #13 at Lodge #777.
The Second City has seen a lot of strange characters pass through over the years. Here are a few of their stories.
In August 2023, my cousin Tim and his fiancee Bonnie were getting married in Lancaster. As #7 and I made our travel plans, we realized that even though she has spent a large chunk of her adult life in Pennsylvania she had never visited many of its most famous historic sites. We decided to make […]
Categories: Arts & Culture, Feats of Building & Engineering, Series 14
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Thomas Henry Hines had a cunning plan to free Confederate prisoners-of-war and establish a "Northwest Confederacy." Too bad it was doomed to fail.
Categories: History, Series 14
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Billy Sunday was America's foremost evangelist, whose admirers included young men, ex-presidents, and titans of industry... but how was his baserunning?
Categories: Biography, Series 13, Sports & Leisure
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George Jacob Schweinfurth was a charlatan who mocked religion, stole money, and despoiled women with his hypnotic powers. Then he did something unexpected.
Categories: Eccentrics & Prophecies, People & Places, Series 11
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We're talking with Michael Finney about the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, what it meant to the city and the nation, and resurrecting it augmented reality.
Categories: Arts & Culture, Feats of Building & Engineering, Series 10
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Forty miles north of Chicago lies Zion, IL, a sleepy city with a sordid history of faith healing, financial fraud, flat Eartherism... and figs?
Categories: Eccentrics & Prophecies, People & Places, Series 6
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For years the Torso Burchianti Gang terrorized the Monongahela Valley. It turned out the gang wasn't quite as fearsome as the cops thought...
Categories: People & Places, Series 6
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Dr. Cyrus Reed Teed may have been a madman, or the Messiah, but only he was bold enough to tell the truth: that we live on the inside of a hollow Earth.
Categories: Eccentrics & Prophecies, Most Popular, People & Places, Series 4
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The greatest and most notorious Spiritualist swindler of all time was a woman from Kentucky who looked a bit like Lola Montez (if you squinted).
Categories: Biography, Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, Series 3
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The story of the "weeping icon" has it all - a 102-year-old flying nun, the Gulf War, armed robbery, John Gotti, religious schism, and insurance fraud. Hear the amazing truth in this week's episode, "Goodnight, Irene"!
Categories: Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, People & Places, Series 2
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He may have had the best worst nickname in baseball, but "Ugly" Johnny Dickshot was more than just a pretty face. He was also a character.
Categories: Biography, Series 1, Sports & Leisure
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