Strange, Unusual & Bizarre Newspaper Stories

Hidden Headlines of Texas:

Strange, Unusual & Bizarre Newspaper Stories,

1860-1910.

Researched and compiled by Chad Lewis, foreword by Nick Redfern.

Eau Claire, WI: Unexplained Research Pub. Co., 2007. pbk $14.95 170 pages http://www.unexplainedresearch.com/

It’s a fact that monstrosities, wild creatures, freaks, old corpses, floating ghosts, peculiar deaths, medical anomalies, UFO’s and a few other things, unlike the previously mentioned, that are just plain weird are described in the short, re-printed newspaper stories. They are from over a hundred different towns’ journalism pages. Is your town one of them? For small towns, Bonham, Paris, and Hillsboro seem especially prone to oddities. Maybe that explains a few things I’d rather not discuss.

University of Texas Trivia Book - Margaret Berry

The University of Texas Trivia Book.

By Margaret C. Berry, foreword by De Loss Dodds. Athens, GA: Hill Street Press, 2007. pbk. 152 pages $10.95 http://www.hillstreetpress.com/

Another Margaret Berry production on UT. She knows the rocks and the details.

Over 500 bits and pieces of trivia and quotations in seven chapters: Student Life and Traditions / Faculty / Alumni / Founders and Leaders / Town and Gown / Campus / Longhorn Sports. What direction do the “river” and “tree” streets run? What do Sweat Palm and Heman Swante have in common? How tall’s the UT tower? What’s MoPac? Is Eeyore’s Birthday Party on Sixth Street? What did Kelsey A. Douglass want in 1837?

You Know You're in Texas - Donna Ingham

You Know You’re in Texas When

….101 Quintessential Places, People, Events, Customs, Lingo, and Eats of the Lone Star State.

By Donna Ingham.

Guilford, Conn.: Insider’s Guides / Globe Pequot Press, 2007. pbk 103 pages ISBN 0-7627-3811-1 $9.95 Designed in pleasing shades of blue, with a boot and stars on the cover. http://www.globepequot.com/

I have favorites. Armadillos cross roads more often than chickens. Dale Evans’ “Happy Trails” is on your iPod. Lonesome Dove is not a bird. It’s alright to boast and feel independent. Each page carries an extra tidbit, e.g., tumbleweeds are recent Russian emigrants. Altogether, a pleasant reading and handling experience.

Weird Texas - Wesley Treat

Weird Texas: Your Travel Guide to Texas’s Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets.

Compiled by Wesley Treat, Heather Shade, and Rob Riggs. New York: Sterling, http://www.sterlingpub.com/, 2005.
288 pages, $19.95, paperback, ISBN: 1-4027-3280-5, oblong

In these pages, 1 or 2 photos per page illustrate the over 200 brief narratives about strange people, unique places, recounting of fables, legends, ghost stories, Indian lore, descriptions of caves, sinkholes, extra-terrestrials, unidentified flying objects, mystery lights, and just plain strange phenomena. It’s written with fun and so will be the reading. Two of the compilers previously had websites dedicated to related matter.

Everybody will learn something, natives and newcomers. The series editors, Mark and Mark, first did their home state of New Jersey and then did the nation. Texas was their next local target.

http://www.sterlingpub.com/