Five rounds. Two strange stories each. Only one made the paper. Choose, then see the proof.
Five rounds of unusual stories from historical newspapers. Pick the real headline, then see the original clipping.
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The five historical items from this edition, with their newspaper proof. Play first if you want to guess.
Marr Street residents saw flames leap nearly a foot from a pile of dirt. The mystery turned out to be gas from a broken main that had seeped into the soil and caught fire from a lantern. The report appears in the newspaper’s Fond du Lac news column.
Kewaskum Statesman · Dec 18, 1909
Open the original newspaper ↗C. A. Smith’s tame, half-grown black bear broke its chain and startled several hundred Beloit schoolchildren. After being caught around noon, it escaped again that afternoon. Police eventually recaptured the pet, which the newspaper described as harmless despite the commotion.
Kewaskum Statesman · Mar 18, 1905
Open the original newspaper ↗Outagamie County growers reported nighttime thefts of entire tons of cabbage. Jacob Hammel lost more than a ton in one night, and another grower lost about a ton on a different night. The paper estimated the week’s losses at $200.
Kewaskum Statesman · Oct 31, 1908
Open the original newspaper ↗Lieutenant Ernest Peek visited his mother in Oshkosh. The paper described him as six feet five and a half inches tall, claimed he was the Army’s tallest man, and gave his nickname as “Pike’s Peak.” A Yellowstone road he oversaw was called “Peek’s Pike.”
Kewaskum Statesman · Feb 2, 1907
Open the original newspaper ↗A Janesville Twilight Club discussion of spiritualism became heated. Supporters presented purported messages from the dead while ministers attacked the belief. Members passed a resolution making the entire evening a profound secret. The article reports the argument, without proving the spirit messages authentic.
Kewaskum Statesman · Mar 18, 1905
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