Journal of the Bizarre

The following strange story comes from the July 31, 1911 edition of the New Castle Herald.

Robert McGee was a teenage orphan in the summer of 1864 when he went to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas to enlist in the army. Being only 14 years of age, he was rejected, but he soon found work as a teamster, transporting flour to the territory of New Mexico.

The flour caravan embarked on its journey along the famous Santa Fe Trail on July 1. Two weeks later the teamsters found themselves near Great Bend in Kansas and decided to make camp in the shadow of Fort Zarah, feeling safe and secure.

However, they soon encountered danger as Little Turtle, the Sioux leader, launched an attack against the wagon train. The Sioux warriors massacred the teamsters, staining the Kansas prairie red with blood. The teamsters never had a fighting chance.

The assault was so brutal that the soldiers at Fort Zarah stood by and watched in horror. The commanding officer of the fort was later court-martialed for his cowardice. There was only one survivor-- young Robert McGee.

McGee didn't emerge from the massacr…

The Sand Patch Grade is a famous 100-mile stretch of track through the Allegheny Mountains of Maryland and Pennsylvania. With its numerous abandoned tunnels (some abandoned as far back as 1912) and steep curves where many a careless track walker has met his gruesome demise at the hands of a smoke-belching locomotive, it is known for being a spooky place.



In 1912-- the year the famous Sand Patch Tunnel was deserted-- three railroaders had a ghastly encounter with a headless apparition, according to the following article from the Oct. 17, 1912 edition of the Pittsburgh Daily Post.

 Perhaps the victim of a fatal encounter with a train? The wandering spirit of a railroader killed in a crash? Your guess is as good as ours.

Those who enjoy a side order of conspiracy theory with their news got more than they could swallow on Friday when Lawrence O'Donnell, host of MSNBC's "The Last Word", claimed-- without proof-- that Vladimir Putin might have masterminded the chemical attacks in Syria.

On Friday, O'Donnell offered a theory claiming that Putin ordered Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to use chemical weapons against his own people in a small-scale attack that was just large enough to attract media attention. This prompted President Trump to retaliate, thereby distracting Americans from the "real" issue-- the alleged ties between Russian officials and members of Trump's campaign staff.

O'Donnell devoted several minutes to passionately defending his wild speculation that had no basis in fact before bringing on his first guest.

O'Donnell believes it's the perfect explanation
“It’s perfect, just perfect," declared O'Donnell as he laid out the s…

The following strange story was sent to us by Sunny from Oak Park, Illinois, and describes a peculiar incident that took place in a nursing home. Our research indicates that the facility is still in operation, so the name of the nursing home has been redacted.



About twenty years ago I worked one day per week as the staff beautician at a small nursing home in Cook County called ----------.  Every Friday I would go in at 9 o'clock and work until every resident who needed a haircut or a shampoo was finished. Sometimes I'd be done by 5, other times I'd be done by noon. It all depended on how many residents were living at ------------- at the time.

This particular incident took place on maybe my second or third week on the job, so it was before I came to know all of the nurses and residents by name. The beauty shop was located in a small room at the end of a hallway on the basement level, and outside the beauty shop the long hallway led to the kitchen. In the middle of the hallw…