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Issue 880 - 9/10/2018
PSYCHIC INVESTIGATORS ARE NOT SO OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD by Lindsey Harrison “The concept of psychic energy is easy for most people to imagine. After all, it’s just one step beyond intuition – and almost everyone is comfortable with the idea of intuition.” – Jayne Ann Krentz, American writer Have you ever lost your keys when you were in a rush to get out of the house and wished that there was some way you could just hover over your house and have them be glowing from their hiding place? No? OK, well then maybe it’s just us. But we feel you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t misplaced something and felt hopeless in ever finding it. We’re not talking about the time your 8-year-old son “misplaced” his shoes but it turns out he didn’t actually look for them in his room but instead, just spun in a circle and said they were missing. We’re talking about the more serious times, like when a person has gone missing. There truly is never a time that’s more serious and stressful than when your loved one can’t be found. Knowing how dire the situation can be, for centuries families (and even law enforcement agencies) have turned to people with certain abilities that may lead to that person’s location. Mostly, these people are called psychics but when they aid in an investigation, they’re called (gasp!) psychic investigators. Of course, there are skeptics out there who don’t believe in psychic abilities, who may consider it a bunch of hocus pocus. But that’s why we at Snippetz decided we need to do our own investigation into the world of psychic investigators. If you aren’t psychic, you don’t know yet what we’ve found so keep reading. If you are, please contact the author with the winning lottery numbers for this week but also keep reading. PSYCHIC ABILITIES Naturally, to be useful in a psychic investigation, you must be, well, psychic to some degree. Makes sense, right? But the idea of psychic abilities is relatively vague. Does it mean you can predict when your dog will pee on your living room floor or when the mailman has delivered your mail? Maybe it means you can pick winning lottery numbers (and if so, don’t forget who you need to contact) or even talk to people that have passed away. In 2015, Russell Targ, a laser physicist and author, published an article in the “Watkins Mind Body Spirit” magazine discussing the four classes of extra-sensory perceptions he believes can be proven to exist. Here’s what he found:
Targ’s article states that precognition appears to be the “dominant phenomenon in all psychic functioning.” But when it comes to psychic investigations, it appears that remote viewing is the most likely ability a person would use. Now, we know there are people reading this now who think this is all a load of garbage. That’s fine. What we intend to do is present what we know about psychic investigations and psychic investigators so you can come to your own conclusion. Considering there is a plethora of people who have been dubbed psychic and have helped in actual police investigations, we decided to highlight some of them and explain their stories to help you make up your mind. You’re welcome. ROBERT JAMES LEES (see photo above) We’ve all heard of Jack the Ripper and we all know that he has yet to be officially identified. His killing grounds were the streets of the Whitechapel district in London during 1888 and his preferred victims were “ladies of the night,” if you know what we mean. So, if no one really knows who Jack the Ripper is, why are we including a psychic named Robert James Lees in our list of psychic investigators? Well, Lees was consulted by the detectives of Scotland Yard who were investigating the crimes and he claimed he had seen Jack the Ripper’s face in multiple visions. Additionally, he forecasted the deaths of at least three women who are suspected to be Jack’s victims, and quite accurately at that. FLORENCE STERNFELS Florence Sternfels considered herself a psychometrist or someone who uses psychic information they obtain from handling a material object to solve mysteries. She was rather successful, considering she lived in Edgewater, New Jersey in the early 1900s and was able to charge $1 per reading, which was quite the chunk of change back then. Sternfels helped the police on several occasions, never once charging them for her services, and prevented a man from detonating dynamite on an army base to try to blow it up, among other things. Her gift was recognized across the country and even into Europe where other investigative teams enlisted her help to solve cases. GERALD CROISET A native of the Netherlands, Gerald Croiset became aware of his psychic abilities when he was six years old. As an adult, he ran a business where he gave psychic readings and made enough of a name for himself that he was enlisted by law enforcement agencies around the world to help solve some of their most difficult cases. One such case involved a four-year-old girl named Edith “Google” Kiecorius who was kidnapped in Brooklyn in 1961. The local police were unable to gather any significant leads and finally someone suggested bringing Croiset to the U.S. to help. But Croiset didn’t want to go; not because he didn’t want to help but because he feared that being in New York would affect his abilities negatively. He asked for a photo of Edith and a map, and was given both, but also some of her clothing to help his psychic process. Croiset claimed to have visions of both the girl and her abductor and provided information like “dark woman sitting in front of a window, a gray building with five floors. On the second floor, the dead child is there.” Sadly, his visions were accurate and the girl was found a few hours after the police received Croiset’s description of the scene. A week later, the kidnapper/murderer was found and put on trial, thanks to Croiset’s visions. DOROTHY ALLISON Another New Jersey-ite, Dorothy Allison, became a psychic investigator after she led police to the body of a missing boy she claimed to have dreamed about. She accurately described his clothing, most specifically that his shoes were on the wrong feet. After undergoing hypnosis to access more details she was unable to reach on her own, Allison described that the boy was stuck in a pipe near some water, a fenced school and a factory. All of her descriptions proved to be spot on when police found the boy’s body two months later. Allison was even brought in to help find the missing heiress Patty Hearst in 1974 and although she was unable to locate Patty, Allison accurately predicted many of her activities during the time she was missing. SO MANY, MANY MORE! There are so many similar stories to the ones we’ve relayed above that we truly don’t have space for them all here. But hopefully, you have a taste of what psychic investigators are capable of . . . assuming they’re the real deal Issue 881 - 9/17/2018
SNIPPETZ LIKES YOUR PERSONALITY: IT'S REAL BIG by Lindsey Harrison “We are all born with a unique genetic blueprint, which lays out the basic characteristics of our personality as well as our physical health and appearance . . . And yet, we all know that life experiences do change us.” – Joan D. Vinge, American author Most of us would probably agree that a certain portion of our personalities was determined at birth. People who are shy can learn to be more outgoing, but in general, they will always be a little bit shy. It’s who they are. And there’s nothing wrong with that, right? Of course not! We can’t control our personalities. But some would disagree with that statement and say that our personalities can be molded over time based on our life experiences. Is it possible, then, for a naturally shy person to mold themselves into a really outgoing person? Is it possible for someone who loves being in the company of lots of people to change into someone who desperately needs their alone time? One of the most interesting things to consider about personalities is that there are so many different facets that make up someone’s personality that no two people can ever be exactly the same. Do those different facets determine our levels of success? Is there some secret “formula” we can work towards to help us achieve our goals in life? Perhaps there is and perhaps there isn’t. But questions just like these are why Snippetz decided it was high time we took a peek inside the complex world of personalities. Keep reading; you might just find out something about yourself that you didn’t know before! THE PERSONALITY “OCEAN” As we mentioned before, there are many types of personalities but more generally speaking, each trait is determined by one of five factors: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. These factors can more easily be remembered by the word ocean since the first word of each factor (when placed in the correct order) spell ocean. Below are the descriptions of each factor:
Of all the things that make up our personalities, how in the world did these five become the main factors? Well, in the 1970s, a pair of research teams led by Paul Costa and Robert R. McCrae of the National Institutes of Health, and Warren Norman and Lewis Goldberg of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and the University of Oregon (respectively) made that determination. Essentially, our individual personalities all contain certain amounts of the above factors, to varying degrees. A certain writer you may know is about 99 percent neurotic with a splash of each of the other factors mixed in for good measure. And now that’s a thing you know. CAN WE CHANGE OUR PERSONALITIES? Depending on how you view yourself, it is likely possible for you to change your personality. Maybe you have always wanted to be the type of person who was more adventurous and spontaneous (i.e. increased openness, according to our OCEAN factors). Chances are, that means you are low on the openness scale, preferring to be a creature of habit and having each day be fairly predictable. Of all the OCEAN factors, studies have shown that openness is one trait that is more easily changed, especially in adulthood. Here’s an example. Say there’s this writer who wasn’t a writer when she was young. She liked to do different things and enjoyed “mixing things up,” within reason of course because this same person was also fairly cautious. Now, let’s say this writer grew up and had kids. As much as she may have liked to do things spontaneously and adhere to the saying that “variety is the spice of life,” she also knew that her sanity was at stake and routine was really the only way to maintain it. If you’ve ever had your toddler skip a nap because you were out and about doing something super fun, you know what we mean. That routine of waking up at about the same time, eating at about the same time, napping at about the same time, etc. is crucial to many parents, just as it was to the writer. So, even though she wanted very much to be more exciting, her personality came to depend on the sameness of routine and even craved that predictability. Her personality had changed. This is not a sad story by any means. It’s a prime example of how our personalities change with our life experiences. But that’s not the only way our personalities can be altered. Studies have shown that individuals who actively focus on one aspect of their personality that they wish to change can affect said change eventually. It’s different for every person, as you probably already guessed, and won’t happen overnight. But it is certainly possible! So if you’re hopelessly disagreeable and would prefer not to be so, there’s still hope for you yet! IS THERE A PERSONALITY RECIPE FOR SUCCESS? The answer is yes and no. There are certain personality traits, like conscientiousness that successful people tend to share because it usually leads to success in school and the workplace because conscientious people are often planners who are also dependable and achievement-focused. Conversely, agreeableness is somewhat backwards, depending on your gender. In the workplace, disagreeable men often earn more than their agreeable male counterparts, while disagreeable women often earn less than their agreeable female counterparts. So, while your no-nonsense approach to your job may work if you’re a man, it might be a hinderance to your upward movement as a woman. Go figure. But that’s less a personality issue than a society issue and we just can’t go into that now. It’s too complex, frustrating and honestly, it’s not a fun topic! Neuroticism, as you may have guessed, can be a hinderance to you success, regardless of your gender. For instance, people with high levels of neuroticism tend to have worse health than those who aren’t as neurotic. They often die younger and are frequently users of tobacco and alcohol to help suppress their anxiety. Strangely enough, parasites can actually be responsible for a person’s high level of neuroticism. The parasite Toxoplasma gondii, responsible for the toxoplasmosis disease is humans, can be contracted through various avenues. The one we most frequently hear about is through cleaning out a cat’s litterbox because cats who carry the parasite shed it into their feces. People with toxoplasmosis are more prone to higher levels of neuroticism than uninfected individuals. Eek. Yet another reason to have dogs and not cats. INTROVERTS VS. EXTROVERTS: WHO WILL WIN? Just kidding, this isn’t a competition. But there is certainly a marked difference between introverts and extroverts. However, recent studies have indicated that most people are not entirely introverts or extroverts; we all fall somewhere on a spectrum between the two. In fact, there are introverted extroverts if that makes sense. While people often mistake introverts as shy people, that’s not really the case. And extroverts aren’t always the loudest, most obnoxious person at the party. In general, introverts like to be alone or in small groups and feel energized from spending time in that manner. Extroverts typically draw energy from larger crowds and thrive off interactions with others. As with the other personality traits, introverts and extroverts don’t have much control which one they are. Does one type hold a person back? Depends on the situation. As a writer, being introverted can be a good thing because it allows for time alone to work with one’s thoughts. However, as a server in a restaurant or as a real estate agent, being introverted might be a problem. Bottom line, folks: no personality trait is better than any other. We say, just be happy being yourself! Issue 882 - 9/24/2018
SNIPPETZ CAN'T DENY THAT LIFE IS JUST A BOWL OF CHERRIES by Lindsey Harrison 
“Life is just a bowl of cherries,
Don’t take it serious, it’s too mysterious You work, you save, you worry so But you can’t take your dough when you go, go, go” – by Lew Brown and Ray Henderson It might seem trite and maybe even a bit naïve, but the above statement, song lyrics really, are some pretty useful words to live by. Life can be difficult and it can be tempting to bury yourself in your work. You want to save for a rainy day or retirement so you don’t have to work until the day you die. And oh boy, do you ever worry! You worry about your finances, you worry about your kids, you worry about work deadlines and you worry about why in the world your neighbor is watering their lawn in the middle of the day when it’s close to 90 degrees outside. Maybe not that last one, but you get the idea. Anyway, the point is that, no matter how hard you work or how much you save, “you can’t take your dough when you go, go, go” so why not make the most of the time you have on this earth? Along that line of thought, Snippetz decided to take everything to heart and dive head-first into a world where everything is just cherries. Bowls of cherries, like in the song, types of cherries, cherries everywhere! Oh, and did we mention that September 24 is National Cherries Jubilee Day? Grab yourself a comfy seat, maybe even something cherry-flavored to munch on, and read on to learn all about cherries! CHERRIES JUBILEE Remember how we said that September 24 is National Cherries Jubilee Day? Well, we thought it might be helpful if you knew what that actually was and perhaps where it originated. So here we go: Cherries Jubilee is a dessert that is nothing short of hot, hot, hot! Literally. It’s actually set on fire at one point. Scary in some instances but awesome in most others. The original recipe is credited to Auguste Escoffier, a French chef that is often referred to as the “The Chef of Kings and The King of Chefs.” His incredible techniques, which were fairly innovative for the time, caught the eye of Queen Victoria of England. For her Golden Jubilee, the 50th anniversary of her accession to the throne, Escoffier created a new dessert he called “Cherries Jubilee.” It consists of fresh cherries, poached in a sweet sugary syrup and served with a liqueur, usually brandy, which was set on fire to the delight of the guests who attended the queen’s celebration. Modern recipes often call for vanilla ice cream to be served along with the dessert, but Escoffier’s original recipe did not. But when Cherries Jubilee made a strong comeback in the 1950s and ‘60s, that was a popular way to serve the dish. HEY THANKS, CHERRIES! Aside from being super yummy and a great seasonal fruit that a certain writer, who shall remain unnamed, looks forward to each year, cherries offer tons of health benefits for those who care about that type of thing, which you should. Just saying. Sleep aid Depending on the type of cherry, they can actually help you fall asleep faster. Tart cherries naturally contain melatonin, a hormone that helps you fall asleep and regulates your sleep-wake cycles. Although it may be tempted to just annihilate a bag of tart cherries before bed, the recommended way to reap the benefits of the melatonin found in cherries is to drink about 8 ounces of tart cherry juice in the morning and another one about one to two hours prior to going to bed. One study indicated this increased participants’ sleep time by an hour and 24 minutes. Now if only cherries could get up and get the kids off to school for you, right? Antioxidants Cherries contain lots of antioxidants, which is a buzz word we hear all the time now. Basically, antioxidants are things that inhibit oxidation or remove potentially damaging oxidizing agents to help prevent or delay cell damage. Great! Anything that can help our cells stay healthy is certainly a bonus! Anti-inflammatory agents Cherries contain anti-inflammatory agents as well, which help guard against chronic illnesses like cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and diabetes. For people suffering from this last illness, they can also help regulate you blood sugar and insulin levels, making it easier to manage. Gout relief If you’ve ever suffered from a gout attack, you know how incredibly painful the condition can be. Gout is caused by uric acid crystals that gather in your joints, causing swelling and lots of pain. Luckily, cherries and cherry juice have once again shown to be helpful in not only battling against these attacks but also lowering your risk of having them again. One study found that consuming cherries or cherry juice for two days lowered a person’s risk of a gout attack by 35 percent. Arthritis relief Speaking of painful joints, let’s talk about arthritis and how cherries can help relieve that pain. Although it’s not an immediate type of relief, regularly consuming cherries or a juice that is 100-percent cherry juice can lessen pain from osteoarthritis. Enhanced memory Wait, what were we talking about? Just kidding. Cherries have been shown to contain anthocyanin, which is supposed to help enhance your memory. Of course, this is based on a study performed on rats, but it was published in the Journal of Neuroscience so that has to count for something, right? CHERRY SNIPPETZ
Issue 883 - 10/1/2018
SNIPPETZ TAKES A LOOK AT: AMERICAN LANDMARKS by Lindsey Harrison “In a very basic way, a prominent landmark such as Mt. Holyoke tells you where you are. They let you know that you’re not the first person in a place.” – Tracy Kidder, American writer It’s rare in this day and age for the average person to find a place that no one has ever been before. Considering our continent itself was populated long before Christopher Columbus “discovered” it (as we were all taught in history class), that’s not really a huge surprise. That doesn’t mean there aren’t amazing sights for each of us to see, great places to explore and fun adventures to have that we’ve never gotten to experience before. This beautiful country of ours is full of spectacular things to do and see. Some are gifts from Mother Nature herself, while others got a little help from humans along the way. And if we’re talking about things that Mr. Kidder would consider a “prominent landmark,” something that would help you get your bearings and figure out where you are should you ever get lost, then America is full of them! As usual, Snippetz may be the best magazine around, we certainly aren’t debating that, but we are short on space so we’ve chosen a few American landmarks to focus on this time around. If you haven’t gone on vacation in a while (and even if you have), sit back and enjoy this trip across the country as we visit some great American landmarks! DEVILS TOWER – WYOMING As a young girl, a certain writer vividly remembers watching “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” a science fiction mystery/thriller movie that was released in 1977. Why do you need to know this? Because if you’ve ever seen the movie, you’ll recall that Devils Tower plays a prominent part in the plot. Mashed potatoes will always bring to mind this landmark and that should be enough to encourage anyone who hasn’t seen the movie to go find it now! Anyway, Devils Tower is certainly a natural American landmark, even though it appears to have been carefully constructed by some entity or another. Perhaps that’s why the various Native American tribes of the area considered it a sacred place. So sacred, in fact, that it has several names and is the site of frequent ceremonial rituals. Some of the aforementioned names include “Bear’s Tipi,” “Bear Lodge,” “Ghost Mountain,” and “Mythic-owl Mountain.” The fact that nearly everyone calls the landmark Devils Tower has come under some scrutiny. It was named as such back in 1875, compliments of Colonel Richard Irving Dodge, who was on an expedition at the time he came upon the site. Apparently, he was very taken with the beauty of the landscape and naturally, made record of what he had seen. Using the information he and his traveling companions gathered, Dodge wrote the local Native Americans “call this shaft The Bad God’s Tower, a name adopted with proper modification, by our surveyors.” So, basically, he said, “This is what they call it, so I’ll change it a bit to make it make more sense in our language and that’ll be this landmark’s name!” Sadly, it appears Dodge and his colleagues may have mistranslated what the Native Americans called the site. In actuality, they probably did call it “Bear Lodge,” and earlier evidence points to this as fact, but since “bear” and “the bad god or evil spirit” are spelled very nearly the same, the spelling mistake was likely made at the time Dodge recorded his findings. Regardless of how the name came about, Devils Tower will always be America’s first National Monument, a designation it received by President Theodore Roosevelt on Sept. 24, 1906. And no, there is no apostrophe. It’s just Devils Tower. Another clerical error that shaped America’s history books. By the way, Devils Tower stands 1,267 feet tall and its summit is roughly the size of a football field. It is not a volcano; most likely it’s an igneous intrusion which simply means it was formed from magma underground and was thrust through the sedimentary rock above it and became solid. It has been compared to a “bunch of pencils held together by gravity.” Cool! OLD FAITHFUL – YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK – WYOMING Wyoming seems to be the place to go if you’re looking for landmarks. While you’re there, you might want to check out Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. This incredible landmark is a geyser, which apparently is a rare thing indeed. Because geysers are formed under very specific conditions, not just any hole in the ground can be one. Here’s what happens when a geyser is formed: pockets of water underneath the earth’s surface are superheated by magma, which causes pressure to build and the water thus shoots upward. On the way, rhyolite, a type of volcanic rock high in silica, coats the tunnel where the water shoots from, essentially forming its own little conduit or pipe that is capable of withstanding the intense heat and pressure. In cases like Old Faithful’s, the regularity with which this process happens has allowed for some predictability. However, rumors have circulated that Old Faithful erupts every hour on the hour, which is false. In the 1960s, it used to erupt about every 66 minutes, although now it takes a bit longer, about 91 minutes. The eruptions last between two and four minutes. No one really knows the cause of the longer time between eruptions but the National Park Service thinks it may have something to do with earthquake activity, which obviously can impact the ground below the surface of the earth, and thus, impact geysers. If you were an early settler or explorer who happened upon something as awesome as Old Faithful, what would you do? Make use of it as best you can! The water is certainly too hot to drink, at about 204º and you’d have to avoid the steam in any case, which is hotter, at about 350º. But perhaps you had a load of dirty laundry. How convenient is that geyser now, right? Simply toss your clothes into Old Faithful and wait for it to erupt and shoot your clothes back out to you. And that’s exactly what people did way back when. Genius! MOUNT RUSHMORE – SOUTH DAKOTA Obviously, this is not a naturally-made landmark. If it was, that would definitely be something to write about, but even though it was clearly man-made, it’s still pretty neat. Carved directly into the side of a mountain in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Mount Rushmore features the faces of four former U.S. presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. Why those four? Because they were awesome. Duh. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum was placed at the helm of the project, which took more than a decade to finish. It was officially completed on Oct. 31, 1941, but as you probably have guessed, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Carving into the side of a granite mountain takes more than just a hammer and chisel. Permission was needed, committees were formed and about 400 workers were recruited to help create the monument. About 90 percent of the sculpting process was done with dynamite, which totally makes sense. The workers blasted away until about three to six inches of granite were left and then drills came in to create a honeycomb pattern to weaken the rock. This made it easier to chip away, which was the “finesse” part of the sculpting process. Initially, Mount Rushmore was supposed to include a large inscription called the “Entablature,” shaped like the territory received in the Louisiana Purchase, which explained a brief history of the U.S. But, as often happens to well-laid plans, things changed; the faces had to be shuffled and placed in different locations. The “Entablature” just wasn’t going to work, so the information that would have gone on that part of the monument was engraved on a plaque and placed in the Hall of Records, a room behind the sculpture. On a super serious note: if you make the trip up to see Mount Rushmore, look for a green pacifier. A mountain goat may be sucking on it, or it could still be in its original place from when it fell from the mouth of a certain writer’s daughter in 2009. Issue 884 - 10/8/2018
DRIVE-IN DINERS: A TASTY TREND IN AMERICAN RESTAURANT HISTORY by Lindsey Harrison 
“People in their cars are so lazy that they don’t want to get out of them to eat!”
– Jesse Granville Kirby, American entrepreneur Sure, you could say that people are too lazy to get out of their cars to eat. That’s certainly one way of looking at it. But what about those times when you’re looking a hot mess, your hair is going every which way, you forgot your shoes and the pants you’re wearing have paint stains from 3 years ago on them. You know, how regular people often look after a long day of DIY home improvements on a Sunday afternoon. We can’t all be models, you know. Anyway, sometimes it’s just easier to swing into the drive-up and order your food without having to get out and be seen. Parents will certainly understand the convenience of not having to drag two screaming toddlers into a restaurant to grab a quick bite. Or more difficult still: those times when you have to load your crying baby into the car to get them to fall asleep. The worst possible thing that can happen is you having to stop the car and get them out for some reason. So, as you can see, there is a wide variety of reasons why people over the years have opted for the drive-up window or establishment rather than a sit-down restaurant. Makes you kinda curious about who came up with the idea in the first place, right? Never fear! Your friendly neighbor Snippetz magazine is here! Buckle up, because we’re going for a ride through the halls of drive-up diner history to see where it all began. IT ALL STARTED WITH AN IDEA . . . As with any history-making innovation, the concept of drive-up diners and restaurants started with one simple idea: making humanity’s existence just a bit easier. In this instance, Jesse Granville Kirby (remember him from the quote above??) realized there was something behind the idea of making a way for people to grab a meal while staying in their cars. This was back in 1921, so remember, people loved their cars. Not that they don’t today, but when they’re as novel as they were back then, people certainly loved any opportunity to be out and about in their automobile. Kirby, being the entrepreneur that he was, understood what an incredibly profitable idea he had on his hands and thus, took his brain child to fellow Texan Reuben Jackson, a physician from Dallas. Kirby hoped Jackson would throw down a $10,000 investment to open a roadside stand that would allow drivers to swing right up to the curb, place their order, have their food delivered directly to their vehicle and be on their way. BURGERS WERE NOT ON THE MENU . . . AT FIRST It may come as a surprise to many of you, considering the top dogs of the drive-thru world today, but the first meal offered at the newly-invented drive-up food stand was a pork loin sandwich, not a hamburger. Kirby and Jackson’s Texas Pig Stand boasted a sandwich of roast pork loin with pickle relish and barbecue sauce. Mmmmm. Thanks to the ingenious new method of ordering/delivery, Pig Stands became a national favorite. Between its inception in 1921 and 1934, more than 100 such stands were delivering delicious meals to hungry drivers across the nation. Naturally, the biggest population of followers was comprised of cab drivers, truck drivers, police officers and anyone who spent the majority of their time in their vehicle. CELEBRATING THE CARHOP As you may recall either from watching movies or actually visiting a drive-up diner, there has to be some way to get the food from the diner’s kitchen to the customer in their car. Back when the Pig Stand was in its hey-day, carhops didn’t scoot around on roller skates. Generally, they were young boys who were employed by the diner and often, it was a bit of a free-for-all when it came to serving the customers. Richard Hailey, former president of Pig Stands, Inc., said the carhops were so competitive that they would literally jump on the running board of any vehicle that appeared to be slowing down in preparation for a visit to the stand. Although it’s not clear when the first stereotypical carhop – dressed in a cute little skirt and apron, rolling around on roller skates and popping her bubble gum – came to be, advertisements from the Washington, D.C. area in 1931 stated they wanted “girls for tray service,” and two years later, a Miami Beach drive-in diner sought an “attractive curb waitress.” Of course, to anyone who hasn’t worked as a carhop, the job sounds somewhat appealing. Who wouldn’t want to cruise around on roller skates and deliver food to happy customers? But in many instances, the carhop life wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. For starters, the hours were long and often required the carhop to work late into the night, let alone be proficient on roller skates. And imagine the horror of accidentally dropping someone’s order, especially if it contained a beer or two, which many did in the late 1930s, as the diners sort of turned into drive-in taverns as the night wore on. Over the next couple decades, carhops battled with the diners that employed them to try to get fair wages – carhops usually worked only for tips but that just wasn’t a sustainable business plan – as well as better treatment, including allowance of one free meal per shift and a uniform provided by the diner. Interestingly enough, the battle seemed more heated when it came to the uniforms the carhops wore than ensuring they were being paid a fair wage. Short shorts could really offend a lot of people, it turns out. Undoubtedly, one of the most difficult parts of the carhop job was dealing with the array of customers who showed up on any given shift. The trade magazine Drive-In Restaurant ran an article in 1957 that listed some of the more common customers carhops encountered: The Horn Blower, The Souvenir Seeker, The Food Refuser, The Deadbeats, and The Wolves. That sure sounds like a wonderful workplace environment, doesn’t it? DRIVE-IN DINER VERSUS DRIVE-THRU WINDOW We have tried to be super careful about how we use the terms “drive-in” and “drive-thru” because they truly are two different things. We’ve been discussing drive-ins in this article, which is why we haven’t talked about Taco Bell, Burger King or McDonald’s. Those are fast food restaurants that happen to have drive-thru windows. At no point in time were they considered diners and they definitely didn’t include any of the early charm like the Pig Stands of the 1920s and 1930s. That’s not to say those fast food places aren’t worth mentioning. They are but they’re just in another genre and that distinction needs to be clear. Why? Because the spirit behind the drive-in diner is very different than that of the fast food joint. For instance, it’s unlikely anyone cruising through a fast food joint would really care about the atmosphere of the restaurant. Usually, patrons of fast food places want their food, well, fast. It’s less about the experience and more about the speed because we people are just far too busy these days. Would it be possible to bring back the authentic drive-in diner? Perhaps. It would likely require people to slow down a bit and learn to enjoy the company of those in the vehicle with them and at this point, the world really isn’t on that path. But who knows? Maybe someone will read this article and revive the drive-in diner!! Issue 885 - 10/15/2018
OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCES AREN'T SO FAR OUT AFTER ALL! by Lindsey Harrison “If I ever had an out-of-body experience, I’d try to come back to a different one.” – Tom Wilson, American cartoonist There are a lot of different experiences that we as humans have throughout our lifetimes. Many of them are pleasant; many of them (unfortunately) are not so pleasant. In general, however, we can explain those experiences. For instance, when you sit with your foot tucked up underneath your body for too long, it may fall asleep. When it starts to “wake up,” you get that tingly feeling all over your foot, like a million ants crawling beneath your skin. As a kid, you may not have been able to explain why such an event happened, but as you grew up, you learned about things like circulation and what happens when you cut that off to a certain part of your body for a period of time. Something that was once a mystery is now easily understood and accepted as a common occurrence. But there are times in our lives where we experience something we just can’t explain. One of the most interesting (and mystifying) is the so-called out-of-body experience. If we are to believe the statistics, somewhere between 5 and 35 percent of the entire human population has had at least one such experience, although those same statistics claim that the majority of those people don’t realize what they’ve just gone through. Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? We at Snippetz thought so, too, which is why we’re going to do some investigating to see if we can explain this seemingly unexplainable phenomenon. WHAT IS AN OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE? As you probably guessed, it only makes sense to talk about out-of-body experiences if we can clearly define what that means. According to Dictionary.com, an out-of-body experience (which we will refer to as an OBE) is “a sensation of being outside of one’s own body, typically of floating and being able to observe oneself from a distance.” Of all the types of strange experiences we humans can have, the name essentially explains itself, right? What it doesn’t explain is how in the world someone can observe themselves from a distance by “floating” outside their physical being. In fact, it sounds a bit spooky. Seriously, if Tom Wilson’s assertion that he would just find another body to inhabit was a possibility (and we don’t really know that it’s not, do we), then how do we know we’re not vulnerable to a spiritual invasion of someone experiencing an OBE? What if people with multiple personalities are just people who have been invaded by another person’s spirit or soul on an OBE? OK, that’s just too deep for right now. Moving on. A recent article sought to describe how OBEs occur. In that article, the author, Tim Newman states that there are two types of OBEs: spontaneous and induced. Spontaneous OBEs are triggered by something but (as the name implies) are not intentionally occurring. Some typical triggers include sleep, such as right before a person falls asleep or right before they fully awake; physical effort, like when you have exerted yourself to the extreme; and near-death experiences. Induced OBEs are intentionally-occurring or perhaps unnatural events, often caused by drugs (especially hallucinogenic ones), sensory deprivation or even the effects of strong G-forces on the human body. Of course, both types of OBEs assume that OBEs are possible. Not everyone believes they are and it certainly makes sense why some people would be skeptical. For instance, an OBE caused by hallucinogenic drugs might be less of an OBE and more of a straight hallucination. It’s hard to consider a trick of the mind caused by a drug as anything more than a mere trick of the mind, rather than some sort of paranormal experience. OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE ACCOUNTS Admittedly, while there is no empirical evidence to support a person’s claim of having had an OBE (truly, how in the world could you prove that?), that doesn’t mean there haven’t been times when a person’s OBE wasn’t difficult to dispute. In fact, quite a few different people have reported OBEs that leave little room for skepticism. Here are some of their stories: Pam Reynolds When you think of OBEs, you might picture someone floating over their body while lying in a hospital bed. Perhaps that story was inspired by the account given by Pam Reynolds, a real-life hospital patient who claims to have had an OBE. Her claim, while outlandish to some, was bolstered by her description of certain events she had no way of knowing anything about. You see, Pam was a patient who had to undergo “highly invasive” brain surgery. But after she had come out of anesthesia, Pam was able to accurately recall things that happened during the surgery and while she was, obviously, asleep. Actually, she was clinically dead. That’s how intense her surgery was. But Pam claimed to have been hovering over her body during the operation and described what she saw with scary accuracy. Linda S. Probably less reliable than an account like Pam Reynolds’s, where she was able to describe things other people had witnessed themselves, Linda S.’s OBE is another fairly common example because of its deep religious connotations. Linda was extremely sick and had been for some time. She decided she just didn’t want to fight anymore. She declined any medications or help from doctors and had resigned herself to her impending death. Linda claims to have made the decision to release her spirit from her body and that she felt a deep sense of calm. Suddenly, she felt herself being lifted upward and claims to have actually traveled to heaven, where she met God, who ultimately sent her back to earth. Supposedly, Linda, who did as God directed, recovered from her illness and went on to live a healthy life. OBE INDUCTION?? There are plenty more OBE accounts we could provide for you here so you can make up your mind about whether or not OBEs exist. But we felt you might enjoy the chance to learn how to (supposedly) induce an OBE yourself! DISCLAIMER: Snippetz has not tried these methods and does not condone or recommend them. If you elect to try them, try them at your own risk.
Another method involves doing much of the same as above, but envisioning yourself holding onto an imaginary rope instead of repeating a set of words. You should picture yourself climbing up that rope. Supposedly, this can lead you to “project” yourself out of your body through the “projection reflex.” Whether or not these methods truly work will never be definitively proven. For centuries, yogis and other master meditators have claimed to be able to achieve OBEs. Perhaps they’re correct and perhaps they’re not. Regardless, it’s something we at Snippetz can safely say is fodder for some deep contemplation. So, contemplate away, dear readers! Issue 886 - 10/22/2018
SNIPPETZ IS HAUNTED BY THE "HALLOWEEN" MOVIE SERIES by Lindsey Harrison “The idea of dying and coming back is what makes the Halloween films work.” – Donald Pleasence, English actor With Halloween just around the corner, many people are thinking about all things spooky, scary and disturbing. Houses everywhere have been adorned with fake cobwebs and glowing jack-o-lanterns. The leaves on the trees have changed colors and many have fallen to the ground where the brisk fall wind whips them around in frenzied circles throughout yards and across streets. Soon, it will be time to put on that costume you’ve been working on for the last few weeks. Hopefully, it’ll get some good laughs if you’re the funny costume type and if you’re the scary costume type, you hope at least someone will scream and run the other way. Although there’s never any guarantee that your costume will get the reaction you’re craving, there’s one particular outfit that can almost assuredly frighten a person or two: it’s the Michael Myers costume from the “Halloween” movie series. No, not Mike Myers, the Canadian actor who played such iconic characters as “Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery.” Michael Myers, the deranged serial killer who haunts (and hunts) his victims, all while wearing that unforgettable pale gray mask. But why would anyone in 2018 still dress up as a character from a movie made in 1978? And more importantly, why does that character still scare the bejeezus out of everyone? Those questions are really what inspired us at Snippetz to start our own investigation into the allure and attraction horror film junkies have with the silent star of the “Halloween” movie series. You may want to sleep with the lights on after reading this . . . BASED ON A TRUE STORY?? The words “based on a true story” are often powerful enough to freak out anyone watching a horror film. Of course, that statement doesn’t indicate how much of the film is based on a true story. It could be that the names used in the film are names of real people and that’s as close to a true story as that movie comes. While none of the “Halloween” movie series, of which there are now 11, claim to be based on a true story, an article was recently published that states Michael Myers wasn’t just a creepy fictitious movie character. John Carpenter, director and co-writer of the first “Halloween” movie (released in 1978, remember?), apparently had a real-life encounter that inspired him to create the serial killer we all know and love . . . or are deathly afraid of. Either one. Carpenter recounts in the article that he had visited a mental institution as part of a college class and there, he and the other students were introduced to the “most serious, mentally ill patients,” one of which was a boy who was no more than 13 years old. Carpenter had one of his characters describe the look he saw in that boy’s face in “Halloween” when referring to Michael Myers: “This blank, pale emotionless face. Blackest eyes. The devil’s eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him and then another seven trying to keep him locked up, because I realized what was living behind that boy’s eyes was purely and simply evil.” HAPPY HALLOWEEN . . .? So, you’ve heard us talk about this “Halloween” movie series and you know that it has something to do with a serial killer. But if you’ve never watched any of the films, you might be wondering why the concept managed to spawn 11 movies. Well, here’s one important thing to keep in mind: the Michael Myers character was a six-year-old boy when he committed his first murder. Yeah, not such a Happy Halloween for that boy’s family after all. In fact, Michael’s first victim is his older sister Judith, who he kills on – you guessed it – Halloween. Jump to 15 years later during which time Michael has been safely tucked away in Warren County’s Smith’s Grove Sanitarium. But the now 21-year-old murderer escapes from the sanitarium and heads back to his hometown where he ends up wreaking havoc by stalking and attempting to murder a young Jamie Lee Curtis, who plays Laurie Strode, and her friends who are all babysitting at various locations in the town on Halloween night. “Halloween II” was released in 1981and the story picks up where the first movie left off. However, at the end of “Halloween,” we are left wondering if Michael Myers is dead or alive. Naturally, we find out the answer in “Halloween II” as Michael continues his attempts to kill Laurie Strode. Without giving away too much for those of you who may want to check out this series at a later date, Laurie is actually related to Michael. Here’s where things get weird, though. As with the first movie, “Halloween II” ends with us not quite knowing the fate of Michael Myers. You’d think “Halloween III: Season of the Witch” (released in 1982) would follow the storyline of the first two movies, but it actually doesn’t, like, at all. In fact, Michael Myers isn’t even in the film. The decision to omit Michael in the movie, plus a few other interesting choices, has led to a lot of criticism of “Halloween III.” The rest of the films in the series sort of do their own thing, or as industry types like to call it, the films contain a lot of “original content.” “Halloween H20: 20 Years Later” (released in 1998) is off on its own and even featured a modified version of the original Michael Myers mask, which was not well-received by audiences. What remains consistent throughout the series is the way that Carpenter managed to keep people terrified of Michael Myers, by intentionally preventing viewers from finding a way to identify with the serial killer in any way. But maybe you do, in which case, you may want to seek professional help. Just sayin’. PICKING UP WHERE THEY LEFT OFF While there has certainly been some disjointedness in the storyline of the “Halloween” movie series, namely having certain events from earlier movies completed ignored/negated by the events in later movies, David Gordon Green and Danny McBride have written the direct sequel to the original “Halloween” movie, which was released on October 19, 2018. Luckily, Jamie Lee Curtis agreed to bring back the Laurie Strode character, now 40 years older, but apparently still Michael Myers’s fixation. But now, Laurie’s daughter and granddaughter are in the picture which certainly complicates things! Although we at Snippetz have not yet had the chance to see this movie, which means we can’t really talk a whole bunch about it, rest assured that we will and if it’s anything like the first film, we won’t be watching it alone. HALLOWEEN MOVIE SERIES SNIPPETZ
Issue 887 - 10/29/2018
RESURRECTING THE LEGEND OF RESURRECTION MARY by Lindsey Harrison 
“Ghostly apparitions occur only in places where a terrible deed has been committed.”
– Siegfried Kracauer, German writer In just a few days, it’ll be Halloween. In many places, the concept behind Halloween, also known as All Hallow’s Eve, is that October 31 is a special night where the spirits of the dead can come back to earth to visit their loved ones who are still alive in this world. Maybe you don’t believe that. But what if it was possible for spirits to return to earth? And what if it was possible for spirits to return anytime, not just on All Hallow’s Eve? Granted, it may be difficult to accept those “what ifs,” unless you’re one of the many people who has had a run-in with Resurrection Mary. Now, you may not have ever heard of her, but Resurrection Mary is actually the most famous ghost in Chicago. Although we at Snippetz have not had our own experiences with her, Resurrection Mary caught our attention for a few reasons. One: a certain magazine owner happens to be a proud Chicago native. And two: it’s almost Halloween, as we mentioned before, and what better time to resurrect the legend of a ghost as famous as Resurrection Mary? If you scare easily, you may want to read this with a friend or loved one because things are about to get spooky around here. LEGEND HAS IT . . . The story of Resurrection Mary starts along Archer Avenue in a suburb southwest of Chicago, outside the gates of Resurrection Cemetery in the 1930s. Back then, stories started to circulate around town that a young woman could be seen standing on the side of the road, often looking for a ride from one of the automobiles cruising by at any given time. She was frequently described as having long blonde hair, dressed in a white, billowy dress. Now, that probably doesn’t sound like the type of thing that would spawn a legend of any sort. Truly, how unusual was it for a young lady with long blonde hair to be glimpsed near a cemetery on any given day or night? It wasn’t so much that people simply claimed to have seen this girl. It was more how they described their interactions with her. Some drivers said she was actually hitchhiking, but most said she was just standing along the roadside . . . until they got closer, that is. Many accounts stated that this young woman either waited until the vehicle got close enough for her to reach and then attempted to jump onto the running boards of their cars. Still others claimed she literally jumped out in front of their cars, causing them the shock of their lives, especially when they determined they hadn’t actually hit anything. Those drivers often said they had driven right through her, only to look back and see her vanish through the gates of the cemetery. But that’s not where the stories end, not by a long shot. As time went on, stories of encounters with a young woman continued near the cemetery but others were reported increasingly further away, towards a dance hall called the Oh Henry Ballroom. The dance hall, later known as the Willowbrook Ballroom, was a fairly popular place and naturally, people would drive to and from the establishment throughout the week. Reports started pouring in of encounters with the ghostly young woman on the way to the ballroom and even on the way back from it. But more disturbing than that, young men at the dance hall began making claims that they had met and danced with the girl. Frequently, those nice men would politely offer to take her home, which would inevitably lead to her giving the poor, unsuspecting men random, vague directions. The pair would end up slowly driving north on Archer Avenue, presumably in search of the woman’s house, but as soon as they reached the Resurrection Cemetery gates, she would simply disappear from the car. AND THAT’S HOW A LEGEND IS BORN Once these stories began catching the attention of police and newspaper reporters, the apparition was officially dubbed “Resurrection Mary,” in honor of the cemetery she seemed to favor so much. Now, if this ghostly woman had only made her appearance in the 1930s, just once or twice or even a dozen times, it’s unlikely she would have become Chicago’s most famous ghost. Probably one of the most interesting parts of Resurrection Mary’s story is that it even decades later, her influence was still strong in her community. In fact, sightings of Resurrection Mary hit their apex during the 1970s and 19802. And that’s in large part due to an event that occurred in 1976. BURN, BABY, BURN As with most of the other accounts about Resurrection Mary, the one reported by a man on Aug. 10, 1975 at about 10:30 p.m. features the apparition wearing a long flowing white gown. But this time, the young woman was actually inside the Resurrection Cemetery gates, holding onto the metal bars as if she wanted to come out but couldn’t. Of course, the man being the gentleman that he was, informed the police because he feared she must be locked inside the cemetery. By the time the police arrived on scene, the girl was gone . . . but she had left her mark, so to speak. Two of the bars, the ones the girl was supposedly holding on to, had two blackened handprints burned into the green metal. Whether or not the burn marks were from the girl, Resurrection Mary perhaps, the cemetery officials weren’t going to openly admit anything. They tried to remove the marks using a blowtorch, but apparently that made it worse. Finally, after trying just about everything they could think of to repair them, the bars were removed in 1990. However, if the internet is to be believed (and we all know it’s generally not), there are plenty of pictures evidencing the scorched bars . . . and to us, it looks suspiciously like handprints. But you can always decide for yourself! WHO WAS RESURRECTION MARY? Unfortunately, there has never been a definitive answer to who the real Resurrection Mary may have been. Several theories have emerged over the years, concentrating on three young women who are likely candidates. Mary Bregovy – this young woman was known to frequent the Oh Henry Ballroom and was tragically killed when the car she was riding in smashed into a metal column holding up “L” train above. She was thrown through the windshield and killed instantly. She was 21 at the time of her death in 1934, and sightings of the ghostly girl began shortly after. Ona Marija Norkus – also riding in a vehicle along the treacherous stretch of Archer Avenue in 1927, this 12-year-old girl was killed when the car she was riding in swerved off the road and into a ditch. It was reported that she and the other passengers in the car were heading home after a night out dancing at the Oh Henry Ballroom. Mary Miskowski – although it’s unknown how old this woman was when she died, she was killed right near Resurrection Cemetery as she attempted to cross the street on the way to a costume party. However, she was young enough in 1930 for the rumors to include her as the possible Resurrection Mary. Issue 888 - 11/5/2018
DON'T BE SCARED, SNIPPETZ IS JUST VISITING THESE COLORADO GHOST TOWNS by Lindsey Harrison 
“When the world changed, people were different. Towns were closed, cities were boarded up, communities abandoned, their governments collapsed. They seemed to have no qualms that were obvious to you or me about walking away from what they called a useless pile of rubbish and never looking back.”
– Alexis Wright, Australian writer It’s hard to believe that towns were ever abandoned when we look around our city and see nothing but building, building, building. Truly, people are moving to Colorado, and especially the Colorado Springs area, in droves. Perhaps we’re lucky to have such a healthy economy that people feel confident they can sustain themselves and their families here. But what about all those places that experience just the opposite: a mass exodus of people, leaving the town behind like it never existed in the first place. OK, maybe that’s a bit too dramatic, but you get the idea. Those places, once busy towns bustling with people, stores, goings-on, etc., have been left behind for one reason or another. As a kid growing up, a certain author thought the term “ghost town” referred to a town entirely inhabited by ghosts. That might be true, but we know now that the term really just describes a town that has been abandoned. That’s not nearly as spooky but it’s certainly no less interesting, which is why Snippetz is taking a trip to visit some of the most famous, interesting ghost towns our fair state of Colorado has to offer. ST. ELMO St. Elmo is a popular ghost town, that’s for sure. It certainly helps that is it one of the best-preserved ghost towns in the whole U.S. of A. So, let’s start there! As with many ghost towns around these parts, St. Elmo started out as a mining town. It was founded in 1880, originally named Forrest City, and the population exploded to 2,000 fairly quickly. And why wouldn’t it? The local mines, the Mary Murphy, Teresa C., Molly and Pioneer mines were incredibly profitable. In fact, the Mary Murphy mine produced $60,000,000 in gold . . . which meant good, steady jobs. At least for the time being. Sadly, the mining industry was only really successful for about 40 years, and by 1922, the once-busy town of St. Elmo was abandoned. The fact that the railroad that served the town shut down certainly didn’t help matters, either. The 43 buildings of which the town was comprised remain standing to this day, a reminder of the hopes for prosperity that brought so many people to the area. But unlike most other ghost towns, people still live in St. Elmo. Not in the super old buildings of course. But the General Store still operates seasonally to allow visitors an opportunity to snag a souvenir or snack as they pass through. St. Elmo Snippetz: the book “St. Elmo’s Fire” was written in 1985 by John Parr and (for lack of better terms) prophesied the devastating fire that burned down the town hall in 2002. Spooky. CAPITOL CITY Pop quiz: why is Capitol City called Capitol City? Answer: the city’s founder George Lee reeeaaally wanted it to be the capital of Colorado. When he “set up shop” in 1877, he called the town Galena City, but as the local mines started to gain notoriety for their success, people flocked to the area to make their living mining for silver and gold. Although the name was changed, the chance that Capitol City would ever become the state capital was slim to none. Only about 800 people lived there at the height of its prosperity. But that didn’t stop Lee. He saw himself as Colorado’s governor and built a mansion fit for someone of that title. Rumor has it he had the brick for his massive house brought up from Pueblo for $1 per brick. Considering inflation, that would be about $26 in today’s economy. Yikes. When the price of silver dropped, people eventually left the town in search of other places that could help them sustain their way of life. The 200-acre town site only has two buildings still standing: the old post office and Lee’s Smelter Stack. There are plenty of ruins that hint at the fact that this place was once a busy little town, though. Capitol City Snippetz: the city’s first year of existence was also the year that brought its highest population count. ANIMAS FORKS What would you say if you found out that the Evalyn Walsh, one-time owner of the Hope Diamond (one of the most famous gems in the world with an estimated worth of between $200 and $250 million), may have spent time at the Duncan House in Animas Forks? Probably not if you know that she was an heiress to a mining fortune and considering Animas Forks was a mining town . . . there you have it. Remember the Duncan House we spoke of? Well, if you ever happen to go to Animas Forks, you’ll likely remember seeing this gorgeous two-story house, built by William Duncan (hence the name), that is still standing to this day because it has a massive bay window, perfect for reflecting on nature’s beauty. And why not? When you’re at 11,300 feet above sea level, there’s a lot to see! Animas Forks’s first structures were cabins built by prospectors in 1873 and by 1883, it was a busy mining community with about 450 residents. Most of those residents were savvy enough to know that 11,300 feet above sea level can be uncomfortable to say the least during the winter months and generally left for warmer climes. But the hard-core locals often stuck it out . . . even in 1884 when a blizzard dropped 25 feet of snow on the town over a 23-day period. Don’t worry. Those locals made lemonade out of lemons and dug tunnels through the snow from building to building. Animas Forks Snippetz: this town once claimed to be the “largest city in the world.” But in fine print, that statement was clarified with “at this altitude.” DEARFIELD As opposed to the other ghost towns we’ve discussed, Dearfield was not a mining town when it was founded. Oliver T. Jackson, an entrepreneur from Boulder, decided he wanted to create an all-African American settlement. He purchased up tracts of homesteading land in 1910 and intended for them to be used for residents to farm the land and raise livestock. By 1921, about 700 people lived in Dearfield, which got its name from the fact that the land was very “dear” to the town’s residents. Dearfield flourished and at one point in time, was valued at more than $1 million. But, as with the rest of the county, Dearfield took a hit in the 1930s when the Great Depression hit. When the 1940s rolled around, only 12 people were left in residence at the once-prosperous town. While a few buildings remain standing to this day, the majority of the proof that this bustling African American town even existed has disappeared into the sands of time. Jackson, however, was resourceful and never intended for the town to fall into ruin and set out trying to find a buyer to keep the place alive. Rumor has it that he offered the site to Governor Ralph Carr during World War II as an internment camp for Japanese prisoners of war. That didn’t happen and Jackson was left with the remains of his idyllic town. Dearfield Snippetz: most of the people who settled in Dearfield had no agricultural experience and had to create innovative techniques for farming on the dry land. Issue 889 - 11/12/2018
IT'S SIMPLY A WINDY CITY THING... YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND By Lindsey Harrison “Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.” – George Bernard Shaw, Irish dramatist Everything has a beginning. Books, relationships, candy bars. And candy bars can actually have two beginnings, since you can really start eating it from either end. But that’s beside the point. The point, dear readers, is that everything, regardless of whether it’s awesome or not, began somewhere. Take the Ferris wheel for example. It got it’s beginning in Chicago, Illinois. And since we’re already talking about Chicago, why don’t we just start there? See how we made it look like we just randomly chose Chicago even though we had planned to talk about fun and fascinating things that got their start, their beginning if you will, in Chicago. If you’ve already been there, don’t spoil the fun for anyone else. Just relax, kick up your feet, snack on a Twinkie (which, coincidentally also got their start in Chicago) and soak up all the knowledge we at Snippetz are about to rain down on you! GEORGE WILKINS First and foremost, we need to acknowledge the fact that George Wilkins, Snippetz owner and generally awesome guy, got his start in Chicago. Literally. He was born there. Way to go, Chicago! BLOOD BANK Although the idea that blood was important has obviously been around for a super long time, the technology to store blood and keep it viable enough to use again wasn’t available until the early 1930s. Can you guess which city managed to develop such technology? If you said anything other than Chicago, you clearly haven’t been paying attention. The first documented, and therefore official, blood transfusion attempts were performed in France in 1667. Considering they used sheep’s blood and transfused that into humans, those attempts weren’t terribly successful. It really wasn’t until 1901 that the first successful blood transfusion was performed. As you might have guessed, the transfusion was human-to-human and came about thanks to Austrian physician Karl Landsteiner who figured out that blood actually comes in several types. And those types were pretty critical to making a blood transfusion work. Anyway, the need for blood transfusions was clearly a dire one during World War I. Considering those poor soldiers didn’t walk around telling each other their blood types, it soon became clear that there was a need for blood to be easily accessible based on type. In the early 1930s, Russian scientists Vladimir Shamov and Sergei Yudin determined that cadaver blood could do the job, as long as it was properly preserved, but that blood wasn’t viable for long. Fast forward through the age of “canned blood” and into 1937, when Bernard Fantus developed a way to preserve blood for 10 days instead of the former couple of hours. With that development came Fantus’s determination that blood needed a place to be stored and so he founded the first blood bank, called the Cook County Hospital Blood Bank. FERRIS WHEEL Since we mentioned this earlier, we thought it made sense to elaborate. Originally known as the Chicago Wheel (really creative name, right?) the first Ferris wheel measured 264 feet high and sported 36 “cars” for passengers to ride on. You probably think the Ferris Wheel was created primarily as a way to entertain folks. And to a degree, it was. But the main motivation behind the iconic carnival ride was in response to France’s construction of the Eiffel Tower. Luckily, a young engineer named George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., was among the people working to create an exhibit spectacular enough to rival the Eiffel Tower. With $25,000 of his own money, which in the late 1800s was a pretty sizeable chunk of change, to conduct safety studies, to bring on other engineers and finally, to secure investors. The final product was unveiled on June 21, 1893, and for $.50, patrons could get a 20-minute ride that one reporter, Robert Graves, described as, “an indescribable sensation.” Another home run for Chicago! TWINKIES We also mentioned the preservative-packed snack sensations, Twinkies, and we feel that reference must also be elaborated upon. So, back to the Windy City we go to Chicago’s Continental Bakery, which Jimmy Dewar was managing in 1930. Knowing that customers loved the strawberry-filled shortcake snacks the bakery offered, Dewar felt there must be some way to keep those same customers coming back, even when strawberries were out of season and the snacks weren’t on the menu. He decided to substitute the strawberries for banana cream, which was more readily available throughout the year. With that simple decision, the Twinkie was born. Well, actually there was one more. When World War II brought about fruit rationing, meaning both strawberries and bananas were super hard to get. So, vanilla cream was used in place of both and the Twinkie (as we know it today) was born. Again. CAR RADIOS As anyone who spends any significant amount of time in their vehicle knows, having something good to listen to is crucial. Apparently, Paul and Joseph Galvin from – you guessed it – Chicago knew the truth behind that statement, because they decided to make a radio that could be placed inside a car and used while driving. Previously, the brothers had gone into business together to make radios that ran on electricity rather than batteries. But that was in the 1920s and this was 1930, after all and they had moved waaaay past simple electric radios. So they changed the name of their company to Motorola. We bet you can’t guess why . . . “Motor” for, well the motor of a car, and “ola,” the last part of Victrola, one of those old-timey record machines with the massive bell-shaped speaker sticking off the top of it. While you’re driving around today, maybe send up a “Thank You” to the Galvin brothers for allowing you to rock out to Metallica rather than just sitting in silence. MCDONALD’S You probably thought the McDonald’s franchise of fast food restaurants was started by someone with the last name of McDonald’s. And if you did, good for you because that’s the truth. Now, there has been some controversy over this but hang with us for a bit and it’ll all make sense. Richard and Maurice McDonald went into business together and opened a barbecue restaurant in San Bernardino, California, in 1940. As business grew, the brothers realized they could serve there customers better by stripping their menu down to a few select items, to include a super thin version of the French fry. Now, you may have heard that McDonald’s was founded by a guy named Ray Kroc. It’s true that Kroc opened the first official “McDonald’s” fast food restaurant, but only because he purchased the entire operation from the McDonald brothers and franchised their idea. This was all in 1954 and by 1956, he had expanded the franchise to include more than 700 stores across the country. And the very first one was in . . . Chicago! That’s right. The controversy we mentioned earlier comes from the fact that some people have attributed the entire McDonald’s operation to Kroc but they overlook the two men who developed the idea behind the franchise and even put their name on the restaurant. Seems weird to own a restaurant that has someone else’s name on it, doesn’t it? But that didn’t stop the rumors. Regardless, the truth has been revealed and you readers are now smarter than you were 10 minutes ago! |
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