I have been traveling throughout the Mid-Atlantic researching the dark underside of history, shocking murders from long ago that once stunned communities and filled newspapers with sensational headlines. From the mountains of Western Pennsylvania and Maryland to the Atlantic Coast, these terrible crimes, many lingering as unsolved cold cases, provide a stark look at the…
A New Program: CSI — The Historical Edition
Programs such as Law & Order and CSI have introduced most people to modern crime-solving techniques. But for most of our past, sleuths did as much as they could to investigate crimes, but they lacked the most basic tools. There wasn’t much the sheriff, part-time constable, justice of the peace, and coroner could do, except…
Hangings by the Salem County Sheriff
It was a gruesome, emotionally draining responsibility, one most officials preferred to elude on their watch, but occasionally the Salem County Executioner had to carry out a hanging. Once the wheels of justice turned and the bench handed down the death warrant the ghastly duty, dispatching a condemned man, fell to the sheriff in New…
The Mason-Dixon Line Endures Through Time and History
I recently had the opportunity to serve as the guest curator for an exhibit on the Mason-Dixon Line, which opened at Frederick Heritage on May 3, 2018. “A Boundary Through Time” focused on exploring the many meanings of the Pennsylvania-Maryland State Line. Working with the in-house curatorial team, I helped create the exhibit by contributing…