On Christmas Eve of 1937, a man in Centerville, Indiana kidnapped a young boy and his babysitter. Minutes later, the boy's mother and the local grocer were taken prisoner by a second thug. A shootout between the bandit and the boy's father then followed.

Miner James Kidd made an incredibly unusual request in his will that would take more than 21 years for the courts to resolve.

In 1933, a young man was walking through a busy train station in India when he was pricked in the arm by a man walking in the opposite direction. He would soon be dead and the shocking truth as to how and who murdered him was revealed.

In 1933, a medical doctor and a chiropractic doctor were found severely injured a short distance from one another. The two had never met before, but their lives had somehow violently crossed on that fateful day.

An offbeat story from 1966 about a woman requested that a taxicab drive her all the way from Toledo, Ohio to San Francisco, CA

A fun story from 1964 in which Brooklyn neighbors Sam Gutwirth and Sam Scheir ended up in court due to Scheir's loud snoring.

A great story about a Navy pilot who was blinded during a bombing run over North Korea in 1952 and the attempt by another pilot to land him safely.

Back in 1933, more than 30 attempts were made on the life of Michael Malloy before he finally succumbed.

Part 2 of my interview with cartoonist Leigh Rubin during which we discuss how he got into cartooning and went on to become a successful syndicated cartoonist.

Natalie and Stan Rubin were the first Jewish couple ever married on national TV, but it almost never happened.

For the Great Podcast Switcheroo, hear an episode of the Historical Blindness podcast titled The Camden Wonder.

The story of Ronald McLean who started his career as a soda jerk in a pharmacy and ultimately made his way to be appointed as the Interim Dean at the Albany College of Pharmacy.

In 1952, Jesse Garrett had recently divorced and was in search of a new wife. He seemed like a catch and 100's of women contacted him to let them know that they were interested. In the end, Jesse Garrett was financially ruined,

Part 2 of my interview with John Murphy. Here we discuss John's involvement with inventor Dean Kamen (of the Segway fame) and their work to establish the FIRST Robotics competition that now involves tens of thousands of students worldwide.

The parents of Linda Marie Ault were in a panic when their daughter didn't return home after attending a dance. When she returned home the next morning, they came up with a punishment that would teach her a valuable lesson. Everything went horribly wrong.

Bonus episode is an interview with John Murphy. His dad was a member of the Salem Trade School, which was the subject of Useless Information Podcast #90 in January 2016.

Fun story from the 1940's about a man named Harry H. Heim who converted a defunct mill town into the ultimate Christmas wonderland.

In 1957, three Chicago aluminum awning salesmen decided to quit the jobs and sail to Africa to join in on the lucrative illegal diamond trade. They were in for a wild ride along with a very big surprise waiting for them at the end.

Long forgotten headline story about a family who lost everything in the Great Kansas flood of 1951. Yet, all was not as it seemed...

As a publicity stunt, W.G. Crush crashed two trains head-on near West, Texas in 1896. More than 20,000 spectators were in the audience when it all went horribly wrong.

Pearl River, LA resident Effie Crawford made the most startling discovery in 1936. Moving through the brush near her home she spotted a large dog carrying an unusual package in its mouth. She grabbed the bundle and found that it contained a baby.

The world's fastest bicyclist in the 1890's was Charles Minthorp Murphy and he was certain that there was no locomotive on Earth that could go faster than he could. To prove this, Murphy set a goal to ride one-mile in one-minute.

John Cleves Symmes asked Congress to fund a voyage to the North Pole so that his crew could sail into the Earth's interior. You may be surprised to find out how many of our elected officials approved the voyage...

Pennsylvania resident Jacob Silverman made national headlines back in 1922 for the crime of owning a dog named Dick within the commonwealth. The law at the time required that Dick be killed simply because he was owned by Jacob. Could Dick's life be saved?

Bonus episode that includes an interview that I did back in 2014 with Lene Bech Sillesen and a recording of the NBC live news report when Pearl Harbor was bombed.