For hundreds of years, people have created drinkable elixirs and tonics which they claimed had medicinal purposes.  Salesmen, many of whom could be better described as con men, arrived in towns and communities and hawked their tonics.  They would tell tales of the miraculous cures that their product was responsible for, sell their drinks to the locals … Continue reading COLUMN: Brad’s Drink

By Brad Dison At 8:30 p.m. on November 24, 1992, a Gulfstream II jet piloted by John Joseph and co-piloted by John Messina, took off from Fort Lauderdale, Florida en route to Rockland, Maine.  If everything went as expected, the flight would take two-and-a-half hours.  They planned to land in Maine at 11:00 p.m.  This $5 million twin-engine … Continue reading COLUMN: Joseph’s jet

By Brad Dison John and his wife, Mary, were expecting a child.  Like his father, also named John, John was a clergyman in the 13 colonies.  He was the pastor of the United First Parish Church in Quincy, Massachusetts.  Finally, on January 23, 1737, the child was born.  As you might expect, John and Mary named the boy John.  This … Continue reading COLUMN: America’s inheritance 

By Brad Dison   Since the earliest humans roamed the Earth, theft has been a problem.  I imagine one caveman being envious of another caveman’s club and taking it when the opportunity presented itself.      Over the millennia, humans developed rules which eventually became enforceable laws to stave off thievery.  In some cases, the … Continue reading Crime and Punishment

By Brad Dison   In February 1914, May Pierstorff’s parents prepared for their five-year-old daughter, May, to visit her grandmother.  May and her parents lived in Lewiston, Idaho.  May’s grandmother lived about 70 miles away in Grangeville, Idaho.  In the 1910s, automobiles had not yet become the predominant form of transportation in Idaho.  Most people … Continue reading A loopy loophole

By Brad Dison In 1877, Thomas Edison’s engineers worked on a machine that would transcribe messages sent over telegraph lines.  Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone just one year prior, but it would be years before it became commonplace.  As Edison and his engineers pondered over the different uses for this invention, Edison speculated that an audio … Continue reading A wax will

By Brad Dison John Joseph was born in Neptune City, New Jersey on April 22, 1937.  He was raised by his parents, Ethel May and John, and sisters June and Lorraine.  June was 18 years his senior, and Lorraine was 15 years his senior.  June aspired to become a famous entertainer.  In the 1930s, June … Continue reading The Chinatown revelation

By Brad Dison The morning of September 16, 1976, was chilly in Yerevan, Armenia.  The streets were busy with commuters heading to work and other various destinations.  The city used trolleybuses powered by electric lines above the highway to transport the masses of people to their destinations.  Windows wrapped around the entirety of the upper … Continue reading Shavarash and the Trolleybus

By Brad Dison At about 7:00 p.m., on Sunday evening, December 18, 1921, Harry, who was the secretary to the Tulsa, Oklahoma Police Commissioner and purchasing agent for the police and fire departments, drove his car to the home of Ike Wilkerson, a police detective who lived just a few blocks away.  The pair planned to … Continue reading Column: Rabbit hunt gone wrong

By Brad Dison On Friday night, October 14, 1955, Lubbock, Texas would have been the place to be.  Rock and Roll was in its infancy, and Bill Haley & the Comets were there at the very beginning.  Bill Haley and his band were a hot commodity in the music industry after they released a song which went … Continue reading One night with Billy Haley and The Comets

By Brad Dison On June 29, 1994, a 45-year-old pilot took over the controls of a BAe 146 jet airliner as he often did from the senior pilot, Flight Captain Graham Laurie.  The pilot had been flying for about 30 years.  In the mid-1960s, he began taking private pilot lessons and earned his pilot’s license.  He soon joined the Air … Continue reading A narrow escape

By Brad Dison In 2000, writer/producer Allison Gibson had an idea for a television sitcom which was set in Houston, Texas.  The lead character, Sally, was a wisecracking single mother of three children, each of whom had various emotional issues.  Sally’s husband had left her for another woman who, because of their connection to the same man, … Continue reading A sitcom called Sally

By Brad Dison This past week or so, we have all been overwhelmed by information on the royal family due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II.  This brought up the memory of the mostly forgotten Emperor Norton I whose full name was Joshua Abraham Norton I.   The emperor’s reign began in September 1859 and lasted … Continue reading The death of Emperor Norton I

 By Brad Dison  Carmel-by-the-Sea was, and remains, a picturesque oceanside one-square-mile town 120 miles south of San Francisco.  At the time of the 1986 mayoral election, the town consisted of 4,825 residents.  Carmel had “rigid preservation and development rules,” which frustrated many of the residents, including Junior.  For example, the town council refused to grant a permit for … Continue reading Junior’s Run for Mayor 

By Brad Dison Red was small for his age, smaller than the other kids in his neighborhood of Yorkville, New York.  In the first decade of the twentieth century, all young boys were expected, with few exceptions, to join the neighborhood gang.  To be exempted and respected, a boy had to have a good excuse such as … Continue reading Red and the Bully

By Brad Dison Johnny Allen was born on November 27, 1942, during World War II.  During his teen years, Johnny occasionally got into minor trouble, but nothing too serious.  In 1961, Seattle policemen were investigating a rash of home burglaries in which about $2,500 worth of goods and cash was stolen.  On Tuesday night, May 2, Johnny and … Continue reading Johnny Allen’s experience

  By Brad Dison Daniel Lawrence “Dan” Whitney was born in Pawnee City, Nebraska.  He grew up in a church-going family.  His father, Tom, held many jobs.  Tom was a school administrator, entertainer – he played guitar for the Everly Brothers – a preacher, and he raised pigs, horses, and cattle.  Tom left for work … Continue reading Creation eclipses creator

 By Brad Dison  In the summer of 1893, Katharine Lee Bates was teaching English at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Katharine and some of the other teachers decided to visit the summit of Pikes Peak, some 12 miles away as the crow flies.  Katharine had learned all she could about the peak’s history before … Continue reading A sudden flash of inspiration 

By Brad Dison  A New York television show was due to begin broadcasting in two weeks.  In the 1950s, television was broadcast live before a studio audience.  There was no editing.  The production had one serious problem; they were having trouble casting an actress to play the lead character’s wife.  They had considered numerous actresses but could not find … Continue reading  Ms. Cotter’s character 

 By Brad Dison  Lieutenant Frank Wead was one of the best-known “fliers” in the early years of the United States naval aviation service.  In 1912, Frank, then sixteen years old, entered the U.S. Naval Academy.  Two years later, much of the world was engaged in “the war to end all wars,” World War I.  United States President Woodrow … Continue reading Frank’s flight 

By Brad Dison  Roy Sullivan was born in 1912 in Greene County, Virginia.  Beginning in 1936, Roy spent his whole working life as a park ranger in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.  Friends described Roy as being “as gentle and upright as a person can be.  He pays his bills, loves his family, goes to church, has never … Continue reading Roy’s attractiveness 

By Brad Dison On the morning of November 10, 1980, Daniel Irvin Jr.’s plane landed at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois.  With no one to pick him up from the airport, Daniel hailed a cab driven by 38-year-old Gene Phillips.  Daniel asked Gene if he was familiar with Castlewood Terrace.  Although Gene had been a taxi driver … Continue reading Cab tab