13 Weirdly Morbid Vintage News Stories

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From the Dec. 7, 1931, issue of TIMETIME
By Lily Rothman

In the earlier days of TIME, the magazine ran a weekly round-up of local news items of note — and, as we pointed out earlier this month, it’s proof positive that funny flubs and weird happenings have always had the ability to go viral, albeit at a slightly slower pace than they do today.

But that “Miscellany” column, in the 1920s and ’30s, wasn’t just a repository of the benignly strange. On a regular basis, it also featured deaths and killings (and, as seen above, freak accidents that result in mere permanent blindness) that we can only hope weren’t meant to be funny. Here are a few of the strangest, most macabre items we could find.

From the May 25, 1925, issue of TIMETIME
Also from the May 25, 1925, issue of TIMETIME
Again from the May 25, 1925, issue of TIME. It must have been a rough week.TIME
From the Dec. 10, 1928, issue of TIMETIME
From the Dec. 9, 1929, issue of TIMETIME
From the Feb. 3, 1930, issue of TIMETIME
From the June 9, 1930, issue of TIMETIME
From the Nov. 3, 1930, issue of TIMETIME
From the Dec. 1, 1930, issue of TIMETIME
From the Aug. 10, 1931, issue of TIMETIME
From the Aug. 10, 1931, issue of TIMETIME
From the Dec. 7, 1931, issue of TIMETIME
From the Nov. 5, 1934, issue of TIMETIME

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Write to Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com