--- description: What were they thinking? title: Scary Stories and Morbid News: 13 Weird Vintage Reports from TIME image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9380705927c30778/69877bab35ba6f0621c06b24/determined.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Bizarre](/tag/bizarre/) ## Bizarre Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 13 Weirdly Morbid Vintage News Stories  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jan 28, 2015 4:00 PM CUT  From the Dec. 7, 1931, issue of TIME From the Dec. 7, 1931, issue of TIMETIME  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jan 28, 2015 4:00 PM CUT 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](http://time.com/3658871/ridiculous-old-news/ "undefined"), 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 TIME TIME  Also from the May 25, 1925, issue of TIME TIME  Again from the May 25, 1925, issue of TIME. It must have been a rough week. TIME  From the Dec. 10, 1928, issue of TIME TIME  From the Dec. 9, 1929, issue of TIME TIME  From the Feb. 3, 1930, issue of TIME TIME  From the June 9, 1930, issue of TIME TIME  From the Nov. 3, 1930, issue of TIME TIME  From the Dec. 1, 1930, issue of TIME TIME  From the Aug. 10, 1931, issue of TIME TIME  From the Aug. 10, 1931, issue of TIME TIME  From the Dec. 7, 1931, issue of TIME TIME  From the Nov. 5, 1934, issue of TIME TIME ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3681044/morbid-vintage-news/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3681044/morbid-vintage-news/"},"headline":"13 Weirdly Morbid Vintage News Stories","datePublished":"2015-01-28T16:00:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:03.783Z","description":"What were they thinking?","url":"https://time.com/3681044/morbid-vintage-news/","keywords":["Bizarre","Death","photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9380705927c30778/69877bab35ba6f0621c06b24/determined.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9380705927c30778/69877bab35ba6f0621c06b24/determined.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"determined","caption":"From the Dec. 7, 1931, issue of TIME","creditText":"TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/bizarre/","name":"Bizarre"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3681044/morbid-vintage-news/","name":"13 Weirdly Morbid Vintage News Stories"}}]}] ```