American Oddballs

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Throughout America's history whether it be from 1776 or 2006 you can find all sorts of odd people throughout time and especially in America.

Prehistoric-1600s

names	dates	details
Clovis	13,500-11,000	The Clovis were a Prehistoric group of people living in modern day New Mexico, they were first discovered in the early 20th century when Clovis tools were found in New Mexico by archeologist Edward Howard.
Leif Erikson	A.D. 970-A.D. 1070	Leif Erikson was a Viking, explorer, and was the son of famous Viking Erik the Red the founder of Greenland. he sailed off in 1000 A.D. to establish the colony of Vinland which is in Canada making him the first person in North America. He later died in 1070 A.D.
Cahokia	1000 A.D.-1300s A.D.	The Cahokia people were in Illinois and are known for living and making large dirt mounds like the Monk Mound. It was believed that the Grand Plaza a Cahokia made area could hold up to 10,000 people making one of the most populated cities in the western world. They also made Woodhenge which was a giant circle made from logs which is believed to be a solar calendar, in 1175 they rebuilt the protective wall around the plaza multiple times because of massive amounts of violence. It was believed that the city collapsed after flooding caused by deforestation until 2021 it was revealed that there was flood but instead a drought and earthquake in the 13th century.
Roanoke colony	1587-1600	In 1587, 100 colonists tried to set up a colony in America called Roanoke on the Roanoke island they were actually supposed to go to Chesapeake Bay but the captain changed direction it was discovered that they were supposed to go to Chesapeake Bay but the captain changed direction. They had one newborn there named Virginia Dare daughter of Eleanor who was on the expedition and was the first European born in America until on the 3rd year they all vanished the only thing that was still there was a single word on a tree that read "Croatoan".

1700s-1800s

name	dates	details
The Fugate family	1700s-?	The Fugate family of Kentucky has a genetic disorder that makes some of them have blue skin. The first blue-skinned person in the family was Martin Fugate in the 1750s, then Lorenzo and john Fugate in the 1800s, then Elizabeth, Gabriel, and Zachariah Fugate in the 1850s then in the 1900s Luna Fugate, and the most recent being Benjamin Fugate.
Blackbeard	1680s-1718	Captain Edward Teach or Blackbeard was born in England in the 1680s, he was known for his black beard which he would twisted and tie it, he first sailed with Captain Hornigold before getting Queens Anne's Revenge at one point he married and moved to North Carolina before going back to the sea and being murdered by Lieutenant Robert Maynard on Ocracoke, North Carolina.
Shew Drowne	1683-1774	Shem Drowne was a colonial coppersmith who is famous for making The Grasshopper Weathervane on top of Faneuil Hall in Boston, Massachusetts, and is remembered today as a mission in Fallout 4 where you got to his grave and get his sword.
Agent 335	1775-1783	Agent 335 was a woman American spy during the American Revolutionary war who was a part of the Culper Spy ringsome people even believe she was the first one to find out that Benedict Arnold was a traitor, However, there is only one piece of information that says she was a spy but despite that she still has books and a movie made after her.
Timothy Dexter	1747-1806	Timothy Dexter was born in 1747 Province of Massachusetts Bay he also became the town of Malden's official "Informer of Deer" which he then concluded that there were no deer in Malden, Massachusetts, at the end of the revolutionary war he bought boatloads of continental dollars which had lost its value however the continental congress decided to buy them for 1 percent of its original price which made him rich. When he had his new massive amount of wealth he began to buy a mansion and built serval statues one of them describing him as "The greatest philosopher in the western world " he also literally "ship coal to Newcastle" which it just so happened that there was a protest and they weren't making any coal which caused him to get even more money, he also wrangled up cats for free and sent them to the Caribbean where they were used to kill mice, he once found a man painting a sign to go with a statue of Thomas Jefferson and noticed that he wrote that he was the writer of the Declaration of Independence and said that he was the writer of the Constitution, when he didn't change it he started shooting a long rifle at him until he changed it. he also had two children described as "A half-man drunk" and "A completely mad drunk." He also wrote a book called A Pickle for a Knowing One." He also faked his own death to see who'd come,3 thousand people showed up but when he saw his wife not crying, she beat her with a cane in front of everyone, he died in 1806 and his house was turned into a hotel.

1800-1900

name	date	detail
The Barbary War	1801-1815	The Barbary War was a war between America and Barbary pirates who were from the Barbary States in the Ottoman Empire and operated from Northern Africa. Britain and France birded the government of Barbary States to prevent the pirates from attacking there ships so the pirates began attacking American ship. Because of the attacks Thomas Jefferson birded the Barbary States in the 1790s until in 1801 when president of Tripoli which was a part of the Barbary States asked for more money until Jefferson said no leading to Barbary States declaring war on America. in August of 1801 American ships were able to defeat and obtain a Tripoli ship, in 1802 U.S Congress gave Jefferson support funds to continue fighting Tripoli. In 1803 American ships were able ton capture major ports however the Tripoli captured the USS Philadelphia but a small group of American forces snuck into the country and lit the boat on fire in 1804. in 1805 an American force took over the city of Derna in the Battle of Derna leading to the first major American victory in the war. In 1805 America paid 60,00 USD for the hostages ending the war until British ships kidnapped American merchant ships and forcing the crew to be apart of the British Navy leading to the War of 1812 during which the British asked the Barbary States to continue fighting American ships which they did even after the war which led to James Madison in 1815 declaring war on Alegria's which was were the majority of the pirates were. on July 3rd of 1815 the president of Alegria's agreed to sign a peace treaty ending the war.
Aaron Burr	1756-1836	Aaron Burr was Founding Father and was most known for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804, Alexander had shot up while Burr shot him in the chest resulting in death. He was also vice president, he was accused of Treason and died in 1836.
Uncle Sam	1766-1854	Uncle Sam is the embodiment of the American Government and is seen on political posters encouraging people to enlist in the U.S Military. It is believed that during the War of 1812 Samuel Wilson would put beef in barrels and would mark them "U.S" but soldiers thought it was Uncle Sam. In the 1860s and 1870s Thomas Nast would design political posters depicting Uncle Sam as a strong man with a beard with red white and blue clothes. During world war I he would be seen on a political poster saying "I want you for the U.S Army".
Joshua Abraham Norton	1818-1880	In 1818 Joshua Norton was born in Britain he then moved to Africa from a young age he spent most of his life there before he left and moved to Boston then to San Francisco. he would do well finically until he got rice for Peru and sold it for much less than he spent which caused him to get into legal trouble with the man who sold him the bananas causing him to lose even more money and becomes homeless. Once he became homeless, he became the self-entitled emperor of America, with his new title he began to make proclamations such as that the congress should be ended and that there should be an organization to deal with countries and their problems which was actually followed upon when the League of Nations and later NATO, in 1880 he dropped dead on Grant Avenue.
Edward H. Rulloff	1819-1871	Edward H. Rulloff The Genius Killer, The Man of Two Lives, was born in 1819 in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, he had two lives from an early age, By the age of 20, he had already gone to prison for two years for embezzlement and worked at a law firm. In 1842 he moved to Upstate New York where he worked as a schoolteacher and studied herbal medicine with Doctor Henry Bull. He would go on to marry Doctor Bull's 16year old cousin Harriet in 1843 he was an abusive husband hitting his wife and threatening to kill her with a poison he said he used on his niece and sister-in-law. he asked her to drink it so that they could die together but she screamed causing him to say that it was a joke. when Edward wanted to distance himself from his wife's family after they had their daughter, however, they fought about this because Edward wanted to move to Ohio and go into law or teaching while Harriet wanted to stay in New York threated to leave him with their daughter, in responses he fatally hit her with a pestle and poisoned his daughter. The next day he borrowed a horse and wagon claiming that he needed it to deliver a large chest to his uncle. when he came back there were rumors that he murdered his wife and daughter, his wife's family confronted him about this, but he said they moved to Ohio the only problem was that his wife's clothes and belongings were still in the house, so he tried to flee the city but was persuaded by his brother-in-law. He was able to advade his brother-in-law long enough to make it to Cleveland where he was caught by his brother-in-law brought him to Ithaca to stand trial. the police searched the lake but were unable to find the bodies of his wife or child because of this he was accused of kidnapping in 1846. At the trial he acted as his own defense attorney focusing on the next to no evidence there was, despite his best efforts he was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison. while in prison he developed his own theory on the devolvement of language which he planned on publishing when he got out. However, he was informed that Tompkins County planned on convicting him of murder so he had a legal battle to get out of jail. He was able to drop the charges of his wife's murder but instead of his daughters which he was found guilty of in 1858 however he escaped from custody, its widely believed to be the Undersheriff's son Albert or Alberts's mother Jane, Albert would later go on to be Edwards partner in crime. Edward moved west where he reportedly at wild nuts and stole food from farms, in his long journey he lost 2 toes to frostbite he made his way to Pennsylvania where he impressed the higher ups at Jefferson collage, he was offered to be a professor at the university until he received a letter from Albert who claimed they were poor and needed help, Albert threated Edward into robbing a jewelry store where he was found and sent back to Ithaca were he was acquitted and moved back to New York with Albert living as criminals. in 1861 he spent another 2 years in prison, while in prison he met William Dexter and became partners and after getting out of jail robbed a dry goods store in 1870, they burned chloroform to keep the owners sleeping but woke them when Albert stumbled, an employee named Fredrick Merrick woke up and confronted them with a gun but i failed to fire and he threw a nearby stool at them Edward was already leaving but William got attacked by the other employee Gilbert Burrows, Gilbert and Fredrick pinned William to the ground and started beating him, even after 2 warning shots from Edward they didn't stop forcing him to kill Fredrick. After the failed robbery, they tried to swim across the Chenango River but William and Albert both drowned and Edward was the only survivor. He left his shoes by the shore and left footprints with two missing toes which would become important later on. The next day the police were alerted by Gilbert and started rounding up suspects, he ran away from police after refusing to give his name and was found in a farm outhouse, he was brought to the bodies of his partners by police and denied knowing them but was recognized by the judge at the trial for the murders of his wife and child. his new trial started in 1871 he once again led his own defense at the age of 50, however, he was found guilty and was sentenced to death by hanging. While in jail he finally admitted to killing his wife but not his child and was hanged in May of 1871. Upon his death, it was found that he had the 2nd largest human brain in the world.
Joseph Smith	1805-1844	Joseph Smith founder of Mormonism and amateur archaeologist said that in 1823 he found gold plates with the help of an angel in New York. The angel claimed that they were the remains of an ancient race of Israelites called Nephites who went to America thousands of years ago, this encounter inspired him to start the religion of Mormonism in 1830, and died in 1844. It is actually believed that he found artifacts of Native Americans.
Samuel Houston	1793-1863	Samuel Houston was a solider and former governor of Tennessee after which he moved to Texas which was part of Mexico in 1836. He was later made Major General and and fought in The Battle of San Jacinto and surprised the Mexican soldiers when his force defeated them in 18 minutes leading to the signing of the Treaty of Velasco leading to Texas being independent and Samuel Houston being appointed as President of The Republic of Texas in September 5th 1836 he later became a senator of Texas and when The American Civil War broke out he retired and died in July of the same year.
Fiji mermaid	1842-1865	The Fiji Mermaid was made by P.T Barnum as a real life mermaid it later got destroyed when the museum were P.T Barnum worked at burned down.
General William S. Harney	1800-1889	General William S. Harney was a veteran of the Mexican-American War considered an idiot by the United States Army and has known for doing incredibly stupid actions that gave the army a bad name. He once evaded Mexico without orders and fired one of his men for writing the wrong heading on a report. When America was moving out west they couldn't deice if British Canada or America got a small bunch of islands on the coast of Oregon, in response James Douglas sent Charles Griffin and some Hawaiian farmers onto the island to farm sheep until an American tax collector found their farm and told them to pay for the farm but they refused, the tax collectors were later chased off the islands by locals. A man named Lyman decided to farm on the same island as Charles and decided to farm potatoes but Lyman had left one side of his fences open which allowed Griffins Berkshire pig to eat Lyman's potatoes, one day in a fit of rage he shot the pig and griffin told him to pay $100 USD which was outrageous at the time so he refused to cause him to be visited by British official's. This all grabbed the attention of Harney who in July of 1859 sailed to the island and met Lyman who told him how he almost got arrested. it is believed that General Harney and General Pickett had a secret meeting where Pickett would go out in the open spot and the British would see him and blow him up while Harney would send and message telling America about the British and since it would take 6 weeks to get to them and 6 weeks to get a response war with the British would have already been started by the time he got the message. Historians believe he did this to either become president, help expand territory or even help the south secede from America. Some think that there was no secret meeting and that Pickett was just an idiot. Pickett later put troops on the island which enraged James Douglas causing him to send Royal Navy member Captain Hornby to prevent any more Americans from showing up he tried to send more but they persuaded him not to because it would lead to war, in response Pickett moved his camp to another spot which was also exposed so he deiced to make the island a joint military occupation sending British troops onto the island so Captain Hornby met Pickett in person and told him the plan he said that he would fire upon them if they did. Hornby deiced not to land his troops on the island, Rear Admiral Baynes went to the islands and canceled all Douglas's orders, and decided not to contact the Americans until they could talk with the British Government. Pickett, however, did not know this so got reinforcements but even still the British did nothing, in responses President Buchannan sent General Winfield Scott to deal with the situation, he was able to make a deal where the British would have a joint military occupation until they could find out who owns the island and to replace Pickett with Captain Hunt, however, Harney ignored this and fired Hunt and put Pickett on the island but shortly after this Scott sent Harney off the island and the joint occupation went ahead anyway and worked greatly the British would attend 4th of July parties while the Americans celebrated Queen Victoria's birthday. During the Civil War, he was removed from his command at St. Louis when his loyalty to America fell under question. he later retired in 1863 and died in 1889.
Thomas Nast	1840-1902	In September of 1840 Thomas Nast was born in Germany and immigrated to America in 1856 he started working for "Franks Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper" as an illustrator for 3 years until he had his first illustrations in the Harper's weekly he worked for a newspaper in New York before the civil war until he traveled to Europe to do work there. in 1861 he went back to America and joined a group of illustrators to draw the battles of the Civil War in 1862. His cartoons mainly had to do with the reconstruction after the Civil War and created the Democratic Donkey and the Republican Elephant. He also drew cartoons insulting New York Senator William Tweeds because Tweed ad stole millions of dollars from New York by inflating the prices and payouts to contractors, he drew cartoons depicting him as a corrupt money-loving politician, tweed later fled to Cuba but was found due to the cartoons. In the 1890s Nast split with Harper's Weekly and started his own company called Nast Weekly. However, it failed and left him ruined. Theodore Roosevelt later appointed Nast as Console general of the U.S and Ecuador in 1902 he moved to Ecuador and died of Yellow Fever in December of that year. He is well known today as he created the modern-day version of Santa Claus and Uncle Sam.
Colt Model 1855 Revolving Carbine	1855-1864	The Colt Model 1855 Revolving Carbine was an invention by the Colt for the U.S Army to have a rifle that shot multiple rounds. It failed however because of hot gases that were made by the gun would be trapped inside the gun causing the bullets to go off inside the gun. It was shortly used in the U.S Army but being out of use because the gun would burn the forearm and face of the person shooting it due to extreme heat in they gun.
Angels Glow	1862-2001	After the Battle of Shiloh during the American Civil War hundreds of soldiers began having mysterious glowing wounds on their bodies, in 2001 two teenagers from Maryland found out that it was Photorhabdus luminescens.
Clement Vallandigham	1820-1871	In July of 1820 Clement Vallandigham was Ohio he later became a lawyer and tried ran for U.S Congress as a Democrat in 1856 and won 2 years later. He got reelected in 1860 but failed on his third attempt in 1863, he later became leader of the Copperheads during The Civil War. General Burnside however disliked the Copperheads and created General Order 38 which labeled the Copperheads as Confederates.Clement later organized a rally and said that The Civil War was not for preserving The Union but to free African American slaves and to enslave white people and on May 5th of 1863 he was arrested for treason and was sent to 2 years in prison. However he was released because of a later trial and was banished to the Confederacy, he instead moved to Canada and tried to run as Governor of Ohio in a hotel in Ontario and lost causing him to sneak back to America in a disguise in 1871 he was defending Thomas McGehan who was accused of the murder of Thomas Meyers Clement believed that Meyers had shot himself by accident during his murder trial Clement put the an unloaded revolver next to the murder weapon which was also a revolver and accidentally shot himself with the revolver resulting in his death. Thomas McGehan was acquitted for a lack of evidence but was later shot in a bar.
John Burn	1793-1872	John Burns was a veteran of the Mexican-American War and was a citizen of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. During the Battle of Gettysburg John ran from his home with his flintlock musket and met an infantry who help him until he was shot and was deserted and found by confederated soldiers who returned him to his home, he died 10 years later.
Jim Levy	1842-	Jim Levy or "The Jewish Gunslinger" was born in 1842 in Ireland and worked as a miner Pioche, Nevada and was a witness to a gunfight in 1871 with Michael Casey and Tom Gasson Casey later tracked Jim at a store and challenged him to a gunfight which he accepted and killed Casey by shooting in the head and got 5,000 dollars. He later became Regulator. he was later killed in Arizona in a dual with Joseph Murphy.
Kansas Kid	?-1878-1884	Kansas Kid was a cowboy who was killed in a stampede by Tombstone, Arizona.
"Cocked-Eyed" Frank Loving	1860-1882	Frank was a gunslinger and gambler born in 1860 and moved to Fort Worth, Texas in the 1870s and knew Doc Holiday, Wyatt Earp, and Chalk Beeson owner of the Long Branch saloon, while in the saloon Levi Richardson and Frank Loving were arguing about Levi loving Franks wife Mattie so he pointed a six-shooter on Frank and Frank did the same and a gun fight issued leading to Richardson being shot and dying. He was later released because it was in self defense, he later moved to las Vegas, Nevada and later Colorado he was later killed by John Allen.
Charles J. Guiteau	1841-1882	Charles J. Guiteau was born in 1841 his mom had Postpartum psychosis and died when he was 7 and 3 out of the 5 siblings he had died, his father was extremely religious and often beat Charles molding him into a boy who took criticism very harshly and sought nothing but approval. he moved to Michigan for high school but failed the entrance exam causing him to join the Oneida Community in New York which followed the belief of "Christian Perfectionism" which was trying to live completely free of sin so that they could live a perfect life they did this by insulting fellow members. They also believed in free love which means that anyone could have sex with anyone. Charles endured many insults hoping he could get some free love, but the overwhelming insults were too much, and he left, he tried making a newspaper around the religion called "The Daily Theocrat" and after that, he tried suing Oneida for unpaid labor, but it failed. He then became a Lawyer at the Illinois Bar and joined a law firm in Chicago at the age of 27 where he met his wife, Anne Bunn, while there he did bill collection for random clients and he learned the thinking pattern of a debtor which allowed him to skip pay bills and ghosting his clients. after he moved to New York he got into politics where he wrote and delivered a speech about Horace Greeley the 1872 democratic candidate. He thought that if he won, he would owe Charles for his campaign and make him "Minister of Chile" which backfired when Horace lost to former civil war veteran Ulysses S. Grant. At this point in their marriage, Charles and his wife started to get angry at one another so Charles had sex with a hooker so they could get a divorce in 1874 however he got syphilis. he then got interested in religion again writing a book called "The Truth which was plagiarized by the founder of the Oneida John Noyces. His brother caught wind of Charles moving from place to place to avoid tax collectors his brother wrote him a letter asking him to pay his taxes in response he said to stick 7 dollars up his butt. He also got arrested but was bailed out by his sister and lived with her for a couple of months and moved to Washington D.C then to Boston where he was on the SS Stonington which collide with the SS Narragansett and everyone on the Stonington lived while everyone on the Narragansett died which made him even more religious because he thought it was a sign from God. After this, he moved back to New York and became a stalwart republican in 1880, and he was writing another speech for Ulysses S. Grant who was trying to get his 3rd term but James A. Garfield took the candidate by surprise beating out the Stalwarts and Half-breed's forcing Charles to rewrite the speech so that it favored Garfield. When Garfield won the election he moved to Washington D.C to get his job in an office but it never happened which made him write and stalk Garfield along with the Secretary of State James Blaine constantly asking them for jobs until Blaine in a fit of rage said "Never speak to me again on the Paris consulship as long as you live!" causing him to go insane and make himself think that God wanted Garfield killed so he bought an ivory grip .442 Webley caliber British Bulldog revolver and ambushed Garfield in July 2nd, 1881 at the Baltimore Potomac railroad station and shot him twice mortally wounding him for 11 weeks. Charles was later arrested for murder and put to death by hanging, before he went, he gave a speech in a high-pitched voice to sound like "a child babbling to his mamma and his papa. I wrote it this morning about ten o'clock" and said "I am going to the Lordy, I am so glad, I am going to the Lordy, I am so glad, I am going to the Lordy, Glory hallelujah! Glory hallelujah! I am going to the Lordy. I love the Lordy with all my soul, Glory hallelujah! And that is the reason I am going to the Lord, Glory hallelujah! Glory hallelujah! I am going to the Lord. I saved my party and my land, Glory hallelujah! But they have murdered me for it, and that is the reason I am going to the Lordy, Glory hallelujah! Glory hallelujah! I am going to the Lordy! I wonder what I will do when I get to the Lordy, I guess that I will weep no more When I get to the Lordy! Glory hallelujah! I wonder what I will see when I get to the Lordy, I expect to see most glorious things, beyond all earthly conception When I am with the Lordy! Glory hallelujah! Glory hallelujah! I am with the Lord."-Charles J Guiteau June 30, 1882.
Boot Monument	1887-?	The Boot Monument is the only Monument decided to Benedict Arnold, it was made in Kentucky in honor of the fact that Benedict Arnold lose his leg in a battle in 1780.
William Kemmler	1860-1890	William Kemmler moved to New York after his parents died and killed his wife in a rage while drunk, he found later that day and was found guilty and was put to death on newly made Electric chair, on 5am of August 6th 1890 he was put in the Electric chair and was shocked once. However he was still breathing he was shocked again and his skin bleed and his hair and face cooked as he died releasing a foul smell.
Lizzie Borden	Andrew 1822-1892 Sarah 1823-1892	In 1892 in Fall River, Massachusetts at Borden's family farm 70-year-old Andrew Borden and his family was killing Pidgeon, Lizzie Andrew's daughter was upset at this because she had raised them from birth. She also was upset at the fact Andrew married Abby gray after her mother died, on August 4th, 1892 Lizzie found her dead father on the couch his face had been hit multiple times by a hatchet her stepmother Abby was found moments later in the upstairs guest room with hatchet marks on her back. Lizzie was put on trial in 1893 and at one point the skull of her father and stepmom were brought into the courtroom put causing her to faint. she was found not guilty and died 35 years later of pneumonia.
Boilerplate Robot	1893- 1918	Boilerplate is a fictional robot made in Portland, Oregon as a sculpture. It was supposedly made in 1893 by Professor Archibald Campion and was shown at the Worlds Columbian Exposition and fought in the Spanish-American War, the Japanese-Russian War, and world war I, Boilerplate was also apart of the Rough Riders before vanishing on October 7th 0of 1918.
Adam Rainer	1899-1950	Adam Rainer was born in Austria-Hungary in 1899 and was 4 foot tall he later moved to the United States after World War I. While there he grew to be 7 feet tall becoming the first person in history to be a dwarf and a giant, later he was examined by doctors and was discovered to have acromegaly which was the cause of his growth. unfortunately, his health soon began to deteriorate he went blind in his left eye and began to gain hearing loss. He was soon confined to a bed because of the spinal deformity he soon died in 1950 at 7:10.

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References

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