Al Hunter’s Story Archive

Gypsy Ghosts in Terry Hot

When you hear the term Gypsy, what comes to mind? A vagabond road wanderer? A classic motorcycle? Maybe a Cher song? Let me share with you a gypsy story from a century ago from just up the National Road in Terre Haute. On May 16, 1914 three bodies were interred … Read More

Robert Rayford: America’s First AIDS Victim

Forty-five years ago this week, May 16,1969, the face of modern medicine changed forever when 15-year-old Robert Rayford, sometimes identified as “Robert R.” due to his age, died in a St. Louis, Missouri hospital. He was a slender, uncommunicative street kid whose condition left doctors distressed, perplexed — and scared. … Read More

The Polo Grounds’ Indianapolis Connection, Part 2

On Sunday, September 29, 1957, a crowd of 11,606 came to the Polo Grounds to see Willie Mays play his last game for the New York Giants. Based on the illustrious baseball legacy of the New York Giants, you’d think that all 54,555 seats in the old Polo Grounds on … Read More

The Polo Grounds’ Indianapolis Connection

Fifty years ago this month, an American baseball shrine breathed it’s last breath. On April 10, 1964, a two-ton steel wrecking ball crashed into the side of the Polo Grounds located beneath Coogan’s Bluff in upper Manhattan. The walls came crashing down under the same wrecking ball (painted to look … Read More

Teach Your Children Well

Recently I took my wife and daughter out antiquing on a sunny Saturday morning. Coming off the coldest, bitterest winter I can remember, we really were just itching for a reason to get out of the house. We piled in the car and drove over to Dayton, Ohio to a … Read More