Al Hunter’s Story Archive

Polio

Al is on vacation. This column was first published in November of 2012. It is the summer of 1916; Boys Scouts of America are formed, U.S. troops under General “Black Jack” Pershing invade Mexico chasing revolutionary Pancho Villa, Coca-Cola brings the current Coke formula to market, Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower marries … Read More

The National Horse Thief Detective Association, Part 2

The southern Indiana town of Warren, a stop on the route of the Indianapolis & Ft. Wayne Railroad in Huntington County, had one of the first local Horse Thief Detective Association chapters. The town’s story typifies why a HTDA chapter was needed. Warren had a race track that drew horses … Read More

The National Horse Thief Detective Association, Part 1

I’ve spent the past month talking about the past. Relics from the past. Some good. Some bad. One of those relics has an unusually ancient sounding name: The National Horse Thief Detective Association. Sounds like something from an old B-western movie, right? Visions of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry on … Read More

Abraham Lincoln & James Whitcomb Riley on Halloween!

In 1988, a survey was taken in conjunction with the “Hoosier Celebration” during Governor Robert Orr’s administration ranking the best known Hoosiers. Abraham Lincoln was number one and James Whitcomb Riley was number two followed (in descending order) by Benjamin and William Henry Harrison and explorers Lewis and Clark, who … Read More

The Mumler Abraham Lincoln Ghost Photo

Last Saturday before the Irvington ghost tours, one of our volunteers, Alex McIntyre, initiated a conversation that seemed to be a perfect topic for the evening: the Abraham Lincoln ghost photo. Known officially as the “Mumler photos,” these were a series of posed studio photographs, not unlike any old time … Read More