Al Hunter’s Story Archive

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

April 16, 2020 | by Al Hunter

This column originally appeared in 2011. Al selected this column for a re-run because it seems appropriate for the times we are living in. September 11 is an important date in this country. It’s a date as important to our generation as December 11, 1941 (Pearl Harbor) and November 23, … Read More

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show

April 9, 2020 | by Al Hunter

We’re all cooped up, trying to avoid the coronavirus by surfing the net, checking social media and (gulp) shopping on-line. Hoosiers are stressing out bandwidth capacity like a hippo in bicycle shorts by binge watching every form of entertainment available on line. So, I have decided to help alleviate your … Read More

John Dillinger Throwback

April 2, 2020 | by Al Hunter

This article was originally published in 2009 in our Summer Almanac. Al is currently in research mode. 2009 was the year of John Dillinger. Seventy-five years after being gunned down in a Chicago alley, the Hoosier bandit was the subject of a hit movie starring Johnny Depp this past summer, … Read More

The Tuberculosis War in Indianapolis

March 26, 2020 | by Al Hunter

Sometimes it’s just a photo that starts the discussion. Such was the case with the photo I ran across in the archives of the Indianapolis Commercial Club’s collection. It’s a curious photo of a group of Boy Scouts in Indianapolis in 1907. The serious faced group of young men are … Read More

Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Curse of James Dean, Part 2

March 19, 2020 | by Al Hunter

“Live fast, die young and leave a good looking corpse.” James Dean was the epitome of that 1949 quote penned  by pioneering Chicago African-American author Willard Motley. Dean died in a car crash nearly 65 years ago (September 30, 1955) but he remains a fixture on the pop culture landscape … Read More