The Cecil (Suicide) Hotel

Nestled within the busy streets of downtown Los Angeles lies one of the most infamous buildings in horror lore: the Cecil Hotel. Since opening its doors in 1927, the Cecil Hotel has been plagued with unfortunate and mysterious circumstances that have given it a perhaps unparalleled reputation for the macabre. At least 16 different murders, suicides, and unexplained paranormal events have taken place at the hotel — and it’s even served as the temporary home of some of America’s most notorious serial killers.

*The original sign on the side of Los Angeles’ Cecil Hotel*

The Grand Opening Of The Cecil Hotel

The Cecil Hotel was built in 1924 by hotelier William Banks Hanner. It was supposed to be a destination hotel for international businessmen and social elites. Hanner spent $1 million on the 700-room Beaux Arts-style hotel, complete with a marble lobby, stained-glass windows, palm trees, and an opulent staircase.

*The marble lobby of the Cecil Hotel, which opened in 1927*

But Hanner would come to regret his investment. Just two years after the Cecil Hotel opened, the world was thrown into the Great Depression — and Los Angeles was not immune to the economic collapse. Soon enough, the area surrounding the Cecil Hotel would be dubbed “Skid Row” and become home to thousands of homeless people.

The once beautiful hotel soon gained a reputation as a meeting place for junkies, runaways, and criminals. Worse yet, the Cecil Hotel ultimately earned a reputation for violence and death.

Suicide And Homicide At “The Most Haunted Hotel In Los Angeles”

In the 1930s alone, the Cecil Hotel was home to at least six reported suicides. A few residents ingested poison, while others shot themselves, slit their own throats, or jumped out their bedroom windows.

In 1934, for example, Army Sergeant Louis D. Borden slashed his throat with a razor. Less than four years later, Roy Thompson of the Marine Corps jumped from atop the Cecil Hotel and was found on the skylight of a neighboring building. The next few decades only saw more violent deaths.

In September 1944, 19-year-old Dorothy Jean Purcell awoke in the middle of the night with stomach pains while she was staying at the Cecil with Ben Levine, 38. She went to the bathroom so as not to disturb a sleeping Levine, and — to her complete shock — gave birth to a baby boy. She had no idea she had been pregnant.

*A newspaper clip about Dorothy Jean Purcell, who threw her newborn baby out of her hotel bathroom window*

Mistakenly thinking her newborn was dead, Purcell threw her live baby out the window and onto the roof of the building next door. At her trial, she was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity and she was admitted to a hospital for psychiatric treatment.

In 1962, 65-year-old George Giannini was walking by the Cecil with his hands in his pockets when he was struck to death by a falling woman. Pauline Otton, 27, jumped from her ninth-floor window after an argument with her estranged husband, Dewey. Her fall killed both her and Giannini instantly.

Police initially thought the two had committed suicide together but reconsidered when they found Giannini was still wearing shoes. If he had jumped, his shoes would have fallen off mid-flight. In light of the suicides, mishaps, and murders, Angelinos promptly dubbed the Cecil “the most haunted hotel in Los Angeles.”

A Serial Killer’s Paradise

While tragic calamities and suicide have contributed heavily to the hotel’s body count, the Cecil Hotel has also served as a temporary home for some of the grisliest murderers in American history. In the mid-1980s, Richard Ramirez — murderer of 13 people and better known as the “Night Stalker” — lived in a room on the top floor of the hotel during much of his horrific killing spree.

After killing someone, he would throw his bloody clothes into the Cecil Hotel’s dumpster and saunter into the hotel lobby either completely naked or only in underwear — “none of which would have raised an eyebrow,” writes journalist Josh Dean, “since the Cecil in the 1980s… ‘was total, unmitigated chaos.’” At the time, Ramirez was able to stay there for a mere $14 per night. And with corpses of junkies reportedly often found in the alleys near the hotel and sometimes even in the hallways, Ramirez’s blood-soaked lifestyle surely raised nary an eyebrow at the Cecil.

*Richard Ramirez was ultimately convicted of 13 counts of murder, five attempted murders, and 11 sexual assaults*

While some episodes of violence in and around the Cecil Hotel are attributable to known serial killers, some murders have remained unsolved. Such stories of violence are not simply a thing of the past. One of the most mysterious deaths ever to take place at the Cecil Hotel happened as recently as 2013.

In 2013, Canadian college student Elisa Lam was found dead inside the water tank on the roof of the hotel three weeks after she had gone missing. Her naked corpse was found after hotel guests had complained of bad water pressure and a “funny taste” to the water. Though authorities ruled her death as an accidental drowning, critics believed otherwise.

Before her death, surveillance cameras caught Lam acting strangely in an elevator, at times appearing to yell at someone out of view, as well as apparently attempting to hide from someone while pressing multiple elevator buttons and waving her arms erratically.

After the video surfaced publicly, many people began to believe that the rumors of the hotel being haunted might be true.

Horror aficionados began drawing parallels between the Black Dahlia murder and Lam’s disappearance, pointing out that both women were in their twenties, traveling alone from L.A. to San Diego, last seen at the Cecil Hotel, and were missing for several days before their bodies were found.

Thin though these connections may sound, the hotel has nevertheless developed a reputation for horror that defines its legacy to this day.

*After a brief stint as the Stay On Main Hotel and Hostel, the hotel closed. It underwent a $100 million renovation and was turned into $900 to $1,200-a-month “micro apartments.”*

https://allthatsinteresting.com/cecil-hotel-los-angeles

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On December 14, 2021, Cecil Hotel Apartments opened. The 600 units range between 160 and 175 square feet and the common areas include bathrooms and kitchens, which is similar to the hotel’s earlier days. It also offers guarded entry and case management services on-site.

The rooms are exclusively available to rent by low-income Los Angelenos who earn between 30% and 60% of the area’s median income of $24,850 annually. With rent ranging between $900 and $1,200 a month, tenants can use Section 8 housing vouchers to help pay. Three months after it reopened, the building was boarded up against unwanted visitors and discreetly serves its visitors.

Might there be another reason for all the deaths, spawned much further back in history? Stay tuned for part 2 of The Cecil Hotel…..

The Legendary Tayos Caves of Ecuador

The Tayos caves of Ecuador are a legendary vast natural underground network of caves spanning many kilometres, very little of which has been officially explored. The Tayos caves (Cueva de los Tayos) reached worldwide attention in 1973 when Erich von Däniken released his bestselling and controversial book ‘The Gold of the Gods’, in which he claimed that piles of gold, unusual sculptures, and a library of metal tablets had been found in a series of artificial tunnels within the caves. Tayos was also mentioned as the location of Father Crespi’s collection of mysterious golden artifacts, given to him by the indigenous people of Ecuador. Ancient Origins recently carried out the first of a series of expeditions to the caves to explore just what lies within this enigmatic subterranean world. Here are some of the never-before-seen photographs of the caves.

Walking thru a small alley in Tayos Caves

Rapelling down a Tayos Cave

Legendary Metal Library in Tayos Caves

The elusive Metal Library in the Tayos Caves

Library of Metal Books

Father Crespi plays a big part in this story because the local tribes’ people liked him and gave him artifacts as gifts. They gave him so many artifacts throughout his 60 years of being a missionary in Ecuador, that he displayed them and opened a local museum for all to see.

Neil Armstrong the astronaut and treasure hunting? That’s correct. Neil heard about Father’s Crespi‘s collection and he traveled down to see them. It wasn’t long until people came to the realization that points to one fact; these artifacts must have come from a nearby area, and the local tribes know of their whereabouts.

People started to research and even though the village people were closed-mouthed of the location of more artifacts and where they came from, people learned of a great mystery. The local tribespeople knew of an ancient site that they deemed spiritual and secret. People started to learn that these modern day village people knew of a great underground city that they have been protecting for hundreds, maybe thousands of years.

After further inquiring, people learned that the local people were not as friendly about this story and inquiries as they thought. These village people gave the gifts to Father Crepsi out of love and respect but these local tribes didn’t want outsiders to learn about the ancient site.

Neil Armstrong and his large group of professionals and military men did learn that there was a massive cave system not far away.

Could this be the site where Father Crepsi’s artifacts came from? After a large man-scaled hunt, Neil Armstrong’s group did in fact find a cave system. In this cave system, they did find man-made structures, carved tunnels, rooms, and more. It was an exciting find. Newspapers and magazines wrote about the discoveries and the world thought that the collection of artifacts from this lost civilization would be found. The hunt wasn’t unsuccessful but Neil and his group didn’t find the lost treasure that they were hoping to find.

Ancient Roman Villa Discovered Near Pompeii

(Header image: Mosaic uncovered at the Domus Aventino apartment block development. Source: Domus Aventino)

Rome is a place where many archaeological treasures and remains continue to be found. The latest discovery is a luxury villa with many remarkable artifacts and spectacular mosaics. This luxury Roman villa is providing us with new insights into how the elite in Rome lived up to 2000 years ago.

The villa — dubbed ‘Domus Aventino’ — is located at the foot of the Aventine Hill. A region of the city occupied by the regular citizenry (or ‘plebeians’) during the Roman republic, the area became home to the wealthy patricians in the time of the empire, when the villa would have been built. It was located close to the Circus Maximus, as well as a port on the River Tiber

From the discoveries made at this site, we can certainly say that the Roman elite lived in opulence. The domus was found at the foot of the famous Aventine Hill in central Rome in 2015. Originally, this hill was inhabited by poor people, but by the reign of Agustus was where the Roman elite, including senators, made their home, and it’s “not far from the Circus Maximus,” reports Wanted in Rome.

*The Aventine Hill, where the Roman luxury villa was discovered in 2015, as seen from the Palatine Hill in central Rome. (Walter T Crane /Public Domain)*

Ancient Luxury Roman Villa Found In The Heart of Modern Rome

The Roman luxury villa was uncovered, completely by chance, during the earthquake proofing of a 1950s building in central Rome. Archaeologists found a large villa that had been occupied for several generations at the foot of a modern condominium. Their work continued even while a new 180-apartment development rose-up around the archaeological site.

Forbes reports that “The dig revealed six different strata of historical remains, ranging from 8th century BC to 3rd century AD.” This time period stretches from the birth of Rome to the peak of Imperial Roman Power. Among the most important finds were the remains of an 8th century BC stone tower. The Daily Mail reports that “Excavations also revealed a defensive wall from the time of the Roman republic (509–27 BC).” These findings are helping researchers to better understand the topography of Rome in ancient times.

*Remains of the upper-class Roman luxury villa unearthed by archaeologists in central Rome. (Domus Aventino)*

Ancient Roman Villa: A Lavish Home Full Of Treasures

The ancient Roman villa, which would have been known as a domus, was once a sumptuous residence that included many artifacts and wonderful mosaics in its series of rooms. Based on this evidence, “archaeologists believe that the domus belonged to a ‘person of power’,” reports Wanted in Rome. The owners may have been members of the senatorial order because the villa was so luxurious. Daniela Porro, an archaeologist and official who works for the Italian capital, told Forbes that the family who lived here were “probably linked to the imperial family.”

Rome: An Archaeological Jewel At Every Level

Since its discovery in 2015, the archaeologists have unearthed a treasure trove of artifacts in this Roman luxury villa. Among the finds were a hammer, lamps, needles, hairpins, and lacquered bowls decorated with figures from Greek mythology. Also found was a vessel that contained garum fish sauce, which was a delicacy extremely popular with the Roman elite. These finds show that the Roman elite had a very high standard of living.

Though the remains of some great frescoes were also found in the villa, its mosaics are considered to be especially spectacular. The mosaic sections were laid down over a period of two hundred years, beginning in first century AD. The Daily Telegraph quoted Mr. Porro as saying that “Rome never ceases to surprise us. It’s an archaeological jewel.”

*The frescoes and mosaics discovered in the ancient Roman villa are considered to be among the finest ever found. (Domus Aventino)*

Spectacular Mosaics In The Luxury Villa Tell Us A Lot

The mosaics unearthed in the Roman luxury villa were made in the style known as “black and white” because they are almost entirely made from black and white stone cubes. They consist of thousands of tiny cube-shaped stones that are known as tesserae. Black and white mosaics were popular from the 1st century AD onward and have been found all over Italy and beyond. One of the villa’s black and white mosaics has a small section depicting a colorful green parrot. Another one shows a grapevine growing out of a pot.

One of the surface artworks found in the villa was very unusual. It consisted of a series of figure of eight patterns. Robert Narducci, who took part in the villa excavation process is quoted by the Daily Mail as stating that “We’ve not seen it before,” in reference to the figure of eight pattern. At least one of the black and white mosaics contains a Latin inscription. These mosaics would not have been laid down solely for decorative purposes: they were intended to express the splendor and power of the owner of the villa and his family to the wider community.

The Ancient Roman Luxury Villa Is Now An Underground Museum

The elite Roman luxury villa and its artworks have recently been turned into a subterranean museum. To reach the museum, visitors have to enter the newly built apartment complex and go down a staircase. Anselmo De Titta, a senior director with the company that owns the new apartment building told the Daily Mail that “It’s quite a challenge to allow access to the site while protecting the privacy of the condominium’s residents.”

Entrance to Villa

Video projections have been added to the museum’s attractions to enhance the experience. “The walls of the space now enclosing the villa are illuminated with video projections of a Roman senator and his wife walking amid marble busts and ornate furnishings,” according to the Daily Mail. Initially, the villa and its mosaics will be opened two days a month, but if they prove popular, the opening hours will be extended.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/luxury-roman-villa-0014369

A Trip to Heaven

When Charlotte’s heart stopped, her amazing visit to heaven began

By Sue Ann Jones, posted 12/26/19 (http://ozarkcountytimes.com/news-local-news/when-charlotte%E2%80%99s-heart-stopped-her-amazing-visit-heaven-began/)

(I have edited this a bit – go to the link for the entire true story.)

Charlotte Holmes, who has lived with Danny in Mammoth for 48 years, was admitted to Cox South Hospital in Springfield after she went for a routine checkup with her cardiologist and was sent directly to the hospital when her blood pressure spiked at 234 / 134.

Charlotte Holms

“I’ve always had trouble with my blood pressure, and I’ve been in the hospital two or three times before when they put me on IV medication to bring it down,” she said. “That time, in September, I’d been there three days, and I was hooked up to all the heart monitors. They had just given me a sponge bath in my bed, and they were putting a clean hospital gown on me when it happened. I can’t remember anything about that moment, but Danny said I just fell over, and one of the nurses said, ‘Oh my gosh. She’s not breathing.”

Danny told her later that her eyes were wide open, and she seemed to be staring. The nurse ran out of the room, and called a code, bringing a crowd of medical personnel rushing into the room. One got up on the bed and began the chest compressions. That was the moment, Charlotte said, when “I came out above my body. I was looking down on everything. I could see them working on me on the bed. I could see Danny standing in the corner.”

And then came the wonderful fragrance. “The most beautiful, wonderful smell, like nothing I’d ever smelled before. I’m a flower person; I love flowers, and there were these flowers that had this fragrance you can’t even imagine,” she said.

The flowers were part of a scene that suddenly unfolded before her. “God took me to a place beyond anything I could ever have imagined,” she said. “I opened my eyes, and I was in awe. There were waterfalls, creeks, hills, gorgeous scenery. And there was the most beautiful music, like angels singing and people singing with them, so soothing. The grass and trees and flowers were swaying in time with the music.”

Then she saw the angels. “There were several angels, but these were humongous, and their wings were iridescent. They would take one wing and fan it out, and I could feel the wind on my face from the angels’ wings,” she said. “You know, we’ve all imagined what heaven will be like. But this … this was a million times more than anything I could have imagined,” Charlotte said. “I was in awe.”

Then she saw “the golden gates, and beyond them, standing there smiling and waving at me, were my mom and dad and sister.”

Charlotte’s mother, Mabel Willbanks, was 56 when she died of a heart attack. Charlotte’s sister Wanda Carter had been 60-something when she too had a heart attack and died in her sleep. Her dad, Hershel Willbanks, had lived into his 80s but then died “a very sad death” due to lung problems, she said. But there they were, smiling out at her from just beyond the golden gates, looking happy and healthy. “They had no glasses, and they looked like they were in their 40s. They were so excited to see me,” Charlotte said.

Her cousin Darrell Willbanks, who’d been like a brother to her, was there too. Darrell had lost a leg before he died of heart problems. But there he was, standing on two good legs and happily waving at her.

A blindingly bright light streamed from behind her loved ones and the huge crowd of people standing with them. Charlotte is sure the light was God. She was turning her head away to save her eyes – the light was so bright – when something else caught her eye. It was a little boy, a toddler. “He stood there in front of my mom and dad,” she said.

For a moment, Charlotte was confused. Whose boy was that? she wondered. But as soon as the question came into her mind, she felt God answering it. It was her and Danny’s son, the baby she had miscarried nearly 40 years ago when she was five and a half months pregnant.

“Back then, they didn’t let you hold the baby or bury it when you miscarried that far along. They just held him up and said, ‘It’s a little boy.’ And that was all. It was over. I went through a long, deep depression after that miscarriage, wishing I could have held him,” she said. Seeing her little son standing with her parents, she said, “I couldn’t wait to hold him. I had missed that.”

It was all so wonderful, heaven was. And, from beyond the golden gates, she felt God saying, “Welcome home.”

“But then, I turned my head away from that bright light again and looked behind me. And there were Danny and Chrystal and Brody and Shai,” she said referring to her and Danny’s daughter Chrystal Meek and her adults kids Brody and Shai. “They were crying, and it broke my heart. We know that in heaven there is no sorrow, but I hadn’t walked through the gates. I wasn’t there yet. I thought how I wanted to see Shai get married and Brody get married to make sure they were OK.”

At that moment she felt God telling her she had a choice. “You can stay home, or you can go back. But if you go back, you have to tell your story. You have to explain what you’ve seen and tell my message, and that message is that I’m coming soon for my church, my bride,” Charlotte said.

About that time, as Danny was watching the emergency responders continue the chest compressions, he heard one of them ask, “Paddles?” apparently referring to an electro-shock defibrillator.

He heard the person in charge answer no and instead order some kind of shot. “And then he said a guy comes running in, and they give me the shot, and he could see on the monitors that my blood pressure was going down,” Charlotte said. And then, Danny told her afterward, he saw one of Charlotte’s eyes blink, “and I knew you were coming back to me.” Charlotte had been dead 11 minutes.

When she came to, she started to cry. Danny asked her, “Mama, are you hurting?” Charlotte shook her head no. And then she asked him, “Did you smell those flowers?” Danny had messaged Chrystal the moment Charlotte had stopped breathing, and Chrystal had rounded up her kids and they all rushed to Springfield, arriving at Charlotte’s side just as she was being taken to ICU. When she saw Chrystal coming toward her, the first thing Charlotte said to her was, “Did you smell the flowers?”

Chrystal turned to her dad and said, “Huh?” Danny shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “She keeps saying she smelled flowers.”

Charlotte was in the hospital another couple of weeks, and during that time, “I couldn’t stop talking about it. I’ve got this burning in my life and my soul. I got to see something so amazing, and I’ve just got to tell people about it. Heaven is a million times better than you can imagine. I stop people in the grocery store. I even stopped my mailman and told him. I’m not bashful. I want to share this story wherever I can.”

When she was in heaven, she felt God telling her that, when she went back, she would see angels. “And just in the last month, I’ve started seeing them. I can see people’s guardian angels behind them,” she said.

Charlotte has always been a devout Christian. She and Danny are part of the band that provides the music at Mammoth Assembly of God. “But now, more than anything, my favorite thing to do is pray with people. Danny even built me a prayer closet. He knows if he wakes up at 3 a.m. and I’m gone, that’s where I am. It’s so important to me, and in doing this, I’ve heard from so many other people with their testimony.”

(Caption: Charlotte Holmes, center, and granddaughter Shai Meek, left, delivered Christmas cookies Wednesday to Century Bank of the Ozarks, where employee Lowana Collins accepted the treats from Gainesville Health Care Center. Times photo/Norene Prososki

Charlotte has told her story at several churches and meetings of other groups in the area. “I just can’t keep from talking about it. And there’s so much more to the story. I don’t want people to think I’m crazy – well, I don’t care if they think I’m crazy. I know what the Lord showed me, and I can’t quit saying how wonderful and merciful God is,” she said.

The Shelby Light Bulb

Dangling from the ceiling of a California firehouse is a bulb that’s burned for 989,000 hours – nearly 113 years. Since its first installation in 1901, it has rarely been turned off, has outlived every firefighter from the era, and has been proclaimed the “Eternal Light” by General Electric experts and physicists around the world.

Tracing the origins of the bulb — known as the Centennial Light — raises questions as to whether it is a miracle of physics, or a sign that new bulbs are weaker. Its longevity still remains a mystery.

A Brief History of the Light Bulb

Thomas Edison worked on improving carbon filaments. By 1880, through the utilization of a higher vacuum and the development of an entire integrated system of electric lighting, he improved his bulb’s life to 1,200 hours and began producing the invention at a rate of 130,000 bulbs per year.

In the midst of this innovation, the man who would build the world’s longest-lasting light bulb was born.

The Shelby Electric Company

Adolphe Chaillet

Adolphe Chaillet was bred to make exceptional light bulbs. Born in 1867, Chaillet was constantly exposed to the burgeoning light industry in Paris, France. By age 11, he began accompanying his father, a Swedish immigrant and owner of a small light bulb company, to work. He learned quickly, garnered an interest in physics, and went on to graduate from both German and French science academies. In 1896, after spending some time designing filaments at a large German energy company, Chaillet moved to the United States.

Chaillet briefly worked for General Electric, then, riding on his prestige as a genius electrician, secured $100,000 (about $2.75 million in 2014 dollars) from investors and opened his own light bulb factory, Shelby Electric Company. While his advancements in filament technology were well-known, Chaillet still had to prove to the American public that his bulbs were the brightest and longest-lasting. In a risky maneuver, he staged a “forced life” test before the public: The leading light bulbs on the market were placed side-by-side with his, and burned at a gradually increased voltage. An 1897 volume of Western Electrician recounts what happened next:

Chaillet’s original patent:

“Lamp after lamp of various makes burned out and exploded until the laboratory was lighted alone by the Shelby lamp — not one of the Shelby lamps having been visibly injured by the extreme severity of this conclusive test.”

Shelby claimed that its bulbs lasted 30% longer and burned 20% brighter than any other lamp in the world. The company experienced explosive success: According to Western Electrician, they had “received so many orders by the first of March [1897], that it was necessary to begin running nights and to increase the size of the factory.” By the end of the year, output doubled from 2,000 to 4,000 lamps per day, and “the difference in favor of Shelby lamps was so apparent that no doubt was left in the minds of even the most skeptical.”

Over the next decade, Shelby continued to roll out new products, but as the light bulb market expanded and new technologies emerged (tungsten filaments), the company found itself unable to make the massive monetary investment required to compete. In 1914, they were bought out by General Electric and Shelby bulbs were discontinued.

The Centennial Light

Seventy-five years later, in 1972, a fire marshall in Livermore, California informed a local paper of an oddity: A naked, Shelby light bulb hanging from the ceiling of his station had been burning continuously for decades. The bulb had long been a legend in the firehouse, but nobody knew for certain how long it had been burning, or where it came from. Mike Dunstan, a young reporter with the Tri-Valley Herald, began to investigate — and what he found was truly spectacular.

Tracing the bulb’s origins through dozens of oral narratives and written histories, Dunstan determined it had been purchased by Dennis Bernal of the Livermore Power and Water Co. (the city’s first power company) sometime in the late 1890s, then donated to the city’s fire department in 1901, when Bernal sold the company. As only 3% of American homes were lit by electricity at the time, the Shelby bulb was a hot commodity.

In its early life, the bulb, known as the “Centennial Light,” was moved around several times: It hung in a hose cart for a few months, then, after a brief stint in a garage and City Hall, it was secured at Livermore’s fire station. “It was left on 24 hours-a-day to break up the darkness so the volunteers could find their way,” then-Fire Chief Jack Baird told Dunstan. “It’s part of another era in the city’s past [and] it’s served its purpose well.”

Though Baird acknowledged that it had once been turned off for “about a week when President Roosevelt’s WPA people remodeled the fire house back in the 30s,” Guinness World Records confirmed that the hand-blown 30-watt bulb, at 71 years old, was “the oldest burning bulb in the world.” A slew of press followed, which saw it featured in Ripley’s Believe it or Not, and on major news networks.

Aside from the 1930s fire house remodel, the bulb has only lost power a few times — most notably in 1976, when it was moved to Livermore’s new Station #6. Accompanied by a “full police and fire truck escort,” the bulb arrived with a large crowd eager to see it regain power, but, as recalled by Deputy Fire Chief Tom Brandall, “there was a little scare:”

“We got to new location and the city electrician installed the light bulb and made connection. It took about 22-23 min, and [the bulb] didn’t come back on. The crowd gasped. The city electrician grabbed the switch and jiggled it; it went on!”

Once settled, the bulb was placed under video surveillance to ensure it was alive at all hours; in subsequent years, a live “Bulb Cam” was put online. At one point, the bulb’s groupies (9,000 followers on FB) received another scare when it lost light.

At first it was suspected that the light had finally met its demise, but after nine and half hours, it was discovered that the bulb’s uninterrupted power supply had failed; once the power supply was bypassed, the bulb’s light returned. The 113-year-old bulb had outlived its power supply, just as it had outlived three surveillance cameras.

Today, the bulb still shines, though, as one retired fire volunteer once said, “it don’t give much light” (only about 4 watts). Owning a frail piece of history comes with great responsibility: Livermore firefighters treat the little bulb like a porcelain doll. “Nobody wants that darn bulb to go out on their watch,” once said former fire chief Stewart Gary. “If that thing goes out while I’m still chief it will be a career’s worth of bad luck.”

“They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To”

Everyone from Mythbusters to NPR has speculated on the reasons for the Shelby bulb’s longevity. The answer, in short, is that it remains a mystery – Chaillet’s patent left much of his process unexplained.

In 2007, Annapolis physics professor Debora M. Katz purchased an old Shelby bulb of the same vintage and make as the Centennial Light and conducted a series of experiments on it to determine its differentiation from modern bulbs. She reported her findings:

“I found the width of the filament. I compared it to the width of a modern bulb’s filament. It turns out that a modern bulb’s filament is a coil, of about 0.08 mm diameter, made up of a coiled wire about 0.01 mm thick. I didn’t know that until I looked under a microscope. The width of the Shelby bulb’s 100-year-old filament is about the same as the width of the coiled modern bulb’s filament, 0.08 mm.”

The Lightbulb Cartel

Light bulb companies like Shelby once prided themselves on longevity – so much so, that the durability of their products was the central focus of marketing campaigns. But by the mid-1920s, business attitudes began to shift, and a new rhetoric prevailed: “A product that refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business.” This line of thought, termed “planned obsolescence,” endorsed intentionally shortening a product’s lifespan to entice swifter replacement.

In 1924, Osram, Philips, General Electric, and other major electric companies met and formed the Phoebus Cartel under the public guise that they were cooperating to standardize light bulbs. Instead, they purportedly began to engage in planned obsolescence. To achieve this the companies agreed to limit the life expectancy of light bulbs at 1,000 hours, less than Edison’s bulbs had achieved (1,200 hrs) decades before; any company that produced a bulb exceeding 1,000 hours in life would be fined.

Until disbanding during World War II, the cartel supposedly halted research, preventing the advancement of the longer-lasting light bulb for nearly twenty years.

Whether or not planned obsolescence is still on the agenda of light bulb manufacturers today is highly debatable, and there exists no definitive proof. In any case, incandescent bulbs are being phased out worldwide: Since Brazil and Venezuela began the trend in 2005, many countries have followed suit (European Union, Switzerland, and Australia in 2009; Argentina and Russia in 2012; the United States, Canada, Mexico, Malaysia, and South Korea in 2014).

As more efficient technologies have surfaced (halogen, LED, compact fluorescent lights, magnetic induction lights), the old filament-based bulbs have become a relic of the past. But perched up in the white ceiling of Livermore’s Station #6, the granddaddy of old-school bulbs is as relevant as ever, and refuses to bite the dust.

The Mysterious Case of the 113-Year-Old Light Bulb

Source document written in 2014.

Bishop Castle

The Early Years

Let’s talk about being inspired. Young Jim Bishop in 1959, at the ripe old age of 15, paid four hundred and fifty dollars for a two and a half acre parcel of land enclosed on three sides by the majestic San Isabel National Forest in southern Colorado. It was money saved from mowing lawns, throwing newspapers, and working with his father Willard in the family ornamental iron works. Jim had dropped out of high school that year over an argument from his English teacher who yelled at him “You’ll never amount to anything Jim Bishop!” Ever since he was a boy, Jim was powerfully drawn up towards the mountains visible to the west from Pueblo, and having found a small 2-1/2 acre parcel one weekend on a bicycle journey with some friends, convinced his parents to buy it for him with his money.

So Willard and ma Polly signed for the land deal which Jim wasn’t even old enough to do himself, and the family now had a heavily forested two and a half acres at 9000 feet. Jim and his dad spent the next ten summers camping out on the land and doing the groundwork for a family cabin on the site. Setting the stage for what was to come, Jim soon learned that he really enjoyed swinging an axe and wielding a shovel or pick in building their clearing with a drive up to it, which is now the court-yard between the family cabin and the castle itself with it’s driveway.

It was in 1967 that Jim and Phoebe got married, a union they still enjoy to this day, and in 1969 at the age of twenty-five, Jim decided it was time to start building a cabin in the mountains they so loved. Since rocks were plentiful, everywhere, and free, he chose to start building a one room stone cottage…

NOTE: Stock photo – The Bishop cabin had windows on all sides and big double doors in front. When they left the door open, the hummers would sometimes fly in – the hummers got so familiar with them that when they wanted to leave and the door was closed, the would hover in front of the door until they opened it for them. They also had chairs that were tree stumps, with the seat hollowed out.

Snow doesn’t melt completely at 9000 feet usually until the middle of May, sometimes even into June, so the summer building season is a short one. Jim started building his cabin, and after a while Jim and Willard started trading off two week stints, one at the shop running the business and one up the mountain working on the family cabin. This lasted until the late spring of 1971, when the problem of getting running water into the cabin arose. Willard suggesting putting in a large metal tank that he had salvaged from a welding job to be a gravity fed cistern. Jim thought it’d be functional, and construction began on the water tank. It is a 40 foot metal cylinder which Willard surrounded with stonework.

Jim continued to build his cottage, and the walls grew. Throughout the summer, family friends, a couple local ranchers, and even some family members commented that it looked like they were building a castle! “Hey Jim! That looks like a turret or something!” “What are you building, a castle?!”

Jim heard that enough times that by the time late spring 1972 rolled around, his imagination had been stirred something fierce, and Mr. Jim Bishop started telling friends and family that he was in fact going to be building a castle! When Willard first heard this, he stated as a matter of fact that castles tended to be pretty huge and that he wasn’t going to have anything to do with it! “That’s just too much work!” Jim kept right on building, and the construction that began as a one room stone cottage with an Eiffel Tower shaped fireplace gave birth to this country’s, and maybe even the world’s, largest one man project – The Bishop Castle.

It Just Keeps On Growing!
As the castle grew, so did word of the guy up in the mountains who was pursuing the American Dream – to be King of your own Castle! People came to visit more and more often, and Jim would often be asked if he wanted help building his castle. For the first eight years, the answer was always Sure! And in those eight years, not a single person ever kept their word and showed up to help. In a fit of cynical frustration, Jim vowed that “By God, I’ve gotten this far by myself. If you’re going to do something right, do it yourself!” So like the castle itself, the idea of the castle being a one man project was born in the process of the doing and was not an original intention or a childhood dream like many people think. And he kept building. And building. And the Bishop Castle grew…

Other Discoveries Along the Way

Many of the features of the Bishop Castle were discovered intuitively or stumbled upon as the building unfolded. In the process of the castle building, Jim discovered that he also really enjoyed building his body too. He even set up an old army wall tent in the clearing, where he would workout with weights for a couple of hours in the evenings after having built with stone and mortar all day! As he became increasingly involved in the weight lifting regime physically, he also discovered that realm of mind where his principles in building could also be applied to his life – balance in everything! This became an ideal he strove for in this proving of himself, through his stonework, his body, and in his mind. It was through this approach that Jim soon realized that he would find himself completely visualizing what he could build next and how it would all fit together on such a large scale.

There are no plans, blueprints or drawings other than the one Jim did to illustrate his book “Castle Building from my point of view”. The more Jim experienced how certain features lined up or fell into place is when he started suspecting that maybe something “more” was going on, that maybe it was the Creator of All Things working through him in this magnificent endeavor that seemed to have a spirit of it’s own. Jim started describing the Bishop Castle as “Built by One Man with the Help of God.” There’s really no other way to explain it!. And it kept growing…

Feats of Strength

In order to pursue the totality of what he could visualize, Jim employed anything and everything that was available to him. He had apprenticed and then mastered with his father in the family’s Bishop Ornamental Iron shop welding and scroll bending and learning how things fit together for most of his life. Jim did everything – hauling rock from the state highway ditches, felling timber and then milling it into lumber, building railroad ties into forms for his arches, (he’s used the same form over and over), building scaffolding as he went. He hand dug holes up to 12 feet deep for the foundations, mixed all his own mortar, carried it, usually up, to wherever he was working, created and rigged complex systems of pulleys and come-alongs to hoist such things as tree trunks for the floor supports, and, stone by stone, his dreams were being made manifest. Jim handles each and every stone in the castle on average of SIX TIMES before it rests in it’s final configuration in this massive re-organizing of the scattered granite in the Rocky Mountains into the form of the Bishop Castle.

Structural Ornaments

The beginning of the square tower on the south side of the main keep saw the first massive use of ironwork in the construction. Up until then Jim had incorporated his ironwork as window frames, stairs, and the purely ornamental. Now his use of iron and steel became structural, with a core frame for the tower starting from it’s foundations. The rock work formed around this base and created such strength that Jim had no fear contemplating the heights that the tower might one day climb to. Wooden forms soon gave way to ornamental iron forms in the arches of the second floor, some of the most incredible examples of precision geometry found in the castle. And the most magnificent feature of all, the inner roof support trusses and the main central arch which are so detailed, yet so massively functional that they boggle the mind. Everywhere one looks something will boggle the mind, such as the fact that the hand railing going up the S.W. corner, named Roy’s Tower, with all of it’s bizarre twists and turns, was hammered cold into it’s highly custom shape!

Perhaps the water cistern is contained inside of this tower.

The Dream Defined

Over the years as the castle grew, more and more people heard about this phenomenon up in the mountains and began showing up in increasing numbers. Friends told Jim that he should be making some money off what was becoming an attraction! Jim felt differently though – he hated it when he was a kid and couldn’t go to the zoo or the ballpark because admission for the whole family was too high for a bunch of working class folks. Since the original idea for a castle came from people visiting the property, Jim figured that if people were welcomed onto the property FOR FREE then he could put out a donation box and people could put in there what they felt comfortable putting in there. The honor system would be the financier! This increased Jim’s feeling of the castle truly being a place of American Freedom. He felt like he worked hard enough down in Pueblo to support the family that he would build as much as the visitors provided for. This has frustrated him at times over the years, wanting to build larger items such as an elevator and not having the funds to do so, but he feels so strongly about the dream being kept intact that he’s even written into legal documents that the Bishop Castle will always remain free as long as it stands. This belief in America being a Free Country made up of Free Persons has fueled his passions in building the castle to represent the American Dream in an undeniably tangible and awe inspiring form!

Enter The Dragon

In the mid 1980’s, a friend of Jim’s was driving a truck full of discarded stainless steel warming plates from the Pueblo County Hospital to the landfill. He decided that Jim could probably put this motherload of expensive stainless steel to better use than the dump could, so dropped it off at the Bishop Ornamental Iron Shop instead. Jim spent the winter building a chimney out of the steel, riveting thousands of hammered “scales” that he had cut out of the plates together around a steel frame. The dragon was completed in the spring and Jim hauled it up the mountain to tackle the daunting task of raising and installing this incredible sculpture to where it rests today, perched off of the front of the Grand Ballroom eighty feet in the air! Later came the addition of a burner from a hot air balloon (that was donated!) which Jim put in the back of the dragons throat, making it a true Fire Breathing Dragon!

Unimaginable Heights Reached

Jim is often told that he must not be afraid of heights! The way he figures it, he began at the bedrock base of the earth and has been gradually building up, so gradual that as the height grew, he was as comfortable with it as with being on the ground. Jim’s experience with the castle has been so intimate, (he’s held EVERY SINGLE STONE IN THERE ON AN AVERAGE OF SIX TIMES), that he’s grown stone by stone as well and doesn’t mind the heights at all. In 1994 Jim reached a point with the square Andreatta tower, named after the family that donated the old school bells that hang in it, where he felt satisfied that it was high enough. That didn’t last long, as in 1995 he built and installed a thirty foot tall steel steeple on top of the masonry, taking the total height to roughly 160 feet! That’s about the size of a 16 story building! Jim has remained satisfied with the overall height of his castle to the present, though he’s recently been threatening to build one of the corner outer wall towers to 250 feet because a local zoning official told him he couldn’t build over 25 and he just added a zero.

Ballroom inside Castle

As It Stands

Today’s visitors to the Bishop Castle will find an impressively monumental statue in stone and iron that cries loud testament to the beauty and glory of not only having a dream, but sticking with your dream no matter what. Most importantly, that if you do believe in yourself and strive to maintain that belief, anything can happen! Three full stories of interior rooms complete with a Grand Ballroom, soaring towers and bridges with vistas of a hundred miles, and a Fire-Breathing Dragon make the Bishop Castle quite the unforgettable experience! Visitors are always welcome FREE of charge, and the castle itself is always OPEN. Please respect this trust and honor while visiting!

More pics and info: https://www.bishopcastle.org/

History of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church

I was unable to find a picture by itself of the current church/school but you can see it in the opening picture in this video. Overhead view of the current church, with the school I attended on the right; I was baptized in this church in 1953 and was confirmed in April 1967. The entire wing on the left and the parking lot was added after I left the area.

In the year 1865, a group of members of the Evangelical Lutheran St. Paul congregation at Ixonia, WI gathered together with the desire to raise their cildren near a church and school. This caused them to consider emigration. Pastor Hoeckendorf, the minister of this congregation, at that time had relatives who lived near West Point, NE. So they got the idea to send scouts into this area. They wanted some trustworthy people to check everything out right there on location.

The info in this post was taken from this booklet.

They entrusted this important matter to “Father” Braasch, “Father” Wagner, and John Gensmer. These men departed for NE and, since the area surrounding West Point was already more or less settled and the whole group couldn’t possibly also settle there, they ventured further north over the wild plains of Nebraska until they came to the area which is now Norfolk.

They found that the land was fertile, the water drinkable, and wood was also found on the North Fork and the Elkhorn rivers. Very pleased with their finding, they joyfully returned to Ixonia and delivered the good news.

Pic from internet

On May 23, 1866, it was time for the old pioneers to leave their homes and strike out toward their new destination. It was a difficult time since many heartrending goodbyes were required – parents to their children, children to their parents, brothers and sisters parted, relatives and friends shook hands for the last time. The long journey was made in “prairie schooners” pulled by horses and oxen. In 3 caravans, 53 wagons moved through the uncultivated terrain, accompanied by cattle and sheep. Along the way, they encountered great difficulties, such as crossing rivers without bridges and maneuvering through swamps. Some days they had to stop to wash clothes and bake bread and on Sundays, they observed regular church services, which were led by Father Braasch, the leader of the whole train.

Around the 12th of July 1866, the members of the new German Settlement arrived in close proximity to the present-day Norfolk. After the land was measured and raffled off, everybody moved onto their allotted properties from 17-20 July.

Note: You may need to enlarge the pic to see – on the left just over half-way down, you will see the name “William Duhring.” (My brother inherited the farm and now his children have inherited it from him – Chris gets the land in order to keep it in the Deering name, ‘Nette gets the house.) That was my birth grandfather, Arnold Deering’s Father (Grandpa changed the spelling of his last name in order to appear less German, probably due to WWII, I expect). If you look up further towards the center, close to the river, you will see the name “Martin Raasch,” my adopted great-great-grandfather.

I’m not sure when this picture was taken – clearly not in 2007 – but these were the 4 remaining founders still alive at that time. August Raasch, my adopted great-grandfather, was the first postmaster in Norfolk. He was wounded at Gettysburg and carried shrapnel in his back until he died; in later years, he was basically an invalid but with 12 children (mostly boys), he had plenty of help on the farm.

Of course, it took time to build homes and barns so, in the meantime, they either built one-room log cabins or sod houses.

The first services of this new settlement took place in a shed on the North Fork of the Elkhorn River. Shrubs and branches covered the roof to provide shade and the dirt floor was covered with hay. For the rest of that first summer, they held church services in this shed. I don’t know when the first real church, a log building 24 X 30, was built – there was no altar or chancel and the benches consisted of boards which were laid on wooden blocks. Occasionally the boards would fall over when the people rose during the service. This church was used until the year 1878; in 1876, the congregation had bought 12 acres from Pastor Hoekendorf for $120.

The first parsonage was built in 1878 and at the April meeting that year, the congregation decided to build a new church. The new one would be 36 X 50 and cost approximately $1,405. The number of school children increased significantly so the congregation found it necessary to hire a regular teacher and build a school house. Since they already had a teacher, a house for him was also required, which was constructed in 1884.

Although the church building was finished, the interior was bare – no chancel, altar, benches or organ. Father Braasch made the initial contribution when he paid for an altar and chancel for the church, providing an example for the wealthy people among the members. The congregation bought the benches and, in 1884, they acquired a pipe organ (the organ still remains in the current church, as you will see in the interior picture). Since the church did not have enough seating for the attendants and the school also needed another classroom, the congregation voted unamimously to build a new church. During a meeting on January 21, 1907, the decision was made to build a brick building.

Architect Stitt created the plans and specifications for the beautiful building, which was designed in the gothic style of the 13th century. The cost of the building and interior came to about $24K. The cornerstone was laid in August of 1907 and the dedication took place on May 3, 1908. The old church was remodeled to serve for school functions and weekly catechism.

In July 1916, it had been 50 years since the founding fathers of our congregation arrived on these grassy plains. Since the congregation did not want to let this day pass without an expression of gratitude to God, they decided to celebrate their 50th anniversary on July 16, 1916. For this event, they had the interior of the church painted – the finished work is a credit to the master, Mr. Art Reiman of Milwaukee, and is a perfect work of art.

*At the end of the 1st row is my birth grandmother, Marie Deering (she loved Hitler, btw); in the 2nd row, you will see my grandfather, Arnold, as well as Ernest Raasch, my adopted grandfather.*

Esther Raasch was my adopted grandmother – Ernest died around the time I was born. He was a Nebraska State Senator. My birth mother lived with them for a period of time while she was in HS – she and my adopted Mom were close friends.

17TH AMENDMENT WAS A HUGE MISTAKE

Since it was ratified in 1913, we have been losing states’ rights over time and it is getting faster. Today we see the abuses of the federal government destroying the powers of the state at an alarming rate.

The 17th Amendment must go if we are ever to rein in the abuses of the federal government. The good news is that we do not need a Constitutional amendment to do that. Here’s why…

Article V of the US Constitution spells out the process for amending the Constitution. The last line of Article V seems prophetic in that it spells out that the 17th Amendment could not happen unless 100% of the states agreed. That line reads, “and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.”

What this clearly means is that no State (as an entity – that is why it is capitalized) can have its representation in Congress taken from it without consent. Taking that representation away from the state as an entity and placing it with the people of that state clearly takes away any representation in the US Senate for the states. Therefore, it was not passed by all states so some (a total of 12) did not consent.

Some might argue that the 36 that did ratify it would be bound by it. This would violate equal representation, therefore could not stand.

As with all governments, it becomes necessary, from time to time, to reacquaint ourselves with its basic mechanics of operation. The Founding Fathers gave posterity a written constitution to aid in this process. When there are doubts as to its meaning, one must study its original intent to discern proper application, for “the intent of the Lawgiver is the Law.”

Current events in this nation have provoked citizens and scholars to perform this assessment — to “retrace our steps” — in yet another area: the principle of federalism. Simply defined, federalism is ‘a system that combines States retaining sovereignty within a certain sphere with a central body possessing sovereignty within another sphere, and a third sphere where concurrent jurisdiction (exists].’

After years of silence on the matter, a resurgence of interest in federalism became evident. President Reagan’s “New Federalism,” “The Federalist Society,” and a report on federalism issued by the Domestic Policy Council were just some of the manifestations of this increasing concern.

The reason for the current interest is that America is reaping the fruit of centralized government. Contrary to the Founding Fathers’ original vision of separate spheres of jurisdiction between the people, the states, and national government, our current system is now dominated by the national government.

The United States Constitution, as drafted by the Founding Fathers, clearly enumerated the limited powers of the national government. All other powers were reserved to the states or the people. The 10th Amendment affirms this noting: ‘The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.’

The separate spheres of jurisdiction of the national and state governments have gradually been eroded. The national government has increasingly usurped the reserved power of both the people and the states. It has been documented that:’States, once the hub of political activity and the very source of our political tradition, have been reduced — in significant part — to administrative units of the national government ….’

As a result of this erosion process, both the national government and the state governments are crippled in their effectiveness. The national government, having taken on too much power, is unable to properly administer all the areas it has arrogated unto itself. On the other hand, the state governments are impotent in legislating and executing the will of the people because they are subject to unpredictable subjugation by the national government.

Our founding document, the Declaration of Independence, proclaims as self evident the proposition that “all men are … endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” and that “to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men.” When state governments so instituted become impotent, then it is their right and duty to reacquire the appropriate power in order to fulfill the purpose for which they were originally established.

History of the Bath Tub

Search the web, and you’re sure to read that America’s first bathtub was installed in 1842—December 20, to be exact. It would be nice if such a mercurial vessel had so neat a beginning—even H.L. Mencken, the newspaperman who concocted this hoax as an uplifting wartime news story, would agree. What is true is that no accessory embodies the metamorphosis of bathing equipment (from moveable furniture to plumbed-in-place fixtures) or helps define the use and look of a bathroom in any era as much as the bathtub.

Antebellum Scrubs

Before indoor plumbing, bathtubs—like chamber pots and washbowls—were moveable accessories: large but relatively light containers that bathers pulled out of storage for temporary use. The typical mid-19th-century bathtub was a product of the tinsmith’s craft, a shell of sheet copper or zinc.

“Late 1800’s Zinc and Cast Iron Bath Tub With Oak Trim”

In progressive houses equipped with early water-heating devices, a large bathtub might be site-made of sheet lead and anchored in a coffin-like wooden box.

Later, there were ingenious (though ultimately impractical) hideaway alternatives, like the portable canvas tub (similar to a pot-bellied cot), or the Mosely folding bath tub—an armoire-like contraption with a hinged door that pulled down like a Murphy bed to reveal a bathing saucer.

The Mosely Folding Bath Tub pulled down like a Murphy bed.

However, for decades, the bathtub most Americans knew best was the one available in a 1909 hardware catalog: a tinware plunge bath with wood-covered bottom painted in Japan green (a type of pre-1940 enamel paint).

As running water became more common in the latter 19th century, bathtubs became more prevalent and less portable. Though copper was still used for wood-enclosed tubs as late as the 1910s, it more commonly appeared as a liner for steel-cased tubs, rimmed in oak or cherry, that stood on bronzed iron legs.

This wood-encased period galvanized tin tub is in Astoria, Oregon’s 1885 Flavel House museum.

Cast iron—the all-purpose material of the Victorian era—had been poured into sinks and lavatories since the late 1850s, and by 1867 the famous J.L. Mott Iron Works was finding a ferrous niche in the bathtub market as well.

However, the big catch with all of these conveniences was corrosion. Copper and zinc discolored readily around water and soap, and the seams of sheet metal were hard to keep clean at all. Iron and steel, of course, rusted eventually, even under the most meticulous coat of paint.

Glaze Crusades

A china-like glaze seemed to be the ideal, obvious solution, but producing a vitreous skin on an object the scale of a tub was not so simple. Though cast iron sinks were porcelain enameled, iron bathtubs were a far more complex shape, and when filled with hot water, they could expand more than the coating, risking delamination.

In the 1850s, British artisans cracked the tub-coating code by taking a different tack: all-ceramic tubs with a glazed surface. Because the tubs were both fragile and heavy, they were iffy for export, but the idea found a market on English shores, and by the 1890s, solid porcelain tubs were being fired up by manufacturers like Trenton Potteries.

An ordinary-style tub—sloped at the head, flat and plumbed at the foot—was the most common, and affordable, early porcelain model.

The solid porcelain tub scratched many itches. Besides satisfying the need for a seamless, smooth, washable surface that wouldn’t rust, it provided a continuous, roll-over edge around the perimeter of the basin. Indeed, one of the subtle attractions of the porcelain tub was its sensuous, smooth curves and zaftig proportions. Whether it stood on bulbous ceramic legs or muscular sides that ran to the floor (thereby eliminating unsanitary hidden spaces), the porcelain tub was a study in robust modeling. Ads from the 1910s asked, “Why shouldn’t the bathtub be part of the architecture of the house?”

Seemingly the ultra-modern bathing, solid porcelain had its downside. For one thing, such tubs were dauntingly heavy and equally pricey. In 1909, prices ran from $180 for a 4 1/2′-long model to $255 for a massive 6 1/2-footer—this at a time when a steel-cased footed tub could be had for around $25. Plus, some bathers felt the pottery mass absorbed too much heat from the water, making it expensive to use.

High-Tech Tubs

Drawbacks aside, the solid porcelain tub remained the Cadillac of the bath industry into the 1920s and the hallmark of a high-end bathroom. Indeed, before 1910, bathrooms in and of themselves were often status symbols. In an era when houses with running water and waste piping were new and modern, a single bathroom with lavatory, flushing toilet, and fixed tub was a sign of progressive thinking and an essential step in the march toward better hygiene. What’s more, the bathrooms of the wealthy were not so much places of daily cleanup and dressing, but therapeutic laboratories akin to personal spas. The shower we now associate with a daily spritz was frequently a stand-alone cage of multiple sprays designed for skin or kidney stimulation, while tubs were dispersed around the room for soaking one or more parts of the body.

Roman tubs with nearly vertical, sloping round ends were thought to look more balanced and elegant in bathrooms, and usually came with faucets mounted on a long side.

As multiple-fixture, high-tech bathrooms started to evaporate after World War I (along with the large houses that made them possible), the new paradigm for up-to-date ablution became the porcelain-enameled, cast-iron, footed tub—the ubiquitous clawfoot type still at work for thousands of bathers today.

The Cast-Iron Tub

The J.L. Mott Iron Works was among the first to solve the porcelain-on-iron puzzle in the late 1880s with better techniques for preparing the iron and firing the coating, and when production improvements reduced costs in the 1920s, the cast-iron tub soon took over the bathroom. The typical tub style was the ordinary, a round-bottomed trough with a sloping head and a vertical foot holding water inlets and outlets. The other common style was the Roman, with flat sides and bottom, and identical (nearly vertical) sloping, rounded ends.

Antique Cast Iron Tub

Fancy, upscale lavatories could include both a sitz (at left) and foot bath (at right) to complement the bathtub and state-of-the-art ribcage shower, per a 1912 Standard Sanitary catalog.

The Built-In Tub

For a new century increasingly on the alert for germs, the only thing better than a tiled-in recess tub was one shipped this way straight from the factory. Casting one-piece tubs with a rim that extended down to the floor in an apron wasn’t easy, but by 1911, the Kohler Company, followed swiftly by its competitors, introduced the built-in tub—still a bathroom standard today. Made with one enclosed side (or one side and an end), the built-in tub was not only efficient in its own right, but as a 5′-long model that spanned the walls of the typical 5′ square bathroom, it became the cornerstone of the modern, functional Jazz Age bathroom trinity: wall-hung lavatory, water closet, and tub-and-shower combo.

Color Craze

Like Henry Ford, who promised auto buyers any color they wanted so long as it was black, sanitary ware manufacturers were at first color-blind to anything but white. White was not only the color of sanitation, making it easy to spot grime and therefore clean, it was also the optimal color to produce reliably from item to item.

Just like with the auto industry, however, all that began to change in the late 1920s. Once the bathroom reached a plateau as an efficient, hygienic cleansing hospital, it began to be viewed as a vehicle for design and household beauty, and around 1929, color came into the bathroom in a big way.

This inviting bathroom suite, featuring tan vitrolite walls and colorful Spring Green fixtures—including a separate, petite dental sink—appeared in a 1939 Kohler brochure.

Pigmenting the vitreous finish in fixtures—at first in light pastels, then in deeper hues like royal blue, Ming green, and Chinese red—brought color to the bathroom in solid swaths far more dramatic and permanent than any paint or tile.

Always key bathroom players by dint of their sheer size and function, bathtubs became ever more pivotal when they moved away from white. As color put a design spin on fixtures in the 1930s and ’40s, they began to look—once again—like furniture, with lavatories resembling tables and toilets approximating chairs. In this light, tubs might stand in for beds, especially when detailed with the rectangular outlines popular in the Art Moderne era and in velvety colors of rich maroon or black. It was a long way from the tin tub that had been hauled out of a closet only a generation or two before.

THE RADIUM (GHOST) GIRLS

On the 20th of April, 1902, Marie and Pierre Curie successfully isolated a brand new element: radium, after years of hard work. At the time, it was believed that this new material might have all kinds of beneficial properties. So radium was swiftly incorporated into many products, ranging from makeup to ceramics to health tonics and jewelry. What wasn’t understood at this time was that radium was, in fact, quite deadly. A year before the publishing of her book “Radioactivity,” Marie died. Before her death, she had become aware of the great perils of radiation, which is also what took her life.

By the time Marie died, radium had taken the globe by storm. Radiation was something that wasn’t well understood at the time but had positive associations. It was branded under names such as “cure for the living dead” and “perpetual sushine. And perpetual is exactly what it turned out to be!

As the world descended into World War One, another use for radium came to the forefront: when infused into paint, it would make that paint glow in the dark. This made it an ideal material for coating watch faces, control panels, and instrument dials. Radium provided much-needed illumination for soldiers in the field without relying on other bulky equipment. From 1917 the demand for radium-coated dials skyrocketed, which was good news for the United States Radium Corporation. The company had been in the business of extracting and processing uranium for a few years. Now it expanded to mixing and applying radium-infused paint, a substance which they called“undark.”

Women using radium paint on alarm clock at a factory in 1932 | Picture Credits: Daily Herald Archive

It was no surprise that many local people were employed as dial painters. The dial painters would be supplied with radium paint and freshly stamped dials and had to use paintbrushes to strategically apply radium to the dial parts that needed to glow. Precision was required, so workers were instructed to lick the tips of their brushes in between each application to bring the bristles to a fine point.

For precision, the girls would soften the brush between their lips, thereby ingesting radium in the process | Photo Credits: Nontoxic Prints

The United States Radium Corporation workers had access to radium for free. They used it to paint their teeth and nails to give them a pleasant glow before heading out to dances in the evenings. Years passed. Hundreds of thousands of dials were painted and shipped out. The war eventually came to an end, much to the relief of the general population. But all was not well for the ex-workers of the United States Radium Corporation.

The original site of the Radium Luminous Materials Corporation in Orange, NJ Richard Harbus

Slowly, one by one, dial painters were falling ill. As the 1910s became the 1920s, hundreds of women who had worked as dial painters started noticing pain in their teeth and jaws. Many were having to visit their dentists regularly and were losing teeth with every visit. They were constantly exhausted, and in some cases, it was found that their jawbones were riddled with holes, reduced to a brittle hollow honeycomb. Despite this alarming wave of sickness, few were able to persuade anyone to take their ailments seriously. These female workers came to be known as the ‘Radium Girls.’

Radium Jaw, a certain sign of death in victims | Photo Credits: All That Is Interesting

When 22-year-old Molly Maggia passed away after experiencing years of pain in her jaw and teeth, her condition was described as syphilis. The complaints of many other women were glossed over with the same explanation, despite symptoms that pointed towards something more sinister. It was 1925 before any of the workers came to understand the devastating effect radium had on their bodies.

The 19-year-old woman started working at the Radium Luminous Materials Corp. in Orange, NJ, in 1917, and at first reveled in her job. It was lucrative — plus painting glow-in-the-dark radium on soldiers’ wristwatch faces meant she and her young female co-workers were helping in the war effort.

Grace Fryer had once been a dial painter. Now her body was quite literally falling apart. The bones of her spine crumbled and required a metal brace. Tumors and abscesses sprouted in her jaw, and she was in constant pain. The radium she had ingested while working had riddled her with cancer and weakened her bones. It would soon end her life.

Furious, Grace and four of her colleagues moved to sue their ex-employer. For two years, however, no lawyer would take them seriously, despite their steadily worsening conditions. In 1928, the suit was finally filed. By this time, the demand for radium was declining, as people woke up to the dangers of radiation. Sales of radium-infused products fell further when newspapers around the world printed details of Grace’s story.

Grace Fryer, the first victim to take the radium industry to court | Photo Credits: Buzzfeed

The Radium Girls weren’t just sick; they were literally radioactive. The body of Mollie Maggia was exhumed in 1927 in the hope that her bones would give the remaining victims the evidence they needed to win their cases. Reportedly, when her coffin was lifted off the ground, her body glowed because of radiation. It wasn’t entirely surprising, considering her bones were found to be highly radioactive.

By the end of 1928, the case had been settled in favor of the female workers. They were awarded some compensation, although it was only a fraction of what they had initially demanded. Their medical bills were covered, and they were able to live out their final days with some measure of dignity. Many more suits followed from workers not just at the United States Radium Corporation but at several companies that had handled radium in the years after its discovery. Workers came to testify on their death beds. While Grace Fryer and her colleagues are remembered for leading the fight against injustice, there were thousands of more workers whose fates varied enormously.

Bedside Hearings of radium girls were common since they were too ill to come to the court. | Photo Credits: RSNA

Though many of the radium girls suffered greatly and died before their time, their deaths were not in vain. Many of these victims volunteered for tests and medical examinations, allowing us to understand for the first time how radiation affects the human body. This persuaded scientists to take extraordinary precautions in later experiments with nuclear weapons, potentially saving thousands of lives.

In addition to this enormous service to later generations, the case pushed forward by the radium girls was the first incident in which an employer was forced to take responsibility for the health and safety of its employees. This was a revolutionary concept in 1928.

The sacrifice and courage of the Radium Girls deserve to be applauded. Their case led to the introduction of life-saving regulations for workers all over the world and the establishment of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the United States. The fearless champions continue to shine through history.

Few if any residents in Orange, NJ today know the history of the former plant site. Quietly tucked into a tree-lined residential neighborhood, it has been renamed High & Alden Street Park and features a playground — perhaps a fitting tribute to the young lives lost.

“I think it’s a good idea they [made it a park],’’ resident Robin Laurent, 40, recently told The Post after learning of its past. “It’s good for the people in the neighborhood and the people of Orange.’’

The playground that now stands on the site

References: https://nypost.com/2017/03/22/skin-glowing-from-radium-ghost-girls-died-for-a-greater-cause/

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