The Story Catalog
This is not an archive in the usual sense.
What you’ll find here is a living catalog of Lost & Found Stories – deeply researched historical narratives told in parts, discovered through newspapers, letters, court records, logs, and the stubborn human habit of leaving traces behind.
Some of these stories unfold over weeks or months; others arrive as shorter features. They span rivers and railroads, courtrooms and kitchens, disasters and quiet acts of kindness. What they share is a commitment to following the record where it leads, honoring real lives as they were lived, and letting the past speak in its own voice.
Each title below links to a short description and selected reader reflections. From there, you can jump directly to the opening installment of the story itself. Think of this as a card catalog for narrative history – browse, follow your curiosity, and step into whatever story calls you next.
New stories will continue to be added. Older ones may deepen and grow.
Welcome to the Box.
Annie Deihm and the Century Safe • Azubah Freeman Ryder • Call Me a Bastard • Chicago’s First Chauffeuse Hits the Road • Death at 816 Whitcomb Road • Don’t Poke the Rhino • Four Bullets at Baler Bay • Four Little Teeth and a Whole Lot of Talk • Hawthorne’s Miss Betsey • How Horton Malone Got Too Much Publicity • Jennie Hazen Lewis and the Great Quilting Debate of 1870 Old Maids, Oilfields and a German Chocolate Cake • Rose Hayward and the Cholera Ship • The Afternoon the Revolution Came for Tea • The Curious Case of Eddie Krajic, Alexander Webster & Judge Adolph Sabath • The Epic Canoe Journey of George W. Gardner • The Incorrigible John George • The Nashville Santa Stories • The Shape the Moment Required • The Show Must Go On • The Stocking on Car No. 7 • The Strange Adventures of Captain Cook • When Americans Sought Comfort in Spiritualism •
Alimony Sam
Word Count: ~ 4,900 words
Reading Time: 20 minutes
Chapters: 3 part + Margin Notes
Story Description
In 1925, Samuel W. Reid stood before a Glenn County, California judge and calmly explained that he had the money for his daughter's support — he simply refused to send it to the household he believed was raising her. What began as a contempt charge turned into more than three years in a county jail, a nationwide following of fellow "alimony martyrs," a sanity hearing, a growing beard, and a running public feud fought out in the letters pages of half a dozen California newspapers. Drawing on court records and contemporary press coverage, this story follows a stubborn man's fight over principle, custody, and the shifting cultural politics of divorce and alimony in 1920s America — and the quieter, harder ending that came for his daughter after the cheering stopped.
What Readers Have to Say
“Wild and crazy history here in the West. BT
What a doozy of a story! I'm here for the next episode. Always a joy to read your lost and found stories. JS
Annie Deihm and the Century Safe
Word Count: ~ 10,500 words
Reading Time: 50 minutes
Chapters: 4 part + bonus content
Story Description
Annie Deihm came of age during the American Civil War, but her most ambitious idea was aimed at a century she would never see. Widowed young and supporting her family through a wartime uniform-manufacturing network that employed hundreds of women, Deihm later turned her attention to a different kind of national project: preserving a snapshot of America for future generations. In 1876, amid the excitement of the Centennial International Exhibition, she organized the creation of the Century Safe, a massive iron vault filled with autograph albums, photographs, and mementos from political leaders and ordinary citizens alike—sealed in the U.S. Capitol in 1879 with instructions that it be opened during the nation’s Bicentennial in 1976.
Drawing on nineteenth-century newspapers, congressional records, and archival accounts, this Finding America narrative traces Deihm’s determined effort to create a hundred-year conversation between Americans of 1876 and those of 1976. Rather than focusing solely on the artifacts locked inside the safe, the story follows the persistence of the woman who imagined it—her struggles for recognition, the decades during which the safe was neglected and nearly forgotten, and the unlikely chain of people who preserved its key and memory. Through that long arc, the piece explores how individual ambition, patriotic ritual, and historical memory intersect, revealing how one woman attempted to build a symbolic bridge between generations of Americans separated by a century.
What Readers Have to Say
I love this series, Lori! Annie’s Century Safe isn’t just about the objects inside, it’s about foresight, care, and hope for the future. Your storytelling makes her, Emma, and Thomas come alive, and that line,“There is no safe big enough to contain the hopes, the energies, the abilities of our people”, fantastic writing! Brilliant work. P.C.
Beautifully told, @Lori Olson White! It’s as if the story, like the safe, has been waiting for you. Now... as we clean up notes shared with Relatives at Rootstech, I’m left wondering if MY people signed her books. 🤔
It’s not unlike the question of whether they’d been in the audience as Lafayette made his grand tour of 24 states around the new country at the semi-centennial—this time, there are signatures. It’s such an incredible story. As you say, just waiting to be found. B.T.
Azubah Freeman Ryder
Word Count: ~ 12,000 words
Reading Time: 45 minutes
Chapters: 2 part + bonus content
Story Description
Born just months after American independence, Azubah Freeman Ryder spent nearly 105 years living alongside a nation still learning what it meant to exist. Raised on the Maine frontier in the aftermath of the Revolution, her life unfolded amid migration, loss, religious revival, civic education, war, and remembrance. Drawing from family records, contemporaneous newspapers, census data, and commemorative accounts, this narrative reconstructs how national events were experienced far from centers of power—in cabins, schoolhouses, churches, and homes along the Penobscot River. Rather than tracing political decisions or battlefield outcomes, this Finding America Series piece follows one ordinary life moving through extraordinary time, revealing how Americans encountered independence not as an abstract ideal, but as a series of lived uncertainties, shared rituals, and enduring commitments carried forward across generations.
What Readers Have to Say
“Following Azubah's early life pulled me into the post-revolutionary period effectively using this third-person sympathetic point-of-view. Looking forward to reading more.” J.S.
“What a great story of faith.” P.M.
Call Me a Bastard
Word Count: ~86,000 words
Reading Time: ~50 minutes
Chapters: 20 part + bonus content
Story Description
The remarkably true story of Aimee Henry and Mary Martha Parker, two Gilded Age women locked in an epic battle of belonging. Spanning more than a century of scandal, secrets, intrigue, deception and defiance, their tale is a vivid reminder that “truth will tell” in the end.
What Readers Have to Say
“This should be required reading for genealogists and historians. Sooner or later you will stumble into family secrets and there is a skill for navigating the facts, lies and emotions of relatives. Well done!” D.S.
“Thoroughly captivated by the episodic storytelling! Didn’t want it to end as it has been a pleasure to read.” J.S.
Chicago’s First Chauffeuse Hits the Road
Word Count: ~4,000 words
Reading Time: ~18–22 minutes
Chapters: 1 part
Story Description
In 1912, Julia Sullivan – a nationally recognized athlete and lifelong competitor – set her sights on an entirely new frontier: the driver’s seat of a Chicago taxicab. At a time when professional driving was firmly claimed as a man’s domain, Julia entered the mechanical shops of the Walden Shaw Livery Company determined to master engines, street maps, and city traffic. Newspapers dubbed her Chicago’s first “chauffeuse,” closely tracking her training, testing, and early fares with fascination. Set against an era of gendered expectations, public anxiety about taxi travel, and the modern city’s rapid transformation, this story traces how one woman’s ambition intersected with industry innovation and international influences. Drawing on contemporary reporting and advertising, it captures a brief, electric moment when mobility, independence, and women’s work all accelerated – one motorcar ride at a time.
What Readers Have to Say
“A nice, neat story that, by the end, I’m ready to re-read.” B.T.
Death at 816 Whitcomb Road
Word Count: ~34,000
Reading Time: ~60–70 minutes
Chapters: 4 parts + Margin Notes
Story Description
In January 1926, a Collinwood, OH neighborhood awoke to a deeply unsettling mystery inside a locked home where multiple members of the Arturo Fulvi family were found dead. As doctors, chemists, and police scrambled for answers, competing theories – poisoning, bootleg wine, carbon monoxide, even foul play – circulated through the city. Drawing from local reporting and forensic records, this narrative reconstructs the slow, methodical attempt to understand what happened and why the evidence proved so confounding. Rather than offering easy conclusions, it follows the people and institutions grappling with uncertainty in real time, revealing how communities respond when fear rises faster than facts.
What Readers Have to Say
“One thing I particularly appreciate is the way you frame the events using the medical and police language of the early 20th century. It lends the post a genuine sense of authenticity and reminds us how different forensic science was in the past. Your choice of topics continues to impress me, and I look forward to seeing how this one unfolds.” P. A.
“What an incredible piece of research that you have pulled together here Lori. The finished story only really accounts for 5% of the research that goes on behind the scenes with a story like this. You have really done an incredible job. I really understand how a true crime story can drain you and your reluctance to take on another one. This really is investigative journalism at its absolute best!” P. C.
Don’t Poke the Rhino
Word Count: ~12,000
Reading Time: ~50–60 minutes
Chapters: 2 parts + Margin Notes
Story Description
On a November morning in 1874, New Yorkers opened their newspapers to a shocking headline: wild beasts had escaped the Central Park menagerie, leaving death and chaos in their wake. Citizens barricaded their homes, businesses shuttered, and the city braced for disaster – until readers learned the entire ordeal was an elaborate newspaper fabrication. This piece unpacks how the hoax took shape, why it spread so quickly, and what it revealed about 19th-century journalism, public trust, and the mechanics of mass panic. A study in media mischief and human vulnerability, it follows the story from the newsroom that created it to the public that believed it.
What Readers Have to Say
“What a stellar example of how gullible we humans are in the face of sensational news that stokes our basest fears and how loathe some of us are to admit that we have been fooled. Thanks for a great and timely story, Lori!” R.S.
Four Bullets at Baler Bay
Word Count: ~12,500
Reading Time: ~50–60 minutes
Chapters: 3 parts + Margin Notes
Story Description
In 1899, 18-year-old sailor Arthur Venville left Oregon aboard the U.S. gunboat Yorktown, eager to support his family and see the world. During a patrol near Baler Bay in the Philippine-American War, he was severely wounded in an ambush that left several men stranded under enemy control. What happened afterward became a tangle of conflicting reports, anxious telegrams, and official silence. Drawing on naval correspondence, newspaper coverage, and the relentless efforts of a mother determined to learn the truth, this narrative follows the long search that grew around one missing American teenager and the questions his disappearance forced the nation to confront.
What Readers Have to Say
“Your stories make me love history even more!” M.C.
“You’re a master of the craft. I feel like I need to sit and knit next to the wireless.” B.T.
“As always, beautifully crafted and meticulously researched.” K.R.
“This is a love story for all the mothers of missing warriors. Such a pleasure to read your work.” J.S.
Four Little Teeth and a Whole Lot of Talk
Word Count: ~ 1,600 words
Reading Time: ~7-9 minutes
Chapters: 1 part
Story Description
In a German settlement known locally as Devil's Bluff, a peddler's offhand joke to a weary, pregnant mother sets the stage for a birth that refuses to be ordinary — a baby born with four teeth already in and a sound the midwife can't quite call a word. Inspired by an 1888 Wisconsin newspaper item and shaped around the real-life spirit of the author's midwife great-great-grandmother, this piece of historical fiction traces how a single careless sentence hardens, kitchen by kitchen, into a legend the whole community comes to believe. It's less a ghost story than a study of how grief and gossip go looking for somewhere to land — and how quickly a community turns an unusual moment into a sign. Part of the Fiction from History lineup.
What Readers Have to Say
“Really well written and with several very quotable lines that brought me up short with admiration for your skill with words. Bravo! XH
This is such a beautifully told reminder of how communities turn ordinary moments into lasting stories. What begins as a small, slightly unusual birth becomes something shared, reshaped, and passed along, it says as much about the people telling it as the child at its centre. PC
Hawthorne’s Miss Betsey
Word Count: ~2,000- 2,400 words
Reading Time: ~10-12 minutes
Chapters: 1 part
Story Description
A passing line in an 1895 newspaper notice led to the rediscovery of Elizabeth Ann “Betsey” Tarbox, a Maine orphan raised by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s uncle. This narrative traces her childhood, the tragedy that brought her into the Manning household, and the small ways her life intersects with Hawthorne’s fiction. Blending genealogy, literary history, and archival clues, the story examines how a real girl’s name traveled into one of America’s classic story collections – and how the faintest documentary traces can reshape our understanding of familiar literature.
What Readers Have to Say
“The story of the children orphaned in the blizzard haunts me. Oh my, I knew none of this and found it captivating.” J.S.
How Horton Malone Got Too Much Publicity
Word Count: ~4,000 words
Reading Time: ~30 -45 minutes
Chapters: 2 parts + Margin Notes
Story Description
Whether 29-year-old Horton Malone was an astute businessman who used the assets he had to make a living or a conman who traded on the pity and guilt of those who passed by him on the street depended upon who was asked. But, however he was perceived, Horton’s circumstances took an unexpected change when he became the subject of media and public scrutiny about how people make money.
What Readers Have to Say
“Fascinating way to tell this story! The detail about him refitting his artificial legs in the back of the car before going home really captures the duality of his life. It’s kind of wild how public sympathy can be both genuine and easily exploited, dunno if things have changed much since 1922. The chauffeur angle makes it feel almost theatrical.” A.A.
“Scam artist or professional fundraiser? You be the judge.” K.R.
Jennie Hazen Lewis and the Great Quilting Debate of 1870
Word Count: ~5,700
Reading Time: ~15 -18 minutes
Chapters: 2 parts + Margin Notes
What Readers Have to Say
This was a fascinating look behind the curtain once again Lori. The quilting debate becomes much bigger than quilts, it’s really about women’s labour, identity, marriage, independence, and public voice. I also appreciated your honesty about struggling with the structure of the story itself. In the end, letting the debate “write itself” was exactly the right choice. PC
“Jennie's statement certainly sparked quite a debate. Across the distance of time, I think a lot depends on preference, both for the creative aesthetics of a quilt and the enjoyment an individual derives from piecework in their free time. I can see how some women were upset by this since there is also the matter of financial status and the need to be economic, not just regarding the cost of fabric but for a supply of books to read. Looking forward to Jennie's response. CBR
Fascinating. I have friends who quilt using new fabric and the end result is lovely, but my 100-year-old friend uses leftover scraps and may never finish but is happy to have something to occupy her, now that most other activities are beyond her. AB
Old Maids, Oilfields and a German Chocolate Cake
Word Count: ~2,700–3,000
Reading Time: ~12–15 minutes
Chapters: 1 story + historical sidebar recipe
Story Description
Florence Lee Davis of Denton, Texas, built a rich, self-directed life during an era when unmarried women were often defined by what they lacked. A dedicated teacher in oilfield towns and big cities alike, she returned home as a respected community figure and embraced a label society both mocked and celebrated: “old maid.” Through local features, mid-century cultural history, and family memories, this piece explores how Florence carved out stability, joy, and tradition – including her beloved German Sweet Chocolate Cake – at a time when women were expected to follow a narrower path.
What Readers Have to Say
“What a great theme you have skillfully woven in the Old Maid’s Day story.” C.M.
“Love your storytelling. I feel like I’m hearing you read it out loud while I read it.” D.A.
Rose Hayward and the Cholera Ship
Word Count: ~14,500
Reading Time: ~55–65 minutes
Chapters: 4 parts + Margin Notes
Story Description
In the summer of 1892, pianist Rose Case Hayward boarded the Hamburg–American liner Rugia expecting a comfortable Atlantic crossing. Instead, she found herself amid a cholera outbreak that transformed the ship into a floating quarantine zone. As illness spread through steerage and rumors rippled across the decks, Rose and her fellow passengers confronted disquieting questions about privilege, responsibility, and safety. Reconstructed from newspaper reports, medical records, and maritime accounts, this story follows Rose through uncertainty, delayed landings, and the mounting tension between public health officials and passengers caught in the middle.
What Readers Have to Say
“The “othering” is chilling. Understandable in many ways, and still chilling. You’ve built tension beautifully!” N.W.
“As always your stories grab hold of me. And now to wait but I know it will be worth the wait.” J.J.
“Thank you for digging up and writing up these great stories!” V.O.
The Afternoon the Revolution Came for Tea
Word Count: ~1,800
Reading Time: ~9-11 minutes
Chapters: 1 part
Story Description
On a July afternoon in 1845, a New York newspaper noted in passing that a small group had gathered in a hotel drawing room: Martin Van Buren, and the wives, nieces, and granddaughters of Adams, Madison, and Jefferson. The item ran a few lines and moved on. This story slows that moment down, tracing who each woman actually was beneath the paper's careless shorthand — a granddaughter mistaken for a niece, a diplomat's wife who'd buried three children, a memoirist already shaping how history would remember her aunt — and what it meant that the Revolution, in 1845, was still close enough to sit in a chair and remember firsthand. It's a meditation on inheritance, on the civility that papers over unspoken fractures, and on how much of history survives only in the small, incidental lines no one thought worth writing down. This is part of the Finding America Series here at The Lost and Found Story Box.
What Readers Have to Say
“Thank you for this fascinating explanation, and the context surrounding it. Context is so important as it places history in its correct location, and makes us see their world more clearly.” KKW
Once again a masterpiece Lori! Long before history became textbooks and mythology, it existed as family memory shared around tables and in drawing rooms. Your story beautifully captures the fleeting nature of those connections and the importance of preserving the fragments that remain. PC
The Curious Case of Eddie Krajic, Alexander Webster & Judge Adolph Sabath
Word Count: ~3,800
Reading Time: ~15–20 minutes
Chapters: 1 part
Story Description
When 13-year-old office boy Eddie Krajic marched into a Chicago courtroom seeking his unpaid wages, he set in motion an unusual encounter among three very different men: a determined child laborer, a once-promising attorney struggling to rebuild his life, and a judicial reformer at the start of a long public career. Through newspaper accounts and legal records, this story explores a moment when courage, hardship, and opportunity briefly intersected—revealing how everyday lives brushed against the machinery of justice in turn-of-the-century America.
What Readers Have to Say
“The fact that you have broken down this whole research process for us really is a glimpse for everyone of what the whole research/writing process is all about. This is such a unique idea Lori, to come up with the idea of digging under the skin of a post really is niche, I don’t think I have seen this done before and I am absolutely loving it!!” P.S.
The Epic Canoe Journey of George W. Gardner
Word Count: ~12,000–14,000 words
Reading Time: ~50–60 minutes
Chapters: 9 parts
Story Description
On Thanksgiving Day 1883, Cleveland businessmen and canoe club officers George W. Gardner and William H. Eckman slipped their decked canoes into the Ohio River at Cincinnati and pointed them toward New Orleans. Following Gardner’s vivid log, this narrative traces their winter descent through fog, ice, shifting channels, and river culture – guided by steamboat pilots, rescued by lifesavers at Louisville, teased by captains, hosted by ferrymen, and welcomed into homes and cabins along the way. As they trade paddles for sails, fight headwinds behind the Mississippi’s islands, and briefly surrender their canoes for a steamboat berth, the river steadily reshapes their sense of risk, comfort, and companionship. Part adventure tale, part history of cruising canoes and river navigation, this is the story of two middle-aged “gentlemen from Cleveland” who chose challenge over comfort and let the river rewrite their idea of a good life.
What Readers Have to Say
“The adventures of these two daredevils is a delight to read.” J.S.
“This is an excellent, well-written, and well-researched serial. Only someone with a serious death-wish would attempt to navigate the Falls in a canoe. It’s an almost unbelievable account by the politician George W. Gardner. Lori Olson White brings it all to life with insight and exceptional writing skill. This is an absolutely compelling read!” C.P.
The Face that Remembered
Word Count: ~1,650
Reading Time: ~12-14 minutes
Chapters: 1 parts
Story Description
In 1883, a sixteen-year-old girl named Jennie Hazen stopped in front of a Buffalo secondhand shop and stared at a portrait of a stranger wearing her own face — a painting that turned out to be her Revolutionary War-era great-great-grandmother, lost and found nearly a century later for three dollars and fifty cents. The portrait unlocks a family legend passed down through five generations: a Loyalist officer sentenced to death, a wife who smuggled in metal files and switched places with him in his cell the night before his execution, and a marriage that survived a war fought inside their own family. It's a story about two different kinds of inheritance — one carried in oral memory, one lost on a shop shelf — and what happens when they find their way back to each other. This is part of the Finding America Series here at The Lost and Found Story Box.
What Readers Have to Say
Oh, my, what a tale. You've done it again, Lori. Brilliant, and so elegantly crafted. A painting crafted for a callback. BT
I have been told I look like my grandmother. I never got to meet her as she died ten years before I was born. Jennie saw the painting that looked like her and found an ancestor. What a wonderful story. CH
The Incorrigible John George
Word Count: ~8,000
Reading Time: ~35–40 minutes
Chapters: 4 parts
Story Description
John Mathias George spent decades testing the limits of his Alabama community’s patience – from youthful violence to moonshining to the shifting stories that helped him evade consequences. Using court files, prison records, pension applications, and local reporting, this piece follows how a man with a gift for self-reinvention moved through Reconstruction, Prohibition, and the early 20th century. As veterans’ groups, reformers, and neighbors crossed paths with him, a complicated portrait emerged of charisma, defiance, and the social structures that allowed one individual to skirt accountability again and again.
What Readers Have to Say
“This is incredible, Lori. You need to get this published into a wider circulation. Just amazing.” B.P.
“Your presentation of this slice of history was superb.” T
“Amazing story-telling about a truly irredeemable character. Check it out if already haven’t!” K.D.
The Most Precious Manuscript on Earth
Word Count: ~16,000
Reading Time: ~70–80 minutes
Chapters: 4 parts
Word Count: ~5,000
Reading Time: ~22–24 minutes
Chapters: 3 parts
Story Description
For forty years, William Bradford filled 270 handwritten pages with the story of Plymouth Colony — its founding, its losses, and a passenger list he returned to for decades, tracking his fellow Pilgrims forward through time as they aged and died around him. Then the manuscript vanished during the British occupation of Boston, and for more than seventy years, American historians built the nation's founding story on secondhand fragments, believing the original lost to fire. This three-part story follows the "baby book of a nation" from its writing, through its disappearance and eventual discovery gathering dust in a London bishop's cupboard, to the quiet diplomacy — one senator, one dinner conversation, one bishop who simply hadn't understood what it meant — that finally brought it home to Massachusetts in 1897. This is part of the Finding America Series here at The Lost and Found Story Box.
What Readers Have to Say
This is such a great story. It deserves way more than ten likes. DS
The power of the word to preserve the beginning of our country. Thanks for sharing. PM
A fascinating read. Bradford's manuscript really does sound like the ultimate family history record, part chronicle, part genealogy, part national memory. I loved the reminder that preserving stories matters just as much as preserving documents. PC
The Nashville Santa Stories
Word Count: ~16,000
Reading Time: ~70–80 minutes
Chapters: 4 parts
Story Description
Between 1883 and 1886, The Nashville Banner published a series of anonymous Christmas stories that captured the city’s imagination. What began with a reporter’s moonlit encounter on a magical riverboat grew into an annual tradition filled with whimsy, wonder, and a cast of unforgettable holiday characters. But the stories’ power extended beyond their pages: Nashville’s children responded with letters, coins, and acts of generosity that turned fiction into a community ritual. Through newspaper accounts and surviving letters to Santa, this narrative traces how a small literary experiment shaped a city’s holiday season and why its spirit of kindness endures.
What Readers Have to Say
“Your writing is wonderful. It is a pleasure to read.” L.T.B.
The Shape the Moment Required
Word Count: ~1,700
Reading Time: ~8-9 minutes
Chapters: 1 part
Story Description
In September 1862, as Lee's army withdrew through Frederick, Maryland, an elderly widow named Barbara Fritchie stepped onto her porch with a homemade silk flag and refused to put it away for passing Confederate soldiers — a small, private act she confided to only one relative before her death three months later. This story traces how that quiet moment traveled from a niece's memory into a letter, into a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier, and finally into one of the Union's most beloved wartime legends, complete with a fabricated Stonewall Jackson standoff that soldiers who were actually there insisted never happened. It's a story about how a nation at war reaches for the hero it needs, and how a true, modest act of defiance gets rewritten, again and again, into something bigger than the woman who lived it. This is part of the Finding America Series here at The Lost and Found Story Box.
What Readers Have to Say
Oh, Lori. You have outdone yourself once again! What an interesting exploration of Whittier's poem and the historical origins of the legend. Always a joy to read your stories. JS
I love Barbara Fritchie! We read it in school, and I was inspired to visit the museum. AW
The Show Must Go On
Word Count: ~12,000
Reading Time: ~45–50 minutes
Chapters: 4 parts
Story Description
From Madrid’s circus rings to Paris, Havana, Russia, and finally New York, Blanche Pouche Leon spent her life beneath the canvas of touring shows. A seamstress, performer, and mother who raised more than two dozen children on the move, she navigated the demanding, insular world of 19th-century circus families with grit and ingenuity. This narrative draws on interviews, vital records, and circus lore to portray the rhythms of traveling performers – the dangers, the dazzling moments, and the unseen labor that held it all together. At its heart is a woman who carried the weight of family and survival while the lights stayed bright and the show always continued.
What Readers Have to Say
“Beautifully written. I love the way you blend history, relationships, tragedy, emotion and so much more with the circus life.” N.S.
The Stocking on Car No. 7
Word Count: ~3,600
Reading Time: ~15–20 minutes
Chapters: 1 part
Story Description
In this intimate Christmas tale set aboard a Pullman sleeping car in 1893, a porter named George witnesses an unexpected miracle unfold somewhere between Denver and St. Louis. What begins as one little girl’s hopeful stocking hung outside her berth becomes a quiet act of kindness that spreads through the entire car—transforming a group of strangers into a fleeting, unexpected family. Seen through the porter’s eyes, this gently powerful narrative reveals the human connections formed in the close quarters of an overnight train, the unseen labor and longing of porters working far from home, and the way a child’s simple faith can soften even the hardest travelers. A story about generosity, dignity, and the small moments that remind us who we are.
What Readers Have to Say
“A wonderful Christmas story. It takes a child’s eyes to help see the meaning of Christmas.” PM
“This is a true gift—a story of a tiny Christmas miracle, narrated with great humanity by a Pullman porter. Historical fiction serving the highest of purposes in a troublesome world: the reinforcement of hope.” DK
The Strange Adventures of Captain Cook
Word Count: ~3,600
Reading Time: ~15–20 minutes
Chapters: 1 part
Story Description
In 1894, respected Civil War veteran and community leader Thomas Cook traveled to Indianapolis for a Masonic gathering and promptly vanished, sparking a months-long search that gripped Indiana newspapers. From river draggings to spiritualist predictions, the case drew intense speculation before Cook unexpectedly reappeared with a story of his own. What followed revealed tensions between personal honor, public duty, and small-town expectations. Using contemporary reporting and civic records, this narrative revisits a disappearance that unsettled a community and raised enduring questions about reputation and responsibility.
What Readers Have to Say
“I love the lost and found themes that reverberate in this story.” L. M.
When Americans Sought Comfort in Spiritualism
Word Count: ~10,000
Reading Time: ~40–45 minutes
Chapters: 2 parts
Story Description
In the upheaval surrounding the Civil War, many Americans turned to Spiritualism for solace, seeking messages from loved ones lost on distant battlefields. This narrative follows two influential figures at the movement’s center: trance medium Fannie Conant, whose published “communications” offered grieving families a voice on the other side, and photographer William Mumler, whose spirit portraits sparked fascination and controversy. Through newspaper accounts, trial records, and firsthand descriptions, the story explores a moment when faith, grief, science, and suspicion intertwined – and when Americans’ longing for connection reshaped the boundaries of belief.
What Readers Have to Say
“I love how you take us on a journey with each story. The clarity through which we’re able to get a glimpse into the lives of those that came before us is mesmerizing. Thank you.” R.R.
“These events that you find and turn into stories are remarkable, Lori.” M.K.R.