Posted on by TracyC

Great Imposters

GreatImposters

Great Imposters by George Sullivan, 1982.

This is one of those unusual history books that I like about odd, little-covered topics.  The author begins by explaining what an imposter is: “a person who practices deception under an assumed name or character.”  Each of the people in the following collected stories is pretending to be someone they’re not, for a variety of different reasons.  The author points out the differences in the imposters’ motives, which range from pure greed to a desire for fame and attention to thrill-seeking behavior.  Each of these stories really happened, and the people involved were real people, even if their claimed identities weren’t.  The stories skip around in time and location, so they can be read in any order.

Willie the Actor – Willie Sutton started out as a petty thief while growing up in a tough Brooklyn neighborhood and later graduated to pulling a series of daring robberies while wearing various disguises during the 1930s through the early 1950s.

Bad Habit – Ferdinand “Fred” Waldo Demara, Jr. was the son of a fairly wealthy man who later lost the family’s money. Sis family’s loss of their previously well-off position was hard for Fred, and it led to a lifetime of him trying his hand at various professions (winging it without proper qualifications) and adopting (or stealing) new identities.  The movie The Great Imposter was based on his life and exploits.

Princess of Pretense – Sarah Wilson was a maid in the household of Queen Charlotte in England during the 18th century.  When she stole some clothes and jewelry belonging to the queen, she was exiled to the American colonies as an indentured servant.  However, she used her knowledge of royal and the objects she stole to run away and pose as an exiled younger sister of the queen.

Lord Gordon-Gordon – Philip Guy spent his youth stealing and selling stolen goods for extra money until he ended up stealing a trunk that happened to contain gentlemen’s clothes that happened to fit him.  When he noticed how much better everyone treated him when he was dressed as a wealthy gentleman, he created a new identity for himself as an English lord, undertaking greater thefts and frauds to maintain it.

The Counterfeit Count – Victor Lustig acquired a skill for languages when he was young and later used them when he masqueraded as an impoverished nobleman, covering up his gambling habits and confidence swindles in Europe and America, including his daring scheme in 1920s Paris to sell people materials from the Eiffel Tower, which was supposedly going to be dismantled.  He also once successfully swindled Al Capone.

The Claimant – During the mid-1800s, Arthur Orton pretended to be Roger Tichborne, the long-lost (and probably deceased) heir to an English baron.

The Baron of Arizona – James Addison Reavis, a former Confederate soldier from the American Civil War, learned that he had a talent for forgery and tried to use it to forge land grants, giving himself a large section of land in the Arizona Territory and the title the “Baron of Arizona.”

The Actress – Constance Cassandra “Cassie” Chadwick was a girl from a poor family in the 1800s who posed as a spiritualist, swindling people while claiming to save them from terrible fates, and later, pretended to be a lover of Andrew Carnegie.  (This book doesn’t mention it, but other sources say that Cassie’s real name was Elizabeth Bigley, and they say that she claimed to be Carnegie’s daughter, not his lover.)

Electronic Trickery – Reginald Jones was a scientist in Britain during the 1940s.  He was also a practical joker who enjoyed taking on new identities in order to play pranks on friends and colleagues over the phone.  Later, during WWII, he found ways to put his practical joking to practical use.

The Skywayman – Frank Abagnale took on a variety of new identities while writing bad checks during the 1960s and 1970s.  The story of his life was later turned into a book called Catch Me If You Can and a movie of the same name.

Dangerous Game – This chapter is about WWII intelligence agents, who also had to assume new identities to do their jobs without being caught.

The Man of a Hundred Lies – Stanley Clifford Weyman was an imposter from the 1920s through the mid-20th century who held a variety of prestigious positions . . . all self-appointed.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

The Haunting of Cabin 13

Cabin13The Haunting of Cabin 13 by Kristi D. Holl, 1987.

Thirteen-year-old Laurie is looking forward to her family’s vacation. They’ve rented a cabin for a week, Cabin 13, by the lake at Backbone State Park (It’s a real state park in Iowa. Link repaired 10-19-22.), and her friend Jenny is staying there with them. Laurie’s mother isn’t looking forward to the trip. She hates dirt and bugs and doesn’t like the cabin when they arrive. As everyone starts unpacking, Laurie looks around the cabin and finds a note that warns them to leave because the cabin is haunted. Supposedly, it was written by the ghost herself. The note is signed “Eleanor.” Laurie’s mother thinks that they should leave right away, but Laurie and the rest of the family persuade her that it’s just a joke. At first, Laurie’s sure that’s all it is.

Then, the park ranger tells the family that the other families who have tried to stay in that cabin this summer also found similar notes. It might be just a prank, but it might not. He also tells them that a girl named Eleanor, the same age as Laurie and Jenny, drowned there the summer before, and strange things have been seen there since, like lights around the lake. Laurie’s brother, Ricky, thinks it sounds cool that they’re staying in a haunted cabin by a haunted lake. Like others, Laurie thinks that the notes are the product of a prankster, but what would be the point behind it?

The girls meet a pair of brothers who are staying nearby, Kevin and Matt. When they tell them about the note, Matt is eager to investigate. Jenny enjoys flirting with boys, and she’s mostly interested in flirting with good-looking, athletic Kevin. Matt is in a wheelchair, so Jenny doesn’t pay much attention to him. She just makes an awkward comment about cripples being able to contribute to society that makes everyone feel uncomfortable. Although Laurie knows that Jenny’s comment was inappropriately personal and callous, Laurie also underrates Matt’s ability to help with their note mystery at first, and she’s shy about talking to him because she’s often shy around boys. However, needing someone to confide her thoughts in when Jenny isn’t interested, Laurie talks to Matt about her theories about the mysterious notes. Matt turns out to be easy to talk to, helping Laurie get over her nervousness about talking to boys.

At first, Laurie tells Matt that she thinks that the prankster is trying to drive people away from Cabin 13 because something important is hidden there. However, as she starts asking questions about Eleanor, she learns that the notes haven’t just been directed at Cabin 13. Staff at the park have also received notes from “Eleanor.” Laurie also sees a figure in black sneaking around the park, who she is sure is not a ghost.

It isn’t long before Laurie receives more notes from “Eleanor,” hinting that she might be in danger, and she and Jenny see the mysterious lights that people have been talking about. Then, when the children are out in a canoe together, it develops a leak and sinks. Matt panics because his legs are paralyzed, and he can’t swim, but Laurie saves him with the help of some people in another boat.

Was that accident just an accident, or could it have something to do with Eleanor’s “accident” last year? There are plenty of suspects who might have reasons for playing ghost and stirring up trouble at the lake. Matt’s father blames the park ranger for the accident that paralyzed Matt. At a previous visit to the lake, Matt was crossing a road with his father and brother and was struck by a speeding car. Matt father says it wouldn’t have happened if the roads had been policed properly. Laurie realizes that he might have a motive for revenge. Then again, some people have been coming to the lake, drawn by the ghost stories and hoping to see the mysterious lights. Could the ghost be a publicity stunt to drum up business?

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction and Spoilers

When Laurie discovers that Eleanor’s half sister has come to the lake to investigate Eleanor’s death herself, she thinks that she has the mystery solved, but she’s only half right. It’s true that Eleanor’s sister has been responsible for some of the things happening at the lake, but not all of them.  She explains to the kids that Eleanor loved mystery stories and was always playing detective games, but she thinks that perhaps the game got too real for Eleanor the summer that she died.  There is something sinister going on at the lake, something that Eleanor also realized before her death, and there is more to Eleanor’s death than most people know.

At the end of the book, Matt gets a chance to be a hero and stop the bad guy from escaping, using his wheelchair to his advantage because a person on wheels can sometimes move faster than a person on foot.  Even before that, Laurie had gained an appreciation for Matt and his sensible thinking, realizing that a person who is impaired in one way can still have great abilities in other areas of life.  She also comes to think of Matt as being brave for coming back to the site of the accident that made him a paraplegic.  Matt says that he had to come in order to prove to himself that there was nothing inherently bad about the  place and to stop the nightmares he was having about his accident.  Matt and Eleanor’s sister both make Laurie realize that everyone has something difficult or frightening that they have to deal with in their lives; it’s just that some people’s problems are more obvious than others.  Everyone can see what Matt’s dealing with at first glance because he’s in a wheelchair, but no one knew about the pain and fear that Eleanor’s sister was carrying around with her until she admitted it.

I consider this story a pseudo-ghost story because the obvious parts of the haunting were caused by living people, for reasons of their own.  However, Laurie seems to feel that Eleanor’s spirit was there with them, waiting to see the mystery of her death solved.  It’s left open to interpretation, but if Eleanor was there, it was only seen in the odd feelings that Laurie had from time to time, not in any more obvious or physical way.

Something that confused me a little in the book is that, at one point, Jenny tells someone that Laurie already has a reputation for being an amateur detective, having discovered that Jenny herself had been kidnapped when the authorities thought that she had run away from home. Jenny gives full details of the time when she was kidnapped, including who kidnapped her and why and how Laurie figured out where she was. When I read that section of the story, I thought at first that the author was talking about a previous book that she had written with these two characters, but I had trouble figuring out which it was, if any.

Interesting fact: some of the children in the story are named after the author’s own children.

Posted on by TracyC

General Butterfingers

GeneralButterfingersGeneral Butterfingers by John Reynolds Gardiner, 1986.

Years ago, the Spitzers, an elite rescue force in the armed services, saved the life of General Britt.  To thank them, he invited the surviving members of the team to live with him in his house, taking care of them until his own death, along with his housekeeper Mrs. Wilson and her son Walter.  Walter is a bit of a klutz, so the old men kid him about being a “Butterfingers.”  But, Walter likes the old men and admires them.

After the General’s death, the General’s nephew, Ralph, claims his estate as his only living relative.  Unlike his uncle, Ralph is mean and selfish and sees the old men as nothing but leeches, using his uncle’s house and money.  He fires Mrs. Wilson and tells the old men that they only have a few days to get out of the house.  The old men have no other place to go except for the Veterans’ Hospital, and no one likes it there.  The men who are currently in the hospital keep hoping that the Spitzers will somehow figure out a way to rescue them.

GeneralButterfingersChessMrs. Wilson and Walter talk to a lawyer, but he says that, since the General apparently didn’t leave a will, the estate has to go to his nearest relative, which is Ralph.  As far as he’s concerned, there’s nothing they can do about, even though the General made a verbal promise to the men that they could stay in his house for the rest of their lives.

Walter tries to talk to Ralph and appeal to his better nature, but that doesn’t work, either.  Ralph has always been a selfish person, disliked even by his own family, and now, he’s bitter about it.  He sees Walter’s attempts at kindness just as a ploy to get the house and money and sends him away.

The more he thinks about it, the more Walter’s convinced that the General must have left a will somewhere.  When he and the men try to visit the General’s safe deposit box at the bank, they discover that someone using the General’s name visited the box on the day that the General died.  Walter realizes that it must have been Ralph.  He is convinced that Ralph knew that the General had left a will, but he stole it so that he could claim the General’s estate himself.  The question is, how are he and the men going to prove it?

GeneralButterfingersHospitalIn some ways, you could feel sorry for Ralph, who is a very unhappy person.  Because of his meanness and selfishness, his father spent years giving him pretty much anything that he wanted on the condition that he not come around to see him.  Ralph is hurt at his family’s avoidance and disdain for him, which is why Walter, at one point, invites him to come for dinner and be their friend.  However, Ralph’s motives are always selfish, and that causes him to suspect that the same is true of everyone, so he refuses their kindness.  It gives the impression that he’s probably done the same for many others over the years, for the same reasons.

Ralph wanted everyone’s approval, especially his family’s, but because of his self-centered nature, he never had any idea of how to go about earning it.  He didn’t know what would matter to others and earn their respect because he was only ever concerned with what mattered to him and what he wanted.  At one point, he angrily tells Walter that his uncle was impossible to impress.   He once tried proving to him that could fight, thinking that would impress an old soldier.  When he further elaborates that his “fight” involved beating up a girl solely to impress his uncle, it leaves little question of why his uncle was unimpressed.  So, Ralph was never able to relate to other people and what mattered to them, which is the root of his problems, but still entirely his own fault.

Ralph has stolen his uncle’s will as a last act of revenge, getting the better of his uncle and acquiring all of his uncle’s things because his uncle would never give him his respect.  In the end, however, his uncle did outsmart him.  Because he didn’t trust his nephew, he left a second will, which is discovered when Walter and the Spitzers stage a last battle against Ralph for their house.  But, the General left them more than just the house.  It turns out that Ralph, who says that he doesn’t believe in charity, has been living on his uncle’s charity for years.  The General’s final legacy allows the Spitzers not only to save themselves but all the other veterans in the hospital as well.

Posted on by TracyC

Something Queer in the Cafeteria

SQCafeteria

Something Queer in the Cafeteria by Elizabeth Levy, illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein, 1994.

SQCafeteriaPic1Ms. Lensky, the cafeteria lady at Gwen and Jill’s school, is just plain mean. All of the food that the cafeteria serves is yucky, even though the cafeteria is new. There will be a party to celebrate the opening of the new cafeteria, and even the kids’ parents and the mayor are invited. Gwen and Jill are happy because their class will get to help decorate the cake. However, Ms. Lensky, the M.C.L. (Mean Cafeteria Lady), doesn’t like the girls, and she blames them for a number of accidents that happen in the cafeteria.

The first accident was caused by the M.C.L. herself when she was chewing out the girls for being messy (really, the food was messy), and she bumped into other students, causing a food fight to break out.  The M.C.L. blames Jill and Gwen, of course, for starting the fight.  As punishment, the girls are assigned to clean in the cafeteria.  While they’re cleaning up, the M.C.L. blames them when a faucet breaks.

SQCafeteriaFoodFight

Later, when their class visits the cafeteria to prepare for decorating the cake, a counter collapses, throwing frosting all over Gwen.  Then, the girls get in trouble again for criticizing the food.  When the cake burns at the party, and it looks like Fletcher the dog’s bandana is in the burned mess, the girls are blamed once more.

SQCafeteriaFrame

Is the cafeteria jinxed, or is the M.C.L. just out to get the girls?  Or is there another explanation?

This book is part of the Something Queer Mysteries.  It is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC · 1 Comment

The Talking Table Mystery

TalkingTableThe Talking Table Mystery by Georgess McHargue, 1977.

Annie Conway and her friend How are helping her great aunt to clear out her basement when they find a table that How thinks would work for his pet guinea pig’s cage. However, it’s not an ordinary table. It makes strange noises whenever they press on it, and in the box tied to the top of the table, they find a strange assortment of objects, including a little silver piccolo and some diaries.

Most of the diaries belong to Annie’s great grandfather, but there is one written by an unknown young girl. The girl apparently stayed in Annie’s great grandfather’s house years ago, and her diary refers to the girl’s mother’s strange behavior and the girl’s fears that something bad will happen. The diary itself is mysterious, but soon the kids start receiving threatening notes, telling them to hand over the diaries or something bad will happen. Who wants the diaries and why?

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction and Spoilers

The basis for the mystery is 19th century spiritualism.  The former owner of the table was a spiritualist who used it for seances, creating rapping noises when the “spirits” were present.  Her daughter was the girl who wrote the diary.  She wasn’t happy about how she and mother kept moving around in search of new clients and how she had to help her mother by playing ghost during seances. They were staying with Annie’s great-grandfather because he was suffering from grief over the death of his young son, and the spiritualist was holding seances to try to contact his spirit.  At least, that’s what Annie’s great-grandfather thought.  The bad thing that the girl thought would happen was that she and her mother would be caught faking their seances, which turns out to be exactly what happened.  Annie’s great-grandfather was angry at being deceived and threw them out of the house, but he confiscated the rigged table and other things they used in their seances, including the girl’s beloved silver piccolo, so they wouldn’t be able to try their act on anyone else.

However, there is one more secret about Annie’s great-grandfather and the spiritualist. Annie and How eventually discover that they had a love affair during the spiritualist’s stay in the house. There is some discussion among the adults about how the spiritualist suffered more consequences and stigma for the affair than the great-grandfather did, although he was a married man when it happened.  As for what eventually happened to the girl and her mother after this incident, the clues are contained in the diary and with the people who now want them.

I thought that the use of the rigged spiritualist table in the story was fascinating. It’s basically like a piece of antique magician’s equipment that not everyone would know existed.  The story also introduces some interesting historical details about the concept of 19th century spiritualism and the types of people who followed it.  Annie’s great-grandfather was grieving for the loss of one of his young children, and like others of his time, he wanted to reach out to the spirit of the one he lost, in search of solace for the loss.  How much of the affair with the spiritualist was fueled by his grief and gratitude for someone he thought was helping him is unknown because we never hear his perspective on that, but his anger at discovering how he had been deceived shows that he did honestly believe that the seances were real and felt betrayed to realize they weren’t.  However, actions have consequences, and there were still some consequences from this incident that were never fully resolved.

The author is very knowledgeable on the subject of spiritualism, and she also wrote a nonfiction book on the subject.