In the mid‑1800s the Temperance movement was gaining steam across the United States. Groups like the Anti‑Saloon League, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and even the Ku Klux Klan rallied to outlaw the sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol. They warned that booze could wreck families, fuel violence, and more. To back up their crusade, they spewed a parade of outrageous claims about what alcohol really did to a person’s body and soul.

Outrageous Claims That Shocked a Nation

10 Ingredients Included Hemlock And Cockroaches

The movement’s propaganda machine loved to weaponize the ingredients list. Doctors were quoted saying that spirits were brewed with poisonous substances such as hemlock, tobacco, nux vomica, and opium. One especially lurid example was Madeira wine, which temperance pamphleteers claimed got its nutty flavor from a bag of cockroaches dissolved into every batch. Supposedly a Pennsylvania winemaker even confessed the “secret” to the crusaders.

9 Drunk People Spontaneously Combust

The temperance advocates warned that alcohol’s flammable nature would eventually turn a heavy drinker into a walking tinderbox. They claimed that the liquid seeped through the skin, turning the bloodstream into vapor that could ignite at the slightest spark. Some quoted physicians who allegedly performed experiments lighting alcohol‑laden blood on fire, watching it burn until nothing remained. Others even claimed that brains removed from men who had “drank themselves to death” were set alight like oil lamps.

8 Alcohol Causes Crime Against White People

The second incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan added Catholics and immigrants to its hate list, and alcohol was a convenient target. The KKK preached that minorities who drank were inevitably prone to commit crimes against “law‑abiding white men,” even claiming that drunk Black men would rape white women. Bootleggers often became victims of tar‑and‑feathering, and the Klan’s manifesto outlined punishments as wild as exile to the Aleutian Islands, execution of the offender’s offspring for four generations, or being hung by the tongue from a plane. Ironically, the Klan’s anti‑feminist stance softened when it came to Prohibition, prompting the creation of a women’s league – the Women of the KKK.

7 Alcohol Is Made From Excrement

Temperance writers seized on a kernel of truth and stretched it into a nightmare. They insisted that every drop of alcohol was born from excrement, turning beer, wine, and spirits into literal poop‑potions. In reality, the fermentation process simply lets yeast feast on sugars, releasing ethanol as a by‑product. But by peppering the narrative with words like “urine” and “feces,” the movement made the science sound disgusting enough to deter even the most curious palate.

6 Drinking Can Disfigure Your Grandchildren

The Women’s Christian Temperance Union took the generational argument to an extreme. Their curricula warned that a single drink could scar not only the drinker but also his great‑great‑grandchildren. They claimed that offspring of even light drinkers would suffer stunted growth, “poisoned” blood, and a propensity for insanity. The pamphlets even suggested that inhaling alcohol fumes could produce children who would weep for a drink at the mere sight of a bottle.

5 Fat Organs

Temperance crusaders warned that heavy drinkers would develop “fat organs” – enormous livers weighing 9 to 11 kilograms (20‑25 lb) as they struggled to process the constant influx of alcohol. While liver cirrhosis was indeed a serious problem (about 15 deaths per 100,000 people in the late 19th‑early 20th century), the movement amplified the horror, also claiming that the heart would swell and arteries would harden, turning the body into a ticking time bomb.

4 You’ll Likely Die Of Dropsy

Temperance teachers insisted that beer drinkers were destined to die from “dropsy,” an archaic term for edema—fluid buildup that can swamp the limbs, lungs, and other tissues. They presented it as a scientific certainty, with educators like Mary Hunt lecturing children that a sip of beer meant a high chance of fatal swelling. Critics pointed out that the guarantee of a quick death was a convenient pretext for insurers to avoid covering certain immigrant groups who loved their brews.

3 Alcohol Is A “Colorless, Liquid Poison”

Reverend John Alexander Dowie’s 1900 book Leaves of Healing claimed that esteemed physicians had injected healthy cats with alcohol, causing immediate paralysis and death—portraying the spirit as a poison no worse than arsenic. The text went so far as to argue that breweries were more murderous than serial killer H.H. Holmes. It even suggested that any alcoholic medicine should bear a poison label, a demand that never materialized.

2 You’ll Become A Heartless Murderer

Temperance propaganda went beyond the tavern door, insisting that even a modest amount of alcohol could turn a gentle soul into a heartless killer. Reverend Dowie recounted threats he faced while spreading Prohibition ideals, arguing that the alcohol itself provoked the violence. Mary Hunt added chilling anecdotes of convicted murderers who confessed that without the “emotion‑numbing” effect of booze they would never have been able to slay defenseless newborns.

1 Temperance Instruction Was Necessary In Schools

All of these outlandish ideas were taught as hard‑science facts in public schools. Mary Hunt spearheaded the Scientific Temperance Instruction movement, ensuring that anti‑alcohol textbooks became mandatory across the nation. By 1900, nearly every state had adopted a temperance class, often using one of thirty approved textbooks stamped with Hunt’s endorsement. Congress eventually codified the requirement, while a rival group, the Committee of Fifty, scrutinized the textbooks and found them sorely lacking in genuine scientific evidence.

When you think of the civil rights movement, names like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Medgar Evers instantly spring to mind. Yet the tapestry of sacrifice includes many more heroes—10 forgotten martyrs whose courage helped reshape America. Their stories deserve to be told and their legacies honored.

Remembering 10 Forgotten Martyrs of the Civil Rights Era

10 Jimmie Lee Jackson

Jimmie Lee Jackson, an Army veteran from Alabama, became the emblematic figure whose tragic death helped ignite the Voting Rights Act. Like countless black Alabamians, he was repeatedly stymied by absurd barriers whenever he tried to register to vote. After numerous failed attempts, he joined a gathering of 400 people on February 18, 1965, at a Marion church where they sang, prayed, and exchanged stories from Selma’s beleaguered voters.

When the congregation left the sanctuary to march toward the jail, state troopers in riot gear descended upon them. Photographers were forcibly repelled, their cameras smashed, erasing any visual record of the night’s brutality. In the chaos, Jackson, his mother, and his elderly grandfather sought refuge in a nearby store. A trooper shoved his mother to the floor; when Jackson moved to protect her, the trooper drew a pistol and shot him twice at point‑blank range, striking his abdomen. He lingered for several days before succumbing to his wounds.

Just four days later, the same crowd reconvened for the historic Selma‑to‑Montgomery march that would become known as Bloody Sunday—this time captured by the press. Nationwide outrage surged, prompting President Lyndon B. Johnson to sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in August. The trooper responsible for Jackson’s death was finally tried in 2010, receiving a six‑month sentence for second‑degree manslaughter and being released early.

9 Clyde Kennard

Clyde Kennard, a Korean War veteran, left the University of Chicago in 1955 to return to his hometown of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to care for his mother. Determined to finish his education, he set his sights on the all‑white Mississippi Southern College (now the University of Southern Mississippi). Despite multiple formal applications and personal appeals, school officials erected endless obstacles, and the secretive Mississippi Sovereignty Commission launched a campaign to discredit him.

Undeterred by the campaign, Kennard’s impeccable record could not be tarnished—until officials fabricated a felony charge of stealing $25 worth of chicken feed. An all‑white jury, after a mere ten‑minute deliberation, sentenced him to the maximum seven years of hard labor. While incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit, Kennard fell gravely ill with intestinal cancer. Prison officials refused treatment, and he endured brutal labor until protests forced his early release. He died six months later, never bitter, and two years after his death the first black students were finally admitted to the college he had fought to join.

8 Juliette Hampton Morgan

Juliette Hampton Morgan, a well‑educated white Southern belle, seemed to have every advantage—wealth, prestige, and a respectable position as a librarian in Montgomery. Yet her inability to drive forced her onto city buses, where she witnessed the appalling treatment of black passengers. Incensed, she began penning letters to the local newspaper, demanding fair treatment for black riders.

Her outspoken advocacy made her a target: she endured taunts at work, mockery from bus drivers and white passengers, and public humiliation. The hostility escalated when a cross was burned onto her lawn. Undeterred, she kept writing, but death threats and attempts to have her dismissed piled up. Overwhelmed, she resigned on July 15, 1957, and was found dead the following morning from an intentional overdose of pills. Martin Luther King Jr. later praised her in his book, noting she was the first to draw parallels between the movement and Gandhi. In 2005, she was posthumously inducted into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame.

7 Rev. James Reeb

Rev. James Reeb, a white Unitarian minister serving a poor black neighborhood in Boston, answered Dr. King’s call for clergy to join the Selma march. At 38, he was a father of four and wholly committed to civil‑rights activism. While in Selma, he and two fellow white ministers left a diner and were set upon by three white men. Reeb was brutally clubbed, slipped into a coma, and died the next day.

Reeb’s murder, alongside those of Jimmie Lee Jackson and Viola Liuzzo, shone an unforgiving light on Southern violence. The evening of his memorial service, President Johnson made a heartfelt plea to Congress to advance the Voting Rights Act, which was subsequently passed that summer.

6 Jonathan Myrick Daniels

Jonathan Myrick Daniels, a seminary student at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, answered Dr. King’s invitation to support the Selma‑to‑Montgomery march. After a demonstration at Fort Deposit, Alabama, Daniels and 22 others were arrested and transferred to a county jail in Hayneville. Released on August 20, he accompanied Catholic priest Richard Morrisroe and two black teenage girls—recently jailed for protesting—to a nearby store.

On the store’s porch, a construction worker who also served as a part‑time deputy brandished a shotgun at 17‑year‑old Ruby Sales. Daniels threw himself over Sales, taking the bullet and saving her life, while the priest was seriously wounded. Dr. King later hailed Daniels’ act as “one of the most heroic Christian deeds” he had ever heard. Ruby Sales went on to become a nationally recognized activist, founding the Spirit House, an organization that blends social, economic, and racial justice with spiritual principles.

5 Viola Gregg Liuzzo

Viola Gregg Liuzzo, a Detroit mother of five and a dedicated NAACP member, earned the somber distinction of being the only white woman murdered during the civil‑rights era. She traveled to Alabama to assist the Selma‑to‑Montgomery march, ferrying supporters between the two cities. On the evening of March 21, 1965, while driving a black teenager named Leroy Moton to Selma, a vehicle pulled alongside them on Highway 80 and opened fire, killing Liuzzo instantly. Moton survived by playing dead.

Over 300 mourners, including Dr. King, U.S. Attorney Lawrence Gubow, labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, and UAW President, attended her funeral. Her death spurred President Johnson to launch a federal investigation into the Ku Klux Klan’s activities.

4 Vernon Dahmer

Born in 1908, Vernon Dahmer was a businessman in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, owning a sawmill, a grocery store, and several other ventures. As president of the local NAACP chapter, he championed voter registration for black citizens. In January 1966, he announced on a local radio station that he would accept poll‑tax payments at his store, sparing people the long trek to the courthouse, even offering to pay the $2 tax for those who could not afford it.

The following night, three carloads of Klansmen descended on his home, shooting and dousing a dozen one‑gallon gasoline containers with fire. The blaze ignited, killing Dahmer twelve hours later. His wife, youngest children, and elderly aunt escaped, though his daughter suffered severe burns. Four of his eldest sons were serving in the U.S. military at the time. While four men received sentences of less than ten years, nine escaped punishment. The mastermind remained free until his fifth trial in 1998, when he finally received a life sentence and died in prison in 2006.

3 Oneal Moore

On June 2, 1965, Oneal Moore celebrated his one‑year anniversary as the first African‑American police officer in Washington Parish, Louisiana. He and his fellow black officer, Creed Rogers, were heading to Moore’s home for dinner after their shift when a pickup truck full of three men approached. Gunfire erupted; a bullet struck Moore in the head, killing him instantly, while another wounded Rogers, blinding him.

No one has ever been formally charged. The case was reopened three times by the FBI, yet the prime suspect died in 2003. Moore’s widow continues to live in Hattiesburg, sharing the home they built together, and he left behind four daughters ranging from nine years old to an infant. In 2013, a memorial was planned to honor Moore and all fallen police officers from the area.

2 Rev. George Lee

Rev. George Lee, born in Mississippi, served as a pastor in the town of Belzoni during the 1930s. He was an active NAACP member, using his pulpit to urge his black congregation to register to vote and even operating a printing press to spread the message. White officials offered him protection on the condition that he remove his name from voter rolls and cease encouraging others to register. He refused.

On May 7, 1955, Lee died under suspicious circumstances. Witnesses reported seeing several white men fire a shotgun into his car, leaving pellet‑laced damage in the tires and his face. The sheriff dismissed the pellets as mere dental fillings, despite lead never being used in fillings. The governor refused further investigation, and Lee’s death was officially recorded as an accident. No one was ever charged.

1 Harry And Harriette Moore

Harry and Harriette Moore stand alone as the only married couple murdered during the civil‑rights movement. On Christmas Day 1955, a firebomb placed directly beneath their bedroom detonated with such force that their bed was thrown through the rafters of their Mims, Florida home. Both were educators deeply involved in the NAACP, focusing on equal pay for black and white teachers and fighting segregation. Harry later turned his advocacy toward the more perilous issues of police brutality and lynchings.

The blast killed Harry instantly; Harriette succumbed to her injuries nine days later. The couple left behind two daughters. Though the explosion was initially dubbed “the bomb heard round the world,” their legacy faded over time, with no one ever charged for the murders.

Katlyn Joy is a freelance writer based in Denver, Colorado. She tutors students in history and language arts and is a mother of seven children. Her passion lies in helping others remember the heroes of the movement whose stories risk being lost to history.

The 10 creepiest stories from the incel movement lay bare a web of twisted misogyny, grotesque fantasies, and chilling conspiracies that have fueled real‑world tragedies. Before Alek Minassian rammed his van into a Toronto crowd on April 23, 2018, killing ten innocent people, he left a chilling note: “The Incel Rebellion has already begun!” This introductory glimpse sets the tone for the unsettling narratives that follow.

10 Creepiest Stories Revealed

10 All Women Are Sluts

“All women are sluts,” one user proclaimed on a notorious incel board, insisting it was “in their very nature.”

This wasn’t an isolated rant from a single disturbed individual; it was a top‑ranked post that echoed through the community. The prevailing belief among these men is that women are the root cause of their isolation, painted as pure, unmitigated evil.

Rather than saying “women,” members often resort to dehumanizing slang like “cum dumpsters” or “female human organisms,” suggesting they deserve no more autonomy than a sex doll.

The hatred runs deep. They frequently cite fabricated “scientific” studies claiming women “use men,” and post long tirades such as “Women crying makes me happy.”

Why the animus? Simply because women refuse to have sex with them. Incels openly admit this is the sole reason for their loathing. One extensive thread listed countless reasons women embody “evil,” complaining that they “say they care about incels but won’t provide sex.”

No one in the forum called out the absurdity. Every comment was a cheer: “I agree,” one replied, while another added, “One of the best posts in a while.”

9 You Need To View Rape From The Rapist’s Perspective

Rape, to these men, isn’t a crime—it’s a twisted act of bravery. They argue that the true villain is a society that refuses women’s sexual availability, framing assault as a noble sacrifice.

“You need to view rape from the rapist’s perspective,” one incel told a survivor, insisting she should feel flattered. “It takes a lot of passion for a man to risk everything just for a single act of sex with a female.”

This sentiment recurs often: rapists are portrayed as victims. In another exchange, an incel told a victim, “Sweetie, if you think your life is bad, imagine how the rapist feels. He raped you because no female would give him a chance. It was his only chance to get laid.”

8 Campaigning For Legalized Rape

“Society treats single men like trash,” one incel vented online, targeting women specifically. He claimed the solution was not gun control or mental‑health reform, but a legal amendment forcing “attractive virgin females” to have sex with incels.

“We need a constitutional amendment compelling attractive virgin females to submit to incels,” another wrote, insisting that this was the only way to curb mass shootings, which he blamed on women’s refusal to provide sex.

They romanticize historic rape, arguing that for 99% of human history, women didn’t choose partners and were treated as war spoils or slaves.

Even the notion of a roaming army raping families didn’t faze them; they described it nostalgically. No one challenged these ideas—one user simply replied, “I would actually prefer this.”

7 Sharing Rape Fantasies

“I was pondering what it would be like to have a Jewish rape‑slave,” one incel confessed, glorifying the Nazis’ alleged pleasures.

He detailed a grotesque scenario where he imagined himself as a Gestapo officer, taunting a victim with, “You’re not getting food till you put out.”

This is just one of many disturbing fantasies. Members routinely share explicit rape daydreams, with one admitting, “If it wasn’t for rape I would never get hard.”

Another user proposed a “device that makes any woman nearby want sex,” insisting it was ethical because “women are basically mind‑controlled anyway.”

These fantasies aren’t confined to imagination; some have posted real‑world rape videos, even demanding more violence. One complained, “There wasn’t enough fighting back for me to enjoy it.”

6 General Question About How Rapists Get Caught

Incels aren’t just fantasy factories; they also act as enablers. A male user posted on a women’s subreddit claiming, “I’m female, and I’m curious about how it’s possible to catch a rapist if you don’t know who he is.”

He outlined a specific scenario: being drugged, raped while unconscious, then abandoned in the woods, and asked how to investigate the perpetrator.

This odd request raised alarm bells. Community members traced his posting history, uncovering a long trail of graphic rape fantasies and hints that he was far from a concerned woman.

One reply cut to the chase: “Checked your post history. You’re not a woman. You’re as far away from a woman as anyone in human history ever has been.”

5 I Finally Raped A Girl

The previous user may have been deterred, but other incels have crossed the line from fantasy to crime. On incel.me, a thread appeared boasting, “I finally raped a girl.” The post was swiftly removed by nervous moderators, yet it wasn’t an isolated confession.

Another member declared, “I’m not giving up,” detailing a plan to locate a “passed‑out female” at a party, assault her while unconscious, and rationalize that she “won’t know and she won’t lose anything since she’s not a virgin.”

One user even offered practical tips: “Every man should learn CPR, because it allows you to legally put your hands near an unconscious woman’s chest. If she dies, you can feel her up while she’s still warm.”

Shockingly, no one condemned these statements. The top‑rated reply to the brag was, “I would rape that b—ch so hard.”

4 It’s Ridiculously Easy To Rape And Kill Someone

“I might do this,” one incel announced, “It’s ridiculously easy to rape and kill someone in their house.” He dismissed any moral qualms, noting that both his parents were dead, so his own death wouldn’t affect anyone.

This sentiment represents the next logical step for many: not just sexual assault, but full‑blown murder. Another user confessed, “I fantasize about it every day,” adding that he’s seriously considering grabbing a gun and “shooting everything up.”

One defender of serial rapist Frank Yeager argued, “Normies and femoids need to understand what can happen after you bully us for so long,” insisting that some incels will inevitably snap and commit rape.

3 Celebrating Mass Murders

When Alek Minassian unleashed a van‑ramming that claimed ten lives, incel forums erupted with praise. One user mused, “I hope this guy wrote a manifesto; he could be our next saint.”

Another declared he’d have “one celebratory beer for every victim who turns out to be a young woman between 18‑35.” Yet another lauded Minassian for surpassing “the supreme gentleman Elliot [Rodger]” in body count.

Rodger, the Isla Vista mass‑murderer of 2014, was similarly glorified. A self‑styled “That Incel Blogger” claimed the killings were “punishment for evil and violence of feminists and liberals,” blaming society for driving Rodger to violence.

Even shooters unrelated to the incel scene received approval. After Stephen Paddock’s Las Vegas massacre, incels called it “life fuel,” cheering his killing of “normies.”

One user summed up the mindset: “The victims are all equally worthless. The shooter is always the one who leaves all the notes with his motives and true feelings. I want to be one of them.”

2 Going Elliot Rodger

Minassian likely won’t be the last incel‑driven massacre. Within the forums, members already chant about “Going ER”—a shorthand for “Going Elliot Rodger.”

One incel.me user, BlkPillPres, exclaimed, “This sh—t right here is lifefuel for me. Normies need to be in constant fear.” He then outlined a series of horrific plans: mass food‑poisoning, pipe bombs, and even rigging a sprinkler system to spray acid over a concert hall.

The community didn’t temper his ideas; they egged him on. “Only fear sends a message,” one replied, while another shouted, “The incel rising is nigh.” Suggestions poured in, from “look up flamethrowers on YouTube” to detailed instructions on homemade devices.

By the end, BlkPillPres announced a personal “MO”: first rape women, then an “acid face attack” on a crowd.

1 We Touched Hands. I Literally Feel High

The incel movement is a toxic breeding ground for rape and murder, yet beneath the rage lies profound sadness. One member bragged, “Did an escape room with all of femail coworkers. I was stuck in a small room with three femails for 58 minutes. They smelled so good and we touched hands so much. I literally feel high.”

These self‑described “omegas” spend most of their time indoors, mock their own appearance, and openly discuss suicidal thoughts. While they can spawn domestic terrorism, they are also deeply lonely, desperate for any sliver of compassion.

Despite their violent fantasies, the core of their pathology is a yearning for love—a twisted craving that makes even a brief touch feel like a drug. Their stories, though horrifying, also evoke a tragic pity for souls lost in a vortex of self‑hatred.

—

The following 10 bizarre figures illustrate the wild side of the contactee phenomenon that exploded after Kenneth Arnold’s 1947 sighting sparked a UFO frenzy. These self‑styled “contactees” insisted they spoke with extraterrestrials via telepathy, rode saucers to distant worlds, and even tried to reshape humanity’s destiny.

10 Buck Nelson

The host of an annual UFO convention on his own Missouri farm, Buck Nelson was a humble, plainspoken man who self‑published in 1956 a ridiculous pamphlet entitled My Trip to Mars, The Moon, and Venus. After two earlier UFO sightings, Nelson claimed that four occupants from a UFO had come to his house on March 5, 1955.

The visitors consisted of a young earthling, a pair of men from Venus, and a giant, 136‑kilogram (300 lb) dog named Bo. After examining his house, the visitors told Nelson that they could take him on a trip to other planets sometime.

More than a month later, on April 24, Nelson’s new friends picked up him and his dog Ted for a trip to outer space. First, the men traveled to Mars, which Nelson described as colorful and similar to Earth. Next, they made a stop on the Moon. Then they finished the trip with a look at Venus, a utopia that had no need for jails, policemen, or wars.

After returning to his home planet, Nelson promised the aliens that he would tell everybody about his travels. He spoke to the media about his experiences and was supposedly questioned by the armed forces. At his farm conventions, Nelson sold pieces of Bo’s hair to back up his story. Skeptics noted that the Venusian dog hair was similar to the kind found on Earth dogs. He told them, “Dawgs is dawgs. Don’t matter what planet they’re from.”

9 Cynthia Appleton

On November 18, 1957, English housewife Cynthia Appleton was taking care of her children at home when she suddenly heard a high‑pitched whistling sound in her sitting room. Once the sound stopped, Appleton saw a tall, blond man materialize near her fireplace. Using telepathy, the man instructed Appleton not to be afraid. He was a visitor from the planet Gharnasvarn, and his people wished to make contact with special earthlings like Appleton.

Over the next year, the man from Gharnasvarn would make seven more appearances at Appleton’s house, sometimes bringing along a friend. When not explaining how to cure cancer, the man would make pseudo‑philosophical babble, insisting that time was not real and that all life was unified. During his last six visits, the man also shunned teleporting and opted to arrive in a big black car instead.

In September 1958, the Gharnasvarn man and his friend showed themselves to Cynthia Appleton one last time. They told the mother of two that she was pregnant. Confusingly, the child would be “of the race of Gharnasvarn” yet also her husband’s son.

In May 1959, Appleton gave birth to a baby boy just as the aliens had apparently predicted. Despite some media attention, the Appletons never saw the Gharnasvarn men again, and they soon quietly disappeared from the public spotlight.

8 Gabriel Green

Once a professional photographer, Gabriel Green gave up his career to pursue an interest in UFOs. He was the founder of an early UFO organization called the Amalgamated Flying Saucer Clubs of America, Inc. and also edited the group’s journal, the Flying Saucers International. In 1960, Green launched an independent campaign to become president of the United States, competing against Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard Nixon.

Though Green was a write‑in candidate and had no political experience, he took his bid for president seriously. In an August 1960 interview, Green claimed that the “Space People” had asked him to run.

He admitted that he was reluctant at first, but he realized that Earth was doomed unless mankind listened to the wisdom of the Space People. In his official platform, Green promised the abolition of taxes, free college educations, and a spaceship mission to Mars.

Unfortunately, despite the support of the Space People, Green eventually withdrew from the race. In 1962, Green tried running for the US Senate as a Democrat but lost the election. After another failed bid for the presidency in 1972, Green quit his political ambitions for good, presumably content that the Earth was doomed.

7 Ted Owens

Calling himself the “PK (Psychokinetic) Man,” Ted Owens considered himself something like a real‑life superhero. A member of MENSA, Owens was a genius with a 150 IQ who claimed that aliens had given him supernatural powers. Thanks to the help of “Space Intelligences,” he could do everything from controlling the weather to altering the results of a sports game.

According to Owens, the Space Intelligences were hyperdimensional beings who rode around in UFOs and kept a close eye on Earth. He first made contact with them in 1965 when one of their UFOs appeared and vanished before his car. They communicated with Owens via telepathy and were the source of his PK powers. In his own words, Owens was a test “to find out just how much of the PK power a human being can absorb and stand.”

Although Owens had his fans, he struggled to convince academics and scientists of his abilities. He obsessively collected newspaper clippings and records that allegedly verified his demonstrations and predictions. Most professionals treated him skeptically, however. Only some sportswriters, a CIA agent, and a NASA official believed his bizarre stories.

6 Aladino Felix

In 1959, under the pseudonym of Dino Kraspedon, Aladino Felix published a typical book of the contactee movement called My Contact with Flying Saucers. Felix, a Brazilian, wrote that he met the crew of a UFO in the state of Sao Paulo. The experience led to the UFO’s captain visiting Felix at his home a few months later, where he made the usual extraterrestrial warnings about the dangers of the Atomic Age.

Six years later, Felix resurfaced in the public eye, styling himself as a psychic. He made vague predictions about natural disasters, coinciding with one of the deadliest flash floods in Brazilian history in 1966. During a politically turbulent time in Brazil, Felix also prophesied spates of terrorist attacks in the country.

If some of Felix’s predictions proved eerily accurate, it might have been because of his own intervention. In 1968, Felix and 18 other people were arrested after being suspected of some bank robberies and bombings. The gang had even plotted to assassinate politicians, and it turned out that Felix was their ringleader.

Before he was sent off to prison, Felix vowed, “My friends from space will come here and free me and avenge my arrest. You can look to tragic consequences for humanity when the flying saucers invade this planet.”

5 Daniel Fry

On July 4, 1950, Daniel Fry was taking a walk in the New Mexico desert when a remote‑controlled UFO landed 20 meters (70 ft) away from him. A voice from the UFO invited Fry to come for a ride. While the ship’s remote pilot talked to him, Fry was whisked away to New York City and back in only 30 minutes.

Fry’s host, Alan, had a lot to say to his bewildered passenger. Alan revealed that the aliens who were riding around Earth in flying saucers were originally earthlings themselves. Alan’s ancestors had built the legendary countries of Atlantis and Lemuria, two advanced superpowers that ended up destroying each other. The few survivors were forced to relocate to Mars, where they rebuilt their civilization and observed Earth from afar.

To spread the Martians’ messages, Fry founded a spiritual organization called Understanding, Inc. When it was founded in California in 1955, the group had only nine members. But it soon grew to have a number of members organized in 60 “units” across the world. Long after the original heyday of the contactees, the organization survived into the 1980s, although one academic study had noted it was by then “in serious decline.”

4 Orfeo Angelucci

A factory worker who had once suffered a nervous breakdown, Orfeo Angelucci and his contactee adventures were studied by the famous Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. Angelucci’s stories had a Christian tinge, involving angels, Lucifer, and even a meeting with Jesus Christ.

In possibly his most amusing anecdote, Angelucci claimed that he had swapped bodies with an alien named Neptune in January 1953. Angelucci remembered falling asleep on a divan on Earth but woke up in Neptune’s body on another planet.

Neptune’s companions, Lyra and Orion, showed Angelucci a projection of an ancient planet called Lucifer. The Luciferians tried conquering the people of other planets, and as punishment, they were imprisoned on Earth. According to Angelucci’s hosts, most modern humans were the descendants of the fallen Luciferians.

Like many of the other contactees on this list, Angelucci felt an obligation to save his fellow humans. While in the body of Neptune, Angelucci was shown a horrifying vision of the apocalypse. If the people of Earth failed to change their ways by 1986, their planet would be destroyed by a gigantic comet. Needless to say, the comet never came and Angelucci quietly died in 1993.

3 Reinhold O. Schmidt

On November 5, 1957, German‑American farmer Reinhold O. Schmidt allegedly stumbled upon a balloon‑like UFO in a remote part of Kearney, Nebraska. Curious, he approached the ship, but it shot a beam of light at his chest and paralyzed him. Then two men walked out of the UFO, searched Schmidt for weapons, and invited him inside. Oddly, the entire crew spoke German and their leader spoke English with a thick German accent.

After Schmidt was let out, the UFO took off into the air. Though he was worried that nobody would believe him, Schmidt decided that he had to contact the authorities. He took Kearney’s deputy sheriff to the spot of his encounter. Schmidt showed it to the chief of police and some other local notables as well.

The city authorities admitted to Schmidt that his story must have been true, but then they pressured him into denying it. When the story spread across the city, a defiant Schmidt was thrown in jail for a day.

Of course, Schmidt had many more encounters with the odd German‑speaking UFO crew, and books and lectures naturally followed. It wasn’t long, however, before legal troubles had cast doubt on his claims. In 1961, Schmidt scammed an elderly widow out of thousands of dollars. He was convicted and sentenced to serve time in prison for grand theft.

2 Wilbert Smith

When the public first became interested in UFOs, there were two groups of believers in the spotlight. On the one side were the contactees who make up this list, laypeople who claimed they were talking, meeting, and traveling with beings from other worlds.

On the other side were more educated professionals represented by the likes of Donald Keyhoe, a naval aviator and co‑founder of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). Keyhoe and his group dismissed contactee stories and tried doing more scientific investigations of UFOs using their backgrounds as military figures and scientists. The two groups never got along well. For example, Keyhoe often refused to be seen on TV shows with contactees.

Wilbert Smith, a radio engineer for the Canadian Department of Transport, was an interesting mix of the two competing groups. He served as a special adviser for the original NICAP, yet he associated with contactees like George Hunt Williamson, reporting to be in contact with the same extraterrestrial characters that Williamson’s circle knew. From 1950 until 1954, Smith also directed Canada’s Project Magnet, a government‑funded research group that studied UFO sightings.

Smith’s conclusions greatly embarrassed the Department of Transport. He went beyond saying that the studied UFO sightings were real and argued that flying saucers were actually from parallel universes.

He believed that people could communicate with UFOs through psychic powers and pointed to bogus studies by a contactee group called Borderland Sciences Research Associates as proof. Unsurprisingly, Project Magnet eventually lost its funding, but Smith continued researching UFOs until his death on December 27, 1962.

1 William Dudley Pelley

William Dudley Pelley was perhaps the oddest contactee to come out of the 20th century. An extreme anti‑Semite, he had worked as a screenwriter during the 1920s. But he left Hollywood because he thought Jews controlled the movie industry and the world at large.

After abandoning Hollywood, Pelley got involved in mysticism and published a popular article (and later book) about a near‑death experience he had. Pelley claimed that he spent seven minutes in “eternity,” visiting God, Jesus, and hyperdimensional beings who told him that souls were reincarnated throughout time until they climbed the spiritual hierarchy and became white people.

When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, Pelley eagerly combined his mysticism and racism into the Silver Legion of America, a paramilitary fascist group that attracted over 15,000 members. In 1936, Pelley unsuccessfully ran for president under the Christian Party, a political party he founded.

After years of listening to Pelley’s tantrums and threats, Franklin D. Roosevelt and his government became annoyed. Pelley was arrested, charged, and convicted of sedition in April 1942.

Once he was released from prison in 1950, Pelley was forbidden from political activism. Instead, he channeled his energy into mysticism, and his writings became even more inane.

Using some of his earlier ideas, Pelley created a set of racist spiritual teachings called Soulcraft, teaching that Asian, black, and white people had souls which came from different planets. To appeal to contemporary crackpots, Pelley threw in telepathy and UFOs as well, meeting with and influencing such early contactees as George Adamski and George Hunt Williamson.

Although Soulcraft had a small set of fans, Pelley never regained the popularity of his heyday in the 1930s. He died practically forgotten in June 1965.

Here are 10 historical facts that shed light on how the Nazi movement managed to plant roots on American soil. From organized Bund gatherings to the lingering echo of neo‑Nazi groups, each fact reveals a startling chapter of U.S. history that many tend to overlook.

10 Historical Facts Overview

10 The Bund

A great portion of Nazi ideology revolved around the purity of the German “race,” and Hitler shrewdly realized early on that this could be exploited in the German migrant populations of his potential foes. A mere four months after his rise to power in 1933, an American organization known as “Friends of the New Germany” was assembled from several smaller organizations around the US. Originally made up of both German nationals and US citizens of German descent, it was restructured in 1936 into the German American Bund (“Bund” meaning “Alliance”), which admitted only German-Americans.

Since a quarter of the US population at the time had some German ancestry, membership was higher than one might imagine. The Bund’s leader, Fritz Kuhn, was even dubbed the American Fuhrer. While taking care to ensure its perception as an American organization remained solid (expressions of American patriotism were plentiful in Bund gatherings, which often took place on American holidays or on presidents’ birthdays) the fact remains that American citizens gave the Nazi salute, shouted “Heil Hitler,” and otherwise behaved much as an attendee at any German Nazi Party gathering would have. Fritz Kuhn was exposed by undercover journalists in 1937 and jailed for embezzlement two years later.

9 Nazi Summer Camps

After its 1936 restructuring, the Bund began making a concerted effort to advance Nazi ideology in the hopes that the US could be made sympathetic to, or even a stronghold for, Hitler and his armies. Among its most alarming projects: summer camps for American youths. While not supported by or directly related to the infamous Hitler Youth program, the similarities were nevertheless glaring. Parents and children alike saluted the Fuhrer and wore the same armbands their German counterparts did. By the time they were shut down shortly after the start of the war, 16 of these camps existed across the country, from New York to Los Angeles.

Anti-Semitic sentiment was at an all‑time high in the US at this time, and programs like these were intended to indoctrinate America to racist, fascistic ideologies. Children from eight to 18 were taught to speak German and participated in military‑style drills. Nazi ideology and German heritage were essentially presented as part of the same package, and many German‑Americans were receptive to the message.

8 The New York Nazi Community

The most prominent of these camps was Camp Siegfried in upstate New York, outside the small town of Yaphank. The town’s small houses were originally built as bungalows for the summer campers. Anyone seeking to purchase land in the town had to be primarily of “German extraction.” Many of its main streets were named after Hitler, Goebbels, and other prominent Nazi Party leaders.

Even after the beginning of the war, pro‑Nazi sentiment would, shall we say, not get one kicked out of the town of Yaphank. Nazi‑themed parades were held on its streets, Nazi and SS flags were flown side by side with American flags, and residents carved a giant hedge into the shape of a swastika.

Though the land was eventually seized by the FBI after the war, the town still stands, retaining the original tract homes built for pro‑Nazi summer campers. Unfortunately, though many of its residents are unaware, its racist bylaws are still in effect. Even today, virtually all of its residents are white and of German ancestry.

7 The Madison Square Garden Rallies

Friends of the New Germany, and later the Bund, were headquartered in New York, making the state a primary hub of American pro‑Nazi activity. As early as 1934, the predecessor organization was holding rallies at Madison Square Garden. Participants gave the Nazi salute, chanted slogans, and bore banners with sentiments such as “Stop Jewish Domination of Christian Americans.”

The most infamous of these gatherings took place on February 20, 1939, when the Bund was at the height of its power. A Bund gathering wrapped in the title of a “Pro‑America” rally at the Garden was attended by over 20,000 people that day. Four times that number protested outside the venue, attempting to storm it and shut it down. They were unsuccessful, but this was among the last such events. The Bund was dissolved after the US declared war on Germany in late 1941.

6 The Bush Connection

Conspiracy theories have long examined a possible collusion between the US government and the Nazi regime. Circumstantial evidence abounds, from the similarities between the CIA’s reviled MKUltra program and similar programs developed by the Nazis, to the role of some of Hitler’s top rocket scientists in the development of NASA.

Among the many outlandish claims, a truth was revealed near the turn of this century that is somehow even more outlandish: Prescott Bush—a US senator and father of future president George H.W. Bush—had mutually beneficial business relationships with German companies that were directly involved with Hitler’s rise to power.

While the secretive nature of these dealings helped them avoid scrutiny for decades, the eventual reveal prompted speculation as to whether Bush should have been tried for war crimes. The assets of his company were seized in 1942 under the Trading With The Enemy Act. Not only may this relationship have played a substantial role in helping fund the Nazi war effort, it may have also laid the foundation for the Bush family fortune.

5 Nazi Radio

As previously suggested, fascism was not as dirty of a word in the 1930s as it is today. Still, the vast majority of Americans were wary of fascist regimes and their tactics; after German paramilitary forces and citizens took to the streets on November 9, 1938—the infamous Kristallnacht—an American poll revealed that 94 percent of Americans disapproved, despite the pervading anti‑Semitic sentiment of the time.

Yet throughout it all, one loud voice could be relied upon to defend and explain Hitler’s actions: Father Charles Coughlin, a Catholic priest and radio personality with an audience of millions. Coughlin had built his audience attacking “bankers” during the Great Depression, and he extended this criticism specifically to Jews in a broadcast that took place a mere 11 days after Kristallnacht. He railed against German Jews for appropriating Christian property and attempting to spread Communism.

Although his show was canceled shortly thereafter, the damage was done. Coughlin became the hero of Berlin . . . and America. The station owner reported that that, in response to the cancellation, “several thousand people encircled the block where our studios are located, denounced . . . WMCA as un‑American, and shouted its slogan of ‘Don’t buy from Jews,’ ‘Down with Jews,’ etc.”

4 American Roots Of Eugenics

Eugenics was a crucial component in Nazi ideology. The concept is largely thought to have originated with the Nazis or at least in Europe, but in reality, eugenics originated in America with some of the most prominent scientific and business leaders of the era.

Financed by such venerable entities as the Carnegie Institute and Rockefeller Foundation, many of America’s most respected scientists were busy working up theories of “race science” at the behest of their corporate financiers. Data was tweaked and faked to serve the premise that non‑white races are genetically inferior and must be bred out of existence.

This “science” became prominent in the early part of the 1900s and became a vital part of Hitler’s ideology. The United States at this time actually had laws pertaining to eugenics on the books. Hitler was familiar with these, enabling him to frame his anti‑Semitism in (completely invalid) medical and scientific terms. He once confided to a subordinate, “I have studied with great interest the laws of several American states concerning prevention of reproduction by people whose progeny would, in all probability, be of no value or be injurious to the racial stock.”

3 Failure Of The American Press

After Hitler’s initial rise to power in 1933, much of the American press seemed to be confused—and even at odds with each other—over what the ramifications were and how it should be reported. The Nazis had risen from small fringe party to majority political party in just a couple years. Many newspapers seemed to think that he would calm down with his expansionist rhetoric once in office. Some reporters even thought he’d bring peace and prosperity to Germany after all. Others reported that Hitler’s rhetoric was a threat to democracy.

The Christian Science Monitor, in a 1933 piece, praised the “quietness, order, and civility” observed by a visiting reporter; there seemed to be “not the slightest sign of anything unusual afoot.” Later in the decade, the New York Times reported “a new moderation” in the German political atmosphere since Hitler’s rise, with the New York Herald declaring stories of atrocities against Jews to be “exaggerated and often unfounded.”

While much of this can be explained by the Nazi regime’s deft handling of foreign press, much of it can also be explained by a deep misunderstanding on the part of Americans as to the nature of Hitler’s problem with Jews. Many US newspaper editors framed the conflict as a clash of ideologies rather than a murderous campaign against a people.

2 Celebrity Supporters

Aviator Charles Lindbergh was an American hero of the 1930s. He performed the first solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927 and had endured the very public ordeal of the kidnapping and murder of his infant son in 1935. He was unfortunately also a proponent of eugenics, having become close with French scientist Alexis Carrel, who was a firm believer. In a 1935 interview, Lindbergh asserted, “There is no escaping the fact that men were definitely not created equal,” and discussed Dr. Carrel’s eugenics‑based ideas on race. A 1939 radio address was the final blow to his weakened public image. In it, he opined that “our civilization depends on a Western wall of race and arms which can hold back … the infiltration of inferior blood.”

Auto manufacturer Henry Ford was also an unrepentant anti‑Semite and Nazi sympathizer, allowing recruiters for the Bund to work in his factories and employing Gestapo‑like thugs to crack down on those employees who might have tried to unionize. Konrad Heiden, a biographer for Hitler, stated that Ford supplied Hitler with direct financial support totaling at least $340,000. Ford even paid for the reprinting and distribution of the racist hoax pamphlet “Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion” to libraries in the United States.

1 Continued Influence

In politics and culture, “Nazis” and “Hitler” have become catch‑all comparisons for those who would brutalize or subjugate others. Nevertheless, the legacy of America’s brief flirtation with this poisonous ideology is all around us.

White supremacist movements and neo‑Nazi groups have long flourished in the US, but Hitler’s failed attempt at world domination gave many of them a new focus and a defined ideology. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, neo‑Nazi organizations still exist in every single state as of 2016.

The CIA isn’t spotless, either. Documents uncovered in 2014 indicated that as many as 1,000 former Nazis were employed by the agency as spies during the Cold War, with some still living in the United States under government protection as late as the 1990s.

Jackie Robinson famously broke baseball’s color barrier as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. But he’s not alone in having an impact on the civil rights movement through his position as an athlete, and many lesser‑known figures played sports while positively affecting society through civil rights advocacy. In this roundup of 10 surprising sports champions, we explore the hidden trailblazers whose actions on and off the field helped reshape history.

10 Surprising Sports Moments That Changed History

10 Peter Norman

This Australian sprinter surprised many observers of the 1968 Olympics by taking the silver in the 200‑meter dash. Norman finished second to American Tommie Smith and ahead of Smith’s teammate, John Carlos, setting the stage for what may be the most recognizable piece of sports photography ever. Smith and Carlos each wore black gloves and raised their fists in the air in the Black Power Salute. While Norman stands somewhat anonymously to the side, he actually played a significant role in the photo. He suggested that Smith, who was wearing both gloves before the ceremony, give the other glove to Carlos so that both men could join in the salute.

Many who see the photo do not immediately notice that all three men—Smith, Carlos, and Norman—wear pins reading “Olympic Project for Human Rights,” representing a group opposing racism in sports. This act of solidarity caused Norman a great deal of trouble in his home country of Australia (he was not selected for the 1972 team despite holding the fifth‑fastest time in the world), but it served as a powerful and enduring image of unity in the fight for equality.

9 Dock Ellis

Dock Ellis was quite a character and likely is best known for the no‑hitter he threw while high on LSD. That notoriety is unfortunate given how much he accomplished as a civil‑rights advocate during his playing days and as a drug and alcohol counselor once his career ended. He never wavered in standing up to the injustices of inequality, and he took action as far back as his high school career, once refusing to play in a game as a protest against the coach’s racism.

Ellis was very outspoken, and he was never one to let someone get away with an injustice. He challenged manager Sparky Anderson to start him in the All‑Star Game so that he could face Vida Blue, saying that Anderson “wouldn’t pitch two brothers against each other.” Despite some of his on‑field antics—including tying the MLB record for being hit by pitches, an act he admitted was intentional—Ellis worked diligently in charitable endeavors, most notably helping to found the Black Athletes Foundation for Sickle Cell Research in 1971.

Among the many men who appreciated Ellis’s efforts in civil rights was Jackie Robinson, who wrote a moving letter praising Ellis and advising him on some of the difficulties he would encounter. Footage from a recently released documentary on Ellis shows him reading the letter, which moved him to tears even several decades after it was received.

8 The Boston Celtics & Bill Russell

Boston—owing perhaps to protests and riots in the 1970s after Boston public schools were desegregated by a court order—has had to endure a stigma as a racist town. But the city’s hometown basketball team, the Boston Celtics, was among the most progressive when it came to matters of race. The team was the first in professional basketball to draft an African‑American player in Chuck Cooper, whom they selected in 1950. The Celtics were also the first in North American sports to hire an African‑American coach when Bill Russell took over the team from the legendary Red Auerbach in 1966, a time of significant unrest throughout the country.

Russell is known as one of the most successful professional athletes in history, but he has also been an outspoken advocate of civil rights, and he has recently spoken out in support of gay athletes as they endure what Russell sees as issues black athletes encountered when he played. In 2010, Russell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, for his work as “an impassioned advocate of human rights.”

7 The Starting Five At Texas Western In 1966

Texas Western’s role in the civil‑rights movement was something of a surprise to them, as many did not realize that they were members of the first collegiate basketball team to field an all‑African‑American starting lineup—and, ultimately, the first to win an NCAA Championship. In recollecting the game, most of the Texas Western players recall not understanding its importance until years later, when strangers would approach them to thank them for opening doors that had previously been shut.

That championship game, played against Kentucky, took on greater significance after famous Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp reportedly declared that no all‑Black team could defeat his all‑white squad. Pat Riley, then a member of the Kentucky squad, recalled how motivated Texas Western was after learning of Rupp’s comments, saying, “It was a violent game. I don’t mean there were any fights—but they were desperate and they were committed and they were more motivated than we were.”

Ultimately, Texas Western’s coach, Don Haskins, did not choose his starting five because of their race but rather in spite of it. He simply wanted to win, and those five gave him the best opportunity to do so. His assistant, Moe Iba, confirmed this, saying, “The fact that he was doing something historic by playing five Blacks, that probably never crossed Don’s mind. Hell, he’d have played five kids from Mars if they were his best five players.”

6 Stewart Udall, Secretary Of The Interior

Udall, the Secretary of the Interior to both John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s, became involved in the civil‑rights movement through his intervention with a Washington Redskins football franchise that refused to integrate. The Redskins had been adamant in this refusal, with its team owner, George Marshall, once saying that the team would “start signing Negroes when the Harlem Globetrotters start signing whites.” Marshall’s position on the matter was assailed by many, with one columnist referring to him as “an anachronism, as out‑of‑date as the drop kick.”

Despite the pleading of the press and fans, not until Udall stepped in and threatened retribution on the federal level did the Washington Redskins become the last team in the NFL to integrate. Since the Redskins’ new stadium was on federal land, Udall informed Marshall that if he continued to refuse to be integrated, the team would not be allowed to use it. In 1962, Marshall heeded Udall’s ultimatum, and the Redskins were finally integrated.

5 Don Barksdale And His US Olympic Teammates

Barksdale was the first African American to represent the US on the Olympic basketball team, and his role in the civil‑rights movement was in a Kentucky arena in 1948, the year after Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Barksdale’s moment was during an exhibition game when his teammates passed a water bottle down the bench, with each man taking a sip. After Barksdale took his, he passed it to a teammate—“Shorty” Carpenter of Arkansas—who drank from the bottle without hesitation.

While this moment seems like nothing more than a minor detail today, the water bottle drew the attention of all those in attendance, many of whom felt that Carpenter could have made a statement by refusing to drink. This was especially true given that whites and blacks in the South rarely, if ever, drank from the same glass or from the same water fountain at the time. He didn’t refuse, and the game went on. Barksdale would later go on to become the first African‑American All‑Star in the NBA, playing for the Boston Celtics alongside Chuck Cooper.

4 Kathrine Switzer & Roberta Gibb

Before 1967, no woman had officially run in the Boston Marathon, and the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) did not willingly issue bib numbers to women who applied. The Amateur Athletic Association (AAU) did not formally accept women as participants in distance running, fearing that their bodies could not handle the rigors of long distances. Roberta Gibb ran the Boston Marathon in three consecutive years (1966–1968) but did so without a bib number, having to hide in the bushes at the race’s starting line to avoid being spotted.

Switzer, however, was issued a bib number but not with the full blessing of the BAA—according to the BAA, she did not clearly identify herself as a female entrant and signed her entry form as “K.V. Switzer.” She started the race unnoticed, but around the fourth mile, the press bus caught sight of her, causing a stir. Once race officials were notified, one of them even tried to rip off her bib number and physically remove her from the race before another runner—“Big” Tom Miller, a nationally ranked hammer thrower and former All‑American football player—pushed him aside. Switzer officially finished the race and helped to clear the path for female participation in distance running events.

3 Francois Pienaar & Nelson Mandela

Francois Pienaar grew up under apartheid in South Africa, when it was common to hear Nelson Mandela referred to as a terrorist who deserved to have been imprisoned for all of those years. As a rugby player, Pienaar was a part of the 1995 Rugby World Cup that came to symbolize the changing of South Africa, and Mandela supported the South African team and dismissed the notion that the springbok—the team’s emblem and a notorious symbol of apartheid—should be tossed aside. Instead, Mandela used the Rugby World Cup as an opportunity to unite the nation once again under the banner of sports.

Upon South Africa’s victory, Mandela, who wore a South Africa rugby shirt that prominently featured the springbok, presented the cup to Pienaar, the white South African team captain. The image was an important one, as it came to be recognized as a moment of reconciliation for a formerly divided nation. Pienaar and Mandela became quite close thereafter, and the man known as Madiba ended up attending Pienaar’s wedding and becoming godfather to one of the Rugby captain’s children.

2 Al Davis

Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis saw his football legacy somewhat tarnished during the last decade of his life, as the Raiders endured an extended period of futility that has continued to the present day. The team has not made the playoffs since its Super Bowl run of 2002, and many observers blame Davis for being out of touch with the game. Too many forget that Davis was an innovator of the highest order throughout the overwhelming majority of his life in football, and that included his attitude toward issues of civil rights.

In 1963, just a year after the Washington Redskins had to be forced to integrate its team, Davis was refusing to play a preseason game in Mobile, Alabama as a protest against the state’s laws on segregation. Davis, again protesting the inherent unfairness of segregation, also implemented a policy stating that the Raiders would not play in cities in which players would have to stay in different hotels due to race.

Davis was also responsible for hiring the second African‑American head coach in the NFL in Art Shell and also the first female front‑office executive in Amy Trask. Shell, a former offensive tackle with the Raiders, played under the league’s second Latino head coach, Tom Flores, who was also hired by Davis.

1 Willie O’Ree

O’Ree didn’t even realize that he had broken the color barrier in the NHL in 1958, saying, “It just didn’t dawn on me. I was just concerned about playing hockey.” O’Ree grew up in Canada, playing both hockey and baseball, and as a teenager he had the opportunity to meet Jackie Robinson in Brooklyn after being invited to camp with the Milwaukee Braves. The two spoke briefly, and after Robinson told him that there were no black kids playing hockey, O’Ree corrected him, saying, “Yeah, there’s a few.” Less than 10 years later, O’Ree would be making his NHL debut for the Boston Bruins.

O’Ree had to endure taunts and insults while playing games on the road, but he was steadfast in his belief that those taunts deserved no response from him. There were even times when, while in the penalty box, O’Ree would be spit on and have objects thrown at him because of his race. O’Ree went on to work with the NHL after completing his professional hockey career, serving as the director of youth development for the NHL’s diversity program.

We expect spotless streets and long, healthy lives in the modern Western world, where healthcare programs and disease‑prevention industries thrive. Yet the public‑health infrastructure we take for granted is a relatively recent invention, built on the shoulders of some of history’s most brilliant engineers, researchers, and physicians.

Below are ten pivotal facts that chart the rise of the Western sanitation movement during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Thanks to these milestones, you no longer have to dodge piles of waste while sipping morning coffee, nor fear contracting cholera each time you draw a glass of water.

10 The Industrial Revolution And Increasing Population

The sanitation push of the 1800s arrived at a critical juncture in American and European history. Urban dwellers lived in squalid conditions, and two powerful forces—industrialization and mass immigration—made sanitation a pressing concern. The Industrial Revolution, sparked in Britain thanks to abundant coal and new economic ideas, spurred wealth and travel, prompting countless people to flock to burgeoning cities on both sides of the Atlantic in search of opportunity.

In the United States, urban populations exploded from roughly 1.8 million to over 54 million between 1840 and 1920. This dramatic swell meant waste—both human refuse and industrial debris—accumulated faster than any organized public effort could manage, leaving cities choking on filth and disease.

9 John Howard’s Prison Reform

John Howard, a devoted philanthropist of the late 18th century, made his greatest mark by championing prison reform and broader public‑health sanitation. Appointed sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1773, Howard inspected the county jail and witnessed its horrendous conditions. Inmates were forced to purchase every essential—food, bedding, clothing—and the poorest could not afford basic necessities. Moreover, prisoners were required to pay their jailers upon release; those unable to do so languished in confinement far beyond their sentences.

Howard’s detailed reports exposed the filthy reality of the prisons he visited. He authored three editions of The State of Prisons in England and Wales, and his candid accounts earned enough credibility to avoid censure from authorities. His recommendations for proper healthcare and clean accommodations, regardless of economic status, set a benchmark for the emerging sanitary movement, thrusting public‑health concerns into the spotlight for the first time.

8 Quarantine

Quarantining the sick became a common, though uneven, practice in the 19th century. In the United States, federal action—via congressional legislation—didn’t arrive until 1878, spurred by devastating yellow‑fever outbreaks. Port cities bustling with trade and immigration were the first to establish quarantine councils, voluntary hospitals, and community health centers, tackling disease head‑on.

In 1808, Boston’s Board of Health mandated that vessels arriving from tropical regions such as the Mediterranean and Caribbean undergo a three‑day isolation, or remain in quarantine until 25 days had elapsed since departure, whichever was longer, before crews and cargo could mingle with the public. These early, organized public health measures against cholera, smallpox, and other scourges paved the way for more systematic disease‑prevention strategies.

7 Edwin Chadwick And Miasma Theory

The Western sanitation movement was paradoxically propelled by two competing ideas about disease transmission: germ theory and the older miasma theory, which blamed foul air and environmental pollutants for illness. While germ theory, now universally accepted, holds that invisible microorganisms invade the body, miasma theory argued that noxious fumes, sewage, and poor sanitation caused disease. Though eventually disproven, miasma theory sparked vital reforms.

One of its most fervent champions was Edwin Chadwick, a leading sanitary reformer. Chadwick lobbied for the 1848 Public Health Act, echoing arguments from his seminal work, General Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain. He asserted that improving the health of the poor would bolster the national economy by reducing reliance on poor‑relief. The Act called for better sewer drainage, clean drinking water, and the appointment of medical officers in towns, though financial constraints limited its full impact.

Even though Chadwick’s miasma‑based beliefs were later invalidated, his advocacy laid the groundwork for public‑health awareness and the infrastructure we enjoy today.

6 John Snow And The Cholera Outbreak

John Snow, a staunch opponent of miasma theory, served as physician to Queen Victoria and championed germ theory. He suspected cholera’s source lay not in the air but in contaminated drinking water. In the 1800s, cities lacked standardized sewage, forcing residents to draw water from communal pumps while waste seeped into the Thames and local cesspools.

Snow’s breakthrough came during the 1854 Soho outbreak. He observed a staggering concentration of cholera deaths within 250 yards of where Cambridge Street met Broad Street. Suspecting the nearby Broad Street pump, he mapped cases and pinpointed the pump as the contamination source.

Snow’s meticulous mapping inaugurated modern epidemiology, demonstrating that clean water supplies were essential to preventing disease. Though many miasma adherents, including Chadwick, resisted his conclusions, the evidence forced a consensus that proper city sanitation was indispensable for public health.

5 The New York Sanitary Survey

In the United States, New York City resembled a massive garbage dump, with manure littering streets and noxious fumes filling the air. An estimated 200,000 preventable disease cases roiled the city each year due to an ineffective Board of Health. In 1850, reformer Lemuel Shattuck drafted a comprehensive public‑health plan rooted in miasma theory, proposing fifty recommendations—more than half of which later became standard practice.

By 1865, the Citizens’ Association of New York’s Special Council of Hygiene and Public Health dispatched inspectors to survey all 31 city districts. The nine‑page survey expanded into seventeen volumes of findings, culminating in the 1866 Metropolitan Health Bill. Subsequent revisions over the next century built upon this foundation, shaping the evolution of New York’s public‑health codes.

4 Chesbrough’s Sewage System Design

Chicago, too, faced a dire health crisis as intestinal infections surged. The city’s waste poured into the Chicago River, contaminating Lake Michigan—the primary water source. Residents quipped that turning on the tap produced “chowder” as tiny fish and debris gushed from faucets.

Ellis S. Chesbrough, who began his career as a teenage railway chainman, rose to become chief engineer of Boston’s Water Works in 1846. He designed vital structures such as the Brookline Reservoir, supplying clean water to Boston’s populace.

Later, as chief engineer for Chicago’s Board of Sewerage Commissioners, Chesbrough tackled the nation’s first comprehensive sewer system. After studying Europe’s best models, he erected a water crib to draw lake water from the bottom, funneling it to shore‑side pumping stations. Confronted with the city’s low elevation, he famously raised Chicago’s street level by roughly three metres (ten feet), lifting each building with jackscrews and constructing new foundations beneath them—despite fierce opposition from business owners over costs.

Chesbrough’s innovative design transformed Chicago’s streets, channeling waste through sophisticated filtration and establishing him as America’s pre‑eminent authority on urban water and sewer engineering.

3 George E. Waring

After the Civil War’s devastation and an 1878 yellow‑fever outbreak in Tennessee, George E. Waring emerged as a pivotal figure in both miasma theory and the sanitation crusade. A drainage and agricultural engineer, Waring also served as a Civil War veteran, becoming the first to legitimize sanitary engineering as a respectable profession.

Waring first earned acclaim in New York during the late 1850s for designing Central Park’s drainage system, which created the park’s iconic ponds and lakes. During the 1878 yellow‑fever epidemic, he engineered a drainage solution for Memphis, Tennessee, mirroring Chesbrough’s Chicago work. By separating storm‑water runoff from sewage, he reduced pipe sizes and minimized leakage risk.

Returning to New York, Waring confronted a city still plagued by waste‑filled streets, especially in immigrant neighborhoods. As head of the city’s sanitation department, he assembled a uniformed crew known as the “White Ducks” (or “White Wings”)—2,000 men clad in stark white attire. Their sweeping campaign cleaned 697 kilometres (433 miles) of street, boiled organic waste into oil and grease, cleared ash, and sorted recyclables.

Sixteen years later, half of U.S. cities boasted sewage systems, with the rest quickly following. Waring later traveled to Cuba to study sanitation, where he tragically succumbed to yellow fever. The New York Times praised him as the nation’s “apostle of cleanliness.”

2 The Founding Of Bacteriology

As societies shifted health responsibility from individuals to the public sphere, curiosity about disease mechanisms surged, ultimately discrediting miasma theory and elevating germ theory—a cause championed by John Snow. Ferdinand Cohn pioneered bacteriology in the late 1860s, classifying bacteria based on morphology.

Cohn consulted with Robert Koch, the German bacteriologist who identified the pathogens behind tuberculosis and cholera. French chemist‑microbiologist Louis Pasteur discovered the anthrax‑causing bacterium, later developing vaccines for anthrax and rabies. His experiments on milk and alcohol fermentation also supplied crucial evidence for germ theory.

These discoveries spurred interventions to curb disease spread and eventually eradicate many infections. The rise of germ theory and bacteriology cemented a solid scientific foundation for all subsequent public‑health initiatives, steering the sanitation movement toward its ultimate goal.

1 Laboratory Research And Federal Health Services

On February 24, 1888, Surgeon General John B. Hamilton addressed Congress, introducing the Laboratory of Hygiene—later evolving into the National Institutes of Health. He announced a recent weekly abstract diagnosing cholera cases in New York, crediting officer Kinyoun’s five‑year bacteriology study and noting a modest investment in a New York laboratory.

Subsequently, the United States established a network of local and state health departments, beginning in New York and Massachusetts. While earlier improvements to water and sewage stemmed from flawed theories, the new laboratories enabled systematic study of municipal water systems, identifying bacterial culprits behind deadly diseases. Central to this era was biologist William T. Sedgwick, a founder of the Harvard School of Public Health in 1913. He pinpointed fecal bacteria responsible for typhoid and devised the first treatment protocols.

Sedgwick’s seminal work, Principles of Sanitary Science and Public Health, was hailed as a catalyst that awakened leaders in medicine, engineering, and science to the vital importance of sanitation amid rapid urban and industrial growth.

These research efforts allowed physicians to diagnose illnesses earlier, curbing contagion. Yet scientists soon realized that treatment and immunization alone could not eradicate diseases thriving in impoverished, uneducated communities. Thus, at the dawn of the 20th century, the sanitation movement entered its final phase: educating the public on personal health practices to foster a healthier society. Federal health agencies funded both civilian and military disease‑control programs, a legacy that continues to evolve today.

Savannah O. Skinner is a freelance writer and author, sometimes publishing under the pen name S.O. Skinner.