Charles Blondin

popular name: Betty Hill

date_of_death: October 23, 2004

age: 85

cause_of_death: Lung cancer

claim_to_fame: The Odd and the Interesting

best_know_for: Betty and Barney Hill lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire where Betty was a social worker and Barney was a postal worker. The couple were catapulted into the international spotlight when in September 1961 they claimed to have been abducted by aliens in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The two were returning home to Portsmouth from a trip to Montreal, Canada, when as they were driving in the middle of the night, they saw lights approaching from the sky. What followed is said to be the first well-documented, "feasibly legitimate" UFO abduction in history. The couple claimed that they saw bipedal humanoid creatures in the window of a large spacecraft that landed in a field. They claimed they were followed by a spaceship and eventually accosted, kidnapped, examined, and then released by its extraterrestrial crew. The event has since become the best documented and most famous case of alien abduction in the history of UFO-ology. The story of the Hills grew big enough to prompt a best-selling book by John Fuller entitled "The Interrupted Journey", inspire a television movie called "The UFO Incident" starring James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons. Over time their story was subjected to a brutal debunking by multiple people including the famous intellectual Carl Sagan.

popular name: Nancy Martin

date_of_death: May 25, 1857

age: 24

cause_of_death: Yellow Fever

claim_to_fame: The Odd and the Interesting

best_know_for: Silas Martin was a successful sea captain and trader. The one thing he hated about his job was missing his family for long stretches of time. So when his son John and daughter Nancy (Nance to her friends) asked to accompany their father on his next voyage he did not hesitate to add them to the crew. When they set sail in early 1857, Nance took ill about three months into the trip. Silas detoured and sailed into Cardenas, Cuba in search of medical care but it was too late - Nancy succumbed shortly upon arrival. Rather than having Nancy buried on foreign soil or buried at sea, Captain Silas was determined to return to Wilmington for a proper burial with her family. The issue was how to keep the body preserved for the voyage home. They decided on a large rum barrel as a makeshift coffin filled with liquor to preserved the body. The thought of her body sloshing around in a cask during rough seas was too much for her father and brother, so it was decided that a chair would be placed in the cask, nailed in place and Nance seated and tied into the chair to keep her secure. Rather than disturbing the remains, upon returning to Wilmington, Silas had Nance buried in the cask in the port city’s Oakdale Cemetery.

popular name: Daisy and Violet Hilton

date_of_death: January 4, 1969

age: 60

cause_of_death: Hong Kong flu

claim_to_fame: The Odd and the Interesting

best_know_for: Daisy and Violet Hilton, born in the early 1900s in Brighton, England, were conjoined twins joined at the hip and buttocks. Their lives were a blend of exploitation and fame, marked by challenges and achievements. Born to an unmarried barmaid, Kate Skinner, the twins were sold to her employer, Mary Hilton, who saw their potential as a spectacle. Under Mary Hilton's care, they were trained as performers and toured extensively, particularly in the U.S., where they were exhibited as "freaks" in sideshows and carnivals. After Mary's death, the twins became the wards of her daughter and son-in-law, Edith and Meyer Myers, who continued exploiting them financially and refusing to allow them out in public unless they were performing. They later gained legal independence in 1931 after suing the Myers family, receiving $100,000 in restitution (far below what they earned). The Hiltons became vaudeville stars, captivating their audiences with their talents including dancing, singing and playing instruments. Despite their fame, the Hilton sisters faced significant personal challenges. Exploitation in their early years left them unprepared to manage their finances and lives independently. They attempted romantic relationships, but societal prejudice and legal barriers prevented marriage. Their brief appearance in Tod Browning's 1932 cult classic film Freaks and the 1951 biopic Chained for Life showcased their lives but didn't lead to lasting success. As vaudeville declined, the sisters struggled financially. They ended up working in a grocery store in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1969, they died of the Hong Kong flu, passing within days of each other due to their physical connection.