Unusual death tales bring crowd to Floyd County Museum

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Murders, accidents and mysteries lost to time were the topic of the morning as the Floyd County Museum hosted a special Halloween-themed Chautauqua Talk centered on unusual deaths in the county.

Roughly 40 people came out to the Museum on Saturday, Oct. 19, where Scott Galliart told the tale of about 50 historical residents of Floyd County who met untimely ends.

“I was very pleased with the turnout,” said Galliart. “People love the macabre.”

From the drowning of Elias German, whose death in an 1878 flood resulted in several conflicting accounts from the newspapers of the time; to the Standard Oil Fire of 1916; to the infamous lynching of James Cullen, Galliart dug up the gory details of different deaths in the county.

Nobody was safe. Ne’er-do-well scoundrels and well-respected citizens alike have met the grim reaper in many interesting ways. From shootings and stabbings to natural disasters and industrial accidents, Galliart shared his research on some of Floyd County’s most notable deaths recorded from its earliest days up to the mid-20th century to an enthralled crowd.