In this Patreon exclusive episode, Katie shares the story behind the African Cemetery located at Higgs Beach in Key West. 

In 1860, three slave ships were intercepted en route to Cuba and diverted to Key West. While most of the African refugees onboard were eventually transported to Liberia, 295 died in Key West. Their graves now comprise the only known cemetery in the U.S. of African refugees during the international slave trade. 

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In this episode, Katie is bewitched by lobotomies. 

The U.S. has a long and tragic history of barbaric and inhumane treatment of people living with mental illnesses. From overcrowded institutions to painful experimental treatments, patients were subjected to the unthinkable. Admittance to a state hospital was tantamount to a death sentence served in inhumane conditions. Then, a promising young neurologist introduced a new procedure inspired by the work of a Portuguese physician. Walter Freeman and the prefrontal lobotomy offered the promise of returning a patient home in a year or less. To many, this psychosurgery was seen as a miracle. But as thousands of unconsenting patients had the connections in their prefrontal cortexes severed by leucotomes and orbitoclasts, the true costs of the procedure were slowly revealed. 

Staff picks: 

The Flatshare (and ALL the other books!) by Beth O'Leary 

Everything Everywhere All at Once, directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert 

The Midnight Club by Christopher Pike + its Netflix adaptation

Related media recommendations: 

The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness  by Jack El-Hai

Madness in Civilization: A Cultural History of Insanity, from the Bible to Freud, from the Madhouse to Modern Medicine by Andrew Scull

Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson

My Lobotomy: A Memoir by Howard Dully and Charles Fleming

The Lobotomist's Wife by Samantha Greene Woodruff

The Mad Woman's Ball by Victoria Mas

The Mountain, directed by Rick Alverson

The Lobotomist, produced by American Experience PBS

My Lobotomy: Howard Dully's Journey by "All Things Considered" NPR

If you are interested in any of the books we talk about in this episode, please consider purchasing them through our affiliate link with Bookshop.org!

Sources:

The Strange and Curious History of the Lobotomy

My Lobotomy: Howard Dully's Journey

Psychosurgery, Ethics, and Media: A History of Walter Freeman and the Lobotomy

A Hole in the Head: A History of Trepanation

America's Long-Suffering Mental Health System

The Secret Lobotomy of Rosemary Kennedy

Mental Illness in Black Community, 1700-2019: A Short History

The Village at Grand Traverse Common: History

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On this episode of The Reference Desk, Katie is bewitched by Key West.

As the southernmost point in the continental U.S., Key West, Florida, takes some work to get to. But you'll find this place of weirdness, inclusivity, and strange history well worth the voyage. From its beginnings as a shipwreck paradise to its current vibrant mix of American, Spanish, and Caribbean influences, Key West is full of great stories. We'll cover the history of this cayo Hueso from its indigenous people to Spanish colonization to modern times, through a look at some of the elements that make Key West so wonderfully unique: The Conch Republic Secession, the very creepy Carl Tanzler and his corpse bride, the story of the notorious haunted Robert the Doll, and the evolution of Fantasy Fest. Stick around until the end for books about and in Key West, our first-ever content overlap, and the best review of a lift-the-flap book you've ever heard.

Staff picks:

Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese

New World Witchery: A Trove of North American Folk Magic by Cory Thoman Hutcheson

Key West reads:

Hidden History of the Florida Keys by Laura Albritton and Jerry Wilkinson

Hemingway’s Key West by Stuart B. McIver

Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean by Les Standiford

The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton

The Key West Food Critic Mysteries series by Lucy Burdette

Naked Came the Manatee by Carl Hiaasen et. al.

Key West Artists:

https://keywestartcenter.com/artists

https://tskw.org/

https://www.oceanbluesstudio.com/

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