Ann Arbor Stories | Ann Arbor District Library

Listener discretion advised. This episode contains content that might not be suitable for all listeners. It does have the word murder in the title. Why did three teenagers from good homes bash nurse Pauline Campbell's brains out of her head one cool fall evening in 1951? Music by Alexander Mathias and Geoff White, made possible by GhoLicense.

Being a member of the University of Michigan Marching Band is hard work. Not only do you need to be a great musician, but you need to be able to march in tight formation, high-step and run around a football field in front of 100,000 people without missing a note. Attributes only men were fortunate enough to possess until 1972—when women were finally allowed to try out for the band without fear that they'd expect to be dismissed from rehearsals due to "female problems." Here's the story of how the girls got into the band and how women continue to make inroads in the traditionally male-dominated Ann Arbor institution. Music by the 1972, 1997 and 2016 University of Michigan Marching Band, and David Rose & His Orchestra. AADL LINKS General Articles: General Articles Band protests UM Women Form Band in Protest Coeds Formed All Women 'Band' To Protest Discriminatory Policies

1969 was a rough year in Ann Arbor. So the city cops and the county cops decided to play a full-contact game of football to raise money for Christmas presents for needy kids. They called it The Pig Bowl. Music by All Star Collegians and Park St Trio. AADL Links 1st Annual Pig Bowl Newspaper Coverage Trophy Up For Grabs In "Pig Bowl" Fundraiser To Aid Needy Children, December 1969 Sheriff's Department Officers Count Contributions From First Annual Pig Bowl, December 1969 3 Yards, Gasp For Breath; Police Ready For 'Pig Bowl' Pigs And Goats Poised For Superclassic After Bowl Is Over ~ Aw Come On, 'Fuzz' Looks Like Happy Christmas - Goats 19, Pigs 0 Trophy Awarded to Ann Arbor Police Department In First Annual Pig Bowl, December 1969 Pig Bowl "Go Blue" Banner on Washtenaw County Jail, December 1969 2nd Annual Pig Bowl Newspaper Coverage 'Goats' Ready for Bowl Game Ann Arbor Police and Washtenaw County Sheriffs' Officer Prepare for 2nd Annual "Pig Bowl," October 1970 Santa Makes A Visit Sheriff's 'Pigs' Snort To 7-6 Victory Ann Arbor Police Department Goat Mascot Greets Spectators at the Second Annual Pig Bowl, November 1970 Teams Gather on the Field at the Second Annual Pig Bowl, November 1970 Washtenaw County Sheriff Douglas J. Harvey Accepts Trophy at the Second Annual Pig Bowl, November 1970

What began as a fun way to celebrate the last day of classes transformed into an internationally live-streamed event. Crowds of 10,000 or more shouting, cheering, pushing and watching 1,000 coed runners in the buff take part in the University of Michigan's famous Naked Mile. Where did it start? How did it end? Learn all about the last time streaking was cool in Ann Arbor. Music by Zach Shipps & FAWNN Learn more in Old News

Ann Arborites haven't always pooped in their pristine flush toilets and private privvys, no sir m'am. Things were gross and disgusting for a long time. Learn about the arrival of the earth closet, the sealing of the privvy vaults, and the story of the very first flush toilet in Ann Arbor. And hear the word poop, like 411 times. Music by Tunde Olaniran. Links (a bunch of them): Strike The Iron While It's Hot! The number of earth closets in Ann Arbor homes. The second page has info about sewers and sewage in Ann Arbor. The first column towards bottom, entitled Closets How To Induce Feeble Health And Early Death Fined For Working On A Shed In Fire Limits Renewal Project Wins Favor The President’s House U-M President's Home, Built 113 Years Ago, Stands As Oldest Campus Structure Kempf House dig: Privy to the past More Earth Closets

Legendary streetsman, bluesman and raconteur, Shakey Jake told so many tales to so many people that sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between fact and fiction. We do our best in this episode of Ann Arbor Stories. Music by Ben Benjamin, made possible by Gholicense. AADL Links See articles and photos on Old News. Shakey Jake's first blues performance in Ann Arbor on YouTube.

It's a story 50,000 years old. Sort of. A 60-pound meteorite is stolen from the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History. There are no signs of a break-in. No clues to follow. No video cameras to catch the robbers in the act. How did Detective Kevin McNulty of the University of Michigan Department of Public Safety crack the case? Music by Mux Mool, made possible by Gholicense. Further reading at AADL's Old News, including a photo.

The cubicle. The three-walled cliche, surface to which so many Hang In There kitty cat posters are affixed, was invented in Ann Arbor. That’s right - the yoke around the neck of white collar workers everywhere was conceived and birthed in Ann Arbor. On State Street, no less. Here's the story of its invention and proliferation and how it came to be in Ann Arbor. Music by Stepdad. Further reading and photos from AADL's Oldnews Birth of the Cube Farm from Ann Arbor Observer: Then & Now.

(This episode is for mature audiences only) The two girls were peculiar, even for Ann Arbor in 1971. They looked college aged, maybe they were hippies. Nothing outwardly weird, but something definitely strange. They stood a few feet apart, face to face on the corner of State and Liberty. Some said they were looking at the moon. Others said they just stared at each other. Stared for hours and hours that cold November night. This is the story of those two peculiar girls. And one tragic night in November in 1971. Music by Diego and the Dissidents Further reading and photos from AADL's Old News

See 38 and a half tons ... 81 feet of fanatical fiendishness. See one of the ships in which two of our enemies volunteer to accept death in order to blow up their objectives. See this Japanese suicide submarine and realize what a vicious, tricky, desperate enemy our boys are fighting in the pacific. Let’s hit them harder. Let’s depth-bomb them to the bottom of the sea - let’s show them what an aroused, all-out America can do. On that Saturday, July 17, 1943, this honest to goodness captured Japanese suicide sub would roll through the streets of Ann Arbor in one of the weirdest parades in city history. Music by Hollow & Akimbo Further reading and photos from AADL's Old News