The celebrated history of New Haven often overshadows its fascinating and forgotten past. The Elm City was home to America's first woman dentist, an architect who designed the tallest twin towers in the world and a medical student who used toy parts to create an artificial heart pump. The city's share of disasters includes Connecticut's worst aviation crash, a zookeeper who was mauled to death and a fire at the Rialto Theater. Local authors Robert and Kathleen Hubbard reveal the rich and fascinating cultural legacies of one of New England's most treasured cities.

The celebrated history of New Haven often overshadows its fascinating and forgotten past. The Elm City was home to America's first woman dentist, an architect who designed the tallest twin towers in the world and a medical student who used toy parts to create an artificial heart pump. A city noted as the home of one of the top universities in the world, New Haven is also home to the third-oldest independent school in the United States, the first African American to receive a PhD degree and the founding of what would become the largest Catholic fraternal benefit society in the world. The city's share of disasters includes Connecticut's worst aviation crash, a zookeeper who was mauled to death and a fire at the Rialto Theater. Local authors Robert and Kathleen Hubbard reveal the rich and fascinating cultural legacies of one of New England's most treasured cities.

Since its founding in 1638, the bustling Connecticut metropolis of New Haven has been plagued by all manner of sin and scandal. Stories of grave robbers and madmen in lighthouses are only a sliver of the Elm City's darker side. Author and historian Michael J. Bielawa chronicles the city's historic tales of pirates, mysteries and unusual deaths. Learn about Yale hauntings and Town and Gown riots, the Red Pirate William Delaney and the mysterious labor activist Frank Sokolowsky, whose strange murder in 1920 may have been at the hands of a jealous wife or part of a political plot. Discover the overzealous Wakemanites whose Christmas Eve exorcism led to the brutal murder of a man they believed possessed. Join Bielawa if you dare to peer into the shadowy corners of New Haven's wicked history.