Hoosier History Live

One of his final stories for The Indianapolis Star focused on a new website full of details about more than 55 years of concerts: indianarockhistory.com

For more than 22 of those years, David Lindquist has written about pop music and culture for The Star, reviewing concerts through three name changes for the venue that opened as Deer Creek Music Center (it's now Ruoff), covering the transition from Market Square Arena to Bankers Life Fieldhouse, interviewing notables like John Mellencamp and describing the rise of Fountain Square as a nightlife destination.

In August 2011, Dave was in the audience for an outdoor concert at the Indiana State Fair, preparing to write a review, when high winds caused the stage rigging to collapse, resulting in, as he puts it, "a tragedy directly in front of me." Seven people were killed and 58 injured after a severe windstorm struck the stage and equipment just before a Sugarland concert was about to begin.

In the wake of Dave Lindquist's departure from The Star - he was among several veteran journalists who accepted buyout offers from Gannett, the newspaper's parent company - he will be Nelson's guest to share reflections about concerts, venues and celebrity Hoosiers whom he has interviewed. In addition to Mellencamp and other music icons, Dave has had several interviews with (and reported on the multi-media endeavors of) Indianapolis-based novelist John Green, the author of The Fault in Our Stars and other bestsellers.

Last month, Dave reported the death of the owner of one of the most distinctive venues for blues music in Indiana. The Slippery Noodle Inn in downtown Indy opened in 1850 and is the oldest continuously operated tavern in the state. Hal Yeagy took over "The Noodle" in the mid-1980s from his father and transformed the historic bar (which had about half a dozen names over the decades) into a blues music destination patronized by well-known figures like Peyton Manning.

Hal, who died at age 63 in November, was a Hoosier History Live guest in 2008 to discuss the colorful heritage of the venue; in addition its historic distinction as a tavern, the building at 372 S. Meridian St. is considered to be the oldest commercial structure in the Hoosier capital.

The scores of other venues where Dave Lindquist has reviewed concerts range from the lawn at White River State Park to the Murat Theatre (he calls it "an amazing place to catch a show") and Bankers Life, which opened in 1999 as Conseco Fieldhouse; its predecessor as a pro basketball arena and concert venue, Market Square Arena, was imploded in 2001. "Bankers Life Fieldhouse has a bad reputation for its acoustics, which is partially earned but partially an unfair label," he says.

Dave plans to continue his career in entertainment journalism following his departure from The Star. During his career at the newspaper, he created and hosted "Indy Star Sessions," a live music video webcast, as well as a podcast, "Dave's Old Interview Tapes."

The Indiana Rock History project, which includes the indianarockhistory.com website, was created by a concert organizer whom Dave calls "the ultimate live music insider:" Steve Sybesma, who co-owned the concert company Sunshine Promotions for more than 25 years beginning in 1974.

The website features attendance figures, the pay for performers and ticket sales for a vast array of Indiana concerts. They include a Rolling Stones concert at IU's Assembly Hall in 1975 that Sunshine organized (the band was paid $93,000) as well as concerts that didn't involve the company, such as a performance in Muncie by guitarist Jimi Hendrix in 1968.

Referring to his coverage of Mellencamp, Dave Lindquist says, "I think it's been fascinating to watch John Mellencamp speak out on his 'blue' political leanings when he lives in a 'red' state, and many of his long-time fans are conservative." Dave plans to share some anecdotes about this during our show.

He also will discuss a jazz music history project that was the focus of one of his final stories for The Star. A documentary is in development about the life of Wes Montgomery, the legendary Indianapolis jazz guitarist who died in 1968. After headlining at nightspots on Indiana Avenue, Montgomery reaped national acclaim, won two Grammy Awards and influenced Hendricks and generations of other guitarists.

Never mind that he died 25 years ago and that his low-budget TV show was filmed at a small public television station housed in a converted historic home.

Bushy-haired art instructor Bob Ross and The Joy of Painting series that he hosted are in the spotlight again, with CNN, The New York Times and other national media doing recent reports from Muncie.

That's because Minnetrista, the cultural museum complex and gardens located in Muncie, has opened a permanent exhibit, The Bob Ross Experience, in a former home of one of the Ball Brothers, whose glass canning business introduced the iconic Mason jar.

The Lucius L. Ball House served as the location of the studio where WIPB, the public TV station in Muncie, filmed many of the episodes of the how-to-paint series that was an unexpected, national hit from 1983 until 1994, the year before Ross' death at age 52.

In addition to the multi-media exhibit that includes Ross' easel, palette, paint brushes, original paintings and other artifacts, The Bob Ross Experience offers programming that includes painting workshops using the techniques promoted by the beloved instructor.

"Bob Ross was such as a joyful personality, and the history of his connection to the Hoosier state is charming," says Jessica Jenkins, vice president of collections and storytelling at Minnetrista, who will be Nelson's guest.

The 40-acre campus of Minnetrista includes several of the homes of the Ball brothers, who moved from upstate New York to Muncie in the 1880s to run their business, which became the nation's largest manufacturer of home-canning jars. (Lucius, the eldest brother, became a doctor in Muncie and was not involved in his siblings' company.)

Although Bob Ross was born and grew up in Florida, he became an itinerant art instructor and developed a relationship during his travels with WIPB-TV, the PBS affiliate in Muncie. For most of the run of The Joy of Painting, Ross came to Indiana for short visits to film multiple episodes of the series; Jessica Jenkins points out, however, that he actually lived in Muncie for a few years and was involved in community events.

The Ball brothers and their descendants also were known for their civic and philanthropic endeavors. WIPB was launched in the Lucius L. Ball House because his nephew Ed Ball (1905-2000) spearheaded the campaign that brought public TV to Muncie. The Joy of Painting became WIPB's most famous program and eventually was broadcast across the country, then overseas.

When the 30-minute show - during which Ross typically would complete an entire painting - drew millions of fans, the host became a pop culture icon. He was distinctive not only for his eye-catching hair, but for, as Indianapolis Monthly magazine recently put it, "his whisper-soft delivery, his half-hour masterpieces and his calming insistence that everyone has talent."

Some Bob Ross paintings have been acquired by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. But our guest Jessica Jenkins notes that Minnetrista was the first museum to add his paintings to its collection, as well as the first, in 1991, to host an exhibition of his work. Today, Minnetrista owns 26 Ross paintings; some were created during episodes of The Joy of Painting, while others were done off-camera.

Some history facts:

• The name Minnetrista, a blend of Native American and English words, is translated as "gathering place by the water." The Minnetrista campus is not far from the White River.
• Bob Ross used an oil painting technique called "wet on wet." With this method, artists quickly apply layers of wet paint, finishing their artwork before the first layers have dried. Typically, Ross didn't create a sketch of his subject before he began to paint.
• Ross died from complications of lymphoma in 1995. According to The New York Times, "his works - if you can find one - have been offered for up to $55,000 on ebay."

Both in population and geographic size, it's the smallest county in Indiana. But it's considered among the most scenic.

Ohio County, located in the far-southeastern corner of the Hoosier state, along with its only incorporated city, Rising Sun, have a colorful heritage that will be the focus of our show.

One of the few harp factories in the world is housed in a historic building on Main Street in Rising Sun, where Riverfront Park is a popular destination to savor views of the Ohio River.

In the Rising Sun Historic District, the Greek Revival-style Ohio County Courthouse, which was built in 1845, is the oldest county courthouse in continual use in Indiana.

Ohio County historian Cliff Thies, a lifelong resident of Rising Sun, will be Nelson's guest to share insights about his home turf. Cliff is the executive director of the Ohio County Historical Society and the Rising Sun History Museum, which occupies a 20,000 square foot structure that was built in the 19th century as a plow factory.

The harp factory is Rees Harps Inc., which makes and ships harps around the world to symphony orchestras, amateur musicians and a range of in-between enthusiasts. Harps are hand-crafted in a range of sizes and styles, but Rees is particularly known for creating a small, lightweight version they call a Harpsicle. The harp factory was founded by William and Rebecca Rees, who moved from California to Rising Sun after being captivated by the beauty of the riverfront city.

Ohio County also has a heritage in furniture-making that stretches back to the mid-1800s. Also in the 19th century, renowned silversmith Samuel Best moved from Cincinnati to Rising Sun.

So what's the population in 2020 of our state's smallest county?

According to our guest Cliff Thies, the current estimate is 6,128.

Some history facts:

• During the 1840s, Ohio County was carved out of neighboring Dearborn County. By then, Rising Sun had long been a daily stop for hundreds of flatboats on the Ohio River. Also early on, the region experienced an influx of German immigrants.
• At the history museum in Rising Sun, the most famous artifact is the Hoosier Boy, a wooden powerboat built and raced by J.W. Whitlock, a local furniture maker and inventor. In 1924, the Hoosier Boy set a speed record for a round trip between Cincinnati and Louisville. During our show, guest Cliff Thies will explain why the record set by the Hoosier Boy never can be broken.
• Also during our show, Cliff will describe the various explanations for how Rising Sun got its distinctive name. He says some of the accounts are "romantic," but others are not.

With percussion instruments that included a makeshift washboard and a stage routine punctuated by comic banter between their musical numbers, they were nationally known entertainers from the 1920s through the mid-1940s.

The Hoosier Hot Shots were regulars on National Barn Dance, one of the most popular radio shows in the country, broadcast on WLS-AM in Chicago. They were featured as a novelty act in Western movies starring Gene Autry and slapstick comedies with the Three Stooges. They were headliners in vaudeville venues and recorded much of their music at Gennett Studios in Richmond, Ind., which launched the recording careers of many American jazz, blues, country and gospel stars during the era.

The three primary members of the Hot Shots band were Otto "Gabe" Ward, who was born in Knightstown and grew up in Elwood, and two brothers, Ken and Paul "Hezzie" Trietsch, who hailed from the small town of Arcadia in Hamilton County. The Indiana State Museum periodically has exhibited Gabe Ward's clarinet and Hezzie's unusual washboard instrument, which he made by hand; the exhibits also have included vintage posters for some of their 21 movies.

In this encore broadcast of a show from 2018, we turn our spotlight on the colorful and quirky Hoosier Hot Shots. Nelson is joined in studio by Todd Gould, a senior producer/director at WTIU-TV in Bloomington and a broadcasting instructor at Indiana University. In working with his WTIU colleagues on a documentary about Gennett, where emerging stars like Hoagy Carmichael, Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton recorded, Todd researched the Hot Shots. (Hoosier History Live explored the impact of the recording history made at Gennett Studios on a show in 2013.)

In an article about the Hoosier Hot Shots in the Fall 2018 issue of Traces, the Indiana Historical Society's magazine, Todd wrote:

"During two of the most tumultuous times in our nation's history, the Great Depression and World War II, Americans found comfort in the silly songs and crazy antics of a band from the flatlands of central Indiana ... Their sound and lyrics were unlike anything Americans in the early 20th century had ever heard before."

A sample lyric from a Hot Shots song:

From the Indies to the Andes in his undies And he never took a shave except on Mondays He didn't eat a thing but chocolate sundaes 'Twas a very, very daring thing to do.

In addition to Todd Gould, Nelson is joined in studio by Hamilton County historian David Heighway, who has researched the deep roots of the Trietsch family in the county. Ken Trietsch (rhymes with "beach") played the guitar and banjo while Hezzie played the washboard - as well as cowbells, horns, pie tins and, as Todd put it in his Traces article, "other assorted gear that looked more at home in a farmhouse kitchen than on a stage."

Periodically during our show, we feature brief excerpts of the Hoosier Hot Shots' recordings to give listeners a flavor of their distinctive routines.

Their signature line was a question - "Are you ready, Hezzie?" - posed by Ken Trietsch to his jokester brother just as the Hot Shots were about to kick off a routine.

Ken (1903-1987) and Hezzie (1905-1980) Trietsch came from a musical family in Hamilton County of five sons, all of whom played multiple instruments.

They met Gabe Ward (1904-1992) in the 1920s when all of them became members of the Rube Band, a vaudeville troupe known for playing "wildly extemporaneous, comical versions of the day's popular songs," according to Todd's article in Traces. After the Rube Band dissolved, the three Hoosiers eventually started performing on radio with the Hot Shots name.

Major success followed on National Barn Dance, which also launched the careers of Gene Autry, Patti Page and other entertainers. By the mid-1930s, the Hoosier Hot Shots had added a fourth member, Illinois native Frank Kettering, who played the bass fiddle, organ, piccolo and other instruments.

Among the quartet's most popular songs was Whistlin' Joe from Kokomo. According to Todd's article, the song was one of several Hot Shots' tunes featuring the names of Indiana towns.

During World War II, the Hoosier Hot Shots joined USO tours of North Africa and Italy. (Kettering, though, was drafted. He was replaced by a series of musicians who also weren't from Indiana.) The band's popularity waned by the early 1960s.

Click on the links below to listen to samples of songs from the Hoosier Hot Shots catalogue:

• The Coat and the Pants do All the Work (But the Vest Gets All the Gravy)
• I Like Bananas (Because They Have No Bones)
• From the Indies to the Andes in his Undies

Small cities and towns in Indiana often seem tranquil, but they periodically have been the settings for murders that made national headlines. They have also been the birthplaces of suspected killers, including a notorious native of Elwood dubbed "Gun Girl" by the national press during the Great Depression.

For one of our periodic shows exploring true crimes, Hoosier History Live will delve into several sensational murder cases that drew national attention to the state between 1869 and 1950. Among the cases will be some that illuminate aspects of social history, including the use of capital punishment, the insanity defense (which frequently was used by defense attorneys during the 19th century), and attitudes about women on trial for first-degree murder.

The historic crimes are among those included in No Place Like Murder (I.U. Press), a new book by Janis Thornton, an author of true crime and town history books who is based in Tipton, Ind. Janis, who has researched the murders and even visited the gravesites of several of the victims, will be Nelson's guest to explore cases involving:

• The first two men to die in the electric chair in Indiana. On the same day in 1914, John Chirka and Harry Rasico were executed in Michigan City at the Indiana State Prison. Although their crimes were unrelated, both men were convicted of murdering their wives - and, in Rasico's case, his toddler son as well. The murders were committed in 1913, the same year the state legislature voted to have the electric chair replace hanging at the state prison. No Place Like Murder describes how Indiana's governor, Samuel Ralston, opposed the death penalty personally but did not interfere with the executions.
• The 15-year-old "Gun Girl," who in 1930 dropped out of school in Elwood to go looking for adventure. Armed with pistols, Isabelle Messmer became implicated in crimes from Pennsylvania to Texas, where the pitcher for a semi-pro baseball team was found shot to death in a tourist cabin.
• The first woman to be tried for murder in Clinton County. In 1898, Frankfort resident Sarah Shenkenberger was accused of poisoning her daughter-in-law, Belle Shenkenberger, who (along with her 2-year-old son) had been living with her in-laws while her husband was serving in the Navy.

Most of the murderers and their victims in the cases we will explore were private citizens. An exception involves a sensational killing in 1881 when the controversial mayor of Kokomo was fatally shot during what may have been a bungled burglary.

Mayor Henry Cole was gunned down in a flour mill by a posse of Kokomo business and public officials. In No Place Like Murder, Janis Thornton poses the question of whether Cole was involved in a crime or was "the victim of an assassination conspiracy." In response to the mystery, she adds, "Local history buffs are still scratching their heads."

In connection with one of her visual history books about Indiana towns and counties, Images of America: Tipton County (Arcadia Publishing, 2012), Janis has been a previous Hoosier History Live guest. She also is the author of Too Good a Girl (Life Sentences Publishing, 2018), which explores the mysterious death of her Tipton high school classmate.

The Wright Brothers are so identified with Dayton, Ohio, where they lived for most of their adult lives, that even aviation buffs often are surprised to learn that one of the legendary siblings was a native Hoosier.

Not only was Wilbur, the eldest brother, born in the small town of Millville in eastern Indiana in 1867, other Indiana connections occurred as the family moved several times in both Indiana and Ohio during their youth. Wilbur Wright even attended high school for a few years in Richmond.

Those connections explain why Wilbur Wright is among the historic and contemporary aviation trail-blazers with links to the Hoosier state who have been inducted into a newly launched hall of fame, the Indiana Aviation Hall of Fame.

During our show, we will explore the lives as well as the national - and, in some cases, international - impact of several of these pioneers. They will include flamboyant aviation promoter and record-breaking racing pilot Roscoe Turner (1895-1970) of Indianapolis and entrepreneur James Allison, who usually is associated with his impact on early auto heritage and his partnership with Carl Fisher and others as founders of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Allison (1872-1928) also had a significant impact on aviation beginning at the onset of World War I, when a company he formed built the first two Liberty V-12 aircraft motors. His plant's engineers developed early pistons, gear boxes and other components that became widely used throughout the aviation industry.

Others in our spotlight will include retired astronaut and Gary, Ind., native Frank Borman, now 92, who also was a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, an aeronautical engineer and a test pilot. We won't be exploring several other notables with Indiana connections, including astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom; World War I aviation hero Weir Cook and Amelia Earhart, who developed a deep bond with Purdue University, because they have been the focus of previous Hoosier History Live shows.

For this show, Nelson's guests will be two board members of the Indiana Aviation Hall of Fame who are licensed pilots:

• David Newill of Zionsville, past president of the Allison branch of the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust. David, who oversaw the team that collected and restored artifacts on public display about the Indianapolis legacy of Rolls-Royce (and its predecessor, Allison, which operated under various names), is a popular speaker about aerospace history.
• And Bruce Montigney of Fishers, a former Federal Aviation Administration safety inspector who retired as the agency's manager of the Indianapolis district office for flight standards. During a 28-year career with the FAA, Bruce held numerous positions and is a certified flight instructor.

Earlier this year, David, Bruce and other aviation history enthusiasts launched the hall of fame, which currently exists as an online, website-based resource while organizers search for a physical site.

Some museums devoted to individual aviation pioneers have been open for several years. They include the Wilbur Wright Memorial Birthplace near Millville, which honors the achievements of the trail-blazing brother who died in 1912. (His younger brother Orville, who was born in Dayton in 1871, died in 1948.)

A museum in northern Indiana honors the achievements of aircraft industry executive Lawrence Bell, founder of Bell Aircraft Corp., which built jet-powered fighter aircraft for the U.S. military during World War II. The Bell Aircraft Museum is located in the town of Mentone in northern Indiana, where Lawrence Bell was born in 1894. Bell and his company made international headlines in 1947 when pilot Chuck Yeager became the first man to break the sound barrier while flying a Bell aircraft. Lawrence Bell died in 1956.

Frank Borman, the astronaut from Gary, also made international headlines. In 1968, he commanded Apollo 8, a space mission in which Borman and two fellow astronauts became the first human beings to leave the Earth's gravity and orbit the moon.

In addition to exploring the lives and impact of Borman, Bell, Wilbur Wright and other aviation pioneers, our show will spotlight Noblesville native William "Pete" Knight (1929-2004), an astronaut, aeronautical engineer, Vietnam War combat pilot and test pilot. Among a trove of honors, Knight was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

The cultural and theatrical life of the Hoosier capital suffered two huge losses during the third week of September 2020. Within the space of three days, Indianapolis learned of the death of two of its most creative, boundary-pushing directors: Ron Spencer, founder and artistic director of Theatre on the Square (TOTS), and Bryan Fonseca, who co-founded the Phoenix Theatre.

We hope to cover Fonseca and his work in theatre on a future show, but for now we turn our attention to the life of Ron Spencer, who grew up in McCordsville but attended high school in Indianapolis.

Ron Spencer's long life on the stage began as a child and extended all the way into his final years in Puerto Vallarta, where he moved after retiring from Theatre on the Square in 2014. And while he was well known as a director of shows at TOTS, he also made his mark as an actor, singer, and playwright.

Among Ron's writing credits: Dearest, a Mommy Musical, based on the tell-all book written by Christina Crawford about her tumultuous relationship with mother, actress Joan Crawford.

The camp, over-the-top production of Dearest - directed by Ron for the Indianapolis Fringe Festival and a follow-up TOTS production - was emblematic of his love for Hollywood stars of a certain age and their camp-classic films.

Under his leadership, TOTS held a "film noir" series which re-imagined revered (if sometimes ironically) cinematic gems like Mildred Pierce (1945) and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) as tongue-in-cheek stage plays, with Ron reenacting the roles originated by Bette Davis and other iconic female stars of the era.

It would be a mistake, however, to consider only the amusing and camp aspects of Ron's theatrical work. As the artistic director of Theatre on the Square, he spearheaded the production of such important plays as Corpus Christi by Terrence McNally, which raised questions about spirituality and sexuality.

And it was no accident that many TOTS shows featured the perspective of members of marginalized communities. As a gay man who came of age in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Ron knew what it meant to be treated as an outsider and understood the power of theatre to offer hope and change hearts.

In a memorable TOTS production of a musical featuring the work of composer George Winters, Ron sang the song "It Gets Better," a plea to LGBT youth being bullied by peers to look beyond the torment and see the rich, rewarding life that awaits them as adults.

The discussion of Ron Spencer's life will be led by Hoosier History Live associate producer Mick Armbruster, filling in for our regular host, Nelson Price. Mick will be joined by phone by two guests who knew and worked with Ron Spencer over the course of many years:

• Jeannie Logan, who worked with Ron on numerous musicals at Theatre on the Square and other local venues. For decades, Jeannie has performed as a vocalist all over the country and parts of the world. She currently works as a private vocal coach and also teaches at the Ji-Eun Lee Music Academy in Fishers.
• And Bill Book, a professional actor who has been performing in the Indianapolis area since the early 1980s. He has been directed by, performed on stage with and been close friends with Ron Spencer for over 33 years.

Mick, Jeannie and Michael will discuss Ron's early work in theatre, as well as his founding of Theatre on the Square in 1988 at its original location in Fountain Square. TOTS moved to Mass Avenue in 1993 to be part of the burgeoning arts district there. They'll explore the impact TOTS had on the cultural life of Indianapolis, as well as consider the factors that led to its demise in 2018.

Mick plans to open the WICR phone lines early in hope that some of Ron's many friends and theatrical associates will call in at (317) 788-3314 with their stories and memories.

We Hoosiers are known to be self-effacing, so there hasn't been much inclination to toot our own horn about the state's heritage of musical instrument making.

Consider this, though: the largest maker of drums and percussion equipment in the world during the early 1900s was located in Indianapolis.

And for most of the 20th century, Elkhart was known as the "musical instrument capital" of the country. Elkhart-based companies in the music instrument business include C.G. Conn, Armstrong Flutes, Bach Brass, Selmer Woodwinds, Buescher Band Instruments, Gemeinhardt Flutes and others.

For nearly 30 years beginning in 1903, Leedy Manufacturing Company in Indianapolis produced drum and percussion instruments. By the time the company was sold to C.G. Conn and moved to Elkhart in 1930, Leedy had a line of more than 900 products and was known for many "firsts" in percussion design. The company held more than 20 patents, including one for the vibraphone, which now is used in jazz bands.

Two guests will share details about the rich heritage of musical instrument-making in the Hoosier state:

• David Steele, an Indianapolis businessman and civic leader who owns The Steele Group, a management consulting business. A lifelong drummer, David is leading a crusade to have a historic marker placed on the former site of Leedy's factory on the near-southside of Indy.
• And Jim Catalano of Elkhart, a professional musician who is the retired marketing director for Ludwig Drum Company, which has had multiple changes in its corporate ownership. He also is an adjunct instructor at the University of Notre Dame and St. Mary's College.

According to Jim, C.G. Conn has the most storied history of the Elkhart-based musical instrument businesses. Founded in 1876 by Charles Gerard Conn, who went on to win election as mayor of Elkhart and eventually as a U.S. congressman, the company became the largest maker of band instruments in the world.

Because of C.G. Conn's success, other band instrument companies relocated to Elkhart. They came "to take advantage of the training and expertise that workers in Elkhart had acquired," Jim notes.

The Selmer Company, which began in Elkhart in 1920, initially made only flutes and clarinets. But in 1965, Selmer bought Bach Brass, which had been based in Mount Vernon, N.Y. Today, according to Jim Catalano, it is the country's largest maker of professional trumpets and trombones.

The drum-making heritage in Indianapolis had its origins with Ulysses G. Leedy (1867-1931), who toured as a percussionist across the country in the 1890s. He began making drum and percussion instruments in his apartment before starting his factory, according to David Steele.

In 1921, Leedy Manufacturing created an enormous, distinctive bass drum for the Purdue University All-American Marching Band. The original drum - which, when finished, was displayed in the rotunda of the Indiana State Capitol before being transported to West Lafayette - is the eye-catching instrument still used today by Purdue's marching band

In addition to drums and vibraphones, Leedy made tympani, xylophones and other percussion instruments at its Indianapolis factory. The 80,000-square-foot building, which was touted as "The World's Largest Drum Factory" during the early 1900s, still stands at Palmer Street and Barth Avenue; today, it houses Sense Charter School.

In addition to acquiring Leedy and moving its operations to Elkhart, Conn indirectly launched Buescher Band Instruments; its founder made saxophones at Conn before starting his own company in 1894. By 1901, Buescher also was making cornets.

German immigrant Karl Gemeinhardt came to Elkhart in 1928 to make flutes for Selmer, according to Jim Catalano. In the late 1940s, Gemeinhardt left to establish a flute company under his own name to compete with Selmer, Conn and Armstrong. Today, the company makes flutes and piccolos for student musicians as well as professionals.

By the 1970s, about 40 percent of the world's band instruments were being made in Elkhart, according to the Indiana Historical Bureau. The annual Elkhart Jazz Festival was started more than 30 years ago in part as an outgrowth of the city's instrument-making heritage.

Halloween festivities in 1918 were canceled in Indianapolis and other Hoosier cities because of the devastating influenza epidemic.

That's been noted during previous Hoosier History Live shows about the infamous epidemic - which is more accurately called a pandemic because the often fatal strain of influenza in 1918 and 1919 spread around the world.

Also during our previous shows on the topic - including a program that broadly explored Epidemics in Indiana history and an earlier show focused on the 1918 Influenza Epidemic in Indiana - medical historians discussed how the label "Spanish flu" mischaracterizes the 1918 health crisis. Our guests explained that contemporary experts point to sources other than Spain for the deadly influenza that caused havoc around the globe more than 100 years ago.

During our previous shows, we focused on the origins and the initial outbreaks in Indiana, leaving an unexpected and devastating "second wave" in 1918-19 mostly unexplored. So our distinguished medical historians, Dr. William McNiece and Bill Beck, will return for this show to share insights about additional aspects of the epidemic - which even included a "third wave" - as well as the eventual recovery.

Dr. McNiece, president of the Marion County Historical Society, is an anesthesiologist at an Indianapolis hospital. Bill Beck, founder of Lakeside Writers' Group, is an author who has written dozens of institutional history books, including histories of Indiana hospitals.

According to Bill Beck's research, factors that are thought to have contributed to subsequent waves of the historic epidemic include, in November 1918, the gatherings of thousands of Hoosiers cheering the end of World War I on Armistice Day (now known as Veterans Day).

The second wave, which began in September 1918, was far more deadly in the United States than the initial wave that occurred earlier in the year. The third wave ensued from November 1918 and persisted through February 1919. Even in March 1919, 70 residents of Muncie died of influenza, Bill Beck notes.

Our guests credit Dr. Herman Morgan, Marion County's top public health official for more than 30 years beginning in 1911, with saving lives by taking steps initially regarded as controversial. They included periodic mask orders, lockdowns and closing schools.

Throughout much of 1918, influenza was especially virulent in Army training facilities, including Fort Harrison in Indianapolis. Because the soldiers were living together in barracks, the spread of the flu was quick. According to Bill Beck, Camp Sherman in central Ohio - where many Hoosiers drafted during World War I were trained - registered the most deaths from influenza of any Army facility.

According to information from Dr. McNiece, 21 emergency hospitals were established across Indiana during the 1918-1919 epidemic.

The mysterious disappearance in 1913 of a 9-year-old girl in New Castle triggered a national search that continued for years. The possible abduction and murder of Catherine Winters - who vanished while walking on one of the town's busiest streets and never was found - became a haunting tale that continues to be told to this day.

Another eerie story - also rooted in history - is set at the Indiana Statehouse and involves an eccentric judge who was elected in the mid 1940s and served through the 1950s. Indiana Supreme Court Justice James Emmert, who kept a rifle in his office, was known to shoot noisy pigeons from his third-floor window. Ever since his death in 1974, security guards and Statehouse staffers occasionally have reported seeing a ghostly figure - clad in a judicial robe and toting a rifle - wandering the hallways.

And in Cambridge City, a historic town on the Old National Road (now US 40) in far-eastern Indiana, a spooky tale involves the former home of Gen. Sol Meredith, a Civil War hero who was the leader of the legendary Iron Brigade in the Union Army. A series of tragic deaths occurred in the historic home, resulting in folklore about a ghost sighting.

Historian and author Al Hunter, a columnist for the Weekly View newspaper based in the Irvington neighborhood of Indianapolis, will be Nelson's guest to share details about these and other haunting tales that involve historic people and places. Although Al is well-known for his popular ghost tour strolls through Irvington every October, we will explore a range of spooky sites across Indiana during our show. Our destinations include several cities and towns like Cambridge City that are on the Old National Road/U.S. 40; Al has been a board member of the Indiana National Road Association.

Among our stops on US 40: Terre Haute, where generations of residents are familiar with a creepy story involving Stiffy Green, a bulldog that was the beloved pet of a local man who died in 1920. After Stiffy's owner was interred in a family mausoleum at Highland Lawn Cemetery, the bulldog persisted in running away from home to sit near the crypt, so the story goes.

During our show, Al will describe events that unfolded when Stiffy died and, apparently after being taken to a taxidermist, was placed in his owner's mausoleum. Eventually Stiffy was moved to the Vigo County Historical Society, where he is one of the most popular exhibits today.

Our show will begin with a discussion of the Catherine Winters disappearance, which prompted searches involving hundreds of Hoosiers and inspired at least two songs about the missing girl, as well as the distribution of handbills in movie houses across the country in attempts to find her. Theories about her fate pointed to possible culprits ranging from a group of gypsies seen traveling through New Castle to her father and stepmother.

During the same era that Catherine Winters vanished - the early 1900s - sisters in Cambridge City were creating Arts and Crafts-style pottery that has been exhibited around the world. To this day, the Overbeck House and Studio draws visitors to Cambridge City who want to learn about the six sisters, four of whom were the most directly involved in creating widely acclaimed pottery from 1911 until 1955.

Our guest Al Hunter says haunting folklore is associated with the Overbeck sisters' house, which was built in the 1830s. The sisters did all of their work - from designing to firing the ceramic pottery - in their home studio.

Al Hunter, who has been featured on the History Channel and the Discovery Channel, also has been a guest on several previous Hoosier History Live shows. They include shows that explored the notorious serial killer H.H. Holmes and his connections to Indianapolis and the Lincoln Funeral Train, which came through Indiana in 1865. In addition, Al has written a new book, The Petersen House: The Oldroyd Museum and The House Where Lincoln Died (America Through Time). Although the historic house is in Washington D.C., it has a connection to Indiana. A book launch with Al is scheduled for Halloween Day (Oct. 31) from 2 pm-4 pm at the James Whitcomb Riley Boyhood Home & Museum in Greenfield.