Crime Waves and Savage Fads From History That Were Just Unnatural

1. The Freedomite Crime Spree

The Freedomites waged a virtual guerrilla war in British Columbia against the modern world for decades, especially against other Doukhobors whom they viewed as backsliders. From 1923 to 1962, the Freedomites’ crime spree included over 1100 bombings and arsons. The authorities fought back with sentences of up to three years imprisonment for nude protesters and seizing the sect’s children to send to state institutions.

The violence continued, however, culminating in a series of 259 bombings in 1962 in just one region of British Columbia. Targets included ferries, railways, power lines and stations, hotels, courthouses, and the destruction of entire villages. The authorities finally decapitated the sect in March of 1962 by arresting sixty of its leaders, and charging them with conspiracy to intimidate the Canadian Parliament and the Legislature of British Columbia. With their leaders behind bars, the remaining Doukhobors rapidly assimilated into Canadian society. Relative peace has reigned since, while Canadian Doukhobor numbers dwindled from a peak of 40,000 to about 2,200 in 2011.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Chicago Tribune, October 7^th, 2001 – King of the Hills

Churchill, David, History and Societies, 18(1) 131-152 – Rethinking the State Monopolisation Thesis: the Historiography of Policing and Criminal Justice in Nineteenth Century England

Churchill, David, Social History, 392:2, 248-266 – ‘I Am Just the Man For Upsetting You Bloody Bobbies’: Popular Animosity Towards the Police in Late Nineteenth Century Leeds

Clement, Dominique – Canada’s Rights Revolution: Social Movement and Social Change, 1937-82 (2008)

Cracked – 6 Real Crime Waves From History That Were Hilariously Insane

Davis, Susan G., American Quarterly, Volume 34.2 (Summer 1982) – Making the Night Hideous: Christmas Revelry and Public Order in Nineteenth Century Philadelphia

Encyclopedia Britannica – Sumptuary Law

History Collection – Panic Outbreaks That Shaped History and Controlled the Masses

Gizmodo – In the 18^th Century, Wig-Stealing Bandits Roamed England’s Countryside

Los Angeles Times, June 4^th, 2018 – Zoot Suit Riots: After 75 Years, LA Looks Back on a Violent Summer

New York Times, September 16^th, 1922 – City Has Wild Night of Straw Hat Riots

New York Tribune, September 16^th, 1922 – Straw Hat Smashing Orgy Bares Heads From Battery to Bronx

Slate – The 1922 Straw Hat Riot Was One of the Weirdest Crime Sprees in American History

Taylor, Troy – True Crime Illinois: The State’s Most Notorious Criminal Cases (2009)

History Collection – Bonkers Crimes and Criminals In History

Wikipedia – History of the Metropolitan Police

Wikipedia – Straw Hat Riot

Wikipedia – Zoot Suit Riots