On Wednesday, September 29, 1880, 63-year-old Asa Giles Farnham of Tolland, Massachusetts, traveled to Westfield, Massachusetts, where he sold a load of potatoes and cranberries. As evening fell, he returned to his farm.   Earlier that year, on March 11, Asa had experienced a family loss: one of his brothers, David Frost Farnham, had died of cirrhosis of the liver. Months later, an ordinary autumn evening would turn tragic. When Farnham arrived home, he found that supper was not yet ready, and a disagreement arose between him and his wife, Lucy. The argument became heated. Moments later, Asa left the house carrying a length of clothesline. He walked out to his apple orchard and hanged himself from one of the trees.       What did you think of this story? Let us know.       Help us tell forgotten stories like Asa's.  Support the Southwick Time Machine today.   Edited Out/Author's Additional Research Notes   Asa Gile...

On June 9, 1874, in Granville, Alfred Hodge , 62, was repairing a fence with Clarence Johnson , 19, when a thunderstorm rolled in. Hodge took shelter beneath a tree while Johnson raised his axe to cut away a limb. At that very instant, lightning struck. Alfred Hodge's Gravestone Granville, Massachusetts   The jolt was so fierce it drove the axe blade and its handle deep into the ground. Hodge was killed instantly. Witnesses said the “electric fluid” entered through his eyes and mouth, traveled through his entire body, and exited through his big toe—leaving a small, burned hole about the size of a pea in his boot as grim evidence of its path. Most chilling of all, the lightning appeared to leave an image on Hodge’s side—an imprint of the very tree under which he stood, as if nature itself had captured his final moment. Clarence Johnson survived but was badly burned and temporarily left unable to use his limbs. It's interesting to note that Clarence's grandfather was born o...