Shirley Jackson and A Guy with an Electric Personality

Vol. 80: Get to know William Kemmler, but don't get too attached. We'll also create incredible coffee cocktails and celebrate Shirley Jackson's birthday. Ready to try your luck?

I’m A Few Decades Late, But Happy Birthday!

We’re celebrating one of the greatest creepy, spooky writers ever.

Shirley Jackson was born on December 14^th, 1916. If you haven’t read “The Lottery” since high school, or you’ve never read The Haunting of Hill House, you’re in for a proper scare. Jackson took hold of the reader, and you’d go with her as she pulled you into the haunted house, or the weird family home where mysteries unravel and you’re not sure who’s telling the truth. Maybe no one, but you could trust that you were good hands with Jackson. What a writer.

Go ahead and revisit “The Lottery”. It’s time well-spent.:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1948/06/26/the-lottery

SPOOKY BOOKY

Grendel by John Gardner

Alfred A. Knopf, 1971

The story of Beowulf has always been told by the victorious humans. Here, Grendel the monster tells his side of the epic story.

He remembers his first sighting of men, his fear at learning of their numbers and his recognition that these creatures had language to communicate with each other. This created a jealousy in Grendel as he could also speak but had only a dull-witted mother for a companion. He watched the humans for years, gleefully observing the decline of the king, at times finding that he admired individual men. When he finally decided to show himself at the mead hall, his hope of finding companionship is misunderstood and the result is tragic. Scare Scale: 1.5

DOYOULIKECOFFEEIDOIDO!!!!!

I know I’m not the only one here who is fueled by several cups of coffee a day. Being this creepy takes a lot outta you. Though I drink iced coffee in the summer, I like freshly brewed hot coffee from home best. A cup of hot coffee is craveable and all it takes is to see someone on tv drinking coffee for me to want it.

I’ve gathered up maple and pumpkin recipes in the past, and now it’s coffee’s turn. I’ve chosen recipes that can be made with minimal equipment.

First, know that despite appearances, Light Roast contains the highest amount of caffeine since it has been roasted the shortest amount of time. The darker the roast, the richer the flavor and the less caffeine. How amped do you want to be?

My preferred ratio is one tablespoon ground coffee to 8 oz of water. It’s a flavorful cup.

Recipes:

Turkish Coffee: recipe from Coffee Love

11/2 tsp extra fine ground coffee- (I’d recommend something like Lavazza’s Crema E Gusto, which is powder fine)

1 tsp sugar

6 tbs cold water

1 tiny pinch ground cardamom, optional

Mix the ingredients in a small saucepan or the traditional ibrik. Heat on low while watching carefully. Wait for the froth, and just as it begins to bubble, remove from heat and allow the froth to settle. Put the saucepan back on the heat and repeat the process three more times, keeping an eye on the froth.

Pour the coffee into a demitasse cup and allow to sit a few minutes until the grounds have settled. Do not stir before drinking.

Coffee Keokee: recipe from The Complete Bartender

¾ oz brandy

¾ oz Kahlua

hot coffee

Stir the brandy and Kahlua together in a mug, then top with hot coffee. Top with whipped cream.

The Maple Jolt: recipe from The Maple Motherload

1 tbs maple syrup

1 tbs milk

2 tbs maple cream liqueur

8 oz dark roast coffee

Stir the first three ingredients together in a mug, then stir in the coffee. Top with whipped cream, if desired. (The maple cream liqueur can be switched out for pumpkin liqueur or Bailey’s.)

The Anatolia Cafe Cocktail: recipe from Town & Country

1 oz cognac

1 oz Luxardo Cherry Liqueur

¼ oz cinnamon syrup

coffee

Mix the first three ingredients together in a tall mug. Top off with 4 ounces of hot, robust coffee. Top with whipped cream and a dusting of cinnamon.

The Worst Seat in the House: William Kemmler

We live in an era of constant bragging about being the first at this or that, everybody wants to be first. But a lot of times, being first means being the one who gets to work out the kinks with something new. Sometimes being first means getting the worst. This is the story of one man who earned his place at the front of the line.

William Francis Kemmler was born May 9^th, 1860 in Philadelphia to German immigrant parents. He grew up fluent in both English and German but he left school at ten years old, having never learned to read or write, and worked in his father’s butcher shop. Both his parents were alcoholics, something that Kemmler would battle himself from a young age. He would also be on his own at a young age, as his father died from an infection that developed after being wounded in a fight. Soon after, his mother died from complications associated with her alcoholism. He was likely still in his teens when he was left to survive on his own.

He made his way to Buffalo, New York and came up with enough money to buy a horse and cart, setting himself up as a vegetable peddler, someone who walked the streets calling out for customers. He was known as “Philadelphia Billy” but also widely known by the alias “John Hort”, so much so that the later legal documents involving him would list both names.

Kemmler was known as a heavy drinker and carouser, to the point that, on a bet, he ended up destroying his own cart and merchandise. It’s unknown how he made a living afterwards.

Kemmler had a common-law wife named Matilda Ziegler, known as “Tillie”. Kemmler had been drinking all night on March 28^th,1889, and was still drunk the morning of the 29^th when he confronted Tillie in their home and accused her of stealing from him, which she denied. He grew more furious as he then accused her of plotting to run away with one of his friends, which Tillie also denied. She must have felt some relief when Kemmler stormed from the house, but after a trip to the barn, he was back with a hatchet. He proceeded to hack Tillie to death. He went to a neighbor’s house and confessed to what he had done.

He was arrested, and for Kemmler, justice moved swiftly. He killed Tillie March 29^th and on May 10^th he was convicted of first-degree murder. On May 13^th he was sentenced to death. And now we arrive at the reason William Kemmler is still remembered. After much deliberation, the state of New York had recently changed their method of execution from hanging to electrocution. Kemmler was to be the first man executed in the electric chair, a device invented right there in Buffalo by a dentist, Alfred Southwick.

Hangings can go wrong very easily if the executioner is bad at math. To properly hang someone, the prisoner’s height and weight are used to determine the length of both the rope and drop needed to instantly snap the neck. If these calculations are wrong the prisoner will either slowly strangle or the head will pop off the shoulders. A decapitation is not a hanging. The state believed it was time to progress. Upon taking office in 1885, Governor David Bennett Hill stated:

“The present mode of executing criminals by hanging has come down to us from the dark ages, and it may well be questioned whether the science of the present day cannot provide a means for taking the life of such as are condemned to die in a less barbarous manner.”

The state had chosen Southwick’s invention as their means of execution soon after but they didn’t have a candidate until Kemmler’s conviction. In addition, the last several years had seen an intense battle raging over electricity. Thomas Edison had developed the DC current (direct current), which meant that it ran in one continuous direction at a steady rate. Fellow inventor George Westinghouse, who held the patent on Nikola Tesla’s AC current (alternating current), believed that his stronger current should be used throughout the United States. The Auburn Prison, where Kemmler was held, used DC, the weaker current, which Edison believed would deliver a humane death.

On August 6, 1890, thirty year-old Kemmler was woken by the guards at 5am. He was given breakfast and dressed, after which his head was shaved. Then he was walked to the execution chamber. Warden Charles Durston introduced Kemmler to the seventeen men who would witness the execution, and Kemmler remarked to the room, “Gentlemen, I wish you all good luck. I believe I am going to a good place and I am ready to go.”

A hole was cut in the back of his suit to allow the electrodes to be attached to his spine. He was strapped into the chair, a covering pulled over his face, and a metal plate strapped to the top of his head. At this point Kemmler spoke his last words: “Take it easy and do it properly. I’m in no hurry.”

The 1000 volts that passed through Kemmler’s body for seventeen seconds were supposed to induce an immediate heart attack and quick death. In fact, Kemmler was declared dead by the two attending physicians, but he was merely unconscious. When this became clear, one of the physicians yelled out for the switch to be flipped again because the sentencing had ruled that “...the application of such current must be continued until such convict is dead.”

This time, the voltage was increased to 2000 and left on for two minutes. The witnesses watched as the blood vessels burst and bled. Kemmler’s hair and skin began to burn from the direct skin to metal contact and the small room filled with smoke and a horrible stench. Some witnesses would later say that Kemmler’s body was actually on fire. The total time of the execution was eight minutes. The autopsy revealed that the brain had become dry and hard and the blood vessels in the head had carbonized. Dr. Southwick was pleased with the results, saying, “We live in a higher civilization from this day on.” George Westinghouse heard of the events and remarked, “They would have done better with an axe.”

How’s that for a job badly done?

Next week: we’re visiting the filming location of a favorite ghostly movie, making our own liqueur, and meeting a very naughty clown. Sounds like fun to me!