“Here’s where you see all the freaks,” boasted one exhibitor in the 1902 County Fair Carnival’s official guidebook. “Several gypsy queens will tell you your fortunes by palmistry,” read another. Every year in April, the carnival descended on the University of Michigan campus, complete with a parade, live music, and exhibits. Students in this 1906 image by Alford S. Lyndon ride in a “Mysterious Ypsi” wagon. [Norton Townsend Brotherton Collection, HS10029]

William J. Hussey, a professor of astronomy, served as Director of U-M’s Detroit Observatory from 1905-06. He loved the observatory so much that when he died, his family petitioned the Regents for his ashes to be interred in the building’s central pier. Hussey’s remains were stored there for a time, but were eventually moved to the nearby Forest Hill Cemetery. [BL001681]

“I am your true friend.” Not exactly the words you want to hear from a serial killer. But that’s precisely what Herman A. Mudgett, aka H.H. Holmes — who confessed to 27 murders and who was featured in Erik Larson’s bestselling book Devil in the White City — wrote to fellow U-M Medical School alumnus Edward Hofma in an 1884 autograph album. Beneath the signature is “Gilmanton, N. Hampshire,” noting the small town where Mudgett was born. He was executed in 1896. At his own direction Mudgett’s coffin was encased in cement and buried 10 feet deep.
He had a terrible fear of his body being stolen and ending up on a dissecting table.

Marion Burton was inaugurated as U-M’s fifth president in 1920. He served the University until his death of a heart attack in February 1925. He was 50 years old. Burton’s body was displayed in Alumni Memorial Hall — now the U-M Museum of Art — for those wishing to pay their last respects. More than 10 years after Burton’s death, architect Albert Kahn designed the Burton Memorial Tower on Central Campus. [HS3925]

When U-M established its Department of Medicine and Surgery in 1849, the professorship of anatomy was one of its five initial faculty positions. Michigan’s anatomy laboratory, pictured here circa 1893, was on the second floor of the campus’ original Medical Building, now the site of the Randall Physics Laboratory. The acquisition of cadavers for study was fraught with conflict and controversy: The state required U-M to teach anatomy, but procuring bodies for such a purpose was illegal. [BL002089] (See “Such Horrible Business” at heritage.umich.edu.)

James Burrill Angell, the University’s third and longest-serving president, died at the age of 87 on April 1, 1916. Known affectionately during his tenure as “Prexy Angell,” his funeral procession down State Street attracted thousands of Michigan students clad in black. Angell is now buried in Ann Arbor’s Forest Hill Cemetery. [HS758]

Last year, Bloomberg Businessweek reported the top online costume searches were for Minon (from the movie Despicable Me) and Batman. Had Google existed back in 1918, it looks like these girls in Collegiate Sorosis would have been searching for Carter’s Inx costumes (an early 1900’s brand of inks and glues). Or fighting babies. Or musical dresses. [HS1439]

Is it a mime? Is it a clown? Is it a super scary mime-clown lying in wait until you fall asleep tonight? Whatever it is, U-M staff photographer Robert Kalmbach captured its existence on campus in this undated image from the Kalmbach collection at the Bentley. Kalmbach worked at the University for 45 years. His photographs appeared in a variety of publications, including National Geographic.