Customer Reviews

Death in California: The Bizarre, Freakish, and Just Curious Ways People Die in the Golden State

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This is what I call a great little "popcorn" book. Each short chapter can be read, with pictures and all, without reference to any other. So you can pick it up and put it down, as you might with bathroom reading material. There are some famous cases here, like the mysterious death of President Harding or the explosion in the Caldecott Tunnel or the helicopter accident that killed Bill Graham. But there are also esoteric ones, some from long ago and about people unknown, who merit inclusion only because their manner of death was somewhat quirky. Personally, having been born and raised in the Golden State, I didn't find anything particularly "Californian" in the way that they died, as crime and freakish accidents can happen anywhere. But don't let that stop you, as this book is morbidly good fun. (There is even a convenient map to help you get your bearings as to who died where.)

Death in California: The Bizarre, Freakish, and Just Curious Ways People Die in the Golden State lives up to its title as a quirky compendium of true stories of unusual ways people have met their ends in California - from the tragedy of 14 tourists swept over Vernal Fall in Yosemite National Park, to Bob "Bear" Hite's overdose on heroin at Hollywood nightclub, to a 10-ton jet that crashed in a Bay Area kitchen. Here are suicides, homicides, one-in-a-million deadly accidents, and more. A handful of vintage black-and-white photographs pepper this unforgettably compelling account of grisly mishaps, dark twists of fate, and ill luck of the worst kind.

This is another wonderful little dare-you-to-put-it-down anthology of Horrible Things that have happened in the Golden State. What I love most about David's anthologies (his previous work was California Justice) is that many of the stories he writes about occurred in my old neck of the woods (Northern California near Chico), an area that isn't often discussed in books. The fascinating but true stories he dredges up make me wonder why on earth I hadn't done research of this variety myself when I lived there. How much more enriching would my trips to various destinations in the state have been if I'd known the morbid history that played out there? The answer: Much more enriching. Of course. As they will be the next time I visit them with Death In California in hand!

This particular volume is my favorite of his tomes, as it discusses a wide variety of interesting deaths from murderous drunken pioneers, wicked stepmothers, and doomed snake charmers to plane crashes, mysterious celebrity deaths, and toddlers trapped in wells. Some of the stories you will no doubt have heard before, though rarely told as well, but the best tales are the ones veiled in obscurity - like the Wheatland Hop Riot of August 3, 1913, where a labor dispute ended with three men dead and several injured. It was the second major labor dispute in United States history - and I'd never heard of it before.

Another highly fascinating tale is that of The Ape Boy, Gordon Stewart Northcott, who raped and murdered several boys at the Wineville Chicken Ranch in Los Angeles County. In fact, the photographs of Northcott that accompany the text are creepy enough all by themselves!

However, for me, the best part of the book comes early on, when David tells a story that is all too rarely voiced in California history: the plight of the Native Americans of the state, who had lived in peace and prosperity for thousands of years before they were hunted, double-crossed, enslaved, and impoverished by the invading pioneers. In fact, reading a few of the stories left me hungry to learn more about the atrocities. Perhaps the most disgusting was the poisoning of hundreds of Shasta Indians at a treaty-signing feast on November 4, 1851. Stories like this really put into perspective the horrible price paid for Manifest Destiny.

I sincerely hope David keeps up the good work. There are so many obscure tales just waiting for him to get out the shovel and exhume them. I'm looking forward to his next collection of esoteric morbidity!

Seriously. It's a collection of short stories that are the perfect length for a book to keep next to the commode, and they're interesting, and true to boot so you're learning something. Written in accessible and entertaining vernacular that makes history interesting. His California Justice: Shootouts, Lynchings and Assassinations in the Golden State is also a great read.

disclosure: I know the author; he lives in my neighborhood. He's a cool guy.

This book was well written and is a great read. It is fascinating to learn about such bizarre death that I never knew had occurred in California. I am glad that Kulczyk put his time and talents into this book. If you like history, death, California, great writing or you just like to read about the freakish then this is a must have.

Interesting background on a number of events that you may have heard of over the years and wondered what the real facts were.

I love this book! I picked this up on the recommendation of a friend, and it is a great read. The stories combine the macabre with the bizarre, yet the chronological collection of grim deaths is interspersed with enough historical context to make me feel like I'm learning -- and yet it reads like a guilty pleasure. Kulczyk has a straightforward writing style, with a dry, deadpan (pun intended) sense of humor towards his real-life characters, keeping it light despite the subject matter. I really felt like I knew intimate details about the characters, and could visualize the settings in both time and place. It seems really well researched, too. If TruTV married History Channel, the baby would be "Death in California." The stories range from historical deaths resulting from tension from native Californians and newcomers, up to present-day murders from marital discord. Throw in a couple of serial killers, some suicide, accidents, and tabloid murder, and you have Death in California!

I also consider myself somewhat of a true crime buff, and almost all of these stories were new to me, and the ones that weren't presented a new point of view or new facts. That was a pleasant surprise. Too many times I order books like this and they are retreads of the same old stuff (and often dead wrong in facts). One of the more fascinating tabloid deaths was the story of the girl who played Buffy in "Family Affair."

Another thing I really enjoyed was that as a working mother of two kids, each chapter was a story unto itself, with a beginning, middle, and end. If I couldn't read for a couple of days, or was interrupted, I could pick back up where I left off.

When's the next one coming out??? I want a "Death in Ohio"!

On a whim I went to see David Kulczyk talk about this book at my local book shop on Halloween this year. It was worth the trip. I came home with two signed books (they make great gifts)and a head full of strange stories. He even has the story of that sicko depicted in the movie The Changling.

I grew up in California and even I didn't know all of the stories in here and the ones I did know, I hadn't heard all the details. Kulczyk has done all of the research to dig up the interesting stuff, put in some photos, added a detailed index, and put together a nifty book book you won't want to put down.

I AM RESEARCHING THE UNSOLVED MURDERS IN KEDDIE 1981, FOUR PEOPLE WERE KILLED. SUE SHARP, AGE 36, JOHNNY SHARP, AGE 15, DANA WINGATE, AGE 17(A FRIEND). THE YOUNGEST DAUGHTER TINA, AGE 12, WAS MISSING. THEY FOUND HER SKULL ONLY ABOUT 3 YEARS LATER IN FEATHER FALLS.

THERE ARE A BUNCH OF US WHO ARE ON THE FORUMS ON; CABIN 28: THE KEDDIE MURDERS. JOIN US AND READ ABOUT THE CASE AND ENTER YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT IT.

THIS IS THE ONLY BOOK I COULD FIND THAT EVEN MENTIONED THESE MURDERS AND THE FACT THAT ON APRIL 11, 2011, IT WILL BE 3 YEARS AND STILL AN OPEN CASE.

SARA

Every state has its stories of the bizarre and freakish ways its citizens meet their ends. However, California has earned a particularly curious reputation, and author David Kulczyk has assembled some of the more interesting stories of murder and accidental death in the Golden State. From the freak accident that claimed the life of Russ Columbo to the inexplicable behavior of people visiting Yosemite, Kulczyk sheds light on California's rich heritage of bad decisions and plain bad luck among its famous and not so famous citizens. Going up in a helicopter during a "nasty storm" just may have been the worst decision of them all. This is a fascinating read, and clears up the mystery surrounding some of California's most publicized yet least understood tragedies.