The Demise of Crush, Texas

You might still be infatuated with Marfa, but there's a new (old) Texas town to become obsessed from afar with: Crush. As Sarah Hepola discovers in her journey through the intriguing Wikipedia page for the word "crush", this now non-existent town existed for only one day, and that day was certainly bizarre enough to last forever. It was created as a sort of publicity stunt in 1896 by William George Crush, a passenger agent of the Katy Railroad. His idea? Gather enough people in one place, put on a show and then ... watch two trains collide.

Sure enough, 40,000 people gathered three miles south of West, Texas and made it official: Crush was the second largest city in Texas that day. The train collision caused three deaths, a lost eye, and Crush's prompt firing (he was rehired the next day). Afterwards, the Katy Railroad would give people rides to the site of the crash for $2. Scott Joplin even wrote a tune about it. Learn more here.