Gain the world, lose the soul
- Rev. Alex Hoffmeyer
- Nov 20
- 2 min read
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the city of Vernon, FL was responsible for nearly two-thirds of all limb-loss accidents in the United States. Fifty of the town’s 700 residents lost their limbs in that time, and all fifty received large payouts from insurance to compensate for their crippled state. When investigators saw this pattern, they naturally looked into the small town to see what was causing these accidents. But they found out these weren’t accidents. They were scams. The residents were deliberately mutilating themselves to collect insurance money. It was so widespread the town was nicknamed “Nub City.”