Marilyn, I think your aunt's story has some validity but I rely on other readers of the list in the Loudoun area to remember more details. A recent--past month or so--article in the Washington Post wrote about these sad cases, and much more recently than you cite, of sterilizations of girls, perhaps in the Staunton area? Help me, members... I had not heard of the ripple effect of children hearing about a man coming and running away as a result. That could explain family members' suddenly disappearing. On the contrary, I had heard of DC girls who had gotten pregnant in the 1940s and 50s who were sent to Leesburg--one man in his 70s I recently spoke to mentioned at least one home he remembered that took in such girls--for the term of their pregnancies.The infants were often quietly given up for adoption to new local families (arranged by Dr. Wynkoop, the local gynecologist who only died in the last 10 years or so), and the girls returned to their families in DC. Bronwen from Waterford -----Original Message----- From: Marilyn Marlow [mailto:marilyn498@webtv.net] Sent: Tuesday, May 21, 2002 12:38 PM To: VALOUDOU-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [VALOUDOU-L] Wayward Children Hello everyone , I am about to ask a question that may sound strange but here goes. I was talking to my aunt who is 72 and she told me a strange story about my great Aunt Pleasant when she was a chid in Loudoun County, Virginia that a man came and took some of the girls from Loudoun County to Statton Virginia between 1912-1915 where they did some pretty bad things to these girls, experiments on them and made them streile. My great Aunt Pleasant was so scared that she ran away from there to Baltimore Md. and lived out her life there. Has anyone come across anything like this in their research if so let me know please. Marilyn ==== VALOUDOU Mailing List ==== Join the Rootsweb Genealogical Data Cooperative. Rootsweb members & sponsors are who make this list possible. http://www.rootsweb.com