# The Story Of Florida’s “Nub City,” Where Residents Cut Off Their Own Appendages For Insurance Money



## Leeda.the.Paladin (Oct 15, 2021)

The Story Of Florida’s “Nub City,” Where Residents Cut Off Their Own Appendages For Insurance Money​By Gabe Paoletti
Published November 2, 2017
Updated June 12, 2019
It was near impossible to convict scammers of fraud because jurors had a hard time believing that people would willingly engage in self-mutilation.​





IFC FilmsOlder resident of Vernon, Florida.
In the late 1950s and early 60s, the Florida Panhandle was responsible for _*two-thirds of all loss-of-limb accident claims in the United States *_due largely to one town: Vernon, Florida.

This was because Vernon was the site of a widespread insurance scam where residents would dismember themselves for a payout. The problem was so extensive, the town became known as, “Nub City” for this very reason, was in dire economic straits. The steamboats that had once passed through the town had gradually disappeared and all the major railroads running through the county passed Vernon by.

Furthermore, the saw mill that had given many of the people of the town their jobs had closed down.

How the scam began is unknown, but what is assumed is that at some point, one person living in Vernon lost a limb and received a large payout from their life insurance policy.

Word of this large payout must have spread among the community, because more and more residents of the town began intentionally losing their limbs, and some even took out exorbitant life insurance policies directly before these horrible “accidents” befell them.

With the dwindling opportunities of their small town, the prospect of receiving a large sum of money for mutilating one’s self became increasingly seductive to the people of Vernon.

*Some Nub Club members hacked and sawed their own limbs off, but most took the relatively easier method of shooting themselves with a shotgun.*

These people would make outlandish justifications for these injuries in their insurance claim. One claimed he shot his own hand while aiming for a hawk, while another said that he shot his foot when he mistook it for a squirrel.

These claims generally received payouts of $5,000 to $10,000, but as the scam went on, the claims increased in value as the residents became more bold.

John Joseph Healy, an insurance investigator for Continental National American insurance group, was sent to Vernon once the claims started exceeding $100,000.

He said, “Vernon’s second-largest occupation was watching hound dogs mating in the town square, its largest was self-mutilation for monetary gain.”




Wikimedia CommonsLocation of Vernon.
“To sit in your car on a sweltering summer evening on the main street of Nub City,” he wrote in a report, “watching anywhere from eight to a dozen cripples walking along the street, gives the place a ghoulish, eerie atmosphere.”

By the mid-1960s, 50 of the towns 700 residents were members of the “*Nub Club.”*

Murray Armstrong, an insurance official for Liberty National who investigated the claims coming from the Florida Panhandle at the time, recalled, “*There was a man who took out insurance with 28 or 38 companies.*”

However, it was near impossible to convict scammers of fraud, because jurors had a hard time believing that people would willingly amputate their own limbs and appendages.

One farmer walked away with nearly $1,000,000 from a claim for a lost foot, which evidence points to self-amputation.

This practice finally ended in the late 1960s when premium rates became too high and insurers stopped doing business in the Panhandle.

However, among the older residents of the town, many of whom are missing limbs, hands, or eyes, one can still see why Vernon is truly Nub City.

In the 1980s, documentary filmmaker Errol Morris attempted to shoot a documentary about the town, but after he received death threats and was beaten up by the Marine veteran son of a Nub Club member, he turned his movie into a slice of life documentary about the eccentric residents of the town entitled in a film called _Vernon, Florida_.


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## demlew (Oct 15, 2021)

Wow - just when you think you've heard it all.

I'm sorry, but this sentence got me  :
One farmer *walked away* with nearly $1,000,000 from a claim for a *lost foot*, which evidence points to self-amputation.


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## Ganjababy (Oct 18, 2021)

Only in Florida


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## luckiestdestiny (Oct 19, 2021)

Ganjababy said:


> Only in Florida


Really!   I mean come on.  It's funny but really not funny. I mean  .


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## LivingInPeace (Oct 19, 2021)

“America. The greatest country in the world!”
“They hate us because of our freedoms!”


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## MizAvalon (Oct 19, 2021)

I’m sorry but this is funny as hell! These hillbillies stay providing awesome entertainment!


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## CarefreeinChicago (Oct 19, 2021)

In freaking sane 
Meanwhile my lawsuit against Uber where I got a concussion probably won’t even net enough to cover my $50,000 in hospital bills and future medical bills and I was just the passenger and these crazy people doing it to themselves in freaking sane


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## Iwanthealthyhair67 (Oct 20, 2021)

I don't know whether to laugh or be shocked a this craziness


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## awhyley (Oct 20, 2021)

This reads like a bad movie script.  Living limbless just for a few dollars?  Hope they spent that money wisely, but they probably just bought trucks and boats and other things that devalued quickly.


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## Sosoothing (Oct 20, 2021)

These people would make outlandish justifications for these injuries in their insurance claim. One claimed he shot his own hand while aiming for a hawk, *while another said that he shot his foot when he mistook it for a squirrel*.


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## BrownBetty (Oct 20, 2021)

I listened to a podcast on this very town.  I'll post if I can find it.

They were making moneeey making themselves amputees.  It was a whole scheme.


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## Leeda.the.Paladin (Oct 20, 2021)

Listened to a podcast on this and heard several other tidbits

- one man had his “accident” 12 hours after he bought the policy
- another had Insurance premiums that were more than his income. He had coverage with 38 companies and got a pay out of 2 million dollars. when he shot himself, he had a tourniquet in his pocket and was driving his wife’s vehicle, which was “lucky” because he wouldn’t have otherwise been able to work the clutch on his truck.

Heres the link to the podcast. Highly entertaining and interesting!











						Episode 148: Errol Morris (9.25.2020)
					

Early in his career, Errol Morris read about a shocking series of alleged insurance crimes in Florida. When he told an insurance investigator he wanted to go to Florida to make a documentary, the investigator said,




					thisiscriminal.com


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## BrownBetty (Oct 20, 2021)

Leeda.the.Paladin said:


> Listened to a podcast on this and heard several other tidbits
> 
> - one man had his “accident” 12 hours after he bought the policy
> - another had Insurance premiums that were more than his income. He had coverage with 38 companies and got a pay out of 2 million dollars. when he shot himself, he had a tourniquet in his pocket and was driving his wife’s vehicle, which was “lucky” because he wouldn’t have otherwise been able to work the clutch on his truck.
> ...


This is the one!


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## Leeda.the.Paladin (Oct 20, 2021)

BrownBetty said:


> I listened to a podcast on this very town.  I'll post if I can find it.
> 
> They were making moneeey making themselves amputees.  It was a whole scheme.





BrownBetty said:


> This is the one!


Girl, I love me some Criminal!


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## MizAvalon (Oct 20, 2021)

Leeda.the.Paladin said:


> Listened to a podcast on this and heard several other tidbits
> 
> - one man had his “accident” 12 hours after he bought the policy
> - another had Insurance premiums that were more than his income. He had coverage with 38 companies and got a pay out of 2 million dollars. when he shot himself, he had a tourniquet in his pocket and was driving his wife’s vehicle, which was “lucky” because he wouldn’t have otherwise been able to work the clutch on his truck.
> ...


At least this dude had enough sense to really get paid. 2 million dollars went a long way in Littletown, USA back in those days. But those dumbos that disfigured themselves for 5k? A couple years later you are still broke but now you can’t work because you only have one hand.


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## BrownBetty (Oct 20, 2021)

Leeda.the.Paladin said:


> Girl, I love me some Criminal!


One of my favs... I usually binge the episodes.  Did you listen to "the loves"?  It is from the last couple of weeks.


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## Leeda.the.Paladin (Oct 20, 2021)

BrownBetty said:


> One of my favs... I usually binge the episodes.  Did you listen to "the loves"?  It is from the last couple of weeks.


No, I'm going to listen to it later tonight. Was it good?

Do you listen to the podcast they recommend a lot called "This is Love?"


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## Leeda.the.Paladin (Oct 20, 2021)

@BrownBetty I only discovered it a few weeks ago and have been hopping around the episodes. I love how they focus on stories from all walks of life.


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## Leeda.the.Paladin (Oct 20, 2021)

MizAvalon said:


> At least this dude had enough sense to really get paid. 2 million dollars went a long way in Littletown, USA back in those days. But those dumbos that disfigured themselves for 5k? A couple years later you are still broke but now you can’t work because you only have one hand.


lol! Some of those guys reminded me of Lucky from King of the Hill.  He slipped on a wet floor at a gas station and got 10,000 dollars. His friends were like "Lucky bastard doesn't have to work for the rest of his life."  

I mean, I guess if you are poor enough to be hunting racoons as your main source of food, then 5k in 1960 might seem like a fortune.


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## BrownBetty (Oct 20, 2021)

Leeda.the.Paladin said:


> No, I'm going to listen to it later tonight. Was it good?
> 
> Do you listen to the podcast they recommend a lot called "This is Love?"


It was, HONY covered the story then I caught it on criminal.

I'm not consistent with "this is love".  Haven't listened since last year maybe.


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