Florida’s ‘Nub City’ Phenomenon
The Disturbing Self-Amputation Insurance Scam that only Florida Folks would do…
Only in Florida would you find a bizarre situation like this one.
We all know ‘Florida Man’ who does the wildest of things, but many of the folks from this certain little town took things to a whole new level, which has consequently made it the most ‘Florida’ town in history.
Vernon, Florida harbors a particular slice of American folklore. The legacy of ‘Nub City’ lingers as a grim reminder of a dark period in the town’s history where financial desperation pushed many folks towards unimaginably drastic actions.
When economic opportunities were sparse, many of the town’s residents discovered a lucrative loophole in the form of bodily harm. By intentionally injuring themselves, often resulting in loss of limbs, they would claim substantial insurance payouts.
To this day, there’s never been more than a few hundred people to live in Vernon, but in the 1950s and 60s, there were more than 50 cases of self inflicted amputations reported in this small community alone. At that time, two-thirds of all insurance claims for “lost limbs” were from residents of Vernon, giving rise to the town’s ghastly nickname.
