ABSTRACT
In 1932, the Hungarian Sylvestre Matushka went on trial for engineering a series of train crashes that had killed more than thirty railway passengers. He stated his profession in these terms: “Train wrecker, before that, businessman.” At the time of his arrest, police discovered in Matushka's possession train schedules and a map with sites marked out that were planned for future wrecks, at the regular rate of one a month. Matushka, it turned out, was something of a “train fiend,” albeit of a markedly singular style. He explained at his trial that he could only achieve sexual release when witnessing a train crashing and, consequently, made a career of staging these spectacular accidents. Sentenced to life imprisonment, Matushka escaped confinement. He reappeared in 1953 during the Korean War—as the head of a military unit for blowing up trains. 1
