I'm Laura Norton, and this is one strange thing, the show where we search the nation's

news archives for stories that can't quite be explained. Do you remember learning how to whistle?

Despite actress Lauren Bacall telling us to just put our lips together and blow, whistling

is an art form and perhaps a dying one. After all, when's the last time you heard someone

walking down the street just whistling a tune? Somewhere along the way, the habit has become

less common. Maybe it's because nowadays, we don't need to make our own music.

We walk around with the gigantic audio libraries tucked in our pockets.

And that's too bad because a whistled song can certainly set the mood.

It surely did down in Paradee, Louisiana Louisiana in 1950. Throughout the autumn of that year,

a whistler took center stage, and local and national press covered the harrowing experience

of one Miss Jacqueline Cadoux. Jacqueline, just 18 years old, was engaged to Mr. Herbert Balsam, age 26.

Herbert was a Louisiana state trooper and probably quite the catch.

After all, in 1950, there were fewer than 200 people living in the Cajun settlement of Parody.

It was not overflowing with eligible bachelors.

How Jacqueline Met Herbert remains a mystery, at least to us.

In fact, we're introduced to them late in their courtship.

Up until then, you see, they weren't particularly newsworthy.

But in February of 1950, Jacqueline and Herbert were going steady.

Though a proposal was on the horizon, nothing was yet set in stone.

They lived a happy, ordinary, quiet life. Newspapers would later describe Jacqueline as

comely and pretty, definitely a prerequisite for this kind of story. We can assume that she was

used to a certain level of appreciation for her good looks. But even so, Jacqueline was startled when, one cool day in February,

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