Strangest election? Not so fast

Most agree that this presidential election is one of the strangest, most contentious and unpredictable in memory. From WikiLeaks and classified emails to possible Russian influence and "locker room" sex talk caught on tape, the bombshells in Election 2016 just keep coming.

But every campaign has had its own twists and turns, and while the current one might be a headline-making machine, others in America's past have been just as salacious and mind-boggling.

Physical appearance

Donald Trump earned public scorn early in the nomination process when he attacked several of his opponents for their physical appearance, but he was not the first to use physical-appearance as an attack card. When Democrat Stephen A. Douglas called Abraham Lincoln "two-faced" during the 1860 election campaign, Lincoln came back with one of his famous one-liners: "If I had another face, do you think I would wear this one?"

John Adams, our second president, complained that the only reason George Washington was "chosen for everything," including president, was because "he was taller than anyone else in the room." Washington was 6 feet 2 inches in an era when the average height of American men was 5 feet 8 inches.

Grant defeats a corpse

The 1872 election provided the only time in which a presidential candidate died during the electoral process. Presidential incumbent Ulysses S. Grant won an overwhelming victory in November, but his opponent, Horace Greeley, died before the electoral votes were counted and the election was finalized. Thus, Grant is said to have been the only candidate to defeat a corpse in a presidential election.

Two trailblazers

Two famous female trailblazers in U.S. history also made headlines in the 1872 presidential election. Susan B. Anthony, who became a pioneer crusader for the woman suffrage movement, was arrested during this campaign for attempting to vote. At the same time, Sojourner Truth, an African-American abolitionist and a former slave who became a leading women's rights activist, demanded a ballot in Michigan, but she was also turned away. American women of all races finally won the right to vote in 1920.

Ugliest campaign

Ugly as it is, the current Trump-Clinton mudslinging would rank below the nastiness of the 1828 presidential campaign. President Andrew Jackson had been involved in two bitter presidential campaigns against John Quincy Adams. During their last faceoff, Jackson called Adams a pimp, and Adams called Jackson's wife, Rachel, a slut and his mother a prostitute.

An Adams' supporter claimed if Jackson were elected "we would see our wives and daughters the victims of legal prostitution." A month after the election, Rachel Jackson died, and the president blamed his political enemies for her death.

Wildest postelection party

That 1828 election win by Jackson led to one of the wildest White House parties in history. After Jackson gave his inaugural address on the Capitol's steps, a cable snapped that held back the crowd in front of the president, and Jackson's aides rushed him back inside the Capitol for his own safety. Jackson mounted his own horse, and rode through the crowd to the White House.

The tradition of the day made Inauguration Day an "open house" at the White House and by the time Jackson arrived, a large crowd was already outside and inside the mansion. The alcohol flowed freely and some drunken revelers destroyed furniture and china, and even ground cheese into the White House carpets with their boots.

It got so out of control that the president-elect sneaked out of the White House and spent the night at a hotel. Servants had to drag tubs of punch out on the lawn to lure the crowds out of the White House.

Deadliest election

When Donald Trump was asked whether he would accept the results of the election, he received criticism for not giving a quick affirmative answer. In the 1800 election, the election results were so heated that Vice President Aaron Burr ended up killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel.

The two had a heated rivalry, and when Burr was tied against Thomas Jefferson, Hamilton convinced congressmen to put Jefferson in office, leaving Burr the vice presidency. Still the vice president, Burr finally challenged Hamilton to a duel in 1804 and shot him. When Hamilton died the next day, Burr was charged with two counts of murder.

Buying votes

Our first president was not exactly a poster person for the prohibition movement. George Washington, who is the only U.S. president in history to win 100 percent of the Electoral College vote, (mainly because organized parties weren't yet formed, and he ran unopposed), took "getting out the vote" to a new level. He spent his entire campaign budget on 160 gallons of liquor to serve to potential voters.

Best perspective

Although he had his flaws - "liquor-gate" being an example - George Washington did leave future candidates with some sound advice. He argued that a presidential candidate should not appear too eager to win the presidency or actively seek it. Rather, he said "The office should seek the man." He considered active campaigning undignified and even vulgar.

Most divisive election

Many historians and political pundits today say they've never seen the nation more divided. But nothing compares with the 1860 election when Abraham Lincoln's win tore the nation in two. Tensions had been rising for decades between slave and free states and Lincoln's victory sparked South Carolina to secede from the Union and put the nation on a course to Civil War.

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com