The Oxford English Dictionary was largely written by a murderer from a mental institution!

The Oxford English Dictionary is widely regarded as the source for the English language.

If you were to imagine it's author, you would likely visualize a wizened professor hunched over his giant manuscript. You may have the visual correct but not the professor part.

One of the largest contributors to the Oxford English Dictionary was William Chester Minor or W.C. Minor as he was known. He was an American army doctor but soon was overcome with paranoia and mental illness. He moved to London in 1871.

There, he fatally shot a man who he believed had broken into his room. He was deemed not guilty due to insanity and committed to an asylum in Berkshire.

He heard about the call for volunteers to contribute to the Oxford English Dictionary and devoted most of the rest of his life to his contributions.

He poured through his personal library and provided examples of how particular words could be used.