Another of these crazes was a secret society whose members went by the name of Shifters. The origin of this movement has never been discovered, with theories ranging from a prank by New York City high school girls to a marketing scheme by a novelty jewelry company.
In New York State the society was apparently first reported in late February of 1922, when the Ogdensburg Journal spoke with members on the campus of Clarkson College (now Clarkson University).
Calling it a “mystic order,” and rumored to be as old as the Garden of Eden, it had been brought into Potsdam by players from a visiting basketball team. With the…