On this day in 1976 the "Son of Sam" serial killer shot and killed his first victim, Donna Lauria, while she sat in a parked car with her boyfriend. Throughout the next year, David Burkowitz would target women, sometimes in parked cars, shooting them at close range. He was finally caught when police found a machine gun in the back of his car. He claimed that his neighbors dog spoke to him after he shot it, telling him to kill.
On this day in 1981 the first royal wedding to be televised worldwide occurred when Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer. The crown prince found his princess, and they lived happily ever after, for 15 years. Prince Charles had been keeping a mistress for nearly the entire length of the marriage and the constant glare of the media would cost the couple their family.
On this day in 1945 the USS Indianapolis is sunk in the Pacific Ocean by a Japanese submarine. It had delivered a top secret supply of parts for the atomic bombs that were to be dropped on Japan and was returning to Pearl Harbor when a torpedo struck the side. The ship went down in less than 15 minutes, and 300 sailors went down with the ship. Because of the top secret nature of the mission, no one began searching for the ship. Of the nearly 900 survivors of the sinking, only about 300 were rescued four days later. The high number of deaths were attributed mainly to shark attacks while the sailors floated in the water.
On this day in 1958 President Eisenhower authorized the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Less than 11 years later the United States would put a man on the moon. Pretty incredible, but conspiracy theorists can suck it. How could you fake the building of the Saturn V rocket and a space race with the Russians. Achem's razor would say we most likely succeeded in getting to the moon.
Prince Charles...what a mug on that Brit.
ReplyDeleteI love the Seinfeld where Newman uses his Son of Sam mail bag for payment when Kramer gambles on flight arrivals at the airport.