A Brief History On May 27, 1962, a landfill above a coal mine in Centralia, Pennsylvania caught on fire probably due to someone intentionally burning trash. The landfill located right above a seam in a former strip mine ignited the coal seam which led to an underground fire that has been burning ever since. Digging Deeper Incredibly, authorities have never been able to extinguish the flames, and the abandoned mine continued to burn, making most of the town of Centralia above the mine uninhabitable. With a population of 1400 in 1962, the ghost town boasted only 7 residents by 2013.…
Browsing: May 27
A Brief History On May 27, 1907, in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the city by the bay came down with an epidemic of Bubonic Plague, the same plague responsible for the infamous “Black Death” in earlier centuries. Digging Deeper San Francisco had its first bout with Bubonic Plague from 1900 to 1904, initially covered up by the Governor of California who did not want to scare off investors and people from moving to the area. (Note: Governments lie, and lie and lie!) When the crisis was made public, Chinese immigrants were initially blamed, another step in…
A Brief History On May 27, 1703, Czar Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg, Russia. At 6 feet 8 inches his height alone made him “great,” but of course there were other reasons. Over the years a variety of people have been called “The Great,” “The Greatest,” or “The Great One,” and here we list 10 of them that really are great. As always, feel free to tell us who you would add to this list. (Note: The Great Gatsby is not a real person, just a character from a book. Jackie Gleason, comedian, composer, television pioneer was known as…
A Brief History On May 27, 1958, the McDonnell Aircraft (later McDonnell Douglas) F-4 Phantom II naval interceptor made its first flight. Designed as a carrier airplane to defend the fleet against Soviet supersonic bombers, the concept was to create an interceptor that could climb rapidly and fly fast enough to catch bombers before they got close enough to attack the fleet. Digging Deeper Prior to entering service in 1960, the F-4 proved its concept by setting 15 aviation records for such things as speed and altitude. Designed to shoot down bombers rather than dogfight with fighters, the F-4 was…
A Brief History On May 27, 1998, Michael Fortier was fined $200,000 and sentenced to 12 years in prison for failing to warn authorities about the conspiracy to blow up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Fortier’s wife, Lori, was also named as an accomplice, but escaped prosecution and was given immunity in exchange for her testimony against bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Digging Deeper On April 19, 1995, Nichols and McVeigh carried out a domestic terrorist plot in which they blew up the Federal Building in Oklahoma city by means of a rented truck filled with explosives, killing…
