Almanac for July 15

Almanac for July 15: https://ko-fi.com/Post/July-15-Rembrandt-E1E31HQDWQ

Bummer July 15

July 15, 1940: Robert Wadlow, the tallest man in recorded history, who stood 8 feet, eleven inches tall, dies at age 22. Wadlow needed metal braces on his legs in able to walk. He’d made a public appearance at which one of the metal braces broke his skin, the wound became infected, and the infection spread throughout his body. He died in his sleep of the infection, complicated by an autoimmune disorder. 

July 15, 1974: During a live broadcast of the digest news program on which she appeared, 29-year-old journalist Christine Chubbuck pulls a loaded handgun from her purse, places it behind her left ear, and shoots herself in the head. She dies at Sarasota (Florida) Memorial Hospital fourteen hours later. Her family gets a court order to keep the tape of the broadcast from ever being aired again. 

Almanac for July 14

Almanac for July 14: https://ko-fi.com/Post/June-4-Poltergeist-O4O31G1GD6

Bummer July 14

July 14, 1908: According to his grave marker, an unknown man in Goldfield, Nevada, died from eating library paste (flour, alum, and water) on this date. It’s not entirely clear whether this is an actual historical incident or a local prank.

July 14, 2017: Stunt performer John Bernecker dies from injuries he sustained the previous day. While filming stunt footage for the TV show The Walking Dead, Bernecker had fallen 20 feet off a balcony onto a concrete floor.

Almanac for July 13

Almanac for July 13: https://ko-fi.com/Post/July-13-I-Married-My-Best-Friend-E1E11HQD8B

Happy anniversary, Tit Elingtin!

Bummer July 13

July 13, 1793: 24-year-old royalist Charlotte Corday assassinates radical journalist Jean-Paul Marat in his bathtub with a knife she has concealed in her corset.

July 13, 1990: An earthquake and avalanche at Lenin Peak in the Trans-Alay mountains on the border of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan (still part of the USSR in 1990) kill 43 mountaineers.

Jacques-Louis David, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Almanac for July 12

Almanac for July 12: https://ko-fi.com/Post/July-12-Serpent-Mound-U7U71HQD2L

Artist Birthday: Henry David Thoreau

99 cents at Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/civil-disobedience-68?sId=4528426b-43a6-4592-941c-610fe6ed1226&ssId=pl1MMVd2lG_MxicsX0ZsR&cPos=1

Civil Disobedience at Everand (Scribd): https://www.everand.com/audiobook/625856267/Walden-and-On-the-Duty-of-Civil-Disobedience

Bummer July 12 

July 12, 1979: Singer Minnie Riperton dies of breast cancer. She’s 31 years old.

Riperton's daughter Maya Rudolph was six years old when Riperton passed away. In addition to her successful tv and film career, Rudolph is also a singer. Her band Princess is a tribute band in honor of Prince Rogers Nelson. 

July 12, 1996: Multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Melvoin, at the time touring with the Smashing Pumpkins as a keyboardist, dies of a heroin overdose. He’s 34 years old.

This song is about him:

July 12, 2007: In an incident caught on video, U.S. military forces in Iraq kill at least 12 civilians and wound two children. Military personal can be seen on the video laughing about the deaths and wishing for excuses to kill more people. The video is leaked to WikiLeaks by Chelsea Manning in 2010. Manning is arrested for leaking military property and imprisoned until her sentence is commuted in 2017.

Almanac for July 11

Almanac for July 11: https://ko-fi.com/Post/July-11-Seven-and-Jerry-W7W01HQCVL

Bummer July 11

July 11, 1906: Pregnant, 20-year-old Grace Brown, a worker in the Gillette Skirt Factory, is intentionally drowned and murdered by her boyfriend Chester Gillette, nephew of the factory owner. Gillette is subsequently executed in the electric chair.

The murder inspires Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy, which in turn inspires the 1951 film A Place In the Sun. The character based on Brown is played by Shelley Winters.

July 11, 1937: George Gershwin, age 38, dies of a brain tumor.

But if you don't want George Gershwin to die, you can listen to this fictional audiobook in which he doesn't.

Almanac for July 10th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for July 10th: https://ko-fi.com/post/July-10-Tea-Time-O5O61HQCPI

Artist Birthday: Giorgio de Chirico

Bummer July 10th

July 10, 1861: After asking for a cup of coffee, Frances “Fanny” Appleton Longfellow dies of burn injuries she sustained the day before. Fanny’s dress caught on fire when either a spark or hot wax made contact with her dress as she melted sealing wax to seal an envelope containing locks of her children’s hair. 

Her husband, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is napping when he hears her screams and attempts to smother the flames with a rug. Longfellow also sustains burns to his arms and face to the extent that he is too injured to attend Fanny’s funeral. He wears a beard for the rest of his life to conceal his facial scars.

July 10, 1873: French poet Paul Verlaine shoots his inappropriately younger lover/fellow poet Arthur Rimbaud in the wrist, wounding him, although the injury is not serious. 

July 10, 1985: Aeroflot Flight 7425 crashes near Uchkuduk, Uzbekistan, at the time part of the USSR. All nine crew members and 191 passengers are killed. A fatigued crew and pilot error contribute to the accident. 

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Almanac for July 9th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for July 9th: https://ko-fi.com/Post/July-9-Radcliffe-B0B21HQCGE

Bummer July 9th

July 9, 1850: The 12th U.S. president, Zachary Taylor, dies of acute gastroenteritis while in office. Several other members of his cabinet also become ill with gastrointestinal symptoms. Taylor is the second U.S. president to die in office after William Henry Harrison, both of natural causes.

July 9, 1937: Artist David Hockney is born in the West Riding of Yorkshire, U.K. He just passed away on June 11, 2026.

The same day Hockney is born, a fire at a warehouse in Little Ferry, New Jersey, destroys the silent film archives of the Fox Film Corporation and other studios.

July 9, 1942: 13-year-old Anne Frank and her family are forced to go into hiding to avoid Nazi persecution.