Almanac for September 19th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for Sept. 19th: https://ko-fi.com/post/September-19th-Y8Y1Z4UC0

One year ago, I published Historic Ghosts and Ghost Hunters by H. Addington Bruce.

Bummer September 19th

September 19, 1692: Massachusetts Bay Colonist Giles Corey, having been accused of witchcraft but refusing to plead either guilty or not guilty in court, is subjected to a form of torture in which his body is crushed with increasingly heavy stone weights in an attempt to force him to plead. Corey refuses and is crushed to death, with his last words reportedly being, “More weight!”

September 19, 1881: U.S. President James Garfield dies of septic infection. He had been shot by his assassin, Charles Guiteau, on July 2, 1881.

September 19, 1902: One hundred fifteen members of the Shiloh Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, are killed in a stampede after one of them called out “Fight!” and this was misheard as “Fire!”

September 19, 1913: Purdue University student Francis Obenchain dies of a broken neck after taking part in a large-scale fight between first- and second-year students intended as a class hazing ritual.

September 19, 1973: Singer-songwriter Gram Parsons dies of an accidental overdose of alcohol and morphine at the age of 26. He dies peacefully in his sleep inside a room at the Joshua Tree Inn in California. 

His stepfather Bob Parsons insists the singer’s body be flown to New Orleans for burial, but friends of Gram Parsons steal the body from Los Angeles International Airport and attempt to carry out what they insisted were Parsons’s final wishes, to be created in Joshua Tree National Monument (now Joshua Tree National Park). They pour gasoline into the coffin and light it with a match, causing a tremendous fireball, and are charged a fine of $750. What remains of Parsons’s body is buried in Louisiana.

Almanac for September 18th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for September 18th: https://ko-fi.com/post/September-18th-V7V6Z4UDN

Author Julie S. Howlin post of the day: Royal Opera House

Bummer September 18th

September 18, 1961: United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld and 15 others die when their Transair Sweden DC-6 aircraft crashes in what was then Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). Hammarskjöld had been traveling to Katanga, a disputed state that broke off from the Congo after Congo gained its independence from Belgian colonial rule. The cause of the crash is disputed. It may have been caused by pilot error, although some have speculated that it was shot down to assassinate Hammarskjöld.

September 18, 1970: 27-year-old Jimi Hendrix dies of asphyxiation at St. Mary Abbots Hospital in London. He appears to have aspirated vomit after taking an overdose of barbiturates, presumably his girlfriend’s sleeping pills.

September 18, 1988: Poet/filmmaker Kathleen Collins dies of breast cancer at the age of 46.

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What was Diane Meyer grateful for on September 18, 2024?

https://bottlecap.press/products/ordinarygratitude

banana bread
all of my friends
art history class
speaking up!
calling mom
walks
letting myself enjoy sweet coffee

Almanac for September 17th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for September 17th: https://ko-fi.com/post/September-17th-C0C3Z4UF9

Happy 1-year book anniversary to Morality Without God.

Bummer September 17th

September 17, 1925: Frida Kahlo, a medical student at the time, is seriously injured in a bus accident. Her injuries leave her disabled and in chronic pain for the rest of her life. After the accident, she switches her career from medicine to art.

September 17, 1959: University of Southern California student Richard Swanson dies a few hours after choking on a piece of raw liver as part of a Kappa Sigma fraternity hazing ritual. When paramedics arrive, the other Kappa Sigma don’t tell them about the choking incident, and instead pretend that Swanson has had a seizure.

September 17, 1963: 58 agricultural workers in the Salinas Valley in California board a truck to return to the migrant camp where they’re temporarily staying during the harvest season. The truck approached an unmarked railroad crossing, where it was struck by a freight train traveling over 60 miles per hour. Of the 32 workers who are killed, nine die on the way to the hospital; the rest are pronounced dead at the scene. The driver and everyone aboard the train are uninjured. 

Almanac for September 16

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for September 16th: https://ko-fi.com/post/September-16th-V7V6Z4UGX

Happy 1-year publication anniversary to this audiobook version of Josephine Baker in Berlin.

Bummer September 16th

September 16, 1932: 24-year-old actress Millicent “Peg” Entwistle takes her own life by jumping to her death from the H of the Hollywoodland sign.

September 16, 1972: Edward “Eddie” Waitkus, decorated World War II veteran and former star first baseman of the Philadelphia Phillies, dies of esophageal cancer at age 53. He’s been physically and emotionally traumatized since teenage stalker Ruth Ann Steinhagen shot him in the chest in 1949 and he subsequently developed an alcohol abuse issue.

September 16, 1977: T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan, who never learned to drive, is the passenger in a Mini 1275GT automobile when it crashes into a fence post and then a tree, killing Bolan instantly.

September 16, 1982: During the Lebanese Civil War, militia members allied with the Israeli Defense Forces “clear out” the neighborhood of Sabra and the Shatila refugee camp, killing at least 760 civilians. Some estimate civilian deaths at as many as 3,500.

September 16, 1985: Aerobatic pilot Arthur “Art” Scholl crashes his plane and is killed while filming spin footage for the movie Top Gun. He crashes into the Pacific Ocean; his aircraft is never recovered.

* ~ * ~ * 

Sept. 16, 2025: I uploaded this video:

Almanac for September 15

Erin O'Riordan's September 15 almanac: https://ko-fi.com/post/September-15th-Q5Q6Z4UIG 

This book comes out today:

Bummer September 15th

September 15, 1896: William Crush, who works for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (“The Katy”), orchestrates a publicity stunt in which two obsolete, crewless trains will be deliberately crashed head-first into one another. The event, approximately 14 miles outside Waco, Texas, allowed members of the press to stand 100 yards from the trains, while members of the general audience are kept back to 200 yards from the tracks. 

When the trains collided, the boilers of both trains exploded and shrapnel flew for hundreds of feet in both directions. One photographer lost an eye, six others were injured, and two people died as a result of the flying shrapnel.

September 15, 1958: A commuter train traveling from Bay Head, New Jersey, to Jersey City ignores warning signals and falls into Newark Bay through an open bridge lift. The crash kills 48, including Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s brother-in-law James Carmalt Adams.

September 15, 1963: Four members of the Ku Klux Klan set off dynamite inside the 18th St. Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The blast injures 20 people and kills four girls aged 14 and younger.

September 15, 2007: According to Chinese state media, a man aged approximately 30 years collapsed in an internet café in Guangzhou. Rushed to the hospital, he died despite being treated for a heart attack brought on by exhaustion after a 3-day gaming binge.

Almanac for September 14th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for September 14th: https://ko-fi.com/post/September-14th-S6S6Z4UK3

Artist Birthday: Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse at Dorothy Surrenders

My mom just reminded me of this last year, but September 14th was also her father's birthday.

Today's Observance: Roodmas/The Feast of the Cross, a.k.a. Devil Nut Day

Devil Nut Day is also the 1-year anniversary of the publication of this audiobook, Aesop for Children.

Bummer September 14th

September 14, 1899: Real estate developer Henry H. Bliss becomes the first person killed in the U.S. from a motor vehicle collision. The previous day, he had stepped off a trolley car and been struck by an electric taxi cab, knocking him to the ground and crushing his chest. 

September 14, 1901: U.S. President William McKinley dies of infection caused by the gunshot wound inflicted by his assassin on September 5th.

September 14, 1927: Dancer Isadora Duncan is killed in Nice, France, when her scarf becomes entangled in the open-spoked wheel and axle of the car she’s riding in, breaking her neck.

September 14, 1982: Princess Grace of Monaco dies after being taken off life support.

Almanac for September 13th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for September 13th: https://ko-fi.com/post/September-13th-E1E2Z4UM2

Fictional Character Birthday: Bella Swan

Bummer September 13th

September 13, 1848: 25-year-old railroad worker Phineas Gage has a bad day at work when the 3-foot-long tamping iron his crew is using strikes a rock, sparking an explosion that drives the rod through his left eye and into his skull. Gage not only survives the accident but lives 12 more years, although with his personality drastically altered, due to the loss of part of the left frontal lobe of his brain.

September 13, 1931: Stout Institute (Menomonie, Wisconsin) first-year student Lloyd Aune dies of spinal cord injuries after wrestling with two second-year students.

September 13, 1982: Princess Grace of Monaco drives her car off a steep, mountainous road after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage while driving. She is taken to the hospital, where she is placed on life support.

September 13, 1996: Rapper and actor Tupac Shakur dies from gunshot wounds in Las Vegas.