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French Republican Calendar day name (17 Vendémiaire): Pumpkin
Artist Birthday: Michie Nakatani of Shonen Knife
Bummer October 8th
October 8, 1871: The Great Chicago Fire begins; over the next two days it kills approximately 300 people and destroys most of the city, which consists of mostly wooden buildings.
October 8, 2009: Motivational speaker James Arthur Ray hosts a meditation retreat near Sedona, Arizona. The retreat is held inside a purpose-built “sweat lodge” (although not built according to any traditional Native American practices) with approximately 50 participants. The temperature inside the lodge soon becomes dangerously high. Two men faint from heat exhaustion and are carried outside, where they both pass away from heat stroke. Others have to be treated at the hospital, and on October 17th, a 49-year-old woman who participated in the retreat also dies of heat-related injuries. Ray is subsequently convicted of negligent homicide.
October 8, 2014: Thomas Eric Duncan dies, becoming the first person in the U.S. to die of infection with the Ebola virus. Duncan was from Monrovia, Liberia, where he rode in a taxi with his landlords’ daughter, who subsequently died of Ebola virus disease. Four days later, Duncan visits his girlfriend in Dallas.
On the fourth day of his visit, Duncan arrives at the emergency department of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. He is misdiagnosed with a sinus infection, given antibiotics, and sent home. By the time he returns to the hospital, Duncan’s condition is critical. He dies in the intensive care unit.
Two of Duncan’s nurses contract the virus through caring for him. Both of them recover. They are the first two people known to have contracted Ebola virus disease inside the U.S.
