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Tuesday, Apriil 1, 2008

Explore areas of interest, intrigue, mystery, controversy and the unknown

Anne Frank - Anne Frank was a German-born Jewish girl from the city of Frankfurt, who wrote a diary while in hiding with her family, the Van Pels family and Fritz Pfeffer in Amsterdam during the German occupation of the Nertherlands in World War II. After two years, the group was betrayed and transported to concentration camps. Her father, the only survivor of the group, returned to Amsterdam after the war to find that her diary had been saved and his efforts led to its publication in 1947. The diary, whiich was given to Anne on her 13th birthday, chronicles her life from June 12, 1942 until August 1, 1944. Anne Frank has been acknowledged for the quality of her writing, and has become one of the most renowned and discussed of Holocaust victims.

Marvel Cave - Marvel Cave is a National Natural Landmark in Branson, Missouri, located on top of Roark Mountain. It was originally called Marble Cave, after early explorers saw what they thought was marble on the caves's ceiling. Marvel Cave is known for being one of the largest caves in Missouri and for being one of the longest running tourist attractions in the Ozarks. The popular theme park Silver Dollar City originated with it.

Anneliese Michel: The Real Emily Rose - Emily Rose is actually Anneliese Michel a German woman who was believed to have been possessed by six or more demons and subsequently underwent an exorcism from September 1975 until July 1976. She contracted pneumonia and died at age 23 from starvation on June 30th, 1976. State prosecutor charged four defendants - Pastor Ernst Alt and Father Arnold Renz as well as the parents with negligent homicide.

Small Sacrifices - Small Sacrifices is a 1989 made for TV movie based on the real life events of Diane Downs, a mother who on May 19, 1983 drove to a hospital with a gun shot wound to her arm and claimed that an unknown assailant attempted to carjack her and shot her three children.

The true story behind 'Open Water - Open Water is a 2003 film loosely based on a true story about Tom and Eileen Lonergan, who were stranded in shark-infested waters on January 25, 1998, while scuba diving with a group off Australia's Great Barrier Reef when the groups boat accidentally abandoned them. Although some of their gear was found washed up later, their bodies were never found.

Lex Luger - Lawrence Wendell Pfohl born June 2, 1958, better know as Lex Luger, an American professional wrestler and former professional football player.

Busch Memorial Stadium - One of the first multipurpose facilities built in the United States in the 1960s. Busch Stadium was the home of the St. Louis baseball Cardinals from May 12, 1966 to October 19, 2005. Demolition of the stadium began at 3:07 p.m. on November 7, 2005.

September 11, 2001 attacks - On Tuesday, September 11, 2001 nineteen men affiliated with Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, a loose network of Sunni Islamist terrorists, simultaneously hijacked four U.S. domestic commercial airliners. These attackers turned the hijacked planes into the largest suicide bombs in history and (arguably) the most lethal acts ever carried out in the United States. Two were crashed into the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York City - one into each of the two towers, shortly after which both towers collapsed. The third aircraft crashed into the U.S. Department of Defense headquarters, the Pentagon, in Arlington County, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed into a rural field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, following passenger resistance. The September 11th attacks are arguably the most significant event to have occurred so far in the 21st century. Total deaths in the attacks were 2,986.

United Airlines Flight 93 - On September 11, 2001, The United Airlines Boeing 757-222, registered N591UA, was one of four planes hijacked as part of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It did not reach its intended target, instead crashing in an empty field just outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, about 150 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. The 9/11 Commission concluded that the hijackers crashed the plane to keep the crew and passengers from gaining control.

Lake View Castle - Built in 1897 by a French immigrant named Benjamin Biszant for his English birde. The castle was a 14 room mansion, the entire property was surrounded by a moat. Tragically though, Biszant's wife died in the early 1900's. After that, he lost interest in the castle, sold it and moved. The castle passed throught the hands of several owners. The final blow was dealt to the castle on March 21, 1973, when it burned to the ground. Today there is only remnants of the fountains, statuary, gazebos and bridges that surrounded the property. And according to legend, remains haunted by the Frenchman's wife.

Space Shuttle Challenger disaster - On the morning of Jan. 28, 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into its flight as a result of the failure of an O-ring seal. All seven crew members were killed when their surving and slowly tumbling crew compartment impacted with the surface of the ocean. The Challenger explosion was among the most dramatic historical events of the 20th Century.

Apollo 1 - On Jan. 27, 1967, tragedy struck the Apollo program when a flash fire occurred in the command module during a launch pad test of the Apollo/Saturn space vehicle being prepared for the first piloted flight, three astronauts, Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee died in this tragic accident.