O.J. Simpson was arrested on June 17, 1994, after leading police
on a slow-speed chase in a white Ford Bronco following his being charged with the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson,
and her friend, Ronald Goldman.
The chase and subsequent arrest were highly publicized, with
millions watching on live television.
CAMILLE BOHANNON
On June 12, 1987, in one of his most famous Cold War
speeches, President Ronald Reagan challenged Soviet
Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down” the Berlin Wall,
a symbol of the repressive Communist era in a divided
Germany.
SANDY KOZEL
Alexander Graham Bell‘s “liquid” transmitter design
permitted the first successful transmission of speech
by Bell to his assistant, Thomas Watson in another
room when he said…“Mr. Watson, come here; I want
you.”
Bell had received a comprehensive telephone patent
just three days before.
Thomas Augustus Watson, Bell’s Assistant.
On the tragic evening of November 13, 1974, a young man
shot and kills his entire family with a 35-caliber Marlin rifle
as his parents, two brothers and two sisters apparently
sleep.
The parents were killed first, having both been shot twice,
while all four children were killed with single shots.
The gruesome murder of the DeFeo family shook up the
sleepy Long Island town of Amityville—and lead to decades
of horror storytelling.
The trial of Ronald DeFoe Jr. started on October 14, 1975.The
psychiatrist for the prosecution, Dr. Harold Zolan, maintained
that although DeFeo was an abuser of LSD and heroin, who
also had an antisocial personality disorder, he was aware of
his actions at the time of the crime.
On November 21, 1975, DeFoe was found guilty of six counts
of second-degree murder. The judge sentenced DeFoe to six
concurrent life sentences of 25 years to life.
DeFoe was housed at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in
Fallsburg, New York. He died in prison at age 69 on March
12, 2021. The official cause of death was not released to the
public.
DeFeo Jr.(right) with his four younger siblings.
Ronald DeFeo Jr. was just 23 years old when he killed
his family.
The grave of the DeFeo family at Saint Charles Cemetery.
The first edition of the book in 1977.
The Amityville Horror house in 2017, painted white with a sunroom added to the back of the house.
The ‘eye windows’ on the top floor have long been removed
and replaced with square ones.
CAMILLE BOHANNON
On August 10, 1921, after a day of strenuous activity, 39-year-old
Franklin D.Roosevelt came down with an illness characterized by
fevers, ascending paralysis, facial paralysis, prolonged bowel
and bladder dysfunction, and numbness and hypersensitivity
of the skin. Roosevelt came close to death from the illness.
He faced many life-threatening medical problems including the possibility of respiratory failure, urinary tract infection, injury to
the urethra or bladder, decubitus ulcers, clots in the leg veins,
and malnutrition. Eleanor’s nursing care was responsible for
Roosevelt’s survival.
Most of the symptoms resolved themselves, but he was left
permanently paralyzed from the waist down.
Lieutenant Governor George Lunn, FDR, John W. Davis, and
Al Smith at Roosevelt’s family home in Hyde Park, New York. FDR is supporting himself on crutches. August 7, 1924.
FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt at their home in Hyde Park,
New York during the annual pilgrimage of the Dutchess
County Historical Society. September 16, 1927.
