Leonard Skinner

L to R: Former Lynyrd Skynyrd band member & R&R Hall of Famer Artimus Pyle,

Southern rock star C. J. Dubuisson, & Leonard Skinner

In the 60's, Leonard Skinner was a basketball coach and gym teacher at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, Florida. During his time there, he was a strict enforcer of the school's policy against males having long hair. In 1970 a group of musicians comprised of Skinner's former students decided to rename their band Lynyrd Skynyrd, a mock salute to their former teacher, who had often told them that they would never amount to anything.

One day, while patronizing one of Leonard Skinner's establishments, the band invited him to introduce them at their upcoming concert in their hometown, and he accepted. 

Eleanor Roosevelt

A strikingly beautiful Anna Eleanor Roosevelt is shown in this undated school portrait. Born in 1884 in an affluent New York family, she would go on to marry her 5th cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who would eventually become the 32nd President of The United States.

Mystery Castle

After learning he had tuberculosis in the late 1920's, Boyce Luther Gulley left his wife and infant daughter in Seattle, Washington and relocated to Phoenix, Arizona. During the 1930's, he built a castle for his daughter Mary Lou and called it Mystery Castle.

Gulley built the castle with found recycled items and materials he collected over time. The structure is said to be held together by cement, mortar, calcium and goat milk. It features 18 rooms, including a chapel, a cantina, and a dungeon.

After his death in 1945, his family learned thru an attorney that the daughter had inherited the house. Mary Lou and her mother moved in, and in 1992 added electricity and plumbing to the house, which was eventually opened to the public. 

Doing Her Part

This picture, titled "Bombs and Butter:1942",  shows a housewife bringing in her fats and grease to her local butcher shop. The waste, in turn, is sold to the appropriate manufacturers where it is processed into ammunition for the troops in combat.  

The Spite House

A 1924 picture of "The Spite House" in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. The house was built in 1830 by John Hallenbury in order to keep horse-drawn wagons and trespassers out of the alley between his two houses.

The Spite House, pictured today, is seven feet wide and twenty five feet deep. The two story structure has a total of 325 square feet of living space. The current owners utilize it as a second home.

The Day The Music Died

On February 3, 1959 a small plane crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.

Ken Paquette, a Wisconsin fan, built the above monument at the crash site in 1988, and he would also erect a similar one outside the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay, Wisconsin in 2003, where the three appeared on the night of February 1, 1959.

The loss of these three music icons became known as 'The Day The Music Died', and is depicted in Don McLean's famous hit song "American Pie".

The X in Christmas

(Xmas was used in this 1922 ad in Ladies Home Journal)

The word Xmas is commonly looked upon by many Christians  as the commercial term for Christmas. However, the "X" is the Greek letter CHI which is the first letter if the word "Christ", while "mas" is an Old English word for "Mass".

While opposing the use of the word Xmas during their most sacred of holidays, Christians utilize the  Labarum (Chi-Ro) which is in itself a Christian symbol representing Christ.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, accented by its' many articles of remembrance left daily, is photographed in a seemingly peaceful evening setting with the Washington Monument visible in the distance. Located in Constitution Gardens, adjacent to the National Mall and the Lincoln Monument, the wall was designed by landscape architect Maya Lin. The main section of the Memorial was completed in 1982, and currently lists 58, 627 names of soldiers who died, or were missing in action from the Vietnam War.

State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

As the first of the original colonies to declare independence from British rule, and the last to ratify the United States Constitution, Rhode Island's  official name still remains The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Efforts continue to this day to legally change the name to its' more popular shortened version. The photo above shows the original deed to Providence, Rhode Island, which originated in 1636.

Pony Express

Frank E. Webner, Pony Express rider ca. 1861

The Pony Express was a mail service that crossed the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains between St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California from April 1860 to October 1861. California's line of communication with the rest of the country was vastly improved with this fast 10 day service.

The piece of mail below was stolen by Indians along the trail in 1860, and recovered two years later, as noted on the document.

Yellowstone

An 1875 photograph of Yellowstone National Park, taken by William Henry Jackson during and expedition to explore the American west. 

London's Air Raid Shelters

In London, many underground subway stations were used as mass air raid shelters during the second world war. In the above picture, people seek shelter in London's Bounds Green station in 1940.

Columbine High School Massacre

On April 20, 1999, the deadliest school massacre for an American high school took place at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. A security camera in the school's cafeteria shows the two assailants, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, in the middle of their rampage. The two seniors would eventually commit suicide, but not before killing 12 students and 1 teacher, in addition to injuring 21 others.

Hell On Earth

Ruins of the Crimson Barracks on Devil's Island

Devil's Island, a three island cluster located off the French Guiana mainland in South America, contains the ruins of what was once considered the toughest penal colony on earth. Maintained by the French government from 1842 to 1946, Devil's Island was reserved for France's most notorious criminals. Prisoners with death sentences were beheaded, after which their heads were shipped to Paris as proof of their date with the guillotine.

The Lindbergh Kidnapping

On March 1, 1932, 20 month old Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr. was kidnapped from his New Jersey home and held for ransom. Son of world famous aviator Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow, Charles Jr. would eventually be found dead in the nearby countryside.

Brunno Hauptmann, a German citizen with a criminal record was arrested, tried, convicted, and eventually executed for the crime. Charles Lindbergh is pictured above during his testimony at Hauptmann's trial in 1935.