Heaven's Gate

Marshall Applegate is pictured on video delivering a speech to his followers on why the time had come to "leave this earth". The cult, known as Heaven's Gate was told that the only way to leave this planet was to rendezvous with a spaceship that was trailing Halley's Comet, which was due to pass close to Earth in 1997.

On March 26, 1997, having gotten all of their personal affairs in order, his 39 followers calmly tidied up their compound and poisoned themselves in a massive suicide. Police found their shroud covered bodies all neatly laid out in their beds.

Hey Kids, What Time Is It?

It's Howdy Doody Time! The Howdy Doody Show, one of the most popular children's programs during the advent of television, began to air in 1947 and enjoyed a successful run until 1960. Master puppeteer Bob Smith both voiced Howdy and hosted the Saturday morning program, which featured a children's bleacher section on the stage known as the peanut gallery.

Appleby's Car

Annie, Mary, and William prepared for an afternoon drive through the countryside in their 1917 Chevrolet.

Cheers: 1937

This photograph is featured among the many shots during the opening credits of the famous television sitcom "Cheers". The picture titled "Saturday night in a saloon" was taken in 1937 in Craigville, Minnesota.

The Mianus Bridge Collapse

At 1:30 am on June 28, 1983, a 100 foot section of  I-95's northbound lane on the Mianus Bridge in Greenwich Connecticut collapsed, sending two cars and an 18 wheel trailer truck 70 feet below. The lack of the normally heavy traffic in the area due to the early morning hour limited the death count to three people. An investigation found that during road repairs 10 years before, crews deliberately blocked drains on the bridge, and failed to uncover them when the work was complete. As a result, corrosion from water buildup over time weakened the structure.

PT 109

(PT 105 at full speed)

PT boats were a staple for the United States Navy during World War II. They were designed for speed when attacking larger conventional vessels. With a full compliment of arms, including torpedoes and anti aircraft guns, they proved to be workhorses in the Pacific theatre.

(PT 109 & crew)

Lt. John F. Kennedy, commander of PT 109, is pictured on the far right with his crew in 1943. On August 2nd of that year, his vessel would eventually be sunk in battle by the Japanese.

Union Station

January 1943 photo of the waiting room in Chicago's Union Station.

Eleanor Rigby

In the 1980's, Eleanor Rigby's headstone (pictured above in 2008),  was discovered in a graveyard near St. Peter's Parish Church in the Woolton suburb of Liverpool, England.  A few hundred yards nearby, another marker with the name McKenzie scrawled on it was discovered. The Beatles' Paul McCartney denies that the grave marker was ever an influence in the Beatles song 'Eleanor Rigby'. McCartney and John Lennon were known to sunbathe in the graveyard as teenagers. 

White Christmas

Pictured above is the before and after restoration pictures of the original sled used in the 1954 movie White Christmas starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney. I came across these pictures on a website for the A & D Restoration Company in California.

The sled was purchased from the Bing Crosby Estate in 1980 by the owners of the Crab Shanty Restaurant, a local eatery here in Maryland.  Below, the sled can be seen in its' current location at the center of the picture, above the antique post office facade in the distant part of the main dining room.

Bethlehem's Colonial Theatre

The Colonial Theatre in Bethlehem, a small town located in the middle of  New Hampshire's White Mountains, is pictured in a photograph taken in 1920. The theatre holds the distinction of being the longest continually running movie theatre in the United States.

                                                                                                   

          (The Colonial Theatre as it appears today)