Holidays
Leif Erikson Day
United States holiday celebrating Norse explorer Leif Erikson's discovery of Vinland around the year 1000, about 500 years before Christopher Columbus.
It was first celebrated by a House Joint Resolution in 1935 and then by Presidential Proclamation since 1964.
What Happened On
Adamski's photo of alien ship featured on a Grenada stamp (right)
Adamski's photo of alien ship featured on a Grenada stamp (right)
UFOs
October 9, 1946
George Adamski claims to see a large cigar-shaped mother ship. This was the first in a series of his famous UFO sightings, including the one that made him one of the first abductees.
Éole Patent Drawings
Éole Patent Drawings
First Manned, Powered, Heavier-than-Air Flight
October 9, 1890
Thirteen years before the Wright brothers' famous flight, French inventor Clément Ader flies his batwing monoplane, the Éole, about 8 inches off the ground for 160 feet (50 meters), crashing on landing. This flight was part of secret military tests. The Éole was a bat-like design run by a lightweight steam engine of his own invention, with 4 cylinders developing 20 horsepower (15 kW), driving a four-blade propeller.
However, his craft was not well controlled, leaving controlled flights to later aviators, such as the Wright Brothers.
Mission Dolores - 1856
Mission Dolores - 1856
Mission Dolores
October 9, 1776
Mission Dolores is dedicated. It is the oldest building in San Francisco. It was founded by members of the de Anza Expedition, which had been charged with bringing Spanish settlers to upper California and with evangelizing the local Natives. It was originally named Misión San Francisco de Asís, for St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan Order, but is now known as "Mission Dolores" owing to the presence of a nearby creek named Arroyo de los Dolores, or "Creek of Sorrows."
Portion of the meteorite in the National Museum of Natural History
Photo Credit: Wknight94
Portion of the meteorite in the National Museum of Natural HistoryPhoto Credit: Wknight94
Meteorite Strikes Car
October 9, 1992
A meteorite strikes a parked car in New York. It penetrated the trunk of the car leaving a small crater underneath. The meteorite weighed 26 pounds (12 kg), was one foot (0.30 m) in diameter, and was estimated to be 4.4 billion years old. The owner of the car retrieved the meteorite and later sold it for $50,000. She had recently purchased the now destroyed car for $300, but was able to sell it to a meteorite collector for $25,000.
Yesterday
October 9, 1965
The single Yesterday by the Beatles hits #1 on the Billboard list.
Written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was initially released on the album Help!
The Beatles didn't initially want to release the song as a single, since it did not fit with their image. They prevented it from being released as a single in the U.K., but were unsuccessful in stopping it from being released in the U.S., where it was released on September 13 and quickly rose to #1.
It is now one of the most recorded songs in pop music history.
Washington Monument
October 9, 1888
The Washington Monument is opened to the public. It was the first national monument to honor George Washington.
First U.S. Underground Oil Pipeline
October 9, 1865
A five-mile stretch of line is completed by Samuel Van Syckel in Pennsylvania.
Birthdays
Photo Credit: Stanleykpatz
Photo Credit: Stanleykpatz
First Missing Child on a Milk Carton
Etan Kalil Patz
Born October 9, 1972 d. 1979
American abduction victim. In 1979, 6-year-old Etan went missing while walking the two blocks from his home to his school bus in Lower Manhattan. Several years later, he became the first missing child featured on a milk carton. His body was never found and the case went unsolved until it was reopened in 2010, ultimately leading to the conviction of Pedro Hernandez in 2016. Hernandez confessed that he had murdered Etan the day he was abducted.
The extensive media coverage of Etan's disappearance has been credited with creating greater attention to missing children.
The May 25th anniversary of Etan Patz's disappearance was designated National Missing Children's Day in the U.S. in memory of Etan.
Jackson Browne
Born October 9, 1948
American singer, songwriter. Music: Take It Easy (1972, co-writer #1 hit for the Eagles), Doctor My Eyes (1972), Running On Empty (1978), and Lawyers In Love (1983).
John Lennon
Born October 9, 1940 d. 1980
British musician, member of the Beatles. He was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman as he and Yoko Ono returned to their Manhattan apartment. Lennon had signed an autograph for Chapman earlier that day.
Quote: "When it gets down to having to use violence, then you're playing the system's game. The establishment will irritate you, pull your beard, flick your face, to make you fight. Because once they've got you violent, then they know how to handle you."
Joe Rosenthal
Born October 9, 1911 d. 2006
American photographer. Joe Rosenthal took the Pulitzer-winning photo of the U.S. Marines raising the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima (1945). There were two American flag raisings on Mount Suribachi. Joe Rosenthal's famous photo was of the second flag-raising in which a larger replacement flag was raised by Marines who did not raise the first flag.
In 1996, Rosenthal was named an honorary Marine by the Commandant of the Marine Corps.
First African-American Military Pilot
Eugene Bullard
Born October 9, 1895 d. 1961
American aviator. He was the first African-American military pilot. He was living in France in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I and signed up for the French Foreign Legion where he was wounded and cited for acts of valor and was awarded the croix de guerre. In 1916, he volunteered for the French Air Service where he took part in over 20 combat missions. When the U.S. entered the war, he tried to join the United States Army Air Service, but was turned down because he was black. He also served in the French infantry during World War II.
John Entwistle
Born October 9, 1944 d. 2002
British Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician, with The Who. Music: My Generation (1965) and Pinball Wizard (1969).
Stompanato and Lana Turner
Stompanato and Lana Turner
Johnny Stompanato, Jr.
Born October 9, 1925 d. 1958
American murder victim. While fighting with his movie star girlfriend, Lana Turner, Turner's 14-year-old daughter rushed in and fatally stabbed him with a carving knife.
Harold Robert Perry
Born October 9, 1916 d. 1991
American clergyman, first black American-born Catholic bishop (1966, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans).
Rube Marquard (Richard William Marquard)
Born October 9, 1886 d. 1980
American baseball Hall of Fame left-handed pitcher. He pitched 19 consecutive wins for the New York Giants in 1912 - a modern day major-league record.
Alfred Hess
Born October 9, 1875 d. 1933
American physician. He discovered that vitamin C could cure scurvy and that pasteurizing milk caused it to lose the ability to prevent scurvy in infants. He conducted studies by withholding orange juice from institutionalized infants until they developed hemorrhages as a result of scurvy (1914-20). He also showed that exposure to sunlight could cure children of rickets (1919).
Edward William Bok
Born October 9, 1863 d. 1930
American Pulitzer-winning author. Books: The Americanization of Edward Bok (1920, Pulitzer). Editor: The Ladies' Home Journal (1889-1919).
Alfred Dreyfus
Born October 9, 1859 d. 1935
French army officer of Jewish descent. In 1894, he was wrongly convicted of treason by an anti-Semitic military court. A national scandal erupted in 1897 when evidence surfaced indicating his innocence. He was again convicted, but was pardoned by the French president.
Dreyfus had been convicted based on handwriting evidence, which later determined to be that of the true culprit, a Catholic officer named Esterhazy.
Charles X
Born October 9, 1757 d. 1836
King of France (1824-30). His unpopular rule led to a revolution in which he lost the throne.
Deaths
Schindler's List
Oskar Schindler
Died October 9, 1974 b. 1908
German industrialist. In 1940, he and his wife saved 1,200 Jews from concentration camps by convincing the Nazis to allow them to work in a factory they ran in Poland. They spent most of their wealth bribing German officials to keep the Jewish workers safe. Prior to World War II, Schindler had joined the Nazi party and worked as a spy for them. After seeing the treatment of the Jews, he began his quest to save as many as possible.
His efforts were the basis for the movie Schindler's List (1993).
Joseph Farwell Glidden
Died October 9, 1906 b. 1813
American businessman. He invented the first practical barbed wire (1874). His barbed wire changed ranching and made him one of the wealthiest men in the U.S.
Barbed wire fences were cheaper than their alternatives making it more affordable to fence in larger areas, thus making large scale animal husbandry more practical.
Carol Bruce (Shirley Levy)
Died October 9, 2007 b. 1919
American actress. TV: WKRP in Cincinnati (Mamma Carlson).
Herbert Ross
Died October 9, 2001 b. 1927
American director, choreographer. Film: Goodbye Mr. Chips (1969), Play It Again, Sam (1972), and Steel Magnolias (1989).
Joseph "Mr. Google Eyes" August
Died October 9, 1992 b. 1931
American pioneer rhythm and blues musician. When he tried to break up with a white woman he was dating, she shot him in the abdomen. Though he recovered, he was charged for violating interracial relationship laws. He reportedly got his nickname from "Mr. Google Eyes" for his habit of ogling attractive female customers at the restaurant where he worked.
André Maurois (Émile Herzog)
Died October 9, 1967 b. 1885
French author. Writings: Ariel: The Life of Shelly (1923), which became the first Penguin Book.
Pius XII (Eugenio Maria Giovanni Pacelli)
Died October 9, 1958 b. 1876
Italian religious leader, 260th Pope (1939-58). He was elected pope on his 63rd birthday. In 1950, he proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
Clement II
Died October 9, 1047 b. ????
religious leader, 149th Pope (1046-47).