May 30, 1883: A rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes a stampede that crushes twelve people.
May 31, 1889: The Johnstown Flood.
After heavy rains, the poorly maintained South Fork Dam in Western Pennsylvania fails, sending a wall of water into Johnstown. 2029 people die in the flood. The dam was owned by the ultra-exclusive South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club and created a lake where the richest and wealthiest could relax in their expensive vacation homes. Despite much evidence that the famous owners were negligent, no one was held responsible.
May 31, 1927: The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles.
June 1, 1676: The Swedish warship *Kronan *capsizes during the Battle of Oland. Over 800 die.
June 1, 1495: A monk, John Cor, records the first known batch of Scotch whisky.
June 2, 1944: The Soham train disaster. A car on a train loaded with explosives catches fire in Soham England. Two heroes unbuckle the burning car and pull it away from the rest of the train. The train car explodes killing hero James Nightall and injuring hero Benjamin Gimbert. They both knew the train cars were loaded with explosives, and they saved the lives of countless others by separating the burning car from the rest of the train instead of fleeing to safety.
June 2, 1953: The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, who is crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Her Other Realms and Territories & Head of the Commonwealth, the first major international event to be televised*.
*and watched by 6yo Panache45.
June 3, 1921 Heavy rains cause terrible flash flooding in Pueblo, Colorado. Hundreds are killed and the damage is extensive.
June 3, 1943: In Los Angeles, California, white U.S. Navy sailors and Marines clash with Latino youths in the “Zoot Suit Riots”.
June 5, 1976: The Teton Dam in Idaho fails, killing 11 and destroying hundreds of homes and thousands of livestock. The dam was less than a year old and had been built despite concerns about the geology of the area.
June 5, 1981: The “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report” of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that five people in Los Angeles, California, have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, in what turns out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS.
June 6, 1912: The Novarupta Eruption, the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, occurs in Alaska. The amount of ash expelled was more than the total of all other known Alaskan volcano eruptions combined.
June 6, 1944: The Battle of Normandy begins. D-Day, code named Operation Overlord, commences with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France. The allied soldiers quickly break through the Atlantic Wall and push inland in the largest amphibious military operation in history.
June 7, 1692: Port Royal, Jamaica is destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami. Over 5000 die.
June 8, 1940: The British aircraft carrier HMS *Glorious *is sunk by German forces. Over 1200 die.
June 8, 1988: Nippon Airways announces that painting eyeballs on Jets cut bird collisions by 20%.
June 9, 1979: An unexplained fire on the Luna Park Ghost Train amusement park ride in Sydney, Australia kills 7. Though some negligence was determined on the part of the park owners, no one was held accountable.
June 9, 1534: Jacques Cartier is the first European to discover the Saint Lawrence River.
June 10, 1912: The Villisca Axe Murders. In one of America’s most bizarre and gruesome unsolved crimes, someone slipped into the Moore home in the small town of Villisca, Iowa and brutally axe-murdered Josiah Moore, Mary Moore, their four young children, and two other children who had stayed over for the night. Evidence shows that all were sleeping when attacked, and the violent bludgeoning of each victim was well beyond that needed to kill. The killer hung cloth over all the windows and mirrors in the house and covered the heads of each of the dead, also with cloth. A two pound slab of bacon was found on the floor beside the axe, and a bowl of bloody water sat nearby. Early the next morning, a neighbor became suspicious after seeing no activity around the Moore house. She contacted authorities, who found the grisly scene. Though there were many suspects for this horrible crime, the murderer was never identified.
June 10, 1991: Eleven-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard is kidnapped in South Lake Tahoe, California; she would remain a captive until 2009.