# What events cause you to remember where you were when they happened (JFK, 9/11 etc..) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 21, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-events-cause-you-to-remember-where-you-were-when-they-happened-jfk-9-11-etc/579224 "2011-04-21T13:38:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-events-cause-you-to-remember-where-you-were-when-they-happened-jfk-9-11-etc/579224/1 "2011-04-21T13:38:10Z")
Inspired by [Where were you 12 years ago today? - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=605461) I don’t remember where I was when that happened. But I do remember where I was when 9/11 happened - I was at home in Accrington watching TV. I remember switching over to a scene of one of New York’s most recognisable features with black smoke pouring out of it. None of the news anchors were talking, it was just this scene being shown. Also, strangely considering I am largely indifferent to the Royal familiy and events surrounding it, I remember the day Diana died. I was in Laxey - Isle of Man (I was on holiday or ‘vacation’ as Americans call it. I hadn’t moved to the isle of man yet) What events have caused your memory of where you were/what you were doing to be more vivid and easy to recall than they might otherwise be? Personal events don’t count. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-events-cause-you-to-remember-where-you-were-when-they-happened-jfk-9-11-etc/579224/2 "2011-04-21T13:50:24Z")
Both shuttle tragedies. 9/11. Columbine. The first gulf war for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-events-cause-you-to-remember-where-you-were-when-they-happened-jfk-9-11-etc/579224/3 "2011-04-21T14:35:42Z")
OJ verdict Reagan assassination attempt Release of Ken Starr’s Clinton/Lewinsky investigation Oakland earthquake of 1989 Death of Elvis Nixon resignation Evacuation of Saigon ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-events-cause-you-to-remember-where-you-were-when-they-happened-jfk-9-11-etc/579224/4 "2011-04-21T14:48:20Z")
In more or less chronological order. Nixon resignation. Reagan shooting. The _Challenger_ explosion. Death of Len Bias. Magic Johnson’s ‘I have AIDS’ press conference. 9/11. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-events-cause-you-to-remember-where-you-were-when-they-happened-jfk-9-11-etc/579224/5 "2011-04-21T15:10:43Z")
Frank Lloyd Wright’s death on the news JFK’s assassination Blackout of 1965 Bush Srs. Iraq attack OJ verdict Payne Stewart’s death WTC attack ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-events-cause-you-to-remember-where-you-were-when-they-happened-jfk-9-11-etc/579224/6 "2011-04-21T15:13:18Z")
I remember 9/11 very specifically because I had just started rehearsals for a show I was in. Our first real rehearsal was on 9/10. I remember Challenger because I was at work and we had a TV in the break room. I remember the OJ verdict because everyone in the office was gathered around a TV. I don’t remember where I was when John Lennon was shot, but probably in my dorm room. My roommate told me. I was in my mother’s lap in the neighbor’s back yard when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-events-cause-you-to-remember-where-you-were-when-they-happened-jfk-9-11-etc/579224/7 "2011-04-21T15:28:22Z")
The 1987 FA Cup Final - I was on a Cub Scouts trip to Pleasurewood Hills American Theme Park (between Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft on the English coast). Someone said that Gary Mabbutt had scored an own goal, and I remember thinking that Gary Maggot was a rubbish name for a footballer. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-events-cause-you-to-remember-where-you-were-when-they-happened-jfk-9-11-etc/579224/8 "2011-04-21T15:32:16Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I don’t remember where I was when John Lennon was shot, but probably in my dorm room. Another I remember… ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-events-cause-you-to-remember-where-you-were-when-they-happened-jfk-9-11-etc/579224/9 "2011-04-21T17:51:30Z")
In [somewhat] chronological order: [ul] [li]The Reagan assassination attempt (getting off the bus from my district’s gifted program and back to regular class; there was a grisly murder here in town at about the same time, and it took place a few blocks from where the gifted program was).[/li][li]The Challenger Disaster (coming back from lunch sophomore year of high school).[/li][li]The First Gulf War (sitting in a common area in the apartment I lived in).[/li][li]OJ Simpson’s Slow Speed Chase (at work, at the Holiday Inn in Joplin, MO).[/li][li]Columbine (at home at my apartment; I was either unemployed or off work that day, I can’t remember).[/li][li]September 11th (on the way to work).[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-events-cause-you-to-remember-where-you-were-when-they-happened-jfk-9-11-etc/579224/10 "2011-04-21T17:54:11Z")
I was waiting in the emergency room of Roosevelt Hospital near midnight on December 8, 1980. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-events-cause-you-to-remember-where-you-were-when-they-happened-jfk-9-11-etc/579224/11 "2011-04-21T18:09:27Z")
Let’s see: Reagan getting shot: wlaking home from school, ran into my mom as she was outside telling a neighbor. Challenger: in Mr. Sandersons 10th grade science class. OJ: at work in a grocery store. Went to the break room to see the verdict. 9/11: sitting across the desk from a coworker going over some upcoming meetings when my boss comes by to tell us a plane hit the WTC. Then standing in my big boss’s office and seeing the second plane.