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Monday, January 19, 2009

Five Awful Thanksgivings in History

This is not a wish to ruin your day, but it is interesting.

A few of my friends who used to work in law enforcement told me that usually crime is down significantly on the major holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Maybe not so much on Saint Patrick's Day and July 4th, but on the two biggies, people tend to stay at home and out of trouble.

Not always though. I've run across a web site that spells out five really nasty Thanksgiving Days in American history.

Here's a clip...

Thanksgiving Day Massacre, Reno, 1980

Priscilla Ford had a long history of psychiatric problems and bizarre behavior, marked by such quixotic acts as suing the Mormon Church and attempting to speak at the 1972 Republican Convention. The capper came on the Thanksgiving afternoon when she got even with the City of Reno. In front of the downtown casinos, she steered her black 1974 Lincoln onto a crowded sidewalk and mowed down the crowds of holiday gamblers and gambolers. She left six dead and 23 injured in her wake. Pulled over a few blocks later, she told police, "Sometimes I am called Jesus Christ." She later expressed a fervent hope that she'd nailed 75 people, and explained the voice of Joan (Mrs. Edward) Kennedy had told her to do it. Nonetheless, she was found legally sane and duly convicted of murder.

And here's a link to the site where you can read the rest of the good stuff...

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