As you have become aware, I love history. April 14th was a big day for disasters and one of the best days of my life. The latter being that my daughter was born on that day in 1983.
However, I tease her frequently about all of the horrible things that happened on April 14th.
In 1986 the heaviest hailstones ever recorded hit Bangladesh. The lumps of ice weighed about 2.2 pounds. The hail stones were the size of softballs. A total of ninety-two people reportedly died as a result.
April 14, 1935 was Black Sunday. A severe sandstorm ravaged the US Midwest, creating the "Dust Bowl". Days later, dust from the storm settled on the decks of ships 100 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean.
In 1912 the doomed passenger liner RMS Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic. The subsequent sinking of the world's largest ocean liner of the time resulted in more than 1500 deaths. It was one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters in history.
In 1865 U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was shot. The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, wanted to revive the Confederate cause, mere days after their surrender to the Union Army, bringing the American Civil War to an end. Lincoln died the next day.
More suicides occur in April than any other month of the year. It is theorized that people get depressed during the winter and think that their lives will get better when the weather breaks. Unfortunately, many people’s depression doesn’t improve.
April may have been a bad month for some folks, but it is my favorite; thanks to my daughter.