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Grim Anniversary

rynner2

rynner2

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
Aug 7, 2001
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A year to the day of the Selby train crash, caused by a vehicle coming off the road and derailing a train, another vehicle has caused a train crash in Lincolnshire. Less disastrous, although still fatal.

Are there other examples of similar accidents occuring on anniversaries?

(For our far-flung readers, Selby is in Yorkshire, a county adjacent to Lincolnshire.)
 
I seem to recall it was a series of bizarre coincidences led up to the Selby crash, once the chain had been set in motion by that idiot. Can anyone enlighten me?
 
Papa Lazarou said:
I seem to recall it was a series of bizarre coincidences led up to the Selby crash, once the chain had been set in motion by that idiot. Can anyone enlighten me?
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that's right papa L, there was 3 train crashes within a month i think all 3 were fatal but twas the one in question that was the last straw - etc.
 
The Selby train crash was caused by truly extraordinarily bad luck.
The bloke in the car fell asleep just in time to swerve off the road at a spot unprotected by barriers and so was able to continue unimpeded onto the track.
The passenger train was on time.
The freight train, on the other hand, was running ahead of time which is good practice for freight.

Watch out for gory pics from that crash appearing on the 'net as I know for certain that digital cameras were unofficially present.
 
Slightly off topic, but it was reported yesterday that a man who survived last week's Egyptian train fire was killed while waiting to make the return trip. He fell off the platform and was run over by a passing train.
 
The delightful Phenomena by Michell & Rickard, 1977 has the following:

"In 1899 lightening struck a man dead in his back yard in Taranto, Italy.
Thirty years later his son was killed on the same spot and in the same
manner. Then on 8 October 1949 Rolla Primarda, the grandson of the
first man and son of the second, was killed in the same back yard -
struck by lightning. Our source is Fate, March 1950;" :eek:
 
It was twenty years ago today....


...that I was shipwrecked!


Westcountry ITV: 9.00pm Britain's Biggest Storm
Recalling the events of October 16 1987 when the worst storm for 300 years raged across southern England, killing 19 people, destroying much of the natural landscape and causing damage running into millions of pounds. The programme uses computer-generated technology and first-hand accounts to recreate the horrors and acts of heroism of the night. Narrated by David Phelen.

(Should be ...Biggest Storm since 1703, but I wasn't around then!)


I was living on a small sailing boat in '87, visiting Woodbridge, a quiet, sheltered(!) Suffolk creek. But the wind rose, the tide rose with it (early), and by dawn my boat was a total wreck, as were many others in the area.

What a night! The irony is, that was the first time my new expensive sailing jacket tasted salt spray, spray which blew many miles inland.

I survived uninjured, and the boat insurance paid out quickly. Could have been worse.
 
South of England? Here in Glasgow, there were trees uprooted, buildings blown down, cars blown away - utter chaos!

I was on a small fishing boat in the North Sea and the sea was monstrous. The boat was continually being consumed by the waves - being thrown up, then coming down bow-first into the water. Scary stuff.

The next day, my sister (who was 7-years-old at the time) was playing across the street, and I was sent to get her. I was at the top of the street when I saw her picked up by the wind and landed on the grass verge on the other side of the road.
 
Creamstick1 said:
I was on a small fishing boat in the North Sea and the sea was monstrous.
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The TV programme pointed out that the storm decreased in intensity as it moved out over the North Sea. Otherwise your 'small fishing boat' would not have survived at all!

I'm surprised to hear it had so much effect in Glasgow - when I rang my girl-friend (who lived in inland Yorkshire) to tell her what had happened to me and my boat, her response was "Storm? What storm?" :shock: (She hadn't seen the news at that time.)

The winds reached hurricane force and did most damage over England, east of a line from Dorset to the Wash. The TV show made much of the blue flashes from power cables lashing about, which is another feature I experienced at Woodbridge.
 
rynner said:
I'm surprised to hear it had so much effect in Glasgow - when I rang my girl-friend (who lived in inland Yorkshire) to tell her what had happened to me and my boat, her response was "Storm? What storm?" :shock: (She hadn't seen the news at that time.)
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Indeed, up here in the Pennines it was a bit breezy the following morning and that was it. I remember it being a bit of a 'what a lot of fuss about nothing' day, until my sister phoned from Cambridge to say her car had been crushed by a falling tree and half her house roof was missing.
 
I was living in Berkshire at the time, and it was the night before I moved in with my ex.

Looking back, I think it was an omen. :shock:


My flatmate and I sat in the living room in our first floor flat, drinking tea in the early hours of the morning, with the rotting unpicked pears from next door's pear tree slamming into the window. We were just waiting for the one that would break the window, but it stayed unbroken by some miracle.
 
Last night while on my way home from work BBC London radio were interveiwing a man who was out & about in London on the night of the 'great storm' He mentioned that during the storm itself he could smell an unusual smell that he could not remember having experienced before and never since. Wonder what that could have been. I do know the air temperature inrceased about 9 degrees c in about as many minutes at one point......

On the following morning - a Friday, I had to drive up North. Whilst passing Toddington services on the M1 all the power went off. From the road I could see loads of people 1/2 way through filling their cars up with petrol. I often wonder how many just jumped in to their cars and cleared off!!
Obviously would never advocate such an action ;)
 
jeff544 said:
I do know the air temperature inrceased about 9 degrees c in about as many minutes at one point......
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Yes, someone in Woodbridge commented on the temperature, and said the same thing happened before Caribbean hurricanes.

As for the odd smell, I wonder if those clashing power-lines might have had something to do with it:

Ozone is a form of oxygen, something we all need to live and breathe, but normal oxygen consists of two oxygen atoms. Ozone, however, consists of three oxygen atoms and has the chemical formula O3. It is pale blue in colour, has quite a strong smell and is a poisonous gas. Liquid ozone is a deep blue, strongly magnetic liquid.

Ozone is formed when an electric spark is passed through oxygen, and if you have ever been close to an electric spark caused by an electric motor or a fuse being blown, then that very particular smell is ozone being formed. In fact to make ozone on a commercial basis, the industrial process passes cold, dry oxygen through an electrical discharge.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/ozone.shtml
 
A bit more Fortean spin - in Larry Warren's rollicking "Left at East Gate" (about the Bentwaters-Woodbridge UFO/lighthouse/police car/other-soldiers-with-torches incident), Warren states that the USAF were buggering about with a huge Reichian cloudbuster at Woodbridge when he was there, though that pre-dates the storm by about 6 or 7 years.

Then again Warren says a lot of things, some of which I suspect may be less than entirely accurate.

Anyway, back OT, that day it was just very, very windy here. Lots of tiles lost and fallen trees, but no worse than any other autumn storm.
 
rynner said:
jeff544 said:
I do know the air temperature inrceased about 9 degrees c in about as many minutes at one point......
Click to expand...
Yes, someone in Woodbridge commented on the temperature, and said the same thing happened before Caribbean hurricanes.

As for the odd smell, I wonder if those clashing power-lines might have had something to do with it:

Ozone is a form of oxygen, something we all need to live and breathe, but normal oxygen consists of two oxygen atoms. Ozone, however, consists of three oxygen atoms and has the chemical formula O3. It is pale blue in colour, has quite a strong smell and is a poisonous gas. Liquid ozone is a deep blue, strongly magnetic liquid.

Ozone is formed when an electric spark is passed through oxygen, and if you have ever been close to an electric spark caused by an electric motor or a fuse being blown, then that very particular smell is ozone being formed. In fact to make ozone on a commercial basis, the industrial process passes cold, dry oxygen through an electrical discharge.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/ozone.shtml
Click to expand...

I wondered that too, but in central London all the power lines would be under ground - except perhaps near to a main line railway station like Euston.

I know a bit about ozone being in the dry print industry but never knew there could be liquid ozone. Well you live & learn..............
 
You know something?

I'm thinking about the 1990 storm.

Oops. :oops:
 
Yes, That was during the day, about 3 weeks before my eldest Daughter was born

Was that when Gordon Kaye form 'allo 'allo got injued by some falling scaffolding ?
 
rynner said:
Are there other examples of similar accidents occuring on anniversaries?
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It's precisely such important questions as this that make a really complete (and continuing) Fortean database/wiki such a crying necessity.

We all know the legends of the ghost, the vision, the scream that occurs on the yearly anniversaries of such-and-so a tragedy. DO such things occur in genuine paranormal history?

For our far-flung readers....
Click to expand...

Alas, Friend Rynner, my days of being far-flung are long in the past. Doctor's orders.
 
Forget Halloween

- today is my 30th Wedding Anniversary! :shock:
 
Surely all Forteans are aware of the loss of the EDMUND FITZGERALD on North America's Lake Superior on November 10, 1975, one of the most famous non-military maritime disasters of modern times.

I was informed just earlier this evening that there was a report by the crew of a fishing vessel, of that ship being seen, asail, on the 10th anniversary of the tragedy, November 10, 1985. The crew claimed they were even able to read the ship's name on the hull.
 
OldTimeRadio said:
Rynner, I moved into my apartment on Halloween, 1977!
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Well, you clearly made a better choice of apartment than I did of wife, since your arrangement seems to have lasted about four time longer than mine did! ;)
 
Creamstick1 said:
You know something?

I'm thinking about the 1990 storm.

Oops. :oops:
Click to expand...

Did everyone shelter behind your unfeasibly large, er, walls?
 
escargot1 said:
Creamstick1 said:
You know something?

I'm thinking about the 1990 storm.

Oops. :oops:
Click to expand...

Did everyone shelter behind your unfeasibly large, er, walls?
Click to expand...

Only in my dreams were they blown that night - tossed to and fro maybe, but nary a hair was out of place ;)
 
OldTimeRadio said:
Surely all Forteans are aware of the loss of the EDMUND FITZGERALD on North America's Lake Superior on November 10, 1975, one of the most famous non-military maritime disasters of modern times.

I was informed just earlier this evening that there was a report by the crew of a fishing vessel, of that ship being seen, asail, on the 10th anniversary of the tragedy, November 10, 1985. The crew claimed they were even able to read the ship's name on the hull.
Click to expand...

This is a little OT, but your story reminds me of one a friend of mine told me - a cautionary tale, really. He was at the house of a stranger, a friend of a friend, basically. While he was sitting around bored, he started jokingly humming the song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Just then, the resident of the place came into the room and cried out, "My dad died on the Edmund Fitzgerald!" Oops.
 
LeapingEri said:
This is a little OT....
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I've seen 'em one heck of a lot more so. And, mea culpa, posted 'em, too. <g>

Interesting story.
 
This is a little OT, but your story reminds me of one a friend of mine told me - a cautionary tale, really. He was at the house of a stranger, a friend of a friend, basically. While he was sitting around bored, he started jokingly humming the song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Just then, the resident of the place came into the room and cried out, "My dad died on the Edmund Fitzgerald!" Oops.
Click to expand...

This is also a little OT; but when I was working in London in the late 80s I had the habit of falling asleep with the radio on low. One night as I was just drifting off, a song came on that I (a bit of a folkie at the time) liked. I couldn't remember the name of the song but caught the gist of the lyrics.

A couple of months later, I was back home in North Northumberland, and went into my local record shop there. The owner was sitting behind the counter writing something. I said I was looking for a song by a Canadian guitarist and singer about "a ship sinking on one of the Great Lakes". He immediately said "Ah! You mean the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot. I have the album here."

He went and got the LP out of the racks and then added: "It's strange you coming in here asking for that right this minute. I was just in the process of writing a letter to the wife's cousin in the USA, her husband was one of the crew members who died when the Edmund Fitgerald sank!"
:oops:
 
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