A Disaster of a Day

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We all have bad days. The date, April 15, is a disaster of a day. This day has had a lot of bad luck! Since you know I like history, I would like to introduce you to the tragedies of April 15. 1865: Abraham Lincoln dies: President Lincoln was shot at Ford Theater in Washington, DC on the night of April 14, 1865, just four days after General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate troops to General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the Civil War. He was taken across the street to the Petersen House, where he died at 7:22 AM on April 15. 1912: The Titanic: RMS Titanic, on its maiden voyage, hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean and went down, taking all but 710 passengers to their deaths. In one of those horrible press mixups, many newspapers reported "not a life lost" (Holyoke [Massachusettes] Daily Transcript) and "bulkheads prevented sinking" (Biddeford [Maine] Daily Journal). We all know that was wrong. 1978: Train collision in Italy: See, it wasn't just America that has had bad April 15ths. Known as the Murazze di Vado disaster, a train was derailed by a rockslide near Bologna, with a second train hitting it shortly thereafter. An express train, 572, hit the Rapido 813 moments after the latter was struck by a rockslide. Forty of the 42 fatalities were on the Rapido 813, with the two 572 drivers being the only deaths on the second train. It is the fourth-worst train disaster in Italian history. 1997: Fire at Mecca: the pilgrimage in Islam known as the Hajj has seen many tragedies. One occurred on April 15, 1997, when fire swept through the tents where pilgrims were sleeping. Over 70,000 tents were destroyed, over 1,300 injuries, and between 217 and 343 deaths (either from the fire or the stampede to escape the flames). 1998: Nashville tornado/tornado outbreak: Oh, do I remember this one. On April 15, 1998, an F3 tornado went straight down Broadway in downtown Nashville. There were numerous other tornadoes that day, including the only "official" F5 in Tennessee state history. 2011: the "forgotten" tornado outbreak: I remember this one, too (because I'm a weather nerd). While there was a blizzard going on in Nebraska, Kansas, and South Dakota, places like Mississippi, Alabama, and North Carolina were getting slammed with tornadoes. When the outbreak was over the next day, there were nearly 180 tornadoes reported, causing 38 deaths. Many meteorologists thought it was the worst thing they'd ever seen since the Super Tuesday outbreak in 2008. Two weeks later, the day would be dwarfed by a date that lives in meteorological infamy: April 27, 2011, the Super Outbreak (which had a record 368 tornadoes and 324 fatalities, 252 of which were in Alabama). That's a lot for one day to have happen in history!!! A video about the Petersen House, where President Lincoln died: