This Day In History

Dec 15 1944
En route to Paris, "swing" big band leader Glenn Miller vanishes over the English Channel. Miller, listed as Missing In Action, was serving as a Major in the Army Air Force Band when his plane went down.

Dec 15 1952
Fashion photographer George Jorgenson has a Danish surgeon remove his various naughty bits, in the world's first sex-change operation. George emerges in New York as cabaret actress Christine Jorgenson.

Dec 15 1961
Nazi Adolf Eichmann, former Reichssicherheitshauptamt (that's a real word) bureaucrat, is sentenced to death by a Jerusalem court. Eichmann had been arrested in Argentina and smuggled to Israel the previous year.

Dec 15 1966
Walt Disney dead!

Dec 15 1988
Lori Davis, of Bay Shore NY, files suit against Mike Tyson over an incident in which Tyson played a little grabass with her at a nightclub.

Dec 15 1989
The man that masterminded a campaign of horror against the Colombian people, cartel leader Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, "El Mexicano", is killed by police in a shootout. Gacha had bombed an Avianca plane midflight, killing all 101 passengers, and truckbombed the National Police Headquarters in Bogota. The police were not happy with him.

Dec 15 1997
Thailand begins the mass cremation of some 21,347 dead, all unclaimed from the Poh Tek Tung cemetary in Bangkok. It is a new record.

Disney World Will KILL YOU!

(CNN) -- A Disney stunt performer died Monday night after suffering an injury during a rehearsal, company and local officials said.

Walt Disney World spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez said the performer was injured while performing a tumbling roll for the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular at Disney's Hollywood Studios, part of the Orlando, Florida, theme park.

It was the third fatal incident at the park in less than two months. Earlier this month, a performer was injured in a pirate show and later died. In July, two monorail trains collided, killing a driver.

"'We feel a sense of loss for these valued cast members," Suarez said. She said a review would be conducted on each incident. Performers receive extensive training, she said.

The Orange County Sheriff's Department identified the performer in the latest incident as Anislav Varbanov, 30, and said he had been pronounced dead at a hospital.

Security personnel at Hollywood Studios called 911 Monday evening to say a cast member had suffered a head injury during the rehearsal, the sheriff's department said. No other details were given.
The sheriff's department said the incident is under investigation.