This Day In History

Sep 8 1888
The "terribly mutilated" body of prostitute Annie Chapman is found in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street, Spitalfields. It is the second known victim attributed to Jack the Ripper.



Sep 8 1966
Star Trek debuts on NBC, with the airing of an episode titled "The Man Trap." The science fiction show proceeds to suffer in the ratings against established sitcoms Bewitched and My Three Sons.


Sep 8 1974
President Gerald Ford pardons Richard M. Nixon, out of respect for Nixon's family. "Theirs is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must."


Sep 8 1974
In Idaho, daredevil Evel Knievel climbs into his X-2 Skycycle (really just a rocket on wheels) and hits the ignition. The vehicle manages to clear the quarter-mile-wide Snake River Canyon, but then the parachute deploys prematurely and prevailing winds push him back into the chasm. Total ripoff.

People Mag- Fighting tears, Walter Koenig looked into the news cameras on Wednesday desperately hoping his missing son was watching.

"I just want to know you're okay," he said in the emotional appeal to Andrew Koenig, the Growing Pains star who disappeared earlier this month. "If it means you just want to stay here, that's okay. You don't have to come back. Just let us know that's your intention."

Walter Koenig, also an actor – he played Mr. Chekov on the original Star Trek TV show and movies – was joined by wife Judith at the televised press conference at the Vancouver Police Department.

Police say the younger Koenig was last seen in the British Columbia city on Feb. 16, the same day his phone and ATM activity stopped. The search most recently went to a Vancouver park he frequented, but mounted officers found no sign of the 41-year-old Koenig.

Koenig, who had long battled depression, cleared out his Los Angeles apartment about three weeks ago before traveling to Vancouver, where he once lived. Constable Tim Fanning says police were hopeful Koenig was still in the area and "doesn't want to be found."

Star Trek + Nine Inch Nails - Closer

This Day In History

Jun 11 1955
An Austin-Healy and Mercedes-Benz collide at the Le Mans Grand Prix. The Mercedes drove into a dirt retaining wall, disintegrated, and the hood, chassis, and various auto parts sliced through the spectator crowd. Eighty-three were killed, and 100 others were missing various "parts".

Jun 11 1963
Protesting the lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam, Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc burns himself with gasoline in a busy Saigon intersection.

Jun 11 1963
Governor Wallace stands in the schoolhouse door, blocking admission of blacks to the University of Alabama.

Jun 11 1964
Just after 9am, deranged World War II veteran Walter Seifert barges into a busy Cologne, Germany elementary school with a homemade flamethrower. He then proceeds to burn 8 children to death and seriously injure 21 others. In the process, he also stabs 2 teachers to death with a lance. Before police are finally able to apprehend him with a gunshot to the leg, Seifert swallows insecticide and proceeds to die in the hospital the next day.

Jun 11 1979
John Wayne dead of lung cancer.

Jun 11 1999
DeForest Kelley, "Bones" from the original Star Trek television series, died of stomach cancer.