1943 – Nikola Tesla died. Serbian inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electrical supply system.
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1948 – Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashed and died while in pursuit of a supposed UFO.
Historian David Michael Jacobs argues the Mantell case marked a sharp shift in both public and governmental perceptions of UFOs. Previously, mass media often treated UFO reports with a whimsical or glib attitude reserved for silly season news. Following Mantell’s death, however, Jacobs notes “the fact that a person had died in an encounter with an alleged flying saucer dramatically increased public concern about the phenomenon. Now a dramatic new prospect entered thought about UFOs: they might be not only extraterrestrial but potentially hostile as well.”
The cause of Mantell’s crash remains officially listed as undetermined by the Air Force.
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2001 – James Carr died. American Rhythm & Blues and soul singer, who first made the R&B charts in 1966 with “You’ve Got My Mind Messed Up”, followed by his most famous song “The Dark End of the Street”, written by Dan Penn and Chips Moman. He died from lung cancer in a Memphis nursing home, aged 58.
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Alchemy & Accident 