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Post by Mini Mia on Oct 5, 2017 19:54:46 GMT -6
I've seen that video a few years ago. I've often wondered if I would fall for that if I saw it in person.
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Post by Phalon on Oct 6, 2017 21:41:02 GMT -6
I've never seen it. I have to say, that unless the harness used to lift the man was clearly visible, or any of the other props were visibly rigged, I'd definitely fall for it. There'd be a whole lot of bleeping in the audio, if I was one of the unsuspecting customers. Today's 31 Days of Halloween Random Word Drill unearthed a video also... Evil Taxidermy SpellWhen I type random words into a search, I end up clicking on a lot of sites and doing a lot of quick skimming to find something suitable to post. When this site came up in the drill, I scrolled through it so quickly, I almost missed what it was I was actually looking at. The tiniest details in this artwork are amazing.....creepy for sure, but definitely amazing. The short video at the end is equally as creepy; the movements of the "fairy" creatures and the audio reminds me of the earliest "talkie" movies for some reason. dangerousminds.net/comments/evil_fairy_taxidermy_created_from_insect_remains
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Post by Phalon on Oct 8, 2017 8:09:18 GMT -6
Random Word Drill for today: Macabre Garage Mystery
As expected, a lot of macabre things turn up in garages. There was the 145-year old child-sized bronze casket fronted with two glass windows, revealing the perfectly preserved body of a toddler holding a rose, that was found by a construction crew doing renovations on the garage. There's the 91-year old Pennsylvania woman who had the bodies of her husband and twin sister exhumed and for 10 years she kept them in her house (the twin sister on a couch in a bedroom, and her husband on a couch in her garage) until they were discovered by authorities. Macabre for sure, but not mysteries. The child's casket was left behind when the city unearthed the inhabitants of an 1800s cemetery to make way for residential development, and the Pennsylvania woman wanted to visit her loved ones daily, instead of leaving them to rot in the ground.
Then there is the mystery of The Murder House. The crime at the mansion in Los Feliz, California isn't the mystery: In December of 1959, Dr. Harold Perelson bludgeoned his wife to death with a hammer, attempted to do the same to his 18-year-old daughter, fracturing her skull before she escaped to the neighbor's house, told his two younger children they were having a nightmare and to go back to bed when they woke from their sister's screams, and then poisoned himself by chugging down a glass of acid; he was dead when the police arrived. Why he did it was no mystery either - the family finances were in shambles, causing Perelson to snap.
The mystery is why for more than 50 years time stood still inside The Murder House, the contents remaining as they were the night Dr. Perelson picked up a hammer. Through grimy windows, curiosity seekers can see a 1950s console television set that remains unwatched, presents piled underneath a Christmas tree that remain unopened, and a 1959 Life magazine on a coffee table which remains unread.
To be continued....
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Post by Phalon on Oct 8, 2017 22:10:27 GMT -6
Macabre Garage - The Los Feliz Murder House continued...
Sorry to stop halfway through this morning, but it was beautiful day outside, and I did not want to spend anymore time inside!
So where'd we leave off...oh yes! The not-so-good Dr. Perelson killed his wife with a hammer to her head, tries to kill his daughter, then successfully kills himself.
After the crime, a relative whisked the three Perelson children away, some believe to the east coast; their whereabouts to this day remain unknown, although there is much debate on murder-mystery sites.
Some speculate that the mansion was rented shortly after the murder/suicide, and that the Christmas tree and presents seen through the windows belonged to the renters; the Perelsons were Jewish. The renters, claiming the house was haunted, fled in fear on the first anniversary of the crime. Neighbors though, pretty much discount the story - no one who lived nearby during that time-frame remembers the Perelson mansion being rented.
It was purchased a year after the crime though, in a probate auction to Emily and Julian Enriquez. The couple moved some of their belongings into the house, but never moved in themselves. The house remained abandoned for the 34 years they owned it, and when Emily died in 1994, their son Rudy inherited it. He never moved in either...although oddly, he had two cats that he kept in the house for a period of time, and dropped by daily to feed them.
The neighbors mowed the grass occasionally, painted the garage, and installed a gate across the driveway to keep out the curiosity-seekers, picnickers, and prostitutes. The house fell into disrepair, and finally, the city threatened Rudy Enriquez with fines, demanding he repair and paint the deteriorating stucco exterior on the Spanish-style mansion. Even after the repairs, Enriquez said he had no plans to move in; he also refused to sell, and instead installed an alarm system.
At age 77, the retired Enriquez said not moving in, "...has nothing to do with the mansion's violent past...I never looked at it as being haunted. The only spooky thing there is me."
Enriquez died in 2015; the mansion sold in 2016. After nearly 50 years, the Murder House was finally emptied of the Perelson family belongings.
No word from the new owners if any of the Perelsons remain.
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Post by Mini Mia on Oct 9, 2017 18:21:40 GMT -6
I don't get why anyone would buy a house and not live in it. Very strange.
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Post by Phalon on Oct 10, 2017 5:08:51 GMT -6
It is strange indeed, especially since it wasn't just a run-down small property that a person might purchase with thoughts of renovating it, then putting it on the market for a much higher price. This is a mansion, and not a run-down one back when the Enriquez family purchased it. You don't just by a mansion, and leave it unoccupied - especially with the previous owners' belongings in there - for 50 years! Of course, there are stories of it being haunted - even before Perelson went on his hammering spree; there was at least one other recorded death of a child of a previous owner of the house. Other speculations revolve around the Perelson children - that Julian Enrique either worked for the Perelsons before the murder/suicide, made some kind of financial deal with the relative that took in the orphaned kids, or were somehow related to the Perelsons, and were keeping the house as a kind of nest-egg for the Perelson kids for when they reached adulthood - none of which, of course, makes any sense at all.
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Post by Phalon on Oct 10, 2017 6:18:13 GMT -6
Today's Random Word Drill: Musty Cove HorrorAmerican author H.P. Lovecraft wrote horror stories, science fiction, and weird fiction, whose word largely went unnoticed during his lifetime (from 1890 to 1937). Here's a short poem of his that invokes fear of a different kind than that of haunted mansions and things laying in wait under the bed. armedwithvisions.com/2011/10/23/h-p-lovecraft-a-garden/
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Post by Phalon on Oct 12, 2017 5:21:19 GMT -6
Scrolling through the news yesterday, I just pulled a few words from headlines to create today's Random Word Drill - Sickening Raw Burning, and came up with a real life horror: Phantosmia.
There is anosmia (the inability to smell), hyposmia (a decreased ability to smell), and parosmia (a distorted perception; instead of flowers, for example, you smell rotten meat). Then there is phantosmia.
Phantosmia are phantom smells - olfactory hallucinations that cause people to smell vile odors such as chemicals, a burning smell, rotten eggs, bad perfume, garbage, a gas leak, wet dog, pungent body odor or spoiled fish or feces. It could be a sign of a bigger issue, typically something going on in a person's brain since that's where smell is processed. People suffering from phantosmia could have tumors, a brain infection, epilepsy, a head trauma, or Alzheimer's. Even migraines may trigger phantosmia.
Sometimes though, there are no medical reasons for the sickening smells, and they can last a few hours, a couple of weeks, months, or even years. For other people, phantosmia can come and go for no apparent reason for decades.
These phantom smells can be very disabling. Substantial weight loss is typical; imagine every time you sit down to eat, all you smell is the horrid stench of maggot-infested rotting meat. Depression or suicidal behavior is very common also due to the hopelessness of living a life where everything smelled vile. Sometimes people think the stink is coming from themselves, which can lead to a condition known as olfactory reference syndrome; they'll wash compulsively, and won't go out in public, becoming recluse. What starts as phantosmia, turns into debilitating paranoia.
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Post by Phalon on Oct 13, 2017 5:12:32 GMT -6
Today let's drill Trunk Rain Horror. Grab a blanket, and maybe a flashlight; it's time to gather 'round close, roast marshmallows, and tell ghost stories around the campfire! Since I don't know if this is an original story, I'm not going to retell it; instead here's the link: www.scaryforkids.com/car-keys/
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Post by Mini Mia on Oct 13, 2017 23:06:26 GMT -6
My story is somewhat similar. It's on WattPad.
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Post by Phalon on Oct 14, 2017 4:57:52 GMT -6
I just read it from the link you posted on the Facebook page. More later; I've got to get moving!
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Post by Phalon on Oct 17, 2017 5:09:13 GMT -6
A few days ago - Friday, the 13th to be exact - I used the words Bloody 13 for a random word drill. Tucked among the zillions of sites with various song lyrics and even more dedicated to the dozen or so Friday the 13th movie sequels, was something from Snopes. Snopes? Promising. Urban legends debunked....
...or not.
Oh! Oh, oh, oh! Back to childhood we go. Along with "light as a feather, stiff as a board", I remember this as a common slumber party ritual during my preteen and early teenage years.
As is typical of urban legend articles on Snopes, it starts off with e-mail examples that have made the rounds, recycled over and over, for years.
"Here’s how I always heard the story. You go into a room with a mirror and turn all the lights off (this works well in a bathroom). You begin, in a whisper, to chant “Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary”, as you continue to chant your voice should grow louder and louder into a near scream. While you are chanting you should be spinning around at a medium rate and taking a glimpse in the mirror at each pass. Near the 13th repetition of the words . . . “she” should appear and…?"
And? And she doesn't hand you a spicy tomato juice and vodka cocktail with a celery stalk, folks.
The ritual varies. I believe the one we followed was reciting Bloody Mary seven times in a front of a mirror in a completely dark room; no candles or spinning needed. In other versions, the mirror must be illuminated by a single candle, or a candle on each side. In some versions, the message to Mary is repeated by just one girl who is either a volunteer or one selected by the others to summon up the mirror-witch. The number of chants needed to bring forth Mary also varies. Bloody Mary also goes by the names Bloody Bones, Hell Mary, Mary Worth, Mary Worthington, Mary Whales, Mary Johnson, Mary Lou, Mary Jane, Sally, Kathy, Agnes, Black Agnes, Aggie, Svarte Madame.
What happens when the ritual works? Afraid of being scarred for life or worse I suppose, in our version the hideous (and quite bloody) face of Mary would appear in the mirror, replacing our own face. Other versions weren't quite so benign: Mary may "strike her summoner dead, drive her mad, fiercely scratch her face...or she may drag one of the girls back through it to live with her."
Snopes traces the earliest known versions of the Bloody Mary back to the early 70s; by the late 70s in was an ingrained urban legend throughout the United States. The legend has nothing to do with the historical figure Mary I of England, also known as Bloody Mary. Instead the face in the mirror is said to be a witch who was executed a hundred years ago, or a woman who died in a local car crash, her face horribly disfigured in the accident.
The “mirror witch” origins stem from "old divining rituals involving unmarried girls and future husbands, some involving chanting a rhyme in a darkened room on a special night and then quickly looking in the mirror to catch a glimpse of the bridegroom-to-be.
The concept of mirrors as portals between this world and the realm of spirits shows up in other beliefs, namely those surrounding funerals. It was common practice to cover mirrors in a house where a death had occurred until the body was taken for burial. (Back in the days before funeral homes, corpses were washed by the deceased’s relatives, dressed in their funeral finery, and laid out in coffins in the front parlor. Consequently, the dead would be in the house for days.) It was believed if the dear departed caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror, his ghost would remain in the house because the mirror would trap his spirit."
Interesting thing about this Snopes article is that it lacks the typical "rating" - "true", "false", or "undecided". As for my own experience with Bloody Mary, it'd be an "undecided".
We never had the guts to get to reciting the final "Bloody Mary".
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Post by Mini Mia on Oct 17, 2017 16:53:49 GMT -6
Some girls at my school did. It was in the girls bathroom. It was full of us just watching the bravery of the girls partaking in the ritual. It's been ages, so I don't have a clear memory of it ... but IIRC something bizarre happened. Some girls claimed to have seen a greenish-glowing head form over the radiator and the rest of us freaked out and we all ran for our lives. We got called into a classroom and punished.
But ... that radiator never worked right after that day, and it let out eerie noises. That bathroom gave me strange vibes forever after that. I hated being in there alone. Sometimes we'd hear weird screeching noises. Mice, maybe? Anyhoo the before and after vibes were vastly different. Real or Imagined?
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Post by Phalon on Oct 20, 2017 4:53:34 GMT -6
Could have been group hysteria....or something else. Da-da-dum. <----scary music
Stuff like that just makes you want to hug a kitten, doesn't it? Or watch cute kitty videos. That, according to one of my co-workers, is a cure-all for the mind. He says there ought to be a television channel that plays non-stop cute kitty videos....
So for today's drill, let's twist that a bit and go with: Bizarre Kitty Video.
Sometimes with these drills dredge up "WTF?" stuff. This one is more like OMG! WTF?!!!!
It's just way too bizarre to just keep it at this, and digging further into the video's history and creator, found a backstory just as bizarre as the video itself...
To be continued...
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Post by Mini Mia on Oct 20, 2017 21:29:53 GMT -6
As I remember it, I didn't get very far into the bathroom due to it being too crowded. There is a wall that blocks the view from the open door that has to be gone around, and this wall blocked my view. But, yeah, the vibes I got after were due to that event. Though I didn't like being in that bathroom alone before that either. And that is because the Special Ed teachers let the girls go to the bathroom as a group unattended. They caught me in there alone once, and I closed myself inside a stall to get away from them ... and they would climb up and stare down into the stall at me. So my fear of that restroom was two-fold.
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Post by Phalon on Oct 21, 2017 5:23:24 GMT -6
Oh-my-god, Joxie, that's horrible!
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Post by Mini Mia on Oct 21, 2017 16:06:33 GMT -6
Of the things I do forget ... why can't I forget all the horrid things, and remember all the wonderful things? I guess it's because they make the most interesting stories.
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Post by Phalon on Nov 12, 2017 9:51:32 GMT -6
I was such a slacker this year in my favorite month-long posting spree...which isn't to say I didn't do the drills, but with Hubs' surgery, and me picking up the chores he normally does around the house, I didn't have time to post. I also got side-tracked by one of the drill results: "Edgy Stage Ghost" brought up this... seeksghosts.blogspot.com/2013/03/theatre-ghost-light-superstitions.htmlI thought it was an interesting little blurb of history....interesting enough to incorporate into a short story, which I've started to do. But haven't had time to finish either!
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Post by Mini Mia on Nov 12, 2017 21:34:40 GMT -6
At least you're still here, and posted what/when you could.
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Post by katina2nd on Nov 13, 2017 18:48:26 GMT -6
I was such a slacker this year in my favorite month-long posting spree...which isn't to say I didn't do the drills, but with Hubs' surgery, and me picking up the chores he normally does around the house, I didn't have time to post. I also got side-tracked by one of the drill results: "Edgy Stage Ghost" brought up this... seeksghosts.blogspot.com/2013/03/theatre-ghost-light-superstitions.htmlI thought it was an interesting little blurb of history....interesting enough to incorporate into a short story, which I've started to do. But haven't had time to finish either! Nothing too serious I hope Gams.
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Post by Phalon on Nov 14, 2017 7:13:13 GMT -6
Not serious, Katina - just, what is turning out to be, a very lengthy recovery. He had surgery to repair his rotator cuff last spring, but after a month or so, it became apparent the surgery failed. He had another, what turned out to be more extensive, surgery last month.
Hopefully, this one will do the trick!
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Post by katina2nd on Nov 14, 2017 19:24:40 GMT -6
Not serious, Katina - just, what is turning out to be, a very lengthy recovery. He had surgery to repair his rotator cuff last spring, but after a month or so, it became apparent the surgery failed. He had another, what turned out to be more extensive, surgery last month. Hopefully, this one will do the trick! Glad to hear, not that shoulder surgery (or any surgery for that matter) is trivial by any means.
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Post by Phalon on Feb 2, 2018 8:18:43 GMT -6
February is Black History Month - I'll see if I can do better getting something posted (nearly) every day than I did during October for Halloween.
"I seek in the 'Afro-American Symphony' to portray not the higher type of colored American, but the sons of the soil" ~ William Grant Still
William Grant Still (1895-1978) was a musical composer and conductor, winning two Guggenheim Fellowships, composing 5 symphonies and 8 operas. He was successful in breaking down musical barriers that saw him become the first black American to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl in 1936.
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Post by katina2nd on Feb 2, 2018 19:56:57 GMT -6
"Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe."
William Douglass - (1818-95) abolitionist, author, orator and one of, if not the most important black American leader of the nineteenth century.
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Post by Phalon on Feb 3, 2018 8:42:11 GMT -6
An excellent quote by an extraordinary man, Katina, and the words are still relevant today. I believe though, it's Frederick Douglass who said them.
Today is Dennis Edwards', lead singer of the Temptations, 75th birthday. He died this past Thursday.
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Post by Phalon on Feb 5, 2018 13:03:20 GMT -6
Two quotes today (since I missed yesterday), both of them were said by the same person, and I can't decide between the two, which one to post. One is inspirational. The second quote is disgusting, only because it's true.
"Don't follow the path. Go where there is no path and begin the trail. When you start a new trail equipped with courage, strength and conviction, the only thing that can stop you is you!"
"Each and every one of us is born with a clean heart. Our babies know nothing about hate or racism. But soon they begin to learn – and only from us. We keep racism alive. We pass it on to our children. We owe it to our children to help them keep their clean start."
Both quotes are attributed to Ruby Bridges, who at the age of six, arrived at an elementary school in New Orleans on November 14, 1960, escorted by U.S. Marshals, facing a hostile and racist mob. She was the first black child integrated into an all white school. She never cried or wavered in her determination, even when the teachers went on strike, refusing to teach her - every teacher, except for one. White students on strike as well, refusing to attend classes for several weeks. The consequences also affected her family - her sharecropper granndparents were evicted, her parents were refused service at the local grocery store, and her father lost his job.
Sixty years later, a statue of her stands in the courtyard of that elementary school where she encountered all that hatred directed at her only because of the color of her skin - unwarranted hatred directed at a child, for god's sake! I never could have done it - even as an adult, I don't think I could have the kind of courage that child had.
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Post by katina2nd on Feb 5, 2018 19:15:14 GMT -6
An excellent quote by an extraordinary man, Katina, and the words are still relevant today. I believe though, it's Frederick Douglass who said them.Today is Dennis Edwards', lead singer of the Temptations, 75th birthday. He died this past Thursday. You're right of course, don't know where the heck I got "William" from. Two quotes today (since I missed yesterday), both of them were said by the same person, and I can't decide between the two, which one to post. One is inspirational. The second quote is disgusting, only because it's true. "Don't follow the path. Go where there is no path and begin the trail. When you start a new trail equipped with courage, strength and conviction, the only thing that can stop you is you!" "Each and every one of us is born with a clean heart. Our babies know nothing about hate or racism. But soon they begin to learn – and only from us. We keep racism alive. We pass it on to our children. We owe it to our children to help them keep their clean start." Both quotes are attributed to Ruby Bridges, who at the age of six, arrived at an elementary school in New Orleans on November 14, 1960, escorted by U.S. Marshals, facing a hostile and racist mob. She was the first black child integrated into an all white school. She never cried or wavered in her determination, even when the teachers went on strike, refusing to teach her - every teacher, except for one. White students on strike as well, refusing to attend classes for several weeks. The consequences also affected her family - her sharecropper granndparents were evicted, her parents were refused service at the local grocery store, and her father lost his job. Sixty years later, a statue of her stands in the courtyard of that elementary school where she encountered all that hatred directed at her only because of the color of her skin - unwarranted hatred directed at a child, for god's sake! I never could have done it - even as an adult, I don't think I could have the kind of courage that child had. Hare to imagine the courage it must have taken to do what she did, just as it's hard to imagine that such a short time ago that was the norm in parts of America. Girls are capable of doing everything men are capable of doing. Sometimes they have more imagination than men. I don't have a feeling of inferiority. Never had. I'm as good as anybody, but no better - Katherine Johnson. Only became aware of her after watching the excellent film "Hidden Figures" recently, an extraordinary woman (among a group of extraordinary women) and so smart it's danged scary. www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/a-lifetime-of-stem.html
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Post by Phalon on Feb 9, 2018 7:56:56 GMT -6
Oooo, Katina, good choice! I love that movie! I saw it with a friend when it was first released in theaters, and then again with LX when she was home this Christmas. You're right on all counts - an excellent film about a group of extraordinary women whose intelligence is danged scary, and whose role in history largely went unnoticed by the general public until the film "Hidden Figures".
It's a coincidence that after you posted this, I learned of another black woman who played a historical role in NASA: Nichelle Nicols
I've only seen maybe two episodes of Star Trek in my entire life, but I'm sure any Star Trek fan knows Nichelle Nicols played the role of the communications officer on USS Enterprise in the original Star Trek series. The character "Lieutenant (later, Commander) Uhura" was groundbreaking in many ways.
I wonder though how many fans know why Nichols continued to play the character, even after she wanted to quit, or went on to do some work for NASA after the Star Trek series was cancelled.
I learned about Nichols on this week's episode of "Drunk History", one of my favorite shows. Say what you will about the show, but I always seem to learn stuff I probably would never otherwise know. Here's the segment about Nichelle Nichols' role in history (warning - drunk people swear a lot):
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Post by Phalon on Feb 10, 2018 9:16:53 GMT -6
"It’s important for me that little girls and little boys see someone who looks like them, talks like them, has the same culture as them, has the same crazy, curly hair and wears it natural, has brown skin, included in different things in this world. When you grow up and you don’t see that, you feel that you can’t do it. And that is not right." ~ Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian, member of the first women’s Jamaican bobsled team to qualify for the Olympics - the 2018 Winter Olympics. Here's a nice article about the team, and why they do it: sports.yahoo.com/30-years-cool-runnings-debut-jamaica-first-womens-bobsled-team-073152490.html
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Post by Phalon on Feb 12, 2018 9:39:42 GMT -6
"I feel very, very proud of what I did. I do feel like what I did was a spark and it caught on. I'm not disappointed. Let the people know Rosa Parks was the right person for the boycott. But also let them know that the attorneys took four other women to the Supreme Court to challenge the law that led to the end of segregation." ~ Claudette Colvin
A pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement at age 15, Claudette Colvin was arrested in March, 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a bus in segregated Montgomery, Alabama - 9 months before Rosa Parks was famously arrested for the same "crime".
She was among four plaintiffs originally included in the federal court case, and testified before the three-judge panel that heard the case in the United States District Court. The judges determined that the state and local laws requiring bus segregation in Alabama were unconstitutional. The case went to the United States Supreme Court, which upheld their ruling; three days later, the Supreme Court issued an order to Montgomery and the state of Alabama to end bus segregation.
Colvin's case didn't received the same recognition that Rosa Parks' did, because the NAACP and other groups thought that Parks would be a better test case for integration - Rosa was an adult, and had lighter skin and the kind of hair that would make her appeal more to America's middle class than would a dark-skinned rebellious teenager.
Claudette Colvin though, is said to be the spark that ignited the Montgomery bus boycott movement.
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