Strange Lands, Episode 4: The Oscar 7 Event

In the early morning hours of October 24, 1968, two alarms sounded in the Oscar 1 Launch Control Center. The alarms were OZ, outer zone, and IZ, inner zone, perimeter alerts at the United States Air Force’s Oscar 7 missile silo, down the highway from the Launch Control Center. While OZ alerts were frequently tripped […]

Strange Lands, Episode 3: The 9/11 Assassination Plot

On September 11th, 2001, terrorists attacked America when they flew hijacked commercial jets into both towers of the World Trade Center in New York, and the Pentagon in Washington DC. A suicide attack by a fourth airliner, United Airlines Flight 93 bound for Washington DC, was foiled by passengers, but the plane crashed in a […]

Strange Lands, Episode 2: The Disappearances at Flannan Isles Lighthouse

In ancient times mariners returning from sea were guided to port by fires built on hilltops; the elevated light serving as a point of reference for landings which were frequently perilous. One wrong move along a rocky coast meant expensive loss of precious cargo, and certain death for sailors with families. Gradually the technology evolved […]

Strange Lands, Episode 1: The Horror Legend Forged in a Volcanic Winter

1816 was known as the Year Without a Summer. Observers in all parts of the globe reported cooler than normal weather, a dry fog that would not dissipate with the wind or rain and a dimmed sun which appeared red even at the height of day. Crops failed in numbers previously unseen and famine, riots, […]

War of the Worlds: The Panic Broadcast

For young people living in the time of the world wide web and the 24 hour news culture, it can be hard to appreciate the reality of a time when newspapers and radio broadcasts were the only official sources for news, but that was the situation in 1938. Television as we know it did not […]