What happened on this day in history: The first sighting of the Loch Ness monster is reported in 1933, Osama bin Laden is killed in 2011, and more noteworthy events from May 2nd.
1536: Anne Boleyn Is Jailed For Adultery
Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesA depiction of King Henry VIII with his second wife, Anne Boleyn.
Anne Boleyn is arrested for adultery, a charge that was likely false. Boleyn’s husband, King Henry VIII, may have fabricated the accusation to have her beheaded so he could marry his third wife, Jane Seymour. The same day that Anne was informed of the charge, she was taken to the Tower of London, where she remained imprisoned until her execution two weeks later.
1729: Catherine The Great Is Born In Prussia
Catherine the Great, empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796, is born in the Kingdom of Prussia.
1878: The Washburn Mill Explosion Takes Place
Hennepin County LibraryThe aftermath of the Washburn Mill explosion.
An accumulation of flour dust leads to an explosion at the Washburn A Mill in Minneapolis, Minnesota, killing 18. Also known as the Great Mill Disaster, the Washburn Mill explosion was caused by two dry millstones rubbing against each other and creating a spark that ignited the flour dust in the air. The mill was quickly destroyed and every worker inside was killed.
1933: The First Known Sighting Of The Loch Ness Monster Is Reported
Wikimedia CommonsThe famous 1934 “surgeon’s photograph” of the Loch Ness Monster that’s now known to be a hoax.
A newspaper in Inverness, Scotland reports that a local couple spotted “an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface” of Loch Ness, sparking the famous legend of the Loch Ness monster. The creature soon became a national phenomenon, with circuses offering rewards for the capture of “Nessie” and fabricated photos capturing the attention of the world. Today, the legend of the monster endures, with tourists flocking to Loch Ness in hopes of spotting Nessie themselves.
1972: J. Edgar Hoover Dies
Wikimedia CommonsJ. Edgar Hoover, the first director of the FBI, in 1961.
J. Edgar Hoover, the first director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, dies in his Washington, D.C. home. Hoover had previously served as director of the bureau’s predecessor, the Bureau of Investigation, starting in 1924 and he later helped establish and expand the FBI as it’s known today. Hoover was still the director when he died of a heart attack at age 77.
2011: Osama Bin Laden Is Killed
Osama bin Laden, the leader of the terrorist group al-Qaeda, is killed by Navy SEALs in Abbottabad, Pakistan. President Barack Obama approved the risky mission in which operatives raided bin Laden’s compound and finally ended the decade-long search for the man behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks. After flying his body to Afghanistan for identification, U.S. forces buried bin Laden over the Arabian Sea within 24 hours of his death, per Islamic tradition.
