Cat Nights begin on August 17. This term harks back to the days when people believed in witches. A rather obscure old Irish legend said that a witch could turn herself into a cat eight times, but on the ninth time (August 17), she couldn’t regain her human form. This bit of folklore also gives us the saying, “A cat has nine lives.” Because August is a yowly time for cats, this may have prompted the speculation about witches on the prowl in the first place. Also, nights continue to get longer. Cats, crepuscular creatures, are nocturnal hunters. Their superior night vision means that the nights belong to them.
Born
Davy Crockett(frontiersman)–
Samuel Goldwyn(producer)–
Mae West(actress)–
Rudy York(baseball player)–
Maureen O'Hara(actress)–
Robert DeNiro(actor)–
Belinda Carlisle(singer)–
Sean Penn(actor)–
Donnie Wahlberg(actor)–
Dustin Pedroia(baseball player)–
Died
Vivian Vance(actress)–
Ira Gershwin(songwriter)–
Pearl Bailey(singer)–
Connie Reeves(America’s oldest cowgirl at 101, died 12 days after being thrown from her horse, Dr. Pepper. She was one of the first women to study law at the University of Texas and she started one of Texas’s first girls’ drill teams)–
Events
The Clermont, a steamboat designed by Robert Fulton , departed NYC heading to Albany–
Solyman Merrick granted wrench patent–
First official U.S. airmail was carried by balloon–
Blacksmith F.P. Cahill fatally wounded by Billy the Kid–
The Wizard of Oz made its east coast premiere in NYC. Its use of a relatively new method of technicolor dazzled audience members–
Indonesia proclaimed itself independent from the Netherlands–
Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center opened in Santa Rosa, CA–
U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps became the first person to win eight gold medals in a single Olympics–
Collision of 2 neutron stars about 130 million years ago created ripples in space-time that traveled to Earth and set off detectors in the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory–
Weather
A hurricane prevented a sea battle between the British and the French, Rhode Island–
The temperature in Amos, California, reached 130 degrees F–
Hurricane Diane hit Carolina Beach, North Carolina–
Hurricane Camille hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast killing 259 people and causing $1.5 billion in damage–
