Thread: The Zero Curse
View Single Post
Old 07-22-2005, 06:55 AM   #1 (permalink)
optik_nerve
Psycho
 
optik_nerve's Avatar
 
Location: Florida
The Zero Curse

Quote:
The term Tecumseh's curse or Zero Year Curse is sometimes used to describe a chain of events that began with the death of United States President William Henry Harrison from pneumonia. Commonly attributed to Indian chief Tecumseh (and sometimes to his brother Tenskwatawa, aka The Prophet, who was defeated in the Battle of Tippecanoe by Harrison), the "curse" is said to have proclaimed the death of all presidents elected every 20 years.

1800: THOMAS JEFFERSON served two full terms, 1801-1809.


1820: JAMES MONROE served two full terms, 1817-1825.


1840: WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON was 68 years old when he delivered his inaugural address on March 3, 1841. The speech was a stemwinder, lasting an hour and 40 minutes in frigid weather, with Harrison refusing to wear a coat or hat. The new president came down with a cold which rapidly developed into pneumonia. Harrison was bedridden for a month and finally died on April 4.


1860: ABRAHAM LINCOLN was just beginning his second term when he was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. on the evening of April 14, 1865. Lincoln survived the night but died the next morning at a house across the street from the theater. Lincoln's death came only six days after the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox and the end of the Civil War.


1880: JAMES GARFIELD was shot by assassin Charles Guiteau on July 2, 1881 in a Washington railway station. The shots were not immediately fatal; Garfield lived for two months before dying from complications on September 19th.


1900: WILLIAM McKINLEY was elected in 1896 and re-elected in 1900. He was attending the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York when he was shot by unemployed millworker Leon Czolgosz on September 6, 1901. He died a week later as a result of gangrene caused by the bullet wounds. (McKinley was replaced by Theodore Roosevelt, who a decade later was shot but not killed while trying to regain the presidency.)


1920: WARREN HARDING made a cross-country rail tour in 1923, a major undertaking for that time. Harding became the first president to visit Alaska, but while returning south to California he came down with intestinal cramps and then pneumonia. While convalescing from these illnesses Harding suffered an apparent stroke and died on August 2 in San Francisco.


1940: FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT, first elected in 1932, was beginning an unprecedented fourth term when he died in April of 1945. Worn down by years of exertion leading the country during the Great Depression and World War II, FDR suffered a cerbral hemorrhage while on a working vacation in Warm Springs, Georgia. His last words have become well known: "I have a terrific headache."


1960: JOHN F. KENNEDY's death has perhaps replaced Lincoln's as the most famous presidential assassination. Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald during a motorcade through Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Two days later Oswald was himself shot and killed by Jack Ruby.


1980: RONALD REAGAN served two full terms, 1981-1989. He survived an assassination attempt by John Hinckley on March 30, 1981.

Now according to the pattern, since Reagan did die of alzheimer's, the curse may pick up again and leave Bush to succumb to it...or maybe prophet Tecumseh is getting a little shady and...well...Bush did choke on a pretzel...


What do you guys think?
optik_nerve is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360