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Episode 1613Original air date: Unknown
A Persistence of Vision
| Watch This Segment Online. | | Description: | “The coolest kid with disabilities in the world!” USC film student and Carmel, Indiana native, George Cornelius is no ordinary college student. At 3 months old, George was diagnosed with a genetic disorder, Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a motor neuron disease that deprives muscle and nerve cells of needed proteins. Without these proteins, motor skills as basic as walking and eating are impeded -- but that doesn’t stop George from doing what he loves -- creating movies. His sense of humor (showcased by the name given to his production company, Gimped Productions) and his cinematic eye backed by his drive to create outshine physical shortcomings.
Friends willing to lend a hand provide the brawn that George needs to run cameras and the like, but his vision fuels the substance of the films. And an amazing tool developed by LC Technologies called Eyegaze analyzes movements of the eye allowing George operate a computer, a necessity in film production.
“Growing up with a disability is sort of a unique experience. You know what normal life is because you see it, but you can’t really experience it.” - George Cornelius | | Location: | Carmel | | Contact: | http://www.curesma.org, http://www.fightsma.org, www.smafoundation.org, http://www.eyegaze.com, http://www.www.gimpedproductions.com |
On the Trail of the Devil in the White City
| Watch This Segment Online. | | Description: | In turn-of-the-century Chicago at the World’s Fair, America celebrated the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ expedition to the New World. The Fair sprawled some 600 acres, embodying what the designers envisioned as a perfect city, The White City, which earned its nickname in featuring the first integrated streetlights. The model city boasted other firsts such as the first Ferris Wheel, but among the splendor and excitement lurked a beast more sinister than America had yet seen.
Herman Webster Mudgett, AKA Dr. H. H. Holmes, began his criminal career as a forger and fraud, evading creditors, striking shady real estate deals and selling phony inventions. But at the Chicago World’s Fair, Holmes constructed a large building not far from the fairgrounds where he rented rooms to unsuspecting fair-goers, dozens of whom would go missing. Authorities were unable to connect him to these missing persons at first, but were successful in chasing him out of town. Holmes then set up shop just outside of Indianapolis in the quiet college town of Irvington in a small rented house. Here Holmes would murder his business partner’s young son, Howard Pietzel. Although Holmes’ stay in Indiana may have been short, Howard Pietzel’s was not. Current Irvington residents Wendi Garringer and Pepper Partin own a home on or near the land where Holmes murdered young Pietzel, and claims that his spirit still resides there. | | Location: | Irvington | | Contact: | http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/devilinthewhitecity, http://www.holmesinirvington.com, www.nuvo.net/articles/the_devil_in_irvington |
Miles and Miles of Mystery
| Watch This Segment Online. | | Description: | In the rolling hills of Lucky Point, Indiana, on the horizon a few trees stand above boundless cornfields and jut into the fading pink and red of the late evening sky. A desolate gravel road curls to the left and crawls to a nearby hilltop where it disappears. In the distance, mysterious flashing red and white lights in the shape of a triangle slip silently from left to right and back again across the darkening sky. This kind of event is not so uncommon in this rural southern Indiana town, which is number one in the state for UFO sightings. Luckily, Lucky Point, Indiana is home to Jerry Sievers, State Director of MUFON -- the Mutual UFO Network, whose mission is “the scientific study of UFOs for the benefit of humanity” through investigation, research, and education. | | Location: | Lucky Point | | Contact: | www.mufon.com |
History Matters: The First Air Mail -- sort of
| Watch This Segment Online. | | Description: | Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor hail will stop a mail delivery, but in 1859, the wind did. Long before airplanes were the common airborne vehicles, hot air and gas-filled balloons sailed the skies above fairs and festivals. As these ventures were generally very expensive, balloon flight had become largely commercial endeavors that investors sought as a means to draw a crowd. However, not every aeronaut had bucks on the brain. John Wise was a successful and well-known aeronaut of the mid 1800s who studied atmospheric conditions and balloon flight for years, discovering a steady west to east air current now known as the Jet Stream and making many improvements in ballooning of the day.
August 17, 1859 marks the day that Wise ascended from Lafayette, Indiana in his airship, the Jupiter. Wise’s aimed to ride his new discovery, the Jet Stream, and soar from Lafayette across the Midwest and New England, to gently land in New York City. The goal of the flight was to record atmospheric conditions and deliver the first official airmail of the US Post Office. Unfortunately, the strong east to west wind slumped to a light breeze, and Wise and the Jupiter toppled down 30 miles west of Lafayette in Crawfordsville. The mail was eventually delivered by train, but nonetheless, Wise’s attempt earned him recognition for the first airmail. | | Location: | Lafayette | | Contact: | www.johnwise.net |
The Rightest Stuff
| Watch This Segment Online. | | Description: | A deep, low rumble in the distance peaked to a powerful growl as a military fighter jet ripped over Main Street in downtown Mitchell, Indiana. The pilot,
Virgil (Gus) Grissom enjoyed dropping from the clouds to say hello to friends and relatives.
The famed astronaut’s career in the air lifted off when Grissom enlisted as an Air Force pilot. After thousands of hours of logged flight time, over a hundred combat missions in Korea, and a degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University, Grissom broke through the stratosphere and flew towards the stars. In April of 1959, newly formed NASA pooled 110 candidates to consider for involvement in their upcoming space programs, and Grissom was one of seven individuals finally selected to participate in the Mercury space program. Grissom’s ingenuity and piloting skills earned him recurring roles in different NASA programs. During his tenure, Grissom contributed substantially to the development of technologies for the Gemini program that are still used today. Tragically, January 27, 1967, just eight years after NASA’s inception, a fire broke out during a launch pad test for the Apollo program, claiming the lives of 3 early American astronauts, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. | | Location: | Mitchell | | Contact: | NASA, www.jsc.nasa.gov/bios/htmlbios/grissom.htm, www.mitchell-indiana.org |
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