What's the worst thing that's ever happened within walking distance of your home?

[Spinneret]

a fire on the local field just about 10 metres away from my home

 

[NYCgrrl]

Everything.

 

[luvnwdwgal]

Fatal accident

 

[Rogue1677x]

House 2 doors down was set on fire by some middle school kids.

Crossing guard was hit during morning hours in front of some kids waiting to cross the street. The woman who hit her had gone around a stopped car and was speeding.

A high school teacher was murdered by a student.

 

[mantysk8coach]

0.7 miles from my current home (although this incident happened in 1991 and I was in 8th grade and still lived at home), a classmate of mine was murdered by her stepfather and left in the bushes down the street from their house. It was horrific. Somehow the stepdad only had to do like 13 years in prison. And this was in a normally quiet, Midwestern town.

 

[georgina]

While walking in the National cemetery near my home I came upon the graves of these men (drowned in the Potomac in pursuit of John Wilkes Booth) -

https://news.va.gov/51950/catch-assassin-pursuit-booth/

Two ships were involved in the tragic events of April 23-24, 1865: the USS Massachusetts and the Black Diamond. The Massachusetts was heading to Norfolk, Virginia, where it was to be deployed for duty in North Carolina.

According to historical accounts, the Black Diamond was said to have had only had one light showing. Not unusual for a ship on picket duty, but it also meant it wasn’t seen in the darkness as the Massachusetts made its way downriver toward Norfolk. Around midnight, on April 23, the Massachusetts and its 400 passengers and crew collided with the Black Diamond and its crew of 20. Eighty-three men from the Massachusetts died on the river that night. As a result, many of the bodies were never recovered.

Of the 87 people who died during the collision, four were from the Black Diamond. Peter Carroll, Christopher Farley, Samuel Gosnell, and George Huntington all lost their lives in pursuit of Booth. Within 24 hours of their deaths on the Potomac, Booth was also dead.

The four Alexandrian firemen who perished in the crash were bestowed the honor of burial in the Soldier’s Cemetery in Alexandria, now known as Alexandria National Cemetery.

 

[disneychrista]

Someone killing his brother over a disagreement.

 

[Debbie Jean]

Postal worker murdered 2 coworkers https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/a-former-postal-worker-commits-mass-murder

Lived a few blocks from downtown and DD was in nursery school across the street that day.

 

[maxaroni]

Postal worker murdered 2 coworkers https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/a-former-postal-worker-commits-mass-murder

Lived a few blocks from downtown and DD was in nursery school across the street that day.

I was born and raised in Ridgewood! My parents were still in Ridgewood when this happened but I was married and not living in town. My parents were Ridgewood HS graduates, as was I. I went to Ridge Elementary.

 

[tvguy]

Too many things in the 40+ years we have lived here. Closest was a woman, her boyfriend and her 3 dogs were run down by a drunk drive going 90 miles an hour at 1 am. Woman was the only survivor, and to make it worse, it happened in front of her house.

 

[TikiRob]

In a small town but still some terrible tragedies...
Young boy struck and killed by a someone backing out of their driveway.
Several teenage suicides.
Guy I went to high school with was killed by his older brother who graduated the year prior.
A police officer was shot dead during a traffic stop.

 

[NorCalFanatic]

Murder suicide found by their kids two doors down.

 

[Jingle]

Directly across the street, one man shot and killed his neighbor in front of her 15 year old grandson.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Several fatal accidents

 

[LSUmiss]

My house is only 5 years old but that’s only b/c Hurricane Katrina wiped everything out in this area in 2005.

 

[Debbie Jean]

I was born and raised in Ridgewood! My parents were still in Ridgewood when this happened but I was married and not living in town. My parents were Ridgewood HS graduates, as was I. I went to Ridge Elementary.

Small world! DD went to the nursery school at the Methodist Church on Van Neste Sq. across from the post office. Such a horrible day… not the kind of thing you could ever imagine happening in such a wonderful small town. I grew up in the city so I’d seen lots of things. This made me really realize they can happen anywhere.

BTW, my DD was an Orchard girl before Ridgewood HS. lol

 

[maxaroni]

Small world! DD went to the nursery school at the Methodist Church on Van Neste Sq. across from the post office. Such a horrible day… not the kind of thing you could ever imagine happening in such a wonderful small town. I grew up in the city so I’d seen lots of things. This made me really realize they can happen anywhere.

BTW, my DD was an Orchard girl before Ridgewood HS. lol

Showing my age, Orchard wasn’t built yet when I was in elementary school. Ridge needed portable classrooms as it was overcrowded. Once Orchard was built and kids were moved over to Orchard, it was a sigh of relief. The office was sitting in the hall due to the office being needed for a classroom. Small world, indeed.

 

[DoryGirl1963]

Lady 2 houses down across the street from us killed herself with a gun.

 

[JLTraveling]

Within walking distance? Pretty much everything you can imagine (I'm across the street from the French Quarter in New Orleans). Shootings, car accidents, fires, floods, carjackings, muggings, burglaries, citywide power outage when the main transmission tower fell in the river during a hurricane a couple of years ago....oh, and that little storm called Katrina back in 05.

 

[barkley]

that i'm aware of-serial killer body dumping site. one victim's partial body was found but it's believed that there were others that likely have had their remains consumed/scatttered by the local wildlife (i live rural-thousands of acres of largely undeveloped land around us). the killer had some kind of childhood connection to the neighborhood-having played on the properties as a kid.