{"id":56456,"date":"2025-04-01T07:00:53","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T12:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicbard\/?p=56456"},"modified":"2025-03-22T09:27:11","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T14:27:11","slug":"anniversary-of-when-prehistoric-monsters-invaded-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicbard\/2025\/04\/anniversary-of-when-prehistoric-monsters-invaded-chicago\/","title":{"rendered":"Anniversary Of When Prehistoric Monsters Invaded Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

April 1 will be remembered by historians and Chicagoans as the day the prehistoric monsters invaded Chicago. It is known as\u00a0 Pesce d\u2019aprile<\/a> Day in Italian. Plus some other related and nonrelated things happen on that day as well. Click on the links to read the fuller stories of the events of that day. Starting off with memorable events a couple of Happy Birthdays\u2019 are owed to Wallace\u2019s.<\/p>\n

1875<\/a> \u2013\u00a0 Happy Birthday to Edgar Wallace<\/a>, \u00a0British writer of sensational detective, gangster, adventure, and sci-fi novels, plays and stories.\u00a0 (d. 1932). He penned many scripts for RKO pictures, and Merian C. Cooper\u2019s \u201cgorilla picture\u201d had the most lasting influence, becoming the classic King Kong<\/a><\/i> (1933). Edgar was inspired by the 1906 dinosaur invasion of Chicago when writing the script. One eyewitness account said he saw a giant ape.<\/p>\n

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1885<\/a> \u2013 Happy Birthday to another Wallace,\u00a0 Wallace Beery<\/a>, (d. 1949). He was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in\u00a0Min and Bill<\/a><\/i>\u00a0(1930) opposite\u00a0Marie Dressler<\/a>, as General Director Preysing in\u00a0Grand Hotel<\/a><\/i>\u00a0(1932), as the pirate\u00a0Long John Silver<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Treasure Island<\/a><\/i>\u00a0(1934), as\u00a0Pancho Villa<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Viva Villa!<\/a><\/i>\u00a0(1934), and his title role in\u00a0The Champ<\/a><\/i>\u00a0(1931), for which he won the\u00a0Academy Award for Best Actor<\/a>. Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with\u00a0Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer<\/a>\u00a0stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid film actor in the world during the early 1930s. He was the brother of actor\u00a0Noah Beery<\/a>\u00a0and uncle of actor\u00a0Noah Beery Jr.<\/a><\/p>\n

Now onto the big story.<\/p>\n

April 1, 1906: Chicago invaded by hordes of prehistoric monsters dealing death and destruction
\n\u2013 Chicago Tribune<\/a><\/p>\n

This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on\u00a0<\/i>April 2, 1906<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Hordes of gigantic beasts swarm down from the north and overwhelm the city, leaving it a mass of wreckage, tangled iron, piles of brick and stone. Killing thousands of the inhabitants. Parks turned into deserts, great skyscrapers leveled by blows from the tails of the monsters, and entire population threatened in the panic and pestilence that follow the invasion.<\/p>\n

The last dinosaur had been slain. The people of Chicago crept out into the sunshine from the cellars in which they had been living for weeks and gazed, amazed and helpless, at the debris of demolished skyscrapers and factories, and wandered aimlessly through ruined, disheveled parks and boulevards.<\/p>\n

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Chicago was saved due to this man.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Clifton Charles Grady<\/a>
\nJuly 11, 1879 \u2013 April 29, 1968<\/p>\n

Pope Pius X offered up prayers to the saint of the day St. Mary of Egypt<\/a> who exclusively known through the\u00a0hagiographical<\/a>\u00a0account of her life, a narrative in Greek written by\u00a0Sophronius of Jerusalem<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a07th century<\/a>.\u00a0Her existence is uncertain and has been questioned by some historians. He also invoked the Saint who slayed a dragon St. George.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Saint George and the Dragon, 1434\/35, by Bernat Martorell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At 05:12 AM Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18,<\/strong> 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). No monsters were seen in San Francisco quake although someone had reported seeing a group of small lizard like creature running around one of the fallen buildings.<\/p>\n

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1908<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 The\u00a0Territorial Force<\/a>\u00a0(renamed\u00a0Territorial Army<\/a>\u00a0in 1920) is formed as a volunteer reserve component of the\u00a0British Army.<\/a> No monsters would ever invade jolly old england that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n

1918<\/a> \u2013 Inspired to create a force that could defeat Pterodactyls should they ever come near great Britain the Royal Air Force<\/a> was created by the merger of the Royal Flying Corps<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Royal Naval Air Service<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cPer Ardua ad Astra<\/a>\u201c<\/i>\u00a0(Latin<\/a>)
\n<\/span>Through Adversity to the Stars<\/p>\n

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