#Middlebury
On Nov. 8, 1847, Bram Stoker, author of the horror novel “Dracula,” is born in Ireland. The concept of vampires didn’t originate with Stoker. John William Polidori’s 1819 short story “The Vampyre” is credited with kick-starting the vampire genre.- On Nov. 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States over a deeply divided Democratic Party, becoming the first Republican to win the presidency. Lincoln received only 40 percent of the popular vote but handily defeated the three other candidates.
- On Nov. 11, 1918, at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, the Great War ends as Germany, faced with imminent invasion, signs an armistice agreement with the Allies. The First World War left 9 million soldiers dead and 21 million wounded.
- On Nov. 9, 1965, the largest power failure in U.S. history occurs as all of New York state and portions of seven neighboring states and eastern Canada are plunged into darkness. All together, 30 million people were affected by the blackout.
- On Nov. 10, 1975, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks in a Lake Superior storm, taking all 29 crew members with her. The 729-foot-long freighter, once the largest and fastest ship on the Great Lakes, now lies under 530 feet of water.
- On Nov. 7, 1980, actor Steve McQueen, the “King of Cool” who once was the world’s highest-paid movie star, dies at age 50 in Mexico of cancer. His best-known films include “The Great Escape,” “The Sand Pebbles,” “Bullitt” and “Papillon.”
- On Nov. 5, 1994, George Foreman, age 45, becomes boxing’s oldest heavyweight champion when he defeats Michael Moorer in the 10th round of their WBA fight in Las Vegas. Foreman retired in 1997 with a lifetime record of 76-5.
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