Interesting Deaths: The Skyway Man

The Skyway Man was a silent film from 1920 that featured plane stunts and one of the real-life deaths on the screen. According to Wikipedia the plot of the movie was as the following:

"Captain Norman Craig (Ormer Locklear) returns from the Lafayette Escadrille as a shell-shocked veteran, suffering from amnesia. Seeing him wandering around San Francisco, his girlfriend Virginia Ames (Louise Lovely), with the help of Dr. Wayne Leveridge (Sam De Grasse), devises a plan to help him restore his memory. Her family hires Craig to pursue a pair of supposed Russian thieves after the Ames jewels. The doctor, however, has plans to steal the jewels and wants Virginia for himself. An aerial chase ending with a tailspin and crash brings Craig back to his senses. He is able to thwart the doctor's schemes and finally remembers his girlfriend."

On the night of August 20, 1920, it was the last night of filming for the film Skyway Man in Los Angelos, California. They were filming a stunt scene that involved the illusion of a biplane crashing.  The stunt was to be done by Omar Locklear and Milton "Skeets" Elliot. Both were professional pilots. They were a part of the Locklear Flying Circus and had done similar stunts previously. They had flares on the wings to give the illusion of them crashing.

Things didn't go to plan this night though. The crew was supposed to turn off the lights when Omar and Skeets were close to the ground. The lights weren't turned off and this may have blinded the two and they didn't realize how close to the ground they were. The plane crashed and the two were killed immediately.

The plane crash, their deaths, and Omar's girlfriend Viola Dana's reaction were all caught on camera. The studio decided to place all of this inside the movie. They probably thought people would want to see it for the fact it had an actual death in it. They released the movie on September 5, 1920, and this makes it one of the first films with real-life deaths in it. You cannot watch the scene as the movie has been lost to time. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

IMDB

Lost Media Wiki

Interesting Deaths: Execution of George Spencer

A man named George Spencer was not the most attractive man. He had one fake eye and was called ugly and bald and would be accused of bestiality and homosexuality. This would lead him into not being able to keep a job for long. In 1641 he would be working for Henry Browning.

In the winter Henry would sell a pregnant sow to Jake Wakeman. In February the sow would give birth, but one of her little ones would come out deformed. The little piglet would be born with one eye and several other deformities. Because the piglet had these specific deformities George was accused of bestiality with the sow causing her to give birth to his offspring

Now today we know better.  Humans can have sex with animals, but it would never result in any children. Biologically it would be impossible, but in history this fact was unknown.

George would be tricked into making a confession. He was told that if he was to confess he would be given mercy. George believed that they mean that he would be given mercy by God. There was no evidence of George having sex with the sow, and this lead to the sow and him to be executed. George maintained he was innocent.

On April 8, 1642, George and the sow were brought to the Gallows in New Haven. George would watch as they killed the sow with a sword. Then they would hang George next.

SOURCES:
Legal Executions in New England
The Oak Daily