MOMENTS IN TIME - The History Channel, 4/21/11

Apr 21, 20110

* On May 7, 1896, Dr. H.H. Holmes, one of America’s first well-known serial killers, is hanged to death in Philadelphia. Although not as well known as Jack the Ripper, authorities discovered the remains of more than 200 victims on Holmes’ property.

* On May 6, 1937, the airship Hindenburg, the largest dirigible ever built and the pride of Nazi Germany, bursts into flames upon touching its mooring mast in Lakehurst, N.J., killing 36 passengers and crewmembers. The lighter-than-air craft was lifted by highly flammable hydrogen gas.

* On May 5, 1945, in Lakeview, Ore., Mrs. Elsie Mitchell and five neighborhood children are killed while attempting to drag a Japanese balloon out of the woods. Unbeknownst to Mitchell and the children, the balloon was armed, and it exploded soon after they began tampering with it.

* On May 3, 1952, a ski-modified U.S. Air Force C-47 piloted by Lt. Col. Joseph O. Fletcher of Oklahoma and Lt. Col. William P. Benedict of California becomes the first aircraft to land on the North Pole. A moment later, Fletcher climbed out of the plane and walked to the exact geographic North Pole, probably the first person in history to do so.

* On May 4, 1965, San Francisco Giants outfielder Willie Mays hits his 512th career home run to break Mel Ott’s National League record for home runs. Mays would finish his career with 660 home runs, good for third on the all-time list at the time of his retirement.

* On May 2, 1972, after nearly five decades as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover dies just as the Watergate affair is about to explode onto the national stage. An inquiry later revealed that the FBI had illegally protected President Richard Nixon from investigation.

* On May 8, 1988, Stella Nickell is convicted of murder by a Seattle jury. She was the first person to be found guilty of violating the Federal Anti-Tampering Act after putting cyanide in Excedrin capsules in an effort to kill her husband. She began planning his death after their 1976 honeymoon.