Ray tells a story of packing a picnic lunch and going with Skip to see the supposed end of the world on Saturday, May 24. He gives the year variously as anywhere between 1927 and 1934, but checking the almanac, if May 24 was a Saturday, the year could only have been 1930. This was advertised by some religious group, possibly only locally, and Ray read it in the paper. Can someone with access to Waukegan papers confirm that this was indeed 1930? Thanks.

Jon Eller insists this was the 1932 Jehovah's Witness end of the world prediction. If so, the Saturday Ray and Skip took for their picnic can't have been on May 24 as it fell on a Tuesday that year. I tried Googling the 1932 end of the world prediction and could only find the year, not a specific date. Anyone know more?

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Originally posted by dandelion:
Jon Eller insists this was the 1932 Jehovah's Witness end of the world prediction...

...based, it must be said,on Jon's several interviews with Ray in which they discussed this.

I don't know any more about this topic, BUT I do think chasing after specific dates that Ray recalled is a wild goose chase. We already know (from Sam Weller's research, and from other sources) that Ray misremembered the dating of the Mister Electrico incident in relation to the funeral of his Uncle Lester; we already suspect that he may have misremembered his grandma fixing the shingles on the roof; we already know that he misremembered (or never knew) that the Lonely One was identifed and arrested...

Ray was fallible in his recollections, as we all are. He was always confident in his recollections, which makes us THINK that he was infallible.

Just sayin'

I'm asking details in an attempt to get things as right as possible. We all owe a great debt to Sam's and Jon Eller's research.

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Ray was fallible in his recollections

...however, we will all agree, he was infallible in the manner of his re-telling of those recollections!

Face it, guys, the recollections were better than the reality, and I'm just trying to find a happy medium and tell an interesting true story.

quote:

Originally posted by dandelion:
Face it, guys, the recollections were better than the reality, and I'm just trying to find a happy medium and tell an interesting true story.

Ray never let facts get in the way of a good story!

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Originally posted by douglasSP:
Ray never let facts get in the way of a good story!

Far be it for me to question Ray's assertion that Martian air is breathable.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jkt,

Hey, works for me.

Actually I read The Martian Chronicles before the Viking Lander. When, exactly, was it determined that Mars did not have a breathable atmosphere? I've always wondered this and been too lazy to check as I preferred Ray's version.

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Originally posted by dandelion:
...When, exactly, was it determined that Mars did not have a breathable atmosphere?...

Spectroscopic studies in the 1930s, around the time that Ray was first trying his hand at Martian stories (writing a sequel to ERB's Princess of Mars on his toy typewriter). Details here: http://www.daviddarling.info/e...dia/M/Marsatmos.html