hh_clubs | History of Magic: The Real Reason Why (Term XXI, Activity #01) VOTING (Reply)

Activity: The Real Reason Why
Points: 1st/2nd/3rd/Participation Only: 50/40/30/10 points
Deadline: Voting ends on Thursday, September 29th @ 21:59 UTC (timezone converter).
Details: YES, Voting again. I compeltely screwed up the entry numbers in the first voting post (thank you

green_queen for pointing it out!) and relaized too late, so here it is again. Everyone who voted in the last entry will get voting points, of course.
Professor Binns has happily arrived back to Hogwarts, thanks to you, and has decided to try and make his class a bit more interesting. Hopefully it'll work! Choose a Muggle Historical event and find a Magical explanation of at least 50 words for why it happened. Example: Why did the Titanic REALLY sink?

You will get 2 points for voting as always (even if you've voted before as well); and please don't vote for yourself or ask others to vote for you!

#01 Your Event: The Discovery of the Lightbulb
The real reason why it happened: The only reason Thomas Edison was able to become so famed for his supposed invention of the lightbulb? He was out one night and happened upon a drunk wizard who had the misfortune of being lost in Muggle New Jersey. Upon seeing the flare of light from the esteemed (and not even remotely sober) Euphemus Ladry's wand, Edison decided he wanted something JUST LIKE THAT and set back to work on his commercial lightbulb. We should all thank Ladry for his contribution (although he'd prefer our appreciation as bottles of Ogden's Best).

#02 Your Event: The disappearance of the Princes in the Tower
The real reason why it happened: Although King Richard III has gotten the rap for dispatching his royal nephews, this was actually the work of wizards. One night, Henry Tudor, then but a distant claimant to the crown of England, was approached by a hooded figure who offered him an opportunity to remove the obstacle of the boys from his path to the throne. This figure was a wizard skilled in divination who had foreseen what would befall England if Richard were allowed to rule as Protector until the little king's majority, rather than be discredited and defeated early. When Henry accepted his offer, he apparated into the boys' room, spirited them away, and placed powerful memory charms on them. They lived out their days as Peter and Gregory Babberton. The Babberton family now runs a successful pub, The White Boar, in Middleham, Yorkshire.

#03 Your Event: American War of Independence
The real reason why it happened: The newly formed American Ministry had really had enough of the British Ministry trying to regulate it's joke shops. They had placed sharp restrictions on the types of toys and tricks allowed to be sold in the American equivalent of Zonko's, Jefferson's (owned by the well known Thomas Jefferson, who was in fact a wizard), and quite frankly American witches and wizards were very tired of it. They banded together and formed their own Ministry, acted as Muggles for the Muggle populations, and effectively removed the British from their country.

#04 Your Event: The Sinking of the Titanic
The real reason why it happened: One word: Durmstrang. You see, Durmstrang has been around since at least 1294, and they're behind all the famous shipwrecks. You see, those inferiority complexes; you know how some people get about their 'size.' Well, Durmstrang didn't appreciate all these ships that were bigger than theirs cropping up, so they began tracking them down and destroying them. Titanic, as we all know, was HUGE. Well, Durmstrang couldn't allow for such a big ship. They tracked its movements, and that fateful night when the Titanic was sunk by 'hitting an iceberg' isn't how it actually happened. The Kraken is real, by the way. Durmstrang controls the Kraken though, not Davy Jones. My guess though, is that the Kraken is actually a double-agent. Anyway. So, see, Durmstrang was just 'walking their giant sea monster' one night, and came upon the Titanic. Durmstrang sicked the Kraken on the Titanic, and then used a LOT of memory modification spells, causing everyone to think they had hit the iceberg and sunk that fateful April night.

#05 Your Event: The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
The real reason why it happened: It was a rather unfortunate event in which, two as-of-yet unknown wizards (we don't know their names, we just know that two were there...) were duelling rather near to where the Archduke was situated at the time. They had been in a rather heated argument, and while they were duelling, one of the wizards sent a blasting curse towards the other, the other, wanting to protect himself, while being somewhat more imaginative than simply using a shield charm, levitated a large boulder to protect himself. The boulder, hit with the initial blasting curse, exploded into flames and a small, bullet-like fragment unfortunately hit the Archduke. Had it not been for the hostile European situation, nothing would have come of this. Nevertheless, these two wizards had to live the rest of their lives knowing they triggered World War I.

#06 Your Event: The Wright Bros. inventing the first airplane
The real reason why it happened: The Wright Brothers managed to invent the first airplane because Nicolas Flamel apparated into the United States and put a charm on the airplane so it would be able to fly. He did this because he needed young wizards in America to be able to get to England for a foreign exchange program at Hogwarts, as floo powder was not yet available and the Ministry was unwilling to have portkeys go that far. The exchange program was soon disbanded when they realized the Americans had stupid accents.

#07 Your Event: Great Chicago Fire, 1871
The real reason why it happened: While rumors were spread that the fire was caused by a cow kicking over a lantern in the barn where the fire was said to originate, the true beginnings were due to a group of newly adult wizards casting spells back and forth behind the barn. One dim boy cast a fairly powerful incendio that got out of control. The boys, instead of simply putting the fire out with a simple aquamenti charm, instead chose to disapparate and leave the fire to the Muggles.

#08 Your Event: Disappearance of Amelia Earhart
The real reason why it happened: Amelia Earhart was a brilliant pilot, as well as a brilliant witch of her age. In 1936, the American Embassy of Magic and Magical Beings contacted Ms. Earhart on behalf of the Department of Mysteries. They had in mind for her a special mission regarding rising conflicts between America and Germany, which housed rising Dark Wizard Shagga the Shadower. In 1937, Amelia left the muggle world for good, going out in style and remaining an eternal mystery to the muggle world. As she flew over endless water, she and her plane were portkeyed into the Department of Mysteries, where she continued to work for the remainder of her years.

#09 Your Event: Murder of Nikolaevna family
The real reason why it happened: The Nikolaevna was actually a pure blood wizard family in Russia and were murdered for their wizard association. The government of Russia was fed up with the family being so pompous about their magic that they murdered the entire family, even the children, as an example to the rest of the wizards in Russia at the time.

#10 Your Event: Miracle of Dunkirk
The real reason why it happened: Muggle historians will tell you that the miracle at Dunkirk was the evacuation of thousands of soldiers to safety in England. This did happen, but the real miracle was hiding the magic that did it! In that time of fear, do you really think that many boats were just floating around the south of England? No, witches and wizards of all backgrounds banded together and transfigured anything we could to cobble a makeshift fleet together to rescue those poor men. We were transfiguring everything...cars, wagons, train cars...anything large enough to do the job. It's too bad we could not take the credit, but still we did our part!

#11 Your Event: The Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
The real reason why it happened: In Pompeii, wizardry and witchcraft were commonly accepted among the educated peoples, though those matriculating in the lower ranks of society often regarded magic with fear and superstition. In 79 AD Marcus Flavius Baro but a man of seven and forty, living his life peacefully in Pompeii. Though Baro was a kind man, he was never renowned for his wits. It was his own fell swish of his wand that brought Vesuvius bearing down on them. He had never been as clever at spells like Reducto as his sweet sister Flavia, seventeen years his junior and as proficient at batting her eyelashes as she was with her wand.

To his everlasting shame, Baro's spell collided with the side of Vesuvius, enraging the magma within. A rumbling began all around and days later, fire rained from the sky. By then, Baro had fled to Rome, where his cousin was Emperor of all the lands, and had spoken to no one of the mishap. It was many days later that news of the fate that had befallen Pompeii arrived in the form of a panting man on horseback. Baro nearly drowned himself in over-sweet wine and loitered in bath houses long past when was acceptable. The news of Herculaneum reached them next and Baro drunk himself into oblivion.

It was a tragic waste of life, brought on by the silliest wizard whoever made his family look foolish. When he confessed the truth to his cousin, the Emperor, Baro was sent away, banished from the Empire of Roman (which covered a great deal of ground, as you well know) to live with the shame of his stupidity until he died, wretched and alone.

#12 Your Event: The end of the Civil War
The real reason why it happened: Lee did not in fact surrender by his free will. He was put under Imperius and convinced to do so, and then later Obliviated so that he would not recall that the Imperio had been placed on him. Though an Unforgivable curse, Lincoln (who was indeed magical) let it slide as it was bringing an end to a long and bloody war.

#13 Your Event: The Assasination of JFK
The real reason why it happened: For years, it's been speculated that there had to be a second gunman on the day JFK was killed. In truth, Lee Harvey Oswald was a wizard. He wasn't a very GOOD one, though, so he carried a gun with him for protection. The shooting of JFK was actually an accident. And he MEANT to float the bullet AWAY from the US President, but as you'll see from history, that didn't work out so well. Oops?

#14 Your Event:Amelia Earhart transatlantic solo flight (1932)
The real reason why it happened:Amelia Earhart has been credited as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. What Muggles don't know is that Amelia was, in fact, a Muggle-Born and was quite skilled on a broomstick. Amelia was able to shrink her broom and fit it into her pocket. Once in the air, she and her technical advisor for the flight, Bernt Balchen (son of famed wizard Leonard Balchen) switched from plane to broomstick. They kept the plane "in flight" using a simple Hovering Charm. Amelia continued to fool Muggles with her "flying" prowess until her mysterious disappearance, an event that has mystefied Muggles for decades. In fact, Amelia simply grew tired of her growing fame and started a new life on a quiet island in the Caribbean till her passing.

#15 Your Event: The building of the Winchester Mystery House
The real reason why it happened: Shocked at the way Muggles destroyed each other with "rifles", a few certain witches and wizards sent a Seer to Mrs. Winchester, giving her false warnings of Muggle spirits that would take revenge on her. They were surprised when she moved, wanting the Seer to only throw a scare into her, shocked when she actually started building the house, and bemused as she continued. The house is still an in-joke with some American wizards.

#16 Your Event: Ponce de Leon's search for the Fountain of Youth
The real reason why it happened: Well you see there was this wizard who thought it would be incredibly funny to mess around with Mr. Ponce de Leon and the Spanish Monarch at the time. He told them that far off in the West there was this miraculous fountain that if the person drank from it, it would make them young forever. So of course off they went, with the Wizard watching and laughing the whole time.

#17 Your Event: Invention of the Hamburger Phone
The real reason why it happened:

The creator of the popular 80's-style Hamburger Phone came upon the idea one day whilst sitting in a 1950's era diner (let's call him John). John was enjoying a light lunch when he spied a rather odd looking man enter the diner and sit in the booth across the way from him. This man was dressed in a very loud purple jacket with yellow trimmings and a pair of black board shorts. Mr. Purple Jacket ordered a burger and some fries, and stared curiously at the salt and pepper shakers whilst waiting for his food to arrive. John found his behaviour quite strange indeed, but initially brushed it off. However, when the waitress returned with Mr. Purple Jacket's food, a strange thing occured. As this man was about to bite into his burger, the phone in the diner began to ring. The man put down his burger, stared at it, and then picked it up and put it to his ear. John watched in complete bewilderment as Mr. Purple Jacket began speaking into the burger: "Hello? Hello? Counfound these Muggles!". When the phone stopped ringing, Mr. Purple Jacket put his burger down and cautiously got up and left. The novelty of this encounter is what led John to invent the Hamburger Phone.

#18 Your Event: Why the Titantic sunk
The real reason why it happened: While many people accept a completely nonmagical explanation for the Titanic sinking, the actual cause was an epic duel between wizards. A little known fact is that many wizards were onboard the Titanic during its voyage, and unfortunately, two of them grew very angry with each other after a debacle at dinner where one took the other’s seat. It led to a duel, and the rest is history.

#19 Your Event: The Hindenburg Disaster
The real reason why it happened: Reginald Finnegan should not have been in New Jersey that day. He was visiting the States for a late spring holiday. Instead of going on a planned excursion with his parents to see the Muggle city of Lakehurst, Reginald decided he would venture to see what his muggle-born friends at Hogwarts called a "passenger air ship." As the ship tried to dock, Finnegan was so mesmerized at the sight of the ship floating without magic in the air, that he forgot to mind his wand. A rogue spark shot out of the tip, causing Reginald to fumble with the wand. Before he could stop it, a wayward spell shot into the air, and the Hindenburg exploded.

This marked the beginning of the Finnegan's Firey Curse.

#20 Your Event: Battle of Thermopylae
The real reason why it happened: In the Muggle movie "The 300" the Spartans are depicted as having held off the Persian army for 3 days against all odds. This is based off of a real battle that took place which was known as the Battle of Thermopylae. While it is true that the location and fierce battle strategies of the Greeks had a significant influence on their ability to hold out so long against so many opponents, what Muggles fail to realize is that the Spartans also kept a wizard in their midst who was able to set up wards around the Greek army and made the various weaknesses of their surroundings unplottable. Protego was also used to great effect.

#21 Your Event: Jeff Buckley's death
The real reason why it happened: He went for a midnight swim fully clothed and drowned, spontaneity can be blamed.
Word Count: Jeff Buckley was famed for his glorious voice and he was held dear to music lovers, even those in the Wizarding world (albeit the hipster wizards, they loved him but you had probably had never heard of him...) so it wasn't a big surprise that even the creatures of the world loved him. Unfortunately for Jeff, it wasn't just bunnies and giraffes that swooned as he sung but also a Merwoman named Mirabulla. On the fateful night of Jeff's swim, Mirabulla decided she wanted her family to meet her idol and so she lured him deep into the river by the gleaming of her tail scales under the moonlight and then grabbed his hand to take him the 375m swim to her parents underwater den. Much to Mirabulla's horror Jeff could not sing underwater, or breath for that matter and in shock she let go of him. He was found two days later much further upstream and Mirabulla's cries can be heard for miles to the discerning diver.

#22 Your Event: April 8th 1994, Smoking banned on US Military bases.
The real reason why it happened: In 1994, officials decided to stop smoking on all US Military bases, as well as around the Pentagon. Scientists would have you believe that they were trying to reduce the effects of secondhand smoke, or just generally trying to make humans (muggle and wizard alike) healthier. This, of course, is false. Many wizards (death eaters and pranksters alike) were in huge jeopardy of violating the Statute of Secrecy, by performing actual magic for the muggles in the offices and bases. Once they knew someone or something was on to them, they would cast a spell to emit smoke from the tip of their want, to alert the other wizards in the area that something was coming and to get out of there as soon as possible. Of course, Muggles assume this is only a trick of the mind (or steam pouring out of a wand tip or some other kind of science) but we know better. As a result, the Ministry of Magic worked with the United States government to ban smoking cigarettes around these places, but of course, knowing how the government is, the MoM pretended to be scientists and cited all the above reasons about cigarettes being unhealthy and generally bad for human consumption. Maybe this is the reason scientists got a jumpstart on the battle against cigarettes and cancer as well?

#23 Your Event: The discovering of America
The real reason why it happened: Christopher Columbus was taking his Apparition test, when he appeared somewhere far off course--America. Of course he failed that test (but he did later pass on his second attempt), but since no one knew where exactly he'd Apparated to, he had to go by sea. After numerous voyages, he finally returned back to the place he'd Apparated to.
Word Count: 58

#24 Your Event: Columbus discovering "America"
The real reason why it happened: What Columbus was actually looking for was the end of the world where Magic gave him and his fellow wizards their power. When he came upon America he discovered the Native American's who were actually wizards but lied to him in order to protect their ancient powers. Funnily enough, Columbus never noticed and assumed he was hallucinating the flying plates.

#25 Why the Wall was really built in Germany:

The political situation of the muggels was great for the wizards in Germany to cover up a really big accident that happened in the mountains on the border to Poland. The biggest potion factory on the European continent was located well hidden in a forrest there but one day Michael Helm made a terrible mistake. He was on cauldron duty and had to watch the newly developed potion not to boil over. It was a very boring job but needed to be done. That one day he was really annoyed because a flie found her way into the factory and was flying around his head all the time. Michael ended up pulling out his wand and stunning the flie. She stoped immediately in the air and fell down. Too bad that the cauldron was right underneath her. Michael made it out of there just in time before the whole thing exploded. Nobody was severly hurt, but the potion got into the ground immediately. Afraid of the side effects it as a declared quarantine zone and widened when the potion spread within the ground. All the wizards and witches were evacuated, a spell was put over the area so it could just be entered the muggle way and to make that harder the politicians were pushed to build a wall between the two German states.

#26 Your Event: The Unexplained Death of Notorious B.I.G. in 1997
The real reason why it happened: The mysterious death of Notorious B.I.G. is, well, mysterious... to MUGGLES. The high profile rapper is said to have been killed in a drive-by shooting, but the crime remains unsolved. Allow me to shed some light on the real story. You see, March of 1997 was a busy time for The Dark Lord and the death eaters. They were very busy recruiting people, plotting, killing those who stood in their way and throwing the occasional at-home pampered chef party (because bonus!fact: death eaters love kitchen tools). One night, while out doing death eater-y things in the NYC area, Lucius Malfoy dared to suggest that they change their monthly at-home chef party to an at-home CANDLE party, because although he had quite an assortment of beautifully scented candles, one could always use more. The Dark Lord was highly offended, seeing as he HAD NO NOSE and thus could not enjoy an at home candle party the way he could enjoy browsing over whisks and spatulas at an at-home chef party. WHY WOULD LUCIUS EVEN SUGGEST SOMETHING SO RIDICULOUS? Filled with anger and no-nose-self-loathing, Voldemort raised his wand and aimed it at Malfoy. It was only at the very last minute that he remembered their were bigger issues at hand. Still needing to release some frustration, he flicked the tip of his wand, carelessly sending a killing curse in some unknown direction. THE DIRECTION OF NOTORIOUS B.I.G.s car. It was a freak accident, really. It's no wonder the Muggles have had no solid leads or explanation for the events. THE END.

#27 Your Event: Battle of Hastings - 14 October, 1066
The real reason why it happened: The Battle of Hastings in 1066 REALLY happened, because William the Conqueror and all those Norman Foggies were mad jealous of Hogwarts. Built in the 10th Century, Hogwarts had established itself as the foremost institution for Wizarding education in all of Europe. It was so successful, that it managed to go back in time roughly 400 years prior to its founding and educate Merlin (who lived in the 5th-6th Century). So, when Edward the Sparkly died and Harold (of Harrod's fame) took over, despite Edward's previous verbal contract with William to inherit the throne, William was notably hacked off. Hogwarts was his, bitches (even if it was technically in Scotish-Pict territory, he was that much closer!). And thus began the Norman Conquest of England.

#28 Your Event: The Great Chicago Fire of 1871

The real reason why it happened: It wasn't a cow that kicked over a lantern in a barn and started the Great Chicago Fire from October 8-October 10, 1871. Nor was it Catherine O'Leary, the wife of the barn's owner, or Daniel Sullivan, or even Louis Cohn. It was a young wizard who got angry, used the incendio spell, and lost control. Unlike Harry only blowing up his Aunt or almost killing another person by using spells he shouldn't, the young wizard was one of the casualties of the fire. Thus, the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry was instituted.

#29 Your Event: The disappearance of the Mary Celeste
The real reason why it happened: The Mary Celeste was traveling across the Atlantic ocean with a Muggle crew, but a wizard captain. The captain had many debts in the wizarding world and was trying to escape by blending in with Muggle life and simply disappearing from magic altogether. However, even in 1872, one cannot simply run from the Ministry of Magic. The ship was boarded by magical law enforcement that apparated in the middle of the night. Because of the muggles on board, the ministry performs a memory charm that not only wipes their memories of the event, but their memories of who they are and why they're on board a ship. The captain is nowhere to be found, so the crew crowds into a lifeboat and row to the nearest land base. This leaves the Mary Celeste to float unmanned until being discovered months later.

#30 Your Event: Boston Tea Party
The real reason why it happened: Contrary to popular belief, the Boston Tea Party had nothing to do with displeasure with the British government. Instead, it was the work of a few very angry students of divination. Frustrated with spending hour after hour being forced to read one another's tea leaves, they decided to simply destroy any tea coming into their town of study. They placed a magical barrier around Boston, repelling incoming tea cargo directly back into the water. Of course, there were a great deal of memory revising charms placed upon all witnesses, convincing them that they had instead witnessed the students dumping the tea into the harbour. This seemed to distress them less than the image of crates of tea whizzing through the air!

#31 Your Event: The parting of the Red Sea
The real reason why it happened: The parting of the red sea was done by Moses who was actually a Wizard and known as Merlin in the Wizarding World. It was done by magic and not a miracle like the Muggles believe. Moses did this as the Pharoh was a Dark Wizard - Mordred - and it was the only way to get them to safety.

#32 Your Event: The American Abolitionist Movement
The real reason why it happened: While Muggle tensions about slavery were increasing, the magical community went into a complete uproar. Too long at witches and wizards been ostracized for their gifts, and thus they felt a certain kinship with Muggle slaves. Witches and wizards began to infiltrate Muggle society, working their way to high ranks in government and becoming among the first abolitionists in existence.

#33 Your Event: The Election of Margaret Thatcher
The real reason why it happened: We have recently discovered that Margaret Thatcher was elected as Prime Minister due to magic (and some had always suspected). It was only a few weeks ago that Crumple-Horned Snorkacks were found to be real, and it is believed that they were infesting the entire Muggle population at the time, confusing their brains and making them think they wanted to vote for Thatcher!

#34 Your Event: Fall of the Berlin Wall
The real reason why it happened: No one knows thar Seamus Finnigan's grandfather lived in Germany for a while (Berlin,to be exactly) and also wasn't always succesfull with spells,potions and such and blew up stuff every now and then. One day he tried out a new spell which didn't go so well and created a giant lightning that hit the Berlin Wall. It started to crack more and more and eventually had to be taken down completely.

#35 Your Event: The Sinking of the Titanic
The real reason why it happened: The Titanic was a ship full of witches and wizards who'd decided to, for once, travel like the Muggles do - by ship. The captain and the entire crew, however, were Muggles. Everything would have been alright, the ship would've safely arrived if there had not been a certain stowaway, a powerful dark wizard who was caught on the Titanic shortly before it reached its destination. He was so angry for being caught that he decided to perform revenge and conjured a huge ice berg the captain would only be able to see if it'd already be too late.
None of the passengers had been able to do something - wouldn't they risk the revelation of their world! They did not have a choice than to watch mentioned wizard leading their beautiful ship into disaster.

#36 Your Event: Discovery of the Halley Comet
The real reason why it happened:

Edmund Halley was out watching the stars in the English countryside when he saw something streak across the sky. He immediately started studying it and called it after himself. What Edmund didn’t know, was that two wizards in the nearby field saw him out with his telescope and decided to play a trick on him. They cast a Confundus charm on him, and what he saw wasn’t a comet, but one of the wizards riding by with a Bedazzling Hex on him. Now it’s been passed on, and every 76 years a member from one of the wizards’ families will ride across the sky on his broom with the same hex on him.

#37 Your Event: The American Revolution
The real reason why it happened: While history has recorded this series of events as a reaction and rebellion to overseas rule, it was actually a rebellion against the Ministry of Magic and not the British government. America's "Founding Fathers," as they were later dubbed, were actually quite proficient and progressive wizards (and one crossdressing witch, but I've been sworn to secrecy on that one) who set off for America in order to form their own liberal society, free of the Ministry's rule. They were shocked to find that the MoM had elaborate surveillance which kept close tabs on them. However, the major flaw of the MoM was it's inability to view muggles as equals. The group of wizards joined with the muggles who were not being watched as they were "uninteresting and utterly unimportant" and the wizards were able to plot and scheme and carry out their rebellion in the end.

#38 Your Event: The Great Chicago Fire
The real reason why it happened: The Great Chicago Fire was always assumed to be caused by a cow kicking over a lamp which caused everything to be engulfed in flame. In reality, two men were arguing just outside of the barn holding the cow. Per usual, the two were fighting over a woman and began to duel for her affection. The fire was caused by one man's fiendfyre spell backfiring. Rather than attacking his opponent, he set an entire city ablaze.

#39 Your Event: The Great Chicago Fire
The real reason why it happened: Today we are going to talk about the Great Chicago Fire. Now Muggles believe the fire was caused by a cow kicking over a muggle light, which really a cow? Muggles aren't particularly bright. Anyway what really happened was this young wizard was practising some spells in an old abandoned barn. He decided to try out an Incendio and foosh great fire.

#40 Your Event: The building of the pyramids
The real reason why it happened: Muggles weren't really equipped with the technology necessary to be able to build the pyramids. Yes, they had levers, horses, pulleys, and all that other fun stuff. However, it was the wizards of Egypt that helped finalize the pyramids. How else do you think the blocks at the top got up there?

#41 Your Event: The Tragedy at the Altamont Free Concert in 1969
The real reason why it happened: According to muggle historians, the tragedy at the Altamont Speedway during the Rolling Stones free concert was caused by the mistake of the band hiring the Hell’s Angels as security. This is not true. In fact it was a group of aspiring dark wizards, who were hoping to gain a foothold in the counterculture and eventually gain control of the United States. Fortunately in the confusion following the first death, they were unable to fulfil their plans and were forced to flee to avoid the crush that resulted.

#42 Your Event: extinction of the dinosaurs
The real reason why it happened: Scientists have pondered the EXACT cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs from the planet for a great many years. Their theories are good on a scientific basis, but they lack key facts due to their determination to look past all signs of magic or things "out of the ordinary"! Truly, dinosaurs existed long after the calculated scientific data suggests. Magical tampering with Muggle devices has pulled the wool over their eyes to see that dinosaur and man did actually co-exist for quite some time until a catastrophic battle between the worlds largest wizarding army and a pack of muggles on dinos. Despite their dino advantage, the wizards won with the help of, duh, magic. No a single dino species out side of the dragon (still alive today!) lived to tell the tale.

#43 Your Event: Disappearance of Amelia Earhart
As far as Muggles are concerned, Amelia Earhart was a great pilot who mysteriously disappeared one day. If only they knew … Amelia was obviously a witch. That’s how she was such a great flyer — she used magic to stay up in the air! The whole thing was part of a bet she had with a fellow wizard, Godric Whittlesnapper. She bet that she could become a famous Muggle. He bet she couldn’t. She totally won. The pilot thing was a good start, but she knew Muggles couldn’t resist a good mystery. So one day while flying, she landed her plane in the middle of the ocean and then just Apparated away. Muggles freaked out at her disappearance. She lived out her life secretly collecting Muggle newspapers and being pleased with how famous she became.

#44 Your Event: Copenhagen Fire of 1728
The real reason why it happened: The year was 1728 and the place was Copenhagen. Peder Rasmussen, Pureblood wizard, and his wife, Anne Iversdatter, Muggle, had left their son alone with Peder's wand. Their son, not yet trained to control his powers, grabbed the wand and started waving it around. He was saying random words, pretending to be his father when sparks erupted from the wand. Following the fire, during the investigation, Peder and Anne told authorities that their son had spilled a candle. Nobody could ever know the truth.

#45 Your Event: D-Day... How the Allies really won!
The real reason why it happened: It's common knowledge that the Allies in WWII stormed the beaches of Normandy and essentially started taking back Europe from the Germans. What's not so commonly known is how the Allies took back Europe from the all powerful (at that time) Germans. The Allies actually had wizards on their side! Not only were there muggle means during the war, but there were also magical means as well! The wizards were on the front lines trying to keep the Muggles safe from gunfire, they were the ones who made it easier for the ships to land on the shores of Normandy, and they were the ones who helped heal the wounded to the best of their ability. Without the magical community and the Muggle community banding together, WWII would have had a totally different outcome!

#46 Your Event: Groups of people leaving England in search of religious freedom
The real reason why it happened: While it has been spectacularly covered up as a quest for the room to practice other types of religion, this idea started with a witch named Beatrice Lightly who was tired of having to pretend to be a Muggle. When the Americas were becoming colonized, she and any witch and wizard she could get together and traveled over the sea. Eventually, these Wizarding folk settled in the colony of Connecticut. The name was cleverly chosen by wizard Thomas Hooker* because of both the friendly aspect of connecting and the fear of being hurt or "cut" if their secret was found. For the first fifteen years of its existence, Connecticut was an exclusively magical state.

*-real person

#47 Your Event: Salem Witch Trials
The real reason why it happened: The Salem Witch Trials were caused by the Salem Witches Institute opening in Salem, Massachusetts (the first wizarding school in the New World). A muggle-born student returned home for the holidays and told one of her friends that she was a wizard. She showed her friends a few of the spells she was taught and they thought it was amazing. Tituba, an old witch from the Old World, saw her performing magic in front of Muggles and warned her that it would not be a good idea. Her friends were angry with Tituba for interfering and began to claim witchcraft was around them. A mania took over Salem, Massachusetts and soon old grudges were being settled with accusations of witchcraft. The young witch was very upset when she came home from school on the next holiday and learned what her friends had started.

#48 Your Event: The Vikings coming and leaving America
The real reason why it happened: When the Vikings first arrived in America, they were hoping for a nice green land (free of Dragons, of course) where they could expand their growing empire. When they arrived there they were excited to see there was plenty of land but were quickly astonished by the number of gnomes inhabiting the land. They thought they could just twirl them around and send them flying but alas, there were so many of them! When the grumpy leader of the gnomes (one that had reached a stunning five feet!) stormed after them in a fit of rage the Vikings were so horrified they jumped back on their ship and left America pronto.

#49 Your Event: October 30, 1979 - Worst monsoon in 6 years hits Vietnam, pausing the Vietnam war.
The real reason why it happened: Voldemort was just rising to power. The Vietnam War was occurring and all the destruction drew the attention of Voldemort. Being all about pure-blood supremacy, but being a half-blood himself, he had no qualms in researching Muggle methods of death and destruction. Dumbledore had Order members tailing some of his men and when they caught wind of the plan, they followed them to Vietnam. In a fight that ensued, the monsoon was caused. Voldemort withdrew his men and sadly the Order lost two members. That would be the last time they ventured outside of the country for support or recon.

#50 Your Event: Sir Issac Newton discovering gravity (specifically the apple falling on his head.)
The real reason why it happened:

One afternoon sir Issac Newton was sitting on the grass eating lunch of all things. He'd been having a particularly boring afternoon because none of his expirements were working out, he'd had two fires blow up into his face. On his way to lunch he had been informed by a group of vigours young ones that he was dung head. Needless to say Mr. Sir Issac Newton was just attempting to salvage the rest of his afternoon by sitting on a nice hill of grass under an apple tree.

Newton had no idea that just yards away there was a witch and wizard quarelling. The couples were in the midst of a divorce, the male having slept with nine other witches. Things heated up a bit. The woman growing so angry with the male that they resorted to violence. The male cast a stupify spell. which missed, hit the tree, and the force knocked off the apple. While Issac had been turned to hear what the voices were on about. The Apple hit him in the head and witch hit her husband with a memory charm before needing to charm the human. Telling him that what he'd really seen was actually a man abusing his wife, before the police came and joined in to the fray. When he responded with "That's it! Gravity!"

#51 Your Event: How did the Great Fire of London really start?
The real reason why it happened: 'T was the early morning of Sunday, 2nd September 1666. Thomas Farriner (graduated Hogwarts in 1641) was trying out a new recipe. The bakery down on Cheapside, lead by a schoolyard-rival - Angus Marat, had found a way to get a crust so crunchy on their bread that even nobles ordered servants to buy from there. Needless to say, Thomas was furious. He had yet to get over Angus’ victory year after year in the run for the Quidditch Cup, but when the wizard had opened a bakery mere months after Thomas, he had known it was purely to rile him up. Thus, on that fateful night, Thomas was trying out new was to make the bread in order to get that smashing crust that the City of London yearned for. He was determined that increasing the temperature nearing the end of the bake would achieve this affect. He tried it again and again and again, but it wasn’t working. In a wave of frustration, he screamed out incendio and the bread burst into flames, taking the rest of the room, and most of London, along with it.

#52 Your Event: The Bubonic Plague
The real reason why it happened: A young Chinese wizard gave his newly invented, now lost to history pain-relieving potion to a Muggle. Some say the Muggle was his ailing brother, some say his best friend. The side effects of this potion when acting on a non-magical human became evident quickly with symptoms that the Black Death has now made famous. The illness was contagious for Muggles and eventually spread through Asia and Europe. It killed millions, both Muggles and Wizards. Moral: do not test potions on Muggles.

#53 Your Event: Triangle Factory Fire
The real reason why it happened:This popularly held industrial accident was in fact the result of muggle-baiting in the early part of the last century. Incensed by a muggle-born’s decision to return to the muggle world after receiving a wizarding education, a decision seen as ungrateful towards “his wizarding betters”, and unknown wizard apparated into the factory shortly before closing time on March 25, 1911. The wizard then cast fiend-fire on a near-by scrap-bin on one of the cutters tables. Fiend-fire quickly engulfed the three floors of the building used by the factory resulting in the deaths of 146 muggles. The muggle-born wizard who was being “punished” survived, once again by apparation.

Subsequent investigations into the tragedy, revealed that the death toll was higher that needed because one of the exit stairways was locked and the man in charge of the key was one of the first to escape – by a different route. Witnesses, who spoke to the man that day, report him as having “erratic behavior” and a marked “inability to concentrate.” It is my belief that in addition to starting the fire, the unknown wizard or possibly an accomplice, cast a befuddlement charm on this man to increase the extent of the disaster.

#54 Your Event: The 1990 Art Heist from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The real reason why it happened: Thirteen paintings were stolen from this museum by dark/evil wizards because it was believed that the artists (Rembrandt, Manet, Degas, and Flinck) had all been powerful wizards and had hidden clues to ultimate power in their works. Thirteen is a rather important number in terms of superstition and magic, and that thirteen works were stolen was no coincidence, as the Muggles may have thought. A special committee of the wizards pored over the artwork for ages, and while they did find many strange things about the sketches and paintings, they were never quite able to find exactly what they were looking for. This is probably a good thing, as, if the masters' great secrets had been revealed, it could have been the downfall of the entire Wizarding world, and very likely the Muggle world as well.

#55 Your Event: The Collapse of Malpasset's arch dam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malpasset
The real reason why it happened:
Malpasset was a dam in Southern France. In 1959, only 5 years after it was built, it collapsed, creating a dam break wave with 100-ton blocks of rocks being carried along. The resulting flood killed over 400 people. Muggles attributed the disaster to lack of proper geological survey before the dam was built and lack of surveillance once it was in use.
The real cause for this disaster however was far more sinister. The facts tell us that an unidentified wizard intentionally weakened the dam's structure, and manipulated the staff working at the dam so that they would neglect their duty. The heavy rains did the rest. That is all the fact tell us. However this wizard later became a Death Eater and it is rumoured that causing this disaster was a way to prove himself to Lord Voldermort, whose whereabouts are unknown during that period.

#56 Your Event: The Hindenburg Disaster
The real reason why it happened: In 1937, a radical anti-Muggle activist planned to sabotage a German airship. Believing that only wizards should fly, Martin Fleischer planted himself among the ground crew which would help the Hindenburg to dock. Tragically, instead of helping the airship, Fleischer cast Incendio at the machine and the highly-flammable soon caught fire. Fleischer was convicted of sabotage and performing magic in front of Muggles by the German Ministry of Magic, but was given a lenient sentence because he claimed that he had not known how deadly his spell would be. At the time, few people believed his story, but anti-Muggle sentiment was at its highest point since the Middle Ages and authorities across Europe unwilling to press the matter. On the other hand, the noted magical scholar Bathilda Bagshot has suggested that this result was not mainly due to prejudice, but to the fact that wizarding leaders were occupied with the rise of the Dark wizard Grindelwald.

#57 Your Event: Amelia Earhart's disappearance
The real reason why it happened: Amelia was set to break records. She was going to make her name in aviation history. One summer morning, on the 2nd of July, 1937, Amelia took off from Lae, New Guinea, for Howland Island, 2500 miles away. Her last registered location was at the Nukumanu Islands, 800 miles into the flight.

And then she was never heard from again.

Amelia was dealing with new technology then, a direction-finding loop antenna that was state of the art and possibly over her head. It was, but for different reasons.

You see, what nobody knew then, and what they could not possibly have prepared for, was that the Nukumanu Islands, found in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean and territorially part of Papua New Guinea, actually housed a secret magical school for the Southwest. The Tasman School of Witchcraft is small, but powerful witches of the area had been doing their finals at that time (the school year runs a bit differently than in Hogwarts) and the combined energy of magic in the air was simply too much for poor Amelia's technology then. They fried her radio, took out her airplane, and unfortunately she crashed into the ocean.

But Amelia was a strong girl. She was capable, and more than determined to see her journey through. She washed ashore, looked for pieces of her plane, and was in the middle of attempting to re-establish communications when she came across the Tasman School grounds, and the magical creatures it held in its forest.

She came across dragons.

It was the Australian bunyip, a small underground dragon that burrowed itself in the forests and breathed puffs of fire. It took to her like a newborn child to mother, and when she found the carcass of a much larger bunyip, she realized why. She didn't forget her radio, or her plane, but she nursed the bunyip until it was healthy, and that was when she ran into the Groundskeeper for the Tasman School. From him she learned about the different creatures in the forest, and about the bunyips, and over time, she fell in love not just with the dragons but the groundskeeper as well.

They were wed not long after, and though she wanted to tell the world she was fine, she knew she could not explain what had happened to her in her absence, and that the secrets of the magical world had to remain as such from everyone else.

She lived a long and healthy life, and bred dragons with her husband until her very last days.

#58 Your Event: The Great Fire of London
The real reason why it happened:
In 1666 there was great fire of London that supposedly started at some muggle bakery. The truth is that the great fire was coursed by the inventor of the Fiendfyre Curse, Thomas Farynor, whom unfortunately also died when experimenting with said curse. The Fiendfyre released was so powerful it burned for days even when opposed by several squadrons of spell damage personel. Wizards and muggels alike suffered greatly as the Fiendfyre swept trough their once great city. In this great tragedy the minister of magic decided on several decrees to prevent such a thing from happening again. Wizarding society helped along a great deal with the reconstruction of the city center to compromise for their great loss.

#59 Your Event: The first ticker-tape parade in 1886 during the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. The official story is that Wall Street workers did not have the day off and -- inspired by the frivolity taking place all along the parade route -- the “office boys” began to unspool the rolls of paper tape from the tickers.

The real reason why it happened: The weather on the day of the dedication was less than ideal. There was fog around Bedlow’s Island and it drizzled on and off all along the parade route. The Dupuis family, a clan of French descent then living in the city, came to the parade that day to show their pride in both nations. Originally, the entire family had enjoyed the view from Forty-Sixth Street, where Bernard Dupuis had constructed a raised platform made of flour barrels, reinforced with a strong fulcio charm. However, that proved too sedate a spot for young Alouette, age 12. He, along with several of his friends, took to the streets and spent most of the morning elbowing their way in and out of crowds, trying to find the best possible spots to watch the spectacle and harassing the police officers on duty.

At some point, as Alouette approached Wall Street, he ran into the family of little Mary Blondel, a 10 year old girl from his neighborhood on whom he had a sizeable crush. Little Mary complained bitterly of the drizzle and of the way in which it was causing her hair to curl out from her head. Alouette found the effect on her hair quite charming, but allowed himself to be talked into using magic to try to stop the drizzle.

He attempted a small charm his mother often used to keep herself dry on the way to and from the market. But while that charm was effective at protecting a small area from the rain and kept Mary dry, it left him out in the drizzle. (And, being a somewhat bratty girl, she refused to stand next to him as long as he was wet.) In desperation, he sought to in increase the reach of his spell and found himself thinking of the paper parasol that his sister Odile often carried to shield herself from the sun. He thought about how, if she held it high enough, it could cast a larger shadow.

Concentrating as hard as he could on the image of the parasol, he waved his wand and recited the charm again. However, he must have been concentrating a bit too hard on the paper parasol and not quite hard enough on his intention. The spell, rather than creating a rain shield, attempted to create a paper parasol over the city. Casting about for materials from which to construct the parasol, it found the rolls of paper in the Wall Street offices and began unspooling them into the sky.

Realizing what he had done, Alouette panicked and cast an exceptionally powerful charm designed to negate the spell. It managed to end the spell, but effectively blew up the rolls of paper which were already spinning through the sky, creating a rain of what we now know as confetti. Luckily, several adult witches and wizards were sprinkled around the street and were aware of Alouette’s blunder. They performed a effective obliviate on the crowd and persuaded the boys in the offices above that ripping and throwing ticker tape had been their brilliant idea. Being boys, and delighting in messes anyway, they happily latched onto the idea and continued throwing paper as the parade went past.

This is why, why casting a parapluie charm it is exceptionally important to always concentrate on the intended outcome of the spell rather than an image of the shield. (Mistakes in casting this spell also account for several low flying UFOs reported in greater Seattle and Portland areas.)

#60 Your Event: Great Fire of London
The real reason why it happened: The Great Fire of London in 1666 happened because a wild Green Welsh got free from its handlers. The dragon was being illegally transported to the London home of a crazy wizard who wanted a pet dragon. It broke free while in transit and, maddened because it was trapped among the narrow lanes, it started incinerating the city. It took a team of a hundred witches and wizards to subdue it and perform memory charms on all Muggles who had witnessed the disaster. Fortunately, fires weren't an uncommon occurrence and they managed to pass it off as an accident. The dragon was safely taken back to Wales and released in the wild.

#61 Your Event: The Decline of the Mayan Empire
The real reason why it happened: Many historians put the earliest date at which brooms are used for transport around 962 AD; however, these historians fail to acknowledge the broom-like qualities of the equipment used by some Mesoamerican athletes, which could be considered a sort of proto-flying-broomstick. In the deadly Mayan ballgame, goal hoops were placed almost 30 feet above the ground-- Muggle historians have often thought that this was to ensure that it was very hard to score. The evidence they lack to understand that it was not at all hard to make goals (for wizards & witches) is the fact that the Mayans used enchanted and aerodynamically effective tree branches to play the sport in the air. Although there is no hint that this was in any way an inspiration for Quidditch, it does demonstrate the wizarding world's aptitude for creating dangerous (and extremely popular) sports played in the air. One can also assume that the Muggle Mayans knew that the witch & wizard Mayans were capable of great magical feats, but attributed these to having tremendous powers given to them by the gods.

In any case, there was a definite discrepancy between magic and non-magic Mayans playing the game. The game was no less deadly for the losers than Muggle historians have pointed out, though they fail to to recognize that this was not simply a sport to cater to humanity's bloodlust, but also a considerably vicious and far-reaching attack on Muggles, who would be forced to play the game against magically-endowed opponents who could control factors in the game that they couldn't, and were more able to deftly handle the proto-broomsticks. This, as well as some texts that have been discovered in ruins, show that some people (though not all sectors of the Mayan Empire) were prejudiced against Muggles and used this sport to their advantage, to kill off losing teams of Muggles in droves. It is believed that the magical Mayans' pure-blood pride was ultimately their downfall, since they had such a penchant for the game, such a hatred for the Muggle Mayans, and such an extremely strict code of only marrying other Pure-bloods. As any historian can tell you, being so selective in a population in which there are relatively few witches and wizards can only lead to a dwindling or a twisting of the lineage. Had they not used their tremendous skill in the name of the gods and killed so many Muggles in the games (indeed, it is estimated that almost half of the population died in this blood-sport), their civilization might have lasted even longer and been given even greater respect as a paragon of civilization.

#62 Your Event:May 12th 1997- Susie Maroney, 22, of Australia, is 1st to swim from Cuba to Florida
The real reason why it happened: The reason that Susie was able to complete this incredible task was not because she was a strong swimmer or even that she trained very hard for a very long time. Simply put she was able to complete this thanks to scoring some black market gilly weed from a questionable man wearing 3 wool knit caps, oversized rain boots and carrying a basket of rubber ducks in Cuba. Seems legit.

#63 Your Event: The Great Depression - starting with the stock market crash on October 29, 1929
The real reason why it happened: Even after the Statute of Secrecy had been passed, Wizards continued to secretly speculate in the Muggle stock market. Throughout the 1920s, a group of young investors led by Abraxas Malfoy (yes, that Abraxas Malfoy) created a system in which shares of Muggle stock were magically duplicated at such a rate to make it seem as if all the companies involved were doing really well - giving rise to the "Roaring Twenties". But in the fall of 1929, Abraxas's associate Arcturus Black accidentally cast a duplicating charm which was a bit too strong. The stock shares proliferated at such a rate that it became apparent even to Muggles that they were all worthless; as soon as enough Muggle investors on Wall Street realized this, the Muggle stock market lost nearly a quarter of its value in two days - and the big decline was only beginning...

#64 Your Event: Roswell Conspiracy.
The real reason why it happened:
Turns out the Roswell Conspiracy isn’t so much a conspiracy as old Mufaesa Higgleton accidently left his glasses off when he tried to transfigure his cat into…well..no one is really sure about that. Said transfigured cat stole Mufaesa’s wand and cast spells including a levitation spell and some lights for effect. This one goes down in history as the worst clean up by the Muggle Liaison Office, ever.

#65 Your Event: Cleopatra's relationships with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony
The real reason why it happened: Cleopatra is so -obviously- a witch. She took two Roman generals, military men from a culture that held very strict expectations for female behavior, and she got them to recognize her as a force to be reckoned with and (arguably) fall for her. Both Julius Caesar and Marc Antony made decisions based on their relationship with Cleopatra that caused Romans to turn against them, even though to begin with all they wanted was power and glory for themselves and Rome. Popular culture says it was her beauty, but coins minted during her lifetime are not very flattering. Cleopatra must have brewed Amortentia and used it to enchant them.

#66 Your Event: The Hindenburg Disaster
The real reason why it happened: A pair of just-of-age wizard twins, remarkably like the Weasley twins who would come long after them, were celebrating their ability to finally legally perform magic outside of Hogwarts with a trip on the Hindenburg's inaugural flight. However, it turned out that the festive sparks they were excitedly shooting from the tips of their wands did not go well with the flammable gasses inside of the giant zeppelin...

#67 Your Event: Boadicea
The real reason why it happened: This witch queen used to be a warrior queen, who would defeat all enemies, until the day she fell in love with a muggle man. He loved her for being so fierce and ruthless, but he truly believed that she was just palying "witch" that it didn't play any part in her victories. She tried to rpove him right and to conform to his idea of what a warrior queen should be. To please him, she broke her wand and renounced her witch ways. She managed to win a couple more battles, until the Romans who had wizards to serve them. Against muggles, even without her wand, Boadicea could defeat them, but when facing wizards, more than she could count as the emperor's fist line of attack, she was defeated, and humiliated as the legend tell so.

#68 Your Event: The Conference at Versailles
The real reason why it happened: We all know the rouse - WWI was coming to an end and Europe and the world wanted peace. The real reason why it happened? The countries of Europe had their foot in the door towards the discovery of the wizarding world and our Ministry needed to ensure the news did not become common knowledge for muggle. Our Minister of Magic was smartly smuggled into the meeting as a waiter along with the rest of the world's important political leaders. At this meeting, the Minster and the British Prime Minister made a pact to serve as liaisons between the two worlds - any issues with either would be addressed between these two parties. To this day, this pact still exists.

#69 Your Event: the Philadelphia Experiment
The real reason why it happened: The Philadelphia Experiment was allegedly a military experiment in the 1940s in which a US Navy destroyer escort was able to make a ship become invisible for a time. This experiment was then hushed up and made classified by the military. However, there was no such experiment, and the Muggles had nothing to do with this. It was in fact some reckless young wizards on a boating trip on the ocean who caused the ship to disappear. Having consumed a bit too much firewhiskey, when they came near the Muggle ship, they wondered if they could cast a disillusionment charm good enough to work on the entire ship. They gave it a go and were successful - causing the ship to "disappear" for a time from the Muggles. Afterwards, once the Ministry of Magic learned of the events, covered it up as best they could in Muggle society by obliviating some key figures and falsifying classified military documents with details about performing an "experiment."

#70 Your Event: The Tunguska Explosion in Siberia, 1908
The real reason why it happened: Two witches were dueling in Siberia that day (the subject being a dispute over who was the most skilled spellcaster in the immediate vicinity). They chose Tunguska for its remoteness from Muggle populations and there began the duel of the century. One witch fired a homemade curse of her very own while the other one quickly cast a powerful protection spell. Unfortunately, both spells were so wildy powerful that they bounced off one another and created an explosion so powerful that it flattened everything in the area -- including the witches who had cast the spell. As a tragic consequence, the question of who was the best duelist was never resolved.

#71 Your Event: Tunguska Event
The real reason why it happened:
What the muggles call the Tunguska event was, in fact, an astronomy experiment gone horribly wrong. Elgar Wolfenstein the Fourth's attempts at tracking the movements of a large asteroid as it passed through the heavens did not go as planned; mainly, due to the large amounts of Veritas Vodka he had consumed in the company of his Russian host, Simon Pietrovich. There is some confusion to actual events, but it has been established that an overtly powerful summoning charm overlaid on what was supposed to be the tracking system caused a shift in orbit which led to the most rude hung-over wake-up call Siberia had seen in many a year. Wolfenstein perished, but his host iraculously survived, having decided that yes, it would be a good idea to apparate to Archangel the night before.

#72 Your Event: Eruption of Vesuvius
The real reason why it happened: In AD 79, Antoninus Tullius Junius, an extremely powerful wizard living in Pompeii, had a week that was particularly trying: he'd been jipped out of two full denarii and a cow in a hasty, ill-advised purchase, and he'd come home to found his wife cheating on him (with a lowly slave, at that) and was bound to divorce her within three days and kill the slave. However, in practising his manly doctrine stoicism, he bottled up all these unfortunate emotions and carried on with business as usual. On the morning of 24 August, however, upon his daughter informing him of her incredibly miraculous virgin pregnancy, he could hold his temper no longer, and he exploded. And so did Mount Vesuvius.

#73 Your Event: The 80s
The real reason why it happened: Albus Dumbledore had enjoyed the muggle 60s so much that he wanted to make the 80s even wilder. (He was disappointed with the 70s style.) He had heard young muggle men extolling the virtues of both marijuana and LSD back in the 60s and decided to try and put the effects of marijuana and LSD in a spell that would be cast over the muggles as a whole. He decided to practice first on the funny Americans, after all, is something went wrong, it just wouldn't do to keep running into the muggles on his home turf. When he finally perfected and incanted the spell, it worked better than he hoped. Everyone had big hair and poofy skirts and the colors clashed garishly. It was perfect. In the 90s people would come to and wonder what the hell were they thinking for the past ten years. No matter how many people angsted about the 80s style, Albus Dumbledore considered it one of his finest accomplishments.

#74 Your Event: The Hindenburg disaster
The real reason why it happened: The Muggles say they do not know why the German passenger airship caught fire as it was being docked. Some Muggles say they saw blue discharges that they say is from static electricity happen just moments before the fire. BUT what really happened was two brothers Hamish and Tomish Stout were on the ground waiting for the airship to land. There was a young woman on board who was going to marry one of the brothers but they didn't know which one. They two began to fight and a stray spell hit the airship causing the accident. Unfortunately the young lady was killed during the incident and the two brothers were so heartbroken they never spoke to each other again.