Go Gators Go!
“Each moment in history is a fleeting time, precious and unique. But some stand out as moments of beginning, in which courses are set that shape decades or centuries.”
“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
“If I seem free, it’s because I’m always running.”
“This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius.”
Nineteen sixty-nine: Nixon took the White House and man walked the moon. Hippies gathered en masse at Woodstock celebrating sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll, but elsewhere protests for peace turned violent. The Beatles play their last public show atop the Apple building and the Manson Family murders five. Yet despite being a truly eventful year, 1969 would best be remembered as the moment everything changed. The dawning of a new age. An age not of peace and love, like the old song promised, but one of fear and hatred.
This is, of course, referring to the emergence of the superhuman: men and women capable of a wide array of extraordinary feats: from super speed to super strength, mastery of the elements to mastery of the mind, flight to teleportation, the list simply goes on and on. The details around the discovery of these superhumans are muddy, with historians unable to agree on a single date or location as their origin, thanks in part to accounts having popped up over the years from a million different people claiming a million different things. It is commonly accepted, however, that the first widely public appearance would be at the infamous March on Madison or the “Madison Massacre” if you prefer.
For those unfamiliar, the Madison Massacre began as an anti-war rally at city hall in the city of Madison in the American Midwest, spurred on by the announcement of Nixon’s intentions of reinstating the draft. Upwards of 120,000 people were in attendance, either protesting the war, protesting the protesters, or unfortunately just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. About two hours into the event, a few fights broke out. Harmless fist fights at first, but they escalated. Hard and fast. Before anyone could calm down the crowd, the protest erupted into an all-out riot. Survivors of the event claim it was a spectacle to witness: people flying through the air, raining fire from above like jets dropping napalm, cars being thrown, the ground trembling and cracking. This would culminate in the haunting scene broadcast live across the country: the bright light, the rising dust, and the lone mushroom cloud hanging over the ruined American city.
Now, this paper could go on to discuss the witch hunt what followed, which harkened back to the Red Scare after WWII or the Second Red Scare of the ‘50s, or Nixon’s “Superman Act” which pardoned a superhuman should they serve the United States in the war effort, but will instead focus on the events leading up to Madison Massacre in a number of places. The following accounts may seem to be too incredible to believe, and at times, impossible. However, this historian would implore you, dear reader, to keep an open mind.
This first account will comes from Greenville, a small town close to Madison that may very well hold the answers to so many of the questions we still have regarding one of the greatest tragedies this country has ever seen. We'll be hearing the story of the so-called Freaks of Greenville High in the autumn before the infamous march.
Go, Gators, Go!
