By the people that was the bad folks, they're the only ones that got really hurt. Throughout both baskets were chain links, gunpowder, and boxes of ammunition acting as shrapnel. Also, how long was it before the kids started talking about seeing angels? Here is a local story from the 20 year anniversary (we are at the 29th year now), What's your side of the story? It just embedded into the walls from the ammunition from the heat. Several other survivors were there. She was on fire! Many recalled praying silently, forming prayer circles and seeing angels during the crisis. Two Powell residents, Lenita Moore (a science teacher at Powell High School) and John Miller (a longtime choir director at Powell High School who retired in 2020), remember being in Cokeville during the bombing. Meanwhile, police and parents gathered out of sight of the school room where hostages were gathered. Cokeville, Wyoming - Wikipedia That's why I have a computer. David became increasingly agitated, and decided to leave the room. And if I had been a little less of a jokester I may have seen something in that strange light. Rich Haskell: I am. On that Friday afternoon in their quiet, rural town, a deranged couple entered the community's elementary school, took those inside hostage and detonated a bomb in a first grade classroom. Have there been any lingering psychological effects from going through something so traumatic while so young? I received a telephone call from my dispatcher informing me that an incident had taken place up in Cokeville and they were requesting me to drive to Cokeville for assistance. I know it is real. It's made me, I think, more open-minded to things and don't take so much for granted anymore. I mean, Columbine, it wasn't that way. I called back to my dispatcher and they did inform me that the school in Cokeville was being held hostage by two individuals and there was bombs involved. it is VERY LDS, and yet there are at least 3 other churches in town: Episcopal, Catholic, Baptist (and sometimes a non-denominational church). By Deseret News. Mark Junge: to go through all this? And he had to defuse bombs. He shot and killed her. One of 'em was in Cokeville and one was in the bus that he did the experiment with. This is not a Mormon film it is more of an inspirational film. For more information about our sponsors and the people behind WyoHistory.org, visit our About Us page: Hostage crisis at the elementary school in Cokeville, Wyo. Mark Junge: We were worried, Sue and I, that people would take offence, right? Well, with the window being open, with the ceiling tiles being able to lift up and down, I think that absorbed a lot of the explosion of the gasoline bottle. As I come to the junctionI'm sorry, I don't know what the road is that goes over to Bear Lakebut as I was passing that intersection, they did inform me that the bomb had exploded. Just like with a pair of pliers, pair of snips. Rich Haskell: I don't know the birthdates but I know the names. Do you think this is a historical event? Amy Bagaso Williams was a fifth-grader when a couple used a bomb while taking hostages at her Wyoming school on May 16, 1986. What had happenedI can't explain it. In Cokeville, Nowhere, Wyo. I walked into the bathroom and there was the suspect that had started this whole mess, layin' there on the floor with ahe had a pistol in his hand and you could tell he had shot himself in the head. The tuna fish cans with the two floury would be spread out in the air likehave you ever seen a grain elevator explosion? You can ask me anything about this today between 1-2pm. I cannot tell you what happened. She lifted her hand up to rub her forehead and when she did that pulled the pin out and detonated the bomb. The first chapter is titled A Town of Trust.. I just stayed right there and we processed the scene and did the scene. The kids couldn't have cut it. In the West? Dr. Clark is the faculty advisor of the Sweet Memories: Research Group at Western. But everything was black, like you had gone in there with a flamethrower and just torched everything inside there. It was cut. Story: Witness who ran toward marathon bomb 'saw bodies flying' "The death of any child shatters us all,'' Barnicle said. David, Doris and Princess proceeded to the elementary school and entered the building shortly after 1 p.m. that Friday. Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis, "Radical Right Link Suggested in Hostage Case", "Cokeville Elementary School Bombing | WyoHistory.org", "Couple take over school but die after bomb blast", "Couple in School Blast Linked to Extremist Group", "Certified Bomb Technician Rich Haskell on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School | WyoHistory.org", "Lead Investigator Ron Hartley, Father of Four Student Survivors, on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School | WyoHistory.org", "Secretary Tina Cook on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School | WyoHistory.org", "A projectile killed Dorris Young, not bomb blast, police in Cokeville say", "In 1986, 154 children and teachers survived the bombing of Cokeville Elementary School", "Emergency Management Coordinator Kathy Davison on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School | WyoHistory.org", University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Liberty Point International Middle School, Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, "'No Way to Prevent This', Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens", List of school shootings in the United States by death toll, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cokeville_Elementary_School_hostage_crisis&oldid=1139490391, Improvised explosive device bombings in the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 11:55. Mark Junge: They weren't big enough, in a way. He hadn't had anything to eat and she finally convinced him to get something to eat, and he let her be in charge of that bomb. A compilation project by the Cokeville Miracle Foundation, a 501(c) (3) charity. The only two fatalities were David and Doris Young. The top basket contained a gallon milk jug of gasoline, wired with a blasting cap. One of the miracles that day was that not a single person was lost. Rich Haskell: Yes, absolutely. He just said just go do it. In addition, national reporters began arriving within hours of the explosion. I don't know. Rich Haskell: It's a combustible. . How has that experience shaped your life? Rich Haskell: If it would have went off like it was supposed to have gone off, it would have lifted the roof off of that school. [5], "You could see that the roof tiles had been lifted out of their brackets. I don't know how many people under the age of 35 know about the Chicago Tylenol murders, but for a few weeks in 1982, it was a national news sensation. When you say what cut the wire? This did, in fact, happen in Wyoming! Details: At 1:20pm on Friday, May 16, 1986, forty-three-year-old David Young and his forty-seven-year-old wife, Doris, wheeled a shopping cart containing a homemade gasoline-filled bomb into Cokeville Elementary School in Cokeville, Wyoming, just after the lunch hour recess. Mark Junge: One of the things that Sue and I found out is that people don't regret doing this because they think it's important for history. [7] The mechanism was triggered by a dead man's switch, consisting of a wooden piece separating two metal connectors within the jaws of a clothespin, forming an incomplete circuit. May 16, 1986, will never be forgotten by the residents of Cokeville, Wyo. Rich Haskell: Yeah. Contact us at editor@wyohistory.org for information on levels and types of available sponsorships. On May 16, 1986, David Young, Cokeville's former town marshal, and his wife, Doris, carried five rifles, five handguns and a "dead man's bomb" into the elementary school. He had tried this deviceand they were designed tothat it would be a delayed explosion. I think it was still in his body. And it burned some children. You know, the kids have forgot about it, let's let 'em move on. In most cases I have deleted redundant ands, ers, uhs, buts, false starts, etc. And what happens if they trigger something accidently?" Whenever they would come to Wyoming I would be part of their security team. Rich Haskell: Approximately an hour and ten, hour and fifteen minutes. Used with thanks. Everyone else survived, including the injured John Miller. I do think the key is talking about it often and early. We figured that he had dropped down on his knee, took his pistol and shot her to put her out of her misery, because when we went out and looked at her, there was a hole up through the bottom of her chin, and it came out the top of her head. Flipboard. There was nobody killed but the perpetrators. Doris developed a headache from the gasoline fumes, and raised her hand to her forehead. She acknowledges these students for assisting her in researching her contributions to the WyoHistory.org web site. This allowed gasoline to drip into the tuna fish cans, turning the aluminum-flour mixture into paste, unable to aerosolize. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Recording and transcription by Wyoming State Archives. You know this is going to sound morbid, but I always thought if the Muslims, the radical Muslims were smart, they would take their jihad to local communities because that would scare the hell out of 'em like it did in Cokeville. Cokeville miracle marking 25 years - Deseret News Anything? She was a divorce who earned money working as a waitress and singer in a local bar. In 1986, 154 children and teachers survived the bombing of Cokeville Elementary School. Rich Haskell: I was cookin' right along, yes I was! Doris accidently triggered the bomb by motioning to her hostages with her arms. And that's where the bomb sat and that's where they sat. So there's doubt in your mind that there was divine intervention? They forget about what happened in Cokeville with a lot more people and the potential of what was there. "The sadness that comes with the death of an 8-year-old, you can . Rich Haskell: I don't know. Mark Junge: Well, you've been blessed in a lot of ways. And then what? And, then, shortly after 4 p.m., the bomb exploded. Boston columnist: 'This was an attack on family' - Today He demanded a ransom of two million dollars per hostage ($308 million, $720 million adjusted for inflation), and an audience with President Ronald Reagan. When did Cokeville miracle happen? How did it affect your family long-term? He did deliver our salvation that day. On May 16, 1986, a man and his wife with a bomb took . Well, he had went into the bathroom and she was out with the bomb, and they said she was complaining of a migraine headache. Ten Killed in Kopper'S Blast and Fire in Kearney Edit: Thank you so much for your questions! For me, what has impressed me about the film is not necessarily the story of Angels (which are remarkable), but that the majority of the 154 hostages chose to see God's hand in their lives that day. Unexplained Mysteries: Angel Files. Season 1, Episode 20. Rich Haskell: Absolutely. TC (the director) also worked incredibly hard to make this a story that can be widely appreciated by members of all faiths. Because it was sittin' low enough and the kids were low enough that it would have done it. Although many were burned, some severely, only the perpetrators of this horrible incident died. The children and adults escaped after the bomb exploded. So you got that and you got the flour and the gasoline and that's what it was all designed to do in millisecond delays. On May 16, 1986, when former town marshal David Gary Young and his wife Doris Young took 154 children and thirteen teachers hostage at Cokeville Elementary school in Wyoming and kept them at bay with a shopping-cart sized bomb attached to five hairpin-trigger blast caps, it should have ended in great tragedy - one of the worst in American history. Many of the children who stated they saw angels were of various faiths. That's my lucky miracle. Many children showed signs of distress with sobs, complaining of headaches from the smell of gasoline from the bomb, or simply wanting to go home. Box 37, Cokeville, Wyoming 83114. The gasoline bottle was leaking. Rich Haskell: Well, I like to think I'm a better person because of it. Mark Junge: In fact, didn't you say you burned up your engine? Now, 28 years later, Conger and more than a dozen other survivors are reliving . At that time, about 500 people lived in Cokeville, and there were slightly more than 100 students attending the elementary school. ", Mark Junge: So it took you three days, three and a half days. Below the jug in the bottom basket were two tuna fish cans filled with a mixture of aluminum powder and flour meant to aerosolize and deflagrate following detonation, each with its own blasting cap. The jug of gasoline had a pinhole-sized leak on its bottom. The miraculous events that followed have changed many people foreverespecially survivor Amy Bagaso Williams. All the hostages escaped, though 79 were hospitalized with burns and injuries. Seven people in the Chicago area died after ingesting Tylenol capsules laced with potassium cyanide. Cokeville Elementary School Bombing | WyoHistory.org Rich Haskell: Absolutely! It said in there that they had brought blasting caps, ammunition, those types of things in and there was a sealed briefcase that was in the hallway. She is one of the survivors whose story has become a part of The Cokeville Miracle. Mark Junge: Well, I want you to know that we think you're courageous for doing this with us. Rich Haskell: I'm Rich Haskell. I can't explain it. One of the miracles that day was that not a single person was lost. To go off to the side? He was in high fevers until the therapist allowed him to speak openly. I don't know ifI just felt an emptyactually I could just see a hundred-sixty people dead! I think I made it there in record timeI'm not sure. She tied the string around her wrist. Thus, when David and Doris Young entered the towns only elementary school with an arsenal of weapons and a gasoline bomb in a grocery cart, no one saw it coming. Do you ever think about them? (Laughs) But as I was passing through Kemmerer I stayed in radio contact. Now this is just for my own information and it doesn't have anything to do with this case, but whenever I read about a bomb threat in the paper, I think to myself, "Oh, no! It would have killed them. We're in a conference room here on the main floor. But it didn't. Is that morbid thinking on my part? I'd like to think so. While he was writing his philosophy, Zero Equals Infinity, Doris took part-time jobs including housekeeping and waitressing to support their meager lifestyle. Rich Haskell: I think it could be a spiritual experience that I have with church, or being around the kids, I don't know. She acknowledges these students for assisting her in researching her contributions to the WyoHistory.org web site. They did a good job telling this story. She is a trained rural historian who specializes in oral history, childhood history and memory studies. Mark Junge: What do you want to do with the rest of your life? Rich Haskell: Yeah, I think I did. The Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis occurred on Friday, May 16, 1986 in Cokeville, Wyoming, United States, when former town marshal David Young, 43, and his wife Doris Young, 47,[1] took 136 children and 18 adults hostage at Cokeville Elementary School. He was the father of two, but was estranged from his elder daughter. But it still sent flames all over in the room and you can see where all the flames were in that room. David set himself near the center of the room with the grocery cart bomb nearby, as Doris went from room to room rounding up people. Because of the experience and the different classes that I've attended, I know what bombs do to people, to buildings and to all kinds of structures. This can, the aluminum powder, never went off. I believe there was a hundred-and-sixty-plus people involved that was being held. Rich Haskell: No. You can't think, well, maybe something could happen, because yes it could. I immediately went into rendering safehe had brought in several devices with him to place in different places in the room, and there was a lot of ammunition, a lot of guns out in the hallway, and I immediately started rendering all those safe, making sure that those were safe and they could move them out of the building. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. And I think that these people actually thought that they could start another world. Weredo you think it had something to do with angels? During the chaos, Doris' burnt body was expelled through a window, and left lying on the front lawn. Healing will come Slowly From Within a Wounded Cokeville. Contact us at editor@wyohistory.org for information on levels and types of available sponsorships. When I walked inside of the classroomit was a kindergarten classroom which meant that the desks were smaller, everything was smaller because of the smaller children. David had also sent a copy of the manifesto to Reagan. Mark Junge: Today is the 23rd of September, 2010. People who had guns! Throughout the standoff, David grew increasingly agitated and irritable. Some of them believed the assembly was about weapons; others began realizing something was seriously wrong. Mark Junge: And what happened? Mark Junge: Okay. Transcriber's notes: I have added some reference footnotes to this transcript where I thought appropriate. Mark Junge: So it would have gone upward, but would it have killed the kids? It was not a teacher, but her ancestor. Rich Haskell: There was a reason I was there for some reason. She was totally burned. I saw an early screening of the film and absolutely loved it. The miraculous events that followed transformed the lives of hundreds of people, including many who witnessed angels or received heavenly help from deceased ancestors. Kind of a synopsis of what they were going to do and what their plans were and the whole thing. I contacted my sheriff, and that was Jim Stark at the time, and he said, "Definitely! Mark Junge: What's been your experiences since then? I've got a couple of questions. Cokeville Elementary School is located at 205 N. Sage St. in Cokeville. David emerged from the bathroom to find his wife in excruciating pain. Mark Junge: This bomb was designed to do what? Cokeville Elementary School Explosion - Unsolved Mysteries Wiki David Young entered the school with his wife transporting a large gasoline-filled device that appeared to be a bomb. Both hostage takers died, while 79 hostages were wounded. On one hand people didn't want money to be made off of suffering, but on the other hand it felt ungrateful to not share it in the way that TC would or could. The detonation didn't do it, it was cut. It was within the first few weeks that the Hartley boy was explaining his witness. A quarter of a century later, Williams can still vividly recall the chaotic scene following the explosion. And it was a perfect trajectory up into the ceiling where that bullet was. Kameron Wixom, son of Hartt and Judene Wixom, writes a childlike faith saved us. In his contribution to the Witness to Miracles book, Kameron writes: I didnt have to see angels, hear them, or even think that their presence might be required that day. They increasingly spoke about their memories in public with professional psychologists, church officials and community counselors. Survivors began to tell their stories through a spiritual lens. This significantly mitigated the explosive power of the bomb. Learn from Cokeville's miracle of '86 - The Spectrum Over the course of time he did various things to get our input from script readings early on, to being there on set, etc. Peterson, Carol. No. where there's only a limited population, that's going to throw the fear of God into everybody. I was a little bit nervous, of course. Rich Haskell: Well, as we were talking before we started recording, because of my knowledge with the explosives and with the law enforcement and everything else, I've had many opportunitiesbecause of the explosivesI've been with Vice President Cheney when he was here in Wyoming up in Pinedale. Oral histories, memoirs and drawings began to reveal a narrative of fortune rather than misfortune. This wasn't a simple bomb. If you are interested in seeing the film, theaters are listed here. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Only the man and his wife, who accidentally detonated the bomb, died that day in 1986. While David and Doris Young were not involved in an organized religion, both were deeply spiritual. The subsequent police report states that David opened the door from the connecting bathroom, shot his injured wife in the head and killed her,[9] shot and wounded John Miller, a music teacher who was trying to flee, then closed the bathroom door and killed himself with a shot from a .45 pistol to the head.