“I explained that she was the teacher who led me out when the bomb went off. “Everyone was just so black that you couldn’t recognize anyone. In the days and weeks immediately after this event, most accounts focused on the horrors of the day. “Cokeville Bombing.” Undated scrapbook. Witnesses later testified that just before the explosion David Young had connected the explosive to his wife. Over time, her skin healed completely, and today she carries no scars from the events of that day. Survivor relives the Cokeville hostage crisis 30 years later. “We pressed forward knowing that Heavenly Father wants this story told, and that the benefits would far outweigh the hardships.”, “I hope that people come away from the film impressed by the power of prayer, that if they have not been using prayer in their lives, they would start,” says Christensen. Following the explosion, 79 children were taken to area hospitals, most of which were located more than an hour’s drive from Cokeville, for treatment for burns and smoke inhalation. “And on the set there were many people who were real survivors of that event. That’s when Hartley asked his wife to get out the family photo album. “When you do interrogations in law enforcement, you watch for body language. Williams’s skin began to heal at a rapid rate, and despite the severe burns, no scar tissue formed. Carbon County School District No. On May 16, 1986, former town marshal David Young and his wife Doris Young took 167 children and adults hostage at Cokeville Elementary School. Because they refused to participate, Princess, Deppe, and Mendenhall were never charged in relation to this crime. The explosion engulfed her in flames and burned many nearby children. “I began to wonder, ‘What happens if I die today? “The first is August 16, the day of my physical birth, and the second is the day I call my spiritual birth: May 16, the day of the bombing.”, “I try my best to make it a better world,” says Wixom. The first chapter is titled “A Town of Trust.”. And, then, shortly after 4 p.m., the bomb exploded. Total fatalities: 2(David and Doris Young) Survivors still living: 150. Eventually, Young stepped away to the restroom, leaving the bomb detonator tied to Doris’s wrist. EDITOR’S NOTE: This Cokeville Miracle article discusses a traumatic event where death and injuries occurred. Everyone else survived, and many who did recalled the tragedy with Following the railroad, sheep ranching became more popular, reaching its peak in 1918, when Cokeville was informally called the "Sheep Capital of the World". Cokeville Elementary School Bombing On May 16, 1986, David and Doris Young took 154 people hostage at the Cokeville Elementary School in tiny Cokeville… www.wyohistory.org I’m living proof.”. Hartt Wixom. It became a story of a miracle rather than a tragedy. “I saw bodies all over the lawn, and I didn’t know if they were dead or alive,” recalls Conger. Video: survivors of cokeville school bombing play extras in movie about itBy: lschenckerPublished on: June 20, 2014Source: http://www.tout.com/m/z3zeye “I came home with the intent of factually proving to him that he couldn’t have seen angels,” Hartley recalls. David’s writings reveal that he hoped life would be better for him and Cokeville’s children in this imaginary place. “I remember thinking, ‘David Young can control a lot of things, but he can’t keep us from praying. tape to create a “magic square” around the bomb and then instructed the children to stay outside of it. I flipped to one page when suddenly he put his little hand on a photo and just beamed,” Hartley shares. She is a beautiful example of turning tragedy into triumph. Thus, when David and Doris Young entered the town’s only elementary school with an arsenal of weapons and a gasoline bomb in a grocery cart, no one saw it coming. “When my son saw that picture, he just brightened up and said, ‘That’s her! 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. “Cokeville Recollects ‘Miracle’ of 1986: Hostage Survivors, Town Residents Compile Book, ________. He also allowed teachers to keep their classes together to help them stay calm. “Everybody kept saying, ‘Isn’t this a miracle?’ But I took it as luck,” says Hartley. The source code for the WIKI 2 extension is being checked by specialists of the Mozilla Foundation, Google, and Apple. With Jasen Wade, Sarah Kent, Kimball Stinger, Alexa Rae. Alleged Nashville explosion CCTV footage “Children were able to see those who had passed on.”. Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis. I got a chance to talk to Jennie Sorensen Johnson, who was seven when David Young rolled a bomb into her first grade classroom. I looked in the center of the room and all I could see was fire.”, “There were flames all over the room and children screaming—just pandemonium,” recalls Carol Petersen, a second grade teacher at the time. The miraculous events that followed transformed the lives of hundreds of people, including many who witnessed angels or received heavenly help from deceased ancestors. “Another teacher was trying to help me escape. Most of the kids in my class were LDS, but I wasn’t,” Williams says. I said, ‘I don’t know where my children are! The hours ticked by as teachers read stories and students colored pictures and played with Legos. Lead Investigator Ron Hartley, Father of Four Student Survivors, on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School Public Works Director and Fireman Kevin Walker, Father of Three Young Children, on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School “Survivor is my Name: Voices of the Cokeville Elementary School Bombing.” Produced by Wyoming State Archives for Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources, the package includes interviews with 14 people about the events of May 16, 1986. Inside stood David Young, a string detonator around his wrist and a homemade bomb by his side. How do you argue that? “The true miracle was not that I survived or that the third-degree burns I suffered healed without a trace—it was that I learned I was not alone in the world.”. WyoHistory.org welcomes the support of the following sponsors. was very cautious and sensitive to everybody’s feelings.”, Survivor Jennie Sorensen Johnson’s children were among the movie extras. “All the nurses cried as they cleaned my wounds,” she says, “and the doctor was talking to my parents about skin grafts and plastic surgery.”. Accessed May 28, 2013 at. Lota, Louinn. But the young boy insisted that his story was true. As he read his nonsensical manifesto, “Zero Equals Infinity,” children began to cry, including Williams. “I felt deep peace. He was the father of two, but was estranged from his elder daughter. “The knowledge of their experiences has shaped my life personally, and now with this movie, even more lives can be blessed with the knowledge of what help there is from the other side,” he says. Young grew increasingly agitated as the afternoon wore on. Hostage room size: 430 feet x 30 feet. “I asked what grade this particular woman had taught and why she quit teaching after the bombing. 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Then I saw my mom running down the street. David Young, who shot and killed his wife, Doris, after she accidentally set off the bomb in the Cokeville Elementary School, and then shot himself. I’ll never forget that reunion when she ran toward us and wrapped us in her arms. Skip to main content. When he arrived at the scene, he was immediately told that the physical evidence didn’t add up. That, in addition to the fact that he picked out Grandma Elliott, is evidence I can’t deny,” he says. “We put it on the table right in front of him, and I started flipping through the pages. Dr. Clark is the faculty advisor of the Sweet Memories: Research Group at Western. I would have thought I would have had to have actors to portray that, but those people knew what it felt like—that trauma of family members being held captive or themselves being held captive. Survivors began to tell their stories through a spiritual lens. Because Christensen’s faith-promoting film is based on actual events, Christensen wanted it to be both authentic and accurate. Some of them believed the assembly was about weapons; others began realizing something was seriously wrong. Audio CD. She is a trained rural historian who specializes in oral history, childhood history and memory studies. Located in Lincoln County and nestled between the towns of Star Valley and Kemmerer on the Wyoming-Idaho border, Cokeville, many residents believed, was a safe place to rear children. Those are also Cokeville people. Reporters from all the regional news outlets were on the scene by the time of the explosion or shortly thereafter. He did deliver our salvation that day. She fled the building and drove the Youngs’ van—with Deppe and Mendenhall still inside—to the town hall, where she reported her father’s plan. My face was completely unrecognizable,” she recalls. Williams recalls, “When I got to the hallway, I felt a tickling sensation on my shoulder and ear. See what's new with book lending at the Internet Archive. I was told my scars would completely heal, and no one would look upon my face and know what had happened. Williams, who was severely burned in the explosion, did not see angels that day either, but she experienced a different kind of miracle after being rushed to the hospital. Once all the hostages were contained in the first grade classroom, David Young informed them that they were leading a revolution and distributed copies of his philosophy Zero Equals Infinity to everyone present. “Cokeville Miracle Marking 25 Years.”. As he read his nonsensical manifesto, “Zero Equals Infinity,” children began to cry, including Williams. I don’t know where to g… While he was gone, the unthinkable happened—Doris accidentally jerked the string and the bomb exploded. Everyone else survived, including the injured John Miller. He shot and killed her. “10 Years Later, Cokeville Just Says: Let Us Be.”, Pierce, Scott D.  “‘Save the Children’ is Shallow, Exploitative: Focus is on Wacko Bomber Instead of 167 Cokeville Students and Teachers.”, Troone, Trent. “I’ve never doubted for a second that they saw exactly what they claimed to have seen or heard,” Wixom says. “They knew that it was extremely hard for me to be on set, but it really helped my anxiety to process the events of the day more.”. Casper Chapter, Wyoming Archaeological Society, June Frison chapter, Wyoming Archeological Society. She had short, dark brown hair,” Payne recalls. Total Hostages: 154 (136 children, 17 teachers/staff, 1 UPS driver) Total Survivors: 154. Doris accidently triggered the bomb by motioning to her hostages with her arms. She dropped to the floor and started rolling to put out the flames. She has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals on the history and heritage of Germans from Russia on the Northern Plains. “The way those witnesses all came out, each very independent of each other, is proof enough.” Conger agrees. “[T]rust is big here … youngsters grow up knowing they can turn to many other members of the community with confidence,” write Hartt and Judene Wixom in Trial by Terror: The Child-hostage Crisis in Cokeville, Wyoming. Survivors from the original hostage situation have gone there and have found healing. Jessica Clark, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of history and political science at Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, Wyo. Get out!’”, Children and teachers escaped through windows and the classroom door. They believed in reincarnation, which probably led, in part, to the creation of David’s “Brave New World” idea. “Many of the extras in the film are children of those who were students at the time the bomb went off,” Christensen explains. I followed him and sat down, and he then went and got my sister Rachel. While he was writing his philosophy, Zero Equals Infinity, Doris took part-time jobs including housekeeping and waitressing to support their meager lifestyle. Eight months later, Payne learned who the woman in white was when her mother pulled out an old locket. With tears in her eyes, Grandma explained to me that there is no way she could have been there because she had died earlier in the ’80s. Cokeville Elementary School Bombing-Survivors Oral History Project. David’s friends did not know that “the Biggie” was a plan to take over Cokeville Elementary School, hold each of the children hostage for $2 million dollars apiece and then detonate the bomb, transporting the money and children to his “Brave New World,” where he would be God. Students, teachers, visitors, staff who survived the ordeal and bystanders began recounting their memories of this event as it was still unfolding. 4.6 out of 5 stars 3. Date of Cokeville Bombing: May 16, 1986. Sunscreens, delivery robots, minimum … “There was nothing extraordinary about her, just something weird.”. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. “Cokeville Children Held Hostage by Bomber.”, “Cokeville Elementary School Bombing: 25-Years Later.” Accessed May 17, 2013, at, Fagg, Ellen. Soon two teachers ran to her aid and slapped the flames out with their bare hands. She says only a miracle saved the 136 children and 18 adults that were held hostage. That much I know. Investigators discovered that wires to three of the bomb’s five blasting caps had been mysteriously cut, preventing detonation. Contact us at editor@wyohistory.org for information on levels and types of available sponsorships. Directed by T.C. The events began unfolding just after lunch on May 16, 1986 when an unknown woman walked from classroom to classroom, interrupting the teachers lessons, and announcing that there was an emergency in Room 2and that the teachers should rush the children there right away. For David’s long-time friends Gerald Deppe and Doyle Menenhall, his treatise manifested as a get-rich-quick plan that he called “The Biggie.” Finally, the time came to return to Cokeville, which they did on May 16, 1986. Christensen comes The Cokeville Miracle. “I knew this was an amazing story, and one I felt like I needed to tell,” he says. His perspective changed dramatically a couple weeks later, however, when his 6-year-old son confided in a psychologist that he had seen angels on the day of the bombing. I can’t leave!’ but he yelled ‘Get out! The feeling [after the prayer] was one of total confidence that we had just placed our lives in the hands of our loving Heavenly Father,” he recalls. “Healing will come Slowly From Within a Wounded Cokeville. “It would not have been fair to portray this as an LDS-specific miracle.”. Students and teachers throughout the school were unknowingly drawn into the crisis when Doris Young went from room to room, instructing them to gather in classroom #4. Survivors of the Cokeville, Wyoming, school bombing say they're participating in the film not to mark a tragedy, but to mark a miracle: That no one but the attackers died that day. (He would later recover.). “I had a ‘teacher’ help me out of that burning classroom that I did not know,” she says. I didn’t even know where to go or what to do.” Conger continues, “I found my older brother pretty quickly, and we just started walking toward our home. Educated at Chadron State College in Nebraska, he had earned a degree in criminal justice, and was hired as Cokeville’s town marshal in the 1970s. On May 16, 1986, he and his wife, Doris, invaded a classroom at Cokeville Elementary School and held 136 children and 17 teachers hostage with a crudely built homemade bomb. Williams was baptized on August 16, 1989—her 14th birthday. He walked across the room and the bomb detonated.”. 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. That's it. “It was an explosion that I can’t explain—a total instant black, the kind of black that you can’t see anything,” remembers Katie Walker Payne, who was a first grade student at the time. The Cokeville Miracle Survivors' Fireside: Talk on CD. Years later, when Johnson was about 12 years old, she finally learned the identity of the mysterious woman. Total injured: 79. I did not have to imagine how God would move … that day when I said my little prayer just hours before, I simply knew he would. David, Doris and Princess proceeded to the elementary school and entered the building shortly after 1 p.m. that Friday. I turned around once to go back for a shoe that had come off when I was trying to escape, but she motioned for me to keep coming through the bathroom entryway, and I followed.”. “People of all faiths were blessed by the event,” he explains. WITNESS TO MIRACLES, Remembering the Cokeville Elementary School Bombing To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the bombing, a group called the Cokeville Miracle Foundation has compiled a 500-page book full of reminiscences written by many of the people who lived through that day: teachers, parents, emergency workers, the child hostages who are now all grown up.
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