On this day in 1945, a small plane crashed into the Empire State Building. I’ve been fascinated by this story since I first read about it a few years ago, and to me it’s remarkable because of the many odd things that came together: a plane flying low over Manhattan, a building being able to structurally withstand being hit by a plane. Later, the World Trade Center would be designed with the idea that a plane crash was a possibility, although back in the early 70s, I can’t imagine that anyone would have conceived of that plane crash involving a 757.

Anyway, this is maybe the most interesting fact from the post linked to above:

Betty Lou Oliver, on the 80th floor, barely escaped the crash, but when rescuers attempted to lower her out of the building via the elevator, the cables snapped and she and the elevator car plummeted 75 stories (over 1,000 feet). She survived.