how many of you were around in 1955? Do you remember it?
Actor James Dean… did he have a premonition, or did he just
live in ‘high gear’
with dire consequences?
No one can say for sure.
He had a rough start as a kid, but received some
great breaks early along the way that helped propel him to
stardom.
Now this part is strange. Just seven months before his
accident, Dean posed
laying in a casket in Fairmount, In., his hometown. The
story says that the
funeral home where it happened was actually the same firm that would have
his services in the days that followed his accident in
California. Weird.
When Dean wasn’t acting, he was racing fast cars… he lived
for it… and
ultimately died for it.
On Friday, Sept. 30, 1955, Dean and his mechanic,
Rolf Wuetherich, drove Dean’s new Porsche 550 Spyder to a
weekend race
in Salinas, California.
Now here’s another strange…at 3:30 pm, just 3 hours before
the fatal crash,
they were stopped south of Bakersfield and given a speeding
ticket. Little
did that officer know that day that he would probably be one
of the last
ever to have interaction with James Dean.
Later in the day, on Route 466, a man named Donald
Turnupseed (how’s that
for a handle?) turning at an intersection collided with
Dean’s Porsche. The
two vehicles hit almost head on, the 550 Spyder was demolished
at impact.
Wuetherich the passenger was seriously injured, yet
survived. Dean lived
but only for a few moments. He had received major facial and
head trauma,
a broken neck and both arms were severely traumatized as
well. At his
funeral, his coffin was closed because of the horrific
injuries he received.
The pictures are of Dean at the photo shoot, and his death
certificate
issued a year later.
He was 24. What would
James Dean life have been if he had lived to
continue his career?
We were all robbed that day of Dean’s potential
future performances……..makes you wonder what the zenith of
his
career could have been.
Foot notes: The second driver Turnsupseed (and I’ve seen
five different
spellings for this man’s name) only had minor injuries in
the mishap.
Wuetherich, the mechanic riding with Dean suffered a broken
leg but strangely enough WAS KILLED in another car crash in 1981!
Finally: where is the car? Rumor has it that the car is
behind a hidden wall
in a building in Whatcom County Washington… and the story
says it
will be revealed maybe THIS YEAR once custody issues are
solved..stay tuned!
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