David went to the school office, handing out a manifesto titled "ZERO EQUALS INFINITY" and announcing "This is a revolution!" Cindy and Jason notice him and run to him, and he asks for their forgiveness as well. They were probably in worse shape than any of us because they didnt know what was happening to their children. So I asked them, Who do you represent? and they said, Ourselves. And then he showed me the bomb and how it operated and said that if anyone tried to harm him that this bomb would go off. Haskell also mentions that the open windows and doors provided ventilation for the explosion. He confides in them that he saw people dressed all in white angels. Forensic evidence aside, the town residents began to realize that a series of lucky events had preceded the bombing, events that ended up saving the lives of the children who had been injured. Christensen Writing Credits (in alphabetical order) Cast (in credits order) Produced by Music by Christian Davis Rob Gardner Cinematography by T.C. Immediately after the detonation, teachers began feeling their way around the room, groping for children, snuffing out the flames on their clothing when a burning child was found in the dark. Their only claim to fame is a boarded-up bank on main street that was once robbed by Butch Cassidy. And he was the one that came up with this? . Mark Junge: Interesting, for a man to be called Sharon. The film debuted on June 5, 2015, in select theaters in Utah, and then across the United States. Immediately following the detonation, the teachers started to shove children into the hallway, and through two open windows onto the grass outside the school, causing chaos as panicked parents tried to break through police lines. They came across a picture that she had never seen before. He told me to go back by the bathroom door and make sure that anyone that went into the bathroom came out, because there was another doorway on the other side of the bathroom. Cokeville - old-fashioned America at its best Located in Wyoming's southwest corner, along the Idaho border, Cokeville is a small community of less than 1,000 people. As a matter of record, therefore, some 2400+ years ago, Socrates, and individual, addressed himself to an evolving concept called knowledge. I was a first grade teacher in 1986 at the Cokeville Elementary School. Around this time, David is getting more and more agitated especially when Jason Hartley taunts him. He then expresses his triumph with his second wife, Doris (Kymberly Mellen). The film was based on the Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis in 1986[3] and the book The Cokeville Miracle: When Angels Intervene by Hartt Wixom and Judene Wixom. While we have made every effort to avoid graphic language,this article might be disturbing for some readers. History is the study of these combinations. CNN wrote: That every child and adult was spared in the bombing is nothing short of a miracle.. But these little sisters sacrificed a lot to come. Socrates concluded, just as we must, As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.. As she was ready to take us into the second-grade room, this young woman, very pretty young woman, came flying through the door and she was just hysterical. In Tucson, Arizona, David Young (Nathan Stevens), former town marshal of Cokeville, Wyoming, tests a homemade bomb on an old bus, which succeeds. The room was filling up. One man in the audience had attended school in Cokeville years after the hostage-taking. Janel Dayton: Mm-hm. Seemingly, some thousands of years ago, several individuals combined, or perceived their combination and therein created Man. [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. was very cautious and sensitive to everybodys feelings., Survivor Jennie Sorensen Johnsons children were among the movie extras. David returns to the bathroom where he kills himself, making him and Doris the only two to be killed during this event. Sue Castaneda: What did happen to the other two guys, because I dont know. But your brain, your mind does strange things. We knew what was happening, but they didnt. Janel Dayton: Not so much. I had a teacher help me out of that burning classroomthat I did not know, she says. Janel Dayton: Well, when I got out there and cleared the barricade, I saw one little girl fall and she looked at me like, What is going on? And I never saw that child again. cokeville miracle hoaxcreekside middle school athletics. None of the children were hit, but Miller was shot in the back as he helped others out of the burning school. Jasen Wade as Ron Hartley, the film's protagonist, one of the town's deputies who is questioning his faith as his children are taken hostage. Pretty amazing! I was frightened and felt that we needed to do something to try to calm down or to be careful, because he was so agitated. I was told my scars would completely heal, and no one would look upon my face and know what had happened. Spelling and grammar errors have been left intact. 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. It is. That was a crisis, because when the kids, when it was time to go home, then they realized that they werent going home. And two weeks prior to the incident, the volunteer fire department had, for the first time, practiced for how to treat the elementary school if it were to catch on fire. Their captors used a gasoline-fueled bomb that eventually went off. It was almost as if she landed on my shoulder. There are also a couple scenes where parents are outside the school being held back by police. Sarah Kent as Claudia Hartley, Ron's wife, who is worried about his skepticism. Sue Castaneda: How long were you in there total? Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy, Critic%27s review%3A 2 stars %28out of 5%29. He also shoots a teacher, John Miller (Joshua Cooper), in the back as the man leaves the classroom to help children escape. After a standoff lasting two and a half hours, the gasoline bomb the couple had brought into the school went off prematurely, badly burning Doris Young while David Young was out of the room. Except for the families involved, the event at Cokeville, Wyoming, on May 16, 1986, probably slid into the dustbin of history many years ago. It was a sophisticated bomb consisting of layers of wooden shelves with hundreds of rounds of ammunition on top, a layer of gasoline below, and tuna fish cans full of powder, resting on top of blasting caps. After a few threw up in trashcans, Young allowed the teachers to open a window, creating a vent that would buffer the force of the blast. I took the opportunity to talk with T.C. So I went and visited with them, but the topic didnt come up. Therell be a contest between good and evil, and itll look like evils going to triumph, but it doesnt. [5] The wooden piece was tied to Doris' wrist by a string. DVD. When he arrived at the scene, he was immediately told that the physical evidence didnt add up. My husband and I just got home in January, we were on a mission at Temple Square. It seemed like there was a glow on the floor. Christensen Writers T.C. As they waited, on their own, the children began to pray. But it was interesting. They came down next to us. Play trailer 2:15 1 Video 6 Photos Drama Family History Children who were held hostage in their elementary school tell stories of miraculous things, but many adults are skeptical that the Cokeville Miracle ever truly happened. Williams recalls, When I got to the hallway, I felt a tickling sensation on my shoulder and ear. Mark Junge: Some of the people saw angels. I dont know why, but I am grateful.. [4], Prior to the hostage crisis, David had tested a similar bomb in a sealed school bus in Arizona, destroying it.[5]. So if you would just give me your name and tell me what you did at the school, and then on what day it was, and so forth. The film concludes with a title card that asks why other hostage situations didn't have divine intervention, then responds with: "We should recognize God's hand when we see it.". He had been aware of above-average achievement scores from Cokeville's education system. So we decided to have a fire drill in the lunchroom where all the children would be there. If I deleted an entire phrase, I have inserted ellipses Where you find brackets [ ] I have added words for explanation or to complete an awkward sentence. I asked what grade this particular woman had taught and why she quit teaching after the bombing. In 1979, he had been the towns marshal for only six months and residents remember his Wyatt Earp style of law. The man pointedly told the hostages that he could, at a moments notice, simply twitchhis arm totrigger the bomb. I met the bomb tech right there at the door, and he said, Hartley, what you have here is a miracle. Janel Dayton: Hed come to town with his gun. The Cokeville Miracle . Janel Dayton: My grandparents, on my fathers side, came from Denmark. TRUTH! When your feet hit the ground, run. Anxious parents waiting outside snatched the exiting children and rushed them to safety behind a gauntletof emergency vehicles. Janel Dayton: No, on the other side. For the first time, I remember thinking, Im safe. Its something I will never forget., Despite the explosion, all students and staff made it out alive; only David Young and his wife perished. I dont know why I didnt think of it, cause I do about everything else, but I didnt. As soon as the children began arriving into the arms of frantic parents and waiting emergency workers, their excited stories began. At best a probability, at worse nonsense, proof in any event is very distant from reality. Here we confront what we thought we pursued all these years, what we should have remembered from 2400 years ago. While chatting with one of the teachers, Doris accidentally triggers the bomb by gesturing with her hand. That bomb should have leveled the wing of this school, but it looks like the bomb blast went straight up. Based on TRUE events-On May 16, 1986, in the small ranching community of Cokeville, WY, David and Doris Young took an elementary school hostage for several h. Janel Dayton: No, and our kids are trained to be pretty obedient to authority. WyoHistory.org welcomes the support of the following sponsors. Nobody could help her. In Cokeville, Ron is playing with his two children; Cindy (Alexa Rae) and Jason (Kimball Stinger). Ron questions this so Claudia convinces him to gather evidence just as he would for any other investigation. The woman was Jennies Aunt Ruth, her fathers sister. Christensen, whose works include 17 Miraclesand Ephraims Rescue, felt it was time to share those events with the world. 2023 www.azcentral.com. Cause theyd all gone out different exits. Motivated to attend for Jason, Ron tries to make it through the meetings. But for Williams, her healing was not the greatest miracle she experienced. While he was gone, the unthinkable happenedDoris accidentally jerked the string and the bomb exploded. Her mother moved, immediately. His wife, Claudia (Sarah Kent), is worried for him. But some of the little children went over and prayed. 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. And I'm sure that that made him very nervous. I knew this was an amazing story, and one I felt like I needed to tell, he says. As I sat coloring, I looked up and saw a woman dressed in a long white dress. Years later, Jennie Johnson, the student who blacked out and was carried from the burning room, was looking through an old photo album with her grandmother. He has his two friends Gerald Deppe and Doyle Mendenhall (Channon Voyce and Paul Hunt) meet him in Cokeville. My husbands grandfather, or great-grandfather was in the Nauvoo period when there was a tremendous amount of persecution. Throughout the standoff, David grew increasingly agitated and irritable. Janel Dayton: When this book was written, one young man says he put it in a badger hole. As survivors would later attest, and against all rational explanations, a tragedy of immense proportions had not been set into motion. My hair and eyelashes were gone. For the next few years something would trigger, you know, among the teachers, because we all of us were there for quite a long time. That, in addition to the fact that he picked out Grandma Elliott, is evidence I cant deny, he says. Today were going to talk with Janel about her experience in 1986. The events of May 16, 1986, left an indelible mark on the hearts of those who survived, helping them live their lives with a new perspective and deeper gratitude because of the Cokeville miracle. I went in and got my mail and as I was approaching my mailbox, I had my back to them, the secretary introduced me to them. The woman attached the clothespin to her wrist, ensuring the triggering mechanism was tightly secured to her body. out of the street! Janel Dayton: He didnt write it. Do you have anyyoure a pretty perceptive person, so what do you think was goin on? Remembering the Miracle at Cokeville. 2.Not all men in beards are bad, but the eyes can tell you. When the family's nightly prayer comes, Ron refuses to say it, as he is questioning his faith due to all the horrible things he's seen. Words emphasized by the speaker are italicized. But he was the one that wanted the thing perpetuated. What was that incident? The couple corralled a large group of students and teachers into a single classroom. At first, authorities dismissed their claims as the panicked ramblings of frightened children but soon, as the childrens stories began to merge and meld and evidence began to stack up in their favor, they began to realize that indeed something miraculous had just occurred in Cokeville. All the hostages escaped, though 79 were later hospitalized with burns and injuries, the majority of which were severe.[3][2]. David Young had initially planned to involve longtime friends Gerald Deppe and Doyle Mendenhall, who had invested money with him in a get-rich-quick scheme that he had called "The Biggie. In 2006, the Cokeville Miracle Foundation compiled a book of recollections about the day from parents, emergency workers and former hostages. Since that day, I have been, said Haskell, who is now sheriff of Sweetwater County. This knowledge of nothing then is all we have for all the lessons of history, these 2400+ years, Christ, revolutions, insurance, relativity, moon and space probes, cruesades and inquisitions, Shakespeare, Newton, medical science, hydrogen, fusion, metalurgy, Hitler, electricity, government and law, etc.? There are somany peopleabout 30 of themwho stand as witnesses to the spiritual blessings that happened that day.. Answer (1 of 10): The idea that the grotto at Lourdes is special began when a 14-year-old peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous, told her mother that she had seen a 'lady' in the cave of Massabielle, about a mile from Lourdes, while she was gathering firewood with her sister and a friend. About that time a lady that I didnt know came in, and she was applying for a job. Throughout both baskets were chain links, gunpowder, and boxes of ammunition acting as shrapnel. Some of the children just sat right all around and just watched him. On May 16, 1986, an elementary school in the tiny town of Cokeville, Wyoming, was held hostage by a married couple with a bomb. Alexa Rae as Cindy Hartley, Ron and Claudia's daughter. I knew in my heart that I would be okay no matter what happened.. It was like black cotton, like the room was filled with black cotton. But then they started loading kids in ambulances and busses to try to deal with it, and I think they dealt with it pretty fast. He had worked with dynamite, blasting caps, fuses, and seismographic charges. In the wake of the madness, Ron Hartley, whose children were inside the classroom . In May 1986, cop Ron Hartley (Jasen Wade) is at a crime scene, during which two people were murdered. The article had said what states they were going to go into and Wyoming wasnt one of them. We are in Cokeville at Janels house and were in the kitchen, at the kitchen table. I saw bodies all over the lawn, and I didnt know if they were dead or alive, recalls Conger. one hostage asks Doris. The faith-based film was released in select theaters across the United States in the summer of 2015, and was distributed by Deseret Book Company and affiliated retailers. [5], "You could see that the roof tiles had been lifted out of their brackets. Absolutely. Then, she blacked out. Behind him, leaning against the chalkboard, were a line of guns four rifles and nine handguns. The magic of T.C.s vision is that its a film for everyone, adds actor Shawn Stevens, who plays the character of ecclesiastical leader John Teichert in the film. He is baffled that the shrapnel David put in the explosive was thrown around the room but no one was injured by it. Young was a former Cokeville town marshal who had been living in Arizona for several years. 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