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D.C. sniper attacks

The D.C. sniper attacks (also known as the Beltway sniper attacks) were a series of coordinated shootings that occurred during three weeks in October 2002 throughout the Washington metropolitan area, consisting of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, and preliminary shootings, that consisted of murders and robberies in several states, and lasted for six months starting in February 2002. Seven people were killed, and seven others were injured in the preliminary shootings, and ten people were killed and three others were critically wounded in the October shootings. In total, the snipers killed 17 people and wounded 10 others in a 10-month span.

The snipers were two men, John Allen Muhammad (41 years old at the time) and Lee Boyd Malvo (17 years old at the time), who traveled in a blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice sedan.

In 2003, Muhammad was sentenced to death, and in 2009, he was executed by lethal injection. Malvo, a juvenile, received six life sentences in Maryland and three in Virginia. In 2017, Malvo's life sentences in Virginia were vacated without parole on appeal.

Preliminary shootings
On February 16, 2002, 21-year-old Keenya Nicole Cook was shot and killed by Lee Malvo at the front door of her aunt's home in Tacoma, Washington. Cook's aunt, Isa Nichols, had been good friends with John Allen Muhammad's ex-wife Mildred and had encouraged her to seek a divorce.

On March 19, 2002, Jerry Taylor, 60, was killed by a single shot to the chest fired from long range as he practiced chip shots at a Tucson, Arizona, golf course. Muhammad's sister lived near the golf course, and he was visiting her at the time of the shooting.

Two deaths and four injuries followed in other states from March through July 2002.

On August 1, 2002, John Gaeta, 51, was changing a tire slashed by Malvo at a parking lot in Hammond, Louisiana. Malvo then shot him in the neck. The bullet exited through Gaeta's back, and he pretended to be dead while Malvo stole his wallet. Gaeta ran to a service station after Malvo left and discovered that he was bleeding; he went to a hospital and was released within an hour. On March 1, 2010, he received a letter of apology from Malvo.

On September 5, 2002, at 10:30p.m., Paul LaRuffa, a 55-year-old pizzeria owner, was shot six times at close range while locking up his Italian restaurant in Clinton, Maryland. LaRuffa survived the shooting, and his laptop computer was found in Muhammad's car when he and Malvo were arrested.

On September 14, 2002, 22-year-old Rupinder "Benny" Oberoi, an employee of the Hillandale Beer & Wine liquor store in Silver Spring, Maryland, was shot in the back outside the store. Oberoi survived the shooting. The shooting was officially linked to Muhammad and Malvo by the Montgomery County Police Department.

On September 15, 2002, Muhammad Rashid was shot while closing Three Roads Liquors in Brandywine, Maryland. Rashid later identified Malvo as the shooter in court.

On September 21, 2002, at 12:15a.m., 41-year-old Million A. Waldemariam was fatally shot in the head and back with a .22-caliber pistol in Atlanta, Georgia. Waldemariam was helping the owner of a Sammy's Package Store close up for the night when the shooting occurred.

Nineteen hours later on the same day, Claudine Parker, a 52-year-old liquor store clerk in Montgomery, Alabama, was shot in the chest and killed during a robbery. Her coworker, 24-year-old Kellie Adams, was critically wounded with a shot through the neck but survived. Evidence found at the crime scene eventually tied this killing to the Beltway attacks and allowed authorities to identify Muhammad and Malvo as suspects, although this connection was not made until October 17, almost four weeks later.

On September 23, 2002, at 6:30p.m., 45-year-old Hong Im Ballenger was shot in the head and killed with a Bushmaster rifle in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Muhammad and Malvo were later linked to the killing.

DC and Montgomery County, Maryland

At 5:20p.m. on Wednesday, October 2, 2002, a shot was fired through the window of a Michaels craft store in Aspen Hill, Maryland. The bullet narrowly missed Ann Chapman, a cashier at the store. Since no one was injured, the shot was assumed to be random, and no serious alarms were raised. However, approximately one hour later, at 6:30p.m., James Martin, a 55-year-old program analyst at NOAA, was shot and killed at 2201 Randolph Road, in the parking lot of a Shoppers Food Warehouse grocery store located in Wheaton.

On the morning of October 3, four people were shot dead within a span of approximately two hours in Aspen Hill and other nearby areas in Montgomery County. Another was killed that evening in the Takoma neighborhood of the District of Columbia:
 * At 7:41a.m., James L. Buchanan, a 39-year-old landscaper known as "Sonny", was shot dead at 11411 Rockville Pike, near Rockville, Maryland. Buchanan was shot while mowing the grass at the Fitzgerald Auto Malls.
 * At 8:12a.m., a 54-year-old part-time taxi driver, Prem Kumar Walekar, was killed in Aspen Hill in Montgomery County, while pumping gasoline into his taxi at a Mobil station at Aspen Hill Road and Connecticut Avenue.
 * At 8:37a.m., Sarah Ramos, a 34-year-old babysitter and housekeeper, was killed on 3701 Rossmoor Boulevard, at the Leisure World Shopping Center in Norbeck. She had gotten off a bus and was seated on a bench reading a book at the time of her murder.
 * At 9:58a.m., 25-year-old Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera was killed while vacuuming her Plymouth Grand Voyager at the Shell station at the intersection of Connecticut and Knowles Avenues in Kensington, Maryland.
 * The snipers waited until 9:20p.m. before shooting Pascal Charlot, a 72-year-old retired carpenter, while he was walking on Georgia Avenue at Kalmia Road, in Washington, D.C. Charlot died less than an hour later.

In each shooting, the victims were killed by a single bullet fired from some distance, and, in each case, the killers struck and vanished. This pattern was not detected until after the October3 shootings occurred.

Fear quickly spread throughout the region as news of the shootings spread. At a press conference meeting, Chief of Police for Montgomery County, Charles Moose, informed parents that schools were on a code blue alert, keeping children indoors. He said that the schools were safe. Many parents picked up their children early at school, not allowing them to take a school bus or walk home. Montgomery County Public Schools, District of Columbia Public Schools, and private schools went into a lockdown, with no recess or outdoor physical education classes. Other school districts in the area also took precautionary measures, keeping students indoors. During the course of the shootings, law enforcement agencies from neighboring states became embedded in the investigation through telephone tips.

Police had only a few pieces of evidence to work with. One initial report said that right after the Silver Spring attack someone had reportedly heard a popping noise and had seen a white box truck hurriedly leaving the scene. After the murder in Washington, D.C., witnesses began telling police that they had seen a blue Chevrolet Caprice rather than a white box truck. The police initially believed that all of the murders were carried out with a .223 caliber rifle.

Virginia and other areas

At this point, Malvo and Muhammad started covering a wider area and taking two or three days between shootings:

 * On October 4, 43-year-old homemaker Caroline Seawell was shot and wounded in the chest at 2:30p.m. in the parking lot of another Michaels store at Spotsylvania Mall in Spotsylvania, while she was loading purchases into her minivan. By this point, hundreds of journalists had converged to cover the unfolding events. School officials reassured the public that they were taking every measure possible to protect children, by tightening security and canceling all outdoor activities.
 * On October 7, at 8:09a.m., Iran Brown, a 13-year-old student, was shot in the chest and critically wounded as he arrived at Benjamin Tasker Middle School on 4901 Collington Road in Bowie, Maryland, in Prince George's County (Brown's name was initially withheld from the public but was later revealed). His aunt, Tanya Brown, was a nurse who had just brought him to school, and she rushed him to a hospital emergency room. Despite sustaining serious injuries, including damage to several major organs, Brown survived the attack and ultimately testified at Muhammad's trial. At this crime scene, the authorities discovered a shell casing as well as a Tarot card (the Death card) inscribed with the phrase "Call me God" on the front and, on three separate lines on the back: "For you mr. Police." "Code: 'Call me God'." "Do not release to the press." Despite police efforts to honor the request not to release information about the card to the press, details were made public by WUSA-TV and then by The Washington Post, just one day later.
 * On October 9 at 8:18p.m., 53-year-old civil engineer Dean Harold Meyers was shot dead while pumping gasoline at a Sunoco gas station on 7203 Sudley Road in Prince William County, Virginia, near the city of Manassas.
 * On the morning of October 11 at 9:30a.m., 53-year-old businessman Kenneth Bridges was shot dead while pumping fuel at an Exxon station off Interstate 95 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near Fredericksburg.
 * On October 14, at 9:15p.m., 47-year-old Linda Franklin (née Moore), an FBI intelligence analyst who was a resident of Arlington County, Virginia, was shot dead in a covered parking lot at Home Depot in Fairfax County, Virginia, just outside Falls Church at Seven Corners Shopping Center. The police received what seemed to be a very good lead after the October 14 shooting, but it was later determined that the witness was inside the Home Depot at the time and was lying. The witness, Matthew Dowdy, was subsequently convicted of interfering with the investigation.

By this point due to public concerns about safety, gas stations had begun to put tarps up to conceal their customers (see below). Some people crouched over to pump gas, while others waited in their cars. Malvo and Muhammad did not commit any more shootings for five days before striking again.

On October 19 at 8:00p.m., 37-year-old Jeffrey Hopper was shot in a parking lot near the Ponderosa Steakhouse at State Route 54 in Ashland, Virginia, about 90 mi south of Washington, near Interstate 95. His wife Stephanie called out to passersby, who phoned for an ambulance, enabling Hopper to survive his injuries. Authorities discovered a four-page letter from the shooter in the woods that demanded $10 million and made a threat to children.

On October 21, Richmond-area police arrested two men, one with a white van, outside a gas station. The men turned out to be illegal immigrants with no connection to the shooter. The pair were subjected to cavity searches and remanded into federal custody (what was then the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which subsequently deported them).

On the next day, October 22, Ride On bus driver Conrad Johnson, 35, was shot at 5:56a.m. while standing on the steps at the 14100 block of Grand Pre Road in Aspen Hill, Maryland. Johnson died of his injuries. On the same day, Chief Moose released part of the content of one of the shooter's letters, in which he declares, "Your children are not safe, anywhere, at any time."

While no shootings occurred on October 23, the day is significant for two events. First, ballistics experts confirmed Johnson as the 10th fatality in the Beltway shootings. Second, in a yard in Takoma Park, Maryland, police searched with metal detectors for bullets, shell casings, or other evidence that might provide a link to the shooters. A tree stump believed to have been used for target practice was seized.

Public reaction
With seven separate shooting victims, including six deaths, in the first 15 hours of the D.C. area spree, the North American media soon devoted extensive coverage to the shootings. By the middle of October 2002, all news television networks provided live coverage of the aftermath of each attack, with the coverage often lasting for hours at a time. The Fox show America's Most Wanted devoted an entire episode to the shooters in hopes of aiding in their capture. Much of the coverage of the case in The New York Times was written by Jayson Blair and subsequently found to be fabricated. The ensuing scandal resulted in the resignations of the newspaper's two top editors, Howell Raines and Gerald Boyd.

During the weeks when the attacks occurred, public fear mounted of the apparently random shootings, especially in relation to such sites as service stations and parking lots of large stores, where many had taken place. People pumping gasoline at gas stations kept moving, hoping to present a smaller target. Lisa Notgrass of Lake Jackson, Texas, recommended to media that gas stations put up tarps around the awnings over the fuel pumps, so people would feel safer. Also, many people with access tried to fuel their vehicles at the naval base of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, as they felt it was safer inside the guarded fence. Government buildings such as the White House, U.S. Capitol, and the Supreme Court building and memorial tourist attractions at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., also received heightened security. For the duration of the attacks, United States Senate pages received a driven police escort to and from the United States Capitol every day and were not allowed to leave their residence hall for any reason except work. Drivers of white vans and box trucks were viewed with suspicion from other motorists as initial media reports indicated the suspect might be driving such a vehicle.

After the specific threat against children was delivered, many school groups curtailed field trips and outdoors athletic activities based upon safety concerns. At the height of the public fear, some school districts, such as Henrico County Public Schools and Hanover County Public Schools, after the Ponderosa shooting, closed school for the day. Other schools, such as the MJBHA, canceled all outdoor activities after the shooting at the Connecticut and Aspen Hill intersection. Others changed after-school procedures for parents to pick up their kids to minimize the amount of time children spent in the open. Extra police officers were placed in schools because of this fear. Joel Schumacher's film Phone Booth was deemed potentially upsetting enough that its release was delayed until April 2003.

Investigation
The investigation was publicly headed by the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) and its chief, Charles Moose. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, the Virginia Department of Transportation, and police departments in other jurisdictions where shootings took place provided assistance in the investigation.

Police responded within minutes to reports of attacks during the three weeks of the sniper attacks, cordoning off nearby roads and highways and inspecting all drivers, thereby grinding traffic to a halt for hours at a time. Police canvassed the area, talking to people, and collected surveillance tapes.

By Friday night, October 4, the five shootings on October 3 and two on October 2 were forensically linked to the same gun.

Eyewitness accounts of the attacks were mostly confused and spotty. Hotlines set up for the investigation were flooded with tips. Early tips from eyewitnesses included reports of a white box truck with dark lettering on the outside and two men inside speeding away from the Leisure World shopping center. Police across the area and the state of Maryland were pulling over white vans and trucks. A gray car was spotted speeding away after the October 4 shooting in Spotsylvania.

The shooter attempted to engage the police in a dialogue, compelling Moose to tell the media cryptic messages intended for the sniper. At several scenes of shootings, Tarot cards were left as calling cards, including one Death card upon which was written "Call me God" on the front and on the back, on three separate lines, the words "For you mr. Police." "Code: 'Call me God'." "Do not release to the press." This information was leaked to the press and misquoted often as "I am God" or some similar misquote of the actual words on the tarot card. At later scenes of crimes the shooter left long, handwritten notes sealed inside plastic bags, including a rambling one that demanded $10,000,000 and threatened the lives of children in the area.

A telephone call from the shooter(s) was traced to a pay telephone at a gasoline station in Henrico County, Virginia. Police missed the suspects by a matter of a few minutes and initially detained occupants of a van at another pay telephone at the same intersection. On the phone call, the sniper, boasting of his cleverness, mentioned a previous unsolved murder in "Montgomery". This was identified as the September 21 shooting at a liquor store in Montgomery, Alabama. On October 17 authorities said they matched Malvo's fingerprint found at the Benjamin Tasker Middle School site with one lifted from the Montgomery liquor store scene. After confirming the link between these two crime scenes, the FBI was able to link these fingerprints to Malvo due to his fingerprinting during a previous arrest in Washington state. After further research into Malvo's background, the police found he had close ties to John Allen Muhammad.

Difficult progress
Despite an apparent lack of progress publicly, federal authorities were making significant headway in their investigation and developed leads in Washington state, Alabama, and New Jersey. They learned that Muhammad's ex-wife, who had obtained a protective order against him, lived near the Capital Beltway in Clinton, an unincorporated community in suburban Prince George's County, Maryland, adjacent to Montgomery County. Information was also developed about an automobile purchased in New Jersey by Muhammad.

Police discovered that the New Jersey license plate number issued for Muhammad's 1990 Chevrolet Caprice had been checked by radio patrol cars several times near shooting locations in various jurisdictions in several states, but the car had not been stopped because law enforcement computer networks did not indicate that it was connected to any criminal activity and they were focused exclusively on the "white van".

On October 3, 2002, police in Washington, D.C., stopped the Caprice for a "minor traffic infraction" two hours prior to the shooting of Pascal Charlot. Witnesses later reported seeing a Caprice near the scene of his shooting.

On October 8, 2002, Baltimore Police Department investigated a dark blue Chevrolet Caprice parked near the Jones Falls Expressway at 28th Street in Baltimore with a person sleeping inside it. The officers were concerned that the driver's license was from Washington state while the vehicle was registered in New Jersey. Although the vehicle was suspicious enough for them to investigate, and it fit the description of a vehicle associated with the shooting in Washington, D.C. five days earlier, the officers did not question the occupants extensively, nor did they search the vehicle.

Authorities were quick to issue a media alert to the public to be on the lookout for a dark blue Chevrolet Caprice sedan. For the public, as well as for law enforcement agencies throughout the region, this was a major change from the mysterious "white box truck" earlier sought based upon reported sightings.

The Chevrolet Caprice was later discovered to have formerly been used as an undercover police car in Bordentown, New Jersey.

Arrest

The crime spree came to a close at 3:15 a.m. on October 24, 2002, when Muhammad and Malvo were found sleeping in their car at a rest stop off Interstate 70 near Myersville, Maryland, and were arrested on federal weapons charges. Police were tipped off by two 911 calls from refrigerator mechanic Whitney Donahue at the rest stop. Four hours earlier, Montgomery County police chief Charles Moose had relayed this cryptic message to the sniper: "You have indicated that you want us to do and say certain things. You have asked us to say, 'We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose.' We understand that hearing us say this is important to you". Moose asked the media "to carry the message accurately and often." This statement may refer to a Cherokee fable.

Trooper First Class D. Wayne Smith of the Maryland State Police was the first to arrive at the scene and immediately used his light blue unmarked police vehicle to block off the exit by positioning the car sideways between two parked tractor-trailers. As more troopers arrived, they effectively sealed off the rest area at both the entrance and exit ramps without the suspects being aware of the rapidly growing police presence. Later, as truck driver Ron Lantz was attempting to exit the rest area, his tractor-trailer was commandeered by troopers who used the truck, in place of the police car, to complete the roadblock at the exit. With the suspects' escape route sealed off, the SWAT officers moved in to arrest them.

A stolen Bushmaster .223-caliber weapon and bipod were found in a bag in Muhammad's car. Ballistics tests later conclusively linked the seized rifle to 11 of the 14 shootings, including one in which no one was hurt.

Logistics and tactics
The attacks were carried out with a stolen Bushmaster XM-15 semi-automatic .223 caliber rifle equipped with a Bushnell holographic weapon sight effective at ranges of up to 300. m, which was found in the vehicle. The trunk of the Chevrolet Caprice was modified to serve as a "rolling sniper's nest". The back seat was modified to allow a person access to the trunk. Once inside, the sniper could lie prone and take shots through a small hole created for that purpose near the license plate.

Motive
Investigators and the prosecution suggested during pre-trial motions that Muhammad intended to kill his second ex-wife Mildred, who he felt had estranged him from his children. According to this hypothesis, the other shootings were intended to cover up the motive for the crime. Muhammad believed that the police would not focus on an estranged ex-husband as a suspect if Mildred appeared to be a random victim of a serial killer. During the attacks, Muhammad frequented the neighborhood where she lived, and some of the incidents occurred nearby. Additionally, he had earlier made threats against her. Mildred herself said that she was his intended target, claiming that when the police first approached her, one officer said, "Ms. Muhammad, didn't you know you were the target?" However, Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. prevented prosecutors from presenting that theory during the trial, saying that a link had not been firmly established.

While imprisoned, Malvo wrote a number of erratic diatribes about what he termed "jihad" against the United States. "I have been accused on my mission. Allah knows I'm gonna suffer now," he wrote. Because his rants and drawings featured not only such figures as Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, but also characters from the film series The Matrix, these musings were dismissed as immaterial. Some investigators reportedly said they had all but eliminated terrorist ties or political ideologies as a motive. Nonetheless, in at least one of the ensuing murder trials, a Virginia court found Muhammad guilty of killing "pursuant to the direction or order" of terrorism.

At the 2006 trial of Muhammad, Malvo testified that the aim of the killing spree was to kidnap children for the purpose of extorting money from the government and to "set up a camp to train children how to terrorize cities," with the ultimate goal being to "shut things down" across the United States. Malvo also stated that Muhammad was driven by his hatred for white people, and his belief that "the white man is the devil". His plan was to kill six white people per day for thirty days, and he told Malvo he wanted him to shoot pregnant white women.

Virginia trials
Before the trial, Chief Moose engaged in a publicity tour for his book on the sniper investigation, including appearances on Dateline NBC, The Today Show, and The Tonight Show. Assistant Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney James Willett told The Washington Post, "Personally, I don't understand why someone who's been in law enforcement his whole life would potentially damage our case or compromise a jury pool by doing this."

Change of venue requests by defense attorneys were granted, and the first trials were held in the independent cities of Chesapeake and Virginia Beach in southeastern Virginia, more than 100 mi from the closest alleged attack (in Ashland, Virginia).

During their trials in the fall of 2003, involving two of the victims in Virginia, Muhammad and Malvo were each found guilty of murder and weapons charges. The jury in Muhammad's case recommended that he be sentenced to death, while Malvo's jury recommended a sentence of life in prison without parole instead of the death penalty. The judges concurred in both cases. Alabama law enforcement authorities allege that the snipers engaged in a series of previously unconnected attacks prior to October 2 in Montgomery, Alabama.

After the initial convictions and sentencing, Will Jarvis, the Assistant Prince William County prosecutor, stated he would wait to decide whether to try Malvo on capital charges in his jurisdiction until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on whether juveniles may be subject to the penalty of execution. While that decision in an unrelated case was still pending before the high court, in October 2004, under a plea agreement, Malvo pleaded guilty in another case in Spotsylvania County, for another murder to avoid a possible death penalty sentence, and agreed to additional sentencing of life imprisonment without parole. Malvo had yet to face trial in Prince William County.

In March 2005, the Supreme Court ruled in Roper v. Simmons that the Eighth Amendment prohibits execution for crimes committed when under the age of 18. In light of this Supreme Court decision, the prosecutors in Prince William County decided not to pursue the charges against Malvo. Prosecutors in Maryland, Louisiana, and Alabama were still interested in putting both Malvo and Muhammad on trial. As Malvo was 17 when he committed the crimes, he could no longer face the death penalty but still could be extradited to Alabama, Louisiana, and other states for prosecution. At the time of the Roper v. Simmons ruling, Malvo was 20 years old and was held at Virginia's maximum security Red Onion State Prison in Pound, Wise County.

"'Muhammad, with his sniper team partner, Malvo, randomly selected innocent victims,' Virginia Supreme Court Justice Donald Lemons wrote in the decision. 'With calculation, extensive planning, premeditation and ruthless disregard for life, Muhammad carried out his cruel scheme of terror.'"

Muhammad's death penalty was affirmed by the Virginia Supreme Court on April 22, 2005, when it ruled that he could be sentenced to death because the murder was part of an act of terrorism. This line of reasoning was based on the handwritten note demanding $10 million. The court rejected an argument by defense lawyers that Muhammad could not be sentenced to death because he was not the triggerman in the killings linked to him and Malvo.

Execution of Muhammad
On September 16, 2009, the circuit court judge Mary Grace O'Brien set an execution date by lethal injection of November10, 2009. His attorneys petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution, but it was denied. They also requested clemency from Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, but this was denied as well.

Muhammad was executed by lethal injection at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Virginia, on November 10, 2009. The execution procedure began at 9:06 p.m. EST; Muhammad was pronounced dead five minutes later. It was reported that when asked if he had any last words, Muhammad made no reply. Twenty-seven people, including victims' family members, witnessed his execution.

Maryland trials
In May 2005, Virginia and Maryland announced that they had reached agreements to allow Maryland to proceed with prosecuting charges there, where the most shootings occurred. There were media reports that Malvo and his legal team were willing to negotiate his cooperation, and he waived extradition to Maryland.

Muhammad and his legal team responded by fighting extradition to Maryland. Muhammad's legal team was ultimately unsuccessful, and extradition was ordered by a Virginia judge in August 2005.

Maryland agreed to transfer Muhammad and Malvo back to the Commonwealth of Virginia after their trials. A date for Muhammad's pending execution in Virginia had been set for November 10, 2009.

Malvo pleaded guilty to six murders and confessed to others in other states while being interviewed in Maryland and testifying against Muhammad. Malvo was sentenced to six consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole, but in 2017, his sentence in Virginia was overturned after an appeal.

On May 30, 2006, a Maryland jury found John Allen Muhammad guilty of six counts of murder in Maryland. In return, he was sentenced to six consecutive life terms without possibility of parole on June 1, 2006.

On May 6, 2008, it was revealed that Muhammad had asked prosecutors in a letter to help him end legal appeals of his conviction and death sentence "so that you can murder this innocent black man." An appeal filed by Muhammad's defense lawyers in April 2008 cited evidence of brain damage that might render Muhammad incompetent to make legal decisions, and that he should not have been allowed to represent himself at his Virginia trial.

Malvo testimony
In John Allen Muhammad's May 2006 trial in Montgomery County, Maryland, Lee Boyd Malvo took the stand and confessed to the 17 murders. He also gave a more detailed version of the pair's plans. Malvo, after extensive psychological counseling, admitted that he was lying at the earlier Virginia trial where he had admitted to being the trigger man for every shooting. Malvo claimed that he had said this in order to protect Muhammad from a potential death sentence, and because it was more difficult to obtain the death penalty for a minor. Malvo said that he wanted to do what little he could for the families of the victims by letting the full story be told. In his two days of testimony, Malvo outlined detailed aspects of all the shootings.

Part of his testimony concerned Muhammad's complete multiphase plan. His plan consisted of three phases in the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore metro areas. Phase one consisted of meticulously planning, mapping, and practicing their locations around the D.C. area. This way, after each shooting they would be able to quickly leave the area on a predetermined path and move on to the next location. Muhammad's goal in Phase One was to kill six white people a day for 30 days. Malvo went on to describe how Phase One did not go as planned due to heavy traffic and the lack of a clear shot or getaway at locations.

Phase Two was meant to take place in Baltimore, Maryland. Malvo described how this phase was close to being implemented but was not carried out. Phase Two was intended to begin by killing a pregnant woman by shooting her in the stomach. The next step would have been to shoot and kill a Baltimore police officer. Then, at the officer's funeral, they planned to detonate several improvised explosive devices complete with shrapnel. These explosives were intended to kill a large number of police, since many police would attend another officer's funeral.

The last phase, Phase Three, was to take place during or shortly after Phase Two, which was to extort several million dollars from the United States government. This money would be used to finance a larger plan, to travel north to Canada. Along the way, they would stop in YMCAs and orphanages recruiting other impressionable young black boys with no parents or guidance. Muhammad thought he could act as their father figure as he did with Malvo.

Once he recruited a large number of young black boys and made his way up to Canada, he would begin their training. Malvo described how John Muhammad intended to train boys in weapons and stealth as he had been taught. Finally, after their training was complete, John Allen Muhammad would send them out across the United States to carry out mass shootings in many other cities, just as he had done in Washington and Baltimore. These attacks would be coordinated and be intended to send the country into chaos that had already been built up after 9/11.

Civil and regulatory actions
According to The Seattle Times in a story of April 20, 2003, Muhammad had honed his marksmanship at Bull's Eye's firing range. The newspaper also reported that Malvo told investigators that he shoplifted the 35-inch-long (89 cm) carbine from the "supposedly secure store."

According to U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) officials, the store and its owners had a long history of firearms sales and records violations and a file 283 pages thick. In July 2003, the ATF revoked the federal firearms license of Brian Borgelt, a former staff sergeant with the U.S. Army Rangers and owner of Bull's Eye Shooter Supply. Later that month he transferred ownership of the store to a friend and continued to own the building and operate the adjacent shooting gallery.

On January 16, 2003, the Legal Action Project of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, on behalf of the families of many of the victims of the sniper attacks both in and out of the D.C. area who were killed (including Hong Im Ballenger, "Sonny" Buchanan Jr., Linda Franklin, Conrad Johnson, Sarah Ramos, and James L. Premkumar Walekar) as well as two victims who survived the shooting (Rupinder "Benny" Oberoi and 13-year old Iran Brown) filed a civil lawsuit against Bull's Eye Shooter Supply and Bushmaster Firearms, Inc. of Windham, Maine, the gun distributor and manufacturer that made the rifle used in the crime spree, as well as Borgelt, Muhammad, and Malvo. Muhammad, who had a criminal record of domestic battery, and Malvo, a minor, were each legally prohibited from purchasing firearms.

The suit claimed that Bull's Eye Shooter Supply ran its gun store in Tacoma, Washington, "in such a grossly negligent manner that scores of its guns routinely "disappeared" from its store and it kept such shoddy records that it could not account for the Bushmaster rifle used in the sniper shootings when asked by federal agents for records of sale for the weapon." It was alleged that the dealer could not account for hundreds of guns received from manufacturers in the years immediately prior to the Beltway sniper attacks. It was also claimed that Bull's Eye continued to sell guns in the same irresponsible manner even after Muhammad and Malvo were caught and found to have acquired the weapon there. Bushmaster was included in the suit because it allegedly continued to sell guns to Bull's Eye as a dealer despite an awareness of its record-keeping violations.

The case had been set for trial in April 2005; however, the parties settled before then. Bushmaster said it settled because of escalating legal fees and the dwindling amount of insurance money it had left for the case. Bull's Eye contributed $2 million and Bushmaster contributed $500,000 to an out-of-court settlement. Bushmaster also agreed to educate its dealers on safer business practices.

After the settlement was announced, WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., reported that Sonia Wills, mother of victim Conrad Johnson, said her family took part in the lawsuit more to send a message than to collect money. "I think a message was delivered that you should be responsible and accountable for the actions of irresponsible people when you make these guns and put them in their hands," she said.

Memorials
A memorial to the victims of the D.C. area sniper attacks is located at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland. An additional memorial was constructed in 2014 in the government plaza of Rockville, Maryland.

Film and television

 * Broadcast of the CSI: Miami episode "Kill Zone" had to be postponed into November 2002 because the story of a sniper killing three random victims at rush hour seemed to bear too close a resemblance to the Beltway attacks.
 * On July 12, 2003, Forensic Files aired an episode titled "The Sniper's Trail", which documents the D.C. sniper attacks and subsequent police investigation.
 * On October 17, 2003, the USA Network's U.S. cable station aired D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear, a television movie based on the D.C. sniper attacks.
 * The November 2, 2005 episode of Criminal Minds, "L.D.S.K.", is directly based on these events, including the perpetrator's use of a modified vehicle in the attacks.
 * On November 10, 2005, an episode about the killings entitled “The Washington Snipers” of the British documentary series Born to Kill? aired.
 * During the fall of 2007, BET showcased a documentary on the Beltway Snipers in its American Gangster series.
 * The June 2008, the documentary The D.C. Sniper's Wife told the D.C sniper attacks story through the eyes of Mildred Muhammad, ex-wife of John Allen Muhammad.
 * The 2010 film D.C. Sniper, directed by Ulli Lommel, is based on the attacks.
 * On August 9, 2010, The Biography Channel aired an episode of Aftermath with William Shatner, titled "DC Sniper Victims" in which the actor William Shatner spoke at length with three survivors of the sniper attacks—Paul LaRuffa, Kellie Adams, and Caroline Seawell.
 * The 2013 film Blue Caprice, also known as The Washington Snipers in some regions, is based on the attacks and the relationship between Muhammad and Malvo.
 * On July 22, 2015, Lifetime Movie Network aired an episode of Monster in My Family featuring Mildred Muhammad meeting with surviving victims along with family members of the deceased, with Lee Malvo also appearing in the episode while in prison.
 * On February 28, 2023, Paramount+ aired an episode of FBI True, titled "The Beltway Snipers". Season 1 Episode 8.
 * On June 23, 2023, Netflix aired an episode of Catching Killers, titled "Trained to Kill: The DC Sniper"

Music

 * The Japanese doom metal band Church of Misery released the song "Beltway Sniper (John Allen Muhammed)" on their 2023 album Born Under a Mad Sign, which was inspired by the events.

Publications

 * In 2003, former Montgomery County police chief Charles Moose, the primary official in charge of the Beltway sniper attacks, published a book titled Three Weeks in October: The Manhunt for the Serial Sniper.
 * In 2020 (January 6 – March 23), the podcast You're Wrong About produced a four-part series on the attacks, chronicling the connection between John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo as well as their lives as individuals.
 * In 2020, iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV covered the attacks in the third season of their true crime podcast Monster.

title: D.C. sniper attacks


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National nature reserves in Lancashire

National nature reserves in Lancashire in England are established by Natural England.

There are two national nature reserves in Lancashire, both of which are managed by Natural England, as opposed to some counties where some nature reserves are managed by non-governmental organisations such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds or the National Trust.

==List of reserves ==

 * Gait Barrows NNR: limestone habitat
 * Ribble Estuary NNR: wintering wildfowl

National nature reserves in other areas of England

 * National nature reserves in England
 * Natural England

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: National nature reserves in Lancashire


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Josias Simmler

Josias Simmler (Josiah Simler; Iosias Simlerus) (6 November 1530 – 2 July 1576) was a Swiss theologian and classicist, author of the first book relating solely to the Alps.

Life
The son of the former prior of the Cistercian convent of Kappel (Canton of Zürich), he was born at Kappel, where his father was the Protestant pastor and schoolmaster till his death in 1557. In 1544 Simmler went to Zürich to continue his education under his godfather, the reformer, Heinrich Bullinger. After having completed his studies at Basel and Strasbourg, he returned to Zürich, and became pastor to the neighboring villages.

In 1552 he was made professor of New Testament exegesis at Zürich's Carolinum academy, where he also taught mathematics and Ptolemaic astronomy, and in 1560 became professor of theology. In 1555 he published a new edition of Conrad Gessner's Epitome of his Bibliotheca universalis (a list of all authors who had written in Greek, Latin or Hebrew), a new edition of the Bibliotheca itself, and in 1575 an annotated edition of the Antonine Itinerary. Later, he would become deacon to St Peter's, Zürich. and translated many of Bullinger's works into Latin, and write his biography. In 1559 he had his first attack of gout, a complaint which would eventually kill him.

Contributions to Swiss studies
About 1551 he conceived the idea of making his native land better known by translating into Latin parts of the great Chronik of Johann Stumpf. With this view he collected materials, and in 1574 published a specimen of his intended work in the shape of a monograph on the Canton of the Valais. He published in the same volume a general description of the Alps, as the Introduction to his projected work on the several Swiss Cantons. In this treatise, entitled De Alpibus commentarius, he collected all that the classical authors had written on the Alps, adding a good deal of material collected from his friends and correspondents. This Commentarius is the first work exclusively devoted to the Alps, and sums up the knowledge of that region possessed in the 16th century.

It was re-published by the Elzevirs at Leiden in 1633, and again at Zürich in 1735, while an elaborate annotated edition (prepared by Mr Coolidge), with French translation, notes and appendices, appeared at Grenoble in 1904. Another fragment of his vast plan was the work entitled De Helvetiorum republica, which appeared at Zürich in 1576, just before his death. It was regarded as the chief authority on Swiss constitutional matters up to 1798. In 1566 he wrote a biography of his friend Conrad Gessner, shortly after his death the previous year.

Works

 * De aeterno Dei filio. Zürich, 1568 (VD 16 S 6498).
 * De Republica Helvetiorum Libri duo. Zürich: Christoph Froschauer, 1576 (VD 16 S 6510).
 * De Republica Helvetiorum Libri duo. Zürich, 1577 (VD 16 S 6511).
 * Regiment Gemeiner loblicher Eydgnoschafft. Zürich, 1576 (VD16 S 6512)
 * Vallesiae descriptio, libri duo: de alpibus commentarius. Zürich, 1574 (VD16 S 6519).
 * Vallesiae descriptio, libri duo: de alpibus commentarius. Zürich, 1574 (VD16 S 6519).

title: Josias Simmler


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National nature reserves in Suffolk

National nature reserves in Suffolk, England are established by Natural England and managed by them or by non-governmental organisations such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the National Trust or the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.

List of reserves
A list of national nature reserves in Suffolk:

 * Benacre NNR - in The Broads National Park
 * Bradfield Woods NNR
 * Cavenham Heath
 * Orfordness-Havergate NNR
 * Redgrave and Lopham Fen NNR (shared between Norfolk and Suffolk)
 * Thetford Heath NNR
 * Walberswick NNR
 * Westleton Heath NNR

title: National nature reserves in Suffolk


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Lauenburg

Lauenburg, or Lauenburg an der Elbe (Lauenburg on the Elbe), is a town in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the northern bank of the river Elbe, east of Hamburg. It is the southernmost town of Schleswig-Holstein and belongs to the district (German: Kreis) of Herzogtum Lauenburg.

History
The town was founded in 1182 by Bernard of Ascania, the ancestor of the Dukes of Lauenburg. It took its name from that of the castle of Lowenborch (erected here between 1181 and 1182), deriving from Lave, the Polabian-language name of the Elbe (compare modern Czech Labe). Saxe-Lauenburg was a duchy until 1 July 1876, when it was incorporated into the Royal Prussian Province of Schleswig-Holstein. Lauenburg served as the ducal capital until 1616, when the castle burnt down. In 1619 the capital was moved to Ratzeburg. The area of the duchy was roughly identical with that of today's district. In medieval times Lauenburg was a waypoint on the Old Salt Route, while today it is the southern terminus of the Elbe-Lübeck Canal.

Following the Napoleonic Wars, Lauenburg was ceded by Prussia to Denmark in exchange for the region of Pomerania.

Between 1945 and 1982, Lauenburg served as West German inner German border crossing for cars travelling along Bundesstraße 5 between the Soviet Zone of occupation in Germany (till 1949), thereafter the East German Democratic Republic, or West Berlin and the British zone of occupation (till 1949) and thereafter the West German Federal Republic of Germany. The traffic was subject to the Interzonal traffic regulations that between West Germany and West Berlin followed the special regulations of the Transit Agreement (1972).

Culture and sights
Lauenburg has many historic buildings from the 17th century and earlier. These include houses, which were mostly the homes of sailors, and the Maria-Magdalenen Church, which was built in the 13th century.

The town is nestled at the bottom of 50 meter high bluffs. Narrow streets up the hill lead to the "upper town" where Lauenburg Castle is located. Lauenburg Castle, the former residence of the Dukes of Lauenburg and the political centre of their Dukedom, the majority of which has since been destroyed, with only the old castle tower remaining. Currently, the castle serves as city and municipal administration. To the south of the city lies the Elbe and Lower-Saxony, which used to belong to the duchy until it was ceded to the then neighbouring Kingdom of Hanover in 1814.

Lauenburg also has the "Palmschleuse", a historic river lock, originally built in 1398 and renewed in the 17th century. It is the oldest of its kind in Europe.

Rulers

 * Bernard II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (1385/1392–1463), ruler
 * Clara of Saxe-Lauenburg (1518–1576), a Princess of Saxe-Lauenburg
 * Eric I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg-Ratzeburg (c. 1280–1360), ruler
 * Eric II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg-Ratzeburg (1318/20–1368), ruler
 * Eric IV, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (1354–1411), ruler
 * Eric V, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (died 1436), ruler
 * John V, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (1439–1507), ruler, reconstructed Lauenburg Castle

Others (in date order)

 * Karl Ludwig Harding (1765–1834), astronomer
 * Samuel Peter Schilling (1773-1852), entomologist.
 * Mathilde Block (1850–1932), painter, embroiderer
 * Otto von Moltke (1851–1881), a German-Danish military officer
 * Jürgen Plagemann (born 1936), rower, won Olympic silver in 1964
 * Norbert Brackmann (born 1954), a German CDU politician, member of the Bundestag from 2009 to 2021

International relations
Lauenburg is twinned with:
 * 🇩🇪 Boizenburg (Germany)
 * 🇱🇺 Dudelange (Luxembourg)
 * 🇵🇱 Lębork (Poland) (formerly Lauenburg in Pommern)
 * 🇫🇷 Manom (France)

title: Lauenburg


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Johann Stumpf (writer)

Johann Stumpf (23 April 1500 – c. 1578) was an early writer on the history and topography of Switzerland as well as a theologian and cartographer.

Biography
He was born at Bruchsal (near Karlsruhe), and was educated there and at Strasbourg and Heidelberg. In 1520 he became a cleric or chaplain in the order of the Knights Hospitaller. He was sent in 1521 to the preceptory of that order at Freiburg im Breisgau, ordained a priest at Basel, and in 1522 was placed in charge of the preceptory at Bubikon (north of Rapperswil (SG), in the canton of Zürich). However, Stumpf went over to the Protestants, was present at the Bern Disputation (1528), and took part in the first Kappel War (1529).

In 1529 he married the first of his four wives, a daughter of Heinrich Brennwald, who wrote a work (still in manuscript) on Swiss history, and stimulated his son-in-law to undertake historical studies. Stumpf made wide researches, with this object, for many years, and undertook also several journeys, of which that in 1544 to Engelberg and through the Valais seems to be the most important, perhaps because his original diary has been preserved to us. The fruit of his labours (completed at the end of 1546) was published in 1548 at Zürich in a huge folio of 934 pages (with many fine wood engravings, coats of arms, maps, &c.), under the title of Gemeiner loblicher Eydgnoschafft Stetten, Landen und Voelckeren Chronick wirdiger thaaten Beschreybung. An extract from it was published in 1554, under the name of Schwytzer Chronika. New and greatly enlarged editions of the original work were issued in 1586 and 1606. The woodcuts are best in the first edition, and it remained till Scheuchzer's day (early 18th century) the chief authority on its subject.

When he converted to Protestantism, Stumpf had carried over with him most of his parishioners, whom he continued to care for, as the Protestant pastor at Bubikon, till 1543. He then became pastor of Stammheim (today Oberstammheim and Unterstammheim) until 1561, when he retired to Zürich (of which he had been made a burgher in 1548), where he lived in retirement till his death in 1576.

Stumpf also published a monograph (very remarkable for the date) about Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor (1556) and a set of laudatory verses (Lobsprüche) about each of the thirteen Swiss cantons.

title: Johann Stumpf (writer)


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Coin of account

A coin of account is a unit of money that does not exist as an actual coin (that is, a metal disk) but is used in figuring prices or other amounts of money.

Mill
The mill (or sometimes, mil) is a coin of account in the United States. It is equal to one-tenth of a penny, and so to one-thousandth of a dollar (= $0.001), whence the name, which means "thousandth." There was never such a coin minted by the U.S. Federal government, though some states minted these coins well into the mid-1900s. Coins of account are used in accounting and for figuring taxes, usually either property taxes or sales taxes.

Guinea
From 1816 to the 1980s the British Guinea was no longer used a coin but prices for luxury items and professional services were often quoted in guineas, on the understanding that a guinea was equal to 21 shillings.

title: Coin of account


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Talk:Kathleen Kenyon

Collections
It would be good to a have a reference for the fact that some of Kenyon's finds are in Manchester. I couldn't find anything about it on their website. This site (not a very reliable source unfortunately) says they are/were there on loan from the Kenyon Institute. – Joe (talk) 15:54, 13 July 2017 (UTC)
 * You are correct that the items do not *belong* to the Manchester Museum. But they're physically there—and that's all I wrote. The audio from last year's Schweich lectures (British Academy) indicate that my claim is correct—listen to the first lecture from 8.30 onwards. I also know that because I have seen the material in Manchester and know the curator, Dr Kay Prag (although I recognise that that knowledge does not help here). In addition to the Schweich lectures I have now traced one of the volumes of the final report of the excavation, and they also agree. Following your advice I will insert the volume (with page reference).
 * To my knowledge the collection does not actually belong to the Kenyon Institute, but to the Council for British Research in the Levant, which is itself the result of the two British Schools of Archaeology in Jerusalem and in Amman (so the website you found is correct that it once had belonged to the British School of Archaeology in the Levant—before the change of its name to the Kenyon Institute). — Preceding unsigned comment added by JonStokl (talk • contribs) 21:56, 13 July 2017 (UTC)
 * We just needed a paper reference to that effect. Thanks. the BSAJ/KI and the CBRL are one and the same these days. – Joe (talk) 21:44, 13 July 2017 (UTC)

Personal life, later life, death and burial
Can any folks throw any light on these aspects of Kenyon's life?

I see she died in Wrexham - is she buried hereabouts? I have family in the area and as an archie I would like to pay my respects next time I'm there

--DaioftheTriffids (talk) 22:04, 13 February 2020 (UTC)DaioftheTriffids--DaioftheTriffids (talk) 22:04, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

title: Talk:Kathleen Kenyon


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Johann Jakob Scheuchzer

Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (2 August 1672 – 23 June 1733) was a Swiss physician and natural scientist born in Zürich. His most famous work was the Physica sacra in four volumes, which was a commentary on the Bible and included his view of the world, demonstrating a convergence of science and religion. It was richly illustrated with copperplate etchings and came to be called the Kupfer-Bibel or "Copper Bible".

Scheuchzer supported Biblical creation, but his support for Copernican heliocentrism forced him to print his works outside Switzerland. He also supported antecedent concepts of Neptunism and considered fossils as evidence for the Biblical deluge. A fossil from Ohningen that he identified as a human drowned by the Flood was later identified as a Miocene salamander which was named after him as Andrias scheuchzeri.

Life and career
The son of the namesake senior town physician (Archiater) of Zürich and Barbara Fäsi, daughter of the principal of the Latin school, he received his education in Zürich and, in 1692, went to the University of Altdorf near Nuremberg, being intended for the medical profession. Early in 1694, he took his degree of doctor in medicine at the University of Utrecht, and then returned to Altdorf bei Nürnberg to complete his mathematical studies. He studied astronomy under Georg Eimmart. He went back to Zürich in 1696 (following the death of the town physician Johann Jakob Wagner in 1695) and was made junior town physician (Poliater) with the promise of the professorship of mathematics which he duly obtained in 1710. From 1697 he was a secretary at the Collegium der Wohlgesinnten where he gave lectures on philosophy. He also worked as a curator of the Kunstkammer (natural history cabinet) of the city of Zürich. He corresponded widely with other scholars and published in the transactions of the Royal Society where he was elected a Fellow on November 30, 1703 seconded by John Woodward (1665–1728) with whom he shared Neptunist-like views. He married Susanna Vogel and they had nearly nine children but only a few lived to adulthood. He was promoted to the chair of physics, with the office of senior city physician (Stadtarzt), in January 1733, only a few months before his death. He died on 23 June 1733 in Zürich.

Published works
Scheuchzer wrote extensively to Nova literaria Helvetica, the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society and started his own periodicals, Beschreibung der Natur-Geschichten des Schweizerlands and Historischer und politischer Mercurius. He also published works (apart from numerous articles) were estimated at thirty-four in number. He corresponded extensively across Europe with nearly 800 correspondents. These included the theologian Hortensia von Moos, and his many students such as Antonio Picenino (and his father Giacomo Picenino) with whom he went on alpine excursions. His historical writings are mostly still in manuscript. The more important of his published writings relate either to his scientific observations (all branches) or to his journeys, in the course of which he collected materials for these scientific works.

Scientific works
In the former category is his self-published Beschreibung der Naturgeschichte des Schweitzerlandes (3 volumes, Zürich, 1706–1708), the third volume containing an account in German of his journey of 1705; a new edition of this book and, with important omissions, of his 1723 work, was issued, in 2 volumes, in 1746, by JG Sulzer, under the title of Naturgeschichte des Schweitzerlandes sammt seinen Reisen über die schweitzerischen Gebirge, and his Helvetiae historia naturalis oder Naturhistorie des Schweitzerlandes (published in 3 volumes, at Zürich, 1716–1718, and reissued in the same form in 1752, under the German title just given). The first of the three parts of the last-named work deals with the Swiss mountains (summing up all that was then known about them, and serving as a link between Simmler's work of 1574 and Gruner's of 1760), the second with the Swiss rivers, lakes and mineral baths, and the third with Swiss meteorology and geology.

In his Physica sacra he included arguments for the existence of God, suggesting that an atheist should be shown a pin-hole camera and then shown how the eye is a perfect replica of the same, demonstrating intelligent design. He also followed the contemporary tradition of interpreting fossil ammonites as proof of the Biblical deluge. He also described fossil plants in his Herbarium diluvianum (1709). He observed the solar eclipse of 1706 and the lunar eclipse of the same year in which he recorded a Perseid meteor shower.

Scheuchzer's works, as issued in 1746 and in 1752, formed (with Tschudi's Chronicum Helveticum) one of the chief sources for Schiller's drama Wilhelm Tell (1804). In 1704, Scheuchzer was elected FRS. He published many scientific notes and papers in the Philosophical Transactions for 1706–07, 1709 and 1727–28.

Travel works
In the second category are his Itinera alpina tria (made in 1702–04), which was published in London in 1708, and dedicated to the Royal Society, while the plates illustrating it were executed at the expense of various fellows of the society, including the president, Sir Isaac Newton (whose imprimatur appears on the title-page), Sir Hans Sloane, Dean Aldrich, Humfrey Wanley, etc. The text is written in Latin, as is that of the definitive work describing his travels (with which is incorporated the 1708 volume) that appeared in 1723 at Leiden, in four quarto volumes, under the title of Itinera per Helvetiae alpinas regiones facta annis 1702–11. He also wrote Helvetiae stoicheiographia (1716–1718) based on his annual alpine travels.

These journeys led Scheuchzer to almost every part of Switzerland, particularly its central and eastern districts. Apropos of his visit (1705) to the Rhône Glacier, he inserts a full account of the other Swiss glaciers, as far as they were then known, while in 1706, after mentioning certain wonders to be seen in the museum at Lucerne, he adds reports by men of good faith who had seen dragons in Switzerland. He doubts their existence, but illustrates the reports by fanciful representations of dragons, which have led some modern writers to depreciate his merits as a traveller and naturalist, for the belief in dragons was then widely spread.

In 1712 he published a map of Switzerland in four sheets (scale 1/290,000), of which the east portion (based on his personal observations) is by far the most accurate, though the map as a whole was the best map of Switzerland until the end of the 18th century. At the end of his 1723 book he gives a full list (covering 27 quarto pages) of his writings from 1694 to 1721.

Scheuchzer is also known for his paleontological work. In his Lithographia Helvetica, he described fossils as "plays of nature" or alternately as leftovers from the biblical Flood. Most famously, he claimed that a fossilized skeleton found in a Baden quarry was the remains of a human who had perished in the deluge. This claim, which seemed to verify the claims of Christian scripture, was accepted for several decades after Scheuchzer's death, until 1811, when French naturalist Georges Cuvier re-examined the specimen and showed that it was actually a large prehistoric salamander which was named in his memory as Andrias scheuchzeri.

Honours and awards
In November 1703, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Scheuchzerhorn (3462 m) and Scheuchzerjoch in the Bernese Alps are named after Johann Jakob Scheuchzer. Scheuchzeriaceae and Scheuchzeria palustris are named in his honour.

Other sources

 * See Franz Xaver Hoeherl, J.J. Scheuchzer, der Begründer d. phys. Geographie d. Hochgebirges (Munich, 1901), a useful pamphlet, conveniently summarizing Scheuchzer's scientific views.
 * See Franz Xaver Hoeherl, J.J. Scheuchzer, der Begründer d. phys. Geographie d. Hochgebirges (Munich, 1901), a useful pamphlet, conveniently summarizing Scheuchzer's scientific views.
 * See Franz Xaver Hoeherl, J.J. Scheuchzer, der Begründer d. phys. Geographie d. Hochgebirges (Munich, 1901), a useful pamphlet, conveniently summarizing Scheuchzer's scientific views.

title: Johann Jakob Scheuchzer


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Wren

Wrens are a family of brown passerine birds in the predominantly New World family Troglodytidae. The family includes 88 species divided into 19 genera. Only the Eurasian wren occurs in the Old World, where, in Anglophone regions, it is commonly known simply as the "wren", as it is the originator of the name. The name wren has been applied to other, unrelated birds, particularly the New Zealand wrens (Acanthisittidae) and the Australian wrens (Maluridae).

Most wrens are visually inconspicuous though they have loud and often complex songs. Exceptions include the relatively large members of the genus Campylorhynchus, which can be quite bold in their behaviour. Wrens have short wings that are barred in most species, and they often hold their tails upright. Wrens are primarily insectivorous, eating insects, spiders and other small invertebrates, but many species also eat vegetable matter and some eat small frogs and lizards.

Etymology and usage
The English name "wren" derives from wrenne and wrænna, attested (as wernnaa) very early, in an eighth-century gloss. It is cognate to wrendo, wrendilo, and rindill (the latter two including an additional diminutive -ilan suffix). The Icelandic name is attested in Old Icelandic (Eddaic) as rindilþvari. This points to a Common Germanic name wrandjan-, but the further etymology of the name is unknown.

The wren was also known as the kuningilin ('kinglet') in Old High German, a name associated with the fable of the election of the "king of birds". The bird that could fly to the highest altitude would be made king. The eagle outflew all other birds, but he was beaten by a small bird that had hidden in his plumage. This fable was already known to Aristotle (Historia Animalium 9.11) and Pliny (Natural History 10.95), and was taken up by medieval authors such as Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg, but it most likely originally concerned kinglets (Regulus, such as the goldcrest) and was apparently motivated by the yellow "crown" sported by these birds (a point noted already by Ludwig Uhland). The confusion stemmed in part from the similarity and consequent interchangeability of the Ancient Greek words for the wren (βασιλεύς basileus, 'king') and the crest (βασιλίσκος basiliskos, 'kinglet'), and the legend's reference to the "smallest of birds" becoming king likely led the title to be transferred to the equally tiny wren. In modern German, the name of the bird is Zaunkönig ('king of the fence (or hedge)') and in Dutch, the name is winterkoning ('king of winter').

The family name Troglodytidae is derived from troglodyte, which means 'cave-dweller'. Wrens get their scientific name from the tendency of some species to forage in dark crevices.

The name "wren" is also ascribed to other families of passerine birds throughout the world. In Europe, kinglets are commonly known as "wrens", with the common firecrest and goldcrest known as the "fire-crested wren" and "golden-crested wren", respectively.

The 27 Australasian "wren" species in the family Maluridae are unrelated, as are the New Zealand wrens in the family Acanthisittidae, the antbirds in the family Thamnophilidae, and the Old World babblers of the family Timaliidae.

Description
Wrens are medium-small to very small birds. The Eurasian wren is among the smallest birds in its range, while the smaller species from the Americas are among the smallest passerines in that part of the world. They range in size from the white-bellied wren, which averages under 10 cm and 9 g, to the giant wren, which averages about 22 cm and weighs almost 50 g. The dominating colors of their plumage are generally drab, composed of gray, brown, black, and white, and most species show some barring, especially on the tail or wings. No sexual dimorphism is seen in the plumage of wrens, and little difference exists between young birds and adults. All have fairly long, straight to marginally decurved (downward-curving) bills.

Wrens have loud and often complex songs, sometimes given in duet by a pair. The songs of members of the genera Cyphorhinus and Microcerculus have been considered especially pleasant to the human ear, leading to common names such as song wren, musician wren, flutist wren, and southern nightingale-wren.

Distribution and habitat
Wrens are principally a New World family, distributed from Alaska and Canada to southern Argentina, with the greatest species richness in the Neotropics. As suggested by its name, the Eurasian wren is the only species of wren found outside the Americas, as restricted to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa (it was formerly considered conspecific with the winter wren and Pacific wren of North America). The insular species include the Clarión wren and Socorro wren from the Revillagigedo Islands in the Pacific Ocean, and Cobb's wren in the Falkland Islands, but few Caribbean islands have a species of wren, with only the southern house wren in the Lesser Antilles, the Cozumel wren of Cozumel Island, and the highly restricted Zapata wren in a single swamp in Cuba.

The various species occur in a wide range of habitats, ranging from dry, sparsely wooded country to rainforests. Most species are mainly found at low levels, but members of the genus Campylorhynchus are frequently found higher, and the two members of Odontorchilus are restricted to the forest canopy. A few species, notably the Eurasian wren and the house wren, are often associated with humans. Most species are resident, remaining in Central and South America all year round, but the few species found in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere are partially migratory, spending the winter further south.

Behavior and ecology
Wrens vary from highly secretive species such as those found in the genus Microcerculus to the highly conspicuous genus Campylorhynchus, the members of which frequently sing from exposed perches. The family as a whole exhibits a great deal of variation in their behavior. Temperate species generally occur in pairs, but some tropical species may occur in parties of up to 20 birds.

Wrens build dome-shaped nests, and may be either monogamous or polygamous, depending on species.

Though little is known about the feeding habits of many of the Neotropical species, wrens are considered primarily insectivorous, eating insects, spiders, and other small arthropods. Many species also take vegetable matter such as seeds and berries, and some (primarily the larger species) take small frogs and lizards. The Eurasian wren has been recorded wading into shallow water to catch small fish and tadpoles; Sumichrast's wren and the Zapata wren take snails; and the giant wren and marsh wren have been recorded attacking and eating bird eggs (in the latter species, even eggs of conspecifics). A local Spanish name for the giant wren and bicolored wren is chupahuevo ('egg-sucker'), but whether the latter actually eats eggs is unclear. The plain wren and northern house wren sometimes destroy bird eggs, and the rufous-and-white wren has been recorded killing nestlings, but this is apparently to eliminate potential food competitors rather than to feed on the eggs or nestlings. Several species of Neotropical wrens sometimes participate in mixed-species flocks or follow army ants, and the Eurasian wren may follow badgers to catch prey items disturbed by them.

Taxonomy and systematics
Revised following Martínez Gómez et al. (2005) and Mann et al. (2006), the taxonomy of some groups is highly complex, and future species-level splits are likely. Additionally, undescribed taxa are known to exist. The black-capped donacobius is an enigmatic species traditionally placed with the wrens more for lack of a more apparent alternative than as a result of thorough study. It was recently determined to be most likely closer to certain warblers, possibly the newly established Megaluridae, and might constitute a monotypic family.

Family Troglodytidae
 * Genus Campylorhynchus
 * White-headed wren (Campylorhynchus albobrunneus)
 * Band-backed wren (Campylorhynchus zonatus)
 * Grey-barred wren (Campylorhynchus megalopterus)
 * Stripe-backed wren (Campylorhynchus nuchalis)
 * Fasciated wren (Campylorhynchus fasciatus)
 * Giant wren (Campylorhynchus chiapensis)
 * Bicolored wren (Campylorhynchus griseus)
 * Veracruz wren (Campylorhynchus rufinucha)
 * Sclater's wren (Campylorhynchus humilis)
 * Rufous-backed wren (Campylorhynchus capistratus)
 * Spotted wren (Campylorhynchus gularis)
 * Yucatan wren (Campylorhynchus yucatanicus)
 * Boucard's wren (Campylorhynchus jocosus)
 * Cactus wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus)
 * Thrush-like wren (Campylorhynchus turdinus)
 * Genus Odontorchilus
 * Grey-mantled wren (Odontorchilus branickii)
 * Tooth-billed wren (Odontorchilus cinereus)
 * Genus Salpinctes
 * Rock wren (Salpinctes obsoletus)
 * Genus Catherpes
 * Canyon wren (Catherpes mexicanus)
 * Genus Hylorchilus
 * Sumichrast's wren (Hylorchilus sumichrasti)
 * Nava's wren (Hylorchilus navai)
 * Genus Cinnycerthia
 * Rufous wren (Cinnycerthia unirufa)
 * Sepia-brown wren (Cinnycerthia olivascens)
 * Peruvian wren (Cinnycerthia peruana)
 * Fulvous wren (Cinnycerthia fulva)
 * Genus Cistothorus
 * Sedge wren (Cistothorus stellaris)
 * Mérida wren or paramo wren (Cistothorus meridae)
 * Apolinar's wren (Cistothorus apolinari)
 * Grass wren (Cistothorus platensis)
 * Marsh wren (Cistothorus palustris)
 * Genus Thryomanes
 * Bewick's wren (Thryomanes bewickii)
 * Genus Ferminia
 * Zapata wren (Ferminia cerverai)
 * Genus Pheugopedius (formerly included in Thryothorus)
 * Black-throated wren (Pheugopedius atrogularis)
 * Sooty-headed wren (Pheugopedius spadix)
 * Black-bellied wren (Pheugopedius fasciatoventris)
 * Plain-tailed wren (Pheugopedius euophrys)
 * Inca wren (Pheugopedius eisenmanni)
 * Moustached wren (Pheugopedius genibarbis)
 * Whiskered wren (Pheugopedius mystacalis)
 * Coraya wren (Pheugopedius coraya)
 * Happy wren (Pheugopedius felix)
 * Spot-breasted wren (Pheugopedius maculipectus)
 * Rufous-breasted wren (Pheugopedius rutilus)
 * Speckle-breasted wren (Pheugopedius sclateri)
 * Genus Thryophilus (formerly included in Thryothorus)
 * Banded wren (Thryophilus pleurostictus)
 * Rufous-and-white wren (Thryophilus rufalbus)
 * Antioquia wren (Thryophilus sernai)
 * Niceforo's wren (Thryophilus nicefori)
 * Sinaloa wren (Thryophilus sinaloa)
 * Genus Cantorchilus (formerly included in Thryothorus)
 * Cabanis's wren (Cantorchilus modestus)
 * Canebrake wren (Cantorchilus zeledoni)
 * Isthmian wren (Cantorchilus elutus)
 * Buff-breasted wren (Cantorchilus leucotis) (probably not monophyletic)
 * Superciliated wren (Cantorchilus superciliaris)
 * Fawn-breasted wren (Cantorchilus guarayanus)
 * Long-billed wren (Cantorchilus longirostris)
 * Grey wren (Cantorchilus griseus)
 * Riverside wren (Cantorchilus semibadius)
 * Bay wren (Cantorchilus nigricapillus)
 * Stripe-breasted wren (Cantorchilus thoracicus)
 * Stripe-throated wren (Cantorchilus leucopogon)
 * Genus Thryothorus
 * Carolina wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)
 * White-browed wren (Thryothorus (ludovicianus) albinucha)
 * Genus Troglodytes (10–15 species, depending on taxonomy; includes species sometimes considered to be in the genus Nannus, which may be distinct)
 * Eurasian wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)
 * Winter wren (Troglodytes hiemalis)
 * Pacific wren (Troglodytes pacificus)
 * Clarión wren (Troglodytes tanneri)
 * House wren (Troglodytes aedon)
 * Cobb's wren (Troglodytes cobbi)
 * Socorro wren (Troglodytes sissonii)
 * Rufous-browed wren (Troglodytes rufociliatus)
 * Ochraceous wren (Troglodytes ochraceus)
 * Mountain wren (Troglodytes solstitialis)
 * Santa Marta wren (Troglodytes monticola)
 * Tepui wren (Troglodytes rufulus)
 * Genus Thryorchilus
 * Timberline wren (Thryorchilus browni)
 * Genus Uropsila
 * White-bellied wren (Uropsila leucogastra)
 * Genus Henicorhina (wood wrens)
 * White-breasted wood wren (Henicorhina leucosticta)
 * Grey-breasted wood wren (Henicorhina leucophrys)
 * Hermit wood wren (Henicorhina anachoreta) – split from H. leucophrys
 * Bar-winged wood wren (Henicorhina leucoptera)
 * Munchique wood wren (Henicorhina negreti)
 * Genus Microcerculus
 * Northern nightingale-wren (Microcerculus philomela)
 * Southern nightingale-wren (Microcerculus marginatus)
 * Flutist wren (Microcerculus ustulatus)
 * Wing-banded wren (Microcerculus bambla)
 * Genus Cyphorhinus
 * Chestnut-breasted wren (Cyphorhinus thoracicus)
 * Musician wren (Cyphorhinus arada)
 * Song wren (Cyphorhinus phaeocephalus)

Relationship with humans
The wren features prominently in culture. The Eurasian wren has been long considered "the king of birds" in Europe. Killing one or harassing its nest is associated with bad luck, such as broken bones, lightning strikes on homes, or injury to cattle. Wren Day, celebrated in parts of Ireland on St. Stephen's Day (26 December), features a fake wren being paraded around town on a decorative pole; up to the 20th century, real birds were hunted for this purpose. A possible origin for the tradition is revenge for the betrayal of Saint Stephen by a noisy wren when he was trying to hide from enemies in a bush.

The Carolina wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) has been the state bird of South Carolina since 1948, and features on the back of its state quarter. The British farthing featured a wren on the reverse side from 1937 until its demonetisation in 1960. The Cactus wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus) was designated the state bird of Arizona in 1931.

The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) were nicknamed Wrens based on the acronym WRNS. After the Women's Royal Navy Service was integrated into the Royal Navy in 1993, the title of Wren was dropped from official usage, however unofficially female sailors are still referred to as Wrens.

title: Wren