TERROR IN OAK LAWN

[@robadams5799]

I was born in Little Company of Mary Hospital on April 20, 1969 in Evergreen Park. One day before the 2nd anniversary of this storm. The Oak Lawn Public Library has a display with pictures from this event. Some of the images in this video probably came from there.

[@NeptuneLady1957]

I remember. We lived just east of Beverly on 95th street in Chicago. I was 10 and playing hide and seek but hiding blocks away from home (as if the person who was “it” would find us 4 blocks away. We say the dark clouds rolling from the west and instinct made us run. It skipped over our neighborhood and winds blew roofs off houses along the Dan Ryan as it went east. Never will forget the found and what happened that evening. Storms still scare the crap out of me. So sad

[@willisocyrus]

I had just turned 5 a couple weeks before this. I will never forget that dark Friday. I was with my grandparents in Chicago. As the sky turned an ominous shade of green my grandmother went outside to bring the clothes inside from the line. The wind started to howl and was blowing violently. She tried to get the door open but the wind kept forcing it shut. I came to the door and played tug-of-war with this twister for what seemed like a whole hour. It may have only been 10 seconds, but to a terrified 5 year old trying to save his terrified granny’s life it’s a long time. We finally got the door open and I could hear my grandfather say “here it comes!” He stayed upstairs as we ran to the basement. We prayed as the storm blew all our front windows into the living room along with debris from our neighborhood. Luckily we were unhurt except my grandfather, who got a big gash on his back. My heart goes out to all the families who lost someone on that day. I remember it like it was yesterday.

[@DolenzFan5]

I wasn't even close to being born when this happened. But my nana remembers this. She remembers everything that happened. Her grade school was destroyed in this

[@nfasano1]

What a poignant production of this tragedy. My uncle was killed by this tornado as he waited for a light at the intersection of 95 & Southwest Hwy in Oak Lawn. He was a wonderful man and died at the age of 36 leaving behind a wife and 3 children. Thank you for your artistic commemoration of this devastating event.

[@daniellinehan63]

Bless him

[@jogman262]

Tornadoes were touching down all over in the area that day. I live in Elgin and an F2 briefly touched down near where the DMV is at on Rt 31. I was in first grade and there’s nothing scarier than seeing the sky turning green. I’ll never forget it. I’m sorry for your loss.

[@marymcmahan5603]

I’m so sorry….😢

[@sandysorensen9279]

I was a sophomore at Oak Lawn High School, when this monster hit. Pretty scary time. An earlier post asked the location of the Korvette's store, it was 87th and Cicero

[@vinceniederman3235]

@Sandy Sorensen Wow I Bet U Will Never Forget April 21st 1967!

[@alberthandy7630]

M mother would talk about this tornado when I was growing up. She used to say that it came right through where we lived at the that time. So today I decided to see if I could find any pictures of it. I found an article about it. It happened on my mother's 37th birthday. I didn't know that, and she never mentioned it. The article also said that it came down 79th st. in southeast Chicago and went out on the lake as a waterspout with a 100mph. wind gust, at Rainbow Beach at the end of 79th st. We lived in an 1st floor apartment in Chicago. I was only two and a half at the time, but I never forgot how terrified everyone was and how dark it was in our apartment. We had these two columns in our living room, and I remember how in all the chaos my older brother hit his arm up against one of the columns and busted his wrist watch. He doesn't even remember doing that, and he's seven years older than me. I was too young to know that there was a tornado around us, or near us. My mother would talk about how it sucked our windows out. I don't remember that, but my sister who was six at the time, told me today that she remembers our curtains blowing outwards and that we took cover in the hallway. I don't remember that either. I always had my doubts about this tornado actually coming right through were we lived because I always heard it referred to as the Oak Lawn tornado, and we lived on 82nd street in Chicago nearly 3 miles west of the lake. So I figured if anything the tornado probably past a bit north of us and that we were just getting some high winds from the remnants of it. The pictures I saw also included maps of the tornado's path. One map showed it's path in red, going from Palos Hills to the lake. It had street grids on it. I could not believe what I saw. My mother wasn't mistaken. It did come literally right through were we lived. Our apartment was in the red path. First I was amazed, then a sense of awe came over me as I realized that I experienced something directly, as a two year old that's been captured in history. Then I began to marvel at how I really did survive a tornado. Then a feeling a kinship came over me, with those who died and those who survived, which is why I've shared this. I mourn for the 33 and their families, and for those who lost their lives that day in Belvidere . I hope 53 years isn't too late of a start

[@johnhorvath3219]

My Dad was on 95th St. and it crossed infront of him. The garage behind our house blew down.

[@waynewright2886]

I was Living in Chicago's Chatam District on E. 82nd st E. Of Cottage Grove, I was 6 & me & my Late Mother & my 2 Older Sisters had to Hide in the Closet in Our Apartment when the Tornado Went Through, & it Felt Like a Freight Train Went Through! When the Tornado Passed through there was Major Damage in Our Hood, Windows Blown Out, Roofs Sheared Off, Trees, Down, Etc, Etc, My Father who was Elsewhere, said that He Saw Damage & Cars Flipped Over & Whatever. Later that Summer I was Going to Day Camp at the Nearby Y & We & Other Kids Were on School Busses going to the Forest Preserve South of Oak Lawn that we had to Pass Through Every Day During the Week in Oak Lawn, & We Passed by the City's Then Transit Bus Yard & We Saw the Transit Busses in Disarray! The Busses were the GM Models Pre 1959 Were Trashed! One Bus was Bent in C Curve, Others were Badly Damage, but the One Bus I Remember was Laying on its Back Looking at the Sky, Real Strange!!! I'll Never Forgot that Black Friday on 4-21-67.

[@susiearviso3032]

Sorry, Wayne. That must've been scary.

[@sweettea6706]

I was 7 years old, when this happened. I remember it like it was yesterday. Back then, I lived in an area of Stickney township that is now Burbank, IL. The destruction was horrific. Anyone who lived in the Chicago area in 1967 remembers two things: the Blizzard of '67 & this tornado outbreak!

[@debn5646]

I too lived in Stickney Township ,(Burbank) at the time at the age of 7 on Mayfield Ave. I am fearful of tornadoes to this day.

[@robadams5799]

I grew up just south of 79th and Nottingham, but I was born in 1969, so this tornado was a little before my time.

[@spaceangel1961]

1967 in Chicago was a weird year first the blizzard and then the Tornado's

[@johnlenz282]

I was 7 years old than at 96 th and Oak park Oak Lawn . The bottom tail missed us by a 1/2 block.

[@williamdenton6427]

yes, i seen it at that point most of the funnel was at 97th and it was a half block wide.

[@teamdawson1]

6:24. Oak Lawn Community High School swimming pool clock.

[@jasonspeer6864]

My grandma was in this tornado and she was a nurse, when she was working she saw the tornado go right over the hospital she was in.

[@starwarsmackerman9340]

Thank you

[@ROGER2095]

I stayed after school for baseball practice that day - Stagg HS in Palos Hills - and we stopped early due to the weather. The bus going home had to make a lot of detours to avoid fallen trees and power lines. 10 minutes after I got home the full force of the tornado hit and blew up dozens of houses on 99th St. Then it moved on to Oak Lawn. What people today don't remember was that there was a Motel and a Liquor Store right next to the High School! Tornado flattened them. Now it's the school parking lot.

[@vinceniederman3235]

@ROGER2095 Wow That Day Will Never Die in Oak Lawn Illinois on April 21st 1967!

[@williamdenton6427]

the tornado was at 98st and harlem ave when the picture was taken i was 12 at the time and saw the exact same thing from 6500 w 96 st, it passed half a block south of me across the starlite drive in. I saw the funnel comming right at me through the dearborn hts, subdivision from my afterschool job working for the garden center at community discount i saw trees billboards and the whole side of a house in it. it tore the roof off a house and dropped it upside down in the street it was coal black and moving at me really fast. We ran into the building when it got about 300 ft away it was just crossing 97 st and nashville av. I looked right at the grim reaper stared at him and he turned away. The building was tore up but we survived it. the drive in was destroyed the screen smashed to the ground. speakers and stands ripped out of the ground thrown into houses along ridge land.av a merry go round from the play lot in front of the movie screen sat on the a&p roof.trees were debarked or snapped off.it was surreal golfball size hail covered the ground,lumber and sheet metal all over wrapped around trees and cars in the parking lot.

[@johnk3119]

This tornado followed southwest highway so it had to be Christ hospital, the tornado passed on the north side of the hospital missing the structure. That was a bad afternoon still remember it like it was yesterday.

[@truckerkevthepaidtourist]

drop down the sky right at 294 back then we called it the Tri-State tollway. and Harlem. cold into Chicago ridge, came down 95th Street began its drop of destruction big time as it followed the Southwest highway right down after destroying most of oak lawn high School into hometown. but then it left to Southwest highway and followed 87th Street. missing Ashburn going into evergreen Park and then proceeding on through towards the Dan Ryan expressway off of 83rd Street and then finally dying out on the lake.

[@spaceangel1961]

I was 6 years old when this happened so sad it was

[@toemanification]

I was in Hickory Hills, 6 years old and one of the spawn tornados came to about 800 feet from our house, watched it as it headed towards Oak Lawn and became a MONSTER !!!! we were all lucky, except the 33 !!!!!!!!!!RIP

[@vickimoon530]

I was 6 yrs old that day, lived across the street from A&P ,95th and Ridgeland Oak Lawn, we all ran to the basement and will never forget the sound of things hitting the house. I've been through many tornados since then but this one I will never forget.

[@williamdenton6427]

Was that your house that had the second floor ripped off? it was the third house south of 96th next to the vacant lot.

[@waynebrasler]

A tornado also hit Lake Zurich and did tremendous damage. That one was different as their was no defined funnel cloud on the ground, but tremendous turublence overhead and drivers stopped at lights had no idea a tornado was closing in on them. The Belvidere tornado was first seen in the sky as a tangle of perhaps a dozen funnels in psychedelic colors and movement. The Oak Lawn tornado involved three vortices withiin the main funnel and one of them repeatedly wandered away from the main funnel, causing damage in areas far from the tornado's path. What a day it was. I raced to my home on the North Side of Chicago from the University of Chicago on the South Side and as I drove up Lake Shore Drive and gazed at the Loop I saw boiling, churning green and yellow clouds and knew something terrible was about to happen. The first tornado touchdown, now forgotten, was into Lake Michigan off Lake Shore Drive at about Monroe I believe.

[@dmailenify]

I remember that day! I was in Kindergarden in Rockford, Illinois, Turner Elementary. The teacher, informed all us kids that our parents were coming to pick us up because a terrible storm system was approaching. My mom picked me up and we walked home several blocks to our home on 8th Street in pelting rain and hail. We immediately headed for the basement as my dad had left Barber Coleman also to ensure we had made it home safe. I remember seeing the basement door shaking like freight train was rolling by. After it ended, my parents tried to call close friends from Church who lived in Belvidere, because the news said it had touched down over there. We drove out there, and the devastation we first saw was at the suburban community around the Chrysler plant. We drove through all the neighborhoods that had been leveled. I shall never forget that day!

[@EAFolta]

I was 12 when the tornado hit. We lived at 106th street and it was NW of us. I remember the sky being black and green, and us three girls hiding in the basement with our mother. The town closed down for several days as we dug out of the rubble. A group of us 7th graders from St. Linus walked down to see if the Red Cross could use us as volunteers -- they couldn't -- but I will never forget the house we passed with its front wall torn off, the pots and pans still on the stove, untouched.

[@poppablue59kent75]

I saw a tornado in Oklahoma, when I was a boy. Probably 1965 or 1966. I have been addicted to the search for information, photographs, film and video ever since.

[@ChristopherSaindon]

Great presentation! 2:41, however, is not the Oak Lawn Tornado. It is the Topeka, KS F5 on June 8, 1966. Thanks for sharing, and I like the choice of music.

[@teamdawson1]

Shut up

[@williamdenton6427]

you are right that photo was topeka the others are but those photos dont do any justice when you see it up close and personal like i did.

[@playercena2314]

It was very sad for those who lost their lives in a tornado.

[@DarkEmerald1990]

My mother lived through that tornado and I was born and raised in Oak lawn and everyone knows of the the dark day called "Black Friday" or also known as the "Disaster of 1967". My father watched out of his basement window and say his friends house get ripped away. He said it was the scariest thing in his life.

[@Stdntoflfe64]

My Grandmother’s sisters and brothers trying their best to stay calm and keep everyone else in that basement as calm as they were. While all the while thinking that I was going to die. But through the Grace of God. No one was injured or killed. Just part of the fence that was connected to my grandparent’s house had been torn away. I will, as long as I live. Remember this day. Praying for those that did not survive this day. And those that were injured. And all those left homeless.

[@vinceniederman3235]

I Bet Everyone That Day in 1967 Always Remembers Where They Were and What They Were Doing on That "Black Friday" on April 21st 1967!

[@stevenstrejc1310]

🥴

[@ohnoyce]

Watching Garfield Goose when the power went out and all Hell broke loose.

[@TheThorns]

found an old 8mm reel of the destruction in my fathers family video box up in the attic. posted it if anyone is interested.

[@erniebrand315]

I'd love to see it

[@boxergirl0467]

***** is there a link i can have?

[@me4654]

+DrN0OB “Doctor Noob” didn't you put your"s online did your dad run the coral movie theater

[@TheThorns]

deb patterson not that I know of.

[@stevenstrejc1310]

Where's this video?

[@ChristopherSaindon]

2:45 That is not the Oak Lawn tornado. This was the June 8, 1966 F5 that hit Topeka, KS. Also, March 18, 1925 was the deadliest tornado day in IL and US history. No trying to be a jerk or anything just thought you would want to know. I can see you are very passionate about this. My Mom and Dad we're in the 1967 tornado. :(

[@teamdawson1]

You are not a jerk. You are an ASS HOLE!!! That clock is in OLCHS. That’s a high school in Oak Lawn. Look it up if you can read. Not stinking Kansas. And yes. The sky actually turned GREEN after that. Don’t argue about that. Don’t you dare try to minimize this day. We ALL lived through that. You did not! You need to go back to cleaning toilets, Karen.

[@williamdenton6427]

right on all acounts there is a whole sequence of the tornado pictures some of it on slides i studied it extensivly actually it was a double funnel event there were two funnels tightly wound next to each otherfrom 96 st and meade ave to 94 st and 55 ave and again from st marys cemetary to 88 st and albany ave in evergreen pk. several eyewitnesses seen them and my carefull analasis of the damage path bares this out.

[@jimdegrado7513]

My grandpa is sooooooo lucky he survived heart cancer lung cancer and this tornado

[@jimdegrado7513]

Oh yeah and brain cancer

[@LePengyTwice]

Are you related to a dominic degrado

[@Nancy-y8q1n]

Well god bless your grandpa

[@ambermaybenhalim7901]

oh my god i had no idea that a tornado could so much damage until i watch this and ask my great gran if she had heard about is and she said that she is a survivor of it so i respect all of you that survived a tornado and i hope you don't have to go thought it again

[@boxergirl0467]

My mom was three when this happened she moved up to Illinois in 1999 i was only 1 i love to learn these stories but i hate tornado's!!!! we have a tornado watch till one thirty in the morning i hope everyone is safe this year and every year to follow

[@jw12061]

i remember this i was 6 years old living in blue island i remember my mom telling me and my sister to get in the basement

[@CamouflageFacePaint]

1963 Emergency Broadcast System was installed. Did EBS activated in this emergency?

[@parkman35]

Most likely not..At that time live TV and radio programming was pre-empted with warning notification by respective persons in those stations studios...

[@teamdawson1]

When we came back outside it was GREEN. I posted this years ago and was attacked for saying this. It was green. I don’t know why. Then some jerk claimed the pictures were of Kansas. How did you move Oak Lawn Community High School to Kansas? We lived through that. You did not, Toto.

[@teamdawson1]

6:43. Oak Lawn Community High School swimming pool clock.

[@firemj6761]

I think my dad when he was little he was in this tornado. He told me he got thrown by the tornado into a building and was like, that was fun! But bless everyone who was in this

[@keithwilson6060]

The terror in Oak Lawn today is the residents.

[@TwixtedPlayz]

Sadly that is true

[@grappa690]

+TwistedPlayz YT (TwistedPlayzMCYT) gang gang nigga

[@TwixtedPlayz]

Dally Boy Gaming k I don't give a fuck

[@nicetry6842]

I'm from Oak lawn, idiot.

[@billyreardon3271]

Brian Biondo at 2:36 that made me cry i wonder who had taken the picture i am from oak lawn too

[@DPS1194]

My mom was nine going on ten that day, and she was lucky to be alive when that happened. She would have froze if she had turned around and saw what was making that roaring noise behind her. If it were an F5, my mom would have...😢😢😢😢😢😢

[@LaurenVoves]

my dad was here

[@Stdntoflfe64]

I too was in this horrid event. In my Grandpa’s house. Not even three years old. In their basement. I remember my Grandma playing the piano. Grandma’s Sisters and brothers.Trying to keep my Aun

[@LePengyTwice]

My grandpa slept through this, his dads ortho building was on 95th st. Their house was on the top.

[@me4654]

your forgetting evergreen Park we just made it to the basement,the next door neiboor"s house was destroyed and they lived with us for 6mth, the house next to that was missing on 88th Richmond they were moving to florida as the husband just retired I belive he was inbetween insurance and not covered being 9 I never recovered I have PTSD and now live of all places Diamond tornado2013 next to coal-city 2014 and 2015 it water damaged the roof of my apartment and I have black mold and leaking in kitchen,bedrooms and funace and no it won"t pass inspection in feb and renters wont cover and I fear I"ll be homeless,and all the houses behind us too,and all brick

[@magcur]

I live in Ep to

[@dacoach1122]

In the video (3:14), was the the old department store Korvette's? Where was that picture taken?

[@truckerkevthepaidtourist]

yes korvettes and dominick's. pass the old airway trailer court pass the oak lawn roller rink trailer park the korvettes in dominicks was right there where it always was near 87th and cicero which is when it went into hometown

[@idevicehptutorials3480]

Yeah my grandparents moved to Oak Lawn and still live there in 1967 after the Tornado.. i live near Oak Lawn aswell.. This happened around SouthWest Highway right..? Hitting and Ruining the OLHS? (Oak Lawn High School)

[@TwixtedPlayz]

Yes it did even though i wasn't even alive at the time I still know about this tornado It destroyed OLCHS and the epicenter was at 95th St and SW Highway

[@billyreardon3271]

i saw the tornado by my school st gerald ripping it apart it was sad

[@williamdenton6427]

@@TwixtedPlayz whole south end of the high school it was at its most powereful here 240 mph moving a mile a minute

[@williamdenton6427]

@@billyreardon3271 that was my school also all my childhood classrooms were destroyed.

[@christmas9783]

This is were I live

[@danadoozer9990]

That song that began midway through made my cat meow non stop

[@macdavis4539]

i will never forget that day i now live in dallas tx and when the sirens go off it brings back to black friday

[@SpecialNeedsTrusts]

God spared my Mom, Dad and my brother and two sisters living in an apartment in Oak Lawn! They had left for the weekend!

[@walleyeking23]

Nevermind. I figured it out. 87th and Cicero. We used to shop at that Dominicks when I was a kid. In this picture the tornado would have been moving just to the south of the photographer. It looks like the tornado would have been over St. Gerald's at the time the picture was taken.

[@williamdenton6427]

photogrammetry, it would have been just east of menard ave going through the subdivision at f4 strenght.about 220 mph at 65 mph forward movement.450 feet across.

[@katherinegriggs9576]

My grandma told me her experience of the tornado. The green skies. It sounded frightening. Very.

[@jogman262]

That’s what I remember most about that day. The green sky.

[@walleyeking23]

Where did you get the pictures @ 3:00 - 3:28 ? Where was this taken from? I always thought the image you start with was the only image captured of the tornado.

[@williamdenton6427]

there are 4 pictures of it.

[@jmendoza19713]

What's the Name of the Sad Music? plz ANSWER!

[@unclepeanut15]

In 4:34 the vw beetle doe

[@therealstar2994]

What Year is this?

[@Serenadesong]

1967

[@bingobongo445]

Theme song from the Movie October Sky.

[@christinakale8795]

i live in oak lawn my grandma was hurt in that

[@lasteclipse]

Pretty sure the image at kzbin.info/www/bejne/gnWzd2aihdiVnKM is Topeka Kansas on June 8, 1966.

[@williamdenton6427]

yes

[@amandagrant5529]

Tristate tornado of March 18, 1925 killed 541 in Illinois and 695 adding Missouri and Indiana.

[@caleb10sutton]

I live in Oak Lawn. Tornadoes are scary A'F'

[@cuhnty2032]

jesus christ oak lawn ain’t that far from orland park

[@katherinegriggs9576]

I know lol

[@DarkEmerald1990]

*Saw his friends house get ripped away. Sorry for the misspelling and bad grammar.

[@LasirTROLL]

HOW OLD ARE YOU MISS?

[@johnk3119]

Aragorn Stellar, no the terror is the police department they have a horrific reputation.

[@jonathanmccarville5526]

my dad was in that

[@bethvlogs8357]

My town

[@1413-t5p]

Shit i live there

[@Diesel_9370_]

i feel sorry for u :(

[@angelskash4626]

A

[@meganhall1295]

Why are you even commenting on this video?