For the past several months there has been a global build-up to the July 16, 2005 release date of the 6th book of the Harry Potter series, entitled, HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE. The date is one that I remember because it was six years ago, on July 16, 1999, that America's prince, John Kennedy Junior, disappeared. This is discussed in the email exchange: JULY 16 A SIGNIFICANT DATE.

In a recent search to see what other events occurred on July 16th I came across a few more that I hadn't been aware of. I was surprised to learn that many dark and conspiratorial events occurred on July 16 and have compiled them into the following list:

July 16, 1917: A short-lived uprising led by the Bolsheviks against the Russian government begins. Its failure leads to the arrest of Leon Trotsky and the temporary exile of Vladimir Lenin

July 16, 1918: The Bolsheviks, who took power in Russia the previous fall, execute former Tsar Nicholas II along with his family

July 16, 1945: The U.S. government conducts the first atomic explosion, code-named "Trinity," near Alamogordo, New Mexico, less than a month before dropping similar devices on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan

July 16, 1945: Allied leaders gather at Potsdam where Winston Churchill, Harry S Truman and Josef Stalin discuss the fate of a defeated Germany

July 16, 1951: J. D. Salinger's novel "Catcher in the Rye", panned the previous day in the New York Times, is published

July 16, 1969: The Apollo 11 space rocket takes off from Cape Kennedy at the start of the first attempt to land a man on the Moon

July 16, 1999: Stanley Kubrick's movie "Eyes Wide Shut" is released

July 16, 1999: John F. Kennedy, Jr disappears

July 16, 2005: "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", the 6th book by J.K. Rowling is released

BIG BROTHER SYMBOLISM and ON THIS DAY, MSN Encarta, July 16 and ON THIS DAY, BBC, July 16

Pottermania grips children everywhere (Harry Potter Rules The World). Telegraph, Jul 16, 2005. Go to DEVIL NICKNAMED "OLD HARRY" and WITCHES, WIZARDS & DEMONS

John Kennedy Jr Plane Missing. CNN, Jul 16, 1999. Go to JFK-JR'S CRASH STILL A MYSTERY and CAMELOT'S LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY and JOHN-JOHN'S BIRTH