9. There is a memorial to the 1960 Park Slope Plane Crash

On December 16, 1960, Trans World Airlines Flight 266 and United Airlines Flight 826 collided over Staten Island. While the TWA flight crashed on Staten Island, the United Airlines plane unsuccessfully attempted to reach LaGuardia Airport only to crash in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The Park Slope plane crash set fire to 10 brownstones at the intersection of Sterling Place and Seventh Avenue, along with three other stores, and a church (ironically named the Pillar of Fire Church).

In Park Slope, 84 people on the flight were killed, along with six people on the ground. The TWA crash on Staten Island killed 44 passengers and crew members. In an effort to figure out why the crash occurred, this investigation was the first to use a plane’s black box data recorder. Since DNA identification was not yet possible, the remains at the Park Slope crash were placed into three caskets labeled “Fragmentary Human Remains” and buried in unmarked grave lot number 38325, purchased by United Airlines. On December 16, 2010, on the 50th anniversary of this gruesome event, Green-Wood Cemetery dedicated a proper memorial for the victims who perished.