On this day in conspiracies

Middie Rivers, a 74-year-old hunting and fishing guide, disappears while leading a party in Bickford Hollow near Woodford. Searches turn up only a single rifle cartridge in a stream.

The Avrocar makes its first free, untethered flight. In testing it proves aerodynamically unstable: lifting more than about three feet off the ground brings on uncontrolled pitch and roll that the team nicknames "hubcapping," and its top speed is only around 35 mph.

Five gravediggers near Clendenin, WV (about 90 miles from Point Pleasant), report a 'brown human being' flying low over a hearse. Local papers cover it, though the account only becomes tied to Mothman in retrospect.

A warrant is issued for Lord Lucan's arrest on charges of murder and attempted murder. A nationwide and then international manhunt begins. Reported sightings soon arrive from across Britain and, over the years, from Africa, Australia, New Zealand, India, and beyond.

At a National Press Club event in Washington organized around calls for official disclosure, retired General Parviz Jafari recounts the 1976 interception publicly, reinforcing the case's standing as a firsthand military account and renewing debate over what the object was.

The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility releases a roughly 350-page report finding Acosta exercised "poor judgment" but did not commit professional misconduct or break any clear rule. The report calls the NPA a flawed mechanism and faults the failure to ensure victims were notified.

The federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), with bipartisan state and industry councils, issues a joint statement calling the election 'the most secure in American history' and stating there is no evidence any voting system deleted, lost, or changed votes. CISA director Chris Krebs is fired by Trump days later.