On this day in conspiracies

Sarah Winchester dies of heart failure at Llanada Villa at age 83. Her estate is distributed to relatives and, in keeping with her stated priorities, toward philanthropic ends; the house and its contents are sold off.

Mattoon City Commissioner Thomas V. Wright publicly floats the term 'mass hysteria' even as reports keep climbing, and armed citizen patrols begin watching the streets at night.

President Ronald Reagan denounces the shootdown as a “massacre” and an “act of barbarism.” The United States plays intercepted Soviet air-defence communications at the United Nations; Washington restricts Aeroflot operations and presses the case internationally.

UK police and the Crown Prosecution Service charge two Russian nationals travelling as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov with the attack, and say they are officers of the GRU. The two soon appear on Russian television calling themselves tourists who had come to see Salisbury Cathedral.

The Capitol attending physician, Dr. Brian Monahan, releases a letter saying that after brain MRI imaging, an EEG study, and consultations with neurologists, there is no evidence of a stroke, a seizure disorder, or Parkinson's. The letter does not explain what caused the two freezes, leaving a gap that speculation fills.