Cape Cod History

1967: Cape Cod is blacked out for the Fourth

Big jump in births nine months later at area hospitals

 On this day in 1967 Cape Cod was blacked out and a baby boom followed nine months later. Because this occurred on the biggest holiday week of the year, the confusion was extensive, and many visitors tried to leave the Cape to escape the darkness but their progress was hampered by the absence of working traffic lights.

This reporter had recently started working at The Cape Codder weekly in Orleans, and I got on the phone to a NYC radio station to report what was going on here. One GOOD NEWS news  was that relatives whom I hadn't heard from in years contacted me after the lights went on. The BAD NEWS was that relatives whom I hadn't heard from in years contacted me after the lights went on.

Another result was that resourceful Cape Codders, denied their televisions and movies for a night, did "what comes naturally", and area hospitals here showed a significant increase in new births starting nine months later. A newspaper report is below, but come back tomorrow and see "the rest of the story."