Bloody Summer of 1969

The summer of 1969, also known as the **Bloody Summer of 1969**, is a period from late spring through early autumn during which anti-magic riots took place in more than 20 cities across the United States.

## Events

### USS Enterprise

The USS Enterprise, built between 1958 and 1961, was the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and it was the first ship with an integrated crew of magical and mundane sailors.

On January 14, the ship was off the coast of Hawaii to conduct a final battle drill before heading to Vietnam. Early in the morning of January 14, an explosion occurred at the stern of the ship, near a parked McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. The explosion damaged the aircraft's fuel cells and ignited the jet fuel. About 1 minute later, three more explosions occurred, blowing holes into the flight deck and allowing the burning jet fuel to leak into the lower level. Another explosion at the burning Phantom occurred, blowing another hole into the flight deck. This explosion damaged nearby firehoses and rendered inoperable the units providing firefighting foam to the area. Several more explosions occurred, tearing a total of 8 holes into the flight deck and beyond. It took 4 hours for the combined crews of the *Enterprise*, the cruiser *Bainbridge*, and the destroyer *Rogers* to extinguish the fire.

The explosion was initially believed to have been caused by a spell enacted by magicians protesting the Vietnam War, though further investigation revealed that the explosion was caused by a missile being heated by the exhaust of a nearby piece of equipment.

The rumors of magical involvement persisted even after the announcement of the official cause.

### Burlington Massacre

The city of Burlington, Wisconsin, located southwest of Milwaukee, had a long heritage of magic, and many magicians of German lineage had settled in the area. The city itself boasted a rich magical history. However, during the 1960s, many mundane people began to move into the city, and several confrontations between magicians and anti-magic groups had broken out in the months leading up to 1969.

On 15 June 1969, a young male magician was accused of severely harming a mundane person in an argument over a loan. The accusation spread throughout the city, inciting an anti-magic riot. Police stood by as mundane rioters attacked random magicians. Over the course of 3 days, 10 magicians and 8 mundane people were killed, and the magical community within Burlington fled the city and was effectively destroyed.

## Responses

The Guild of American Magicians began to suffer internal divisions. Many of the magicians were loyal to the Guild and the federal government, but they also began to feel betrayed by a sense that the federal government was doing little to protect the magical community from the violence of the riots. This sentiment became even more pronounced following the Burlington Massacre and the Washington DC Riots, leading to the formation of the Order of the Red Spears.

The Order of the Red Spears was an "armed resistance" organization that sought to protect magicians in major cities. Although there was no leadership at the national level, the various branches of the order often coordinate activities to counter anti-magic activities in their areas.

Independent magicians suffered more severe damage from the anti-magic riots due to their less organized structures. The Sworn Legion was a militant magical organization that swore to protect Independent magicians from violence and punish so-called "traitors to the magical community", often magicians who had married mundane people or interfered in the activities of the Legion. The Legion had been connected to nearly 100 murders of both magical and mundane people along the East Coast.

Potential connections between communists and some of the rioting magicians led to the Third Red Scare. The Guild was intensely investigated for communist sympathies, and many magicians were purged from the Guild for their membership in the American Communist Party.