Moments in time

• On Jan. 29, 1845, Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven,” which begins “Once upon a midnight dreary,” is published in the New York Evening Mirror. Poe’s macabre work often portrayed motiveless crimes and intolerable guilt in his characters.

• On Feb. 2, 1887, Groundhog Day, featuring a rodent meteorologist, is celebrated for the first time at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa. According to tradition, if a groundhog comes out of its hole on this day and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather; no shadow means an early spring.

• On Jan. 30, 1943, the British Royal Air Force begins a bombing campaign in Berlin that coincides with the 10th anniversary of Hitler’s accession to power. To make matters worse for the Germans, the following day a massive surrender of German troops occurred at Stalingrad.

• On Jan. 27, 1967, a launch-pad fire during Apollo program tests at Cape Canaveral, Fla., kills astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White II and Roger B. Chafee. An investigation indicated that a faulty electrical wire inside the Apollo 1 command module was the probable cause of the fire.

• On Feb. 1, 1974, University of Washington student Lynda Ann Healy disappears from her apartment and is murdered by serial killer Ted Bundy. In the summer of 1974, Bundy attacked at least seven young women in Washington. By the time he was captured in 1979, Bundy had become America’s most infamous serial killer.

• On Jan. 28, 1985, 45 American music artists gather to record “We Are the World,” a record that would eventually sell more than 7 million copies and raise some $60 million for African famine relief. The instruction producer Quincy Jones sent to pop stars doing the recording: “Check your egos at the door.”

• On Jan. 31, 1990, the Soviet Union’s first McDonald’s fast-food restaurant opens in Moscow. Throngs of people line up to pay the equivalent of several days’ wages for Big Macs, shakes and french fries. Customers were most amazed at the politeness of the workers.

(c) 2014 King Features Synd., Inc.