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- Condolence and tribute sites have sprung up on the Internet
following the loss at sea of John F Kennedy Jr, his wife Carolyn, and her
sister Lauren Bessette.
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- And while an overwhelming number of messages express
sympathy to the Kennedys and the Bessettes, hundreds seek to find sinister
mysteries behind the plane crash.
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- The AOL Web site for George magazine, JFK Jr's own publication,
is even running two message boards - one for tributes and a second devoted
to conspiracy theories.
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- Rather than a sign of disrespect, George readers suggest
that "John Kennedy Jr would be "laughing right now if he were
reading this" - testament perhaps to the light-hearted nature of his
magazine.
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- More than 1,000 contributors have left their thoughts.
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- Shared grief
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- With message tags from "life does suck" to
"RIP John!" and "A Passing Of A Legend In The Making",
George readers speak of a man taken away "in his prime", and
a "sadness that has overcome America".
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- "He is and will remain, just as his father has,
forever young, " says Brenda Keene on the George message board.
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- Several contributors quote the "Pilot's Prayer"
by John Gillespie Magee:
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- "Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth And
danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings"
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- While George readers are divided over whether to sympathise
or discuss the circumstances of John F Kennedy Jnr's death, they all want
the magazine to go on despite the loss.
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- "I was hooked on George since the first spy issue
with Elizabeth Hurley on the cover and since then I have bought every magazine.
We should all join together and make a petition to keep George alive,"
says one anonymous writer.
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- Mysterious rumours
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- The more suspicious George correspondents insist they
have all the answers.
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- One suggests that "some people in the CIA (perhaps
freelancers)" decided to kill JFK Jnr "in case he ever became
president, and investigated CIA involvement [in his father's murder]".
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- George readers cite rumours that people at Martha's Vineyard
"heard an explosion about the time his plane was due there".
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- According to a B. Evans, "something is very fishy",
as "this type of plane he flies does not nose dive. They do NOT nose
dive. They glide, at worst. Gliding planes don't lose their tires ... or
explode".
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- "They can't find a plane ... yet a suitcase washes
up right on sure complete with a visible business card," B. Evans
adds.
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- Sites spring up
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- In a matter of days, as many as 10 memorial and condolence
Web sites devoted to the tragedy have appeared on the Internet.
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- Email tributes coming in from Bangkok to Amman emphasise
that the loss is being felt all over the world.
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- Writers from the US describe how Americans grew up with
the saga of the Kennedy family, and compare the loss to that of a family
member.
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- Some use the Camelot analogy, others put the family on
an even more mythical footing. One writer at a Website called 'Thoughts
and Prayers for the Kennedys', said John Kennedy Jnr was "like a Roman
God to us Americans".
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- Three days after the tragedy, some writers are still
expressing hope and prayers for a "miracle" rescue.
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- "Until the remains (if there are any) are recovered,
I still hold it in my heart that they are alive," writes Niki Cheong,
who runs the 'Thoughts and Prayers for the Kennedys' Website.
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