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From an April 2009 memorial to the victims of the 2007 massacre at Virgina Tech

In another comments thread, Lynda K, the reigning political guru of this blog, raises a question that comes up nearly every time another nationally-newsworthy tragedy breaks that has a direct link to Virginia Tech.

Her college-bound daughter wonders whether somehow, the Blacksburg-based university is 'cursed.'

The question arises from Thursday's events at Fort Hood, where the alleged gunman was a 1995 Tech graduate. And from the October disappearance in Charlottesville of Morgan Harrington, a Tech student who attended a concert there. She hasn't been found.

And from the mysterious and still-unsolved murders in August of Tech students Heidi Childs and David Metzler at Caldwell Fields, a popular student hangout in the George Washington and Jefferson national forests, about a 20 minute drive from campus.

And, of course, there was the massacre in April 2007 that claimed the lives of 32 students and faculty, and a bizarre beheading in January at a cafe inside  Virginia Tech's Graduate Life Center:

This is off topic but worthy of thought...

Matt writes: "So, of the two worst mass murders in America in many years, one occurred at Virginia Tech, and the other had roots at Virginia Tech. Does ANYONE ELSE think that is a remarkably creepy co-incidence?"

Let's not forget the off campus killing of two Virginia Tech students recently, as well as the decapitation of Xin Yang in January, at the school, and the recent disappearance of Morgan Harrington - a current student at Tech.

My daughter, who was once setting her sights on a Va Tech education no longer has any interest in attending the school. She thinks it's somehow "cursed".

I agree with Matt. There have been far too many horrific crimes involving Tech students over the past several years. I don't hear many news reports mentioning other colleges. Is it because it doesn't happen there or because we are just closer to this source? I don't mean to imply there is a common sinister thread here but one has to wonder why...

What do you think, folks? Could there be any explanation for such a series of tragedies all linked to one state university in small, off-the-beaten-path mountain town?

This morning in the newsroom, one editor put it something like this:

For Columbine, the massacre was it. They didn't have any big-news tragedies after that horrible one.

Why Virginia Tech?

(Note: The 5th paragraph in this post has been changed to more accurately describe the location of the beheading.)

Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times August 28, 2009

Cathy Taylor and her husband, Steve McMahan, live on Craig Creek Road in northern Montgomery County.

Their place is about 5 miles west of Caldwell Fields camping and recreation area, a broad and wildflower-filled series of meadows wedged between the tall, bumpy ridges of Brush and Sinking Creek mountains in the Jefferson National Forest.

Friday about noon, the somber couple drove out to Caldwell Fields, one of their favorite places, about 15 miles from the Virginia Tech campus.

As rain sprinkled, they tied a small bouquet of flowers to a weathered fence that edges the Addison Caldwell parking area and sat in their car and reflected.

The flowers were a lone memorial to David Lee Metzler and Heidi Lynn Childs, the Virginia Tech sophomores found gruesomely shot to death in a gravel lot Thursday morning.

Both Taylor and McMahan have a hard time reconciling the savagery of those killings with the quiet solitude of the setting.

Read the rest of the column here:

Read about David Lee Metzler and Heidi Lynn Childs here.

Read the latest on the investigation here.

Balloons float in the air above the crowd at the beginning of the Run for Remembrance at Virginia Tech Thursday

BLACKSBURG -- As the sun burned off the morning fog over Montgomery County on Thursday, a veil seemed to lift over Virginia Tech.

You could feel it in the hush that descended over a huge crowd just before the Run for Remembrance, like a giant collective exhaled breath, as thousands of orange and maroon balloons chased 32 white ones into the azure sky.

You could hear it in the pavement-pounding feet of runners as they circled the Drillfield for the 3.2-mile run/walk, crossed the finish line, then cheered and whooped as music blared across the grassy mall.

You could see it in wide smiles and raised eyes after the run, as people squeezed themselves onto the steps in front of Burruss Hall to pose for a picture.

Just like the shock of April 16 two years ago soon gave way to a nearly bottomless grief in Blacksburg, those emotions have continued to morph. Read the rest of the column here.

You can read reporter Greg Esposito's story here.

And you can see a gallery of great photos by Justin Cook here.

After the jump are some more photos I snapped (none of which are as good as Justin's, but hey!)

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