Damsel in distress

Also, that one spark plug that did not have the wire hooked up could also have caused the engine to back fire. Since that cylinder would not have been firing the gasoline would have just been going down into the exhaust until it finally caught fire and created the loud bang. If that happened I don't see why it would cause the engine to quit running though.

I'm still gonna go with my "alternator quit charging and killed the battery" theory. If the battery still has power then we'll have to come up with something else.