The young actor, writer and producer Orson Welles caused a nationwide panic in the U.S. when he broadcast his “War of the Worlds” radio play on Sunday night, October 30, 1938. It was so realistic, listeners who tuned in late, after 8 PM, thought they were hearing horrifying news accounts of an actual Martian invasionContinue reading “Orson Welles War of the Worlds Radio Play Panicked America”
Author Archives: andrewspaulw
The Forgotten Sultana Riverboat Disaster
More souls died on the Riverboat Sultana than the RMS Titanic!
Centralia, PA – the Town that Burned from Beneath
If you drive north on Route 61 in northeastern Pennsylvania, you will come across an innocent looking detour at the top of a low mountain.
Martinique’s Mt. Pelée Volcano Eruption of 1902
On 8 May 1902, Mount Pelée volcano, on the Caribbean island of Martinique, violently erupted and literally blew its top. The eruption killed nearly 30,000 people within minutes and wiped the coastal city of St. Pierre off the map. It was the most devastating and deadliest volcanic disaster of the 20th century. Montagne Pelée, BaldContinue reading “Martinique’s Mt. Pelée Volcano Eruption of 1902”
The Mariana Trench – a Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
A decade before the late 1960’s Apollo Moon Missions, two aquanauts, traveled to the last unexplored place on Earth, the deepest point under all the Earth’s oceans. On 23 January 1960, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh, in the bathyscaphe Trieste, descended down to the bottom of Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, 7 miles, (11Continue reading “The Mariana Trench – a Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”
The Armenian Genocide – the Forgotten Holocaust
Most know of the Jewish Holocaust, committed by Nazi Germany during World War II. But many are unaware of the Armenian Genocide, the 1st modern atrocity of the 20th century. It occurred 30 years earlier during World War I. In 1915, leaders of the Ottoman Empire began the systemic expulsion and extermination of Armenian ChristiansContinue reading “The Armenian Genocide – the Forgotten Holocaust”
Krakatoa Volcano Eruption Shook the Globe
The eruption of Krakatau island in August 1883 was THE most deadly volcanic explosion in modern history.
Japan’s Minamata Disease was a Man-made Disaster
Minamata Disease is a sobering reminder of the dangers of unregulated industries in modern times, a purely human-created disease.
Both Germany and the Allies used Chemical Weapons in World War I
The horrors that man is capable of unleashing upon his enemy during warfare reached its pinnacle during World War I, when BOTH slides liberally used Poison Gas against each other.
The Cuban Missile Crisis – the Day Russia Blinked
For 13 nerve-wracking days in October 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the Earth closer to a nuclear WORLD WAR III than ever before. It was a direct confrontation between two major superpowers, the United States and the USSR (Soviet Union) during the so-called Cold War. It was the worst confrontation since the constructionContinue reading “The Cuban Missile Crisis – the Day Russia Blinked”