Over 40 years ago, on the night of December 3, 1984, the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, released 30 tons of deadly methyl isocyanate gas into the air. It went primarily into the poor slums surrounding the factory, exposing more than half a million souls to the deadly cloud. The thick, heavy gasContinue reading “Bhopal India – the World’s Worst Industrial Disaster”
Category Archives: Historical Disasters
The Santiago Church Fire – the Deadliest in History
The deadliest fire disaster ever recorded is not where you might think. Not the Great London Fire, not the Great Chicago Fire, not in New York City. It occurred at The Church of the Company of Jesus in Santiago, Chile on 18 December 1863. The horrible Santiago Church Fire consumed the large cathedral during a CatholicContinue reading “The Santiago Church Fire – the Deadliest in History”
Times Beach – America’s Hazardous Waste Ghost Town
Along famed ROUTE 66 just outside St. Louis, is one of Missouri’s newer state parks. But one with a very checkered past, as it’s the former location of the town of Times Beach and an infamous hazardous waste site.
The Donora Death Fog of 1948
In 1948, a little-remembered environmental disaster occurred in the U.S. that shocked the entire world. It may sound like something from a Steven King horror novel, but it’s the real thing.
The Deadly 1900 Galveston Hurricane
If you approached Galveston, Texas from the Gulf of Mexico in 1900, it looked like an American Venice.
The Forgotten Sultana Riverboat Disaster
More souls died on the Riverboat Sultana than the RMS Titanic!
5 Reasons the 1889 Johnstown Flood Should Never Have Happened
The Johnstown Pennsylvania Flood of 1889 was more a man-made Tsunami than flood by Mother Nature.
Was the Great Chicago Fire Started by a Cow?
It is true the infamous fire started in the barn of Catherine and Patrick O’Leary on Sunday night, October 8th, 1871.
The Lusitania Sank in Just 18 Minutes, Beating Titanic!
The ocean liner Lusitania was struck by a German torpedo in 1915 and sunk within sight of the Irish coast in just 18 Minutes! Compare that to the rather luxurious sinking of the Titanic three years earlier in 1912 that lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes. We have all seen the popular movie, so justContinue reading “The Lusitania Sank in Just 18 Minutes, Beating Titanic!”
The Windscale Nuclear Disaster – Britain’s Chernobyl
In 1957, in an English seaside town, a new type of disaster occurred when a fire broke out at the Windscale nuclear reactors. The fire, at the two-reactor facility in Cumbria (now Sellafield), was due to poor design and gross mismanagement, leading to deadly consequences. The incident became embroiled in Cold War-era secrecy and provedContinue reading “The Windscale Nuclear Disaster – Britain’s Chernobyl”