Relative Disasters

Another deep-sea oil rig, another disaster; in 1983, five saturation divers were killed when their air pressure was explosively decompressed. This episode covers a truly awful way to die.

How does a train wind up outside of its station, standing on its face? Well, the answer involves a perfect storm of operator negligence, bad brakes, and good ol' financial incentive.

Greg and Child Unit A explore one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of all time, and why a simultaneous massive decrease in the human population may be a case of correlation, not causation.

On this episode, we're going to the city of Seoul to take a look at another example of how greed kills people. In 1988, a building was constructed to maximize profit and minimize expense; in 1995, its inevitable collapse caused the most non-wartime deaths South Korea has experienced. We'll talk about construction techniques, building codes, why regulations are important, and how to not move gigantic air conditioners.

We're going to the dry and drought-blasted British Isles of 1976 for this (short) episode; we'll talk about ladybirds, the population boom-and-bust cycles of insect life, and how weird weather can throw an entire ecosystem into red-shelled chaos.

To kick off our 2024 season, I thought we'd cover the insidious disaster that is Conspiratorial Thinking! We'll discuss how our brain can get short-circuited in the strangest ways, why it takes fear and lack of self-reflection skills to be a true believer... and why this stuff cannot be dismissed and how we can all do a better job of guarding ourselves against it.

Fun.

Sources:

Due to being available on a whole bunch of different platforms now, it's come to my attention that our Sources don't always make it to each listener at their preferred listening-platform; therefore, I'm going to be doing a better job of listing the complete sources in the episode itself.

Back in 1977, Star Wars was a phenomenon that changed the film industry. In 1978, some CBS executives tried to replicate the magic for TV and the results were... legendary? Just probably not in the way they intended.

Ella takes a dive into color theory and the bizarre history of Fuschia - the color and the man it was named for. And why it may not be a real color at all.

On this extended sidebar, Ella brings us the story of the Ourang Medan, a ghost ship found floating in the middle of the pacific with the entire crew dead. Or was it never found, its only survivor finding his way to a barely-inhabited atoll and living just long enough to relay how his whole crew had perished due to some unknown force? Or was it found in the straits of Indonesia, with the deceased crew all staring upward in abject horror? It's a creepy story with a fairly mundane truth living in its center.

In this extended sidebar we talk about a baseball player at the absolute top of his game, one of the hardest feats in the game of baseball, why he was able to pull it off under the influence of LSD - and more importantly, the incredible work he did once his baseball career was behind him.

Well, apparently all we're going to do are "stone-based historical scams" on these Extended Sidebar episodes... anyway, this hoax came up waaaaay back in our first season during the research for the Gregor MacGregor episodes. Join us as we talk about the Ica Stones, a hoax involving ancient Incans, Aliens, Dinosaurs, and the creative use of chickens. Enjoy!

Join us for our last episode of the season, wherein Ella and Greg discuss how a selfless act of heroism led to the ruination of a man's personal life. We'll discuss how to NOT be a good friend, the state of human rights in 1975, and how far society's come since then - and how far we still have to go.

Also, Ella has an announcement.

Correction: In the episode, Greg stated that Mr. Sipple's middle name was William; it was actually Wellington. Thanks to an attentive listener for the correction!

Sources:

Sorrow Trailed a Veteran Who Saved a President and Then Was Cast in an Unwanted Spotlight

by Dan Morain, LA Times, Feb. 13, 1989

Caught in Fate's Trajectory, Along With Gerald Ford

by Lynne Duke, Washington Post, December 31, 2006

News and Sexuality: Media Portrayals of Diversity

by Laura Castañeda and Shannon Campbell

Sage Publications, 2006

Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the US Military

by Randy Shilts

McMillan, 2005

The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk

by Randy Shilts

St. Martin's Press, 1982

Radiolab: Oliver Sipple

Sept. 22, 2017

Join Ella and Greg while they talk about one of the weirdest (and most obvious) scams in American archaeology - the Dare Stones!

In February 1910, the deadliest avalanche in the history of the United States occurred in the small town of Wellington, Washington. On this episode, we're talking rotary plows, wild weather, and railroad history.

Sources for this episode include:

"White Cascade", G. Krist, 2007

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wellington-avalanche-site

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86072041/1910-03-04/ed-1/seq-2/#words=avalanche+Avalanche+crash+snow+Snow+snowed+train+trains 

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/1910-stevens-pass-avalanche-still-deadliest-in-us-history/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbQ7Qc7MCIM

We head down to the Florida Everglades for one of the most disheartening plane crashes of all time - though with a higher survival rate than would be expected. We'll talk about alligators, frogs, autopilot controls, and a huckster attempting to cash in on tragedy.

Sources:

The 401 Crash and Survivors

Some Survive as Jet Smashes Into Swamp (AP) - The Eugene Register-Guard, December 30, 1972

NTSB Aircraft Accident Report on Flight 401 (here)

A few notes; one, this is an extremely nerdy episode. Two, our recording circumstances were a little tricky (with a very persistent cricket intent on co-hosting), so the audio quality is a little less than I'd like with background noise.

With Ella on a well-deserved break, Greg and his friend Carson talk about something near and dear to their nerdy hearts - the time the card game Magic: The Gathering nearly collapsed because of a failure in recognizing a flaw in game design. Join us as we talk about game design, the delightfully geeky history of Magic, and the concept of "Fun"!

Content Warning: In this episode we discuss the deaths of two children; if you'd rather not hear about that, please skip this episode.

We're going back to the 1960s and 1970s, where kids ran around and played in the street and hooked weird toys up to their garden hoses during the summer. One of those toys was the Water Wiggle, a toy that turned your hose into a chaotic missile of spraying water, wildly whipping hose, and getting bonked in the head with the goofy-looking plastic head of the toy. Danger and excitement abounded - unless the head came off. Join us as we discuss toy safety, lawn games (especially Lawn Darts), and how the Wham-O toy company is responsible for your childhood.

Sources:

The CSPC Recall Notice

"Sobbing Father Tells How Toy Choked Son" - The Palm Beach Post, Wednesday, Feb 25, 1981, p. 44

Couple sues Wham-O over deadly Water Wiggle

"Toy firm's R&D specialist admits 'Water Wiggle' toy dangerous"

Part 1306 - ban of Hazardous Lawn Darts

In April 1865, the deadliest shipwreck in American history occurred when a steamship exploded in the middle of the Mississippi River. On this episode, we're discussing the Civil War, cast-iron fire-tube boilers, and how a steamship with the legal capacity for 460 people ended up carrying just over 2,100.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon!

Sources for this episode include:

"The Explosion of the S. S. Sultana", 2014

"The Sultana Association of Descendants and Friends"

"The Search for a Photo of the Man Behind the Sultana Disaster", E. Demerel for Mental Floss, 2015

"Loss of the Sultana and the Recollections of Survivors", by C Berry, 1866

China had a dynastic system of government for four thousand years; it ended when its last emperor was six years old. His life would be filled with the dissolution and reconstruction of China, brutal foreign occupations and incursions, and his own self-sabotaging need to be an Emperor again. Join us as we talk about what a horrific time the early/mid 1900s was in China, the lengths people in power will go to maintain that power, and why being an Emperor is not a job for a six-year-old.

Sources:

From Emperor to Citizen by Pu Yi (2007 restored version)

Twilight in the Forbidden City by Reginald Fleming Johnston (1934)

In CE 68, the Roman Emperor Nero died, bringing an end to a dynasty - and relief from his 14-year-long rule, a time of greed, excess, abuse, murder, and (possibly) arson.

On this episode, we're discussing the life of the worst of the Julio-Claudian rulers, as well as the Great Fire of Rome, a rat's nest of a family tree, and some of the worst theater ever performed.

Sources for this episode include:

"Nero, a Life From Beginning To End", by Hourly Histories, 2018 

"The New, Nicer Nero", J Levine for Smithsonian Magazine, 2020

"The genderqueer tragedy of Sporus, Roman Emperor Nero’s last “empress”", K. Kaye for LGBTQ Nation, 2023

"The Fire of Rome" M. Owen and I. Gildenhard, 2013

"The Life of Nero", Suetonius

Liu Bang was a man who had a good life and then had a really bad day. How he handled that bad day led to the creation of one of China's most important dynasties and reshaped China's history - join us as we talk about executions, how legal systems based on fear are not sustainable, and lacquer. Lots of lacquer.

Also, Greg's fighting a cold this week, so expect a few background sniffles.

Sources:

Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

Born in 12 CE, Gaius Cesar Augustus Germanicus - nicknamed 'Caligula' - survived a horrific adolescence to become the third Roman Emperor at just 24 years old. The four years that followed were expensive, scandalous, and full of increasingly violent behavior - but was he really as 'mad' as his earliest biography would have us believe?

On this episode, we're discussing dynasties, paranoia, and all those juicy scandals.

Sources for this episode include:

"Caligula: A Biography" by A. Winterling, 2015 "Caligula: a neuropsychiatric explanation of his madness", J. Charry-Sanchez, et al, for Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, 2021 "Dinner with Caligula" by C. Baumgarthuber for The New Inquiry, 2016

"The lives of the Caesars", Suetonius, 1913 Loeb translation

In 1999, Scott Adams used his beloved-at-the-time character Dilbert to market... a line of microwaveable burritos.

Join us as we take a look at bizarre marketing, the recommended daily allowance of vitamins and minerals, and cooking with gelatin, plus an insight into weird foods that Ella and Greg enjoy.

In 1950 Chicago, a rush-hour streetcar missed an emergency switch and slammed into a gas truck carrying 8,000 gallons of gasoline. The resulting explosion and fire burned down five apartment buildings and killed 34 people.

On this episode, we're discussing streetcar safety, emergency exits, and one of the worst traffic accidents we've ever come across.

Sources for this episode include:

"The Green Hornet Streetcar Disaster", C. A. Cleve, 2012

"On This Day in 1950: The Green Hornet Streetcar Disaster", CBS News Chicago, 2012

In 1925, a tornado of incredible size and power swept through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana; by the time it was finished, it had killed over seven hundred people, injured at least two thousand, and destroyed entire towns. Join us as we talk about tornado systems, how this particular tornado formed, the clairvoyancy of early 20th-century farmers, and the sheer tragedy of destruction at this speed.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources:

The Forgotten Storm by Wallace Akin

The Tri-State Tornado by Peter Felknor

Storms of the Century by Stephanie Watson

The Tri-State Tornado by The Tornado Project

as well as contemporary newspaper articles.

In April 1933, the US Navy's airship Akron flew directly into a thunderstorm off the coast of New Jersey. The crash that followed claimed the lives of 75 people, making it the deadliest accident in airship history.

On this episode, we're discussing the American airship program, spy cars, cigarette smoking, aircraft carriers, and the big difference between hydrogen and helium in airship design.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"US Navy Rigid Airships" Airships.net    “Airship: Design, Development and Disaster” by J Swinfield, 2012 "The Loss of the Akron", L.C. C.E. Rosendahl for Proceedings, 1934     

We're headed to Portugal this week, with an earthquake so large it shook fundamental human belief systems. The 1755 earthquake hit the capital of Lisbon (and elsewhere), with its physical effects being felt as far away as Brazil; its effects on society at the beginnings of the Enlightenment were just as profound. Join us as we discuss earthquakes, tsunamis, firestorms, and why the question of divine judgement was raised.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources:

1755 O Terramoto de Lisboa by Jao Duerte Fonseca

This Gulf of Fire by Mark Molesky

Wrath of God by Edward Paice

The Last Day by Nicholas Shrady

and various archived materials available through the National Archive at Torre do Tombo

In 1910 America, residents of the southeastern states were facing down two major problems: a shortage of meat, and an invasive plant that was threatening fishing, shipping, and recreation. Luckily, a Louisiana official and two 'experts' had just the solution: hippo ranching. On this episode, we're talking water hyacinths and hippopotamuses, as well as cocaine, meatpacking, lake-cow bacon, and some of the most colorful characters we've ever discussed.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"American Hippopotamus" by J. Mooallam for The Atavist, 2013

“How the U.S. Almost Became a Nation of Hippo Ranchers” S. Parks for Smithsonian, 2023

"The true story of when Congress almost released wild hippos into the Louisiana bayou", M. Rosza for Salon, 2022

"The Crazy, Ingenious Plan to Bring Hippopotamus Ranching to America", G. Miller for Wired, 2013

“A Dangerous Beauty” Army Corps of Engineers

Well, we're back with 1970's baseball again. This time, the hapless baseball team from Cleveland decided to offer a 10-Cent Beer promotional event... but they neglected a key restriction that would result in a riot that left both teams injured, the stadium getting torn up, and a massive force of Cleveland police coming to put an end to it. In this episode we'll talk about the city of Cleveland, the things that REALLY should be part of planning any event centered around alcohol, and the truly scary events of that night in June. Kick your feet up, settle back, and maybe drink a soft beverage as we explore what might be the worst riot in baseball history.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources:

The night beer and violence bubbled over in Cleveland, by Paul Jackson for ESPN

Forty years ago, 10-cent beer makes memories, by Anthony Castrovince for Major League Baseball

The Strange Tale of Ten Cent Beer Night, by Bill Lubinger for Ohio Magazine

In July of 1916, five swimmers at the Jersey Shore were attacked by a shark. Four suffered fatal wounds and the fifth required two months in the hospital to recover. The "New Jersey Man-Eater" was front-page news across the country, and the attacks are still a subject of debate, scrutiny, and speculation. On this episode, Ella talks about the five attacks, the sharks who may (or may not) have been responsible, and the beach dangers much more likely to cause a fatal accident.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"Twelve Days of Terror", R. G. Fernicola, 2016

"Two Weeks, Four Deaths, and the Start of America's Fear of Sharks", V. McCall for National Geographic, 2019

"The Real-Life ‘Jaws’ That Terrorized the Jersey Shore", C. Klein for History, 2023

"The 1916 Shark Attacks That Gave Sharks a Bad Rap" by N. Gonzalez for Brittanica, n.d.

"The Shark Attacks That Were the Inspiration for Jaws", M. Gambino for Smithsonian, 2012

In 1896, the cities of St. Louis and East St. Louis were enjoying an economic boom that led to skyscrapers, mansions, and a 'tornado-proof' bridge connecting the two cities. That progress was unfortunately paused at the end of May, when an F4 tornado went straight through the downtowns of both cities.

On this episode, Ella and our special guest host discuss architecture, bridges, tornado damage, and a building made of popsicle sticks.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

“The Great Cyclone of 1896” Digital exhibit at St. Louis Public Library

“Tornadoes in the Past”, The Tornado Project, 1999

 “The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896, Being A Full History of the Most Terrifying and Destructive Tornado In The History Of The World”, by J Curzon, 1897

“On This Day: The Great St. Louis Tornado of 1896”, staff writer for NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information website, 2017

“It all Happened in 20 Minutes: In 1896, The Great Cyclone Ripped Through St. Louis”,  T. O’Neill, St Louis Post Dispatch, 2022

On Memorial Day weekend of 1977, an event space and nightclub in Southgate, Kentucky, called the Beverly Hills Supper Club caught fire at around 8:50 in the evening. Within minutes, the building was fully engulfed and beginning to collapse, and 165 people were dead and dying.

In this episode, Ella tells the story of the tragic and very preventable Beverly Hills fire.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Main sources for this episode include: “Inside the Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire”, by R. Eliott, 2010

"Remembering the tragic Beverly Hills Supper Club fire", staff writers for The Enquirer, 2021 "The Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire", NFPA documentary, 1980

Additional information from: "The Beverly Hills Supper Club: The Untold Story of Ky's Worst Tragedy", R. Webster et al, 2016

"$3 Million Settlement Approved In Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire", staff writer, New York Times, 1979

Join us for our 100th episode (!) as we journey to the lovely beaches of Hawaii... except they're not so lovely when being battered by 145-MPH winds. We're talking about the monetarily-costliest (and human-least-costliest) hurricane to strike Hawaii, 1992's Iniki. We'll be examining the failures - and difficulties - in tracking the storm, the weird mix of weather conditions that led to its formation, Greg's favorite global-weather pattern, Jurassic Park, and chickens! Lots of chickens.

Thanks for sticking with us for one hundred episodes! We wouldn't be doing this if you weren't listening, so our most heartfelt thanks and we've got plenty more disasters to talk about.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources:

USA Dept. of Commerce's Natural Disaster Survey Report on Hurricane Iniki

Tropical Depression Eighteen-E Discussion with Max Mayfield

US Army Corps of Engineers Hurricane Iniki Assessment

"Hawaii Hurricane Devestates Kauai: Iniki blamed for 3 deaths, scores of injuries" by Al Kamen, Washington Post, September 13, 1992

"Something's Killing Off Kauai Chickens" Honolulu Advertiser, August 2, 2007

...and a bunch of other news articles.

In 1912, English geologists and archaeologists were buzzing over the discovery of an amazing set of human remains recovered from a gravel pit outside the village of Piltdown. Amateur archeologist Charles Dawson had uncovered what looked to be Darwin's "Missing Link", the proof of human evolution. Thought to be 600,000 years old, Dawson's find - a fossilized human skull and a jawbone that looked much like an ape's - was immediately controversial and fascinating.

On this episode, we're talking gravel, lost teeth, the long con, and why you should always get an expert to vouch for you.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"The Piltdown Man Hoax: Case Closed" by M. Russell, 2012

"Study reveals culprit behind Piltdown Man, one of science's most famous hoaxes", by M. Price for Science magazine, 2016

"Solving the Piltdown Man Scientific Fraud" by I. De Groot for Scientific American, 2016

"The Problem of Piltdown Man", by M. Subramanian for Distillations, 2023 "Note on the Piltdown Man (Eoanthropus Dawsoni )" by A. Smith Woodward for The Geological Magazine, 1913

Who's everybody's favorite beautiful French sword-fighting bisexual opera singer? Join us as we discuss the incredible stories of the life of Mademoiselle de Maupin, Julie D'Aubigny, a woman who was both fascinating and more than a little terrifying. Separating myth from truth is difficult with many historical figures, but with a life this amazing it's a real challenge - sit back and enjoy the tale of swashbuckling, romance, and danger that is as close to the truth as we can get!

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources:

Gallant Ladies

by Cameron Rogers, published by Harcourt, Brace; 1928

Queens of Song: being memoirs of some of the most Celebrated Female Vocalists who have appeared on the lyric stage, from the earliest days of opera to the present time, to which is added a Chronological List of all the Operas that have been performed in Europe

by Ellen Creathorne Clayton, published in 1863

Anecdotal History of the Duel

by Émile Colombey, published in 1861

and articles from various sources

Throughout the 1920s, Britain built airships that never quite competed with the German and American programs. In 1929, they sought to catch up by holding (and funding) a competition between a commercial and government teams to build a rigid airship capable of traveling to the far corners of the British Empire. The team behind R-101 created an ambitious design that allowed for both long-haul travel and luxurious accommodations. However, 6 hours into her maiden voyage, she crashed into a French hillside, in the deadliest civilian airship disaster in history.

On this episode, we're discussing airships and blimps, the "Socialism vs. Capitalism" competition, and the fatal flaws in the R-101's ambitious design.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources for this episode include:       “R 101 Final Trials and Loss of the Ship”, Royal Airship Heritage Trust, retrieved 2023  “Airship: Design, Development, Disaster” by J. Swindon, 2012

“Innovation Pushed Too Far Too Fast”, System Failure Case Studies (NASA), 2007

The business of treating people as property has never reflected well on those who practice it; however, when the practice is not just morally repugnant but also violates the religious precepts of your faith... you really have to ask yourself what side of history you want to be on. In 1838, the Jesuit order of Maryland faced just such a dilemma. These are the choices they made.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources:

The Georgetown Slavery Archive

The Georgetown Memory Project

The GU272 Memory Project

Facing Georgetown's History: A Reader on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation by Adam Rothman, Elsa Barraza Mendoza, et al. (2021)

Further Resources:

⁠The Georgetown Memory Project⁠

⁠The GU272 Memory Project⁠

The GU272 Descendants Association

The Jesuit Plantation Project

The Slavery, History, Memory, and Reconciliation Project

In 1902, 1961, and 1971, Ibrox Park in Glasgow, Scotland, claimed the lives of 90 football fans in three separate accidents. In this episode, we’re discussing the Rangers vs. Celtics rivalry, architect Archibald Leitch, crowd dynamics, and how one of the most dangerous stadiums in the United Kingdom became one of the safest in the world.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources for this episode include:      “Singing and Dancing to their Deaths: Football’s Forgotten Tragedy”, by J. Hodgman for The Guardian, 2020   “Temple of Dreams, The Changing Face of Ibrox” by I. Duff, 2011      “The Fatalities at the Ibrox Disaster of 1902”, by R. S. Shiels for The Sports Historian, 1998 "Stairway 13", Rangers Football Club, 2021

In the hills of Tennessee, there is nestled a village that has some of the strangest weather on the planet - and the locals believe a legendary witch could be the cause. Come join Greg as he takes Relative Disasters on a road-trip; we'll discuss weather, the natural and supernatural, and the proper way to take a walk in the woods.

This episode took a lot of help to put together, so a big thank-you to our wonderful friends who helped us with the travel, logistics, and recording devices: Adrian, Anders, Carson, Catherine, Doug, and Gerry - you're all amazing and we couldn't have made the trip without you.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources:

The History of East and West Craven by Sutter Cane

Does this tiny Tennessee town have the weirdest weather on the planet? by H. Henderson, Smithsonian Magazine, April 2020

A Historie Moste Tragick of Mary Bell by Sutter Cane

Interviews with the lovely and gracious citizens Pamela, Frederick, Gunnar, Pound Foolish, Dr. H. West, Pluto Michaelson, Tommy (and Big Mike), and Dr. Sutter Cane.

At the turn of the 20th century, Galveston, Texas, was a thriving port city boasting an opera house, miles of beachfront resorts, and its very own weather station. Unfortunately, in September 1900 it was also the target of a Category 4 hurricane that is still the deadliest weather event in United States history.

On this episode, we're discussing 1890s meteorology, Cuban vs. American forecasting, and the worst weather we've ever heard of.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources for this episode include:

"Isaac’s Storm: a Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History” by E. Larsen, 1999

“The Great Galveston Disaster: Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times", by P. Lester, 1901

It was the most anticipated boxing match of the year, a fight to decide the heavyweight champion, a fight in front of fifteen thousand people in San Fransisco. There were just a couple of issues... 1), it was illegal to hold a boxing match in San Fransisco, and 2), they couldn't agree on a referee. Come step into ring as we talk about boxing, thrown/fixed fights, and what this all had to do with legendary Wild West lawman Wyatt Earp.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources:

The Earp Decision by Jack DeMattos

Inventing Wyatt Earp: His Life and Many Legends by Allen Barra

Various San Fransisco Chronicle and San Fransisco Call articles

At the end of the 16th century, 115 English colonists set out to settle Queen Elizabeth I's claim to the mid-Atlantic coast of North America, and were promptly marooned by pirates on the Outer Banks. Only a few weeks into the project, and faced with bad luck, drought, and a murder, the colonists decided to send their leader back home for supplies and assistance. When he returned three years later, however, every single one of the colonists had disappeared.

On this episode, we're discussing diplomacy, pirates, Schrodinger's Colonists, and John White's years-long (and incredibly frustrating) effort to get back to his friends and family.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources for this episode include: 

"The Head in Edward Nugent's Hand" by M. L. Oberg, 2000

"What Happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke?'" by staff writer for History, 2012

"The Mystery of Roanoke Endures Yet Another Cruel Twist", by A. Lawlor for Smithsonian Magazine, 2017

Come join us for a sporting event/political statement that got wildly out of control! We'll talk about some interesting historical people, one of the most interesting historical empires, and why wearing blue or green in the wrong place at the wrong time could get you killed. Also, bread is tasty and circuses are fun.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources:

The Account of Malalas John, written circa 540~ CE

The Wars of Justinian by Procopius

Blue versus Green: Rocking the Byzantine Empire by Mike Dash

In August of 1819, the Essex set sail from the island of Nantucket to the whaling grounds of the south Pacific. In June of 1821, less than half of the crew returned, with a horrific tale of a whale attack and months adrift at sea. On this episode, we're discussing sperm whales, whale oil processing, survival cannibalism, a series of terrible decisions (and one great one), and why Herman Melville's book 'Moby Dick' is so incredibly boring.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources for this episode include:

"In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex", by N. Philbrick, 2000

“Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-ship Essex", by O. Chase, 1821

"The face that sank the Essex: potential function of the spermaceti organ in aggression" article by D. Carrier, et all, for Journal of Experimental Biology, 2002

In this episode we'll be talking about why laws regarding stewardship of other peoples' money exist, how institutionalized prejudice threatened the lives and well-being of Sarah Rector and her family, and how she fought back and re-gained control of what was rightfully hers. Come meet the young millionaire who refused to let the shady people "managing" her money win!

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources for this episode include:

Searching For Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America by Tonya Bolden, published 2014 by Abrams

The Richest Black Girl in America by Dr. Lauren N. Henley

Washington Post article by Sydney Trent, September 3 2022

In 1859, a wealthy landowner in Whichelsea, Victoria, released 24 rabbits on his land for shooting, and unintentionally infested the continent with a rabbit population that peaked at 10 billion.  On this episode, we're talking bunnies: their homes, diets, families, and the incredible amount of damage they can do to an ecosystem. 

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources for this episode include:

"How 24 British rabbits took over Australia", H. Chen for CNN, 2022

"Defining Moments: Rabbits introduced", National Museum Australia, n.d. "How Two Dozen Rabbits Started an Ecological Invasion in Australia", W. Sullivan for Smithsonian Magazine, 2022

With Ella going nine rounds with Covid this week, please welcome our special guest-hosts: Greg's family! Join us as we talk about Action Park, the now-legendary New Jersey destination that promised great family fun... with a side-menu of skull fractures, skin abrasions, and - in six tragic cases - death. How this park stayed open - and how it ever opened in the first place - will be explored. Make sure your safety belt is fastened for this one!

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources:

Revisiting Traction ... Er, Action, Park by Joanne Austin, Weird NJ #25, October 2005

Remembering Action Park, America's Most Dangerous, Daring Water Park by Jack McCallum, Sports Illustrated August 2020

Class Action Park by Seth Porges and Chris Charles Scott III (Documentary), released 2020

Warning: This episode is centered on the senseless and preventable deaths of over one hundred children. If that's not something you want to deal with, please skip this episode and re-join us next week.

In the green, rolling hills and valleys of southern Wales, coal sat in rich veins. The process of removing that coal was acknowledged to be dangerous for the miners, a risk that they all accepted to provide for their families. None of them knew that the lives that would be risked were not just their own, but those of their children. Join us as we discuss mining operations, the power of the National Coal Board, and how de-humanizing bureaucracy can be when empathy for human beings is forgotten for the sake of a bit of cash.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources:

Aberfan:Disasters and Government by Iain McLean & Martin Johnes (Cardiff: Welsh Academic Press, 2000)

Aberfan: The mistake that cost a village its children by Ceri Jackson

On a clear summer morning in 1908, a bright light was seen in the sky over the Siberian forest around the Tunguska River. Minutes later, a shock wave flattened 800 square miles of forest, killed hundreds of thousands of animals, and blew out windows some 200 miles away from the impact site. But when scientists went looking for the crater, they found no evidence that anything at all had hit the ground. On this episode, we’re discussing meteors / comets / asteroids / meteoroids, space grazers, a lake with a weird shape, and what exactly lay at ground zero of the Tunguska Event.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources for this episode include: 

“The Tunguska Event: The Mystery of the Biggest Explosion in Recorded History” by Charles River Editors, 2014

"The Mystery of the Dark Asteroid That Scorched Russia" by M. Altamirano for Nautilus, 2020

"Tunguska Revisited: 111-Year-Old Mystery Impact Inspires New, More Optimistic Asteroid Predictions" by K. E. Smith for NASA.gov, 2019

"The Tunguska explosion, 114 years ago today", by P. S. Anderson and K. K. Witt for Earth Sky, 2022

"Preliminary Results from the 1961 Combined Tunguska Meteorite Expedition" by K.P. Florenskiy for Meteoritica, 1963 

"The Tunguska Mystery" by L. Gasperini, E. Bonatti,and G. Longo for Scientific American, 2008

Come with us to medieval Germany as we discuss lines of succession, human chemistry, and a very unfortunate and disgusting disaster. Find out about Heinrich VI, Freiderich I, and what happens when too many people stand on a floor.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources:

Encyclopedia Brittanica for the lives and reigns of Heinrich VI and Freidrich I, as well as background on various nobles.

One very patient and kind reference librarian from Erfurt who was willing to answer my questions.

Chronik von St. Peter zu Erfurt (translated)

On July 6, 1944, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus began their Hartford, Connecticut, matinee show with an audience of 7,000 ticketholders, mostly women and children. A few minutes into the show, however, the massive Big Top, which had been waterproofed with a paraffin-and-gasoline cocktail, caught on fire. On this episode, we’re discussing circus superstitions, city inspections, and a whole lot of fire safety.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources for this episode include:

“Circus Fire 1944”

“The Hartford Circus Fire: Tragedy Under the Big Top” by Michael Skidgell, 2019

“Hartford Circus Holocaust” by W.Y. Kimball for National Fire Prevention Association’s The Quarterly, 1944

We're going back to the Arctic for our final episode of the season! Join us as we talk about how dangerous the arctic sea is, what pack ice can do to ships (again), and why maybe listening to the people who live where you're trying to explore might be a good idea. We'll touch on the interesting lives and deeds of John Rae and James Fitzjames, talk about the weird politics that led to the expedition, and how everything was basically never going to work no matter how they prepared. Also, we found another place to visit and we'll preview a little bit of next season!

Thank you all for lending us your ears for a little while each week - we really appreciate all of the feedback, constructive criticism, and kind words you've had to share over these last few years. We'll see you again in January!

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources:

Ice Ghosts by Paul Watson

The Man Who Ate His Boots by Anthony Brandt

Deadly Winter by Martin Beardsley

Fatal Passage by Ken McGoogan

Unraveling the Franklin Mystery: Inuit Testimony collected by David Woodman 

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/what-happened-to-erebus-terror-crew-true-story

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1279489/

https://www.history.com/news/franklin-expedition-mystery-northwest-passage

https://www.thecollector.com/the-franklin-expedition-canadian-maritime/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/heres-how-amc-producers-worked-inuit-fictionalized-franklin-expedition-show-180968643/

https://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/franklin/archive/text/DickensHouseholdWords1_en.htm

In the summer of 1881, a heavy thunderstorm caused a flash flood in the Des Moines River valley of central Iowa, in the midwestern United States. The flood caused a small railway trestle bridge to weaken, which in turn caused a steam locomotive to plunge into Honey Creek - killing two of the crew and stranding the rest in the still-rising water. So begins one of the most remarkable rescue efforts in the history of American railways.

On this episode, we're talking bridges, bad luck, Victorian poetry, and the remarkable tenacity of an Iowa teenager.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"Iowa’s Railroad Heroine" (blog post at ISU Special Collections)

"Kate Shelley: Heroine of the High Bridge" (website)

"Kate Shelley: A Girl’s Heroic Journey", by T. Beck for Historynet, 2019 

"Our Kate" poem by J. B. Kaye, 1901

We're headed back to court again for a look at the 1922 Leser v Garnett supreme court decision! Join us as we discuss how women's right to vote has been a really weird issue in the US, what kind of folks were trying to prevent them from voting in the first place, and how is this stuff still going on today? Also, Greg's dog really wanted to be on the podcast this week, so listen for her tappy-toes in the background.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources:

The United States Constitution and Amendments

Leser et al v. Garnett et al Supreme Court Decision

How a Little-Known Supreme Court Case Got Women the Right to Vote by Lily Rothman

Visit your local library for books on voting rights in the United States.

In October of 1955, a ship named 'Joyita' set sail from Apia, Samoa, to the Tokelau Islands. The 300-mile trip should have taken 2 days, but she never arrived, and an extensive search failed to find any traces of either the 'Joyita' or the 25 people she carried. Not that she'd sunk; in fact, a month later, she was found floating off the coast of Fiji, with no one aboard and no sign of what had happened to her passengers and crew. 

On this episode, we're discussing ghost ships, Old Hollywood, iron pipes vs. the Pacific Ocean (the ocean wins, every time), and the curious and unlucky life of a luxury yacht turned into a patrol boat, a fishing vessel, and a merchant ship.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources for this episode include:

"Joyita: Solving the Mystery" by D. G. Wright, 2002

"MV Joyita: The Ghost Ship That Couldn't Sink" by B. Dimri for Historic Mysteries, 2022

"25 People Got Lost At Sea; The Ship Was Found, But The People Weren't", by C. Leigh for Medium, 2018

Come join us in the friendly skies, where danger is a constant co-pilot and daredevils risked their lives to entertain the onlookers below. We're going to talk about the 13 Black Cats flying troupe, Gladys Ingle's amazing "mid-air wheel replacement" stunt, and the incredible life of Bessie Coleman, the first African-American woman to get a pilot's license, along with barnstorming stunts and safety equipment (or lack thereof).

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources:

William J. Powell - Black Wings, published 1934

Doris Rich - Queen Bess: Daredevil Aviator, published 1993

The 13 Flying Black Cats

The Gladys Ingle Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oAzdbd0J2A

On a rainy May evening in 1937, thousands of spectators gathered at the Lakehurst, New Jersey, airfield to watch the German luxury zeppelin 'Hindenburg' land. Instead of the landing, however, they were shocked to see the massive airship catch fire and burn to the ground in a minute and a half.

On this episode, we're discussing airships and airship travel; hydrogen vs. helium; how the crash was documented; and the Hindenburg's short life and last voyage.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources for this episode include:

"Scenes from Hell - Herb Morrison and the Hindenburg Disaster", digital exhibit by the National Archives, n.d.

"What Really Sparked the Hindenburg Disaster", J. Stromberg for Smithsonian Magazine, 2012

"LZ-129 Hindenburg" page on Airships.net, n.d.

On its surface, it's a complicated legal case that took an appeal all the way to the House of Lords to settle. In reality, it's what happens when you attempt to swindle the relative of Lt. Colonel Alfred Daniel Wintle MC - a man who lived an utterly remarkable life and wasn't about to lose this last battle. Come join us for a discussion about a complicated military career, a case that changed the British legal system, and pants!

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources for this episode:

The last Englishman: An autobiography of Lieut.-Col. Alfred Daniel Wintle, M.C. (1st the Royal Dragoons)

The last Englishman - the unbelievable wartime exploits of AD Wintle by Sky History

Foreign News: Here Is an Englishman from Time Magazine, Monday, Aug. 08, 1955

Wintle v Nye: HL 1959

Judgement of Wintle V Nye, HL 1958 Nov-Dec

On the busiest travel day in 1971, a hijacker commandeered Northwest Airlines' Flight 305, as it was en route from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington. Upon landing in Seattle, he got what he'd asked for - four parachutes and $200,000 cash - and when the passengers had disembarked, he ordered the plane on to Mexico. But they'd only been in the air for a few minutes when the hijacker tied the cash to his body, strapped on the parachute, and jumped off the plane, disappearing forever into the dense forest of southeast Washington State. 

On this episode, we're talking plane travel, air piracy, flight attending, and of course, the mystery of DB Cooper.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

The official FBI report, which is online at FBI.gov

"The Hunt for D.B. Cooper Continues", by D. Tolentino for MuckRock, 2018

"Diatoms constrain forensic burial timelines: case study with DB Cooper money", by T. G. Kaye & M. Meltzer, Scientific Reports, 2020

Content Warning: In this episode, we talk about the deliberate murder of infants for profit. Please skip this episode if you'd like to avoid hearing about that subject.

When there's money to be made, there will always be people who will go too far to make it. The practice of "baby farming" - on paper - looks almost like a direct ancestor to adoption agencies or foster care. In reality, it was a way for people to make a lot of money, providing they didn't mind killing infants. It's a horrifying look at a system wherein lack of protection under the law, lack of body autonomy, and lack of option led to inhuman decisions and massive human suffering.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources:

The Baby Farmer (Thames Valley Police Museum)

Regulating sexual behaviour: the 19th century (UK Parliament)

Minutes of Evidence Taken Before The Select Committee on Infant Life Protection Bill

Baby Farming (The Adoption History Project)

"Baby Farming" – a tragedy of Victorian times

Amelia Dyer: The Victorian nurse who strangled babies by Sarah Lee

Victorian baby killer Amelia Dyer evidence found in loft (BBC)

On Christmas Eve, 1953, the North Island of New Zealand was settling in for the holiday when the crater lake on top of Mount Ruapehu abruptly gave way. Within minutes, a six-meter-high wall of mud and rocks was barreling down the Wongaehu River valley, where it knocked out half of a railway bridge...just as the evening Wellington-to-Auckland express train was approaching.

On this episode, we're discussing volcanoes, lahars, British / American train terms, railway bridges, Queen Elizabeth's first royal Commonwealth tour, and a truly incredible rescue effort.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources for this episode include:

The official Ministry of Transportation Inquiry into the Tangiwai Disaster, 1954 

"Tangiwai Railway Disaster 1953", a digital collection from Christchurch City Libraries, 2012

“Tangiwai Disaster”, a digital collection from NZ History

Come join us for the day the ocean caught fire. A simple, tiny mistake meant death for over a hundred and sixty people when the Piper Alpha oil rig in the North Sea of Scotland became engulfed in flames. We'll talk about the events of the day, how the safety protocols failed, and how the chain of events likely unfolded.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources:

Piper Alpha: The Disaster in Detail by Fiona Macleod et al.

Piper Alpha: The world’s deadliest offshore oil disaster

Piper Alpha - a timeline of the world's worst offshore disaster by Thomas Durham

July 6, 1988: The Piper Alpha Disaster

The 1988 Piper Alpha explosion

In March of 1979, the worst accident of the American nuclear power industry occurred inside the reactor of TMI 2, a brand-new power plant just outside Middletown, Pennsylvania. The operators knew immediately that the plant had to be shut down, due to leaking radiation, but it wasn't until years later that they - and the public - realized just how close they'd come to a full-scale disaster.

On this episode, we're getting into nuclear power in America, along with the energy crisis of the 1970s, an unusually well-informed President, hydrogen bubbles, airborne radioactivity, and exactly how much radiation the residents of central Pennsylvania might have been exposed to over the last week of March, 1979.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Main sources for this episode include:

"Three Mile Island: The Inside Story", digital exhibit at the National Museum of American History, 2004

"Three Mile Island Accident" by C. Douglas for Backgrounder, 2022

In 1898, an ambitious railway project intended to connect Kenya and Uganda  to the coast ran into trouble when construction hit the Tsavo River valley in Kenya. There, two of the local lions - both oversized, fearless, and very smart - spent nine months terrorizing the labor camps with nighttime attacks, killing between 35 and 135 laborers and injuring dozens more. 

On this episode, we're discussing those lions, aka The Tsavo Man-Eaters, aka The Ghost and The Darkness. We'll get into how they behaved, attacked, escaped, and were ultimately hunted down by the project's construction manager, J. H. Patterson (who narrowly escaped being eaten himself).

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources:

"The Man Eaters of Tsavo and Other East African Adventures" by J. H. Patterson, 1919

"Tsavo Man Eaters" by A. Black for Atlas Obscura, 2012 

"Tsavo Lions: Were bad teeth to blame for these man-eaters’ taste for humans?" Staff writer for the Field Museum blog, 2018

"Man-Eaters of Tsavo", by P. Raffaele for Smithsonian Magazine, 2010

"A Cultural Leap at the Dawn of Humanity" by E. Yong for The Atlantic, 2018

On St. Patrick's Day weekend in 1990, two thieves disguised as police officers broke into Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and stole 13 works of art, ranging from a Vermeer masterpiece to a decorative eagle. By dawn the next morning, the thieves and the art had vanished, and clues were few and far between. In the thirty-odd years since the theft, not one piece has been recovered, despite a $10 million reward. 

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.⁠

Sources include:

"The Gardner Heist" by U. Boser, 2009

"This Is a Robbery: The World's Greatest Art Heist", Netflix documentary, 2021

"About Isabella and her Museum", staff writer for ISGM, n.d.

"Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924)", by B. H. Smith for Boston Women’s Heritage Trail, n.d.

"25 Years After Gardner Museum Heist, Video Raises Questions" by T. Mashberg for the New York Times, 2015

"Milton art thief Myles Connor steals scenes in Netflix doc on Gardner museum heist", by D. Barbuto for The Patriot Ledger, 2021

"What to Know About the Gardner Museum Heist", by N. McGreevy for Smithsonian Magazine, 2021

In the late 1760s, rural France was terrorized by a beast. Appearing suddenly out of the rocky, forested hills of Gévaudan province, it would seize a victim and disappear, leaving only blood and mangled bodies behind. With an estimated victim count of at least 60, mostly small children, the Beast of Gévaudan was certainly real; but what exactly was it?  

On this episode, we're talking wolves, dogs, and wolf-dogs, along with hyenas, lions, politics, hunting, King Louis XV, and religious fervor in pre-Revolution France.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast.

Sources:

"When the Beast of Gévaudan Terrorized France" by L. Boissoneault for Smithsonian, 2017

"How The Beast Of Gévaudan Turned The Idyllic French Countryside Into A Place Of Unprecedented Slaughter", by K.Fraga for All That's Interesting, 2021

"The Real Story of the Beast of Gévaudan", by A. Johnson for Museum Hack, 2019

"The Beast of Gevaudan: Hunting the Monster of 18th Century France", by M-M. Renauld for The Collector, 2022

"Solving the Mystery of the 18th-Century Killer “Beast of Gévaudan”" by K-H. Taake for National Geographic Newsroom, 2016

"The Marin Report - Minutes written by Master Etienne Marin, Royal Notary of Langeac", by E. Marin, 1767 (in French)

"Marie-Jeanne Valet vs. the Beast of Gevaudan" by A. Black for Complete France, 2013

"Sherlock Holmes and the Beast of Gevaudan" by C. Andrews for History, 2013

"How An Ancient Volcano Helped A Man-Eating Wolf Terrorize 18th Century France" by D. Bresson for Forbes, 2017

In the summer of 1883, the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra were rocked by a volcanic eruption more destructive than any other in recorded human history. When the tiny, uninhabited island of Krakatoa erupted, it sent a plume of ash and gas 17 miles into the sky, created a 2,500-foot-tall pyroclastic cloud, and wiped out settlements thirty miles away with a series of deadly tsunamis. The eruption was so loud it was heard 5,000 miles away, and it sent so much debris into the atmosphere that it created a four-year-long global volcanic winter. 

On this episode, we're talking plate tectonics, the Dutch East Indies, disaster reporting, the B-52s, and the unsettling behavior of Krakatoa's current incarnation, Anak Krakatau.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include: 

"Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded", by S. Winchester, 2003

"The Eruption of Krakatoa (also known as Krakatau) in 1883” by M. R. Morgan for BRANCH: Britain, Representation and Nineteenth-Century History, 2013

"Krakatau: The loudest sound in recorded history", by B. B. Johnson and D. Russell for WBUR's Endless Thread, 2022

"Krakatoa: Devastating Explosion", episode of How the Earth Was Made (S1, E3), produced for the History Channel, 2009 

In the first quarter of the twentieth century, the city engineers of Ottowa, Ontario, designed a sewer line that was so full of combustible material and so poorly ventilated it blew up twice, causing injuries and property damage each time. 

This week, we're talking 'dark waterfalls' (so much worse than it sounds), exploding streets, DIY water piping, service station waste, natural gas on the loose, and dangerous laundry habits. 

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources:

"The Ottawa Sewer Explosions", by J. Powell for the Historical Society of Ottawa, n.d.

"May 29, 1929: The day that manhole covers rained down on Ottawa" by B. Deachman for the Ottawa Citizen newspaper, 2018

"The Ottawa Sewer Explosions", by staff writer, Sandy Hill History blog, n.d.

"The Good Sewer: Why Ottawa’s $232-million sewage storage tunnel is both an engineering marvel and an act of contrition" by A. Duffy for the Ottawa Citizen, 2020

On a hot June night in 1969, the New York police raided a gay club called the Stonewall Inn. They planned to seize some under-the-counter liquor, arrest some 'loiterers', and and close down the club for a day or so. Instead, they became the catalyst for a riot that lasted for six days and sparked a massive movement towards equality for LGBTQ+ Americans.

On this episode, we're talking Joseph McCarthy, sodomy and loitering laws, the Mattachine Society's 'sip-in' protest, the Mafia, Marsha P Johnson, and what we celebrate when we celebrate Pride Month. (And happy Pride from us both!)

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"Remembering Stonewall", produced by D. Isay for NPR / All Things Considered, 1989

"Why Sodomy Laws Matter", by staff writer, ACLU.Com, n.d.

"The Stonewall Riots: A Documentary History", by M. Stein, 2019

"Behind the Halloween Mask: Power, Identity, and the Law in New York", by J. Gutierrez for New York Historical Society, 2020

"Stonewall Inn and Christopher Park" page, NYC LGBT History Sites

"Articles That Sparked a Final Night of Rioting", by various for the Village Voice, 1969

"Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement" by staff writer, WGBH / PBS, 2015

"Life Story: Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992): Transgender Activist" by staff writer, Women and the American Story / New York Historical Society, n.d.

"Seymour Pine Dies at 91; Led Raid on Stonewall Inn" by D. Hevesi for the New York Times, 2010

It's our most dramatic disaster ever this week, as we take a look back in time to explain what happens when an 10-kilometer-wide asteroid hits a planet with life on it. In short: the dinosaurs perish, an ice age follows global forest fires, and the air quality hit an all-time low for ten years straight. On the other hand, after the impact, mammals had the perfect conditions to become bigger and brainier, sharks survived quite nicely, and plant and insect life diversified and flourished. 

On this episode we're talking asteroids, glitter, impact craters, dueling geologists, and why fur was THE fashion accessory for Fimbulwinter. 

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Primary Sources for this episode include:

"Extraterrestrial Cause for the Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction" by Luis Alvarez, Walter Alvarez, Frank Asaro, Helen V. Michel

Science Magazine Volume 208 Number 4448, 6 June 1980, pg. 1095-1108

"The Chicxulub Asteroid Impact and Mass Extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary" by Peter Schulte, et. al.

In 1903, a young Italian man emigrated to America in hopes of finding work, love, and money. Over the following thirty years, Charles Ponzi would work dozens of jobs, form several companies, marry a very nice stenographer, and become an important (and notorious) member of the immigrant Italian-American communities he landed in. 

On this episode, we're taking a deep dive into Ponzi's background and the dozens of smaller scams that informed the financial scheme he's best known for - the wild success and inevitable collapse of his Securities and Exchange Company, a fraud which caused the collapse of six banks and removed 20 million dollars from the local economy. 

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this article include:

"Charles Ponzi - Biography (1882–1949)", Staff writer, Biography.Com, 2014

"In Ponzi We Trust", by M. Darby for Smithsonian Magazine, 1998

"The Rise of Mr. Ponzi", by C. Ponzi, 1935

"Charles Ponzi, The Financial Idiot Who Drove Boston Money Mad in 1920", Staff writer, New England Historical Society, 2021

On May 10, 1849, wealthy New Yorkers set out for a night at the Astor Place Opera House to enjoy English actor William Macready's performance in "Macbeth". A few streets away, however, fans of rival American actor Edwin Forrest were preparing to 'express their opinion' at the urging of inflammatory press pieces and Tammany Hall. Before the night was out, Astor Place would be the scene of chaos, rioting, and the deaths and injuries of dozens of New Yorkers, police, and soldiers.

On this episode, we're discussing theater hooliganism, William Shakespeare, English vs. American acting styles, and how the New York State militia came to be firing cannons at unarmed American citizens in the middle of Manhattan. 

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources:

"Account of the terrific and fatal riot at the New-York Astor Place Opera House, on the night of May 10th, 1849; with the quarrels of Forrest and Macready, including all the causes which led to that awful tragedy! Wherein an infuriated mob was quelled by the public authorities and military, with its mournful termination in the sudden death or mutilation of more than fifty citizens, with full and authentic particulars" by H.M. Ranney, 1849

"Remembering New York City's Opera Riots", S. Simon (host), Weekend Edition, 2006

"When New York City Rioted Over Hamlet Being Too British", by B. G. Kellem for Smithsonian Magazine, 2017

On a sunny June day in 1904, well over a thousand German-American residents of Manhattan set out for a picnic and river cruise aboard the stately P.S. General Slocum. Fourteen years old, freshly painted and polished, and enjoying a reputation as one of New York's largest and most comfortable excursion steamships, the General Slocum was also a master class in maritime safety violations, with lifeboats that couldn't be launched, life preservers that couldn't float, and a fire suppression system that relied on rotten hoses and an untrained crew. Two hours after her launch that day, the vast majority of her passengers would be dead; the remainder would spend years trying to come to terms with New York's worst maritime disaster.

On this episode, we're discussing fake safety inspections, imaginary fire drills, what makes cork float, swimming in Hell Gate, life in New York City's Little Germany, and some theories on why some disasters are remembered far longer than others.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include: 

New York’s Awful Steamboat Horror, HD Northrup, 1905

The General Slocum, by J. Kalafus for Gare Maritime, 2007

"The General Slocum Disaster of June 15, 1904", by V Wingfield for the New York Public Library Blog, 2011

"Thousands Sob as Baby Unveils Slocum Statue" NY Times, 1905

“Fearful Visitation, The Steamship Fire of the General Slocum, 1904” documentary by PBS, 2004

It's an Arctic Ghost Ship Double-Header! First up is the HMS Terror, which carried Sir John Franklin's 1845 expedition all the way to King William Island in the very far north of Nunavut, Canada, before freezing into the pack ice and being abandoned; and in the second half, we've got the SS Baychimo, a cargo freighter lost in pack ice off the coast of Alaska in 1931. Although they were abandoned at either end of the Arctic and nearly a century apart, both the Terror and the Baychimo were repeatedly spotted - and in some cases, boarded - by locals multiple times before disappearing again. 

On this episode, we're talking about how interesting the Arctic Ocean is, why so many people died looking for the Northwest Passage, pack ice fun facts, and whether kraken have bathtub toys. Put on your winter gear, pop those drinks in a cooler, and get your icebreakers ready - it's going to be a chilly one.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources:

"HMS Terror and Erebus", Royal Museums of Greenwich website

"Arctic shipwreck 'frozen in time' astounds archaeologists" by R Smith for National Geographic, 2019

"Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt" by P Watson for The Guardian, 2016

"Arctic 'ghost ship' found -- Sir John Franklin's doomed HMS Terror" by B Jones for CNN.com, 2016

"Baychimo: Arctic Ghost Ship" by A Dalton, 2006

"SS Baychimo: the Ghost Ship that sailed alone for 38 years and disappeared…", staff writer for Random Times, 2018

"Rediscovering the S.S. Baychimo at the UA Museum of the North" University of Alaska Museum of the North webpage, 2016

"No traces found today of SS Baychimo, the “Ghost Ship of the Arctic” that roamed the seas unmanned for decades" by M Chalakoski for The Vintage News, 2018

On a hot July evening in 1979, thousands of Chicagoans gathered in Comisky Park for a double-header between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. After a lackluster season, White Sox owner Bill Veeck was hoping to fill seats with a promotion called "Disco Demolition Night", in which spectators could get a discount ticket if they brought a disco record to be blown up by local radio celebrity Steve Dahl. 

On this all-American episode, we're discussing the national game (baseball) and the national music (rock 'n roll, baby), along with riot police, disco, explosions, radio talk shows, blow-dried hairdos and one very pissed-off radio DJ. 

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include: 

"Disco Demolition Night" by A. Behrens for ESPN Chicago, 2004

“When Fans Wanted to Rock,the Baseball Stopped: Sports, Promotions, and the Demolition of Disco on Chicago’s South Side" by C. J. Young for The Baseball Research Journal, 2009

"The Death of Disco Did Not Take Place: Disco Demolition Night and The Rhetorical Destruction of Disco" by J. Williams for the Richard Macksey Journal, 2021

“Disco Demolition 25th Anniversary: The Real Story", 2000

"Disco Demolition Night was Not Racist, Not Anti-Gay" by S Dahl for Medium, 2016

"Disco Demolition: The Night They Tried to Crush Black Music" by A. Petridis for the Guardian, 2019

Who knew that a ball of plutonium could be dangerous? We were surprised too! 

At the end of World War II, the United States' Manhattan Project was left with an extra plutonium core, intended for an atomic bomb that was never built. What does one do with a subcritical ball of plutonium? Experiment, of course. At Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, scientists and physicists performed a number of criticality studies and tried out various neutron reflector materials on "Rufus". 

On this episode, we're discussing the Los Alamos Laboratory, proper use of a flathead screwdriver, lab cowboys, the strengths and flaws of Rufus: The Demon Core, and the two tragic and preventable deaths associated with Rufus. As a special bonus, Greg drops the worst pun that Ella's ever heard.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources:

"The Demon Core and the Strange Death of Louis Slotin" by A Wellerstein for the New Yorker, 2016

"The Third Core's Revenge" by A Wellerstein for Restricted Data: The Nuclear Secrecy Blog, 2013

"The Blue Flash" by A Wellerstein for Restricted Data: The Nuclear Secrecy Blog, 2016

This week it's a public health special on a topic you probably don't need to worry too much about: leprosy. Today it's treated with a three-drug cocktail, but in 1892 Queensland, Australia, it was so feared that the government made Peel Island, off the cost of Brisbane, into a leper colony. Here, sufferers from across the state would be housed, treated, and kept isolated from the general population until they died. Of course, from the moment the first patients arrived ... nothing went smoothly.

On this episode, we're getting into healthcare architecture, uninhabited islands, Hansen's Disease, some incredibly racist public health policies, dueling pianos, and why you shouldn't inject gold into your bloodstream.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Main sources for this episode include:

“Isolation and Segregation: An Intercultural Analysis of the Peel Island Lazaret” by Juckes, Greenop, and Jarzab, 2013

“Peel Island: Paradise or Prison?” by P Ludlow, 1999

"Peel Island Lazaret" CyArk Project, 2017

"'Intended solely for their greater comfort and happiness': Historical archaeology, paternalism and the Peel Island Lazaret", by J M Prangnell, 1999

We just can't seem to stay away from the beautiful (and dangerous) state of Pennsylvania! Today we're visiting a town called Donora, where in October of 1848 the weather and the local zinc factory combined to create a blanket of yellow smog that lay over the town for five full days. Unfortunately for the citizens of Donora, this particular smog wasn't just smelly and impossible to drive in, but loaded with poisonous fluorine. 20 people died in the event, and an estimated 6,000 residents were injured before heavy rains were able to clear the air. 

On this episode, we're talking about temperature inversions, Acts of God, the surface of Venus, a cornucopia of lawsuits, and why your fog should never be yellow and opaque. 

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"1948 Donora Smog", Wikipedia, last updated 2022

"A Darkness in Donora", E Kiester Jr. for Smithsonian Magazine, 1999

"Museum Remembers Donora's Deadly 1948 Smog" D Hopey for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2008

"When smoke ran like water: tales of environmental deception and the battle against pollution" D Davis, 2002

"The Deadly Donora Smog of 1948 Spurred Environmental Protection - But Have We Forgotten The Lesson?" L Boissoneault for Smithsonian Magazine, 2018

In the summer of 1945, as World War II was drawing to a close, a number of unusual animal attacks occurred in and around the town of Erehwon, New Jersey, on the American east coast. Miles away from their nesting ground in the Pine Barrens wilderness, a pair of Jersey Devils were spotted circling a playground, 'befouling' a public library, burning down a barn, scaring campers, and, in the most serious incident, attacking and carrying away a 10-year-old child. 

On our annual Special Episode, we're talking about the rare North American amphibian 'Ineptias mendax' - commonly known as the Jersey Devil. We'll get into their unique biology, life cycle, diet (NOT known to include human children) and habits, as well as a full explanation of the events of 1945. And of course we'll sidebar on the Hermit of Erehwon, the 1909 sightings, two exercises in creative taxidermy, the history of Smith's Bird Farm, the Jersey Devil Gingerbread Men, and - why not?- the invention of snake oil.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"My Time in the Barrens", M. Morrison, 2001 (reprint)

"Into the Lair of the Jersey Devil", M. Morrison, P. Smith for the National Geographic Magazine, 1975

"Pine Barrens Secrets: What we still don’t know about the Jersey Devil", M. Morrison, P. Smith for the National Geographic Magazine, 1979

Smith Family Papers Collection and Nemo and Burlington County Newspapers Collection, Nemo County (NJ) Historical Society, 1860-1995

"1945 Attacks: Overview", staff writer, FriendsoftheNewJerseyDevil.com, 2019

In the spring of 1874, a plague of locusts descended on the American Midwest in a swarm so vast it blocked the sky for miles before it settled down and beginning to eat...everything. Farmers and homesteaders fought back with blankets, coal tar, and fire, with exactly zero success. By the first frost that autumn, an estimated 120 billion Rocky Mountain Locusts had destroyed hundreds of thousands of square miles of farmland.  

On this episode, we're talking grasshoppers vs. locusts, high-protein snacks, an anti-locust fungus, disaster relief, and some pretty incredible hopping muscles.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"Grasshopper Plague of 1874", by staff writer, Kansas Historical Society, 2016

"1874: The Year of the Locust", by C. Lyons for Historynet, 2012

"The Death of the Super Hopper", by J. Lockwood for High Country News, 2003

"Report of the United States Entomological Commission", F. V. Hayden et all, 1878

In 1905, a backed-up canal on the Colorado River caused a years-long flood into Imperial Valley, California. The resulting deluge of freshwater, along with new advances in canal engineering and agricultural practices, became an important part of southern California's economy, allowing the land to provide fresh produce and meat to much of the Southwestern United States. The flood also created an enormous lake at the lowest point of the valley. For a long time, all was well - the valley produced huge yields of fresh food, and the "Salton Riveria" became a popular vacation spot for families from Los Angeles and San Diego. 

In the 1970s, however, scientists began warning that all was not well with the Salton Sea's ecology, and by the 2010s, their worst predictions were coming true. Runoff from the farms and feedlots, plus a hotter, drier climate, caused fish to die off, birds to stop visiting, and vacationers to go elsewhere. Even worse, the exposed lakebed was filling the air with toxic dust, creating an array of public health issues in Imperial Valley's residents. On this episode, we're getting into environmental disaster, pollution, freshwater fish die-offs, outsider art, cleaning costs, and how electric cars might just save the day.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include: 

"Toxic Dust From a Dying California Lake", C. Iovenko for the Atlantic, 2015

"Salt Dreams, Land and Water in Southern California", by W. deBuys, 1999

Bombay Bech Biennale (ongoing)

"The Salton Sea", Pacific Institute / UC Riverside (ongoing)

"Mining At The Salton Sea: Area Set To Become A Massive Lithium Source In The US", by Staff Writer for Planet Voice, 2021

"Miracle in the Desert - Salton City" video, 1968

On the December 15 evening rush hour in 1967, traffic was heavy on the Silver Bridge, a 40-year-old suspension bridge connecting the states of Ohio and West Virginia. When a single link broke on the bridge's suspension system, none of those drivers had time to react - and within 20 seconds, dozens of cars and trucks had toppled into the icy Ohio River as the bridge collapsed. 64 people fell in the river, and 46 of them died, in the deadliest bridge failure in US history.

On this episode, we're talking suspension bridge design - the good, the bad, and the non-redundant -, the cause of that little crack in Eyebar 330, why bridge inspections had failed to catch an issues, and some incredible stories from the survivors. And, of course, we're discussing Mothman, who is (sadly) less of a cryptid / urban legend, and more of a blatant cash grab. 

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources:

The Silver Bridge at WV.Gov

The deadliest bridge disaster in US history was caused by a tiny crack just three millimeters deep by Matt Reimann for Timeline, 2017

Silver Bridge Collapse, staff writer for Corrosion Doctors, 2022

In the late spring of 1889, southern Pennsylvania's South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club was gearing up for another summer of luxurious hiking, boating, and swimming, when an unexpected rainstorm dropped 10 inches of water on their pristine mountain getaway. The resulting rise in the club's lake, Lake Conemaugh, spelled disaster for the dam holding it back. And with the failure of the dam came the horrific flood in the valley below, a flood which took out railroad bridges, knocked over factories, tore houses off their foundations, and wiped out downtown Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in less than an hour. 

In this episode, we're getting into the details of what that flood looked like to eyewitnesses; why the dam broke; the Carnegie libraries (it's relevant!!), the astonishing amount of money in the steel industry, and what exactly the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club was doing up there in the Alleghany Mountains. 

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Main sources for this episode include: 

Charles Guggenheim's documentary "The Johnstown Flood", 1898

"How Andrew Carnegie Built the Architecture of American Literacy", by K. Capps, Bloomberg City Lab, 2014

"A history of Johnstown and the great flood of 1889: a study of disaster and rehabilitation" by N D Shappee, 1940 

"Through the Johnstown Flood" by D J Beale, 1890

In the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, a British ski jumper named Michael Edwards competed with enthusiasm, sportsmanship, and optimism. It had been a lifelong dream to compete in the Olympics, and he made the most of it, soaring to ... dead last in every event in which he competed. On this episode, the story of "Eddie the Eagle", skiing in England (it's harder than you think!), Olympic glory, Finnish pop music, and the joy of achieving your dreams and finding your niche.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources:

Eddie the Eagle: From scavenging bins and living in a mental asylum to working at Glenshee by Gayle Ritchie

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/past-times/1886605/eddie-the-eagle-from-scavenging-bins-and-living-in-a-mental-asylum-to-working-at-glenshee/

Flying High by Stuart Jeffries

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/sep/03/sport.athletics

http://eddie-the-eagle.co.uk/

In the spring of 1902, Mt Pelée, a volcano on the Caribbean island of Martinique, began behaving a little strangely. First, there was the overwhelming stink of sulphur. Then, steam eruptions became visible, and ash began to fall. Next were snake attacks, mudslides, flash floods, tsunamis, and smallpox. At the foot of the volcano, in the town of St Pierre, people were torn between evacuation ... and voting in the upcoming election, in which Progressive and Radical candidates were facing off for a seat in French Parliament. On this episode, we're getting into why politics and volcanoes should never mix. 

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

“The Day the World Ended” by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, 1969

"The Eruption of Mt. Pelee", San Diego State University geology department, 2001

"Benchmarks: May 8, 1902: The deadly eruption of Mount Pelée" by J. Rosen for Earth Magazine, 2015

"The Unlucky Consul: Thomas Prentis and the 1902 Martinique Disaster" by W. Bent for American Foreign Service Association Journal, 2020

On a chilly February morning in 1992, 79-year-old Stella Liebeck ordered a 49-cent cup of hot coffee from a McDonald's drive-through. When she opened the top to add cream and sugar, the flimsy cup spilled 190-degree coffee into her lap, resulting in excruciatingly painful 3rd degree burns.

Mrs. Liebeck sued for gross negligence, asking McDonald's to improve their cups, lower the temperature of their dangerously hot coffee, and pay her $20,000 worth of medical bills; McDonald's countered with...$800. After a week-long trial, the jury found McDonald's responsible and awarded Mrs. Liebeck two days' worth of the fast-food giant's coffee sales, a sum of $2.7 million. No, the Golden Arches never paid her the full sum, and the press had a field day with "Woman Spills Hot Coffee, Wins Millions" stories.

On this highly caffeinated episode, we're looking into coffee safety, burn lawsuits, tort reform, and how hot you should really be drinking your morning beverage.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode:

The McDonald’s Hot Coffee Case from Consumer Attorneys of California

McDonalds' Hot Coffee Case - Read the Facts NOT the Fiction

Liebeck v. McDonald’s: The Hot Coffee Case by Allison Torres Burtka

The Truth Behind the Infamous McDonald’s Hot Coffee Case by A.J. Serafini

And Now, The Rest of the Story by Kevin G. Cain

Stella Liebeck vs. McDonald’s Restaurants by Elizabeth Gam

The Le Mans 24, one of auto racing's oldest and most dangerous endurance races, has seen its share of fatal accidents over the past 100 years. That's thanks to mixed surfaces, sharp corners and curves, unpredictable weather, and very, very fast driving for hours at a time. Spectators at Le Mans expect to see the cutting edge of automotive technology from all the major European carmakers PLUS expert driving skills, and most years they get exactly that. 

In the 1955 race, however, the delicate balance of speed, skill, and conditions failed, causing a single-car crash that snowballed into the worst accident in motorsports history. On this episode, we're looking at the history of the race, the quirks of the course, and what exactly happened the evening of June 11, 1955. 

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include: 

"THE TRAGEDY AT LE MANS", by B. Newman for Sports Illustrated, 1986

"Le Mans 1955: the disaster that changed motorsport forever", by B. Goodhart for GQ, 2020

"On Auto Racing’s Deadliest Day", by B. Spurgeon for the NY Times, 2015

"Le Mans 1955", short film by Q. Baillieux, 2018 

"Everything You Need to Know about the 24 Hours of Le Mans Race" by R. Ceppos for Car and Driver, 2021

In this episode, we're tackling one of the great wildlife stories of all time: Cocaine Bear. We'll get into the finer points of drug laws, a quick history of cocaine (a key ingredient in both shampoo and children's medicines!), the socioeconomic ramifications of Reagan's "War on Drugs", and the adrenaline-seeking hi-jinks of Drew Thornton II. But the real star of our story is the 175-pound black bear who stumbled upon a duffel bag of cocaine in the Georgia wilderness and ... ate it. 

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources:

Drew Thornton's Last Adventure by Sally Ann Denton for the Washington Post, October 20 1985

The Bluegrass Conspiracy: An Inside Story of Power Greed, Drugs and Murder, also by Sally Denton

Cocaine's Skydiving Smugglers by John S. Demott, Time Magazine, October 1985

Meet Our New Mascot: Cocaine Bear by Coleman Larkin, August 19 2015

The True Story Behind ‘Cocaine Bear’ by EJ Dickson for Rolling Stone

Cocaine Research: What is the Scope of Cocaine Usage in the United States

In December 1872, the American brigantine 'Mary Celeste' was found drifting hundreds of miles off the coast of Portugal - with not a living soul aboard, and no sign whatsoever of what had caused her crew and passengers to abandon ship. On this episode, we cover Mary Celeste's history of bad vibes all the way from her maiden voyage (where the captain died) to her final sinking (where the captain was convicted of insurance fraud). We'll also talk about who was aboard in 1872, what they were carrying, and the High Court of Gibraltar's investigation into the incident. And along the way we'll get into sea monsters, pirates, salvage law, Arthur Conan Doyle, and why you should never keep your explosive liquids in red oak barrels. 

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"Mary Celeste: What Actually Happened Aboard The Notorious Ghost Ship" by J. Kuroski, All That's Interesting, 2021

"Abandoned Ship: The Mary Celeste", by J. Blumberg, Smithsonian Magazine, 2007

 MaryCeleste.Net

"Solved: The Mystery of the Mary Celeste", by A. Lee, The Express, 2006

"The Mary Celeste", by Brian Freemantle, 1999 (fiction)

Strap on your sandals and join us for a trip to the Nubian kingdom of Kush, where, in 27 BCE, the rapidly expanding Roman Empire bit off slightly more than it could chew. This isn't a story of legions marching into battle - instead, this is the tale of Queen Amanirenas, the one-eyed warrior queen who stopped the might of the Roman war machine with courage, strategy, and a handful of golden arrows. On this episode, we're getting into archery vs. siege engines, matrilinear lines of succession, The Candaces, and why an amazingly preserved bust of Cesar Augustus (glass eyes and all!) was buried underneath the front steps of a Kushite temple.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources:

The One-Eyed African Queen Who Defeated the Roman Empire by Adhiambo Edith Magak

The Land of Nubia by Janice Kamrin and Adela Oppenheim

Kandake Amanirenas from Lisapo Ya Kama African History

Decapitated head of Emperor which amazed archaeologists in Sudan in 1910 goes on display by Ben Miller

In the spring of 1846, a group of 90 would-be settlers left Independence, Missouri, for new lives in California. Led by James Reed and George Donner, the group planned to head west by covered wagon as quickly and comfortably as possible, using the Oregon and California trails. But after being delayed by bad directions, a murder trial, an endless desert 'shortcut', and crippling losses, the Donner Party reached the last leg of their journey weeks behind schedule, only to be stopped by an early snowstorm in the Sierra Nevadas. Trapped by below-freezing temperatures and twenty feet of snow, they settled in to try and survive until help arrived, and soon found themselves starving and freezing to death in the most brutal circumstances imaginable. On this episode, we look into the unluckiest road trip in the history of westward expansion, plus a collection of grifters, a very persuasive guidebook, and one of the longest and strangest rescue efforts we've ever come across. 

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

“Ordeal by Hunger”, by G. R. Stewart, 1936

"The Expedition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate", by E. P. D. Houghton

"The Tragic Story of the Donner Party", by L. Radford, 2019

“Diary of Patrick Breen” by P. Breen, 1846-1847

“The Case for Cannibalism” by C. Cassidy, Wired.com, 2021

"Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California” by L. W. Hastings, 1845

It's the end of our first season! To celebrate, we're answering all your invasive and highly personal questions, spilling the tea on what went wrong with our least-favorite episode, bickering over who had the best research finds, and going over suggestions for next year. See you in 2022! 

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

Greg's specific and detailed memories of 2021

Ella's vague and questionable recollections of 2021

Get a glass of Tang and join us for a lofty episode on America's first space station: Skylab! When NASA launched the project in 1973, it heralded a new era of space exploration and scientific progression - one that was still, unfortunately, subject to the law of gravity. When Skylab's orbit began to fail in 1978, NASA engineers found that they couldn't quite aim it for the ocean the way they'd hoped - and they also couldn't quite predict where the flaming tons of wreckage might crash down. Cue the bookies, Chicken Little parties, 'Skylab Repellant Spray', and a slew of other weirdness ranging from the Miss Universe 1979 Pageant to a littering bill from rural Western Australia that went unpaid for thirty years. Along the way we'll cover the Skylab missions, solar activity, spiders in space, and why Ella worries about space junk falling on her head.

Bonus: dear listeners, it's our fortieth (!) episode and the end of Season One! We'd love to hear your thoughts on the past season and ideas for Season Two - you can email us at [email protected] or drop us a DM on Instagram @relative.disasters

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

Spacelab: A Chronology/ A Classroom in Space

Chicago Tribune. January 11, 1975 - "Skylab Rocket Debris Falls in Indian Ocean"

Karimnagar: Revisiting the Day Skylab Fell by Puli Sharat Kumar

Balladonia, Skylab crash site in Australia: How a fallen space station caused mayhem in the outback by David Whitley

The Strange Tale of the Skylab's Fall From Orbit by Rebecca J. Rosen

This week, we're off to Charleston, South Carolina, where at the height of the American Civil War a secret weapon was launched into Charleston Harbor. It wasn't a very good weapon - in fact, it killed three times as many of its own crew members than enemy sailors - but it was an example of cutting-edge wartime technology that wouldn't be attempted again until World War 1. In sinking the Union ship 'Housatonic', the Confedarate ship 'H.L. Hunley' became the world's first successful combat submarine; however, when it failed to surface after this victory, it became a long, weird footnote in naval history, one that's still posing questions today. Join us for a wartime story of privateering, blockades, torpedo boats, cast iron, and some extremely bad luck as we pick apart the story of the builders, crew, and victims of the 'H. L. Hunley'.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

“The H L Hunley: The Secret Hope of the Confederacy”, by Tom Chaffin, 2010

“Air blast injuries killed the crew of the submarine H.L. Hunley”, by R. Lance et al, Plos One, 2017

“The Amazing (If True) Story of the Submarine Mechanic Who Blew Himself Up Then Surfaced as a Secret Agent for Queen Victoria”, by M. Dash for Smithsonian Magazine, 2014

“The Old South Lives as It Buries a Part of the Past”, by E Barry for the Los Angeles Times, 2004

“In the Waves: My Quest to Solve the Mystery of a Civil War Submarine”, by R. Lance, 2020

Hunley.org

Hear the crack of the bat, the munching of cracker-jack, and the calls of the (possibly corrupt) umpire as we take you back to the scandalous 1919 World Series of Major League Baseball! On this episode, we invite our dear listeners to meet a cast of excellently-named conspirators, their gambling buddies, their dreams of unimaginable wealth, and what led to their ultimate downfall; and spoiler alert, it's not just unbridled greed. Grab your glove, toss a few pitches, and settle in for the tale of the so-called Black Sox - what actually happened, plus the myths and legends of a truly wild season of America's pasttime.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources:

Black Sox in the Courtroom: The Grand Jury, Criminal Trial, and Civil Litigation by Bill Lamb

Notes From The Shadows of Cooperstown by Gene Carney

The Black Sox Scandal by Bill Lamb

Misc. court documents

On a quiet November morning in 1980, a drilling crew making an exploratory borehole in the middle of Lake Peigneur, Louisiana, ran into a problem: their drillbit got stuck at 12,000 feet down. Although they didn't know it, this would be the first sign of an industrial accident on a massive scale, one that would flood a mine, drain a lake, cause a 150-foot waterfall, set off a geyser, and a begin a natural gas explosion. This week, we invite you to grab a salty snack, make sure your safety drills are up-to-date, and join us for a deep dive (sorry) into the Lake Peigneur disaster. 

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

“The Jefferson Island Mine Inundation: Report of Mine Innundation, Jefferson Island Mine Inundation, Diamond Crystal Salt Company, New Iberia, Iberia Parish, Louisiana” by M. W. Nichols et al, 1981

“How Can a Lake Vanish in 3 Hours?--Phenomenon Explained (The Lake Peigneur Salt Mine Disaster)”, video by L. Klein, 2020

“Lake Peigneur: The Swirling Vortex of Doom”, by A Bellows for Damn Interesting, 2005

“Lake Peigneur”

“4oth Anniversary of salt mine breach causing Louisiana’s Deepest Lake” staff reporters for KLFY

On a quiet December morning in 1917, a Norwegian passenger ship was speeding through the Narrows, just outside Nova Scotia's Halifax Harbor, when it collided with a French freighter packed full of TNT, guncotton, and fuel. The resulting explosion flattened most of the harbor-facing district of Halifax, caused a tsunami and a fire, and killed or injured upwards of ten thousand people. On this episode, we're looking at the causes of the accident and explosion, the heroism of the railway workers and firefighters who averted even greater loss of life, the loss of the Mi'kmaq settlement of Turtle Grove and the Black community of Africville, the blizzard that nearly derailed early rescue efforts, and the almost-unimaginable damage to Dartmouth and Richmond neighborhoods. We're also taking a look at the incredible rescue effort put forth by Canadian and American healthcare workers and emergency services, and the story behind the legacy Christmas tree that Nova Scotia continues to send to Boston every holiday season.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

1917 Halifax Explosion and American Response by B. Beed

The Halifax Explosion: Surviving the Blast that Shook a Nation by J. Glasner

The Survivors: The Children of the Halifax Explosion by J. Kitz

Catastrophe and Social Change: Based upon a sociological study of the Halifax Disaster by S. Prince

The story of Turtle Grove by Ava Coulter, Isabel Ruitenbeek and Julia-Simone Rutgers

Tracking Dr. Lonecloud: Showman to Legend Keeper by Ruth Holmes Whitehead

Nova Scotia Archives

Maritime Museum of the Atlantic

This week, we're road tripping with Henry Ford's worst idea: a Brazilian rubber plantation the size of New Jersey, where he planned to clear the Amazonian rainforest, grow hundreds of thousands of rubber trees, and introduce the locals to American-style efficiency. Join us for the lowdown on Ford's obsession with efficiency, the ideal 1920s company town, soccer & square dancing, a riot over canned vegetables, and the incredible run of bad luck that plagued the project from its inception onward.  

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:  

"Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City" by G. Grandin, 2009

"Henry Ford's short trip in his first vehicle 125 years ago changed our lives forever" by P W Howard for the Detroit Free Press, 2021

"Ford Rubber Plantations in Brazil", digital collection, The Henry Ford.org

"Henry Ford’s Muscle Shoals", by T. O'Donnell for Urban Utopias, 2019

Henry Ford's biography, Ford.com

Grab a handful of Brazil nuts and a glass of buttermilk, and join us for the tale of a knock-down, drag-out election between the dictator of a small town and the citizens who want him and his cronies out of office. The 1909 election in Zion, Illinois should have been a straightforward democratic vote, but it turned into something much, much more. On this episode, we've got it all: voter suppression and oppression, a collection of con artists and their grifts, millions of dollars in stolen and misappropriated funding, Flat Earthers run amok, and how the town of Zion came to have bathtub decency written into their legislation.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources:

"Zion City, Illinois: 20th Century Utopia" by P.L. Cook

"Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture" by G. Wacker

"Flat Earth: The History of an Infamous Idea" by C. Garwood

1909-1910 issues of the Zion City Independent newspaper

1909-1910 issues of the Zion Herald newspaper

1909-1910 issues of the Lake County Independent and Waukeegan Weekly Sun newspaper

(all courtesy of the Illinois Digital Newspapers Collection hosted by the University of Illinois)

Personal interviews

It’s mushroom clouds over Hollywood in this episode, as we immerse ourselves in the tale of the 1956 making of “The Conqueror”, an 'historical' epic based on the life of Genghis Khan. Produced by Howard Hughes on the largest budget in RKO Studios’ history, the picture starred A-list actors John Wayne and Susan Hayward, and was shot in beautiful Snow Canyon, Utah. That location happened to be right next door to the Nevada Proving Grounds, where an aggressive series of nuclear test detonations was ongoing; but is that really what caused the cancer deaths of a quarter of the cast and crew? Grab your Geiger counter and join us for a closer look into Snow Canyon, Operation Teapot, the magic of CinemaScope, and the production of what is possibly the worst movie ever made.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

“Who Nuked the Duke?” by J W Law, 2014

'Screen: 'The Conqueror'; John Wayne Stars in Oriental 'Western'', A H Weiler for the New York Times, 1956

John Wayne’s 1971 Playboy Interview Transcript

'The Children of John Wayne, Susan Hayward and Dick Powell Fear That Fallout Killed Their Parents', by K G Jackovich and M Sennet for People Magazine, 1980

Nevada Test Site Oral History Project

'Cancer Incidence in an Area of Radioactive Fallout Downwind From the Nevada Test Site' by C J Johnson, as published in JAMA, 1984

'Cancer Mortality and Radioactive Fallout in Southwestern Utah" by S G Machado, et al, as published in American Journal of Epidemiology, 1987

Come with us back to the Hundred Years' War, with a battle not between opposing armies but against (apparently) God. In the red corner: The English army of Edward the Third! In the blue corner: Lightning, freezing temperatures, 55-MPH winds, and hailstones bigger than your fist! The Black Monday Hailstorm of 1360 caused more deaths and injuries than any previous "battle" in the Hundred Years' War - come sit with us for a bit and find out why and how.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources:

The Chronicle of Jean Froissart

The History of that Most Victorious Monarch Edward III... by Joshua Barnes

The Chronicle of London

The luxury liner SS Andrea Doria made the voyage from Italy to America a hundred times without incident, and earned rave reviews from her wealthy passengers, who loved her modern décor and fabulous food. On her hundred-and-first trip, however, a cascade of poor decisions, design flaws, and bad luck ended in her sinking just off the coast of Massachusetts. On this episode, we take you through one of the worst maritime disasters of the 20th century, and attempt to explain why so many experienced divers are still risking their lives trying to salvage the wreck.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

“The Last Voyage of the Andrea Doria", by Greg King and Penny Wilson, 2020

“Setting the Hook: A Diver’s Return to the Andrea Doria” by Peter Hunt, 2011

“Andrea Doria 2020” dive video, 2020

“Down to the Andrea Doria” newsreel, 1956

“New images from submarine show current state of Andrea Doria wreck” by T. Thadani for the Boston Globe, 2016

“Andrea Doria Safe Opened” by M. Kernan for the Washington Post, 1984

“Andrea Doria – Tragedy and Rescue at Sea” collected and maintained by P. Grillo, consulted 2021

Personal correspondence by L. Siness, 1956

“Andrea Doria” page by R. Galino for New Jersey Scuba

“Everest At the Bottom Of the Sea” by B. McMahon for Esquire Magazine, 2000 

In this episode, we take a look at one man's personal disaster that led to a wonderful figure from American history - Emperor Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico. We'll discuss dogs, congress, a certain bridge, anti-Chinese racism of the mid-1800s, and we'll take a deep dive in to the truth of Norton's life as well as his posthumous mythology!

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources:

The Emperor Norton Trust

http://emperornortontrust.org

Emperor Norton: Historical Essay by Chris Carlsson with Michael Whitson

https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Emperor_Norton

Funeral Fit For a Queen - Bay Area Reporter, 9/12/2013

Down for a vist to the world's largest cave system? In this episode, we look at the discovery and development of what is now known as the Mammoth–Flint Ridge Cave System, in the US state of Kentucky. These days, it's owned by the federal government and overseen by the National Park Service; but a hundred years ago, caverns and entrances to the system, as well as unconnected caves, were owned by private landholders, small corporations, and a railroad. With American tourists eager to visit, competition for their dollars escalated to lawsuits, sabotage, and deceptive-to-untruthful advertising - and rivalries became so intense that the first quarter of the 20th century is known locally as the Cave Wars. This period culminated in the horrific and extremely public death of cave explorer William Floyd Collins, a tragedy that led to improvements in caver safety, a Pulitzer prize for one of his would-be rescuers, and a painfully long and complicated attempt to find a peaceful resting place for his remains.  

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

“Trapped! (Story of Floyd Collins)”, by R. K. Murray and R. W. Brucker

“The Kentucky Cave Wars” by D. R. Kem, 2016

“The Sucker’s Visit to the Mammoth Cave” by R. S. Thompson, 1879

“Human Chain Helps Loosen Prisoner in Kentucky Cave” staff writer, Associated Press article, 1925

“Tragedy at Sand Cave”, staff writer, NPS.gov

“Mammoth Cave National Park”, website, NPS.gov

Come join us in the water! On this episode, we explore how sharks are being driven to extinction and why that matters for humanity. We talk about Jaws, Megalodon, amiable sharks, human-left-foot-soup, and which shark Greg would go swimming with! Sit back, relax, and keep an eye on your toaster - that thing's gonna kill you.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources:

Alarming Decline in Shark Populations Points to Need for Stricter Conservation Measures by Rachel Hopkins and KerriLynn Miller

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2021/03/09/alarming-decline-in-shark-populations-points-to-need-for-stricter-conservation-measures

Shark numbers in 'alarming' worldwide decline as many species face extinction, study says by Doyle Rice

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/01/27/shark-populations-declining-worldwide-study-reports/4279611001/

Sharks at unprecedented risk of extinction after 71 per cent decline by Adam Vaughan

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2265724-sharks-at-unprecedented-risk-of-extinction-after-71-per-cent-decline/

The Staggering Decline of Oceanic Sharks and Rays by David Sims

https://therevelator.org/decline-sharks-rays/

Shark Week Opens With Fake Megalodon Documentary by Rich Juzwiak

https://gawker.com/shark-week-opens-with-fake-megalodon-documentary-1028053485

Discovery Channel defends dramatized shark special 'Megalodon' by Breeana Hare

https://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/07/showbiz/tv/discovery-shark-week-megalodon/

The history of Shark Week: How the Discovery Channel both elevated and degraded sharks by Matt Cohen

https://theweek.com/articles/444542/history-shark-week-how-discovery-channel-both-elevated-degraded-sharks

Shark Slaughter: 73 Million Killed Each Year by Ker Than

https://www.livescience.com/1027-shark-slaughter-73-million-killed-year.html

The Influence of Culture on the International Management of Shark Finning by Andrea Dell'Apa, M. Chad Smith, Mahealani Y. Kaneshiro-Pineiro

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00267-014-0291-1

Sharks and Tunas: Fisheries Impacts on Predators with Contrasting Life Histories by Daniel E. Schindler, Timothy E. Essington, James F. Kitchell, Chris Boggs, Ray Hilborn

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1890/1051-0761%282002%29012%5B0735%3ASATFIO%5D2.0.CO%3B2

The World Is Running Out of Fish Faster Than We Thought by James Wilt

https://www.vice.com/en/article/gvqmey/global-fish-stocks-are-in-even-worse-shape-than-we-thought

Shark Nets, Drumlines, and Safe Swimming by the Kwazulu-Natal Sharks Board

https://web.archive.org/web/20140128015833/http://www.shark.co.za/SharkNetsMore

Marine "Gold Rush": Demand for shark fin soup drives decimation of fish by Saeed Kamali Deghhan

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/04/marine-gold-rush-demand-shark-fin-soup

Beware of shark meat, FDA warns by Al Hinman

http://edition.cnn.com/HEALTH/indepth.food/meat/seafood/shark.mercury/index.html

Neurotoxins in shark fins: A human health concern from University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120223182516.htm

The Book That Spawned a Monster by Stephen Dowling

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3400291.stm

Shark Trouble by Peter Benchley

Sharks Should Be Respected, Not Feared from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

https://www.fws.gov/news/blog/index.cfm/2020/8/11/Sharks-Should-Be-Respected-Not-Feared

In the early 1990s, a privately funded ecology experiment took place in the Arizona desert. Sealing humans inside with thousands of carefully selected plants, animals, and insects, the Biosphere 2 missions sought to show that people could survive and thrive in a contained ecosystem - if they could just get over the sleep apnea, cockroaches, orange skin, constant hunger, and difficult interpersonal relationships.

On this episode of Relative Disasters: what went right in Biosphere 2? What went terribly wrong? And what does Steve Bannon (yes, THAT Steve Bannon) have to do with any of it?

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

“Pushing Our Limits: Insights from Biosphere 2” by M. Nelson, 2018

“The Human Experiment: Two Years and Twenty Minutes Inside Biosphere 2”, J. Poynter, 2006

"The Lost History of One of the World’s Strangest Science Experiments: The hummingbirds were dying. Cockroaches were everywhere. And then Steve Bannon showed up", C. Zimmer, New York Times, 2019

“Biosphere 2” website, University of Arizona, 2021

“'Bon voyage' 8 Biospherians Begin Journey in Greenhouse”, J. Erickson, Arizona Daily Star, 1991

“Take This Terrarium and Shove It”, M. Cooper, Village Voice, 1991

“Biosphere's image: rise, fall, and rehabilitation”, S. Veggeberg, Metanews, Columbia University, 1995

This episode focuses on the wreck of the ship Batavia off the coast of Australia and the horrific mutiny that followed. Join us for a discussion of stupid plans, intrepid heroes, and what happens when you let a psychopath take charge of a group of people. We'll take a few sidebars into the Dutch East India company, a torturous method of execution, and the moronic reason behind a major change in maritime law. All in all, a fun time for everyone.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources:

BATAVIA (1629): giving voice to the voiceless symposium

Defining Moments: Wreck of the Batavia

"Batavia's Graveyard - The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny" by Mike Dash

"Island of Angry Ghosts: The Story of the Batavia" by H. Edwards

"The First and Last Voyage of the Batavia" by P. Godard

In this episode, we look at the events surrounding the Great Peshtigo Fire - the deadliest wildfire in American history. If you’ve never heard of it, that’s probably because it took place the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, on October 8, 1871. Unlike the blaze in Chicago, however, conditions surrounding the Peshtigo fire turned it into a phenomenon known as a firestorm – a debris-laden flaming tornado that swept over the town of Peshtigo and surrounding communities at horrific speeds and temperatures, ultimately killing at least 1500 people (and possibly as many as 2500). We’ll give you some eyewitness accounts, an overview of just how flammable Peshtigo was in 1871, an introduction to the Peshtigo Paradigm, and the rundown on why you never want to use a white pine for a Christmas tree.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

“The Wisconsin Fires – Additional Particulars of the Unusual Phenomena Attending Them – Balls of Fire in the Air – Swift March of the Flames”, by staff writer (Milwaukee Sentinel, as printed in NYT), 1871

“The Peshtigo Fire”, by S. Holbrook (The American Scholar), 1944

“Fire at Peshtigo” by Robert W. Wells, 1968

“The Peshtigo Fire, October 8, 1871: Calamity and Response”, by N. Flesch (University of Wisconsin - thesis paper), 2009

“147TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GREAT PESHTIGO FIRE” by T. Baldwin (US Congressional Record) 2018

“Menominee Nation honored for assisting victims of Peshtigo fire”, by K. Vinehaut, 2018

“Remembering the Great Peshtigo Fire of 1871”, by G. Havel, (Fire Engineering), 2007

"Personal Letter to Mary Newberry", by Martha Newberry Coon, 1871

Join us in the somewhat-settled/somewhat-Wild West of the United States for a tale of a diamond mine that doesn't exist, the gleeful embarrassment of some of the biggest names in finance and politics of the late 1800s, and the unlikely twist of fate that exposed the whole scheme. It's an episode where the "hero" leads a double-life and the criminal masterminds settle down for quiet lives. Step behind the uncut stones for the unvarnished truth in this glittering episode of Relative Disasters!

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources:

Diamonds in the Salt by Bruce A Woodard

A Hole In the Ground with a Liar at the Top by Dan Plazak

The Explorer King: Adventure, Science, and the Great Diamond Hoax : Clarence King in the Old West by Robert Wilson

American Lives: The "Strange" Tale of Clarence King, NPR 

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129250977&t=1624938806853

Further Reading:

Passing strange : a Gilded Age tale of love and deception across the color line by Martha Sandweiss

Grab a swimsuit and top off your sunscreen - we're off to Australia's beautiful Bondi Beach! In this episode, we're looking at the events of February 6, 1938, when a series of rogue waves dragged 250 beachgoers - many of whom couldn't actually swim - past the headlands and into the Pacific Ocean. Thanks to the incredible efforts of the lifeguards and bystanders, plus new surf lifesaving devices and training in the latest resuscitation methods, all but five of the victims survived. Of course, since this is an Ella episode, we'll be doing a few sidebars on her mild obsessions with wool bathing suits, the guilty-pleasure reality show Bondi Rescue, and sharks.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include: 

"Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Study", by D. Steele (Consulting) for Waverly Council, 2009

"Black Sunday 1938: Hundreds Washed Out To Sea on Bondi Beach as Freak Waves Kill Five, Injure Dozens", by T. Lennon (Daily Telegraph), 2015

"Black Sunday on Bondi Beach", by staff writer, (Surf Sports Forum), 2016  

"Plucky Rescue at Bondi", by staff writer, (Clarence and Richmond Examiner), 1907 

"Between the Flags: 100 Years of Surf Life Saving in New Zealand: Resuscitation Methods", by J. Webber, 2010 

"Bondi Beach lifesavers commemorate 80th anniversary of Black Sunday drownings with re-enactment", by D. Spicer, (ABC News Australia), 2018

"Black Sunday", by Waverly Library / Local History Collection, 2020

"Australian Beach Cultures: The History of Sun, Sand and Surf" by D. Booth, 2001

Bondi Rescue channel (youtube), 2007-present

In this episode, we go back to the 80's and talk about how the nascent video game industry in North America was nearly wiped out by a series of bad decisions and hubris. We'll visit Atari, Pac-Man, E.T., and a landfill in New Mexico.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources:

The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steven Kent

Video Games Industry Comes Down To Earth by N.R. Kleinfield

-New York Time, Oct. 17, 1983

Home Video Games Are Coming Under Strong Attack by Robert Snowden Jones

-Gainesville Sun, Dec. 12, 1982 (Cox News Service)

What Went Wrong At Atari? by  John Hubner

-Infoworld, Vol. 5 #48

From Landfill to Smithsonian Collections: "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" Atari 2600 game by Drew Robarge

https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/landfill-smithsonian-collections-et-extra-terrestrial-atari-2600-game

In medieval Strasbourg, during a period of unimaginable suffering and poverty, a mania took hold. Infected people were gripped by the compulsion to dance in the streets until they dropped senseless from exhaustion - or died. When the strange illness began to spread, the city took a series of steps to help the afflicted, culminating in a thirty-mile trek to seek the intervention of an obscure saint who may or may not have been angry at the city's sinful lifestyle. On this episode, we look at the time period leading up to the dancing plague, possible causes, how it spread, what the cure looked like (it came with a free pair of red shoes!) and what made this event so much worse than similar ones across the late Middle Ages. 

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:  

“The Dancing Mania: The Strange, True Story of an Extraordinary Illness”, J. Waller, 2009

“The Black Death and the Dancing Mania”, J F K Hecker, (Babington translation), 1856

“The Differential Diagnosis of Chorea”, E J Wild et al, published in ‘Practical Neurology’, 2007

“The Dancing Plague of the Middle Ages”, M. Petcova, published in ‘Medium’, 2020

“Dancing Plagues and Mass Hysteria”, J Waller, published in ‘The Psychologist’ (British Psychological Society), 2009 

We're off for some birdwatching this week, with a deep dive into everyone's favorite extinction story, the dodo. Big, flightless, beaky, and laying only a single egg at a time, dodos were doomed from the moment Dutch merchants settled on the island at the turn of the sixteenth century. We lay out how and why the population dwindled, with extensive sidebars into how they tasted (not good), what they looked like (uninspiring), where the last few scraps of dodo remains are today (in museums and in court), and, most crucially, how likely they are to being revived through cloned DNA for observation and research in a Jurassic Park-style ecopark (not very likely, unfortunately, but we both fully support this). 

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

We're off to the African country of Cameroon this week to talk about the Lake Nyos tragedy, in which a small, rural crater lake exploded on a calm August evening. The eruption released a cloud of toxic gas that swept down into the valley below, killing every aerobic organism within a 15 kilometer radius - including at least 1750 people living in the villages of Nyos and Subum. We discuss the potential causes of the eruption; the incredible rescue and cleanup management; and Cameroon's efforts to de-saturate the lake, prevent another event, and move 20,000 displaced villagers back home. We'll also touch on the 2 other lakes in West Africa with the potential to explode, and Greg takes a deep dive into his secondhand textbook collection to give us a rundown on the difference between meromictic and monomictic lakes, as well as the particular conditions necessary for a limnic eruption.  

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

“Eco-Autopsy of the Lake Nyos Disaster in Cameroon” by A. G. Aghaindum, 2017

“The African lake with explosive power”, by J. Wenz, Knowable Magazine, 2020

“Defusing Africa’s Killer Lakes” by K. Krajick, Smithsonian Magazine, 2003

“Lake Nyos disaster, Cameroon, 1986: the medical effects of large scale emission of carbon dioxide” by P. Baxter, M. Kapila, D. Mfonfu, BMJ, 1989

“Lake Nyos disaster survivors to return home after 30 years”, Al Jazeera English (video), 2016

“The Killer Lake Powering Rwanda”, BBC click (video)

"When Lake Michigan Burps", by Laura Otto, University of Wisconsin / Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences blog, 2017

This week we're headed to Canada to discuss the story of Air Canada Flight 143, which ran out of fuel 40,000 feet above rural Manitoba in July of 1983. What should have been a crash was narrowly averted by a pair of skilled pilots, a handful of algebra, and a landing site on a decommissioned airstrip in Gimli - which happened to be packed with Canadian car enthusiasts watching a racecar rally. Along the way, we'll talk about the Canadian air-traffic industry's imperial-metric changeover, how to up-cycle an old Air Force base, and - most importantly - how to turn a Boeing 767 into the world's heaviest and least agile glider.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

Gimliglider.org

"The Gimli Glider" by Wade H. Nelson for Soaring Magazine, 1997

"'Gimli glider' recalled at trial of pilot in crash", CBC News story, 2007

"This Day in Aviation: 23rd July, 1983" by B. Swopes, 2016

In episode 17, we're heading to Vaughn, Mississippi, to look at the infamous wreck of Engine 382. We'll discuss John Luther "Casey" Jones, the engineer at the controls of 382, his career in the railroad industry, and his actions leading up to the wreck, with sidebars on speeding freight trains, the banana business, the Chicago World's Fair, train whistles, and all the Casey Jones songs. We'll also take a look at how Wallace Saunders and Simeon T. Webb publicized the story of the wreck, and our first Special Guest Star (spoiler: it's our Dad) will share his expertise on railroad culture, express lines, how steam engines speed up and slow down, and what caused Casey Jones to think the track was clear on the night of the accident.

*We mistakenly referred to the town in which Casey Jones lived as "Jackson, Mississippi", when it was, in fact, Jackson, Tennessee.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"Casey Jones - Epic of the American Railroad" by F. J. Lee, 1921

Audio interview with Simeon Webb 

"Casey Jones Accident Report", A. S. Sullivan / Illinois Central Railroad, 1900

“The Legend of Casey Jones” by J. Lambrecht, National Railroad Museum

Content Warning: this episode concerns an act of extreme violence: mass murder and mass suicide, including the murder of children. Please feel free to skip this episode if that's going to be hard for you to hear.

In this episode, we examine the life of American cult leader and mass murderer Jim Jones. We'll take a look at his strong beliefs in racial equality, and how this promising beginning descended into drug addiction, cultism, paranoia, power, and violence as we attempt to answer the question: how dangerous can blind faith be? As we learn from the events at Jonestown, Guyana, on November 18 1978 - if that faith is placed in the wrong person, it can be very dangerous indeed. 

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Partial sources for this episode include:

"Raven: The Untold Story of Rev. Jim Jones and His People", T. Reiterman and J. Jacobs, 1982

"Affidavit of Deborah Layton Blakey", "Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 642", and "Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 1053" , The Jonestown Project, San Diego State University, consulted 2021

Recording of FBI tape Q 042, "Death Tape", wikimedia commons, consulted 2021

"Father Cares", NPR audio documentary, 1981

"Jonestown FBI Files", Internet Archive, consulted 2021

This week, it's a self-inflicted and completely unnecessary disaster - one that took fourteen lives over the course of nearly thirty years, and outlasted the American Civil War. We'll be covering the 1847 argument between two very rich and deeply unlikeable Louisiana planters, Charles Jones and St. John Richardson Liddell, that led to the feud, and digging into the unbelievable pettiness of the following bloodshed. Related sidebars include an overview of how the legal system treated the feud's murders and lynching, Jones and Liddell's involvement in the Civil War, and the surprising career of one of the feud's few survivors, Cuthbert Bulitt Jones. 

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"The Black River Tragedy", Ouachita Telegraph, March 5, 1870 (Louisiana Digital Library) (https://louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/state-lwp%3A2497)

"The Death of F. S. Jones", Tensas Gazette, May 13, 1921 (https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=13261394&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjIyMTMzNDk3MiwiaWF0IjoxNjE2MTc4NzE2LCJleHAiOjE2MTYyNjUxMTZ9.ct_eSKX1DhI5qlcANmT1ulwhBm77FJQluyN61MC_5Wg)

"The Jones-King Matter", Savannah Morning News, June 13, 1885 (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015137/1885-06-13/ed-1/seq-2/)

"Liddell's Record", by St. John Richardson Liddell, LSU Press reprint, 1997

"Shiloh Veteran Murders former Confederate General in 1870", Geni entry for Col. CHarles Jones, CSA (https://www.geni.com/people/Col-CSA-Charles-Jones/6000000124769056821)

"Longtime Catahoula parish feud to reignite next weekend", by V. Hogan, Natchez Democrat, October 31, 2009 (https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2009/10/31/longtime-catahoula-parish-feud-to-reignite-next-weekend/)

"The Last of Louisiana's Aristocratic Feudists Upsets Family Traditions By Dying A Natural Death", Washington Times, October 5, 1921 (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23063216/the-last-of-louisianas-aristocratic/)

This week, we're looking at the amazing life of Dr. Henry Jones, Jr. and his discovery of the Ark of the Covenant! This one's got it all - guerilla archaeology, Nazis, and a prize of biblical proportions. We'll talk about the history of the Ark, its disappearance from the historical record, and its re-emergence and re-discovery in the 1930s. Nearly everyone directly involved with the project died in a mysterious explosion which took place at the opening of the Ark in 1936; we'll discuss what little is known of that, and take a look at the amazing life of Dr. Jones. Additional sidebars include the federal gag order on the Ark project participants, the current whereabouts of the Ark itself, and a little background on the great 1981 documentary on the subject.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

Freedom of Information Act Request 34-6897B (filed in 2008, released in 2015)

"Document 9906753" by Top Men.

"Raiders of the Lost Ark", PBS documentary by S. Spielberg, 1981

Add some ice to your drink and travel with us to Antarctica! This week we're talking about the US Navy's 1946 Operation Highjump, which sought to map Antarctica under the command of Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. We'll discuss the mission, the technology, the major players, and the horrific crash of the George One, a seaplane caught in 'the worst weather on planet Earth'. Three of the crew died on impact; we'll deep-dive into the story of the six survivors, and how they were rescued after two well-below-freezing weeks on a remote glacier. 

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources!

Most of the research for this episode comes from: 

“Antarctic Mayday: The Crash of the George One” by J H Robbins, 1981 (https://www.south-pole.com/p0000153.htm)

“Where Hell Freezes Over”, by D Kearns, 2005

“The Secret Land” US Navy documentary directed by O O Dull, 1948 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9chz8COYVc)

Other sources include:

“A Very Able Mariner” by N Polmar, Naval History Magazine, 2007 (https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2007/december/historic-aircraft)

“1946 – Operation High Jump”, by staff writer, Coast Guard Aviation History website, retrieved 2021 (https://cgaviationhistory.org/1946-operation-high-jump)

“Operation Highjump”, by P Hoversten, Air & Space Magazine, 2007

(https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/operation-highjump-18223476/)

“Spell of the Yukon” by R W Service, from “The Best of Robert Service”, 1953 edition (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46643/the-spell-of-the-yukon)

A little something to tide you over while we prepare the next episode! Here's Greg's quick look at look at the early life of the walking disaster Sir Gregor MacGregor, creator of the Poyais Scheme and swindler of hundreds.

Intrigued? For a complete bibliography and the full disaster rundown, please see Episode 04 - The Poyais Scheme.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Stroll with us down to Boston's North End and take a deep breath: do you smell something sweet? In Episode 12, we go over the 1919 industrial accident that resulted in a tsunami of molasses - over 2 million gallons - pouring down the street at 30 miles per hour, killing 21 Bostonians and a number of horses. We'll discuss what exactly happened, what was responsible (anarchists? capitalism? Prohibition? bad luck?), and why there was a huge, poorly-designed, poorly built storage vat of molasses sitting around in the North End in the first place. We'll also tackle the critical question of how the molasses got cleaned up, and if a popular local legend - that a molasses smell lingers in downtown Boston on a hot afternoon - holds up 102 years later.

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919" by S. Puleo, 2019 

In this episode, we discuss the stories of Pompeii and Herculaneum, the ancient Roman cities buried by the CE 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Join us as we go over new research on the causes of death during the eruption; the geology that makes the area particularly unsafe; the last adventure of Pliny the Elder; and how a man's brain turned to glass after being exposed to the heat of a pyroclastic surge. We also take a look at how Pompeii has fared since being excavated, with a sidebar on Stray Dog Management. 

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"Lethal Thermal Impact at Periphery of Pyroclastic Surges: Evidences at Pompeii" by G Mastrolorenzo, et al, PLoS One, 2010

"Pompeii Damaged by Volcaniclastic Debris Flows Triggered Centuries Prior to the 79 A.D. Vesuvius Eruption" by M. R. Senatore et al, Wiley Online Library, 2013

"Archaeological news: notes on recent excavations and discoveries", Harold N. Fowler, Editor, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol VI, 1902

"The Sites" pages, Pompeiisites.org

"Pompeii Reopens Its Museum With New Artifacts Decades After Closing Its Doors", J Poitevan, "Travel and Leisure", 2021

"The Destruction of Pompeii, 79 AD”, Eyewitness to History, 1999

"World Monuments Watch List - 100 Most Endangered Sites", World Monuments Fund, 1996

“Pompeiians Flash-Heated to Death – No Time For Suffocation”, by M Valsecci for National Geographic News, 2010

“Love Among Pompeii’s Ruins Extends to Dogs” by E Povoledo, New York Times, 2010

"Heat-Induced Brain Vitrification from the Vesuvius Eruption in c.e. 79" by P. Pucci et al, New England Journal of Medicine, 2020, https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMc1909867

"Visiting Pompeii" by R Jones, Bradford University & Anglo-American Project in Pompeii, http://www.archaeology.co.uk/cwa-2/world-features/visiting-pompeii.htm

In Episode 10, we swan-dive into the most ambitious and expensive film ever abandoned by Walt Disney Studios. Join us as Greg dissects the creative and administrative failures of "Kingdom of the Sun". We also get into the creation (and suppression) of its' making-of documentary, "The Sweatbox", the wasted Sting songs, and the phoenix that rose from the ashes of "Kingdom" - everyone's favorite talking-llama buddy comedy, "The Emperor's New Groove". 

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

The Sweatbox, directed by Trudie Styler and John-Paul Davidson, 2002, Walt Disney Picture/Xingu Films

The Long Story Behind The Emperor's New Groove by Jim Hill, http://www.laughingplace.com/News-PID115140-115142.asp

"We'll Never Make That Kind of Movie Again" by Bilge Ebiri, https://www.vulture.com/article/an-oral-history-of-disney-the-emperors-new-groove.html

Episode 9 is Ella's love letter to the Mona Lisa. Join us for highlights of the painting's 500-year history, including time spent in a royal bathroom and at Napoleon's bedside, and the 1911 theft that propelled it from 'relatively obscure example of Renaissance portraiture' to 'global media darling'. We'll get into the events of the theft, how the criminal was caught, and where she was concealed for two years (hint: under the thief's dirty socks).

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

“The theft that made the ‘Mona Lisa’ a masterpiece” by All Things Considered staff, (NPR), 2011

“The travels and travails of the Mona Lisa” by G. Garcia-French, Artstor, 2014

“Vincenzo Perruggia, the man who stole the Mona Lisa out of the Louvre Museum and made it a masterpiece” Vintage Everyday, 2018

“Treasures of the World: Mona Lisa” by PBS staff, 2018

Wikipedia articles on: Louis XIV, Louis V, Leonardo DaVinci, Mona Lisa, Vincenzo Peruggia, Palace of Fontainbleau, Lisa Gherardini, Uffizi, Napoleon

In Episode 8, our disaster is a person: Lord Timothy Dexter, the most-disliked person in the history of Malden, Massachusetts. We discuss The Malden Informer of Deer's rags-to-riches social ascent, his uncanny (diabolical?) good luck in business, his eyesore of a house, his terrible marriage, his publishing venture ("A Pickle for the Knowing Ones") and his two funerals, only one of which was a practical joke on his neighbors. Tune in and hear how it all unfolded, with a little help from whales, mittens, stray cats, Bibles, and the basement mausoleum that haunts both our nightmares. 

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

Life of Lord Timothy Dexter by Samuel Knapp

https://archive.org/details/lifeoflordtimoth00inknap

The Strange Life of 'Lord' Timothy Dexter by Zachary Crockett

https://priceonomics.com/the-strange-life-of-lord-timothy-dexter/

Historic Ipswitch.Org: Lord Timothy Dexter

https://historicipswich.org/2015/01/08/lord-timothy-dexter/

In Episode 7, we discuss the flight of Larry Walters, a California truck driver who decided, one pleasant Saturday in July 1982, to tie a few dozen weather balloons to a lawn chair and go for a quick float over the Mojave desert. The idea worked...but not quite as expected, sending Larry's airship, "Inspiration 1", into federally-controlled airspace over LAX before crashing into a quiet suburban neighborhood. We'll discuss cluster ballooning (both intentional and accidental), the design and current location of "Inspiration 1" , Larry's balloon obsession, and the amazing luck that led to his safe landing. It's our most uplifting episode yet! 

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

“How the Balloon-Borne “Flying Lawn Chair” Got Into the Smithsonian” by R. Maksel, Air and Space Magazine, 2019

“The Man in the Flying Lawn Chair: Why did Larry Walters Decide to Soar to the Heavens in a Piece of Outdoor Furniture?” by G. Plimpton, The New Yorker, 1998

“Larry Walters; Soared to Fame on Lawn Chair”, by M. Oliver, Los Angeles Times, 1993

“The Strange, Sad Odyssey of “Lawn Chair Larry”” by D. M. Brumfield, Medium, 2019

“Great News Photos and the Stories Behind Them”, by J. Faber, 1978

“Interview with Larry Walters”, David Letterman Show, 1982

Wikipedia articles on:

Lawnchair Larry Flight

Weather balloons  

In Episode 6, we talk about the third-deadliest natural disaster of all time: the massive earthquake that occurred in Shaanxi, China, during the Ming Dynasty. We'll cover why it occurred, what exactly happened, and what was going on with the Jiajing Emperor at the time, as well bonus sidebars on soil liquefaction, royal scandals, where to find loess, and why you wouldn't want to be in a yaodong during an earthquake (but, if you're Ella, why you might want to live in one during non-quake times).

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"A History of Civilization in 50 Disasters" by G. Eaton, 2011

"Historical Earthquakes in China" by G. Parraras-Caryannis, 2013, for Disaster Pages of Dr. George Parraras-Caryannis

and of course the Wikipedia articles on:

1556 Shaanxi Earthquake

Loess

Yaodong

Episode 5 takes us to the windy, isolated, and very cold Ural Mountains to discuss the mysterious deaths of nine hikers. We will cover the hike, the hikers, and the evidence left behind; we'll also take a look at several of the most persuasive theories surrounding the incident, including Yetis, the KGB, the weather, the wind, secret Soviet weapons testing, and - why not? - wolverine attack. 

(Remastered 1/30/23.)

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident" by D. Eichar (2014)

"Death of Nine: The Dyatlov Pass Mystery" by L. Anderson (2019)

"The Russian Conspiracy Theory That Won’t Die" by A. Luhn, for the Atlantic (February 2020)

Dyatlov Pass.com (Dyatlov Pass Foundation) (English translation) https://dyatlovpass.com/

and of course the Wikipedia articles on:

Dyatlov Pass incident - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_Pass_incident

Katabatic wind - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katabatic_wind

Kármán vortex street - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_vortex_street

Kholat Syakhl - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kholat_Syakhl

In Episode 4 we take a ride with swindler Gregor McGregor all the way to the beautiful tropical country of Poyais. You'll hear all about investment bubbles, South American political movements, the tried and true military strategy of running quickly away from the enemy, and how a Scottish con man convinced thousands of people to sink their life savings into shares of an imaginary South American paradise.

*Note from Greg: As our long-time listeners know, the original audio for this episode was corrupted. I've done my best to make it listenable, but our levels are still uneven and there's some generally poor-quality audio. Which is a shame, because this is one of my favorite stories. Remastered 1/30/23. 

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"Sketch of the Mosquito Shore: Including the Territory of Poyais...", T. Strangeways, 1820

"He promised people paradise — and sent them to their deaths", L. Getlin, New York Post, 2018

"The Fraud of the Prince of Poyais on the London Stock Exchange", B. Taylor, Global Financial Data, 2020

"Gregor MacGregor, Prince of Poyais", J. Brain, Historic UK, 2020

"The Con Man Who Invented His Own Country", E. Andrews, History, 2016

In Episode 3 we go to Centralia, Pennsylvania to explore a disaster that's much bigger than it looks from downtown. You'll hear all about mine fires, the slow and dangerous death of Centralia, and how failures at the city, county, state and federal levels started and worsened an enormous underground fire  - one that's expected to burn for the next 250 years. 

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠⁠.

"How an Underground Fire Destroyed an Entire Town", Morton, E., for Slate. 2014.

"Centralia, Pennsylvania: Hell on Earth!", Bolognese, A., 1982

"Unseen Danger", DeKok, D., 1986

"Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire", DeKok, D., 2010

"Centralia Fire", PBS Special. 1982.

"The Last Residents of Centralia", Journeyman Pictures. 2003

Notes: Remastered 6/30/22 - The audio is still a little tinny on Greg's voice, but the vocal balance should be better.

Our second episode is all about the economic crash that hit Cairo in 1324. You'll hear all about The World's Richest Man Ever - Mansa Musa, King of the Mali Empire - and his spending habits, what to shop for in a trade economy, why salt was once as valuable as gold, where to go to school in Timbuctu, and exactly how many $10000 hot dogs it takes to cause an economic crisis. 

(Remastered 1/30/23)

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠⁠.

Our first episode is all about the monster tornado that hit London in 1091. You'll learn all about TORRO Scale Zero, how stormchasers in the US memorialized Bill Paxton, the Benedictine historians Florence and William, the safest part of St. Mary-le-Bow Church in Cheapside, how much a Norman helmet weighed, and what medieval London (probably) smelled like. 

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"Extreme Weather: Forty Years of the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO)", Doe, R. K., 2015

Torro.org.UK

Guinnessworldrecords.org

"Tornadoes in Medieval Britian", Rowe, M. W. The Journal of Meterology, September 1975

 "Work of the devil : Tornadoes of the British Isles to 1660" , Rowe, M. W. The Journal of Meterology, October 1999

"Tornado Outbreaks in Europe", Tijssen, L., 2015

"The Story of the British and their Weather"  Nobbs, P. , 2016

Note - 2/13/22 - I went back and remastered the audio - it sounds a lot better now! -Greg