HistoryTrue CrimeSociety & CultureDocumentaryExplicit

History's A Disaster

Andrew

History's A Disaster is a darkly funny true-history podcast digging into shipwrecks, train wrecks, and other real-life catastrophes — no sugarcoating, no boring lectures.

Play

Open in

20 episodes
weekly
Avg 22 min
English

Episodes 20

Newest Oldest Longest

All20 Unplayed20 In progress0 Played0

Sunday · 25 min
Hawk's Nest Tunnel Disaster
Send us Fan Mail Most catastrophes happen in a flash. This one happens one breath at a time. We’re diving into the Hawk’s Nest Tunnel Disaster, a West Virginia industrial tragedy that many historians call the deadliest workplace accident in American history, not because of a single collapse or explosion, but because companies let men work for months inside a storm of nearly pure silica dust. We walk through the Great Depression backdrop that makes “any job” feel worth the risk, then unpack the engineering plan: a three mile tunnel through Gauley Mountain to feed a hydroelectric powerhouse for alloy production. The ugly twist is that the mountain’s silica isn’t just an obstacle, it’s a profitable byproduct. Once speed and money become the priority, basic industrial hygiene collapses: dry drilling instead of wet drilling, minimal ventilation, no real respiratory protection, and a pace that rewards finishing early no matter the human cost. The result is acute silicosis, where workers can go from healthy to dying in months. We also talk about how segregation shapes everything, including who gets the worst jobs and whose deaths get minimized. Company doctors list “pneumonia” instead of silicosis, families struggle for tiny settlements, and dozens of workers end up in unmarked graves. We trace how the scandal finally reaches Congress, why accountability still doesn’t land, and what Hawk’s Nest teaches us about occupational disease, workers’ compensation, and workplace safety standards that came too late. If this story hits you hard, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more people actually hear the names that were buried. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
October 4 · 22 min
Sinking of the Aurora del Titicaca
Send us Fan Mail A shipwreck nearly three miles above sea level sounds like a punchline until you realize it’s a real record held by a real lake. We’re heading to Lake Titicaca, the icy, oxygen thin giant of the Andes, where the Aurora del Titicaca went down near Amantani in the 1870s and then somehow took most of its documentation with it. No clean inquiry. No reliable death toll. Not even a single version of the story that everyone agrees on. We trace how colonial era trade pressure and Andean mineral wealth created the demand for steamships on a high altitude transport corridor, then get into the truly unhinged logistics: British engineers building iron vessels at home, disassembling them, shipping parts around Cape Horn, and hauling them over mountain passes by mule to rebuild on the lakeshore. The Aurora works, ferries people and cargo, and then disappears beneath the surface after striking a reef, leaving historians stuck with secondhand accounts and competing theories ranging from structural failure to navigational error to local storm legends. The mystery gets even messier with the James Orton twist: some retellings fold the American naturalist into the wreck’s victim list, but surviving records place his death a year later on a different crossing aboard a vessel also called Aurora. From Jacques Cousteau’s tantalizing sighting to Peruvian Navy finds and modern expeditions using the restored sister ship Yavari plus a Stanford-built deep diving robot, we ask what it would take to finally confirm the wreck and read the damage like a time capsule. If you’re into shipwreck history, underwater archaeology, and unsolved mysteries with real stakes, hit subscribe, share the episode, and leave a review so more people can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
September 27 · 25 min
PSA Flight 182
Send us Fan Mail A cloudless sky can be its own kind of trap. We’re telling the story of PSA Flight 182, the 1978 Boeing 727 crash that tore through San Diego’s North Park neighborhood after a midair collision with a Cessna 172. No storm. No sabotage. Just two aircraft in busy airspace and a system that trusted “visual separation” to do a job human attention cannot reliably do, even with experienced professionals in the cockpit and controllers on the radio. We start with what made Pacific Southwest Airlines feel so beloved, then zoom into Lindbergh Field’s uniquely tight approach corridor where commercial jets and general aviation traffic shared the same low-altitude space. Step by step, we trace how the crew reports the Cessna in sight, how a turn and a cockpit workload shift break that mental picture, and how one missed call back to approach control helps set the final seconds in motion. The result becomes one of the most haunting aviation disasters in U.S. history, with a jet fuel fire in the middle of a residential block and a community left to rebuild both streets and memory. From the NTSB findings to the long-term impact on air traffic control reform, we connect this San Diego plane crash to the safety layers we now take for granted: radar-based separation, tighter terminal airspace rules, and the collision avoidance technology that warns pilots before two aircraft converge. If this story sticks with you, please subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more people can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
September 20 · 20 min
Thorpe Rail Diaster
Send us Fan Mail One rushed decision. One contradictory telegraph message. One single-track stretch of rail where only one train can be allowed to exist at a time. On a cold, rainy night in September 1874, that fragile setup collapses and Britain’s worst railway accident of the century detonates outside Norwich. We tell the story of the Thorpe Railway Disaster with a hard look at how Victorian railways actually worked: booming passenger demand, higher speeds, competing private companies, and safety practices that depended less on technology than on people remembering what they said five minutes ago. We trace the timeline from a late-running express to a mail train waiting in the siding, the informal shortcut around written authorization, and the two chilling telegraph lines that mark the point of no return: “Stop mail” and “Mail gone.” From the head-on crash near Thorpe St Andrew to the darkness, steam, and improvised rescue by lantern and bonfire, we unpack the human cost, the investigations that split blame between a supervisor and a young clerk, and the way tragedy finally forces clearer rules and, eventually, automated block signaling. If you care about transportation history, human factors, railway safety, and how small process failures become mass-casualty disasters, this is the episode for you. Subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more listeners can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
September 13 · 19 min
French Pass Drift Dive Disaster
Send us Fan Mail The most dangerous water often looks the calmest from the surface. French Pass sits like a postcard at the top of New Zealand’s South Island, but it hides the fastest tidal current in the country, a chaotic mix of eddies and standing waves, and a feature divers still whisper about: Jacob’s Hole. We’re telling the story of the French Pass diving tragedy, a routine advanced drift dive training run that ends with seven divers pulled into a situation no recreational certification truly prepares you for. We start with what makes French Pass so brutal in the first place: the tide mismatch between Tasman Bay and Cook Strait, the narrow “throat” that turns water into a pressure valve, and the reef that turns speed into turbulence. Along the way, we trace the long memory of this place, from Maori tradition warning of currents that swallow the careless, to European explorer Jules Dumont d’Urville nearly losing his ship, to Pelorus Jack, the dolphin that escorted vessels to the edge and stopped as if drawing a line. Then we walk through March 10, 2000. The dive begins under seemingly good conditions, with a plan built around a surface float that keeps a drifting group oriented and trackable. When that float is lost, everything changes. The current and a whirlpool near Jacob’s Hole drag divers down toward depths approaching 300 feet, where nitrogen narcosis, confusion, and sheer physics take control. Three people die, survivors suffer decompression sickness, and rescue becomes a race for a hyperbaric chamber. The aftermath raises uncomfortable questions about site selection, training standards, and how many “small” lapses it takes to create a disaster. If you care about scuba diving safety, drift diving, tidal currents, or disaster history, listen through and tell us what you think. Subscribe, share the episode, and leave a rating or review so more people can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
September 6 · 21 min
Collision of the Andrea Doria and The Stockholm
Send us Fan Mail A luxury Italian ocean liner glides toward New York with art on the walls, pools on deck, and new radar that’s supposed to make fog irrelevant. Then, off Nantucket, the SS Andrea Doria and the MS Stockholm do the unthinkable: they read each other on radar, make opposite assumptions about how to pass, and commit to turns that line them up perfectly for impact. The collision becomes one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in American waters, and it’s a brutal reminder that technology can’t rescue bad interpretation or misplaced confidence. I break down what each ship brings to the night and why it matters. Andrea Doria has watertight compartments and a reputation for glamour, but her stability margin is thin after burning fuel, and the damage hits hard on one side. Stockholm is smaller and less elegant, yet her ice-reinforced bow is built to punch through the North Atlantic and it tears into the Doria’s hull with horrifying efficiency. We trace the key moments where radar, visibility, and standard maritime passing rules collide with human decision-making. You’ll also hear one of the wildest survival stories ever recorded at sea: 14-year-old Linda Morgan, later dubbed the Miracle Girl, wakes up injured on the wrecked bow of a different ship than the one she fell asleep on. From there, the story shifts to the evacuation, the lifeboats that can’t be used as the ship lists, and the improvised rescue fleet including the Ile de France and Coast Guard cutters that helps save more than 1,600 people. If you’re drawn to maritime history, shipwreck stories, or the real-world limits of radar and navigation in fog, hit subscribe, share the episode, and leave a rating or review so more people can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
August 30 · 28 min
SwissAir Flight 111 Fire
Send us Fan Mail A modern airliner. A premium cabin upgrade. A faint smell that doesn’t seem urgent until it’s far too late. We’re diving into Swissair Flight 111, the 1998 MD-11 crash off Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, and the chain of hidden risks that turned a routine transatlantic flight into one of the most defining aviation safety case studies of the last 25 years. We walk through Swissair’s rise from a fiercely private, precision-focused carrier to the “Flying Bank,” then into the financial squeeze of deregulation and the Hunter Strategy. That pressure sets the stage for a flashy interactive in-flight entertainment system, installed with fragmented oversight and shifting documentation. From there, we get specific about the technical hazards: power draw, wiring routed and sized in ways the aircraft wasn’t designed to tolerate, and the nightmare pairing of electrical arcing potential with MPAT insulation that could pass outdated flammability certification tests while still sustaining fire in real aircraft airflow. Then the timeline tightens. We track the cockpit smoke indications, the diversion decision, the fuel dump, and the checklist steps that made sense under the training of the era, right up to the cascading loss of autopilot, instruments, communications, and flight recorders. Finally, we cover the massive recovery and investigation led by the Transport Safety Board of Canada, the safety reforms that followed, and how cockpit smoke procedures and wiring standards changed across the industry. If you care about aviation history, aircraft certification, cockpit emergencies, or how small compromises stack up into catastrophe, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share the episode, and leave a rating or review so more listeners can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
August 23 · 23 min
The Malbone Street Wreck
Send us Fan Mail A packed train, a brand-new tunnel, and a curve that demanded six miles per hour. Now add a labor strike, a rushed staffing decision, and an operator who never should have been put in that seat. That mix created the 1918 Malbone Street Wreck, still the deadliest subway crash in New York City history, and we walk through exactly how it happened. We start with how Brooklyn’s transit system grew from a messy web of private lines into the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, then sprinted into expansion under the 1913 Dual Contracts. Near Prospect Park, engineers opened a new connection under Malbone Street with an S-shaped reverse curve and a steep approach, a design that left almost no room for error. When the strike hit on November 1, BRT leadership chose revenue and rush-hour service over training and caution, putting Antonio Edward Luciano at the controls with only hours of instruction and no familiarity with the Brighton Beach Line. From there, the story tightens: missed stops, mounting time pressure, a downhill run into the tunnel, and a train entering the curve at more than five times the safe speed. We also look at the grim rescue challenges underground, the Spanish flu’s strain on hospitals that forced improvisation at Ebbets Field, and the courtroom battles that generated anger, settlements, and surprisingly little clarity. Finally, we connect the wreck to lasting subway safety reforms, including better controls and automatic enforcement systems that admit a hard truth: human judgment alone is not enough. If this kind of disaster history helps you see modern transit differently, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more listeners can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
August 16 · 25 min
Union Oil 1984 Explosion Romeoville
Send us Fan Mail A hairline crack doesn’t sound like much until it’s hissing flammable vapor at the base of a pressurized refinery tower. We’re telling the story of the 1984 Union Oil Refinery explosion in Romeoville, Illinois, a disaster that escalates in minutes from a routine walkthrough to a massive blast, a second fireball fueled by liquefied petroleum gas, and a night that leaves 17 workers dead. We start with the nuts and bolts of refinery operations, including how an MEA absorber tower strips hydrogen sulfide out of a sour gas stream and why that “normal” process can be brutal on carbon steel pressure vessels. Then we zoom in on the real villain: hydrogen damage and a repair weld that skipped post weld heat treatment. That one shortcut creates a hardened, brittle heat affected zone, and over years of exposure it quietly absorbs hydrogen, loses toughness, and grows an internal crack that inspections struggle to spot until it’s almost all the way through the wall. From there, we follow the timeline of the explosions, the chain reaction damage across piping and tanks, the water supply problems responders face, and the firefighting decision that ultimately prevents even more loss of life. We also dig into the OSHA and National Bureau of Standards investigation, including magnetic particle inspection, ultrasonic testing, microhardness readings, fracture mechanics, and the evidence for hydrogen embrittlement and hydrogen induced stepwise cracking. The bigger takeaway is uncomfortable but useful: industry surveys find similar cracking in many comparable MEA systems, making Romeoville a warning about process safety management, pressure vessel repair practices, and why “follow the book” is not optional. If you care about industrial accidents, refinery safety, welding procedures, corrosion, and how disasters really happen, hit subscribe, share this with a friend who works around heavy industry, and leave a rating or review. What safety rule do you think people dismiss until it’s too late? Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
August 9 · 21 min
The White Ship Disaster
Send us Fan Mail A royal party boat packed with nobles, wine, and bad decisions sets off from Barfleur and hits rock within minutes, and England never really recovers the same way. We’re telling the story of the White Ship disaster of 1120, the night William Adelin, the only legitimate son of King Henry I, drowns in the Channel and takes a generation of Anglo-Norman leadership down with him. We start with the brittle logic of medieval succession: William the Conqueror’s cross-Channel empire, the ugly split between brothers, and Henry I’s unlikely rise after William II dies on a hunt that feels a little too convenient. From there, we track how Henry builds real governance for Norman England, tightening law, administration, and royal control, all while betting everything on one heir to keep the realm stable. Then the wheels come off. The White Ship leaves harbor late, the crew drinks, the passengers wave off a priestly blessing, and overconfidence does the rest. The wreck itself is fast, cold, and final and one heartbreaking choice at the lifeboat turns survival into tragedy. From that single loss, we follow the chain reaction into Empress Matilda’s contested claim, Stephen of Blois seizing the crown, and the civil war remembered as The Anarchy, before the Treaty of Wallingford finally clears the way for Henry II and the Plantagenet dynasty. If you’re into medieval history, shipwreck stories, English kings and queens, and how one moment can trigger a succession crisis and civil war, hit play, then subscribe, share the show, and leave a rating or review so more listeners can find us. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
August 2 · 17 min
Air Midwest Flight 5481
Send us Fan Mail A plane can be perfectly flyable and still be doomed by paperwork and a wrench turn. On Air Midwest Flight 5481, a Beechcraft 1900D lifts off from Charlotte Douglas and, within moments, pitches up so steeply the crew can’t muscle it back down. The stall warning blares, the aircraft rolls, and it crashes into a maintenance hangar, leaving no survivors. We break down what the NTSB uncovered and why this accident remains a defining case study in regional airline safety, weight and balance, and center of gravity. The airline used FAA-approved average passenger weights and standard baggage numbers, but reality was heavier, pushing the aircraft beyond its maximum limits and nudging the load aft. That alone is dangerous, raising stall speed and shrinking the buffer pilots rely on during climb-out. Then comes the second hit: maintenance. Investigators find elevator control cable rigging that limits the elevator’s downward travel, cutting the crew’s ability to command nose-down pitch when they need it most. We also dig into how skipped checks and weak quality assurance can turn a “small” mistake into a non-negotiable failure, plus the fallout that followed, including a rare public apology to families and broader pressure to revisit outdated weight assumptions. If you care about aviation accidents, FAA standards, and how safety systems fail, subscribe for more from History’s A Disaster, share this with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more listeners can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
July 26 · 21 min
2017 Washington Amtrak Cascades Derailment
Send us Fan Mail A passenger train on a brand-new route should not end up scattered across a highway, but that’s exactly what happened when Amtrak Cascades Train 501 hit a tight curve at more than double the posted limit and derailed onto I-5. We walk through how the Point Defiance Bypass was designed to improve service, why key infrastructure fixes were cut, and how a “permanent speed reduction” became the main defense at the most dangerous spot on the line. We also dig into the safety system that could have changed everything: Positive Train Control. PTC can track a train’s location, enforce speed limits, and trigger emergency braking when crews miss a warning or misjudge a hazard. The problem is it wasn’t active yet when revenue service began. From there, the story turns into a blunt look at real-world training and human factors: an experienced engineer learning a new route while adapting to a new Charger locomotive, limited hands-on time, and reference points that are easy to miss in darkness. Then we follow the crash itself, the casualties and rescue response, and the cleanup that shut the bypass down until full PTC implementation. Finally, we break down the NTSB conclusions and the accountability question that hangs over so many transportation disasters: when a system is built to rely on perfect human performance, who is really responsible when it fails? Subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more people can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
July 19 · 24 min
Split Rock Explosion
Send us Fan Mail A played-out limestone quarry in the hills of New York should have faded into silence, but World War I turned Split Rock into something far more dangerous: a round-the-clock TNT factory built to feed an exploding demand for high explosives. We walk through how an isolated site with rail access and existing infrastructure became the ideal place to make munitions, and why “ideal” can also mean “easy to look away from” when the goal is maximum output. We follow the pressure cooker logic that rules the plant by 1918: nearly 3,000 workers, nonstop shifts, and a staggering share of America’s TNT production. That pressure reshapes staffing and risk, from teenagers and older workers taking critical roles to women working around picric acid so often their skin turns yellow, earning the nickname “Canaries.” Small fires become common, drills become routine, and routine turns into complacency. A 1916 explosion should have been the wake-up call, but the quotas keep climbing. Then July 2, 1918 arrives. A fire in Building No. 1 grows at the worst possible time, water pressure fails, the building lacks sprinklers because of a regulatory loophole, and the site loses power as responders fight in near darkness. The blast kills 50, injures many more, and sends flames toward storage magazines holding roughly 1.5 million pounds of explosives, putting nearby Syracuse within a terrifying potential blast radius. We also connect Split Rock to the wider wartime pattern, including a similar TNT disaster in England, and we end on the question that still won’t go away: what do we sacrifice when production becomes the highest value? Subscribe for more true industrial disaster history, share this episode with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more listeners can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
July 12 · 21 min
The Sinking Of The Larchmont
Send us Fan Mail A warm saloon, a clear night sky, and a cheap ticket from Providence to New York sounds like an easy win until the ocean decides otherwise. We’re telling the story of the 1907 sinking of the Larchmont, the deadliest maritime disaster in Rhode Island history, and the kind of shipwreck where the danger is not just the water, but the cold, the darkness, and the steam. We start with the Larchmont’s past life as the Cumberland, its rushed rebuild, and the string of groundings, collisions, and scandals that earn it a “cursed ship” reputation long before the final voyage. From there we hit the night of February 11th: negative temperatures, heavy winds, big seas, and a crew trying to stay on schedule while passengers drink, laugh, and settle in for a 12 hour ride that feels like a mini cruise. Then everything narrows to one encounter off Jamestown with the coal schooner Harry Knowlton. We walk through the navigation rules for sail vs steam, why right of way matters, and how a last second turn to starboard turns a close pass into a catastrophic collision. The impact ruptures the engine area, releases scalding steam, kills the generator, and leaves people trapped between drowning, steam burns, and hypothermia in the freezing Atlantic. We also dig into the Block Island rescues, the investigation that assigns blame, the rumor mill that follows, and the lost passenger manifest that helps change maritime safety practices. If you’re into maritime history, shipwreck stories, and disaster analysis with real lessons, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more people can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
July 5 · 22 min
Pan Am Flight 214
Send us Fan Mail A thunderstorm can feel peaceful right up until you’re trapped inside the worst part of it. We start with that uneasy contrast, then head straight into the night Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707 called the Clipper Trade Wind, enters a holding pattern near Philadelphia and never makes it to the runway. We walk through the flight’s path from San Juan to Baltimore and onward, meet the crew, and replay the moment air traffic control warns about heavy thunderstorms, strong winds, and frequent lightning. Minutes later the aircraft explodes at 5,000 feet, a Mayday call cuts through the radio, and witnesses on the ground and in nearby aircraft report a fireball in the sky. From there, the story turns grim and specific: the cornfield impact in Maryland, the miles-long debris trail, the hours spent fighting fires, and the painstaking process of victim identification when there’s nothing left to “recognize.” Then we dig into what makes this disaster historically important. Planes are struck by lightning all the time, so why did this one come apart? We trace the Civil Aeronautics Board investigation, the wingtip evidence, the arguments over turbulence versus lightning, and the unanswered mechanics of how a lightning strike can ignite fuel vapor inside a wing tank. Finally, we connect the crash to the FAA’s lightning protection and fuel system safety changes that helped shape modern airworthiness standards. Subscribe for more true disaster history, share this with a friend who loves aviation stories, and leave a rating or review so more listeners can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
June 28 · 17 min
The Wreck Of The Old 97
Send us Fan Mail One minute you’re chasing a schedule. The next, you’re flying off the rails. We dig into the true story behind the Wreck of the Old 97, the notorious 1903 Southern Railway Fast Mail crash outside Danville, Virginia, and why a single downhill run turned a proud on time reputation into national headlines. We break down what the Old 97 was actually hauling, why a high-stakes mail contract created brutal incentives, and how engineer Steve Brody and the crew were pushed to make up lost time by skipping stops and keeping speed through a hilly, curving route. Then we walk through the disaster itself: the steep downgrade toward the Stillhouse Creek trestle, the moment the air brakes fail, the desperate attempt to slow by throwing the locomotive into reverse, and the fiery wreck that destroyed most of the mail. Along the way, we talk about the survivors, the fatalities, and the haunting details that stick with you, including the canaries suddenly loose in the wreckage. From there the story takes a sharp turn into music history. The ballad “The Wreck of the Old 97” keeps the tragedy in public memory, adds its own artistic license, and even sets off a major copyright lawsuit involving the Victor Talking Machine Company and competing claims of authorship. If you care about American history, railroad safety, steam locomotives, or the strange pipeline between tragedy and pop culture, this one delivers. Subscribe for more historical disasters, share this with a friend who loves rail history, and leave a rating or review so more listeners can find us. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
June 21 · 19 min
Castaway: Daniel Foss
Send us Fan Mail Five years alone on a rock island with no trees, no soil, and no certainty of rescue is the kind of survival scenario people argue about online, until you hear what Daniel Foss reportedly lived through after an 1809 shipwreck in the Pacific. We follow Foss from the moment the brig Negotiator strikes an iceberg to the desperate days in an open lifeboat where cold, thirst, and starvation wipe out the crew one by one. Along the way, we zoom out to the sealing industry of the 1700s and 1800s, where small ships and smaller margins pushed crews into dangerous waters in pursuit of fur that could be traded for high value goods. That economic pressure helps explain why men ended up so far from help, and why “routine” voyages could flip into catastrophe overnight. Once Foss washes ashore with only a wooden oar and what he can scavenge, the story turns into a masterclass in grim problem solving: catching rainwater in rock holes, eating whatever the island offers, and eventually turning an ocean of seals into food, shelter materials, and a reason to keep going. We talk through the shelter he builds, the way he marks time, the hurricane that nearly undoes everything, and the final moment when rescue is close but not guaranteed. We also share a candid note on sources and historical accuracy, because shipwreck accounts often live somewhere between documentation and legend. If you’re into maritime history, castaway stories, shipwreck survival, or the psychology of solitude, you’ll find a lot to wrestle with here. Subscribe for more disaster history, share this with a friend who loves survival stories, and please leave a rating or review so more people can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
June 14 · 26 min
Sinking of the SS Central America
Send us Fan Mail Nine tons of gold. Nearly five hundred passengers. A hurricane powerful enough to turn a luxury-leaning paddle steamer into driftwood. We’re telling the story of the SS Central America, the 1857 shipwreck that wasn’t just a tragedy at sea, but a shockwave that hit the American economy when the country could least afford it. We start with the strange reality of Gold Rush wealth: if you struck it rich in California, your “bank account” might be literal metal you had to move yourself. That’s why the Panama route mattered, and why the Central America sailed packed with newly rich miners and a massive gold shipment bound for New York banks. Then the barometer drops, the waves rise, and Captain William Herndon faces the nightmare scenario: water in the engine room, furnaces going out, paddle wheels slowing, and a ship turned broadside to the Atlantic. From bucket brigades to lifeboats, we follow the decisions that bought minutes and cost lives, including the haunting debate over whether dumping gold could save the ship. After the sinking, we connect the dots to the Panic of 1857, one of the first major global financial crises, and then jump forward more than a century to the wreck’s rediscovery, treasure recovery, and the legal chaos that followed, including the Tommy Thompson saga and the money that still seems to have vanished. If you like smart disaster history with real stakes, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more people can find the show. What do you think matters more in a crisis: the cargo or the people? Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
June 7 · 22 min
The Gimli Glider
Send us Fan Mail A wide-body jet goes quiet at 41,000 feet, the cockpit starts losing systems, and the crew has to fly a Boeing 767 like a glider with no engines. That sounds impossible until you trace the real-world chain behind Air Canada Flight 143, the incident aviation history now calls the Gimli Glider. We walk through how a routine day turns into a high-stakes emergency when a faulty Fuel Quantity Indicating System (FQIS) forces manual checks, and a simple units problem quietly sets the trap. We dig into the 1983 context: Air Canada’s brand-new “high tech” 767 fleet, the learning curve of a two-person cockpit, and the operational shift from pounds to kilograms for fuel. Then we follow the maintenance handoffs and decisions that leave the fuel gauges blank, pushing the crew toward dripstick measurements and calculations that look reasonable but are built on the wrong conversion. It’s a tight, practical story about aviation safety, redundancy, and how miscommunication can be just as dangerous as hardware failure. From the first low fuel pressure warnings to the moment both engines flame out, we break down what the crew loses when the generators stop: electrical power, key instruments, and even transponder visibility to ATC. You’ll hear how the ram air turbine restores limited hydraulic control, why diverting becomes a race against glide distance, and how Captain Bob Pearson’s glider experience shapes an unconventional approach, including a sideslip, to reach Gimli only to find a decommissioned runway turned motorsports drag strip with people on it. If you like detailed air disaster stories, cockpit decision-making, and the small math errors that can threaten a 300-seat aircraft, you’ll get a lot from this one. Subscribe for more, share the episode with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more listeners can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
May 31 · 20 min
West Gate Bridge Disaster
Send us Fan Mail A bridge is supposed to be the safest part of your commute, not the reason a city hears alarms for miles. The West Gate Bridge collapse in Melbourne is a brutal reminder that “close enough” and “we’ve got this” don’t belong anywhere near steel, bolts, and gravity. We walk through how a booming 1960s port city pushed for a high-span crossing over the Yarra River, and how a cutting-edge steel box girder design set the stage for disaster when real-world stress met rushed decision-making. We trace the jobsite warnings that kept piling up: swaying in high winds, deformed bolts, broken rivets, and workers trying to create a safety committee in an era with weak occupational health and safety enforcement. After a strike sparked by news of a similar bridge collapse in Wales, crews are convinced to return. Ten days later, a five-inch misalignment between prefabricated sections leads to a fateful “fix” involving massive concrete blocks and the removal of bolts meant to relieve stress. The result is sudden structural failure, fire, explosions, and thousands of tons of steel and concrete crashing down. Thirty five men are killed, and the survivors are left with injuries, trauma, and a system that offers little support. From the rescue to the Royal Commission report, we lay out what investigators found: design and construction failures, errors of judgment, poor communication, and flawed corrective methods. We also cover the lasting impact on Australian workplace safety reform, including stronger worker representation, site inspections, training, incident reporting, and the recognition that grief and mental health matter after industrial accidents. If this story hits you, subscribe, share the episode, and leave a rating or review so more people can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters

Showing 1–20 of 20 episodes