Calamity! Podcast

In May, 1915 a German U-boat came across the RMS Lusitania, a luxury passenger ship, about 11 miles off the coast of Ireland making its way to Liverpool. Despite it being a non-military vessel, the U-boat fired a torpedo that sank the ship within 18 minutes.

Not only was Seawise Giant the largest ship to ever sink, but it was the largest ship ever built! So why isn't it as famous as Titanic? Well, this was a crude oil tanker with a crew of only 50. Plus, this mammoth vessel ended up having a surprising Second Act after the sinking - and a decidedly more "happy" one.

An express passenger train leaving Spokane and bound for Seattle ended up stranded on Stevens Pass when freak weather conditions caused a series of avalanches in late February, 1910. Then, after spending nearly a week parked by the small town of Wellington, a large slab avalanche swept the train 150 feet off the track, killing 96 people - the most deadly avalanche in American history.

In April 1995, a plot to bomb a federal building in Oklahoma City became the largest and most deadly domestic act of terrorism in the US. The explosion was far larger than the perpetrators intended, resulting in 168 deaths.

On an otherwise quiet morning in May 1983, an enormous explosion rocked the small town of Benton, Tennessee. The ensuing investigation revealed Webb's Bait Farm was just a front for a lucrative, highly unlawful firework manufacturing business.

Jaima hosts her first episode and gives us an adrenaline rush while discussing the harrowing tale of British Airways Flight 5390. Just a few minutes after take-off, a slight cabin pressure change ejected a window in the cockpit.

A sand storm in Libya thwarted the efforts of a U.S. aircraft crew trying to return to its military base after a bombing mission during World War 2.

This episode explores how a freak snow storm in Iran quickly became the deadliest blizzard in recorded history.

In 1815, the largest volcanic explosion in recorded history triggered a chain of economic, political and health-related events around the globe. In fact, the eruption even managed to affect European arts from that era.

Over an eight-year period, a single leopard killed more than 125 people in the region of Rudraprayag, India. After many hunters failed, the leopard was eventually killed by hunter and author Jim Corbett.

A routine assignment took a disastrous turn due to poor visibility over Manhattan in 1945. On July 28, The Old John Feather Merchant, a B-25 bomber, collided with the Empire State Building resulting in 14 deaths.

An epic dog relay in Alaska saved thousands of lives in the city of Nome, which experienced a Diphtheria outbreak in the dead of winter.

Poor city planning contributed to a series of devastating explosions in the Mexican city of Guadalajara in April of 1992. Although warning signs of the imminent disaster were clear, city officials were unfortunately reluctant to call for evacuation.

A very popular, and therefore overcrowded venue in rural Kentucky was the scene of a disastrous fire on Memorial Day weekend in 1977. Despite tragedy, many of the club's wait staff rose to the occasion to help people trapped, lost, or injured.

Due to extensive pollution, the Cuyahoga river in Ohio first caught fire in 1868. It unfortunately caught fire at least a dozen more times until the disaster site received national attention - and prompted legislation changes - in 1969.

On December 29, 1972, Flight 401 was bound for Miami, but instead crashed into the Florida Everglades. There were 75 survivors, and 101 fatalities.

A train collision in the middle of the night was startling enough for the residents of Graniteville, South Carolina, but the incident was worsened when no one could identify the mysterious, deadly contents of one particular train car.

A busy two-lane tunnel under the Alps, connecting France and Italy, made world news when a cargo vehicle caught fire in 1999. Although fires in the tunnel were somewhat common, no one could have anticipated how quickly this particular burn escalated.

In 1986, a small lake in Cameroon caused a deadly disaster that baffled the international scientific community. Over time, however, they learned the secret Lake Nyos was hiding underneath its surface, and worked tirelessly to keep local villagers safe.

An unusually large group encountered calamity while attempted to summit K2 in August 2008. Although K2 is second in height to Mount Everest, it is notoriously more dangerous and technical to climb.

On September 29, 2015, tropical storm Joaquin made several surprising moves, baffling weather forecasters, and sealing the fate of El Faro, an American cargo ship, on its route to Puerto Rico.

In 1989, 96 football fans lost their lives due to crushing at a match. It took nearly 20 years, however, for the full story to come to light.

What started as a plan for an idyllic new neighborhood near Niagara Falls ended in pollution, evacuation, and disaster decades later.

A highly televised, much-anticipated launch turned into tragedy when an O-ring failed on the Challenger Shuttle in 1986.

In 2010, the entire world watched as rescue efforts were made to save the lives of 33 men trapped underground in the Atacama Desert. It was a herculean task of collaboration and problem-solving, motivated by a deep sense hope - both above ground and below. 

Disaster struck the North End neighborhood of Boston in January 1919 when unseasonably warm weather caused a poorly designed, overfilled storage tank full of molasses to explode. The wave of sticky goo crushed nearby buildings and engulfed unfortunate by-standers.

Local Italians were expecting a landslide in 1963 near the Vajont River, but no one anticipated how large it ultimately became, nor the mega-tsunami it created.

The deadliest oil rig explosion in history occurred in 1988 off the coast of Scotland.

On May 6, 1937, a German airship called the Hindenburg was about to land in New Jersey when disaster struck. It had crossed the Atlantic carrying nearly 100 passengers without incident, and was infamously photographed floating over Manhattan, but stormy weather and several unforeseen factors sealed its fate.

In 1944, one of the most deadly structure fires in U.S. history took circus spectators by surprise in Hartford, Connecticut. War efforts and a packed performance scheduled were contributing factors to the destruction, but thankfully the city's quick response and preparedness helped the relief efforts considerably. 

Kilauea is Hawaii’s youngest and most active volcano. After slowly building up momentum for years, a violent eruption in 2018 displaced 2,000 people, destroyed 700 structures, and changed the coastline of the island!

A delayed start and record-setting snowfall contributed to the misfortune of the Donner Party as they traversed the Oregon Trail in 1846.

The first major nuclear power plant disaster took the world by surprise in 1986. Business and government leaders were poorly informed and slow to react, but several groups of people took heroic action and save many lives. 

When Flight 232 lost all hydraulic power, it’s fate should have been sealed. Instead, the experience and quick thinking of the crew helped save over a hundred lives.

In 1894 over 200,000 acres burned in Minnesota during a fast-moving fire storm.

The Bermuda Triangle earned a reputation for disaster after centuries of unsolved mysteries, sunken ships, and missing passengers.

Three separate, yet connected disasters strike the city of Lisbon in 1755. Surprisingly, these calamities forever change Lisbon’s fate as a city - for the better!

Disaster strikes the crew of the Indianapolis on their voyage back to the States after completing a mission during World War II.

A freak rain storm and poor environmental planning lead to devastation in Pennsylvania.

A perfect storm results in devastating loss for one small town in the 1930s.

Want to know what this podcast is about? Give this trailer a listen.