Within the hour, Andreas and his girlfriend Haris Charalambous, (who was also working as cabin crew that day) would be the only people aboard the plane still alive.

Ghost Flight – The Beginning

The plane in this incident was a Boeing 737. A fairly new plane, having first been registered in 1997. Leased to Helios in 2004, it was given the name Olympia.

The morning of the 14th of August 2005, the plane had arrived at Larnaca from London. The previous crew had complained of a frozen door seal and odd noises coming from the right aft (rear) service door. During inspection a ground engineer conducted a pressurization check. To do so, the pressurization system was set to manual. After the check, the engineer failed to reset the system to auto (although he insists he did return the switch to auto).

Helios 522 was cleared to resume service. It lifted off at 9.07 am, just 7 minutes later than it had been scheduled to. Unfortunately, the crew during checks failed to notice the pressurization system was set to manual.

As the plane climbed past 12,040 feet, several warnings began to sound. These were all misidentified as other system warnings.

The Captain radioed Helios operations centre and reported the warnings as an air conditioning problem. He even spoke to the ground engineer that had conducted the tests. Who asked him “Can you confirm the pressurization panel is set to auto?”.

Unfortunately, the Captain had already started to suffer hypoxia due to the lack of oxygen and disregarded the question. Instead he asked “Where are my equipment cooling circuit breakers?”. This would be the last communication with the doomed aircraft. The time is 9.20 am. Just 13 minutes after take off.

Last Ones Standing

On autopilot the plane climbs to an altitude of 34,000 feet and heads towards its destination, Athens. At this point it is safe to assume most people aboard are either dead or dying through lack of oxygen. By 10.40 am it is in a holding pattern above Athens, waiting for the Captain to take control and land it.

By 11.05 am and with no further contact from the plane, two F-16 fighter jets are scrambled to intercept Helios 522. At 11.24 am they reach the plane and report the first officer slumped motionless over the controls and the captains seat empty.

After visual inspection of the passenger area, it is also reported that oxygen masks have been deployed.

11.49 am. Andreas enters the cockpit using a portable oxygen mask to breath. His girlfriend Haris Charalambous is also seen in the cockpit, desperately trying to help him control the plane. Andreas is a pilot, but not qualified on the 737 airframe.

Andreas waves to the F-16 pilots upon entering the cockpit. Immediately, the left engine flames out due to lack of fuel. Andreas struggles to control the plane but just 10 minutes after the left engines failure, the right engine suffers the same fate.

At 12.04 pm, the plane slams into the ground near Grammamtiko with no survivors. It is the worst aviation accident in Greek history.

To their eternal credit, Andreas and Haris managed to steer the plane away from Athens to a rural area, ensuring no ground casualties.

Ghost Flight – Last picture of Helios 522

The above picture is the last one ever taken of Helios 522 intact. There are plenty of pictures and videos of the aftermath. But I would urge caution in looking for them. Wreckage full of burned and dismembered bodies are for the strongest stomachs only. I won’t be putting them here. Search for them at your own risk. You’ve been warned.

Warnings and more

I know what you’re thinking. Why didn’t the crew react to the warning siren going off? Also, why did the passengers not put on their oxygen masks? There is a fantastic write up by the Guardian in conjunction with the ground engineer you can read here. But let me attempt to quickly answer the more pertinent questions.

Let’s start with the simplest one. The oxygen masks. They did put them on. Once activated, you have around 12 minutes of oxygen in these units, plenty of time for a plane to descend to a safe level. But the crew were unaware of the real problem, so the plane never descended. In fact, it did the opposite and kept on ascending.

How could they be unaware, the alarms were sounding?!! Yep, but the problem was that the same alarm sound was used for two very different things. Which was highly confusing. By the time it took to find out which problem it was sounding for, the crew were already suffering from hypoxia, it was simply too late.

As for Andreas and Haris, they survived the initial loss of pressure due to portable oxygen masks. These are designed to last around 45 minutes so that cabin crew can move around and help passengers. Andreas and Haris would have used several during the 3 hours the plane was still in the air.

The post Ghost Flight – The last voyage of Helios 522 appeared first on That I Didn't Know.

However, the earthquake had also produced a 14 metre high (46 feet) tsunami. This tsunami quickly breached the coastal plant and flooded it, causing the back up pumps to fail. Due to this water breach, 3 reactors went into nuclear meltdowns. A fourth reactor narrowly avoided the same fate.

This disaster ranks as high as you can on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The only other disaster to receive the highest rank of 7 is Chernobyl. It was that destructive. 150,000 people had to be evacuated from the surrounding area.

Fukushima Aftermath

We could go into the environmental damage done, the amount of radiation that flowed into the pacific ocean or the failure to meet safety requirements on the part of the company operating the plant. But that’s not why I wrote this article. That has and continues to be covered extensively. I wrote it to show you some incredible, unauthorised pictures from inside the exclusion zone. If you would like to read an extensive report of the event, the World Nuclear Association has one you can read here.

Mindlessly scrolling social media (as you do), I came across a reddit post that led me to an imgur gallery. Posted by imgur user xanthon, it shows him exploring the exclusion zone (known as the red zone) and the Fukushima aftermath. These incredible pictures were posted in 2016. Xanthon says that upon entering the town of Futaba, his eyes had a burning sensation and the air smelled of chemicals. It didn’t slow him down though and he explored the town alone, the only person there. Not something I’d recommend but it’s amazing that he went and shared the pictures with everyone. There have been other pictures from inside the zone, but those are all from official sources that have toured the area. These pictures are just a guy exploring and seeing what he found.

I’ve tried to chose the most interesting pictures to show you. If you want to see the full gallery and comments, click here.

Fukushima Aftermath Pictures

Some Good News

These images are from just 6 years ago and show a town deserted and in the process of being reclaimed by nature. But that’s not the whole story. August of this year (2022), unbelievably, Futaba was reopened. Well, parts of it were. The downtown and northeast of the city have been reopened after being declared safe. The areas have relatively low levels of radiation. It is, however, proving difficult to persuade people to return. Which is understandable. Not only would it still feel like a risk to live there, many have settled elsewhere in the intervening years. The Fukushima aftermath, like Chernobyl before it, will take decades, if not longer to fully come to grips with.

The post Fukushima Aftermath – Pictures from inside the exclusion zone appeared first on That I Didn't Know.

Since Marco Polo and other Europeans first started to travel here in the 13th century, the complex has been known as the Seven Pagodas. A name that has always seemed at odds with its appearance. Legend told that six other Pagodas should stand with it. If so, where were they?

Origins of the Seven Pagodas

Legend has it that the temple complex was built by Mahabali. In honour of the god Vishnu Seven Pagodas including the Shore temple were built. Mahabali did this in honour of his father Prahlada. Prahlada had fallen out with his father Prince Hiranyakasipu who refused to worship Vishnu.

He banished Prahlada but eventually relented, allowing him to return. Upon return, the arguments resumed. Prahlada, angry beyond words, shouted that Vishnu was everywhere, even in the walls of their home. His father mockingly kicked a pillar when out popped Vishnu, wearing the head of a lion and killed Hiranyakasipu. Prahlada eventually became the King, and retold this story to Mahabali.

The story does not end there though. The Seven Pagodas were so beautiful in their craftmanship that the other Gods became jealous. To redress the balance, they flooded the area, leaving only the Shore temple. After all, they couldn’t have one god having a temple more beautiful than the ones dedicated to them!

Persisting Rumours

Since then until present day, rumours, stories and legends have persisted about the Seven Pagodas. The Shore temple acted as a navigation point for wayfarers coming to the port city. This allowed the legend to be spread all over the world.

So persistent were these stories that plans were made to search the area just off the coast. Maybe there could be a ring of truth to the legend?

Before these excavations could begin, the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 hit the area. Devastating the entire region of Asia, it is considered the most deadly Tsunami in history, killing over 230,000 people.

Just before it hit the coast around the Shore temple, the sea pulled back. This is a known behaviour of Tsunamis. As they get close to shore, the water is pulled back, feeding the wave.

500 metres of coast were suddenly exposed.

The Truth

Tourists and locals alike were astonished. Laid before them was a temple complex not seen in at least 700 years! The glimpse would prove to be fleeting, as the Tsunami came inland, the Seven Pagodas were once again hidden beneath the waves.

A glimpse was enough. The lucky few who saw the waves pull back and survived to tell the tale did just that.

In 2005 the Indian Navy used sonar to survey the area. And confirmed the existence of at least two other temples. Crucially, these buildings were now much easier to find. The Tsunami had scoured away 100’s of years of sand deposits that had built up around the submerged complex.

Since then work has continued on the site and more has been uncovered. Before our very eyes a legend has been confirmed as truth. It was more likely a Tsunami that sunk this complex, rather than a vengeful god, but sunk it was.

All over the planet, similar stories to the Atlantis myth persist. I wonder how many others have their basis in reality? What other treasures are out there waiting for us to discover?

The post The Seven Pagodas of Mahabalipuram appeared first on That I Didn't Know.

Although not qualified, he became interested in climate change and weather forecasting. This led to him starting the Browning Newsletter in 1974. During this period he is alledged to have asserted that the earth was entering a cooling period. This cooling period, he reasoned, was directly linked to heightened troubles with humans, such as war, famine and revolutions. These admittedly alternative ideas are not why Dr Browning found notoriety though. We are coming to that.

The Science of Collapse

Iben Browning made several predictions about the climate, erupting volcanoes and Government collapse. All failed to materialise.

The one he is best remembered for however, happened in 1990.

Iben predicted that a major earthquake would happen on the New Madrid Fault (located in the USA, stretching across eight states). This eruption, according to Iben, would occur close to the 2nd or 3rd of December, 1990.

Normally, this would have been ignored completely. But, (there’s always a but) not this time. Seismologists ignored the claim, reasoning that to even respond would lend legitimacy to the claim. When an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.7 hit Cape Girardeau, Missouri in September of 1990, it brought a lot of interest back to earthquakes in the region. Suddenly, people were willing to listen to Dr Browning.

Of course, the media loved the story. Even though there is no verifiable way to predict earthquakes, they ran with it. Whipping up a storm of publicity for Iben and his claims.

Suddenly, everyone was stocking up supplies and conducting earthquake drills. Although most adults agreed it was probably not going to happen, it’s also worth noting that living on a fault line, buying into the panic was probably easy to do.

The Night of the Quake

On those nights in early December of 1990, a huge media presence gathered around New Madrid, Missouri.

The streets were empty. As were shelves in the stores. And it’s a good job too, because absolutely nothing happened. Yep, the prediction turned out to be wrong. Just as the seismologists thought. Since that night, stretching all throughout time until today, a major earthquake still has not hit the fault line.

A study done by the USGS (United States Geological Survey) described Iben’s methodology as pseudoscience. A study conducted by Dartmouth dove into detail about why Iben Browning’s prediction was given any credence at all.

Here are a few of the key points:

• Awareness heightened after Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.
• Failure of Seismologists to refute prediction.
• Media’s need for a juicy story.
• 4.7 magnitude earthquake in Missouri, September 26th, 1990.
• Mid November broadcast of a television series about an earthquake disaster.
• Distribution of earthquake preparedness information that did not contain any disclaimer of Iben Browning’s prediction.

Aftermath

It’s here that I would love to tell you we all learnt lessons from this. But the media continues to spin alternative views into commentary and narrative. If anything, it has gotten worse.

Even Dr Browning escaped any real condemnation. He died less than a year later, on the 18th of July, 1991.

The post Iben Browning – The Disaster King of Texas appeared first on That I Didn't Know.

Dogged by delays and redrawn plans from the start, the Iroquois was billed as one of the most beautiful theatres in all of America.

Before it opened, all the advertisements sent out marketed it as “absolutely fireproof”. This foreshadowing was followed by warnings from the editor of Fireproof Magazine who toured the building and expressed major doubts about its design. A Captain of the Fire Department noted there was no sprinklers, alarms, water connections or phones.

He pointed all of this out to the theatres fire warden, who noted everything but stated there was nothing he could do, as he would be fired if he brought any of it up with his superiors.

December 30th, 1903 – The Deadliest Single Building Fire in US History

A full house was packed in to watch a matinee performance of Mr Bluebeard. So full was the theatre, people had to resort to standing in the aisles. Reports put the attendance at around 2100 people.

Just after 3.15pm, an arc light ignited a curtain. Most likely from an electrical fault. Despite efforts to douse the flames, it spread quickly upwards. Waiting there were thousands of square feet of painted canvas scenery. It ignited quickly and fiercely.

The stage manager, thinking fast, attempted to lower the asbestos fire curtain, it snagged on a light fixture. During the investigation after, it was concluded it would have been no use anyway, it was mainly made of wood pulp!

Eddie Foy, the star of the show, pleaded for calm. None was to be had on this night. Most of the available fire doors were hidden behind curtains. Not that they would have been much use to those in the upper levels. They found themselves locked there. The theatre purposely locking the doors behind them, trying to stop people “sneaking” down to the better seats.

A few managed to climb out of the upper level escape hatch, soon to find it had no ladder. Workmen from the building next to the theatre made a makeshift walkway. The first two people across plunged to their deaths, a few more lucky souls made it across.

People on the lower levels stampeded for the available exits, causing a crush. Most could not get out of them due to the unfamiliar locks used on the doors. Panic and chaos reigned supreme.

Backdraft

As the cast and crew realised the danger they were in, they escaped using a rear door. The door opening gave fresh oxygen to the fire, causing a huge fireball to rip through the theatre, instantly killing those stuck on the balconies.

The explosion was so powerful, it blew open a previously stuck fire door, allowing a handful of traumatised souls to escape.

Within minutes the theatre had gone from one of joy and celebration to a hellscape. Bodies began to pile up, the dead and dying all around. Hundreds and hundreds of bodies where just before had been smiling faces.

The restaurant next door was quickly turned into a hospital. Doctors and rescuers picked through the remains of people, trying to find anyone left alive. Frightened friends and family of those at the theatre that night swarmed the restaurant, desperate to see if their loved ones were still alive.

Aftermath

Over 600 people died. Most of them women and children. The outpouring of grief soon turned to anger. Once the Chicago Tribune ran a story listing the transgressions of the owners of the theatre in regards to lack of sprinklers, marked exits, fire alarms or fire extinguishers, the anger became palpabale.

Finding those responsible proved almost impossible. So many parties had failed to do their jobs properly. An inquest put the blame on the owners, the architects and city officials. Each was quick to blame to other.

Unbelievably, the owners Will J Davis and Harry J Powers issued a statement in the Chicago Tribune blaming the theatre goers for panicking. The architect insisted there was more than enough exits and that had people not become “panic stricken” they would have all escaped unharmed.

The worst part of it was still to come. Not a single person was ever held accountable. No criminal charges were brought. The victims families had to drop their lawsuits after running out of money. The only payment to families came from the construction company that built the theatre.

Silver Linings

The fire at the Iroquois Theatre was so bad it did have lasting effects that are seen to this day. Because of it, we have crash bars on emergency exits, illuminated fire exit signs and regular fire inspection checks. We also have limits on occupancy, fire proof scenery, no standing room tickets allowed and much higher safety standards for aisles and exits.

It was such a big deal that theatres across Europe closed to be inspected. Everything changed for the better with regards to fire safety. All due to one deadly fire in Chicago.

The post Fire at the Iroquois Theatre appeared first on That I Didn't Know.

It sits in the Oku Volcanic Field, stretches 1800 metres across and has a maximum depth of 208 metres.

Nyos sits in an extinct volcano, although around 50 miles (80 kilometres) deep underneath it, there is still a large pool of magma.

As a result of this pool of magma, the lake is saturated with carbon dioxide. Making it prone to limnic eruptions, where clouds of carbon dioxide roll out of the lake. This phenomenon acts as a tsunami, suffocating everything in its path.

1986 Eruption

It is not known for sure what caused the eruption. Some think a landslide, others that a small volcanic eruption occurred at the bottom of the lake.

Whatever the reason, it had devastating consequences.

August 21st, 1986. Night time. The few survivors reported hearing a rumbling sound coming from the lake. When they went to investigate, they found a fountain of water and foam springing from the lake, as high as 100 metres tall (330 ft).

This fountain triggered a wave with a height of 25 metres (82 ft) to rush against one side of the lake shore. Devastating everything in its path.

As a consequence of this, a huge cloud of CO2 was released. Over 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Rising at a speed of 60 Mph (100 Kph).

Soon the cloud dropped back to earth and started to flow down the sides of the lake. Travelling at speed, 50 metres tall (160 ft), there was no chance of outrunning it. It enveloped everything.

Hitting the Villages

Cha, Nyos and Subum are villages near to Lake Nyos. Each of them were covered in a killer cloud of carbon dioxide. Areas up to 16 miles (25 km) away were affected.

Some died in their sleep. Completely unaware of the unfolding disaster. Others tried to run from it, but were ultimately unsuccessful. Naked bodies were found everywhere, the result of people stripping off their clothes to escape the burning effects of the gas.

Ephrem Ngong Kum, from Subum spoke to Time magazine after, he was one of the lucky ones, a survivor. He said:

I saw people dying, people dead all around, they died in the houses, in streets, outside the forest, in the stream.

Another Subum resident, Chia David Wambong recalled:

Everyone started to cough, and some people vomited blood. I saw people on the ground screaming. Everyone was crying.

As well as the deaths of the people, 3500 livestock died too. Not only did the villagers lose loved ones, friends and neighbours, they also lost their food supply and ability to make money. A disaster all round. Countless wildlife perished in the surrounding area.

Usually, the waters of Lake Nyos were blue, but iron rich water, typically deep under the surface oxidised with the air, making the lake red. As well as this, the level of the lake dropped by over a metre!

Aftermath and De-gassing

Lake Monoun had erupted the same way just two years earlier. In that instance the death toll stood at 37. A lot smaller than the Lake Nyos event but looking back, a warning.

As a result of these disasters, a study was commissioned on how to stop further instances from happening. Investigators found that out gassings happen on average between every 10 – 30 years. Various researchers proposed the installation of degassing columns. Deployed on rafts in the lake, they use a pump to lift water from the bottom. Finally, in 2001, a permanent install went ahead at lake Nyos.

As a result of these studies, it was also found that Lake Kivu is supersaturated. Evidence of huge extinction events around the lake occurred on average every 1000 years. Which is a problem, as Lake Kivu is 2000 times larger than Lake Nyos. It measures 55 miles (89 km) across by 30 miles (48 km) wide. A huge volume of water.

As of today, no solution has been initiated for extracting the 510 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in the Lake. It remains a ticking time bomb.

The post Suffocated by a Lake – 1746 people killed appeared first on That I Didn't Know.

Lyudmila’s team are all young and healthy. At 41, she is the oldest of the group by some distance.

They depart Murino, cross a gorge, climb the highest mountain in the range and walk to a plateau between two rivers. It has taken them just two days. The exhausted group makes camp on a slope, with no cover.

The Storm

During the night, the group are battered by a raging thunderstorm and snowfall. The weather conditions have become extremely poor.

The morning of August 5th, Lyudmila makes a decision. Get back down the mountain. Just minutes into the trek, Aleksander Krysin begins to foam at the mouth. Within minutes he is dead. Blood pours from his mouth, ears and nose.

Lyudmila is devastated. Aleksander is a lifelong friend of hers. She orders the rest of the expedition down the mountain, resolving to stay with the body. Within minutes of setting off, Lyudmila calls them back. She too is exhibiting the same symptoms that killed Aleksander.

Panic sets in.

The symptoms begin to appear in all but one of the hikers. All hell breaks loose.

The Survivors Story

Valentina Utochenko, a 17 year old is the only survivor. This is what she told authorities.

Denis began to hide behind the stones and run away, Tatyana beat her head against the stones, Victoria and Timur probably went astray. Lyudmila Ivanovna died of a heart attack

Going into more detail, she expanded.

After some time, two girls fall at once, they start rolling, tearing their clothes, grabbing their throats, the symptoms are the same, the boy is falling behind them. The girl and the guy are left, they decide to leave the most necessary things in backpacks and run down. The girl leaned over her backpack while she laid out, lifts her head, the last guy with the same symptoms rolls on the ground. The night was spent under a stone, on the edge with a forest zone, the trees were falling nearby, like matches. In the morning she rose back

Valentina, drifting in and out of consciousness, follows power lines down the mountain until she reaches the river at the bottom. There she is rescued by tourists kayaking.

Autopsies

Recovering the bodies, autopsies are performed. They reveal telling signs of hypothermia including bruised lungs. They also show protein deficiency, a symptom of under-eating.

But so many questions are left unanswered. Why did they suddenly start foaming and bleeding? They didn’t seek cover in the woodlands surrounding them, why not? Why did they have protein deficiency when Valentina asserts they all ate well? How come she was the only one to survive?

And most telling of all. Why does this keep happening in this area of the world? The Korovina incident is not the only time this has occurred.

Other Incidents

In 1959, the most famous of the other incidents occurred. The Dyatlov Pass incident saw 9 hikers die in the Ural Mountains in strange circumstances. After establishing camp on the slopes of Kholat Syakhi, something made them flee their tents in the middle of the night. 3 were found to have died from physical trauma, one was missing both eyes and another their tongue. The rest died from hypothermia.

In 1974, the Shatayeva Group was attempting to climb Lenin Peak as the first all female expedition. They ascend the mountain on August 5th. Making the trip back all their provisions, including their tents, are blown away in a snow storm. In a last transmission, Shatayeva says:

There are two of us left. We are all out of strength. In 15 to 20 minutes we will be no more.

Elvira Shatayeva

On the surface this seems a straightforward tragedy. Anatoly Ferapontov, a journalist and climber disagrees. On photo’s recovered from the expedition he has this to say:

One of the panoramic shots contains a clearly visible rock with a tea kettle placed on it… the blizzard would have blown it away. As for the torn tents – there had been no blizzards in the area strong enough to tear up a fastened tent. It could only have been torn by a person in a state of hysteria.

Anatoly Ferapontov – The Ascenders

The group had already been plagued by sickness with a member vomiting all day. Another member had perished before the snow storm, having reportedly fallen ill.

Ferapontov also quotes another climber from a nearby group who simply states “It wasn’t how it happened”.

Could it be that something strange happens in these mountains? Or is it just the impact of hypothermia and lack of oxygen?

Sources:

Buryatia Dyatlov Pass (forum.dyatlovpass.com)

Beyond the Dyatlov mystery (rbth.com)

The Hamar-Daban Pass incident (medium.com)

Header Image (pixabay.com)

The post The Korovina Incident – 6 Die in Mysterious Circumstances appeared first on That I Didn't Know.

Today I want to take you on a journey and actually show you the damage. Which we can do thanks to a Youtuber who has upscaled a trip down Market Street into a 4k, 60 frames per second video. The trip occurs on April 14th, 1906. Just four days before the earthquake hit. After that video, will be another trip down Market Street, taken just days after the earthquake.

San Francisco 1906 – Market Street, April 14th

The above film shows a typical day in the life of San Francisco. If you watch closely however, you will see the same cars and people circling past multiple times. This is because the film was pre-planned in advance and features a cast of people helping to make it look natural.

San Francisco 1906 – Market Street – After the Earthquake

This second film shows the damage of the earthquake. I have set the video to start at 14:07 to show the same street as the top video. Although this video is silent and not upscaled, the amount of damage shown is unreal.

Go check out Denis Shiryaevs channel. Not only has he upscaled San Francisco, he also has New York in 1911, Paris in the late 1800’s and Amsterdam 1922, amongst others. It is absolutely fascinating stuff.

Sources:

Denis Shiryaev @Youtube 4K Upscaled Footage

A/V Geeks @Youtube After the Earthquake Footage

The post San Francisco 1906 – Videos show Before & After the Earthquake appeared first on That I Didn't Know.

And nobody seems to have heard of it.

The Bombing of Harvey’s Resort – Setup

On the morning of 26th of August, 1980, several men posing as photocopier deliverers planted a bomb containing 1000lbs (450kg) of dynamite at Harvey’s Resort Hotel in Nevada, United States.

The bomb was very well built and completely tamper proof. The ransom note demanded 3 million dollars (around 9 million dollars in todays money). It stated that even the bomb builder could not disarm the bomb. However, if the ransom was paid, they would be given instructions on a combination of switches to press. This would allow them to move the bomb and remotely detonate it.

Bomb Study and Detonation

Deciding that moving the bomb, even with the ransom paid, would be too dangerous, the FBI planned to disarm it where it was.

Everyone was evacuated and the gas main shut off in preparation. The FBI moved in and started studying the bomb. For over a day they looked at it from every angle. In their thoroughness, they even X-rayed it. Technicians decided that the only way to disarm it would be by using a shaped charge of C-4 to separate the detonators from the dynamite.

What they failed to see was that dynamite had also been placed in the compartment containing the detonation circuit.

The hotel was cleared and a remote detonation occurred. The resultant explosion destroyed most of the Hotel complex.

Suspect and Capture

As is usually the case, the mastermind behind the bomb had a grudge with Harvey’s casino. John Birges Sr was an ex-Luftwaffe pilot and a survivor of a Soviet gulag, where he spent 8 years. After release, he immigrated to the US and built himself a very successful landscaping company.

This allowed him to enjoy the finer things in life, one of which was gambling at the casino. He soon became addicted to gambling, losing a staggering 750,000 dollars at the casino. Equivalent to 2.3 million in todays money.

Desperate for cash, he hit upon a plan to extort “his” money back from the casino, with a little extra for his troubles.

Birges was investigated due to his white van being around the area at the time of the bombing. Birges son revealed to his then girlfriend that his father had planted the bomb and she tipped off the authorities, sealing his fate.

Convicted and sentenced to a life in prison, Birges would never see freedom. He died in prison in 1996, at the age of 74.

The most astounding fact throughout has to be this, not one single person was injured in the explosion, despite the size of it. Which probably accounts for why it’s not as well known as it should be.

To this very day, the FBI maintain that the Harvey’s bomb is the most complex improvised explosive device they have ever seen.

Sources:

Harvey’s Resort Bombing (Wikipedia)

A Byte out of History (Archives.fbi.gov)

Federal Grand Jury indicts 6 in bombing (nytimes.com)

Harvey’s Lake Tahoe (Wikipedia)

Header Image (Pixabay)

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What do you mean, a molasses flood?

Molasses, also known as black treacle in the UK is a viscous sugar like product. Made from refining sugarcane or sugar beets. It is known for being syrupy and thick. So how on earth could it manage to kill 21 people? After all, it even has a saying “slow as molasses” to illustrate how slow moving something is.

After hearing about it, I had to look it up. It just seemed so implausible.

Opening the flood gates

The disaster occurred at the Purity Distilling Company. On the property they had a holding tank for the molasses. This tank was a beast. It stood 15m (50ft) tall and 27m (90ft) wide.

January the 15th was an unusually warm day, especially when compared to the previous days. A new delivery of molasses was being added to the older load already in the tank.

The new load had been kept warm to help with viscosity. Making transfer easier.

It is believed that this temperature difference between old and new molasses caused thermal expansion. Causing the tank to burst.

2.3 million gallons of molasses broke free. This is about 4 times the amount of liquid an Olympic swimming pool measuring 25 metres across, 50 metres long and 2 metres deep can hold.

It was simply put a massive amount of liquid. And it was moving at 35 miles an hour through the streets. People in its way never stood a chance.

The density of this fast flowing liquid is about 40% more dense than water. It tore down buildings and had a wave height of 25ft! Several blocks were flooded to a height of 2 to 3 ft.

Witness reported hearing a thunderclap and then the ground began to shake. Others heard a machine gun like sound as the rivets on the tank exploded under its expansion.

The Boston Post reported:

Molasses, waist deep, covered the street and swirled and bubbled about the wreckage …. Here and there struggled a form—whether it was animal or human being was impossible to tell. Only an upheaval, a thrashing about in the sticky mass, showed where any life was …. Horses died like so many flies on sticky fly-paper. The more they struggled, the deeper in the mess they were ensnared. Human beings—men and women—suffered likewise.

Dark Tide The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo

Aftermath

Local Residents brought a class action lawsuit against USIA, who had bought Purity Distilling in 1917. Despite the company trying to argue that the tank had been blown up anarchists, they lost the case. Relatives of those killed received around $7000 (equivalent to $100,000 in todays money).

Clean up took several months. Especially because sight seers had headed down to the disaster area and then tracked the molasses all across Boston.

According to one account “Everything that a Bostonian touched was sticky”.

The event entered local folklore and residents of the area claimed for decades afterwards that on warm summer evenings, the area still smelled of sweet molasses.

Sources:

The Great Molasses Flood (Wikipedia)

Without warning, Molasses in January Surged Over Boston (Edp.org)

Why the Great Molasses Flood was so deadly (History.com)

Header Image (Pixabay.com)

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