fascinatinghorror

The Matterhorn Bobsleds

Like any story that involves a Disney park, there are plenty of side stories and interesting details that I couldn’t quite fit into the video. Here are two of them…

The basketball court

From the ride’s opening in 1959 until around 1970, guests could often see an intrepid band of mountain climbers scaling the sh...

The Last Death of World War II

The death of Charles Havlat on the final day of World War II is all the more tragic when you look at the incredible things he survived during the war. He trained all over America, entered Europe via Scotland, crossed into the warzone via Omaha Beach, and battled tanks in the hedgerows of Normandy. His Battalion criss-crossed Europe, and fought i...

The Hoboken Docks Fire

Here are a couple of details I came across while reading that didn’t quite fit in the video.

Disposing of merchandise

A huge amount of merchandise was burned during the fire. While it was nothing compared to the loss of human life, it was estimated to be of around $6 million in value, and presented quite a challeng...

The Sinking of the SS Poseidon

It's always fun watching a classic disaster movie... and I've been wanting an excuse to rewatch The Poseidon Adventure for a while now. It's part of a rash of excellent disaster films from the 1970s. If you enjoy this, I'd also highly recommend The Towering Inferno (1974).

A fun bit of trivia that I came across while doin...

Can Office Chairs Explode?

In this short I mention that there have been several office chair explosions in China. It’s a problem that gained a lot of media attention, and has even been covered in a Chinese TV program called Seeking Truth.

Here’s the relevant episode. About...

The Green Ramp Disaster

Here are a few extra notes that I wanted to include in this story, but couldn’t quite find space for in the video.

Sergeant Daniel E Price

Because so many people experienced the crash, there are dozens of accounts of it to be found online. There was one, however, that particularly struck me. Specialist Corporal Est...

The Brain-Eating Amoeba

For as long as I can remember I’ve been told that it’s a bad idea to put your head under the water in a hot tub. I’d always wondered why… and it turns out this is one of the reasons. Even if a hot tub is infected with Naegleria fowleri, the only way it can do you harm is if it gets into your nose, and putting your head under the water is...

The Story of Franz Reichelt

Here are a couple of other parachute-related stories I came across while researching Reichelt.

Frederick Law

Just a couple of days before Reichelt’s fateful jump, another parachute test took place in America… and this one was much more successful. Steeplejack Frederick Law leapt from the torch of the Sta...

The Story of Hiroo Onoda

Hiroo Onoda was a relatively famous Japanese holdout… but he wasn’t the only one, by any means. For a variety of reasons dozens of soldiers refused to surrender for many years after the end of the war. On Wikipedia you can find a partial list of some of the mo...

The Burnden Park Disaster

Whenever a disaster takes place at a sporting or music event, there are always a lot of side stories and tangents to follow up on. Here are two of them from this story…

Football during the war

It was extremely interesting reading about how football changed during the years of World War II. In the UK football is a b...

Britain's Last "Witch"

To this day Helen Duncan remains a controversial figure. She has many supporters who have tried repeatedly to have her conviction posthumously overturned – most recently in 2012. So far they have been unsuccessful; there’s abundant documentation of her manifestations being fraudulent – including some samples of her cheesecloth ectoplasm th...

The Twilight Zone Movie Accident

There’s a lot to this story – here are some of the more interesting tangents that I couldn’t find space for in the video

John Landis and Eddie Murphy

After the trial, John Landis’s career was in serious trouble. Nobody wanted to hire him as a director (quite reasonably, you might say). But he still had some f...

The Worst Retirement Gift

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/68NBcjxRN8U 

When putting together a story about an ejector seat, I have to mention the Martin-Baker Ejection Ti...

The Grand Canyon Mid-air Collision

Here are a few tangents from this week’s story. And a recommendation: if you find the Grand Canyon as fascinating as me, I’d definitely grab a copy of Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon by Thomas Myers and Michael ...

The WWII Baseball Grenade

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GjBvvhIPJ-c 

Only a few thousand BEANO T-13s were ever manufactured, and very few survived the war. Some were used. Some were lost. Some were recalled and destroyed by the military. They’re ...

The PEPCON Disaster

Here are a few side stories I came across while researching this disaster.

The marshmallow factory

The Kidd Marshmallow Factory was one of two industrial facilities (other than the PEPCON plant itself) that were destroyed in the explosion. Fortunately their staff were able to evacuate before the blast, and nobody was...

The World's Most Toxic Animal

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-ZaTzk0uCTM 

One thing I didn’t mention in this video is how this poisonous frog got its name. For a very long time the indigenous peoples of the Colombian rainforest, including the Emberá-...

The Peshtigo Fire

So many interesting, incredible and terrible stories came out of the Peshtigo Fire. Here are a couple that I couldn’t find space for in the video…

Father Pernin’s warning signs

In this video I mention the priest Peter Pernin, who wrote a book about the fire and how he survived it. I use two brief quotes from th...

The Story of Jeremy Bentham

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cRnS8EJ-Gz8 

Bentham's auto-icon is topped with a wax replica of his head... which isn't quite what he wanted. His original instructions called from the mummification and use of his a...

The Le Mans Motor Racing Disaster

This particular disaster had a long legacy. Here’s a little more detail on some of the things that happened in the aftermath…

The fate of the drivers involved

Arguments about whose actions had caused the crash went on for many years after 1955, and the discussion was (understandably) a sore subject for some of th...

The Origin of the Chainsaw

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Xrqr3VRNjqg 

As I say in this video, chainsaws are rarely used in operating theatres these days... but the same doesn't hold true for all power tools. There are a surprising number of...

The Gare de Lyon Disaster

Here are a few notes of interest from this story that didn’t find a place in the main video.

Passenger emergency brakes

Since the time of this accident, passenger emergency brakes on trains have changed a lot. Now it’s relatively rare that a passenger pulling an emergency brake lever will result instantly in an a...

The Voynich Manuscript

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fbrmabU5X_0 

Want to read (or at least, look at) the Voynich Manuscript yourself? You can do so online courtesy of The Internet Archive. 2023-01-27 11:15:01 +0000 UTC View Post

The 1980 Eruption of Mount Saint Helens

In my notes this week I wanted to offer a little more detail about some of the people mentioned in this story.

Governor Dixy Lee Ray

Governor Dixy Lee Ray was both criticised and praised for her response to the disaster. On the one hand, she established the Red Zone, into which most people were not allowed. In doing ...

The WWII Ball Turret

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vwohmAj4xP8 

While researching this story, I came across the poem "The Deat...

The Sinking of the Princess Victoria

Here are a few extra notes and sources I found while researching the story of the Princess Victoria.

"On her beam ends"

In many accounts of the sinking, I came across the phrase “on her beam ends” in reference to the ship just before she sank. At first I didn’t know what this meant, so I did a little extra rese...

The Case of the Exploding Chewing Gum

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/R2GUBfHB85c 

I first heard this story back when I was in school. My science teacher told us an abridged version of it, to illustrate why it wasn't safe to eat (or even chew gum) while working ...

Saudia Flight 163

Here are some extra notes on things that I discovered while researching, but simply couldn't fit in to the video.

The hot beverage rumour

For quite some time it was thought that the source of ignition had been a passenger attempting to use a camping stove to prepare a hot drink at their seat. 

That might s...

A Brief History of Route 666

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iRekVEPP9uU 

Route 666 isn't the only road to suffer from sign theft - in fact, it's something that's an issue all over the world. In many countries mile markers that feature numbers like 69 o...

The Rana Plaza Collapse

Here's some interesting further reading on this story. 

The survivors now

I found this article, which collects photographs and stories of survivors of the Rana Plaza collapse. It's really interesting (and ...