The Khodynka Crush
Added 2024-02-27 11:15:01 +0000 UTCGiven when this disaster took place, I was surprised to see that there are quite a few of the souvenir cups that were handed out at the banquet still in circulation. Here’s a listing for one that sold at auction in 2007 for around £300.
1896 was over 120 years ago now. It’s rare to find artefacts like this from events that took place so long ago – but in this case so many cups were given away that quite a number have survived to the present day.
Knowing the story of the Khodynka Crush, it’s impossible not to appreciate that each cup has an incredible story behind it. Was it obtained at great cost? Was it found later on? Given away in disgust? And how has it been passed down through the generations to reach the present day?
Comments
Now that's an interesting story. I've definitely heard about it somewhere before - I think it's a bit of a case study when it comes to situational awareness. The ghostly sightings where the parts were reused is a new detail, though! How odd. Will take a look into this one - there's definitely an episode in there...
Fascinating Horror
2024-03-11 18:24:23 +0000 UTCHow interesting - that'd definitely be a worrying omen, especially at that point in history. And looking at it while knowing what was to happen just a short time later...
Fascinating Horror
2024-03-11 18:06:30 +0000 UTCOooh fun fact, there had been several "omens" leading up to the coronation that were brought to the attention of the Royal family but were dismissed. Then while the coronation itself was happening, the great chain of office around Nicholas' neck fell off which everyone present took to mean bad things ahead.
Sarah Clement
2024-03-02 00:02:53 +0000 UTCHow about a video on Eastern Air Lines Flight 401? It crashed into the Florida Everglades as a result of pilot error caused by loss of situational awareness, killing 101 of the 176 people on board. The reason the pilots lost their situational awareness was, of all things, because of a blown out lightbulb in their control panel. The bulb was supposed to confirm that the landing gear was down and locked in place (They were preparing to land at Miami International Airport). The pilots were so distracted by the blown bulb and trying to figure out whether the landing gear was working that they didn't notice they were descending. Of course, the fact that it was pitch black out (being nighttime) and they didn't have the city lights (they were flying over the Everglades, heading away from Miami for a loop-around) certainly didn't help. An interesting note to add is that as the survivors sat near the wreckage awaiting rescue, they started singing Christmas carols to keep themselves and each other calm. This crash did happen a few day after Christmas, after all. The more bizarre/unusual part of the story is all of the alleged ghost sightings it caused. Several of the surviving pieces of the wreckage (nuts, bolts, a couple of window panels, etc.) were repurposed and refitted onto other aircraft afterwards. Crew members who worked on those other aircraft in the following years continually reported seeing the ghosts of the Flight 401 pilots (who perished in the crash) on those other planes. Eventually, when the leftover pieces of Flight 401 were removed from all of the other aircraft, the ghost sightings stopped. I first heard about Flight 401 after seeing the episode of Mayday about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvTPDb1-7fY
Michael Rutherford
2024-03-01 17:23:12 +0000 UTC
