fascinatinghorror posts
Posts: 245
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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 courtFrom the ride’s opening in 1959 until around 1970, guests could often see an intrepid band of mountain climber...
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. H...
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 merchandiseA 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 ...
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 o...
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 five minutes in they conduct a test where they dro...
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 PriceBecause 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. Special...
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...
The Story of Franz Reichelt
Here are a couple of other parachute-related stories I came across while researching Reichelt.Frederick LawJust 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 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 more well-known ones.In some cases, it...
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 warIt was extremely interesting reading about how football changed during the years of World War II. In the UK...
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 – includi...
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 videoJohn Landis and Eddie MurphyAfter 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 ...
The Worst Retirement Gift
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/68NBcjxRN8UWhen putting together a story about an ejector seat, I have to mention the Martin-Baker Ejection Tie Club. Martin-Baker is a company that manufactures many of the ejector seats used in modern aircraft. It’s been around for at least 70 years, a...
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 Ghiglieri, from which I learned of both these side stories.Billingsley’s o...
The WWII Baseball Grenade
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GjBvvhIPJ-cOnly 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 now so difficult to find – and such an oddity – that they fetc...
The PEPCON Disaster
Here are a few side stories I came across while researching this disaster.The marshmallow factoryThe 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...
The World's Most Toxic Animal
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-ZaTzk0uCTMOne 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-Wounaan and the Cofán, used the poison extracted from these frogs...
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 signsIn this video I mention the priest Peter Pernin, who wrote a book about the fire and how he survived it. I use two brie...
The Story of Jeremy Bentham
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cRnS8EJ-Gz8Bentham'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 actual head.To be fair to Dr Southwood Smith (the man charged with c...
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 involvedArguments about whose actions had caused the crash went on for many years after 1955, and the discussion was (understandably) a sore subjec...
The Origin of the Chainsaw
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Xrqr3VRNjqgAs 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 stories where an ordinary household drill was used to carry out life-s...
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 brakesSince 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 i...
The Voynich Manuscript
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fbrmabU5X_0Want to read (or at least, look at) the Voynich Manuscript yourself? You can do so online courtesy of The Internet Archive. Here's a link to where you can view and download a copy of the manuscript for free.Having paged through it a few time...
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 RayGovernor 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 al...
The WWII Ball Turret
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vwohmAj4xP8While researching this story, I came across the poem "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" by Randall Jarrell. It's only five lines long, so here it is in its entirety:"From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State,And I hunched...
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...
The Case of the Exploding Chewing Gum
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/R2GUBfHB85cI 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 in the lab.After that, I made a point of never eating or drink...
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 rumourFor 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 ...
A Brief History of Route 666
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iRekVEPP9uURoute 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 or 420 often go missing, to the point that they're ...
The Rana Plaza Collapse
Here's some interesting further reading on this story.The survivors nowI found this article, which collects photographs and stories of survivors of the Rana Plaza collapse. It's really interesting (and heart-breaking) reading, and it does a great job of showing the long term effects of a dis...
