History's A Disaster
Bloody history and bloodier crimes. Andrew takes a weekly look at all things bloody. From natural disasters to man made atrocities
Episodes
76 episodes
US Bangla Flight 211
You trust a stranger with your life every time you board a plane, but you almost never see the person in the left seat. That uneasy truth sits at the center of our deep dive into US-Bangla Flight 211, a Dhaka to Kathmandu route that should have...
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19:27
Missing: SS Waratah
A passenger ship the size of a city block leaves port, gets seen one last time off the South African coast, and then seems to erase itself from the ocean. That’s the SS Waratah, a Blue Anchor Line liner marketed as virtually unsinkable and late...
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28:57
The 1936 Black Forest Hiking Disaster
A hike sounds harmless until the weather stops cooperating and the person in charge refuses to admit they’re wrong. We’re telling the true story of the 1936 Black Forest Tragedy, when English teacher Kenneth Keist leads 27 schoolboys into Germa...
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28:23
1844 USS Princeton Explosion
A champagne cruise, a gleaming warship, and a crowd of Washington power brokers waiting for the thunder of a new supergun. Moments later, the deck of the USS Princeton lay shattered, and five leading figures were dead. We take you from the poli...
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21:26
The 1918 Dutchman’s Curve Disaster
A clear signal, a crowded morning, and a single stretch of track set the stage for one of America’s deadliest rail disasters. We take you inside the 1918 Dutchman’s Curve wreck in Nashville—where missed checks, wartime confusion, and the cruel ...
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21:37
Southwest Airlines Flight 1380
A window shatters at 32,000 feet, oxygen masks fall, and a 737 lurches into a violent roll. We walk through the harrowing chain of events aboard Southwest Flight 1380, from the first metallic thud to a high-speed single‑engine landing, unpackin...
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18:43
Sinking of the Carl D Bradley
A storm can break more than a ship; it can test a town’s faith and rewrite a company’s story. We take you from the birth of the Carl D. Bradley as the pride of the Great Lakes limestone trade to a November night when the “Queen of the Lakes” sn...
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24:31
Roseville Yard Explosion
A glowing wheel rim, a wisp of smoke, and then a blast that shook windows miles away. We tell the full story of the 1973 Roseville Yard explosions—how a routine munitions run became a 32-hour chain reaction that turned a vital rail hub into a f...
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22:06
The Kidnapping And Escape Of Jayme Closs
A safe home, a quiet town, and a split-second encounter behind a school bus ignite one of the most harrowing survival stories in recent memory. We follow how a young girl became the target of a stranger’s obsession, how a meticulously planned h...
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21:36
Green Ramp Disaster
A clear spring afternoon. Hundreds of paratroopers prepping for routine jumps. Then a midair collision ignites 55,000 gallons of jet fuel and turns a quiet staging area into a battlefield. We walk through the Green Ramp disaster step by step, f...
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23:32
Running Toward Disaster: The Bhopal Gas Leak
The air turned against its own city. We follow the chain that made it possible: a reactive chemical never meant for storage in bulk, a series of safety systems taken offline or ignored, and a community living within walking distance of tanks th...
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23:03
The My Lai Massacre
A quiet hamlet at dawn. No return fire. Smoke, screams, and a ditch that won’t leave your mind. We walk through how an ordinary American unit, raised on heroic war stories and trained to chase “body count,” entered My Lai expecting a firefight ...
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24:33
Harrison Okene: Survival Beneath The Waves
The ocean doesn’t announce its plans. One wave hit, a tugboat rolled, and a ship’s cook found himself sealed in a bathroom-sized air pocket on the seafloor for 62 hours, listening to distant engines and his own breath. What happened next is a s...
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15:11
Tangiwai Christmas Eve Rail Disaster
A night train full of families, gifts, and holiday plans sped toward a bridge that wasn’t there anymore. We follow that chilling arc—from a crater lake’s quiet failure on Mount Ruapehu to a lahar roaring down the Whangaehu River, shredding conc...
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20:40
The 1977 Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash
A headlining tour, a hit record, and a tired airplane came together over Mississippi—and the result reshaped rock history. We trace Lynyrd Skynyrd’s 1977 crash from the first red flags to the last radio call, clarifying what went wrong and why ...
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18:50
The Ghost Ship Mary Celeste
A silent ship in open water, a missing crew, and a century of wild theories—this is the story that made “ghost ship” part of our vocabulary. We pull the lens wide, starting with the Mary Celeste’s earlier life as the Amazon, a fast, carvel-buil...
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27:06
The SeaWorld Gold Coast Mid-Air Collision
Two scenic helicopters crossed paths over the Gold Coast and collided in clear daylight, exposing weak links in see-and-avoid, radio reliability, and ground procedures. We trace the timeline, the emergency response, and the investigation, then ...
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21:42
1990 I-75 Fog Disaster
A perfectly ordinary Tuesday morning turned into a wall of white and the worst commute of many people’s lives. We dive into the 99-car pileup on I-75 near Calhoun, Tennessee—how a fog-prone valley, river-backed reservoirs, and nearby industrial...
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17:46
Air Florida Flight 90
A winter storm, rushed decisions, and weak training collided as Air Florida Flight 90 lifted into bad data and iced wings, then fell into the Potomac. We trace the chain of errors, the rescue that followed, and the reforms that reshaped winter ...
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25:26
The Versailles Wedding Hall Collapse
Joy filled a crowded Jerusalem wedding until the third-floor dance hall collapsed, triggering a deadly progressive failure that exposed years of shortcuts and ignored warnings. We trace the engineering decisions, the human stories, and the slow...
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16:44
Alfred Packer The Colorado Cannibal
A winter crossing turned deadly when Alfred Packer led five men into the San Juans against Chief Ouray’s warning, then returned alone with shifting stories and other men’s gear. We trace the confessions, the trials, and the forensics that still...
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21:04
Luxor Hot Air Balloon Crash
The dawn over Luxor promises gold on stone and quiet air over the Nile—until one failed part turns awe into catastrophe. We unpack the 2013 hot air balloon crash from the ground up: how balloon flight really works, why landing is the most peril...
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20:32
Dublin Whiskey Fire
Blue flames raced down Dublin’s streets as thousands of gallons of whiskey burst from a burning warehouse and turned the Liberties into a flowing inferno. We take you straight into the 1875 Dublin Whiskey Fire—how casks exploded, why water made...
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20:32
Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus Train Crash of 1918
A midnight circus run. A hot axle on a curve. An empty troop train racing through signals toward a sleeping engineer. Before dawn near Ivanhoe, Indiana, steel met wood, kerosene met sparks, and one of America’s worst rail disasters turned a rol...
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25:02