History's A Disaster

Andrew
  • 5.0 (2)
  • History
  • Updated Weekly

Bloody history and bloodier crimes. Andrew takes a weekly look at all things bloody. From natural disasters to man made atrocities 

  1. 2d ago

    The Wreck Of The Old 97

    Send us Fan Mail One minute you’re chasing a schedule. The next, you’re flying off the rails. We dig into the true story behind the Wreck of the Old 97, the notorious 1903 Southern Railway Fast Mail crash outside Danville, Virginia, and why a single downhill run turned a proud on time reputation into national headlines. We break down what the Old 97 was actually hauling, why a high-stakes mail contract created brutal incentives, and how engineer Steve Brody and the crew were pushed to make up lost time by skipping stops and keeping speed through a hilly, curving route. Then we walk through the disaster itself: the steep downgrade toward the Stillhouse Creek trestle, the moment the air brakes fail, the desperate attempt to slow by throwing the locomotive into reverse, and the fiery wreck that destroyed most of the mail. Along the way, we talk about the survivors, the fatalities, and the haunting details that stick with you, including the canaries suddenly loose in the wreckage. From there the story takes a sharp turn into music history. The ballad “The Wreck of the Old 97” keeps the tragedy in public memory, adds its own artistic license, and even sets off a major copyright lawsuit involving the Victor Talking Machine Company and competing claims of authorship. If you care about American history, railroad safety, steam locomotives, or the strange pipeline between tragedy and pop culture, this one delivers. Subscribe for more historical disasters, share this with a friend who loves rail history, and leave a rating or review so more listeners can find us. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/

    18 min

  2. Jun 21

    Castaway: Daniel Foss

    Send us Fan Mail Five years alone on a rock island with no trees, no soil, and no certainty of rescue is the kind of survival scenario people argue about online, until you hear what Daniel Foss reportedly lived through after an 1809 shipwreck in the Pacific. We follow Foss from the moment the brig Negotiator strikes an iceberg to the desperate days in an open lifeboat where cold, thirst, and starvation wipe out the crew one by one. Along the way, we zoom out to the sealing industry of the 1700s and 1800s, where small ships and smaller margins pushed crews into dangerous waters in pursuit of fur that could be traded for high value goods. That economic pressure helps explain why men ended up so far from help, and why “routine” voyages could flip into catastrophe overnight. Once Foss washes ashore with only a wooden oar and what he can scavenge, the story turns into a masterclass in grim problem solving: catching rainwater in rock holes, eating whatever the island offers, and eventually turning an ocean of seals into food, shelter materials, and a reason to keep going. We talk through the shelter he builds, the way he marks time, the hurricane that nearly undoes everything, and the final moment when rescue is close but not guaranteed. We also share a candid note on sources and historical accuracy, because shipwreck accounts often live somewhere between documentation and legend. If you’re into maritime history, castaway stories, shipwreck survival, or the psychology of solitude, you’ll find a lot to wrestle with here. Subscribe for more disaster history, share this with a friend who loves survival stories, and please leave a rating or review so more people can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/

    19 min

  3. Jun 14

    Sinking of the SS Central America

    Send us Fan Mail Nine tons of gold. Nearly five hundred passengers. A hurricane powerful enough to turn a luxury-leaning paddle steamer into driftwood. We’re telling the story of the SS Central America, the 1857 shipwreck that wasn’t just a tragedy at sea, but a shockwave that hit the American economy when the country could least afford it. We start with the strange reality of Gold Rush wealth: if you struck it rich in California, your “bank account” might be literal metal you had to move yourself. That’s why the Panama route mattered, and why the Central America sailed packed with newly rich miners and a massive gold shipment bound for New York banks. Then the barometer drops, the waves rise, and Captain William Herndon faces the nightmare scenario: water in the engine room, furnaces going out, paddle wheels slowing, and a ship turned broadside to the Atlantic. From bucket brigades to lifeboats, we follow the decisions that bought minutes and cost lives, including the haunting debate over whether dumping gold could save the ship. After the sinking, we connect the dots to the Panic of 1857, one of the first major global financial crises, and then jump forward more than a century to the wreck’s rediscovery, treasure recovery, and the legal chaos that followed, including the Tommy Thompson saga and the money that still seems to have vanished. If you like smart disaster history with real stakes, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more people can find the show. What do you think matters more in a crisis: the cargo or the people? Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/

    27 min

  4. Jun 7

    The Gimli Glider

    Send us Fan Mail A wide-body jet goes quiet at 41,000 feet, the cockpit starts losing systems, and the crew has to fly a Boeing 767 like a glider with no engines. That sounds impossible until you trace the real-world chain behind Air Canada Flight 143, the incident aviation history now calls the Gimli Glider. We walk through how a routine day turns into a high-stakes emergency when a faulty Fuel Quantity Indicating System (FQIS) forces manual checks, and a simple units problem quietly sets the trap. We dig into the 1983 context: Air Canada’s brand-new “high tech” 767 fleet, the learning curve of a two-person cockpit, and the operational shift from pounds to kilograms for fuel. Then we follow the maintenance handoffs and decisions that leave the fuel gauges blank, pushing the crew toward dripstick measurements and calculations that look reasonable but are built on the wrong conversion. It’s a tight, practical story about aviation safety, redundancy, and how miscommunication can be just as dangerous as hardware failure. From the first low fuel pressure warnings to the moment both engines flame out, we break down what the crew loses when the generators stop: electrical power, key instruments, and even transponder visibility to ATC. You’ll hear how the ram air turbine restores limited hydraulic control, why diverting becomes a race against glide distance, and how Captain Bob Pearson’s glider experience shapes an unconventional approach, including a sideslip, to reach Gimli only to find a decommissioned runway turned motorsports drag strip with people on it. If you like detailed air disaster stories, cockpit decision-making, and the small math errors that can threaten a 300-seat aircraft, you’ll get a lot from this one. Subscribe for more, share the episode with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more listeners can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/

    22 min

  5. May 31

    West Gate Bridge Disaster

    Send us Fan Mail A bridge is supposed to be the safest part of your commute, not the reason a city hears alarms for miles. The West Gate Bridge collapse in Melbourne is a brutal reminder that “close enough” and “we’ve got this” don’t belong anywhere near steel, bolts, and gravity. We walk through how a booming 1960s port city pushed for a high-span crossing over the Yarra River, and how a cutting-edge steel box girder design set the stage for disaster when real-world stress met rushed decision-making.  We trace the jobsite warnings that kept piling up: swaying in high winds, deformed bolts, broken rivets, and workers trying to create a safety committee in an era with weak occupational health and safety enforcement. After a strike sparked by news of a similar bridge collapse in Wales, crews are convinced to return. Ten days later, a five-inch misalignment between prefabricated sections leads to a fateful “fix” involving massive concrete blocks and the removal of bolts meant to relieve stress. The result is sudden structural failure, fire, explosions, and thousands of tons of steel and concrete crashing down. Thirty five men are killed, and the survivors are left with injuries, trauma, and a system that offers little support.  From the rescue to the Royal Commission report, we lay out what investigators found: design and construction failures, errors of judgment, poor communication, and flawed corrective methods. We also cover the lasting impact on Australian workplace safety reform, including stronger worker representation, site inspections, training, incident reporting, and the recognition that grief and mental health matter after industrial accidents. If this story hits you, subscribe, share the episode, and leave a rating or review so more people can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/

    20 min

  6. May 24

    Byford Dolphin Disaster

    Send us Fan Mail One wrong move in a pressurized diving system can turn routine maintenance into an instant mass casualty event. We’re telling the story of the 1983 Byford Dolphin saturation diving accident, a North Sea offshore drilling rig disaster that shows how razor-thin the margin is when humans work hundreds of feet underwater under extreme pressure.  We walk through what saturation diving actually is, why divers live sealed inside a hyperbaric chamber for weeks, and how a diving bell and trunk system acts like an airlock between two pressurized worlds. Along the way, we break down decompression sickness in plain language, including why dissolved nitrogen can become deadly bubbles if pressure drops too fast. It’s uncomfortable to think about, but understanding the physics is the only way to understand the stakes.  Then we get into the night of the accident, the transfer procedure that’s supposed to keep everyone safe, and the catastrophic moment when a clamp is released before the system is ready. From there, we zoom out to the investigation, the push to frame it as simple human error, and the uncomfortable reality of outdated equipment and missing fail-safe interlocks that could have prevented a hatch from being opened under pressure. We also talk about what changed afterward, why North Sea divers and families kept pushing for accountability, and why robotics and ROV technology may be the best answer for the most dangerous subsea jobs.  If you want more true disaster history, offshore safety lessons, and clear explanations of how these failures happen, subscribe, share this episode with a friend, and leave a rating or review. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/

    18 min

  7. May 17

    Granville Train Disaster

    Send us Fan Mail A normal commute should not end with a bridge collapsing onto a passenger train, but that is exactly what happened in Sydney’s suburb of Granville on January 18, 1977. We retrace the Granville Rail Disaster step by step, from a rail system strained by poor funding and weak maintenance to the moment the 6:09 AM train derails on the curve and slams into the Bold Street Overpass supports. What follows is one of the deadliest rail accidents in Australian history, made worse by design and construction choices that left the overpass dangerously dependent on pillars sitting right beside the tracks. We also dig into the rescue and emergency response, because the scene was as complicated as it was horrific. The crash site sits down in a cut, crowds surge in and block access, and leaking liquid petroleum gas limits cutting tools while the broken bridge continues to compress the wreckage. Then comes the medical puzzle that changed how responders think: crush syndrome. We explain why some trapped survivors can die shortly after being freed, what responders look for today, and how modern treatment like early IV hydration can improve survival. Finally, we break down the investigation and the chain of failures, including track fastening problems, a wheel worn far past replacement, and an overpass made heavier by layers of added concrete after an earlier mistake. If you care about rail safety, infrastructure risk, disaster response, or the history of emergency medicine, this story delivers hard-earned lessons. Subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more listeners can find it. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/

    22 min

  8. May 10

    The Mother’s Day Bus Crash

    Send us Fan Mail A charter bus full of seniors heads out on Mother’s Day for a quick casino run and never makes it. I’m Andrew, and I’m taking you step-by-step through the 1999 Mother’s Day Bus Crash on I-610 in New Orleans, one of the worst automotive accidents in Louisiana history, and the kind of tragedy that exposes every weak link in our safety systems at once. We start with the setup: the planned day trip, the unscheduled pickups, the size and weight of a 55-passenger motorcoach, and the moment the bus drifts right and leaves the roadway at highway speed. From there, the story turns grim fast, as a guardrail fails, the bus becomes airborne, and first responders and passing drivers confront a mass casualty scene with limited resources and brutal conditions. Then we dig into the NTSB investigation and the uncomfortable questions it raised about charter bus safety and accountability. What happens when a driver’s medical fitness is misjudged, impairment and fatigue collide, and infrastructure maintenance like termite-damaged guardrail posts goes unchecked? And how much did the lack of passenger seat belts on motorcoaches amplify the loss? If this story sticks with you, subscribe for more disaster history, share the episode with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more people can find the show. Facebook: historyisadisaster Instagram: historysadisaster email: historysadisaster@gmail.com Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/

    15 min
See All (89)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Bloody history and bloodier crimes. Andrew takes a weekly look at all things bloody. From natural disasters to man made atrocities 

Information

  • Creator
    Andrew
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    89
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 History's A Disaster
  • Show Website
    History's A Disaster

You Might Also Like