Wreckage & Ruins

CC and Kitty
  • 5.0 (11)
  • History
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to Wreckage & Ruins! Each week we investigate disasters: man-made and natural, legendary last stands, medical mishaps, and everything in between. Each of the ruins unfold into a story, and we're here to understand why it happened and what came after.

  1. 3d ago

    Episode 43: Funeral Home Disasters

    Funeral home scandals strike at a level of trust most families never expect to question. In Colorado, approximately 190 human remains were discovered at Return to Nature Funeral Home. In Chicago, investigators found 56 bodies at South Chicago Chapel. Decades earlier, the David Sconce crematory scandal exposed serious misconduct in California's funeral industry. CC and Kitty examine these funeral home disasters, from improper storage and cremation practices to criminal convictions, civil lawsuits, and the lasting damage experienced by families. With years of experience working in funeral service, both hosts understand the responsibilities behind the profession. They discuss how the industry handles identification, cremation, and the care of human remains, while separating the actions of individuals involved in these cases from the professionals working to uphold ethical standards. The episode also includes firsthand stories from CC and Kitty, including a cemetery-name misunderstanding and a funeral singalong that went unexpectedly wrong. Some investigations discussed are ongoing, and allegations are distinguished from established legal findings. Content warning: Includes graphic discussions of human remains, decomposition, and funeral-service experiences. Listen to Wreckage & Ruins with CC & Kitty for more disaster investigations and overlooked history. Sources: SOURCES: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F1iCoc2CTE  https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/judge-orders-new-inspection-of-funeral-home-where-decomposing-bodies-were-found/3993569/  https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/plant-green-cremations-glenwood-raided-police/  https://www.gentlewater.com/water-cremation-services https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/bodies-recovered-from-colorado-funeral-home https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/05/colorado-funeral-home-ruling https://www.justice.gov/usao-co/pr/return-nature-funeral-home-owners-plead-guilty-federal-court https://legacy.sba.gov/article/2025/06/27/colorado-springs-funeral-home-operator-sentenced-gruesome-fraud-scheme https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-12-30-me-1105-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-05-08-ga-3534-story.html https://time.com/archive/6712441/crime-stealing-from-the-dead/ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/05/09/Couple-son-accused-of-selling-body-parts/7841579153600/ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-06-27-me-892-story.html https://press.wbd.com/us/media-release/hbo-original-three-part-documentary-series-mortician-debuts-june-1 https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-06-01/the-mortician-hbo-review https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-cand-3_23-cv-02711/pdf/USCOURTS-cand-3_23-cv-02711-0.pdf

  2. Oct 14

    Episode 42: The Forgotten Fire: Peshtigo

    On October 8, 1871, the Peshtigo Fire tore through northeastern Wisconsin and became the deadliest wildfire in U.S. history. The same night, the Great Chicago Fire began hundreds of miles away and became the disaster most Americans would remember. Peshtigo was a booming lumber town surrounded by forests and enormous quantities of logging debris. After months of drought, extreme fire conditions and powerful winds transformed existing fires across the region into a catastrophe. Residents fled toward the Peshtigo River as the town burned around them. Historical death estimates vary, but roughly 1,200–2,400 people are believed to have died across the affected region, including about 800 in Peshtigo itself. CC and Kitty follow the town from Wisconsin's lumber boom through the night of October 8, the eyewitness account of Father Peter Pernin, the relief effort that followed, and the question of why a disaster of this scale became so much less familiar than the Great Chicago Fire. Subscribe for weekly disaster investigations. SOURCES: https://www.peshtigo.k12.wi.us/district/Peshtigo-Brochure.pdf https://www.history.com/articles/peshtigo-fire-america-deadliest-wildfire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fEADAh6INA&t=65s https://extension.psu.edu/hardwood-or-hard-wood https://forestaccents.com/janka-hardness-test/ https://www.naturalsciences.be/en/discover-join/discover---taxonomy-what-why-and-how/introduction-to-taxonomy-the-science-of-classification https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-angiosperms-and-gymnosperms https://wi101.wisc.edu/the-lumber-industry-in-northern-wisconsin/ https://www.mnhs.org/foresthistory/learn/logging https://spokanehistorical.org/items/show/587 https://www.fs.usda.gov/about-agency/features/wood-good https://www.michiganpublic.org/environment-science/2018-10-17/from-wilderness-to-wasteland-how-the-destruction-of-michigans-forests-shaped-our-state https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MIOTTAWA/bulletins/32a2f81 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378112722005709 https://mywisconsinwoods.org/2022/09/30/looking-back-at-the-history-of-wisconsin-forests/ https://climatology.nelson.wisc.edu/wisconsin-peshtigo-fire/ https://guides.library.illinois.edu/historical_wildfires/peshtigo https://nationalforestadvocates.org/the-peshtigo-firestorm/ https://www.nwpb.org/nw-news/2015-09-23/fire-may-ground-not https://mansionmusings.wordpress.com/2023/03/04/an-elaborate-pile-of-comfort-making-the-bed-in-the-days-of-horsehair-straw-and-feathers/ https://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/WIReader/WER2002-5.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peshtigo_Fire_Cemetery https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/about/k-12-education/dust-ash-fire-smoke/what-firestorm https://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/WIReader/WER0107.html https://captimes.com/opinion/column/sen-kathleen-vinehout-menominee-nation-honored-for-assisting-victims-of-peshtigo-fire/article_2ec77513-a2db-5c13-820b-9d1755e83d8c.html https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/wildfire.html?srsltid=AfmBOoqveSmujYKlgZKd3LGGeknU-Y_k8_9Dh0sOUm6o52ZSP_iwvv-7 https://smokeybear.com/

  3. Oct 7

    Episode 41: Defense of Rorke's Drift

    Episode 41: Defense of Rorke's Drift The Defense of Rorke’s Drift began on January 22, 1879, only hours after Britain’s invasion of Zululand suffered a catastrophic defeat at Isandlwana. Around 150 men remained at the mission station when a Zulu force numbering roughly 4,000 approached. With retreat considered too dangerous, the defenders built barricades from mealie bags, boxes and whatever supplies they could find. Fighting continued through the night. The hospital caught fire while wounded men were still inside, and soldiers including John Williams and Henry Hook helped create an escape route by cutting through the walls between rooms. Seventeen defenders were killed and Zulu deaths numbered in the hundreds. Eleven Victoria Crosses were later awarded, helping transform a relatively small action in a much larger colonial war into one of the best-known last stands in British military history. CC and Kitty also look at the 1964 film Zulu, what it changed, and why the real history of Rorke’s Drift is more complicated than the legend. Follow Wreckage & Ruins for weekly disaster and history investigations. SOURCES: https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/zulu-war https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/defence-rorkes-drift https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/battle-isandlwana-22-january-1879 https://sahistory.org.za/article/anglo-zulu-wars-1879-1896 https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af-1431 https://www.zuluwar.com/rorkes_drift.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rorke%27s_Drift https://www.harlech.com/men-of-harlech.html

  4. Sep 30

    Episode 40: Great Chicago Fire

    Episode 40: Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 burned through a city already primed for disaster. Chicago was dangerously dry, much of it was built from wood, and its small fire department had spent the previous week responding to fire after fire. When another blaze began near the O'Leary barn on October 8, a mistaken alarm, exhausted firefighters and strong winds helped transform it into one of the defining disasters in Chicago history. CC and Kitty follow the fire through the business district and across the Chicago River, then into an aftermath that left more than 100,000 people without homes and roughly 17,500 buildings destroyed. They also look at Chicago's remarkably fast reconstruction, the city's controversial relief system, and the social divisions the disaster exposed. Then there is Mrs. O'Leary. Her cow became famous for supposedly kicking over the lantern that started everything. The problem is that investigators never established that story as fact, and the actual cause of the Great Chicago Fire remains unknown. Follow Wreckage & Ruins for weekly disaster investigations and the stories of what happened afterward. Sources: SOURCES: https://www.architecture.org/online-resources/architecture-encyclopedia/the-great-chicago-fire-of-1871 https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/chicago-fire-1871-and-great-rebuilding/ https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/about/history.html https://www.studentsofhistory.com/manifest-destiny?srsltid=AfmBOoqaD0I2dHtID7IsdlO_Exo2Z6Y4UVmF_4OsAfG9r2wfWse6gOB1 https://chicagology.com/transportation/chicagorailroadsystem/ http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/767.html https://greatchicagofire.org/great-conflagration/ https://guides.loc.gov/chronicling-america-great-chicago-fire https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/zlup/Historic_Preservation/Publications/Site_of_Chicago_Fire.pdf https://www.jstor.org/stable/40193107?refreqid=excelsior%3A75e779f2b0de5a520d41b41b6760100b&googleloggedin=true&googleloggedin=true&seq=1 https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/about/media-centre/media-releases/2025-releases/the-science-behind-hay-fires https://www.pbs.org/video/the-great-chicago-fire-i17jer/ https://www.architecture.org/online-resources/buildings-of-chicago/chicago-water-tower https://forgottenchicago.com/forum/read.php?1,13249 https://www.bbc.com/weather/articles/cjw408qydx4o https://greatchicagofire.org/landmarks/city-cemetery-now-southern-end-of-lincoln-park/ https://www.weather.gov/lot/1871fire https://greatchicagofire.org/rescue-and-relief/ https://greatchicagofire.org/landmarks/shelter-cottage/ http://livinghistoryofillinois.com/pdf_files/Chicago%20Shelter%20Cottages%20-%20After%20the%20Fire%20of%201871.pdf https://pubs.lib.uiowa.edu/ijcs/article/29910/galley/138253/view/ https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/chicago-fire-1871-and-great-rebuilding/ https://www.wttw.com/chicago-stories/chicago-fire/chicago-shall-rise-again-rebuilding-a-better-city-after-the-blaze https://news.wttw.com/2021/10/08/grant-park-chicago-s-front-yard-rose-trash-great-firec https://time.com/4055770/great-chicago-fire-origins/ https://annacivil.medium.com/reporter-confesses-to-writing-fake-news-about-the-chicago-fire-a1b6613e776c

  5. Sep 23

    Episode 39: The Day the Music Died

    February 3, 1959 became known as The Day the Music Died, but the story began long before the airplane left the runway. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson were traveling through the frozen Midwest on the punishing Winter Dance Party tour. Broken-down buses, miserable temperatures and exhaustion made Buddy Holly's decision to charter a small plane toward the next tour stop seem like a welcome escape. Instead, the Beechcraft Bonanza crashed shortly after leaving Mason City, Iowa, killing all three musicians and 21-year-old pilot Roger Peterson. We follow the musicians whose careers converged that night, the seat changes and famous coin-toss story before takeoff, and the Civil Aeronautics Board investigation into deteriorating weather, Peterson's qualifications and an unfamiliar flight instrument. We also look at the rumors that followed, what later evidence actually established, and the legacy stretching from “American Pie” to the Surf Ballroom and the memorials in Clear Lake. Listen to Wreckage & Ruins with CC & Kitty for weekly disaster investigations grounded in the people, decisions and circumstances behind the headlines. SOURCES: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Holly https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/holley-charles-hardin-buddy-holly  https://atlas.thc.texas.gov/Details?atlasnumber=5507018312&fn=print  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritchie_Valens  https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/LaBamba.pdf  https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/celebrating-hispanic-heritage-culture-the-arts-music/ritchie-valens  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Bopper  https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/richardson-jiles-perry-big-bopper  https://bigbopper.com/about/  https://surfballroom.com/wdp/  https://www.archives.gov/files/kansas-city/press/newsletter/2021-november.pdf  https://www.archives.gov/research/transportation/aircraft-accidents  https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Aircraft_Accident_Report_for_Buddy_Holly's_crash  https://www.faa.gov/lessons_learned/small_airplane/accidents/N3794N  https://people.com/what-really-happened-on-the-day-the-music-died-11898397 https://billpetro.com/history-of-day-the-music-died/ https://www.britannica.com/event/The-Day-the-Music-Died  https://fiftiesweb.com/music/coroner-report/  https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2007/01/18/autopsy-of-big-bopper-to-address-rumors-about-1959-plane-crash/17a18c01-dd28-4377-bea8-7075bbc76f62/ https://time.com/archive/6909669/the-day-the-music-died/  https://surfballroom.com/surf-music-experience-center/  https://clearlakeiowa.com/buddy-holly-ritchie-valens-big-bopper-statues/  https://tx-lubbock.civicplus.com/220/Buddy-Holly-Center  https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-07-19-ca-4551-story.html  https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2024/03/cesar-chavez-family-and-filmmaking-with-luis-valdez/

  6. Sep 16

    Episode 38: Galveston Hurricane

    On September 8, 1900, the Great Galveston Hurricane struck the Texas coast and became the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history. Galveston was a prosperous port city built on a low barrier island. Hurricane forecasting was still in its infancy, communications were limited, and few residents understood the scale of the storm approaching them. When the Category 4 hurricane arrived, its powerful winds and roughly 15-foot storm surge devastated the island. About 8,000 people are commonly estimated to have died, although the true number will never be known. CC & Kitty trace the disaster from early hurricane forecasting and storm science through survivor accounts and the overwhelming recovery effort that followed. Then came an extraordinary response. Galveston built a massive seawall, lifted buildings onto jacks and raised large portions of the city with millions of cubic yards of fill, a civil-engineering project designed to give the island a better chance against the next major storm. Subscribe to Wreckage & Ruins for weekly disaster investigations and the stories of what came afterward. SOURCES: https://www.galvestonhistorycenter.org/research/1900-storm https://vlab.noaa.gov/web/nws-heritage/-/galveston-storm-of-1900 https://www.beg.utexas.edu/geowonders/coastal https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/karankawa-indians https://www.galveston.com/whattodo/history/galveston-history/ https://www.galvestonunscripted.com/who-founded-galveston https://www.portofgalveston.com/our-port/about-our-port/port-history/ https://www.galvestonunscripted.com/the-port-of-galveston https://www.galvestontx.gov/248/City-History https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/research/txhur.pdf https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/A_brief_history_of_the_United_States_Hurricane_Warning_Service-Dunn.pdf https://www.reconnectwithnature.org/headlines/news/the-science-of-sunsets https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/kids/topics/natural-world/why-the-sky-is-blue https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/doldrums.html https://gml.noaa.gov/grad/about/redsky/ https://smv.org/learn/blog/why-dont-hurricanes-happen-at-the-equator/ https://www.livescience.com/33567-toilet-swirl-direction-equator.html https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/coriolis-effect/ https://www.nps.gov/articles/anatomy-of-a-hurricane.htm https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/about/media/what-does-sahara-desert-have-do-hurricanes.html https://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2010/teams/neworleans1/hurricane%20science.htm https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshws.php https://www.noaa.gov/explainers/hurricane-forecasting https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/news/NOAApr10.html https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/storms/what-causes-storm-surge https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/surge/ https://www.1900storm.com/through-a-night-of-horrors.html https://www.visitgalveston.com/plan-your-trip/maps-neighborhoods/seawall-district/ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-sep-09-mn-18089-story.html https://www.texasalmanac.com/articles/galvestons-great-hurricane https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/essays/one-those-monstrosities-nature-galveston-storm-1900 https://nationalcoastguardmuseum.org/articles/death-and-destruction-at-galveston/ https://annweisgarber.com/the-promise/the-promise-book-talk-archive/

  7. Sep 9

    Episode 37: Silver Bridge Collapse

    On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed over the Ohio River between Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Ohio, killing 46 people. Investigators would eventually trace the disaster to a hidden fracture in eyebar 330, a critical flaw ordinary visual inspection couldn't reach. CC & Kitty follow the Silver Bridge from its unusual 1928 eyebar design through the rush-hour collapse, the dangerous rescue and recovery operation, and the investigation that identified stress corrosion and corrosion fatigue as the forces behind the failure. The disaster became a turning point for American bridge safety, helping drive the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1968 and national bridge inspection standards established in 1971. And because this happened in Point Pleasant, there's another story running beside the engineering investigation: Mothman. The first famous sightings came thirteen months before the bridge collapsed, creating a connection that lives on in folklore even though the official cause of the disaster was firmly mechanical. Silver Bridge Collapse Victims: Albert A. Adler Jr. J.O. Bennett Leo Blackman Kristye Boggs Margaret Boggs Hilda Byus Kathy Byus (unrecovered) Kimberly Byus Melvin Cantrell Thomas A. Cantrell Donna Jean Casey Cecil Counts Horace Cremeans Harold Cundiff Alonzo Luther Darst Alma Duff James Hawkins Bobby L. Head Forrest Raymond Higley Alva B. Lane Thomas “Bus” Howard Lee G.H. Mabe Darlene Mayes Gerald McMannus James Richard Maxwell James F. Meadows Frederick D. Miller Ronnie G. Moore Nora Isabelle Nibert Darius E. Northup Leo “Doc” Sanders Ronald Sims Charles T. Smith Oma Mae Smith Maxine Sturgeon Denzil Taylor Glenna Mae Taylor Robert Eugene Towe Maxine Turner (unrecovered) Victor William Turner James Otto Pullen Timothy Meadows Marvin L. Wamsley Lillian Eleanor Wedge Paul D. Wedge James Alfred White Sources: https://visitpointpleasantwv.com/ https://transportation.wv.gov/highways/bridge_facts/Modern-Bridges/Pages/Silver.aspx  https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/mothman-point-pleasant-west-virginia  https://www.asce.org/about-civil-engineering/history-and-heritage/historic-landmarks/silver-bridge-collapse-and-creation-of-national-bridge-inspections-standards  https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/HAR7101.pdf  https://www.mariettatimes.com/life/features/2024/12/silver-bridge-collapse-still-impacts-bridges-57-years-later/  https://www.grayco.com/sample/the-silver-bridge-collapse/  https://www.engr.psu.edu/ae/thesis/failures/MKP/failures/failures.wikispaces.com/Silver_Bridge_Point_Pleasant_Collapse.html  https://www.byrdcenter.org/blog/the-legacy-of-the-silver-bridge-collapse  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Bridge  https://strangeandtwisted.com/blogs/stories/mothman-sightings-from-the-first-encounter-to-the-latest-reports?srsltid=AfmBOoporey3iD-5FsT_DTS9N7oWhLpizJUdxrkJDLC_QZFU_2HzmOsw  https://www.mothmanmuseum.com/

  8. Sep 2

    Episode 36: Endurance Expedition

    Ernest Shackleton's Endurance expedition was supposed to make the first crossing of Antarctica. The expedition never reached its starting point. After Endurance became trapped in Weddell Sea pack ice, Shackleton and 27 other men spent months drifting with the ship before the ice finally crushed it. Losing Endurance was only the beginning. They camped on moving ice, escaped in lifeboats to uninhabited Elephant Island, and then watched Shackleton and five companions attempt an extraordinary open-boat voyage to South Georgia in the James Caird. Against the odds, all 28 men from Endurance survived. But the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition had another half. On the Ross Sea side of Antarctica, a second party continued laying the supply depots Shackleton was supposed to use during his crossing. Their ship Aurora was swept away, leaving ten men stranded. They continued the mission without knowing that Shackleton was never coming, and three of them died before rescue arrived. CC and Kitty cover the wreck of Endurance, Frank Worsley's navigation, Elephant Island, the James Caird, Shackleton's rescue attempts and the often-overlooked tragedy of the Ross Sea Party. Follow Wreckage & Ruins for weekly disaster investigations. SOURCES: SOURCES: https://www.rgs.org/media/mh0lxvg2/ks2_shackleton_l4_shackleton-timeline-and-historical-overview-v2.pdf https://www.ernestshackleton.net/#endurance-expedition https://www.britannica.com/science/pack-ice https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165232X21000197 https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/maritime-history/curatorial/what-endurance-shipwreck-discovery-tells-us-about-ships-final https://endurance22.org/history-of-endurance https://www.wood-database.com/greenheart/ https://fmht.co.uk/education/history-of-shackletons-endurance/?utm_source=endurance22_website&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=e22_website_history_page_fmht_continue_reading_link_click_20_01_25#endurance-history-continued https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/antarctica-frank-hurley https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/crushing-endurance https://www.history.com/articles/shackleton-endurance-survival https://www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observatory/attractions/stand-on-prime-meridian-line https://maritimemuseumlouisiana.org/maritimeblog/longitude https://www.wansbeckpaddlesports.co.uk/sea-navigation https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-much-distance-does-a-degree-minute-and-second-cover-your-maps https://rwu.pressbooks.pub/webboceanography/chapter/2-1-latitude-and-longitude/ https://www.aps.org/apsnews/2006/06/eratosthenes-measures-earth https://www.sea.museum/en/article/latitude-longitude-and-the-greeks https://eshackleton.com/2016/01/14/death-was-instantaneous/ https://sght.org/timeline/elephant-island-rescue/ https://www.historyhit.com/tragic-story-ross-sea-party/ https://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/antarctic_whos_who_shackleton-ross-sea.php https://latrobejournal.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-82/t1-g-t4.html https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/our-stories/the-other-side-of-shackletons-antarctic-adventure/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Sea_party

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

Welcome to Wreckage & Ruins! Each week we investigate disasters: man-made and natural, legendary last stands, medical mishaps, and everything in between. Each of the ruins unfold into a story, and we're here to understand why it happened and what came after.

Information

  • Creator
    CC and Kitty
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    43
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © CC and Kitty
  • Show Website
    Wreckage & Ruins

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