The Unlit Room

Marcinelle: The Mine Fire That Forced a Bigger Question Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://www.leboisducazier.be/le-8-aout-1956/; https://www.esteri.it/it/sala_stampa/archivionotizie/comunicati/2021/08/commemorazione-del-65-anniversario-del-disastro-di-marcinelle-messaggio-del-ministro-di-maio/; https://asbergamo.cultura.gov.i...

Wellington: The Mountain Had Changed Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://archive.org/download/avalanchesforest17mung/avalanchesforest17mung.pdf; https://archive.org/download/sim_monthly-weather-review_1910-06_38_6/sim_monthly-weather-review_1910-06_38_6.pdf; https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/topping-v-great-northern-railway-...

Laki: The Disaster That Outlasted the Eruption Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2001jd002042; https://www.katlageopark.com/geosites/mainly-geology/lakagigar/; https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/24/2971/2024/; https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-42-02-0184; https:...

Cherry Mine: A Week Behind the Barricade Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://archive.org/download/reportoncherrymi00illi/reportoncherrymi00illi.pdf; https://www.gutenberg.org/files/18448/18448-h/18448-h.htm; https://gompers.umd.edu/Cherry%20report.htm; https://gompers.umd.edu/Cherry%20Stuckert.htm; https://gompers.umd.edu/Cherr...

Farmington: Sealing the Mine Was Not the End Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://arlweb.msha.gov/S%26HINFO/TECHRPT/MEO/MAJORMIN.pdf; https://archive.wvculture.org/History/disasters/farmington02.html; https://archive.wvculture.org/history/disasters/farmington01.html; https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/9888/cdc_9888_DS1.pdf; https:/...

Sunshine Skyway: When the Radar References Disappeared Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/MAR8103.pdf; https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/566/962/2396408/; https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1980/october/anatomy-two-collisions Visual credits: -...

Hamlet: The Fire and the Locked Exits Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://www.mcftoa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Chicken-Processing-Plant-Fires.pdf; https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/accidentsearch.accident_detail?id=170073035; https://www.ncleg.gov/Files/Library/studies/1992/st10661.pdf; https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/09/04...

Three Mile Island: The Shutdown That Was Not Enough Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://www.nrc.gov/regulations-legislation/fact-sheets-brochures/backgrounder-on-the-three-mile-island-accident; https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-Y3_N88-PURL-gpo177427/pdf/GOVPUB-Y3_N88-PURL-gpo177427.pdf; https://nonuclear.se/files/Presi...

Apollo 1: The Disaster Before Liftoff Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/apollo/apollo-1/report-of-the-apollo-204-review-board/; https://www.nasa.gov/history/55-years-ago-the-apollo-1-fire-and-its-aftermath/; https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/apollo-fire-50-years-180960972/; https://apnews...

The Empire State Building Crash and the Elevator Survivor Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://dam.clarionengage.com/content/dam/fe/online-articles/documents/2015/FE194510EmpireStatePlane.pdf; https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2019/10/18/the-empire-state-plane-crash-july-28-1945; https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2023/10/how...

The Safest Submarine Ever Built — And the Test That Killed 129 Men Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/t/thresher-ssn-593.html; https://www.newspapers.com Visual credits: - "NH 97544 USS Thresher.png" by AnonymousUnknown author; Public domain https://creativ...

Nine Tonnes of Margarine — The Mont Blanc Tunnel Fire That Burned 53 Hours Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://www.senat.fr/rap/l98-519/l98-519.html; https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/303507.stm; https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/686441.stm; https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/mar/25/montblanctunnel; https://ww...

The Bank Founder Who Bankrupted Scotland Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Darien-scheme; https://www.nls.uk/collections/topics/darien/ Visual credits: - "Darien colony.png" by Modified by Hogweard; CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil...

He Opened an Unlocked Case — And Stole the World's Largest Sapphire Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1964/10/31/; https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1964/11/01/; https://www.life.com/; https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1965/01/; https://timesmachine.nytimes.co...

The Dalton Gang Robbed Their Hometown — Everyone Recognized Them Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/dalton-gang/11754 Visual credits: - ""Gratton Dalton Again Free".jpg" by San Francisco Examiner; Public domain https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/; https://commons.wikim...

The Stock Bubble That Corrupted Parliament — and Got Away With It Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://archive.org/details/southseabubble00cars; https://archive.org/details/greatswindle00cowl; https://www.routledge.com/The-South-Sea-Bubble-An-Economic-History-of-its-Origins-and-Consequences/Paul/p/book/9780415470988; https://arc...

He Asked for the Greatest Storm Ever — It Came for Him Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://archive.org/details/stormorcollectio00defo; https://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/lighthouses-and-lightvessels/eddystone-lighthouse Visual credits: - "E. W. Cooke - Great storm in the Downs, 1703.jpg" by Edward William Cooke; Public do...

The Dam Ate Its Own Rescue Equipment — Then the Bureau Blamed Nature Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://www.usbr.gov/pn/teton/about.html; https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1977/0341/; https://www.usbr.gov/history/damstor/teton.html; https://www.congress.gov/bill/95th-congress/house-bill/4825 Visual credits: - "Aerial View of Teton...

They Broadcast Their Own Bank Robbery Live — Police Still Missed It Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/sep/11/ukcrime; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker_Street_robbery Visual credits: - "Juan Pablo Viscardo Y Guzman (5026566440).jpg" by Simon Harriyott from Uckfield, England; CC BY 2.0 h...

Leaded Gas Had a Safe Alternative — They Chose Poison for Profit Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/secret-history-lead/; https://www.epa.gov/lead/lead-phaseout; https://www.who.int/news/item/31-08-2021-who-lead-free-petrol Visual credits: - "Portrait of Thomas Midgley Jr..jpg" by An...

Silver Thursday — The Hunt Brothers Built the Perfect Trap and Walked Into It Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/1980/03/28/archives/silver-prices-plunge-on-heavy-selling.html; https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/26/business/bunker-hunt-files-for-bankruptcy.html; https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/21/business/hunt-bro...

The Station Nightclub Fire: Soundproofing Foam Killed 100 in Minutes Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/NCSTAR/ncstar2.pdf; https://www.providencejournal.com; https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Publications-and-media/NFPA-Journal/2004; https://www.boston.com/news Visual credits: - "200...

They Declared Everyone Dead. Seven Men Were Still Singing. Every story in here actually happened. New stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Sources: https://www.cbc.ca/archives; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springhill_mine_disasters Visual credits: - "Springhill Mine 1.jpg" by RobNS at English Wikipedia; Public domain https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/; https://...

The Life Preservers That Drowned a Thousand People — 1904 Every story in here actually happened. New episodes Monday through Saturday. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS_General_Slocum Visual credits: - "All that was left of the boat which carried over 1000 souls to destruction. General view of Slocum after being raised, Slocum Disaster, New York Harbor LCCN2009632223.jpg" by H.C....

An Army Reactor Exploded in 1961. Three Men Died. The Cause Was Never Confirmed. Every story in here actually happened. New episodes Monday through Saturday. Sources: https://www.osti.gov/search/semantic:SL-1+accident; https://www.inl.gov/history/; https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/ Visual credits: - "ARA-II. After SL-1 explosion, operators shielded crane cab try to o...