Disaster Area

NOTE: This was released in May of 2025, but due to life being what it is, I didn't get to finish the final two parts of the episode. So I am rereleasing this episode this week, and the next two weeks I will release the following two episodes. I have now officially backed myself in a corner and I simply MUST finish the episodes now. It would start with a headache, a fever, maybe a funny tummy. But soon enough your knee would give out, or your arm would hang limp, or you would struggle to breathe. You'd be taken to the hospital, where you'd get your diagnosis - polio. If you survived, you ran the risk of doing so with paralyzed limbs, struggling to walk on bulky leg braces. Your parents would be terrified they might lose you, and so everybody wanted the one thing that could stop all of this - a vaccine. Videos: New England Journal of Medicine: The Cutter Incident, 50 Years Later American Experience: The Polio Crusade The Iron Lung and Polio by M.Rockoff | OPENPediatrics Articles and books: Polio: An American Story, by David M. Oshinsky The Cutter Incident, by Dr. Paul Offit NEJM: The Cutter Incident

2001 was not the only year in which something tragic occurred on September 11th. On that day in 1974, eighty-two people would board a plane from Charleston, South Carolina, to Charlotte, North Carolina. Only ten would survive. Videos: 9/11/74: The Untold Story of Charlotte's Deadliest Plane Crash Stephen Colbert and Anderson Cooper's beautiful conversation about grief Talkative Pilots: Eastern Airlines Flight 212 Articles and books: A fiery plane crash on 9/11/74 changed Charleston forever. 50 years later, its scars linger. NTSB Crash Report for Eastern Airlines Flight 212 Charlotte's deadliest plane crash has finally been memorialized after 51 years

King Henry I of England had grand plans for the future of his sole legitimate male heir, William Aetheling. None of those plans would come to pass. Articles and books: The Sinking Of The White Ship 1120 The White Ship, by Charles Spencer The Impact of the White Ship Disaster of 1120 900 years since the White Ship disaster How one catastrophic shipwreck sank a medieval dynasty Divers find The Tragic White Ship

On a cold April night in 1865, the calm across the waters of the Mississippi River was shattered by a sudden explosion - one which destroyed a steamboat and most of the Confederate POWs crowded on its decks. Videos: Remember the Sultana The History Channel: The Sultana Part-Time Explorer: America's Worst Shipwreck Articles and books: Sultana: Surviving the Civil War, Prison, and the Worst Maritime Disaster in American History, by Alan Huffman Knoxville, TN: S.S. Sultana Memorial Appomattox Court House: The Surrender Meeting American Battlefield Trust: The Sultana Disaster The Sultana Disaster Museum Toledo Blade: The Sinking of the Sultana

On a cold April night in 1865, the calm across the waters of the Mississippi River was shattered by a sudden explosion - one which destroyed a steamboat and most of the Confederate POWs crowded on its decks. Videos: Remember the Sultana The History Channel: The Sultana Part-Time Explorer: America's Worst Shipwreck Articles and books: Sultana: Surviving the Civil War, Prison, and the Worst Maritime Disaster in American History, by Alan Huffman Knoxville, TN: S.S. Sultana Memorial Appomattox Court House: The Surrender Meeting American Battlefield Trust: The Sultana Disaster The Sultana Disaster Museum Toledo Blade: The Sinking of the Sultana

It's the podcast's tenth birthday! Also, where we've been and where we're going.

In the early morning hours of September 22nd, 1993, a cross-country train departed from Mobile, Alabama, on its way to Miami. As it headed up along the train tracks out of the city, the train didn't know one important thing - that half of the bridge over the Big Bayou Canot wasn't there anymore. Videos: Seconds from Disaster: The Wreck of the Sunset Limited Forensic Files: Visibility Zero Rail Disasters: Wreck of the Sunset Limited Articles and books: Barge Pilot Blamed in Fatal Amtrak Wreck No Criminal Liability Is Found in Amtrak Bayou Derailment Mobile Press-Register 200th Anniversary: Sunset Limited train wreck memories not diminished by passing years NTSB report on the accident

On a sunny Sunday morning in 2017, a man in an SUV pulled up outside a small white church in Sutherland Springs, TX. The people inside would become the targets of the weapons he carried. But when he sped away about twenty minutes later, he would be the one escaping gunfire. Videos: Miracle on 4th Street Sutherland Springs shooter recorded his confession to severe beating of stepson Victims' stories heard through videos of Sutherland Springs church services Articles and books: I'm Not a Hero': Man Who Shot and Chased Texas Church Gunman Shares His Story Secret Service case study focused on the Sutherland Springs shooting as an example of the link between domestic violence and mass attacks From the first deadly shot until the last — how the Texas church shooting unfolded Comal County authorities didn't charge Sutherland Springs gunman with rape, even though the victim described brutal attack Texas massacre survivors say gunman Devin Kelley became enraged by scared children during church shooting Exclusive: Guilt and grief overwhelm the mother-in-law of the Sutherland Springs gunman Texas church gunman lied about past to become a security guard, records show Site of deadliest church shooting in US history is torn down over protests by some Texas families Texas Church Shooting Video Shows Gunman's Methodical Attack, Official Says Conspiracy theorists harass Sutherland Springs churchgoers, pastor whose daughter was killed Washington Post: Investigative Timeline - Sutherland Springs Baptist Church Mass Casualty Event Secret Service: First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs - A Case Study Between Domestic Violence and Mass Attacks Air Force must pay more than $230M in church shooting

On a sunny Sunday morning in 2017, a man in an SUV pulled up outside a small white church in Sutherland Springs, TX. The people inside would become the targets of the weapons he carried. But when he sped away about twenty minutes later, he would be the one escaping gunfire. Videos: Miracle on 4th Street Sutherland Springs shooter recorded his confession to severe beating of stepson Victims' stories heard through videos of Sutherland Springs church services Articles and books: I'm Not a Hero': Man Who Shot and Chased Texas Church Gunman Shares His Story Secret Service case study focused on the Sutherland Springs shooting as an example of the link between domestic violence and mass attacks From the first deadly shot until the last — how the Texas church shooting unfolded Comal County authorities didn't charge Sutherland Springs gunman with rape, even though the victim described brutal attack Texas massacre survivors say gunman Devin Kelley became enraged by scared children during church shooting Exclusive: Guilt and grief overwhelm the mother-in-law of the Sutherland Springs gunman Texas church gunman lied about past to become a security guard, records show Site of deadliest church shooting in US history is torn down over protests by some Texas families Texas Church Shooting Video Shows Gunman's Methodical Attack, Official Says Conspiracy theorists harass Sutherland Springs churchgoers, pastor whose daughter was killed Washington Post: Investigative Timeline - Sutherland Springs Baptist Church Mass Casualty Event Secret Service: First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs - A Case Study Between Domestic Violence and Mass Attacks Air Force must pay more than $230M in church shooting

On a sunny Sunday morning in 2017, a man in an SUV pulled up outside a small white church in Sutherland Springs, TX. The people inside would become the targets of the weapons he carried. But when he sped away about twenty minutes later, he would be the one escaping gunfire. Videos: Miracle on 4th Street Sutherland Springs shooter recorded his confession to severe beating of stepson Victims' stories heard through videos of Sutherland Springs church services Articles and books: I'm Not a Hero': Man Who Shot and Chased Texas Church Gunman Shares His Story Secret Service case study focused on the Sutherland Springs shooting as an example of the link between domestic violence and mass attacks From the first deadly shot until the last — how the Texas church shooting unfolded Comal County authorities didn't charge Sutherland Springs gunman with rape, even though the victim described brutal attack Texas massacre survivors say gunman Devin Kelley became enraged by scared children during church shooting Exclusive: Guilt and grief overwhelm the mother-in-law of the Sutherland Springs gunman Texas church gunman lied about past to become a security guard, records show Site of deadliest church shooting in US history is torn down over protests by some Texas families Texas Church Shooting Video Shows Gunman's Methodical Attack, Official Says Conspiracy theorists harass Sutherland Springs churchgoers, pastor whose daughter was killed Washington Post: Investigative Timeline - Sutherland Springs Baptist Church Mass Casualty Event Secret Service: First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs - A Case Study Between Domestic Violence and Mass Attacks Air Force must pay more than $230M in church shooting

A week ago, the Guadalupe River in Texas overflowed its banks and swept away dozens of campers. It turns out that this is not the first time it's done so - and not the first time some of those campers didn't survive. Videos: "Rescue 911" segment on the tragedy Señor Onion's Archives: Guadalupe Flood of 1987 Sheriff recounts tragic Comfort, TX flood The Flood: Who Will Save Our Children? Articles and books: Toll At 8 In Texas Flooding 2 Young Campers Are Still Missing Almost 40 years ago, 10 children died in a Comfort flood that shook Texas