fascinatinghorror posts
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The Tay Bridge Disaster
In this video I show a picture of the locomotive that pulled the train which was destroyed in the collapse. It’s in pretty bad shape, not only because of the crash, but because it was accidentally dropped while being retrieved from the water.It certainly looks like a locomotive that isn’t going to run ever again…...
The Worst Poet in History
Here's another of my "Fascinating Failures" - although this time it's a little different, as it's a creative failure rather than a business one. William McGonagall of Dundee was, and is, known for being quite possibly the worst poet ever to put pen to paper.There are a good few examples of his poetr...
The Accidental Death Row Electrocution
While researching this short I came across a similar but somewhat different story: that of Troy Leon Gregg. Gregg was a convicted murderer, sentenced to death in Georgia. He wasn’t able to have his sentence commuted… but he did manage to escape from prison in 1980, along with two other prisoners. Again, though, his...
The Roseville Yard Explosion
You might be wondering what became of the town of Antelope which was destroyed by this disaster. At the time, it consisted of only around 30 buildings: a post office, a general store and a handful of homes. The Roseville Yard explosions practically wiped it off the map.It wasn’t until the late 1980s that Antelope was...
The Glass Tower Disaster
This one was a lot of fun to work on – a movie that I’ve enjoyed and had on my radar for quite a while, and one that rivals The Poseidon Adventure when it comes to classic 1970s hammy disaster-movie action sequences.There are so many weird bits of trivia about this film, but here are two that I particularly enjoyed...
The Winecoff Hotel Fire
In this video I mention the hugely influential photograph taken by Arnold Hardy. It’s an interesting one, because it’s one of the last photographs he took. Although he had a keen interest in photography, he gave it up after winning the Pulitzer Prize, as he believed all his future work would be measured against tha...
The Fish with Human Teeth
You might have seen pictures of this fish elsewhere, perhaps under a different name. It’s sometimes known as the “convict” fish, because the stripes along its body resemble the stripes on an old prison jumpsuit. More recently videos have been posted on TikTok describing the creature as a “demon” fish. Which, ...
A Brief History of Hazing (Part Two)
There was one other unusual hazing death from the 1970s that I wanted to include in this video… but ultimately I just couldn’t find enough imagery to cover it. Here’s a newspaper article I did locate, though, that covers the death of Thomas Fitzgerald during a fraternity hazing in 1976.Unusually, the accident was...
Adrift in the Pacific
There’s so much to this story that I couldn’t find space for in the video. If you’re interested in it, I definitely recommend the book 438 Days by Jonathan Franklin. It was written after months of interviews with Alvarenga himself, and is probably the most authoritative source that exists.One thing I found partic...
The Most Important Snail in History
If this story interests you at all, I’d definitely recommend reading more about it. The Wikipedia article on the case is a good place to start, as it contains a blow-by-blow summary of the whole incident, including extracts from various judgements. It may seem obvious to us today that if a dead animal ends up in a dr...
The Buncefield Explosion
I’m old enough to have a clear memory of this accident, which was a pretty big news story all over the UK. There had, I recall, quite recently been a terrorist attack in London, and so people were very much on high alert. When the news first broke, many commentators were convinced that it was another deliberate bombi...
The Khodynka Crush
Given when this disaster took place, I was surprised to see that there are quite a few of the souvenir cups that were handed out at the banquet still in circulation. Here’s a listing for one that sold at auction in 2007 for around £300.1896 was over 120 years ago now. It’s rare to find artefacts like this from eve...
The Oubliette
Identifying an oubliette is sometimes an easy task: if it’s stacked full of human bones, it may well have been an oubliette at one point or another. In some cases, though, it’s much more tricky. Features that look like an oubliette in design may actually be storage facilities, strong rooms, ice houses or latrines.H...
The Hoover "Fly for Free" Fiasco
Here's another "Fascinating Failure" that I thought I'd share with you a little early (I'll be publishing it on the channel next week). This one covers the Hoover Holidays scandal, which was quite a big deal in the UK in the 1990s.My family happened to have a Hoover-brand vacuum cleaner when I was g...
The Pemberton Mill Collapse
While researching this video I spent quite a long time trying to determine what the new Pemberton Mill building is used for today. Other mills in the area have been converted into apartment buildings, or are used for other industrial activities.But the Pemberton Mill itself is unlabelled on Google Maps, and even when y...
The Zacatón Sinkhole Accident
While I was doing some background reading for this story I came across this rather unusual form. It’s posted on a very old-looking site dedicated to diving with a particular mix of gases known as Trimix. The purpose of the form? Ostensibly it’s to be given to anyone who plans a risky dive without sufficient trainin...
This Fungus Turns Ants Into Zombies
I can’t complete a short about the Ophiocordyceps fungus without mentioning the video game The Last of Us. It’s an excellent game with a very compelling story, set in a world where a fungus that infects and controls humans has spread out of control. The TV series made after the video game is also very good – thou...
Workplace Horrors
I showed a few lockout/tagout devices in the last part of this video… but there are many, many more out there. In fact, there’s pretty much a device custom-designed for locking out any machine you can think of.Here’s one to prevent a device from being unplugged, and here’s one that allows multiple people to loc...
The Estadio Nacional Disaster
I wasn’t able to find footage of the disputed goal that I could get permission to use in the video… but it appears that it was captured on camera. Here’s some footage that I was able to find elsewhere on YouTube. At around the 00:50 mark there’s a slow-motion shot of the goal being scored.I am by no means an ex...
The Quietest Room on Earth
When I was working on this short I watched some videos of the anechoic chamber to get an idea of what it’s like inside. Here’s one that I really enjoyed. There’s an excellent demonstration of a man clapping while they slowly close the door of the chamber – just how dramatically the sound changes is quite startl...
The Big Bayou Canot Disaster
There’s one other notable accident involving the Sunset Limited that also took place in the 1990s – although in the case of this one it’s not particularly clear what happened. In the early hours of the morning on the 9th of October, 1995, the Sunset Limited derailed in the Arizona desert.One person (a conductor) ...
The Blitz
In the video I mention that there was a lack of deep shelters early on in the Blitz… and that it took a lot of protest by ordinary people to change this. One person who really stands out when it comes to this bit of history is Michael (or “Mickey”) Davies.Mickey was a man of very short stature – so short, in fa...
The Unluckiest Lucky Escape
This is an example of a very well-documented close call. It’s interesting to note, though, that in the months after the sinking of the Titanic, it appears that quite a large number of people claimed (mostly without evidence) to have “just missed” boarding the ship.One newspaper counted more than 6,000 separate ne...
The Gillingham Fair Disaster
The inquest into this disaster was unable to determine what had caused the house to burn before it was scheduled to… but they weren’t totally without evidence. The testimony of 16-year-old dock worker Jack Richards sheds some light on what might have happened.Jack testified that he entered the house before the demo...
The Worst Speech in History
Here's something a little different: today I'm sharing a video from my other channel (https://www.youtube.com/@KristianCrow) that I'm hoping will be the first in a series. I'm tentatively calling them "Fascinating Failures".Instead of covering a crash, sinking, fire or other catastrophe, these v...
The Daegu Subway Fire
The construction of a "Safety Theme Park" is a rather unusual development in the wake of a disaster. From the accounts I’ve read of this one, though, it certainly seems to be effective. The attraction helps visitors prepare for earthquakes, rollover car accidents, subway train evacuations, and common medical ...
The English City Underneath New York
There’s apparently not much to see at Bristol Basin, although there is a plaque that was installed in 1974, which has a rather poetic way of describing the situation:“Beneath this East River Drive of the City of New York lie stones, bricks and rubble from the bombed City of Bristol in England. Brought here in balla...
The Sinking of the Oceanos
Incredibly, the sinking of the Oceanos was not the only cruise ship disaster that Moss Hills survived. He was also present just a few years later in 1994 when the MS Achille Lauro caught fire and eventually sank. Once again Moss assisted by organising and guiding passengers into lifeboats.At one point he even risked hi...
Lost in the Grand Canyon (Part Two)
Linda made a lot of mistakes during her time in the canyon, but one thing she got right was prioritising her need for water. It surprised me to learn that, in extreme circumstances, people can survive a very long time without food (but not very long at all without water).In fact, so long as you’re fit, well and hydra...
The Goat Cheese Fire of 2013
Pretty much every source I looked at for this story was quick to mention just how delicious Brunost is. As such, I had to try some. If you’re in the UK you can order it online (unfortunately I couldn’t find any sellers that traded outside of Europe). The stuff is surprisingly sweet, though it’s also got a definit...
