The Texas City Disaster of 1947 | Episode 107
About this episode
This episode explores the catastrophic Texas City Disaster of 1947 and its implications.
No one shows up to work expecting to make history, but today’s story shows how one small, irreversible decision created the one of the worst days at work in US History. If that “fork in the road” moment had played out in any other way, today’s episode would mostly just be me chatting up Texans and offering up some gardening tips. On today’s episode: you will find out why parts of Texas smell like money, and why that money smells unbreathably pungent and caustic; we will explore how there can come a point where calling something loud loses all meaning, and then your skin blows off; and we will learn about a disaster so catastrophic, that people who said “well, I’m glad that’s all over with” were treated to an encore. And because you are listening on Patreon… you will hear about a river or two that defied convention by bursting into flames; you will learn about the time a German industrial site tried to fly into space because it’s standard operating procedures director was actually a potted plant wearing a tie; and you will find out how British Petroleum basically became the Beatles of oil and gas disasters. They say everything’s bigger in Texas, and I believe it. You will too…
More episodes of Doomsday: History's Most Dangerous Podcast
- The Kursk Submarine Disaster of 2000 | Episode 106
- The Carrington Geomagnetic Superstorm of 1859 | Episode 105
- The Black Saturday Bushfires of 2009 | Episode 104
- The Norwegian Cheese Fire Disaster of 2013 | Episode 103
- The Kaprun Funicular Disaster of 2000 | Episode 102
- The Yukon Riverboat Disaster of 1906 | Episode 101
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