May 18, 1927: The Bath School Disaster

Trigger warning for murder, child death, and terrorism.

As on May the 4th, the following is an episode of Jennifer Matarese's Disaster Area podcast to correspond with the anniversary of a historical disaster. 

On May 18, 1927, local school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe (you may remember him from this book) rigs explosives inside the Bath Township, Michigan elementary school to explode. He murders his wife and sets his house and barn on fire. Kehoe also fills his automobile with nails and explosives, detonating it and killing himself and sending shrapnel flying. The local mail carrier loses a leg when the vehicle explodes and later dies from his injuries.

A plaque commemorating the Bath School disaster, located in Memorial Park, Bath, MI. Image owner: kennethaw88. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

As a result of the school explosion and detonation of the vehicle, 38 children and a total of five adult victims are killed. The exact reason for Kehoe’s rampage is unknown, but he may have been upset about losing a local election and his wife’s increasingly poor health.

Here is the episode:

And now, because I happen to be in between day jobs at the moment, please enjoy the following affiliate audiobook link.