A Year's Worth of Bummer Posts

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for January 1: https://ko-fi.com/post/Happy-New-Year-Z8Z0Z4QUR

Today's Observance: New Year's Day
Author Julie S. Howlin post of the day: J. Edgar Hoover

And Now: The collection is complete! Now you can go back and read the entire updated, revised, and consolidated "Bummer" collection of history posts for each month of the year. 

January
Reading List at Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/lists/bummer-january-reading-list

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October
Reading List at Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/lists/bummer-october-reading-list

November 
Reading List at Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/lists/bummer-november-reading-list

December
Reading List at Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/lists/bummer-december-reading-list

Happy new year! I hope your 2026 isn't a bummer. And now, because I still haven't published this in book form and you won't find these anywhere else online, here are my sources. 

Physical Books

1959: The Year Everything Changed by Fred Kaplan. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009.

Our Dreaming Mind: A Sweeping Exploration of the Role That Dreams Have Played in Politics, Art, Religion, and Psychology, from Ancient Civilizations to the Present Day by Robert L. Van de Castle, Ph.D., Ballantine Books, 1994.

When Bears Attack: Close Encounters of the Terrifying Kind, edited by Joseph B. Healy, Skyhorse Publishing, 2016.

Web Resources

https://abc7chicago.com/michigan-pool-death-boy-dies-teen-niles/1832154/

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/paste-eaters-grave

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-strange-secret-behind-the-tragic-deaths-of-oscar-wildes-halfsisters

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49551353

https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/venice-lightning-strike-victims-mother-writes-touching-obituary/

https://www.charlesdickensinfo.com/life/staplehurst-railway-accident/

https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/October-2012/Chicago-Tylenol-Murders-An-Oral-History/

https://href.li/?https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/they-came-in-through-the-bathroom-mirror/Content?oid=871084

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-01-18-9001050483-story.html

https://copycateffect.blogspot.com/

https://www.csb.gov/cta-acoustics-dust-explosion-and-fire/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10898259/Mother-daughter-no-training-arraigned-murder-charges-performing-illegal-butt-lift.html

https://depressinghistory.tumblr.com/archive

https://www.grunge.com/83770/performers-died-live-audiences/

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/grave-robbers-steal-charlie-chaplins-body

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/self-help-gurus-sweat-lodge-ceremony-turns-deadly

https://www.historylink.org/File/10167

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/zhanna-samsonova-diet-vegan-influencer-dies-b2388656.html

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2013/10/01/indiana-unsolved-the-1943-murder-of-cpl-maoma-ridings-at-the-upscale-claypool-hotel-remains-a-mystery/2901193/

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2018/07/13/true-crime-dresser-drawer-murder-claypool-hotel/769276002/

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-11-01-ca-5220-story.html

https://lithub.com/federico-garcia-lorca-predicted-his-own-death-in-a-poem/

https://www.mercurynews.com/2015/12/07/this-hitchcock-movie-was-inspired-by-crab-toxin-frenzy-in-capitola/

https://www.myplainview.com/news/article/Rig-worker-sentenced-to-18-years-in-co-worker-s-8873564.php

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna16614865

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6726376

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cirque-du-soleil-star-yann-arnaud-plunges-death-during-florida-n857761

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/actor-accidentally-hangs-himself-stage-while-enacting-passion-christ-flna732563

https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PTMdAAAAIBAJ&pg=4215,2121527

https://nypost.com/2011/04/11/wisconsin-man-gets-probation-for-shooting-tv-over-bristol-palins-dancing/

https://www.nytimes.com/1928/11/15/archives/radium-paint-takes-its-inventors-life-dr-sabin-a-von-sochocky-ill-a.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1974/12/26/archives/intruder-in-car-smashes-white-house-gate-us-aides-son-gives-up-held.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/25/obituaries/robert-bloch-author-of-psycho-and-many-such-tales-dies-at-77.html

https://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/life-saving-lessons/all

https://www.racked.com/2017/12/19/16710276/burning-dresses-history

https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a20801399/the-dangers-of-running-in-the-heat/

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Final-texts-released-Chung-Gerrish-deaths-16930376.php

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/died-onstage/

 https://www.southbendtribune.com/story/news/local/2002/03/22/archive-employee-kills-four-at-south-bend-factory/46474487/

https://www.strangeoutdoors.com/strange-indoors/joshua-maddux

https://www.theartstory.org/influencer/mallarme-stephane/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/nov/03/film.filmnews

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/06/16/fatal-peanut-laced-kiss-serves-as-public-health-lesson-about-allergies.html

http://takarazukaforever.weebly.com/timeline.html

https://time.com/4286323/irma-bule-snake-bite-cobra-singer-dangdut-indonesia/

https://time.com/4741481/sun-dial-westin-peachtree-plaza-hotel-death/

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/77361771

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/RippedFromTheHeadlines/Music

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/06/02/A-psychologist-says-the-televised-version-of-The-Exorcist/6511360302400/

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/08/25/Entertainer-Jerry-Lee-Lewis-fifth-wife-found-dead-in/8620430632000/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2024/01/25/orla-baxendale-died-mislabeled-cookies-stew-leonards/72350767007/

https://web.archive.org/web/20090320090055/http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/09/12/news_6132357.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20140315061028/http://www.texnews.com/texas97/coup071497.html

https://www.wired.com/2010/02/plane-crash-kills-tesla-employees/

https://www.wltx.com/article/news/friends-remember-man-woman-who-fell-off-building/101-381983920

Wikipedia Pages

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Death_conspiracy_theories

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Death-related_lists

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Deaths_onstage 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Filmed_deaths_from_falls 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Last_known_speakers_of_a_language

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Musicians_who_died_on_stage 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Unsolved_deaths

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endling

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_during_consensual_sex

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_baseball_players_who_died_during_their_careers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_book-burning_incidents

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_destroyed_libraries

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_entertainers_who_died_during_a_performance

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foodborne_illness_outbreaks 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_food_contamination_incidents

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hazing_deaths_in_the_United_States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_the_United_States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_deaths 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stunt_performer#Deaths 

This is not an exhaustive list of all the Wikipedia pages I used.

My Favorite History Podcasts

All Bad Things
https://open.spotify.com/show/4l2PqxbyjQBATOjcJCe2Mb?si=20f1f3bb94a04d9f

The Atlas Obscura Podcast
https://open.spotify.com/show/0s0c4Z99PwbW8efTmHckyT?si=1abbcb403b404f54

Behind the Bastards
https://open.spotify.com/show/0rOatMqaG3wB5BF4AdsrSX?si=2140bfbfc7f749ec

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
https://open.spotify.com/show/2yPlb6ynbhTJbziSIcykQd?si=750530929a884a2d

The Constant: A History of Getting Things Wrong
https://open.spotify.com/show/31OE1hgQ9lUCKyc78VIDiI?si=d67002b4073c445c

The Dark Histories Podcast
https://open.spotify.com/show/2HCs3hT2txXyBbSo0FPyx8?si=0dc2b2e9f4944c1a

Disaster Area
https://open.spotify.com/show/7GVw4FWL2GkSo0C4iX9Qkh?si=b5fced699f1f49b8

Disastrous History: A Disasters of History Podcast
https://open.spotify.com/show/415WhUe8bT1EVHlBjqFdFz?si=eda004a650054534

Footnoting History
https://open.spotify.com/show/5WwSZ2i4NJqoQF13L8z4U0?si=4b50ab38e77b47c6

Ghost Town: Strange History, True Crime, & The Paranormal
https://open.spotify.com/show/4iUdTQnVVmyjM8je06uzR3?si=016003c24be041ca

The History Cache Podcast
https://open.spotify.com/show/5TgL9JgbWVp6m55wpmxoI1?si=d0191f167d02444e

History Extra Podcast
https://open.spotify.com/show/67EPVbpyjlDxGWsrfzdYu5?si=91630cd629d642d3

History for Weirdos
https://open.spotify.com/show/5PfQzwbYi6ClQU00QYgmMB?si=76625d8a00554d53

History Uncovered
https://open.spotify.com/show/7s57UR52dTMdXZqXzDqpxc?si=1add79a0ccef405e

Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast
https://open.spotify.com/show/1JeYsvYZI4OxGTC9TJljLV?si=29f735c6b5f24f45

Now & Then
https://open.spotify.com/show/6wDS3Y2t0RyQ3ncCUxiNs6?si=d582a8ae05844f5b

Omnibus
https://open.spotify.com/show/5kgS2QYm7MC0WIlZ8Q9ZgC?si=8efd457014314d57

Strange Year: A Strange History Podcast
https://open.spotify.com/show/0H8dKe4PG23EMdX8BPj5xR?si=7fb4f4cb01da4b26

Useless Information
https://open.spotify.com/show/7s6WmaPqVSStBWZJ5PYolG?si=e4f1ff0362a94693

You Must Remember This
https://open.spotify.com/show/2sYCMjQed0gHYtXzPvcj5K?si=3d25bd57a42d4b88

***

And now, for something completely different, an affiliate link to a Gumroad creative product you may enjoy: Small Town novel by independent author J.P. Kennon

If my words are not being censored by the Trump Regime, you may find my books here on Gumroad.

We Didn't Start the Fire, Part 4: FireStarters Podcast

Happy Saturday, people of the books. My husband and I went to Terre Haute, Indiana, to do a small plumbing repair at a business this morning. On our way, we stopped at the Oasis Diner in Plainfield. 

On the way back to Indianapolis, we heard "We Didn't Start the Fire." At that moment, I suddenly remembered that which I'd completely forgotten when I originally posted that Billy Joel-themed post:

That's right: FireStarters podcast, the podcast that went over the references in "We Didn't Start the Fire." How could I have forgotten this podcast that I used to listen to regularly? 

The podcast ran for 120 episodes, and that would be a lot of content to cover in a single blog post, so for now, we'll look only at the first verse. Enjoy, and stay tuned for more FireStarters!

[Verse 1]

Harry Truman, 

Doris Day

Red China, 

Johnnie Ray

South Pacific

Walter Winchell, 

Joe DiMaggio

Joe McCarthy, 

Richard Nixon

Studebaker, 

Television

North Korea, 

South Korea

Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs,

H-Bomb

Sugar Ray,

Panmunjom

Brando,

The King And I,

And The Catcher In The Rye

Eisenhower,

Vaccine

England's got a new queen

Marciano,

Liberace

Santayana goodbye

[Chorus]

We didn't start the fire

It was always burning

Since the world's been turning

We didn't start the fire

No, we didn't light it

But we tried to fight it

My Spotify Wrapped 2024

Happy Spotify Wrapped release day 2024! What was your top song of the year? Mine was "Joyride" by Kesha, surprising no one, since I already wrote a blog post about my obsession with this fun pop song.

Is 128 times a lot of times to stream one song? My top song last year was one that I listened to 49 times. 

Kesha wasn't my top artist, though. 

My #1 artist was The Smashing Pumpkins. 

Rounding out my other top songs are tracks from ZZ Ward, New Found Glory, and Taylor Swift. But I'm not just a music girlie: I'm also a podcast girlie. These were my Top 5, including of course Disaster Area. 

Now let's dive into my Top 100, which I'll divide into several posts over the next few days for easier readability. 

100. "Headless Horseman" Kid Kasino, Shea - an electroswing version of the Bing Crosby-Disney tune with a female vocalist; Halloween playlist

Of course, I was in Sleepy Hollow, New York in October. Here's my photo of the Headless Horseman Bridge.

99. "Talking Body" Tove Lo - on the Daniel Brühl playlist

98. "Piano Mashup: Moonlight Sonata/L'Interludio Ambivalent/Ain't Misbehavin'" Alicia Keyes - on the Reading playlist

97. "Siva" The Smashing Pumpkins - the 1st SP song I ever heard and still one of my favorites

96. "Cruel Summer - triple j Like A Version" G Flip - Sapphic cover of the T. Swift hit

95. "Unspoken Word - Intro" The Soil - wordless vocalizing, on the Reading playlist

94. "Oysters In the Pits" Hans Zimmer - Rush soundtrack/Daniel Brühl playlist

Sidenote: more about oysters

Does the mention of oysters make you think of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, specifically "The Walrus and the Carpenter?" Coincidentally, the next-most listened song is...

93. "The Lobster Quadrille" Franz Ferdinand. Not the Franz Ferdinand you're thinking of. This is from the soundtrack of theTim Burton movie Alice in Wonderland (2010).

92. "Lover Please" Melissa Etheridge - my go-to karaoke song

91. "Captain Speaking" Ghettobillies - short spoken word track that I don't remember how I stumbled across 

Tune in tomorrow for 90-81. What was YOUR top track of 2024?

Halloween Podcast Episode Recommendations

If you're looking for something seasonal to listen to this Halloween, I have suggestions! I've curated them into this Spotify playlist. 

If you listen to all 24 episodes, you'll treat yourself to 16 1/2 hours of spooky podcast listening!

The "Buried Alive" episode of American Hysteria discusses historical cases of people afraid they were going to be buried alive, but also accounts of so-called burial artists who buried themselves alive on purpose, usually as a publicity stunt. All of the accounts in this episode end relatively well for the burial artist. If you want to read a brief, macabre account of a burial artist whose stunt did not go well, see Bummer Halloween.

My Spotify Wrapped 2023

Of course the Wallflowers were one of my top artists this year; we finally got to see them live. I listened to plenty of both Jacob Dylan and his dad Bob. 

My favorite podcasts have hardly changed at all since last year. 

Of course my top artist is Lady Gaga again this year. It's always Lady Gaga. I just like so many of her songs. 

I think this is the first time one of the songs from my Halloween playlist, the charmingly innocent 1950s bop "Batman, Wolfman, Frankenstein or Dracula" by the Diamonds, made my top 5. I guess I hit the Halloween playlist hard this spooky season. I indulged my urge to listen to songs that made me feel nostalgic. 

Tell me some fun facts about YOUR Spotify Wrapped in the comments. Were you surprised by anything?

Happy Halloween!

My Halloween on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/post/Halloween-K3K1G1JAT

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1556963830/halloween-snap-case-for-iphone

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac Is Now Available in Audio Form on Spotify

If you've been enjoying the "today in history" posts, you can now find them in audio format on Spotify:

I'm looking for guests for my startup podcast, so please message me if you're interested!

Much more tentatively, I'm also planning to put the podcast audio up on my long-unused YouTube channel as well. I'm figuring out how to use ClipChamp.

121 Years Ago Today: Shiloh Baptist Church Stampede

121 years ago today, on September 19, 1902, one hundred fifteen members of the Shiloh Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, are killed in a stampede after one of them called out “Fight!” and this was misheard as “Fire!” 

Listen to the facts of the incident on Disaster Area Podcast:

Here it is from the perspective of Useless Information Podcast:

In addition, you can learn about the history from All Bad Things:

This is an affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3Rak9ol

Here are some other disastrous September 19ths from history:

September 19, 1692: Massachusetts Bay Colonist Giles Corey, having been accused of witchcraft but refusing to plead either guilty or not guilty in court, is subjected to a form of torture in which his body is crushed with increasingly heavy stone weights in an attempt to force him to plead. Corey refuses and is crushed to death, with his last words reportedly being, “More weight!”

September 19, 1881: U.S. President James Garfield dies of septic infection. He had been shot by his assassin, Charles Guiteau, on July 2, 1881.

September 19, 1913: Purdue University student Francis Obenchain dies of a broken neck after taking part in a large-scale fight between first- and second-year students intended as a class hazing ritual.

September 19, 1973: Singer-songwriter Gram Parsons dies of an accidental overdose of alcohol and morphine at the age of 26. He dies peacefully in his sleep inside a room at the Joshua Tree Inn in California. 

His stepfather Bob Parsons insists the singer’s body be flown to New Orleans for burial, but friends of Gram Parsons steal the body from Los Angeles International Airport and attempt to carry out what they insisted were Parsons’s final wishes, to be cremated in Joshua Tree National Monument (now Joshua Tree National Park). They pour gasoline into the coffin and light it with a match, causing a tremendous fireball, and are charged a fine of $750. What remains of Parsons’s body is buried in Louisiana.

Stay safe and look out for your neighbors.

The 1900 Galveston Hurricane with Disaster Area Podcast

As you may remember from last year's post:

September 2, 1900: A tropical hurricane formed over the Atlantic Ocean makes landfall in the Dominican Republic. This storm is among the deadliest in U.S. history, with a large number of fatalities coming from Galveston, Texas. Meteorologists of the time, and in particular Isaac Cline, didn’t believe that a significant hurricane was possible in Galveston, and so rejected requests from the townspeople that the city should build a sea wall. As many as 8,000 people in the Caribbean, the U.S., and the Maritime Provinces of Canada are thought to have lost their lives in this storm, including Cline’s wife and some of his children.

There's an episode of Disaster Area for that.

If you enjoy the Disaster Area podcast and want to support author/podcaster Jennifer Matarese, the following are some links to her social media accounts. I want her to be able to afford to write her next book, because I really want to read it. Become her patron on Patreon; you'll feel like a Renaissance-era Venetian arts patron, turning your money into art.

Tumblr: trollprincess

Instagram: disasterareapod

Patreon: disasterareapodcast 

Mastodon: trollprincess@ohai.social

Twitter: https://twitter.com/trollprincess

Hive: trollprincess

If you don't have money--this is quite understandable--the best free way to support Jennifer and her research, writing, and podcasting is to give Disaster Area a 5-star review on any podcast platform that allows reviews. Especially Apple (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disaster-area/id1071491908). Giving a podcaster a 5-star review on Apple increases their podcast's visibility to new potential listeners.

This is an affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3L3MNnl

Amazon Prime Day is Here! Find Summer Deals at Amazon.com July 11 & 12!

Links in this post are affiliate links and if you make a purchase after following one of these links, I may earn a small commission. These are only some of the categories of deals you can shop on Prime Day, July 11-12, 2023: Reading, Groceries, Movies, Music.

https://amzn.to/46k9Wux

https://amzn.to/3PuaEzk

https://amzn.to/3Jw4jj8

One thing about me is, I will be listening to podcasts. Do you also love ad-free podcasts? Amazon Music has those.

https://amzn.to/42VUqlH

Thanks for checking out the Prime Day deals! If you bought a book, comment below and tell me what you'll be reading!

Bummer 6th of July feat. Disaster Area Podcast

July 6, 1819: Sophie Blanchard, the first woman to pilot a hot air balloon as a professional balloonist, dies in a hot air ballooning accident. Performing balloon ascents for a crowd at Tivoli Gardens, the Parisian amusement park, she included fireworks in her show. The fireworks ignited the helium in her balloon. Blanchard became entangled in the balloon’s net and subsequently falls to her death.

July 6, 1944: A fire at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Hartford, Connecticut, kills an estimated 167 people.

Here is the Hartford circus fire episode on Disaster Area Podcast:

July 6, 1962: Author William Faulkner dies of a heart attack.

July 6, 1971: Louis Armstrong dies of a heart attack.

July 6, 1983: Model/actor Tammy Lynn Leppert, 18 years old at the time, is seen for the last confirmed time getting out of a friend’s car in a parking lot in Cocoa Beach, Florida. The friend confirms he and Leppert argued and that he dropped her off in a parking lot; Leppert has never contacted her friends or family since then. Leppert appears briefly in the movie Scarface. 

July 6, 1988: An explosion on the Piper Alpha oil platform in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland kills 165 oil workers and two rescue workers. Although no one from the platform’s owner,  Occidental Petroleum (Caledonia) Limited, was ever charged with a crime, neglected maintenance and inadequate safety procedures contributed to the disaster.

The platform collapses and sinks. 61 survivors are rescued.

This is an affiliate link:

https://amzn.to/3XnRhKi

If you enjoy the Disaster Area podcast and want to support author/podcaster Jennifer Matarese, the following are some links to her social media accounts. I want her to be able to afford to write her next book, because I really want to read it. Become her patron on Patreon; you'll feel like a Renaissance-era Venetian arts patron, turning your money into art.

Tumblr: trollprincess

Instagram: disasterareapod

Patreon: disasterareapodcast 

Mastodon: trollprincess@ohai.social

Twitter: https://twitter.com/trollprincess

Hive: trollprincess

If you don't have money--this is quite understandable--the best free way to support Jennifer and her research, writing, and podcasting is to give Disaster Area a 5-star review on any podcast platform that allows reviews. Especially Apple (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disaster-area/id1071491908). Giving a podcaster a 5-star review on Apple increases their podcast's visibility to new potential listeners.

June 22, 1918: The Hammond Circus Train Crash

Near Hammond, Indiana, a 26-car train bearing workers and performers from the Hagenbeck–Wallace Circus crashes when the engineer falls asleep at the wheel. An estimated 86 people are killed in the accident. The fire resulting from the crash is severe enough that some of the victims are never able to be identified. 

Here is the episode on Disaster Area Podcast:

If you enjoy the podcast and want to support author/podcaster Jennifer Matarese, the following are some links to her social media accounts. I want her to be able to afford to write her next book, because I really want to read it. Become her patron on Patreon; you'll feel like a Renaissance-era Venetian arts patron, turning your money into art.

Tumblr: trollprincess

Instagram: disasterareapod

Patreon: disasterareapodcast 

Mastodon: trollprincess@ohai.social

Twitter: https://twitter.com/trollprincess

Hive: trollprincess

If you don't have money--this is quite understandable--the best free way to support Jennifer and her research, writing, and podcasting is to give Disaster Area a 5-star review on any podcast platform that allows reviews. Especially Apple (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disaster-area/id1071491908). Giving a podcaster a 5-star review on Apple increases their podcast's visibility to new potential listeners.

Update (September 9, 2023): If you're interested in the alleged paranormal and haunting aspects of the Hammond Circus Train Wreck, Ghostly Podcast did a show about that on September 6th:

Train wreck at Hammond Circus Train Wreck, at Hammond, Indiana June 22, 1918.
This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or fewer.

June 14, 2017: The Grenfell Tower Fire

June 14, 2017: The Grenfell Tower apartment building in London catches fire due to an electrical fault in a refrigerator on its fourth floor. Fire and smoke spread rapidly, trapped by the building’s exterior cladding and insulation, which act like a chimney. 70 people die in the 24-story tower before the fire can be extinguished and two more die in the hospital. 70 others are injured.

If you enjoy the podcast and want to support author/podcaster Jennifer Matarese, the following are some links to her social media accounts. I want her to be able to afford to write her next book, because I really want to read it. Become her patron on Patreon; you'll feel like a Renaissance-era Venetian arts patron, turning your money into art.

Tumblr: trollprincess

Instagram: disasterareapod

Patreon: disasterareapodcast 

Mastodon: trollprincess@ohai.social

Twitter: https://twitter.com/trollprincess

Hive: trollprincess

If you don't have money--this is quite understandable--the best free way to support Jennifer and her research, writing, and podcasting is to give Disaster Area a 5-star review on any podcast platform that allows reviews. Especially Apple (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disaster-area/id1071491908). Giving a podcaster a 5-star review on Apple increases their podcast's visibility to new potential listeners.

Public mural tribute for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire disaster. This image was originally posted to Flickr by ChiralJon at https://flickr.com/photos/69057297@N04/42484928645

My Favorite History Podcasts

This long list covers history podcasts specifically; for my general list of five podcast recommendations, see this list: https://erinoriordan.blogspot.com/2021/01/5-recommended-podcasts.html

Here they are, in alphabetical order:

All Bad Things

The Atlas Obscura Podcast

Behind the Bastards

Podcast host Robert Evans - not the Robert Evans you're thinking of  - is an author whose novel is called After the Revolution. It's a dystopian fantasy about cybernetically-enhanced North Americans living after a civil war that splits the United States into very different countries. I haven't read it, but if you want to hear excerpts, Evans reads them on the show.

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/59645604

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

The Constant: A History of Getting Things Wrong

The Dark Histories Podcast

Disaster Area 

Disastrous History: A Disasters of History Podcast

Disastrous History's host, Anthony Finchum, is a firefighter by profession, which gives him an interesting perspective on how disasters happen and what kinds of safety measures could have prevented them.

Footnoting History

Ghost Town: Strange History, True Crime, & The Paranormal

The History Cache Podcast 

History Extra Podcast

History for Weirdos

History Uncovered (the podcast of All That's Interesting)

Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

I have a particular favorite episode of Most Notorious!, and it's #123: Harper Lee and Murderer Willie Maxwell with Casey Cep.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41883932-furious-hours

Now & Then

Omnibus

Strange Year: A Strange History Podcast

Useless Information

Useless Information host Steve Silverman is the author of several books, including Einstein's Refrigerator and Lindbergh's Artificial Heart.

https://uselessinformation.org/the-flip-side-of-history/

You Must Remember This

This one's mostly about movies and Hollywood history, so a very niche topic within U.S. history.

Bummer May 4: The Bazar de la Charité Fire

Happy Star Wars Day; May the 4th be with you. I come to you today to talk about something remarkably much less pleasant than Star Wars. Namely, a historical fire. But really, I just wanted an excuse to highlight an episode from a podcast that I particularly enjoy.

May 4, 1897: On the second day of a charity bazaar set up by Catholic charitable organizations in Paris, aristocratic women shop in a wooden warehouse set up to look like a Medieval market. Decorations of cardboard, cloth, papier-mache, and wood help achieve this effect. As an extra attraction, an early movie projector called a cinematograph is set up with ether lamps as a light source.

The projection equipment catches fire. With flammable materials all around and little to no signage marking the exits, the largely female crowd is trapped inside. 126 people die; 200 more are injured. Many of the dead were so badly burned that they could only be identified by their clothing, jewelry, or expensive dental work. 

Listen to the episode of Jennifer Matarese's Disaster Area podcast:

 

If you enjoy the podcast and want to support Jennifer, the following are some links to her social media accounts. I want her to be able to afford to write her next book, because I really want to read it. Become her patron on Patreon; you'll feel like a Renaissance-era Venetian arts patron, turning your money into art.

Tumblr: trollprincess
Instagram: disasterareapod
Patreon: disasterareapodcast
Mastodon: trollprincess@ohai.social
Twitter: https://twitter.com/trollprincess
Hive: trollprincess

If you don't have money--this is quite understandable--the best free way to support Jennifer and her research, writing, and podcasting is to give Disaster Area a 5-star review on any podcast platform that allows reviews. Especially Apple. Giving a podcaster a 5-star review on Apple increases their podcast's visibility to new potential listeners.

Fire at the Bazar de la Charité (Le Petit Journal). Artist: Osvaldo Tofani. This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer.