Bucket List

after Hitler invaded Poland in nineteen thirty nine. Wars are messy for both sides, so a cause must be justified. That wasn't the case, however, when two Italian city states went head to head in their reason was flimsy, nothing more than a drop in a bucket. Since eleven medieval Italy had been a battle ground between two factions, the Guelfs and the Ghibellines. The Guelfs supported the Pope, while the Ghibillines were on the side of the Holy Roman Empire,

both of whom desired to rule over all Christendom. The Guelfs and the Ghibillines fought for over three hundred years, during which time things came to a head between the capital city of Bologna and the municipality of Modena and northern Italy. This region was well educated and well off, but the surplus of money and high literacy rates didn't stop the two sides from fighting. The future of Christianity

was at stake, as was the land between them. Bologna was firmly on the side of the Guelfs, while Modena was Ghibilline territory, and both regions fought regularly over their borders. One night, a group of Modanese soldiers crossed over into Bologna without anyone noticing. With no one around a fight, and not wanting to stir up any trouble, they absconded with a bucket from a well in the middle of the city. It was made of oak with iron bands

around it and a metal handle at the top. The next morning, the Bolonese people noticed the bucket missing and looked out only to see it on full display by the enemy. They demanded it be returned at once and order, which the Modonese ignored. The bucket was now a trophy, a symbol of their superiority, and the Bolonese were out of options. With no other course of action available, Bologna

declared war on Modena. The offended city raised an army of over thirty thousand against Modana's paltry seven thousand men. To make matters worse for the Modonese, they were stuck on flat ground while the Bolony surrounded them from a higher ground. And yet despite their weaker numbers and disadvantaged position, Modana's army fought valiantly, pushing back against Bologna's forces and

forcing them to retreat. As the Bullonese fled back to their home territory with their tails between their legs and no bucket, Modena was close behind. They weren't about to victory go to waste. They attacked Bologna, tearing down castles and restricting its water supply, but that was about all they did. Rather than burn the city to the ground, Modenese soldiers chosen instead to carry out a humiliating display of athletic prowess just outside its walls, an act that

was meant to shame the Bolonese for their defeat. Modena also stole another bucket. About three thousand people died in the Battle of Zeppolina, with Modena losing five men and Bologna suffering a loss of It was a bloody fight over nothing more than an absurd prank, or was it? You See, that story is often told because of how unlikely it seems, and that's exactly the problem with it. It's too good to be true. Well, Dana did take a bucket from Bologna, but that didn't spark a battle,

it ended it. What had really caused the skirmish was a steady escalation of attacks on both sides. Bologna went after Medana's territory in July. In August, and Modena retaliat it in the fall. The two factions met in the village of Zappollino, which resided in Bolognese territory. Their armies varied wildly in size and skill. Modina may have only had about seven thousand soldiers, but they were far better trained than Bologna's massive force, which was why they were

able to defeat them so swiftly. The fight lasted about two hours, and by the end Bologna had been beaten. Modina then destroyed a sluice on the Reno River, which cut off Bologna's water supply, and then Modina left, but not before snatching the wooden bucket from a well outside the city. After all, what was Bologna going to do without water anyway. Today, a replica of the bucket hangs in the bell tower at the Cathedral of Modena. Another

replica is kept under glass at city Hall. The real bucket, however, is stored deep in the basement of the cathedral, and the people of Bologna haven't stopped trying to steal it back all these years later. Maybe they want to make their city whole again, or maybe they're just itching for a rematch. Halloween is considered the spookiest time of the year.

Children dress up as ghouls and goblins, terrorizing their neighborhoods in search of candy, and knife wielding mannekins wearing hockey masks during the lawns of homeowners looking to scare the socks off of unsuspecting trick or treaters. It's a fun time for everyone, or at least it's supposed to be. The scares to be had at Halloween are meant to be harmless fun, but in one small town in Pennsylvania experienced a Halloween fright unlike any other, and it killed

almost two dozen people in the process. The borough of Dinorah sits along the western edge of the state, about fifty miles from the Ohio border. Though only two square miles in size, Donora was once the hotbed of industrial activity. It also claims Ken Griffey Senior and Junior as hometown heroes. The burgeoning steel, coal, and agricultural industries brought thousands of people to Donora in search of work. As of nineteen ten,

it was home to over eight thousand residents. That number almost doubled once US Steel opened a zinc works facility and a steel and wire plant in nineteen fifteen. But with those jobs came something else, something deadly. It appeared over the town on October twenty seven, nineteen forty eight, only a few days before Halloween. The annual Children's Halloween Parade was already under way, with kids of all ages dressed up marching down the main street to show off

their costumes to parents and spectators lining the road. It was a yellow cloud, almost like a mist, that covered everything, and unlike a morning fog, which tends to dissipate after sunrise, The sickening smug stuck around for days. The local high school football game on October was almost unplayable, with neither teen throwing any passes. The whole time. Someone would punt the ball or kick it across the field and it

would be swallowed by the smog. People in the stands had a hard and enough time getting to the field. With such poor visibility on the roads, they couldn't see anything happening on the field. Donora, by the way, lost the game to seven. October also marked the first death as a result of the smog. The victim died at Donora Hospital around two o'clock in the morning of acute asthma. In fact, nineteen more residents, including several from the next

town over, died from asthma or a related condition. The smog had made it impossible for people to breathe. Those who were still alive checked themselves into the hospital, which quickly filled up with coughing and wheezing patients. A short time later, the hospital had no choice but to turn people away, and Dr William Rongauss walked the streets with a lantern in his hand and guided ambulances to the homes where they were needed. The most critical patients were

then carefully driven back to the hospital for oxygen. Fire Department Chief Russell Davis navigated the dense cloud by scraping his wheels along the curb as he drove. Anyone who was still healthy enough to get out of Donora was encouraged to do so. Unfortunately, the haze was so thick it was impossible for anyone to see more than a few inches in front of themselves, so driving out was out of the question. Instead, many locals just hunkered down

indoors and waited it out. By Halloween Day, the smog still hadn't lifted, It felt like it might never leave, and the body count was rising. Finally, just before sunset on Sunday, October thirty one, the cloud suddenly disappeared, just as unceremoniously as it had arrived. So what had caused it? Well, the same zinc plant that had brought jobs to Dinora

had also brought a lot of pollution as well. Local farmers had actually sued U S Steel for killing their crops and livestock back in the nineteen twenties, but the company had fought back, and one in October of all those zinc and metal pollutants were in the air as usual, but this time other nature threw a wrench into the mix in the form of a temperature inversion. Normally, as the air rises into the atmosphere, it cools. The higher

it goes, the colder that air gets. However, in a temperature inversion, a layer of cold air is covered by a layer of warm air, trapping the cold air close to the Earth's surface. For Donora, Pennsylvania, that cold air was full of toxic gases and particulates, which formed a yellow fog that covered the town. Experts believed that had the smog stuck around any longer, thousands more would have died. But despite the depths and the toxicity of the mills, u S Steel was not run out of Donora. The

people there depended on the company for their livelihoods. Even a government investigation refused to blame them for the twenty deaths and the six thousand six, instead declaring the temperature inversion as one of the main causes. The press, on the other hand, was much less forgiving the story of

the Donora smog disaster of spread far and wide. A piece was even published in the New Yorker magazine that went into detail about the ordeal DeNora residents had gone through, with some subtle hints as to what really caused it. Some claim that the event kicked off the country's focus on clean air and emissions, which in turn sparked the enactment of the Clean Air Act in nineteen sixty three.

With a nationwide goal to reduce air pollutions signed into law, the people of Donora could finally breathe a sigh of relief. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership

with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious as m