(Podcaster's note: The second part of the Cutter incident episode is forthcoming; I'm just trying to get it juuuuuust right. :)) November 7th, 2018, was just supposed to be another fun night of drinking and line dancing at the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, CA. But at 11:18 PM, all of that ended in an instant. Videos: TikTok: shannon_mcgee visiting the site 1.5 years later TikTok: Official account of @borderlinebar RAW VIDEO: Thousand Oaks gunman seen shooting inside Borderline Bar &...
Jul 01, 2025•1 hr 3 min
It would start with a headache, a fever, maybe a funny tummy. But soon enough your knee would give out, or your arm would hang limp, or you would struggle to breathe. You'd be taken to the hospital, where you'd get your diagnosis - polio. If you survived, you ran the risk of doing so with paralyzed limbs, struggling to walk on bulky leg braces. Your parents would be terrified they might lose you, and so everybody wanted the one thing that could stop all of this - a vaccine. Videos: New England J...
May 31, 2025•1 hr 12 min
In a bustling city of pirates and wickedness, one might think things couldn't get any more dangerous. But in the Jamaican city of Port Royal in 1692, that thought would be tested, and tested hard. Videos: History of Port Royal (Underwater Cities) Articles and books: Apocalypse 1692: Empire, Slavery, and the Great Port Royal Earthquake , by Ben Hughes Historic Earthquakes: Jamaica, 1692 June 07 UTC Jamaica Port Royal If you'd like to donate to the GFM for my car, you can find that here: https://g...
May 01, 2025•1 hr 19 min
To raise money for car repairs, Jennifer answers the question you've all been wondering - how well can she talk about a disaster while ... let's say "not sober." Please help Jennifer fix her car! It takes our esteemed cohost Professor on rides to go see cows and he therefore cannot live without it. Links below: GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/59bec8ad Paypal: disasterarea@mail.com Cashapp: $disasterareapod Venmo: @disasterareapodcast...
Mar 31, 2025•1 hr 19 min
It was almost the end of a typical Tuesday for workers at the Sofa Super Store in Charleston, South Carolina, in June of 2007, and several of them went out to the loading dock to smoke and kill a little time. One stray cigarette butt thrown too near the trash, and within an hour and a half nine firefighters would be dead. Videos: Charleston Fire Department’s recovery from deadly Sofa Super Store fire First hour of dispatch audio from the Sofa Super Store fire Charleston 9: The Ultimate Sacrifice...
Mar 14, 2025•1 hr 30 min
On a warm November evening in 1996, in the rural farmland not far from Delhi, the remains of two aircraft plummeted from the skies. The collision which caused them to fall is still the deadliest mid-air collision in history. Videos: Mayday/Air Crash Investigation episode on Charkhi Dadri collision Disaster Breakdown: The Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision Remains of Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision "Head On" Articles and books: Accident report Human error is blamed for crash At Least 349 Are Killed ...
Feb 28, 2025•1 hr 36 min
Let us celebrate the 250th episode of the podcast by doing literally anything else but watching "Cats." Videos: Cats: The Musical Cats (2019) The Late Late Show with James Corden: Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts with Chrissy Teigen "Cats" commercial for the Broadway show Articles and books: Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats , by T.S. Eliot What's a Jellicle, Anyway? Everything You Need to Know About Cats Before You See the Movie 21 Funny Reactions From Critics Who Thought The New “Cats” Movi...
Jan 31, 2025•1 hr 13 min
It turns out that I have not disappeared into a magical world to be romanced by a fae prince - more's the pity. Anyway, let's talk about the Los Angeles wildfire, misinformation, and knowing when you need to give yourself space so you can give others the help they need.
Jan 14, 2025•21 min
It was a hot and muggy summer day as the steamboat Sea Wing carried passengers down the Mississippi River for what was to be a lovely excursion to the National Guard settlement near Lake City, MN. And it was ... until the storm hit. Videos: The Sea Wing Disaster So Minnesota: Haunted history of the Sea Wing disaster Sea Wing Disaster on KSMQ's "Off 90" (Sponsored by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment) Articles and books: Shipwrecked on Lake Pepin: The Sea Wing disaster Historic Disasters in Southeas...
Nov 30, 2024•1 hr 12 min
For years, the hook holding up the power lines at transmission tower 27/222 in northern California had been wearing down bit by bit. On November 8th, 2018, the hook finally broke, and the resulting series of events led to the deadliest wildfire in California in a century. Videos: Netflix: Fire in Paradise Frontline: Fire in Paradise Camp Fire: One Year Later The Deadliest Fire in California History Drone fire of Camp Fire devastation in Butte County Trump confused over fire-hit town Paradise: 'P...
Nov 07, 2024•1 hr 20 min
For years, the hook holding up the power lines at transmission tower 27/222 in northern California had been wearing down bit by bit. On November 8th, 2018, the hook finally broke, and the resulting series of events led to the deadliest wildfire in California in a century. Videos: Netflix: Fire in Paradise Frontline: Fire in Paradise Camp Fire: One Year Later The Deadliest Fire in California History Drone fire of Camp Fire devastation in Butte County Trump confused over fire-hit town Paradise: 'P...
Nov 01, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Sometimes it feels as though Columbine was our first experience with school shootings. But it very much wasn't, as the town of West Paducah, Kentucky, can attest. Videos: Very Bad Men: Michael Carneal Articles and books: Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings , by Katherine S. Newman, Cybelle Fox, David J. Harding, Jal Metha, and Wendy Roth 1997 Kentucky school shooter denied parole COMMONWEALTH v. CARNEAL (2008) When Grief Wanted a Hero, Truth Didn't Get in the Way Carneal Recalls 1997 H...
Oct 07, 2024•58 min
In part two, we watch as the Atlantic continues to head toward the southern coast of Nova Scotia ... with dangerous consequences. Videos: The Terrifying Wreck of the SS ATLANTIC (Halifax, 1873 - 150th ANNIVERSARY) A Real-Time Animation of the Sinking A Visit to the SS Atlantic Heritage Park Interpretation Center, Nova Scotia Articles and books: Atlantic’s Last Stop: Courage, Folly, and Lies in the White Star Line’s Worst Disaster Before Titanic, by Bob Chaulk Descendants of 'heroic people' mark ...
Oct 01, 2024•1 hr 13 min
It's been a rough week and a half on stormy seas as you and your family make the trip from Ireland to your new home in America in March of 1873. Now finally, the ship is making a stop in Halifax to refuel and you might all be able to rest. But there will be no rest for the passengers on the SS Atlantic. Videos: The Terrifying Wreck of the SS ATLANTIC (Halifax, 1873 - 150th ANNIVERSARY) A Real-Time Animation of the Sinking Articles and books: Atlantic’s Last Stop: Courage, Folly, and Lies in the ...
Sep 07, 2024•44 min
It was just supposed to be a fun college party with a great band at a popular Brazil nightclub. But once the pyrotechnics came out, Kiss turned into Hell in an instant. Videos: Inside Kiss nightclub, purportedly minutes before the fire started: temospoucotempo and vinnicius.massagnini Tiktok video from diariodesantamaria of the ceremony prior to the nightclub's demolition World Association of Disaster and Emergency Medicine video by Dr. Silvana Dal Ponte about the emergency response New video sh...
Sep 01, 2024•1 hr 13 min
It was the first Halloween that the streets would be open in Seoul, South Korea, since the start of the COVID pandemic, and young people in the city couldn't wait to go celebrate in the vibrant Itaewon neighborhood. Many of them wouldn't make it home. Videos: Paramount+: Crush [Video] Special police unit reveals CCTVs of Itaewon tragedy The results of 74-day probe into Itaewon tragedy Kieran Porey: Itaewon Halloween 2022 video Seoul Halloween crowd crush, the stories of survivors | Undercover Ko...
Aug 08, 2024•1 hr 17 min
It was the first Halloween that the streets would be open in Seoul, South Korea, since the start of the COVID pandemic, and young people in the city couldn't wait to go celebrate in the vibrant Itaewon neighborhood. Many of them wouldn't make it home. Videos: Paramount+: Crush [Video] Special police unit reveals CCTVs of Itaewon tragedy The results of 74-day probe into Itaewon tragedy Kieran Porey: Itaewon Halloween 2022 video Seoul Halloween crowd crush, the stories of survivors | Undercover Ko...
Aug 01, 2024•57 min
In the final part of this series, we learn about the perpetrator as well as the investigations which have followed in the past two years. Videos: Frontline: Inside the Uvalde Response Frontline: After Uvalde: Guns, Grief, and Texas Politics Cell phone video of the parents imploring the police to do something Disturbing new footage shows Salvador Ramos in Uvalde school, cops running | New York Post Ballistic Gel Human Head VS 223 Video: Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke clash over Uvalde deaths as go...
Jun 17, 2024•56 min
In part four of this five-part series, we watch as people realize just how flawed the police response at Robb Elementary really was. Videos: Frontline: Inside the Uvalde Response Frontline: After Uvalde: Guns, Grief, and Texas Politics Cell phone video of the parents imploring the police to do something Disturbing new footage shows Salvador Ramos in Uvalde school, cops running | New York Post Ballistic Gel Human Head VS 223 Video: Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke clash over Uvalde deaths as governo...
Jun 10, 2024•51 min
In part three of this five-part series, we see responding officers still preparing to approach classroom 111. Videos: Frontline: Inside the Uvalde Response Frontline: After Uvalde: Guns, Grief, and Texas Politics Cell phone video of the parents imploring the police to do something Disturbing new footage shows Salvador Ramos in Uvalde school, cops running | New York Post Ballistic Gel Human Head VS 223 Video: Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke clash over Uvalde deaths as governor provides more details...
Jun 03, 2024•55 min
In part two of this five-part series, we see local law enforcement in Uvalde arriving at Robb Elementary, and what happens next - and what does not. Videos: Frontline: Inside the Uvalde Response Frontline: After Uvalde: Guns, Grief, and Texas Politics Cell phone video of the parents imploring the police to do something Disturbing new footage shows Salvador Ramos in Uvalde school, cops running | New York Post Ballistic Gel Human Head VS 223 Video: Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke clash over Uvalde d...
May 27, 2024•1 hr 5 min
In the first in this five-part series, we look at the town of Uvalde, and the first moments before a normal school day goes from calm to terrifying. Videos: Frontline: Inside the Uvalde Response Frontline: After Uvalde: Guns, Grief, and Texas Politics Cell phone video of the parents imploring the police to do something Disturbing new footage shows Salvador Ramos in Uvalde school, cops running | New York Post Ballistic Gel Human Head VS 223 Video: Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke clash over Uvalde d...
May 20, 2024•44 min
A year ago this week, I covered the Amagasaki train derailment in 2005 in Japan. Why not cover a second one seven years earlier near a small town in Germany? Videos: Seconds from Disaster: The Eschede derailment TS2018 Rail Disasters - Derailment at High Speed (1998 Eschede train disaster) What Went Wrong: Countdown to Catastrophe: The Eschede Disaster Articles and books: Page about the Eschede train disaster memorial Germany recalls the Eschede train disaster The Cost of Comfort: The 1998 Esche...
May 01, 2024•1 hr 23 min
It's early in the morning on a Tuesday when you're awakened by the shaking of your bed, of your entire home. You think for a moment it's the end of the world. You and your family make it out of your home, even though so many others do not. For a moment, you think you are safe. Then, you smell smoke. Videos: A Trip Down Market Street, San Francisco - April 14th, 1906 Disaster by the Bay: The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake Documentary Footag...
Apr 14, 2024•1 hr 1 min
It's early in the morning on a Tuesday when you're awakened by the shaking of your bed, of your entire home. You think for a moment it's the end of the world. You and your family make it out of your home, even though so many others do not. For a moment, you think you are safe. Then, you smell smoke. Videos: A Trip Down Market Street, San Francisco - April 14th, 1906 Disaster by the Bay: The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake Documentary Footag...
Apr 07, 2024•1 hr 1 min
It's early in the morning on a Tuesday when you're awakened by the shaking of your bed, of your entire home. You think for a moment it's the end of the world. You and your family make it out of your home, even though so many others do not. For a moment, you think you are safe. Then, you smell smoke. Videos: A Trip Down Market Street, San Francisco - April 14th, 1906 Disaster by the Bay: The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake Documentary Footag...
Mar 31, 2024•47 min
The deadliest fire in American history happened not in Chicago, but in a small Wisconsin town to the north of Chicago on the exact same day - October 8th, 1871. Videos: Watch now: The story of the tabernacle in the Peshtigo Fire Lake Michigan shipwreck; sank during 1871 Peshtigo Fire Articles and books: Firestorm at Peshtigo , by Denise Gess and William Lotz The Great Midwest Wildfires of 1871 Wisconsin Shipwrecks: The George L. Newman...
Mar 06, 2024•1 hr 14 min
On April 9th, 1963, the nuclear-powered submarine USS Thresher departed Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for depth tests in the Atlantic. It would never return. Videos: Second Saturday: The Loss of the USS Thresher Finding the Titanic | Bob Ballard: An Explorer’s Life Articles and books: U.S. Naval Institute: What Killed the Thresher? Arlington National Cemetery: USS Thresher memorial Titanic Discovery was By-Product of Military Quest The Death of the USS Thresher: The Story Behind History's Deadliest ...
Feb 28, 2024•1 hr 33 min
The deadliest school fire in American history took place on - of all days - Ash Wednesday, March 8th, 1908, in the Cleveland suburb of Collinwood just after first period ended. Within a half hour, 172 students and three adults would be dead, or close to it. Videos: Cleveland Public Library: Collinwood school fire Articles and books: The Collinwood Tragedy: The Story of the Worst School Fire in American History , by James Jessen Badal The neighborhood never forgets Collinwood school fire: 100 yea...
Jan 31, 2024•1 hr 46 min
Jennifer stops rewatching the movie long enough to review the movie. Spoilers ahead!
Jan 11, 2024•1 hr 18 min
