fascinatinghorror

The New London School Explosion

Added 2023-06-27 10:15:00 +0000 UTC

The New London School Explosion website

There are many excellent sources when it comes to this disaster, but I wanted to highlight this one in particular. Not only is it incredibly detailed and packed with witness testimonies and personal stories, but it also has an interesting history of its own.

The site was, in fact, started by the son of a survivor of the explosion (William Grigg Jr, son of William Grigg Sr). He collected hundreds of images, letters, memories and records, and put them all together into a website.

When he passed away, the website was almost lost, but thanks to the work of the New London School Museum, a copy has been preserved. A few modernisations have been made, but it retains most of the format and content of the original – a true (and very valuable) antique as far as websites go!

Some personal stories from survivors

I’d also recommend this piece, which includes a great many personal stories from survivors and those attending the scene. I mentioned a few in the video, but as with any disaster that touches so many lives, there are thousands of stories to be told.

Two stories particularly stuck with me. One is that of a father who discovered his kids truanting from school earlier that day, and drove them back to class himself. They died at the school just hours later – a disaster they’d very nearly avoided altogether.

Another is the story of Bill Thompson – a student who, just minutes before the explosion, switched seats with another student in his class so that he could sit closer to a girl he liked. When the blast happened the student he’d switched seats with was killed, but Bill survived.

Both stories are terribly tragic, and both demonstrate just how much small decisions can sometimes have staggering consequences.