fascinatinghorror

The Story of Aeroflot Flight 593

A long time ago (I was less than 10 years old at the time) I was invited up to the cockpit during a flight on a British Airways plane. I don't remember much about it, other than how relaxed the pilots were. It wasn't a big deal, back then - just a little something to make a long flight more fun.

Of course, that kind of thing doesn't happen anymore... although during my research for this video I came across a few stories of pilots bending the rules for friends and celebrities.

2021-04-20 10:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post

The Yarmouth Castle Disaster

I've covered a few maritime disasters now, including at least one other ship consumed by fire. The Yarmouth Castle Disaster is the only one so far, though, that has its own song. Gordon Lightfoot wrote and recorded The Ballad of Yarmouth Castle in 1969, four years after the fire.

Here's the song in full if you'd ...

The Green Hornet Streetcar Crash

At the end of this video I show an image of the intersection where the disaster took place. Getting the exact right location was pretty tricky, but also very interesting. The junction where the crash occurred is well known (the intersection of 63rd and State Streets), but I had to consult several accounts of the accident to work out which side of the underpass to look at.

I then confirmed it by looking up old maps of Chicago from the 1950s - some of which are surprisingly detailed.

The Amity Bay Shark Attacks

This one's a bit different from my usual videos... but it was a lot of fun to make. It's the first time I've ever made a serious attempt at an April Fool's prank. You probably recognise some of the pictures, but just in case you don't: here's a quick reference.

I picked Jaws for this episode because, although it's fiction, it has a lot in common with themes that run through many of my videos: pr...

The Carrington Event

One of the things I most enjoyed about researching this video was trawling through newspaper articles from the time describing the effects of the Carrington Event. Part of it is just the style in which they were written - newspapers from that era had such a beautiful way of phrasing things.

Here are a couple of my favourites:

"Now vivid arrows of light of most exceeding brilliancy shot up from the whole northern horizon; and, retreating, would again shoot higher and highe...

2021-03-30 14:15:41 +0000 UTC View Post