Disaster Queen

The United Kingdom's worst mining-related disaster took place in Aberfan, Wales on October 21, 1966. 144 people were killed when 297,000 cubic yards of coal waste slid down a hillside and crushed part of a village, and a staggering number of them were children. This is a disaster that definitely has a legacy of making things safer for the rest of us. It's tragic but fascinating, and the lives of the 144 lost in Aberfan deserve to be remembered.

Here are the resources I used to prepare for this episode:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/aberfan-disaster-mining-landslide

https://www.bgs.ac.uk/case-studies/aberfan-1966-landslide-case-study/

https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Geoscientist/Archive/October-2016/Tipping-point

https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Geoscientist/Archive/October-2016/Aberfans-engineering-legacy

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-58874233

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/10/25/A-disaster-that-wiped-out-a-villages-children/9667530596800/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12025405/The-tragic-history-Aberfan-survivors-disaster-killed-144-meet-William-Kate.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-42101460

Credits aka the Disaster Queen Pod Squad

The Disaster Queen Podcast is a production of Disaster Queen Productions LLC.

It is produced, researched and written by Jenny Rapson, the Disaster Queen. 

Audio engineering: Robert Rapson

Editing: Josh Rapson 

Original theme music: Robert Rapson

Original podcast artwork: Ken Clark

Website Design: Hello Chicky Design

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of the Disaster Queen Podcast, Jenny covers the first "act of man" disaster of the podcast - the April 15, 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing. We will learn about this tragedy that cut a bloody swath through Boston's biggest celebration of the year and its perpetrators: who they were, why they did it, and how they were found out and caught. We will also see how their actual capture was its own mini-disaster (and what can be learned from that!) and see the people of Boston come together in a beautiful way. Of course, we will honor the lives of those who died, the bravery of the first responders, and the heroism of those who came through the bombing with horrific bomb blast injuries.

Here are the resources I used to research this episode:

Articles:

https://www.cnn.com/2013/04/16/us/boston-marathon-victims-profiles/index.html

https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2015/03/11/linzi-lu-tsarnaev-trial/

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-explosions-boston-suspect/boston-bomb-suspects-name-was-on-classified-government-watch-lists-idUSBRE93N06720130424

https://apnews.com/article/boston-marathon-bombing-survivors-9a0bcba9158e42efa2149cb7cb8b218e

Television shows:

American Manhunt - Netflix

10 Steps to Disaster - Smithsonian Channel

How it Really Happened with Hill Harper - HLN

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of Disaster Queen, I welcome my long-time friend Mary Carver and tell her the story of a terrible tragedy in her hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. She doesn't love disasters but she does love me, so it works out! Join us as she recoils in horror about the disaster she's managed to not learn about despite living there her whole life! LOL!

On July 17, 1981, tragedy struck a crowded tea dance at the beautiful Kansas City Hyatt Hotel at the swanky Crown Center, built by greeting card giant, Hallmark. As the big band played, frivolity turned into a nightmare as two 64,000 pound glass-and-concrete skywalks tumbled down atop 1,600 partygoers and turned the elegant hotel lobby into a tragic scene of carnage and agony.

Mary's links!

The Couch Podcast

MaryCarver.com

Twiiter

Instagram

Facebook Group

Here are the resources I used to research this episode:

Book: Buried Truths and the Hyatt Skywalks by Richard A. Serrano

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/17/1016603199/one-of-the-deadliest-u-s-accidental-structural-collapses-happened-40-years-ago-t

​​https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/17/us/kansas-city-skywalk-collapse-40-years/index.html

https://apnews.com/article/5a8e4babccfaee8605bcc39019514aa4

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/17/us/kansas-city-skywalk-collapse-40-years/index.html

https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-07-17/40-years-later-kansas-citians-mourn-lives-lost-in-the-hyatt-skywalk-collapse

https://www.facebook.com/SkywalkMemorialFoundationInc/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of the Disaster Queen podcast, we will take a deep dive into the event that President Jimmy Carter says was the worst day of his life: the failed mission to rescue our hostages in Iran, code named Operation Eagle Claw. Not only did the mission fail, but it became a bona fide tragic disaster when eight brave service men died. It was the death knell to Carter's presidency and a huge embarrassment for our country. This disaster took place on April 24-25, 1980, just 3 short weeks before the eruption of Mount St. Helens, which I covered in episode one.

Here are the sources I used to research this episode:

Book: Guests of the Ayatollah

Book: The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter

Documentary: Desert One

Documentary: Hostages (Max)

Documentary: American Experience: Taken Hostage (PBS)

Articles:

https://coffeeordie.com/operation-eagle-claw-mike-vining/

https://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/iran-mission.htm

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

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Operation_Eagle_Claw

The Disaster Queen Podcast is a production of Disaster Queen Productions LLC.

It is produced, researched and written by Jenny Rapson, the Disaster Queen. 

The Disaster Queen Pod Squad:

Audio engineering: Robert Rapson

Editing: Josh Rapson 

Original theme music: Robert Rapson

Original podcast artwork: Ken Clark

Website Design: Hello Chicky Design

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On February 1, 2003 the space shuttle Columbia and her seven astronauts began their return to earth after a successful 16-day science mission. Family and friends joyously awaited their arrival at Kennedy Space center, but the shuttle never appeared. Soon, news stations began running shuttle-watcher home video of the shuttle breaking apart in a blaze of light above Texas and Louisiana. NASA officials couldn't believe it: seven more amazing crew members and one shuttle lost almost exactly seventeen years after the Challenger. What could have gone wrong? The investigation would soon show a totally different direct cause, but sadly similar indirect causes to Challenger's demise.

Here are the resources I used to research this episode:

Comm Check: The Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia by Michael Cabbage and William Harwood

Bringing Columbia Home by Michael Leinbach and Jonathan H. Ward

https://www.space.com/19436-columbia-disaster.html#section-searching-for-columbia-debris

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

Documentary: NOVA Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster

Documentary: Witness to History - The Loss of Shuttle Columbia

Documentary: Space Shuttle Columbia: Falling Star

The Disaster Queen Podcast is a production of Disaster Queen Productions LLC.

It is produced, researched and written by Jenny Rapson, the Disaster Queen. 

The Disaster Queen Pod Squad:

Audio engineering: Robert Rapson

Editing: Josh Rapson 

Original theme music: Robert Rapson

Original podcast artwork: Ken Clark

Website Design: Hello Chicky Design

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On May 18, 1980 the sleeping giant that was Mount St. Helens awoke and erupted with a force that blew even studied geologists away with its violence. We'll deep dive into the eruption and it's devastating toll, including a massive loss of human life and an unprecedented environmental destruction. Mount St. Helens killed 57, wounded many many more, and destroyed hundreds of homes and thousands of acres of forest. Why didn't authorities do more to protect the people in the surrounding areas when the mountain was giving clear signs that an eruption was imminent? We'll cover all that on more on this first episode of the Disaster Queen Podcast.

To research this podcast, I used the following source materials:

Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens by Steve Olson

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-may-15-adna-helensvic15-story.html

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/05/17/mount-st-helens-people-stayed/27311467/

Documentary: Surviving the Mount St. Helen's Disaster

Documentary: Seconds From Disaster, Mount St. Helen's Eruption

The Disaster Queen Podcast is a production of Disaster Queen Productions LLC.

It is produced, researched and written by Jenny Rapson, the Disaster Queen. 

The Disaster Queen Pod Squad:

Audio engineering: Robert Rapson

Editing: Josh Rapson 

Original theme music: Robert Rapson

Original podcast artwork: Ken Clark

Website Design: Hello Chicky Design

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.