Relative Disasters

In Episode 6, we talk about the third-deadliest natural disaster of all time: the massive earthquake that occurred in Shaanxi, China, during the Ming Dynasty. We'll cover why it occurred, what exactly happened, and what was going on with the Jiajing Emperor at the time, as well bonus sidebars on soil liquefaction, royal scandals, where to find loess, and why you wouldn't want to be in a yaodong during an earthquake (but, if you're Ella, why you might want to live in one during non-quake times).

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"A History of Civilization in 50 Disasters" by G. Eaton, 2011

"Historical Earthquakes in China" by G. Parraras-Caryannis, 2013, for Disaster Pages of Dr. George Parraras-Caryannis

and of course the Wikipedia articles on:

1556 Shaanxi Earthquake

Loess

Yaodong

Episode 5 takes us to the windy, isolated, and very cold Ural Mountains to discuss the mysterious deaths of nine hikers. We will cover the hike, the hikers, and the evidence left behind; we'll also take a look at several of the most persuasive theories surrounding the incident, including Yetis, the KGB, the weather, the wind, secret Soviet weapons testing, and - why not? - wolverine attack. 

(Remastered 1/30/23.)

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident" by D. Eichar (2014)

"Death of Nine: The Dyatlov Pass Mystery" by L. Anderson (2019)

"The Russian Conspiracy Theory That Won’t Die" by A. Luhn, for the Atlantic (February 2020)

Dyatlov Pass.com (Dyatlov Pass Foundation) (English translation) https://dyatlovpass.com/

and of course the Wikipedia articles on:

Dyatlov Pass incident - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_Pass_incident

Katabatic wind - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katabatic_wind

Kármán vortex street - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_vortex_street

Kholat Syakhl - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kholat_Syakhl

In Episode 4 we take a ride with swindler Gregor McGregor all the way to the beautiful tropical country of Poyais. You'll hear all about investment bubbles, South American political movements, the tried and true military strategy of running quickly away from the enemy, and how a Scottish con man convinced thousands of people to sink their life savings into shares of an imaginary South American paradise.

*Note from Greg: As our long-time listeners know, the original audio for this episode was corrupted. I've done my best to make it listenable, but our levels are still uneven and there's some generally poor-quality audio. Which is a shame, because this is one of my favorite stories. Remastered 1/30/23. 

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"Sketch of the Mosquito Shore: Including the Territory of Poyais...", T. Strangeways, 1820

"He promised people paradise — and sent them to their deaths", L. Getlin, New York Post, 2018

"The Fraud of the Prince of Poyais on the London Stock Exchange", B. Taylor, Global Financial Data, 2020

"Gregor MacGregor, Prince of Poyais", J. Brain, Historic UK, 2020

"The Con Man Who Invented His Own Country", E. Andrews, History, 2016

In Episode 3 we go to Centralia, Pennsylvania to explore a disaster that's much bigger than it looks from downtown. You'll hear all about mine fires, the slow and dangerous death of Centralia, and how failures at the city, county, state and federal levels started and worsened an enormous underground fire  - one that's expected to burn for the next 250 years. 

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠⁠.

"How an Underground Fire Destroyed an Entire Town", Morton, E., for Slate. 2014.

"Centralia, Pennsylvania: Hell on Earth!", Bolognese, A., 1982

"Unseen Danger", DeKok, D., 1986

"Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire", DeKok, D., 2010

"Centralia Fire", PBS Special. 1982.

"The Last Residents of Centralia", Journeyman Pictures. 2003

Notes: Remastered 6/30/22 - The audio is still a little tinny on Greg's voice, but the vocal balance should be better.

Our second episode is all about the economic crash that hit Cairo in 1324. You'll hear all about The World's Richest Man Ever - Mansa Musa, King of the Mali Empire - and his spending habits, what to shop for in a trade economy, why salt was once as valuable as gold, where to go to school in Timbuctu, and exactly how many $10000 hot dogs it takes to cause an economic crisis. 

(Remastered 1/30/23)

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠⁠.

Our first episode is all about the monster tornado that hit London in 1091. You'll learn all about TORRO Scale Zero, how stormchasers in the US memorialized Bill Paxton, the Benedictine historians Florence and William, the safest part of St. Mary-le-Bow Church in Cheapside, how much a Norman helmet weighed, and what medieval London (probably) smelled like. 

Enjoy the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠⁠⁠.

Sources for this episode include:

"Extreme Weather: Forty Years of the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO)", Doe, R. K., 2015

Torro.org.UK

Guinnessworldrecords.org

"Tornadoes in Medieval Britian", Rowe, M. W. The Journal of Meterology, September 1975

 "Work of the devil : Tornadoes of the British Isles to 1660" , Rowe, M. W. The Journal of Meterology, October 1999

"Tornado Outbreaks in Europe", Tijssen, L., 2015

"The Story of the British and their Weather"  Nobbs, P. , 2016

Note - 2/13/22 - I went back and remastered the audio - it sounds a lot better now! -Greg