For centuries, Londoners had grown accustomed to "Pea-Soupers," thick ground fog that made travel and often walking or bicycling difficult. Following the changes that accompanied the Industrial Revolution, Londoners had also grown accustomed to having a little bit of dust and smoke mixed in with their fog. What they got on a cold December week in 1952 was thicker and more fatal than any man-made disaster before or since.

We will analyze Episodes 1 through 5 looking for ways that history could have played out differently. We will compare and contrast The Peshtigo Fire, The Rwanda Genocide, The Man-Eating Tiger of Champawat, The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Airplane Accident at Tenerife. Spoiler Alert! I will also let you know what the topics will be for the next five episodes.

A short reflection on the life and achievements of Nelson Mandela.

An explanation of why I started the Podcast of Doom. What is Epic Failure Analysis? Why do bad things happen to good and bad people? How do large disasters happen? What can we do to prevent or limit the damage?

Following a terrorist bombing at the Canary Islands' largest airport, international traffic is rerouted to the much smaller airport at nearby Tenerife. As jumbo jets line up for take off, a thick fog settles in. A KLM 747 is given clearance to taxi down the runway and complete a 180-degree turn to prepare for take-off. With tragic consequences, a Pan Am 747 enters the same runway from the opposite end and moves straight into the path of the KLM jet.

During World War II, after delivering the world's first operational atomic bomb, the United States Navy Cruiser USS Indianapolis is sunk by a Japanese submarine in the middle of the western Pacific. More than 300 sailors drowned; but for the more than 880 survivors of the torpedoes, more horrors awaited.

A brief statement about the recent typhoon that hit the Phillipines.

In turn-of-the-century India and Nepal, an injured Bengal tiger develops a taste for human flesh. During her rampage, she manages to kill over 400 people and strike terror into the hearts of the villagers in the region. She was the fiercest of many man-eating beasts prevalent in Northern India and Nepal during the late 19th and early 20th century.

The Rwandan Genocide of 1994, resulted in the largest loss of life in the shortest period of time. It is believed that more than 800,000 people died in less than 3 months in a violent struggle that pitted neighbor against neighbor and family member against family member. Find out how this small sub-Saharan nation became a ticking time-bomb.

A raging forest fire obliterates a small Wisconsin lumber town.