February 3, 1959 became known as The Day the Music Died, but the story began long before the airplane left the runway.

Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson were traveling through the frozen Midwest on the punishing Winter Dance Party tour. Broken-down buses, miserable temperatures and exhaustion made Buddy Holly's decision to charter a small plane toward the next tour stop seem like a welcome escape.

Instead, the Beechcraft Bonanza crashed shortly after leaving Mason City, Iowa, killing all three musicians and 21-year-old pilot Roger Peterson.

We follow the musicians whose careers converged that night, the seat changes and famous coin-toss story before takeoff, and the Civil Aeronautics Board investigation into deteriorating weather, Peterson's qualifications and an unfamiliar flight instrument. We also look at the rumors that followed, what later evidence actually established, and the legacy stretching from “American Pie” to the Surf Ballroom and the memorials in Clear Lake.

Listen to Wreckage & Ruins with CC & Kitty for weekly disaster investigations grounded in the people, decisions and circumstances behind the headlines.

SOURCES:

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

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/holley-charles-hardin-buddy-holly 

https://atlas.thc.texas.gov/Details?atlasnumber=5507018312&fn=print 

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

https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/LaBamba.pdf 

https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/celebrating-hispanic-heritage-culture-the-arts-music/ritchie-valens 

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

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/richardson-jiles-perry-big-bopper 

https://bigbopper.com/about/ 

https://surfballroom.com/wdp/ 

https://www.archives.gov/files/kansas-city/press/newsletter/2021-november.pdf 

https://www.archives.gov/research/transportation/aircraft-accidents 

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Aircraft_Accident_Report_for_Buddy_Holly's_crash 

https://www.faa.gov/lessons_learned/small_airplane/accidents/N3794N 

https://people.com/what-really-happened-on-the-day-the-music-died-11898397

https://billpetro.com/history-of-day-the-music-died/

https://www.britannica.com/event/The-Day-the-Music-Died 

https://fiftiesweb.com/music/coroner-report/ 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2007/01/18/autopsy-of-big-bopper-to-address-rumors-about-1959-plane-crash/17a18c01-dd28-4377-bea8-7075bbc76f62/

https://time.com/archive/6909669/the-day-the-music-died/ 

https://surfballroom.com/surf-music-experience-center/ 

https://clearlakeiowa.com/buddy-holly-ritchie-valens-big-bopper-statues/ 

https://tx-lubbock.civicplus.com/220/Buddy-Holly-Center 

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-07-19-ca-4551-story.html 

https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2024/03/cesar-chavez-family-and-filmmaking-with-luis-valdez/ 

On September 8, 1900, the Great Galveston Hurricane struck the Texas coast and became the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history.

Galveston was a prosperous port city built on a low barrier island. Hurricane forecasting was still in its infancy, communications were limited, and few residents understood the scale of the storm approaching them. When the Category 4 hurricane arrived, its powerful winds and roughly 15-foot storm surge devastated the island. About 8,000 people are commonly estimated to have died, although the true number will never be known.

CC & Kitty trace the disaster from early hurricane forecasting and storm science through survivor accounts and the overwhelming recovery effort that followed.

Then came an extraordinary response. Galveston built a massive seawall, lifted buildings onto jacks and raised large portions of the city with millions of cubic yards of fill, a civil-engineering project designed to give the island a better chance against the next major storm.

Subscribe to Wreckage & Ruins for weekly disaster investigations and the stories of what came afterward.

SOURCES:

https://www.galvestonhistorycenter.org/research/1900-storm

https://vlab.noaa.gov/web/nws-heritage/-/galveston-storm-of-1900

https://www.beg.utexas.edu/geowonders/coastal

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/karankawa-indians

https://www.galveston.com/whattodo/history/galveston-history/

https://www.galvestonunscripted.com/who-founded-galveston

https://www.portofgalveston.com/our-port/about-our-port/port-history/

https://www.galvestonunscripted.com/the-port-of-galveston

https://www.galvestontx.gov/248/City-History

https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/research/txhur.pdf

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/A_brief_history_of_the_United_States_Hurricane_Warning_Service-Dunn.pdf

https://www.reconnectwithnature.org/headlines/news/the-science-of-sunsets

https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/kids/topics/natural-world/why-the-sky-is-blue

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/doldrums.html

https://gml.noaa.gov/grad/about/redsky/

https://smv.org/learn/blog/why-dont-hurricanes-happen-at-the-equator/

https://www.livescience.com/33567-toilet-swirl-direction-equator.html

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/coriolis-effect/

https://www.nps.gov/articles/anatomy-of-a-hurricane.htm

https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/about/media/what-does-sahara-desert-have-do-hurricanes.html

https://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2010/teams/neworleans1/hurricane%20science.htm

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshws.php

https://www.noaa.gov/explainers/hurricane-forecasting

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/news/NOAApr10.html

https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/storms/what-causes-storm-surge

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/surge/

https://www.1900storm.com/through-a-night-of-horrors.html

https://www.visitgalveston.com/plan-your-trip/maps-neighborhoods/seawall-district/

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-sep-09-mn-18089-story.html

https://www.texasalmanac.com/articles/galvestons-great-hurricane

https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/essays/one-those-monstrosities-nature-galveston-storm-1900

https://nationalcoastguardmuseum.org/articles/death-and-destruction-at-galveston/

https://annweisgarber.com/the-promise/the-promise-book-talk-archive/

On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed over the Ohio River between Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Ohio, killing 46 people. Investigators would eventually trace the disaster to a hidden fracture in eyebar 330, a critical flaw ordinary visual inspection couldn't reach.

CC & Kitty follow the Silver Bridge from its unusual 1928 eyebar design through the rush-hour collapse, the dangerous rescue and recovery operation, and the investigation that identified stress corrosion and corrosion fatigue as the forces behind the failure.

The disaster became a turning point for American bridge safety, helping drive the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1968 and national bridge inspection standards established in 1971.

And because this happened in Point Pleasant, there's another story running beside the engineering investigation: Mothman. The first famous sightings came thirteen months before the bridge collapsed, creating a connection that lives on in folklore even though the official cause of the disaster was firmly mechanical.

Silver Bridge Collapse Victims:

Albert A. Adler Jr.

J.O. Bennett

Leo Blackman

Kristye Boggs

Margaret Boggs

Hilda Byus

Kathy Byus (unrecovered)

Kimberly Byus

Melvin Cantrell

Thomas A. Cantrell

Donna Jean Casey

Cecil Counts

Horace Cremeans

Harold Cundiff

Alonzo Luther Darst

Alma Duff

James Hawkins

Bobby L. Head

Forrest Raymond Higley

Alva B. Lane

Thomas “Bus” Howard Lee

G.H. Mabe

Darlene Mayes

Gerald McMannus

James Richard Maxwell

James F. Meadows

Frederick D. Miller

Ronnie G. Moore

Nora Isabelle Nibert

Darius E. Northup

Leo “Doc” Sanders

Ronald Sims

Charles T. Smith

Oma Mae Smith

Maxine Sturgeon

Denzil Taylor

Glenna Mae Taylor

Robert Eugene Towe

Maxine Turner (unrecovered)

Victor William Turner

James Otto Pullen

Timothy Meadows

Marvin L. Wamsley

Lillian Eleanor Wedge

Paul D. Wedge

James Alfred White

Sources:

https://visitpointpleasantwv.com/

https://transportation.wv.gov/highways/bridge_facts/Modern-Bridges/Pages/Silver.aspx 

https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/mothman-point-pleasant-west-virginia 

https://www.asce.org/about-civil-engineering/history-and-heritage/historic-landmarks/silver-bridge-collapse-and-creation-of-national-bridge-inspections-standards 

https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/HAR7101.pdf 

https://www.mariettatimes.com/life/features/2024/12/silver-bridge-collapse-still-impacts-bridges-57-years-later/ 

https://www.grayco.com/sample/the-silver-bridge-collapse/ 

https://www.engr.psu.edu/ae/thesis/failures/MKP/failures/failures.wikispaces.com/Silver_Bridge_Point_Pleasant_Collapse.html 

https://www.byrdcenter.org/blog/the-legacy-of-the-silver-bridge-collapse 

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

https://strangeandtwisted.com/blogs/stories/mothman-sightings-from-the-first-encounter-to-the-latest-reports?srsltid=AfmBOoporey3iD-5FsT_DTS9N7oWhLpizJUdxrkJDLC_QZFU_2HzmOsw 

https://www.mothmanmuseum.com/ 

Ernest Shackleton's Endurance expedition was supposed to make the first crossing of Antarctica. The expedition never reached its starting point.

After Endurance became trapped in Weddell Sea pack ice, Shackleton and 27 other men spent months drifting with the ship before the ice finally crushed it. Losing Endurance was only the beginning. They camped on moving ice, escaped in lifeboats to uninhabited Elephant Island, and then watched Shackleton and five companions attempt an extraordinary open-boat voyage to South Georgia in the James Caird. Against the odds, all 28 men from Endurance survived.

But the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition had another half.

On the Ross Sea side of Antarctica, a second party continued laying the supply depots Shackleton was supposed to use during his crossing. Their ship Aurora was swept away, leaving ten men stranded. They continued the mission without knowing that Shackleton was never coming, and three of them died before rescue arrived.

CC and Kitty cover the wreck of Endurance, Frank Worsley's navigation, Elephant Island, the James Caird, Shackleton's rescue attempts and the often-overlooked tragedy of the Ross Sea Party.

Follow Wreckage & Ruins for weekly disaster investigations.

SOURCES:

SOURCES:

https://www.rgs.org/media/mh0lxvg2/ks2_shackleton_l4_shackleton-timeline-and-historical-overview-v2.pdf

https://www.ernestshackleton.net/#endurance-expedition

https://www.britannica.com/science/pack-ice

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165232X21000197

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/maritime-history/curatorial/what-endurance-shipwreck-discovery-tells-us-about-ships-final

https://endurance22.org/history-of-endurance

https://www.wood-database.com/greenheart/

https://fmht.co.uk/education/history-of-shackletons-endurance/?utm_source=endurance22_website&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=e22_website_history_page_fmht_continue_reading_link_click_20_01_25#endurance-history-continued

https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/antarctica-frank-hurley

https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/crushing-endurance

https://www.history.com/articles/shackleton-endurance-survival

https://www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observatory/attractions/stand-on-prime-meridian-line

https://maritimemuseumlouisiana.org/maritimeblog/longitude

https://www.wansbeckpaddlesports.co.uk/sea-navigation

https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-much-distance-does-a-degree-minute-and-second-cover-your-maps

https://rwu.pressbooks.pub/webboceanography/chapter/2-1-latitude-and-longitude/

https://www.aps.org/apsnews/2006/06/eratosthenes-measures-earth

https://www.sea.museum/en/article/latitude-longitude-and-the-greeks

https://eshackleton.com/2016/01/14/death-was-instantaneous/

https://sght.org/timeline/elephant-island-rescue/

https://www.historyhit.com/tragic-story-ross-sea-party/

https://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/antarctic_whos_who_shackleton-ross-sea.php

https://latrobejournal.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-82/t1-g-t4.html

https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/our-stories/the-other-side-of-shackletons-antarctic-adventure/

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

John Wayne as Genghis Khan was only the beginning. The Conqueror filmed in southern Utah after the region had received fallout from Nevada nuclear tests. Years later, dozens of cast and crew cancer diagnoses fueled a controversy that still surrounds the movie—while Downwinder communities lived with the consequences far beyond Hollywood.Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conqueror_%281956_film%29

https://www.britannica.com/place/the-Steppe 

https://www.intermountainhistories.org/items/show/144 

https://www.hugheshistoric.com/howard-hughes/ 

https://archive.org/details/variety205-1957-01/mode/1up 

https://www.medievalists.net/2014/07/one-of-the-worst-movies-ever-made-the-conqueror-1956/

https://interestingengineering.com/science/downwinders-and-the-tragic-legacy-of-the-film-the-conqueror  

https://www.pbsutah.org/pbs-utah-productions/shows/downwinders-and-the-radioactive-west/ 

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/radiation/i-131

https://radiationcalculators.cancer.gov/fallout/about/

https://reimaginerpe.org/node/165 

https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/chernobyl-accident 

https://www.straightdope.com/21341555/did-john-wayne-die-of-cancer-caused-by-a-radioactive-movie-set 

https://www.justice.gov/civil/reca

https://johnwayne.org/ 

The Byford Dolphin incident was a catastrophic 1983 saturation-diving accident caused by a sudden loss of pressure during a diving-bell transfer.

On November 5, 1983, four divers were inside a pressurized chamber system aboard the Byford Dolphin in the North Sea. During the process of separating a diving bell from the chamber, the system suddenly decompressed from nine atmospheres to one.

CC and Kitty explain how saturation diving works, reconstruct the required transfer sequence, and examine the safeguards the system lacked. The official inquiry attributed the accident to human error, although the available forensic account says it remained unclear whether the clamp was opened independently or on an instruction.

The episode also examines the wider pioneer-diving era, the health and safety information available to divers, the European Court of Human Rights ruling, and Norway’s later compensation measures.

Content warning: This episode contains detailed descriptions of fatal injuries and autopsy findings.

Subscribe for weekly disaster investigations.

SOURCES:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3381801/

https://dn720006.ca.archive.org/0/items/byford-dolphin/Byford%20Dolphin_text.pdf

https://gcaptain.com/scene-horrific-1983-diving-tragedy/

https://navalmarinearchive.com/sbh/highvalueships/offshoresemisubmersibles.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20110607125608/http://www.rigzone.com/data/rig_detail.asp?rig_id=102

https://books.google.com/books?id=lPp68NAoUF0C&pg=PA168#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://www.iflscience.com/byford-dolphin-accident-how-living-under-intense-pressure-led-to-one-of-the-most-gruesome-accidents-in-history-59230

https://diversinstitute.edu/exploring-saturation-diving-international-diver-jadon-anderson/

https://commercialdiversinternational.edu/post/deep-dive-what-is-saturation-diving-and-why-is-it-critical/

https://www.idcislamujeres.com/post/understanding-pressure-in-physics-idc-dive-theory

https://nodecotravel.com/diving-depth-decompression-sickness-bends-safety/

https://www.health.harvard.edu/a_to_z/decompression-sickness-a-to-z

https://www.smp-ltd.com/blog/post/the-history-of-diving-bells-2

https://blog.padi.com/diving-bell/

https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/beginners-guide-to-aeronautics/boyles-law/

https://lescompagnonsdusaga.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/northseadivers.pdf

https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-138597%22]}

https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/nou-2003-5/id381525/?ch=16

https://dailysciencejournal.com/byford-dolphin-incident/

https://www.regjeringen.no/en/topics/labour/the-working-environment-and-safety/innsikt/the-pioneers-divers/id510905/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7314283.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7214938.stm

https://www.norskpetroleum.no/en/framework/norways-petroleum-history/

https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-events/byford-dolphin-accident.htm

Pompeii began its final day as a thriving Roman city beneath a familiar mountain. Then Mount Vesuvius erupted.

CC & Kitty follow the eruption of 79 CE through Pompeii and neighboring Herculaneum, from falling pumice and an enormous eruption column to the pyroclastic surges that eventually overwhelmed the cities. Along the way, they look at Pliny the Younger's eyewitness account, the people who managed to escape, and how the popular image of Pompeii disappearing instantly beneath lava gets the disaster wrong.

Then the story moves underground. Centuries after the eruption, excavators uncovered preserved streets, homes, frescoes, graffiti and the Villa of the Papyri. Giuseppe Fiorelli's casting technique revealed haunting impressions of victims, while modern technology is still helping researchers recover information from carbonized scrolls buried at Herculaneum.

And because this is Wreckage & Ruins, there is also ancient graffiti, Roman poop humor, an irresponsible one-star lava review, and considerably more discussion of Pompeian wieners than most disaster podcasts can reasonably promise.

The exact calendar date of the eruption remains debated, but its legacy does not: Pompeii preserved an extraordinary glimpse of ordinary Roman life at the moment history interrupted it.

Subscribe and join CC & Kitty for weekly disaster investigations.

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS4SE0bdo9g

https://www.britannica.com/place/Pompeii

https://www.usgs.gov/programs/VHP/about-volcanoes

https://www.yorku.ca/pswarney/2100/pliny-6-16-20.htm

https://igppweb.ucsd.edu/~gabi/sio15/lectures/volcanoes/pliny.html

https://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/pliny_elder.html

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/who-was-pliny-the-younger

https://pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/Maps/maps%20bay%20of%20naples.htm 

https://bomv.commons.gc.cuny.edu/eruption-of-mount-vesuvius-of-79-ad/ 

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/archaeologists-find-records-of-pompeii-survivors-that-reveal-how-they-rebuilt-their-lives

https://www.ie.edu/insights/articles/crisis-management-insights-from-pompeii/

https://pompeiisites.org/en/comunicati/new-victims-from-pompeii-emerge-from-the-excavation-of-the-house-of-the-chaste-lovers/ 

https://ercolano.cultura.gov.it/the-story/?lang=en

https://ercolano.cultura.gov.it/villa-of-the-papyri/?lang=en

https://pompeiisites.org/en/pompeii-map/analysis/the-casts/

https://www.herculaneum.ox.ac.uk/index.php/the-villa-of-the-papyri/ 

https://herculaneumtourguide.com/the-villa-of-papyri/#:~:text=The%20Villa%20of%20the%20Papyri,father%2Din%2Dlaw%2C%20Lucius%20Calpurnius%20Piso%20Caesoninus. 

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/epicureanism 

https://www2.cs.uky.edu/dri/herculaneum-papyrus-scrolls/ 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31782750/ 

https://www.britannica.com/place/Pompeii/History-of-excavations 

https://kashgar.com.au/blogs/history/the-bawdy-graffiti-of-pompeii-and-herculaneu

Jamestown’s survival was never guaranteed. CC and Kitty examine the Starving Time, the colony’s disastrous location, its escalating conflict with the Powhatan paramount chiefdom, and the documented history of Pocahontas beyond the familiar romance. Archaeology, disputed accounts, and human cost reveal a founding story far more complicated than the version most of us learned.

SOURCES:

https://www.poison.org/articles/sodium-too-much-of-a-good-thing

https://healthcare.utah.edu/healthfeed/2016/08/risks-of-salt-poisoning

https://www.history.com/articles/failed-colonies-north-america

https://historicjamestowne.org/archaeology/map-of-discoveries/1607-burials/

https://www.history.com/articles/did-jamestowns-settlers-drink-themselves-to-death

https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/chronology-of-powhatan-indian-activity.htm

https://historicjamestowne.org/history/pocahontas/

https://www.nps.gov/people/pocahontas.htm

https://historicjamestowne.org/history/history-of-jamestown/

https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/a-short-history-of-jamestown.htm

https://stgeorgesgravesend.org/history/pocahontas/

https://www.theindigenousfoundation.org/articles/the-true-story-behind-disneys-pocahontas

https://historicjamestowne.org/history/pocahontas/john-smith/

https://historicjamestowne.org/archaeology/jane/history/

https://historicjamestowne.org/history/jamestown-timeline/?srsltid=AfmBOoo5J8pa_Wi9RXrKRcu8xojfDqHbRykt7tgliKzQrCRS8NU6jyAD

https://historicjamestowne.org/archaeology/jane/?srsltid=AfmBOopvDtDnzP2VrRTvO1A6d0GXe0VAVgEy9iGCbmHK1XXCej6AAK4g

https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/wingfield-edward-maria-1550-1631/#:~:text=On%20September%2010%2C%20the%20surviving,America%2C%20and%20being%20an%20atheist.

https://research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/foundation/journal/smith.cfm

https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/gates-sir-thomas-d-1622/

https://www.britannica.com/place/Jamestown-Colony/The-Starving-Time-and-near-abandonment-1609-11

https://historicjamestowne.org/history/the-first-general-assembly/

https://www.nps.gov/people/powhatan.htm

https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/tsenacomoco-powhatan-paramount-chiefdom/

https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/opechancanough-d-1646/

After delivering components for the Little Boy atomic bomb, USS Indianapolis was torpedoed and sank in approximately 12 minutes. Nearly 900 men entered the Philippine Sea. Only 316 survived the wounds, exposure, dehydration and shark attacks that followed. CC and Kitty examine the disaster behind Quint’s famous speech in Jaws.

SOURCES:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indianapolis_(CA-35)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland-class_cruiser

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

https://www.war.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/4251122/worst-navy-disaster-at-sea-led-to-safety-changes/

https://www.ussindianapolis.com/the-story

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/loss-of-uss-indianapolis-ca-35/rescue-operations/survivor-lt-comdr-lewis-l-haynes.html

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/loss-of-uss-indianapolis-ca-35/rescue-operations/summation-of-losses.html

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/discover-fish/species-profiles/oceanic-whitetip-shark/

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/loss-of-uss-indianapolis-ca-35/investigation-and-court-martial/england-2001-addition-to-mcvay-file.html

https://www.indianawarmemorials.org/explore/uss-indianapolis-memorial/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/sinking-uss-indianapolis-triggered-worst-shark-attack-history-25715092/

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/jaws-uss-indianapolis-and-america-summer-1975?utm_source=chatgpt.com

CC and Kitty trace several bizarre medical treatments from history, the reasoning that once made them seem plausible, and the human cost when the cure became another danger.

Subscribe to Wreckage & Ruins for weekly investigations with CC and Kitty.

SOURCES:

Forth, Christopher E. Fat: A Cultural History of the Stuff of Life. London: Reaktion Books, 2019.

Kang, L., & Pedersen, N. (2017). Quackery: A brief history of the worst ways to cure everything. Workman Publishing Company. 

Sugg, Richard. Mummies, Cannibals and Vampires: The History of Corpse Medicine from the Renaissance to the Victorians. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2015.

https://www.aamc.org/news/grave-errors-spooky-cures-and-creepy-medical-missteps-past

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Mercury#section=InChIKey

https://www.epa.gov/mercury/basic-information-about-mercury

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8924441/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/2000-year-old-texts-reveal-first-emperor-chinas-quest-eternal-life-180967671/

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