The Radium Girls painted glowing watch dials and were instructed to point their brushes with their lips. When radium lodged in their bones, illness followed, and proving the cause became another fight. CC and Kitty trace the dial painters, the New Jersey and Illinois cases, and their lasting place in workplace-safety history.

SOURCES: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A1chymov

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/themes/marie-and-pierre-curie-and-the-discovery-of-polonium-and-radium/

https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2018-12/documents/significant_discoveries_history_radiation_protection-worksheet_rp_1.pdf 

https://www.damninteresting.com/undark-and-the-radium-girls/

https://www.epa.gov/radiation/radiation-basics

https://www.labxchange.org/library/items/lb:LabXchange:7004d592:html:1

https://live-ucalgary.ucalgary.ca/sites/default/files/teams/246/death-by-numbers_the-mysterious-illness-of-the-dial-painters.pdf

https://njwomenshistory.org/biographies/katherine-schaub/

https://time.com/archive/6662284/medicine-poison-paintbrush/

https://njms.rutgers.edu/departments/division_radiation/history_pub.php 

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

https://www.perspectivesofhistory.com/post/the-consumers-league-and-the-radium-girls

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

https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

https://www.archives.gov/files/citizen-archivist/images/08-23-2018-radium-girls.pdf

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

https://www.osha.gov/

https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2018/01/04/the-radium-girls-at-the-national-archives/

https://www.epa.gov/superfund/what-superfund

The Bhopal gas tragedy began during the night of December 2–3, 1984, when methyl isocyanate escaped from the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant. The Bhopal disaster killed thousands in its immediate aftermath, exposed more than 500,000 people, and left a health and environmental crisis that still has no clean ending.

CC and Kitty trace how a pesticide plant near densely populated neighborhoods came to store large quantities of MIC, the warnings raised before the leak, and the safeguards that were unavailable or ineffective as Tank 610 entered a runaway reaction. Water entered the tank, but the precise route—and Union Carbide’s later sabotage claim—remain disputed.

The episode also follows the overwhelmed hospitals, contested casualty estimates, the 1989 settlement, the criminal cases, and the unfinished cleanup. In 2025, 337 metric tons of waste were incinerated, but residual material and broader site contamination remained unresolved into 2026.

Subscribe to Wreckage & Ruins for weekly disaster investigations. Because death and long-term health estimates differ by source, this episode uses conservative wording and identifies disputed claims.

SOURCES:

https://www.bhopal.com/en-us.html

https://www.britannica.com/event/Bhopal-disaster

https://www.bhopal.net/what-happened/setting-the-stage-for-tragedy-1969-1984/timeline-events-1969-1984/

https://origins.osu.edu/read/bhopal-chemical-gas-disaster#:~:text=It%20decided%20to%20build%20a,Site%20of%20Bhopal%20disaster%2C%202010.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/green-revolution-norman-borlaug-race-to-fight-global-hunger/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1142333/

https://wwwn.cdc.gov/tsp/mmg/mmgdetails.aspx?mmgid=628&toxid=116

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Methyl-Isocyanate

https://www.kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/academics/departments/history-and-philosophy-of-medicine/archives/wwi/essays/medicine/gas-in-the-great-war.html

https://www.bhopal.org/news/the-crime-of-union-carbide-05/

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Methylamine

https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/12/us/1982-inspector-says-indian-plant-was-below-us-safety-standards.html

https://www.unm.edu/~varma/print/BSTS_Bhopal.pdf

https://www.nytimes.com/1985/01/30/world/the-disaster-in-bhopal-workers-recall-horror.html

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1142333/

https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/40-years-after-bhopal-toxic-gas-leak-suffering-continues/

https://www.bhopal.org/continuing-disaster/the-bhopal-gas-disaster/union-carbides-disaster/#:~:text=More%20than%20120%2C000%20people%20still,poison%20the%20residents%20of%20Bhopal.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/03/global-dows-failure-to-offer-remedy-for-the-bhopal-disaster-has-created-a-sacrifice-zone/

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgj6e1e2688o

https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/w3ct4lyw

https://www.ihrb.org/latest/bhopal-40-years-on-lessons-for-corporate-accountability

https://www.umass.edu/sts/pdfs/Bhopal_Complete.pdf

https://www.csb.gov/csb-contracts-independent-study-on-reducing-inventory-of-toxic-methyl-isocyanate-mic-at-west-virginia-chemical-site/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/aug/29/3

https://www.bbc.com/news/10267196

https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/types-of-corporate-social-responsibility

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hnewman/2026/03/17/meet-americas-best-brands-for-social-impact-2026/

On the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, approximately 12,000 to 13,000 Confederate soldiers emerged from Seminary Ridge and began advancing across exposed fields toward the Union center.

General Robert E. Lee believed a concentrated assault could break the line on Cemetery Ridge. Lieutenant General James Longstreet believed the troops could not sustain the advance. After a massive artillery bombardment, the infantry moved forward anyway.

CC and Kitty trace the route of Pickett’s Charge, the confusion and losses across the field, Brigadier General Lewis Armistead’s brief penetration of the Union position at The Angle and the collapse that followed. Approximately 6,000 to 6,555 Confederate soldiers were killed, wounded or captured during the assault.

They also examine Lee’s reported acceptance of responsibility, Longstreet’s complicated legacy and why the area later became known as the High Water Mark of the Confederacy.

Listen and follow Wreckage & Ruins for weekly investigations into disasters, decisions and what came afterward.

Sources:

https://www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/weather/severe/this-day-in-weather-history-july-1-1863-the-battle-of-gettysburg

https://www.nps.gov/gett/planyourvisit/maps.htm

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/maps/gettysburg-picketts-charge-july-3-1863

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/picketts-charge

https://www.nps.gov/places/the-angle.htm

https://npshistory.com/publications/gett/index.htm

https://historynet.com/james-longstreet/

On March 18, 1925, the Tri-State Tornado crossed Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, killing 695 people and becoming the deadliest single tornado in recorded U.S. history. CC and Kitty follow its 219-mile path, the devastation left behind, and the era before modern tornado warnings.

SOURCES:

https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/about/k-12-education/severe-weather/what-causes-thunderstorm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbuMm0gxFeE

https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/about/k-12-education/severe-weather/what-causes-lightning-and-thunder

https://www.weather.gov/ilx/swop-springtopics

https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/thunderstorms/faq/#:~:text=They%20are%20most%20frequently%20isolated,the%20updraft%20to%20begin%20rotating.

https://www.weather.gov/ama/supercell

https://www.google.com/search?q=does+a+tornado+form+when+the+rear+flank+down+draft+gets+pulled+into+the+updraft&oq=does+a+tornado+form+when+the+rear+flank+down+draft+gets+pulled+into+the+updraft&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRiPAtIBCTEzMjc4ajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://nationalpost.com/news/anatomy-of-a-supercell-tornado

https://sites.psu.edu/pmarkowski/how-tornadoes-form/

https://www.weather.gov/pah/1925tornado

https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/weather-forecasting-through-the-ages/

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/03/14/deadly-tri-state-tornado-changed-weather-forecasting-forever

https://current.org/2016/04/radios-first-spoken-weather-forecast-brought-to-you-by-st-louis-university/?wallit_nosession=1

https://www.history.com/articles/deadliest-tornado-tri-state-1925-united-states

https://www.weather.gov/ffc/fujita

https://www.ilsos.gov/departments/archives/online-exhibits/100-documents/1925-tristate-tornado.html

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/100-years-ago-this-week-nearly-700-people-were-killed-in-the-deadliest-u-s-tornado

https://thesouthern.com/news/one-century-later-accounts-of-americas-deadliest-tornado/article_3c796acc-9196-5ab8-8fa8-5b87e6bfc3d2.html

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268801867_The_1925_Tri-State_Tornado_Damage_Path_and_Associated_Storm_System

https://www.americanheritage.com/great-tri-state-tornado

https://medium.com/@david.frigault/blown-away-the-horrors-of-the-tri-state-tornado-d605a6a8cf65

https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

The Hammond Circus Train Wreck killed an estimated 86 people in 1918 when an empty troop train crashed into the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train near Hammond, Indiana. CC & Kitty cover the stopped train, the fire, the victims buried at Showmen’s Rest, and why some records still don’t line up neatly.

CC & Kitty also talk through the circus’s earlier history, Carl Hagenbeck’s human zoo-style exhibitions, and the uncomfortable reality behind a show that kept going after tragedy.

Subscribe for weekly disaster investigations, and find us at wreckageandruins.com or through https://linktr.ee/WreckageAndRuins.

Sources:https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/hammond-train-wreck-disaster-1918-killed-dozens-circus-performers-180969428/

https://nwitimes.com/lifestyles/chills-without-thrills-hammond-circus-train-wreck-of-recalled-in/article_4e16609f-ee95-5431-911f-7f3ff46b987c.html

https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2088

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagenbeck%E2%80%93Wallace_Circus

https://www.showmensleague.org/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showmen%27s_Rest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ11vbB-xJQ&t=10s

The Great Fire of London began in 1666 inside a bakery on Pudding Lane and tore through a city built like a tinderbox. CC & Kitty trace the dry weather, wooden streets, firehooks, panic, scapegoating, and rebuilding rules that changed London after the flames. Official records list six deaths, but the aftermath was much bigger than that.

This is not just a story about a bakery fire. It is a story about panic, blame, survival, and the disaster that helped reshape London.

Subscribe for weekly disaster investigations from Wreckage & Ruins.

SOURCES:

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Great-Fire-of-London/

https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/PUDD1.htm

https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/museum/london-fire-brigade-history-and-stories/fires-and-incidents-that-changed-history/the-great-fire-of-london/

https://www.themonument.org.uk/great-fire-london-faqs#:~:text=How%20did%20the%20Great%20Fire,the%20fire%20began%20to%20spread.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/articles/zph4g7h

https://www.littlefox.com/tw/supplement/org/C0003751

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/great-fire-london-was-blamed-religious-terrorism-180960332/

https://www.london.gov.uk/city-hall-blog/great-fire-london-350-years?ac-69654=69651

https://digventures.com/2016/09/the-aftermath-of-the-great-fire-of-london-was-worse-than-you-think/#:~:text=What's%20more%2C%20few%20people%20are,the%20fire%20was%20put%20out.

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/inspire-me/5-things-the-real-story-of-bonfire-night/

https://www.fireoflondon.org.uk/story/society-politics/

https://dantesisofo.com/the-great-fire-of-londons-influence-on-philadelphia/

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/London-After-The-Great-Fire/

The bubonic plague was more than swollen lymph nodes and medieval panic. CC and Kitty trace Yersinia pestis, the Black Death, Caffa, Florence, quarantine, plague myths, and the social collapse that reshaped Europe. Plus: cats, bad folklore, and why “Ring-a-Ring-a-Rosie” probably is not about plague.Subscribe for weekly disaster investigations.

SOURCES:

https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2014/07/ring-around-the-rosie-metafolklore-rhyme-and-reason/#:~:text=The%20rhyme%20is%20about%20the%20Great%20Plague%2C,doesn't%20fit%20well%20with%20the%20plague%20interpretation

https://www.genome.gov/27546229/dissecting-the-cause-of-the-black-death

https://www.britannica.com/place/Byzantine-Empire

https://www.britannica.com/event/plague-of-Justinian

https://origins.osu.edu/connecting-history/covid-justinianic-plague-lessons

https://www.cdc.gov/one-health/about/about-zoonotic-diseases.html

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Origins-Hundred-Years-War/

https://www.visualdx.com/visualdx/diagnosis/septicemic+plague?diagnosisId=53824&moduleId=101

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/plague

Strange historical deaths have a way of becoming bigger than the facts. This week, CC and Kitty look at Rasputin’s death myth, Edward II’s infamous rumor, and Edgar Allan Poe’s unresolved final days. Poison, politics, medieval gossip, cooping theories, and broken records all collide in an episode about how history remembers the dead.

Subscribe for weekly disaster investigations, historical wreckage, and the aftermath that follows.Sources:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-really-happened-during-murder-rasputin-russia-mad-monk-180961572/

https://allthatsinteresting.com/rasputin-penis

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38386172/

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

https://www.nps.gov/edal/learn/historyculture/people-poefamily.htm

https://www.nps.gov/articles/poe-death.htm

https://catalystmag.umaryland.edu/rooted-in-history-175-years-later-mystery-still-shrouds-poes-death/

https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/wernicke-korsakoff-syndrome

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

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire killed 146 workers in 1911 and became a turning point in labor history. CC and Kitty cover the factory conditions, the Uprising of the 20,000, Clara Lemlich, the locked-exit legacy, the trial, and the workplace safety reforms that followed.

Subscribe for weekly disaster investigations from Wreckage & Ruins.

SOURCES:

https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/shirtwaist/

https://lithub.com/a-brief-history-of-mass-manufactured-clothing/

https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-events/triangle-shirtwaist-fire

https://www.history.com/articles/triangle-shirtwaist-fire

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/shirtwaist-kings/

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography-clara-lemlich/

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/uprising-of-20000-1909#:~:text=Throughout%20the%20uprising%2C%20arrests%20and,named%20%E2%80%9Cindustrial%20feminism%E2%80%9D).

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/triangle/#transcript

https://trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu/slides/182.html#screen

https://shc.stanford.edu/arcade/publications/occasion/fire-stories/raining-blood-and-money-remembering-triangle-shirtwaist

https://trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu/victimsWitnesses/unidentifiedVictims.html#:~:text=Michael%20Hirsch%20is%20an%20independent%20researcher%20who,Age%2022%2C%20lived%20at%2018%20Cornelia%20Street

https://www.famous-trials.com/trianglefire/964-home

https://trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu/legacy/legislativeReform.html#:~:text=During%20its%20second%20year%20of,code%20after%20the%20Triangle%20Fire.

https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/mono-regsafepart07#:~:text=The%20main%20purpose%20of%20the,had%20stressed%20the%20health%20problem.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tammany-Hall

Triangle: Remembering the Fire on HBO

On January 13, 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 took off from Washington National Airport in a snowstorm and crashed into the 14th Street Bridge before falling into the icy Potomac River. CC and Kitty walk through the deicing delay, the NTSB findings, the cockpit decisions, and the rescue that saved five people from the water.

Subscribe to Wreckage & Ruins for weekly disaster investigations, aftermaths, and the decisions that shaped what came next.

SOURCES:https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/626875246/

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

https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/accidentreports/reports/aar8208.pdf

https://arlingtonhistorical.com/items/show/164

https://people.com/trained-pilot-survived-1982-potomac-plane-crash-tragedy-exclusive-8783981