Know Your Disaster With Miss Alex

Miss Alex makes her triumphant (?) return to discuss The Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900, hurricane naming conventions, and most importantly, the supercentenarian index. Enjoy -- it's good to be back!

As Miss Alex conquers an evil cold, gather 'round to hear of a far more evil incident in South American history: The Banana Massacre of 1928, an attack against fruit laborers on behalf of the behemoth fruit companies of the day. Not a traditional disaster, but a disaster nonetheless.

Miss Alex hates rats. Really, really hates rats. Listen to her explain why she hates rats, why she disagrees with the rat defenders, and learn about the plague that started them all: the Plague of Justinian! Don't miss the ode to the plague doctor, otherwise known as the villian in True Detective season two. Miss you, Tim Riggins.

A cheerful holiday tale of the Christmas express train, a sudden torrent of devastating mud and rock, and horrible news on Christmas morning. Enjoy! I'll try to post some of the resources for this episode later today.

After a busy season delay, Miss Alex is back with a new episode! Hurray! Have you heard of exploding lakes? There are only three in the world, but two of them proved to be deadly in the mysterious phenomenon of limnic eruptions that occurred in 1984 and 1986. Miss Alex puts on her geologist hat to tell the story behind these bizarre and fatal eruptions, other potential sites, and CO2 emissions in the world today. It's good to be back!

In U.S. history, stadium disasters aren't as much of a thing -- other than in racing accidents, they're extremely rare. Elsewhere in the world, though, as different large crowds have fled for exits or rushed fields, stadium stampedes and other events have quickly become devastating and catastrophic. Miss Alex wanted to learn a bit about stadium incidents, why they happen, and what happened in the deadliest ever stadium incident in Lima, Peru at Estadio Nacional in 1964. The lesson? There's more to these incidents than fans upset at a bad call.

In 1976, as China mourned the loss of two of its most famous political leaders, it faced an ever greater loss in the mining city of Tangshan. On July 27, 1976, an approximately 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the city of more than 1.6 million, all but leveling it entirely. As offers of aid came in from across the globe, the country refused and chose instead to lead the rescue and rebuilding efforts on their own. Today, Miss Alex talks about this event and restrains herself from going on about late Maoist China. Enjoy!

The original Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, OH was described using a variety of friendly terms, ranging from the "inhumane" to the "primitive" to describe the conditions inside. On April 21, 1930, the prison was housing 4,300 inmates -- almost triple its 1,500 capacity. A botched escape attempt and some poorly-timed construction led to one of the worst ever structural fires in the US, and the worst ever prison fire in the country. Now the site of the popular Arena District in downtown Columbus, the Ohio Penitentiary will forever live on for its less-than-desirable reputation and the horrible fire that engulfed the building. It could be worse -- today's iteration of the prison is known as the "Abu Ghraib of Ohio."

On September 27, 1994, 803 passengers and 186 crew boarded the MS Estonia for an overnight trip across the Baltic Sea from Estonia to Sweden. Unfortunately, a poorly-designed ship, bad weather, and some fatal green lights stopped those plans. Join me on my first podcast as I share the tale of a horrible night on the Baltic Sea nearly 21 years ago. I'm Miss Alex -- history nerd, storyteller (in progress), and admitted disaster porn addict. My boyfriend's only excited that someone else gets to take on his role as forced listener.