October 8 was the anniversary of three terrible fires in 1871-The Great Chicago Fire, the Peshtigo Fire, and the Port Huron Fire. There were other, smaller fires in the region that raged the same day as well. It was dry in the Wisconsin/Michigan lumber regions, and the conditions were just right for a perfect storm of fires. Thousands of people died. Some posit that meteorites from a passing comet may have started the fires, but that seems unlikely. Small fires used to clear land, as well as very dry conditions and a very windy cold front that blew through, are probably the causes.
Once, out here on Halloween about 15 years ago we had a terrible range fire in the two counties just north of us. Warm and drought conditions during the fall had left the pastures very dry. On Halloween, a very windy cold front came through and, somehow a fire started and hundreds of acres and cattle were lost. It was terrible, but not as terrible as the fires of 1871. I can hardly imagine what it must have been like.
A friend of mine is obsessed with the Titanic Disaster. She even went on the 100th anniversary commemorative cruise out of England and had period costumes sewn for the occasion. She knows everything there is to know about the Titanic. I only like hearing about disasters if there is a happy ending to the story, which there rarely is, although I must admit I spent a good chunk of my adolescence reading about the Black Death.
What disasters have you experienced. Which famous disasters fascinate you?
Trail Baboon 