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The Texas City Disaster of 1947 | Episode 107
Episode 107
Published 10 hours ago
Description
No one shows up to work expecting to make history, but today’s story shows how one small, irreversible decision created the one of the worst days at work in US History. If that “fork in the road” moment had played out in any other way, today’s episode would mostly just be me chatting up Texans and offering up some gardening tips.
On today’s episode: you will find out why parts of Texas smell like money, and why that money smells unbreathably pungent and caustic; we will explore how there can come a point where calling something loud loses all meaning, and then your skin blows off; and we will learn about a disaster so catastrophic, that people who said “well, I’m glad that’s all over with” were treated to an encore.
And because you are listening on Patreon… you will hear about a river or two that defied convention by bursting into flames; you will learn about the time a German industrial site tried to fly into space because it’s standard operating procedures director was actually a potted plant wearing a tie; and you will find out how British Petroleum basically became the Beatles of oil and gas disasters.
They say everything’s bigger in Texas, and I believe it. You will too, after you understand the scale of today’s event and the resulting death toll. We’ll spend our time in Texas City, and I do make a point in the episode that Texas is a fine place, but if you had to pick a part of visit, Texas City might not be it. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart. Who would have thunk that the densest petrochemical infrastructure on Earth would make for a not-so-great picnic spot, but a great place to watch 4,000 pound ship anchors arc across the sky.
It is my genuine pleasure to return here (hey Texas). We have a lot of listeners there, and I look forward to returning again in the future. In fact, if you’re from the Lone Star State and have a favourite disaster in mind, please chime in. I’m sorry if I’m a little under the weather in this episode. I’m was a little under the weather while making it, so I apologize if I any ennui got in the pudding.
If it helps, the next episode will be bloodless and cheerier, but bloodless in a way that might actually make you wish for blood. You’ll just have to wait and see.
–––––
THANK YOU. Most shows survive at the whim of production companies and corporate sponsors, built from the top down. Doomsday doesn’t exist because some network exec believes in it – it exists because actual people do. It's built from the bottom up, and it’s been my privilege to bring you these stories. Just you, me, and a microphone.
I don’t do this for you, so much as I do this because of you. If you'd like to support the show at Buy Me A Coffee, or join the club over at Patreon for AD-FREE EPISODES, LONGER EPISODES, EXTRA CONTENT, all that good stuff
All older episodes can be found on any of your favorite channels
Apple : https://tinyurl.com/5fnbumdw
Spotify : https://tinyurl.com/73tb3uuw
IHeartRadio : https://tinyurl.com/vwczpv5j
Podchaser : https://tinyurl.com/263kda6w
Stitcher : https://tinyurl.com/mcyxt6vw
Google :
On today’s episode: you will find out why parts of Texas smell like money, and why that money smells unbreathably pungent and caustic; we will explore how there can come a point where calling something loud loses all meaning, and then your skin blows off; and we will learn about a disaster so catastrophic, that people who said “well, I’m glad that’s all over with” were treated to an encore.
And because you are listening on Patreon… you will hear about a river or two that defied convention by bursting into flames; you will learn about the time a German industrial site tried to fly into space because it’s standard operating procedures director was actually a potted plant wearing a tie; and you will find out how British Petroleum basically became the Beatles of oil and gas disasters.
They say everything’s bigger in Texas, and I believe it. You will too, after you understand the scale of today’s event and the resulting death toll. We’ll spend our time in Texas City, and I do make a point in the episode that Texas is a fine place, but if you had to pick a part of visit, Texas City might not be it. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart. Who would have thunk that the densest petrochemical infrastructure on Earth would make for a not-so-great picnic spot, but a great place to watch 4,000 pound ship anchors arc across the sky.
It is my genuine pleasure to return here (hey Texas). We have a lot of listeners there, and I look forward to returning again in the future. In fact, if you’re from the Lone Star State and have a favourite disaster in mind, please chime in. I’m sorry if I’m a little under the weather in this episode. I’m was a little under the weather while making it, so I apologize if I any ennui got in the pudding.
If it helps, the next episode will be bloodless and cheerier, but bloodless in a way that might actually make you wish for blood. You’ll just have to wait and see.
–––––
THANK YOU. Most shows survive at the whim of production companies and corporate sponsors, built from the top down. Doomsday doesn’t exist because some network exec believes in it – it exists because actual people do. It's built from the bottom up, and it’s been my privilege to bring you these stories. Just you, me, and a microphone.
I don’t do this for you, so much as I do this because of you. If you'd like to support the show at Buy Me A Coffee, or join the club over at Patreon for AD-FREE EPISODES, LONGER EPISODES, EXTRA CONTENT, all that good stuff
All older episodes can be found on any of your favorite channels
Apple : https://tinyurl.com/5fnbumdw
Spotify : https://tinyurl.com/73tb3uuw
IHeartRadio : https://tinyurl.com/vwczpv5j
Podchaser : https://tinyurl.com/263kda6w
Stitcher : https://tinyurl.com/mcyxt6vw
Google :
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