Let’s face it folks, each and every
single one of us is scared of accidents. I, for one, haven’t experienced
any major accident my entire life and I thank God for that. You might
not be aware but the world experiences different accidents every single
day and I am not talking about your everyday road accidents. I am
talking about something on a much bigger scale, something that gives the
word ‘weird’ a new definition. This article talks about the weirdest
and the most bizarre accidents from around the world over the course of
history. You do not expect these sort of things to happen every day or
even once in a blue moon and that makes this article a very interesting
one indeed.
10. PHILADELPHIA BOILER EXPLOSION
An experimental ‘train engine’ blew up
in Philadelphia, County Durham, England. The year was 1815 and it was a
four-wheel engine. Sixteen people were killed and this is recorded as
the first major railway accident. You will not find a detailed account
of this accident easily. Poor victims were the sightseers who were
gathered to see the locomotive in action. The explosion left countless
more injured.
9. BOUNCY CASTLE DISASTER
You are familiar with the concept I
assume. Once, a bouncy castle filled with 30 people broke free and took
off into the air. It is reported that the castle took off to an altitude
of 50 feet, turned over travelled 150 feet and then fell to the ground.
This resulted in injuring 13 people and killing two. This incident
would have been so awesome if at all there were no deaths or injuries in
fact, I very much would have loved to be a part of the entire incident.
Air filled castles have been related with many incidents of the sorts
but his one worthy of mentioning on this list.
8. DEATH OF LADY CONVENTRY
Maria Gunning, also known as Lady
Coventry, was considered to be a beauty in her time. She spent a lot of
her time applying white makeup and red rouge every day since that was
the style of that day. Her husband however, did not like this and tried
to stop her from using this make-up. Lady Coventry died at the age of 27
because she over used lead-based makeup. She would have probably been
in a better place if she had listened to her husband.
7. NAPOLEON’S COUGH
It is said the Napoleon was suffering
from a bad cough when he accidentally ordered the execution of 1,200
prisoners. It said that he said ‘Ma sacre toux’, which meant ‘my damn
cough’, but the soldiers mistook it to be ‘massacre-tous’; that means
‘massacre all’. If this whole incident was proven to be true I would
have put it on the number one spot but unfortunately there are many
different stories regarding this particular incident.
6. LAKE PEIGNEUR ACCIDENT
This incident took place while drilling a
salt mine beneath a ten-foot deep lake. The third level of the mine was
accidentally pierced by the drill caused the lake to flow into the mine
because of which the tiny hole started to expand. The inflow began to
quicken and that resulted in a huge whirlpool which then sucked in the
drilling platform, eleven barges and 65 acres of the surrounding
terrain.
5. GOIANIA ACCIDENT
A radioactive contamination accident occurred in Goiania, Brazil on 13th
September, 1987. This is considered to be one of the worst nuclear
disasters in history. It took place after an old nuclear medicine source
was scavenged at an abandoned hospital. The source was handled by so
many people who it ended up contaminating 249 people and resulted in
four deaths. This contamination spread like wildfire; 130,000 people
filled the hospitals, houses and to be destroyed and several sites had
to be abandoned.
4. LONDON BEER FLOOD
This is something that doesn’t happen every day. A vat of beer at London’s Meux and Company Brewery cracked open on October 16th,
1814. That resulted in 550,000 gallons of beer being poured out into
the streets of London. The wave that was caused by these accidents
destroyed two homes and crushed the wall of Tavistock Arms Pub. This
brewery was located among the poor settlements of London. Eight people
lost their lives in this unusual flood. The incident was declared to be
the ‘act of God’.
3. THE BALL OF BURNING MEN
King Charles VI of France hosted a ball on January 28th,
1393. His idea was to disguise himself and five other friends as
savages. The men decided to cover themselves with feathers and pitch.
Note here that the pitch is highly inflammable. They entered the ball
chained together when a man approached them with a torch to get a better
look. They caught fire immediately. The King was saved but two of his
friends were burnt alive at the very moment while the others were
severely injured. Two amongst the injured lost their lives soon after.
2. BOSTON MOLASSES DISASTER
1. SIDOARJO MUD FLOW 
PT Lapindo Brantas was drilling for gas
in East Java, Indonesia in May, 2006 when they suddenly caused a volcano
of mud to erupt. The flow continued for a very long time and by
September that year the mud volcano had flooded rice paddies and
villages. That left 11,000 people from eight different villages totally
displaced. Twenty-five factories were shut-down and even fish and shrimp
ponds were annihilated. Transportation and power had been cut off to
the area. You must be surprised to know that the mud flow continues
still at a rate of 100,000 m3 per day. It is expected that the flow will continue for the next thirty years however the rate may decrease with time.
Let us know in the comments if you have even more unusual accidents.