Wreckage & Ruins

Episode 24: The Great Fire of London

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://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Great-Fire-of-London/] https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/PUDD1.htm [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.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.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.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/articles/zph4g7h] https://www.littlefox.com/tw/supplement/org/C0003751 [https://www.littlefox.com/tw/supplement/org/C0003751] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/great-fire-london-was-blamed-religious-terrorism-180960332/ [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://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://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.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/inspire-me/5-things-the-real-story-of-bonfire-night/] https://www.fireoflondon.org.uk/story/society-politics/ [https://www.fireoflondon.org.uk/story/society-politics/] https://dantesisofo.com/the-great-fire-of-londons-influence-on-philadelphia/ [https://dantesisofo.com/the-great-fire-of-londons-influence-on-philadelphia/] https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/London-After-The-Great-Fire/ [https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/London-After-The-Great-Fire/]

Episode 23: Bubonic Plague

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://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.genome.gov/27546229/dissecting-the-cause-of-the-black-death] https://www.britannica.com/place/Byzantine-Empire [https://www.britannica.com/place/Byzantine-Empire] https://www.britannica.com/event/plague-of-Justinian [https://www.britannica.com/event/plague-of-Justinian] https://origins.osu.edu/connecting-history/covid-justinianic-plague-lessons [https://origins.osu.edu/connecting-history/covid-justinianic-plague-lessons] https://www.cdc.gov/one-health/about/about-zoonotic-diseases.html [https://www.cdc.gov/one-health/about/about-zoonotic-diseases.html] https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Origins-Hundred-Years-War/ [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.visualdx.com/visualdx/diagnosis/septicemic+plague?diagnosisId=53824&moduleId=101] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/plague [https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/plague]

Episode 22: Strange Historical Deaths

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://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-really-happened-during-murder-rasputin-russia-mad-monk-180961572/] https://allthatsinteresting.com/rasputin-penis [https://allthatsinteresting.com/rasputin-penis] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38386172/ [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38386172/] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_II [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_II] https://www.nps.gov/edal/learn/historyculture/people-poefamily.htm [https://www.nps.gov/edal/learn/historyculture/people-poefamily.htm] https://www.nps.gov/articles/poe-death.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://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://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/wernicke-korsakoff-syndrome] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laudanum [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laudanum]

Episode 21: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

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://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/shirtwaist/] https://lithub.com/a-brief-history-of-mass-manufactured-clothing/ [https://lithub.com/a-brief-history-of-mass-manufactured-clothing/] https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-events/triangle-shirtwaist-fire [https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-events/triangle-shirtwaist-fire] https://www.history.com/articles/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/shirtwaist-kings/] https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography-clara-lemlich/ [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://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://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/triangle/#transcript] https://trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu/slides/182.html#screen [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://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://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://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://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.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 [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tammany-Hall] Triangle: Remembering the Fire on HBO

Episode 20: Air Florida Flight 90

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://www.newspapers.com/newspage/626875246/] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Florida [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Florida] https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/accidentreports/reports/aar8208.pdf [https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/accidentreports/reports/aar8208.pdf] https://arlingtonhistorical.com/items/show/164 [https://arlingtonhistorical.com/items/show/164] https://people.com/trained-pilot-survived-1982-potomac-plane-crash-tragedy-exclusive-8783981 [https://people.com/trained-pilot-survived-1982-potomac-plane-crash-tragedy-exclusive-8783981]