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Doomsday: History's Most Dangerous Podcast

Doomsday: History's Most Dangerous Podcast

By: Brad Choma
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About this listen

 Doomsday is a history lesson that easily disguises itself as a horror story. We explore the most traumatic, bizarre and most awe-inspiring but largely unheard-of disasters from throughout human history and around the world including the science behind every disturbing detail. If you like shipwrecks, decapitations, things that melt, living blankets of insects and people screaming for their lives, Doomsday is the podcast for you.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/doomsday-history-s-most-dangerous-podcast--4866335/support.@ 2023 Doomsday Podcast Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • The Texas City Disaster of 1947 | Episode 107

    The Texas City Disaster of 1947 | Episode 107
    Apr 27 2026
    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/5fnbumdwSpotify : https://tinyurl.com/73tb3uuwIHeartRadio : https://tinyurl.com/vwczpv5jPodchaser : https://tinyurl.com/263kda6wStitcher : https://tinyurl.com/mcyxt6vwGoogle : https://tinyurl.com/3fjfxattSpreaker : https://tinyurl.com/fm5y22suRadioPublic : https://tinyurl.com/w67b4kecPocketCasts. : https://pca.st/ef1165v3CastBox : https://tinyurl.com/4xjpptdrBreaker. : https://tinyurl.com/4cbpfaytDeezer. : https://tinyurl.com/5nmexvwt Follow us on the socials for more Facebook : www.facebook.com/doomsdaypodcastInstagram : www.instagram.com/doomsdaypodcastTwitter : www.twitter.com/doomsdaypodcastTikTok : https://www.tiktok.com/@doomsday.the.podcastSafety google off. We'll talk soon. And thanks for listening. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/doomsday-history-s-most-dangerous-podcast--4866335/support.
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    48 mins
  • The Kursk Submarine Disaster of 2000 | Episode 106

    The Kursk Submarine Disaster of 2000 | Episode 106
    Apr 8 2026
    I believe the most frightening vehicle to travel from point A to point B in would be a submarine – and I am including cable cars, and rocket sleds, and tightropes, and wingsuits, and early diving bells, and high-altitude balloon gondolas, and luge sleds, and the kind of fixed-wing plane where you have to walk on the wing, and human cannonballing, and ziplining over a volcano in that analysis. Let’s see if today’s story changes my mind.On today’s episode: you will learn why the history of victory in human warfare favours how much you resemble your own anus; you will to understand how your brain actually craps itself worse than your bowels when confronted with something enormous approaches unseen from underwater; and if you ever had a particularly bad day at work and felt really underserved by your employers desire or ability to do anything about it, this episode is doing that thing where it points back-and-forth between you and itself and nodding strongly. And if you were listening on Patreon… you would learn why the first recorded military submarine mission sounded like bad porno; you would see why life in a confined space can get you full-body duct taped to a chair with a gag in your mouth; and you would hear cautionary and sobering observations about the aromatic and claustrophobic life of a fellow listener who spent years in the silent service.I’m going to have you imagining everything from what a Roman solider would have thought watching a tank shell remove your co-workers head, to what it feels like to be slowly pulled into the spinning blades of a submarine, to the experience of free-balling it from the sea floor to the surface in a pressure suit which is said to be one of the most frightening emergency procedures in the world. I spend no small amount of time figuring out new and terrible ways for you to experience fear in a vehicle. There’s just something about going through a horror when you’re trapped in a moving conveyance that doesn’t obey or respond to your panic. I think a submarine is a perfect example, considering if you pull over and try to get out, everyone on board dies terribly. That said, it was my sincere pleasure to be able to bring this story to you today. It straddles the line between bad-day-at-work episodes and my-boss-sucks episodes.–––––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/5fnbumdwSpotify : https://tinyurl.com/73tb3uuwIHeartRadio : https://tinyurl.com/vwczpv5jPodchaser : https://tinyurl.com/263kda6wStitcher : https://tinyurl.com/mcyxt6vwGoogle : https://tinyurl.com/3fjfxattSpreaker : https://tinyurl.com/fm5y22suRadioPublic : https://tinyurl.com/w67b4kecPocketCasts. : https://pca.st/ef1165v3CastBox : https://tinyurl.com/4xjpptdrBreaker. : https://tinyurl.com/4cbpfaytDeezer. : https://tinyurl.com/5nmexvwt Follow us on the socials for more Facebook : www.facebook.com/doomsdaypodcastInstagram : www.instagram.com/doomsdaypodcastTwitter : www.twitter.com/doomsdaypodcastTikTok : https://www.tiktok.com/@doomsday.the.podcastSafety google off. We'll talk soon. And thanks for listening. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/doomsday-history-s-most-dangerous-podcast--4866335/support.
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    52 mins
  • The Carrington Geomagnetic Superstorm of 1859 | Episode 105

    The Carrington Geomagnetic Superstorm of 1859 | Episode 105
    Mar 25 2026
    I do love a story where almost no one dies, but if you’ve listened to this show long enough, you know I also really do enjoy a bad day at work episodes where the opposite is true. In today’s story, no one dies. That said, some people are going to lose their hair and have their fingers soldered or arc-welded together at work. On today’s episode: you will see how the simple act of going blabbity blah turned the most physically unimpressive animal on Earth into its most dangerous one; you’ll learn why I’m calling the scariest thing the sun will ever do to us – “Big Girl Summer”; and we’ll figure out why if today’s story ever repeats itself, we’ll all be discussing axes and hockey pads and squirrel recipes.And if you were listening on Patreon… you would hear how the early telegraph basically worked like He-Man’s sword and transformed jackasses into a-holes; you would learn just how bad every planet in the solar system wants you dead, and how they’d do it; and you would hear how today’s story plus Frankenstein plus NYC con artists directly led to the creation of all modern science fiction.Apparently, we’re experiencing a powerful solar storm as I type this, so this episode could not have come at a better time. I’ll calm you by saying no one dies in this episode – but today’s story covers an event at a time in history when people barely understood soap, and if and when it happens again in the modern age, we will all be scavenging the waste lands for non-perishable food and hockey pads. I was going to include a recipe for squirrel, but decided against it. I hope you guys like it. I promise the next episode will have all kinds of blood and limbs and horror. No one dies in today's story, but some people do get badly burned, a scientist gets metaphorically burned by history, and by the end of our story, the “hero” of our story will switch from visions of grandeur, to homicide, to retirement. Long story short, more than a few people will get screwed in this episode. Some literally, some figuratively. ––––– 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 (I’m truly sorry about those ads, they're not in my control) 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 : https://tinyurl.com/3fjfxatt Spreaker : https://tinyurl.com/fm5y22su RadioPublic : https://tinyurl.com/w67b4kec PocketCasts. : https://pca.st/ef1165v3 CastBox : https://tinyurl.com/4xjpptdr Breaker. : https://tinyurl.com/4cbpfayt Deezer. : https://tinyurl.com/5nmexvwt Follow us on the socials for more Facebook : www.facebook.com/doomsdaypodcast Instagram : www.instagram.com/doomsdaypodcast Twitter : www.twitter.com/doomsdaypodcast TikTok : https://www.tiktok.com/@doomsday.the.podcastSafety google off. We'll talk soon. And thanks for listening. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/doomsday-history-s-most-dangerous-podcast--4866335/support.
    Show More Show Less
    50 mins
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