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Doomsday: History's Most Dangerous Podcast

Doomsday: History's Most Dangerous Podcast

Written 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 Kaprun Funicular Disaster of 2000 | Episode 102

    The Kaprun Funicular Disaster of 2000 | Episode 102
    Feb 11 2026
    If you think the worst thing that can happen while skiing is trying not to scream while the ski patrol figures out why your leg’s bending that way, we have a lot to teach you about skiing. Spoiler: mountains can cook and kill people. Don’t say this podcast doesn’t teach you things.

    On today’s episode: you will learn why Frankenstein was more graceful on stolen corpse feet than you are in snowboots; you’ll learn why diagonal tunnels basically act as nature’s secret logistical flamethrowers; and we’ll see how a $40 appliance permanently derailed a $30-million-a-year alpine operation and changed European history.

    And if you were listening on Patreon… you would hear about the industrial accident that unearthed the entire history of humanity in Western Europe; you would hear about all the terrible things that happened to the last King of England to die in battle before and after he actually died (spoiler: most of the injuries were after); and if you don’t know the story, we’ll tell you how Dionysus gave Damocles PTSD.

    This is one of those bad day at work/bad holiday episodes where everything that could have helped along the way was too expensive, and the one thing that was supposed to help someone was so cheap, it killed almost everybody. We’re going to learn a lot about just how weird and active fire can be. Most people picture fire like this: Flames burn, heat rises, you step back. That’s fine, if it’s burning in a free and open space. You have no chance of being suffocated by it, and it’s easy to play keep away with. In an open-air fire, heat rises and disperses, oxygen flows in from every which way, and the smoke just carries away on the breeze. In today’s fire, not so much. We will be facing less of a camp fire and more of a blow torch.

    This episode also marks our return to the European Alps, where we will discover an entirely different way of being afraid of mountains, so that’s fun! And as long as we’re learning to be afraid of new things, we’re also going to look at how everything around us, from the things we sit on to the clothes we wear, all break down into vaporized toxins that will absolutely make for not so good think before shutting you off for good. This is also an episode that extends our philosophy that any “vehicle” could double as a coffin, and funicular is a vehicle we’ve never explored before.

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/doomsday-history-s-most-dangerous-podcast--4866335/support.
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    54 mins
  • The Yukon Riverboat Disaster of 1906 | Episode 101

    The Yukon Riverboat Disaster of 1906 | Episode 101
    Jan 20 2026
    The Yukon River is famous for its remoteness and scenic vistas and history, where very little may seem to happen – but in 1906, one man’s lack of situational awareness and fine-motor skills created the greatest, cattle-based pyrotechnics display the world had ever seen. On today’s episode: you will see how miners and prostitutes used to travel in style in the far sub-Arctic North; you will hear about what may be the clumsiest bad-day-at-work episode we’ve ever discussed; and you will find out at what point an incinerating cow flips from piquing your appetite to inducing eye-watering vomit.And if you had been listening on Patreon… you would learn about the most unusual haunted home ever built in the history of human habitation; you would hear how today’s story could be considered more punishing than the Uruguayan Rugby Disaster, the Greeley Arctic Disaster and the Donner Party; and you would hear the debunked tale of a man in full diving gear who became part of a forest fire.I love getting to visit new and exotic places around the globe, but being chained to an office chair ten feet from where I sleep means these stories can be as close as I’ll ever get to visit it, in the theatre of my mind, and I’m unendingly appreciative to listeners who provide the suggestions that let me do that. The Yukon River sits about 4,400 km (about 2,735 miles) from my door, so it’s a little far, but this is our first trip to the Yukon, and I couldn’t have been more excited by it. This absolutely bug-nuts story came courtesy of listener, Jonny Wilkie, a resident, and he inspired me to want to incorporate more minisodes from story suggestions you’ve all supplied that didn’t have enough beef on them to inflate into a full episode, but are just too damn good not to want to share. Also, this came out about 30% shorter than a regular episode, so they’re not-so-minisodes. No matter.I was going to add a cooking segment to today’s story, but opted for the quick and benign details of an open-air BBQ that flambés metric tons of food a lot quicker and grosser than you’d think. I settled for the details of the worst nature hike anyone’s ever attempted on this show. And that includes the students of Wolf Creek and the Uruguayan Rugby Team. Gun safety will play an important role in our story too. I will make the point how a single bullet can cause a lot of harm, and then we’re going to back it up, mark my words.–––––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/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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    38 mins
  • The Mount Hood Field Trip Disaster of 1986 | Episode 100

    The Mount Hood Field Trip Disaster of 1986 | Episode 100
    Jan 8 2026
    You ever go on a field trip at school and every time you look over your shoulder, there’s a teacher or chaperone giving you the stink eye? Well try to imagine a field trip where you look up and all your old relatives are waving you into a tunnel of white light. On today’s very special milestone 100th Episode: you’ll hear about my school trip to a French strip club; you would learn about a man of God who unintentionally brought a flock of young faithful to meet him; and you will see why I believe riding through a tornado would be somehow less frightening and uncomfortable than the rigors of today’s story.And if you had been listening on Patreon… you would learn how a single school trip shaped my entire world view while listening to Chaka Khan; you would hear about some of the worst ways people have finished school trips unexpectedly early; you would learn about the fake US president who died from the largest landslide ever recorded in human history; and you would learn how today’s tragedy could have prevented by simple diarrhea. I mentioned the Oregon Trail earlier in this episode, specifically the Oregon Trail video game from the 80s. It was made as a learning tool about decision making and resource management, but it also teaches that you can do everything right and still die. It’s an important thing to remember, and beyond that, this episode taught me how one very young brush with death became the moment this show was born – I just didn’t know it yet. It’s a long story, and I preserved it for Patreon. For them, I also finished the episode with Chaka Khan’s “I Feel For You”, to let you judge just how much or how little it feels like the jam you would have wanted to die to.I mention two things at the end of the episode. First I wanted to call out Kala and her husband Ben for kind of exercisming things at Funeral Kazoo and looking to do some cool stuff for future of the show. Ben, being a native of the American Northwest, yelled in my face that he wanted an episode from this land we've never visited. I said, Ben, I'll get you your dead children, watch me go – and here we are. I'm never happy when a story involves the death of children, but almost half of the would-be victims bailed with cramps and gas and all sorts of things and unknowingly saved themselves from making today's story worse. The second thing was that I would post a very short video on Patreon for paid and unpaid members to hopefully see grief in a different way. I'm going to encourage you to stop thinking of your life as a straight-line journey from cradle to grave and more like a tree, spinning around the sun every year, growing and maturing and changing from the inside-out. I want you to think about grief like a roadblock you keep having to hurdle, that gets just a little bit easier with every try. Head over the Patreon.com/funeralkazoo, sign up as a free member and give it a try. If it helps, I’m overjoyed. Celebrity guest stars include listener of the show and snowcat un-enthusiast, Jeremy Renner; 33rd president of the United States, Harry Truman; local area moron and head wound collector, Homer Simpson; and 80s dance floor filler, Chaka Khan.–––––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/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.
    Show More Show Less
    53 mins
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