The Knox Mine Disaster | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Вставка
- Опубліковано 25 лип 2024
- "On the 22nd of January, 1959, deep under the frozen Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, the roof of a tunnel in the River Slope Mine collapsed..."
As always, THANK YOU to all my Patreon patrons: you make this channel possible.
/ fascinatinghorror
SOCIAL MEDIA:
► Twitter: / truehorrortales
► TikTok: / fascinatinghorror
► Suggestions: hello@fascinatinghorror.co.uk
CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro
00:34 - Background
04:12 - The Knox Mine Disaster
06:20 - The Aftermath
MUSIC:
► "Glass Pond" by Public Memory
► "Underworld" by Myuu
SOURCES:
► "Amedeo Pancotti" published by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. Link: www.carnegiehero.org/hero-sea....
► "Death Underground: The Knox Mine Disaster" by Lauren Berger, published by Pennsylvania Center For The Book, 2009. Link: pabook.libraries.psu.edu/lite....
► "Pittston and the End of Coal Mining" published by Pittston City. Link: www.pittstoncity.org/pittston....
► "The Knox Mine Disaster left 12 men dead and an economy in ruins" by Michael Rubinkam, published by The Philidelphia Inquirer, January 2009. Link: www.inquirer.com/philly/news/....
► "The Knox Mine Disaster" by Robert Wolensky, Kenneth Wolensky, and Nicole Wolensky, published by Penn State University Press, 1999. Link: www.psupress.org/books/titles....
#Documentary #History #TrueStories
It seems like every disaster starts right after someone decides to disregard a safety feature.
Ikr, there’s a reason for the safety features being there
Rules are written in blood.
All OH&S is written in blood.
@@Missconduct044 beat me to it
Yeah.
Its as if safety guidelines are there for a reason.
It amazes me every time how these companies get away with negligence and unpaid restitution to the victims and their families.
Hello. I like money.
It's infuriating. Many times, it seems those who can afford to pay for their crimes never do.
@@Satellite_Of_Love
Judge: “Mr. Burns, this court fines you $3 million!”
Mr. Burns: “Smithers, my wallet is in the car! Oh, and I’ll take that statue of justice, as well!”
Judge: “SOLD!”
@@Satellite_Of_Love Yup, even when found guilty in a court of law 🤷🏾♀️.
The law exists, and always has existed, for the benefit of corporations and the wealthy. All of us little people are an irrelevant annoyance to be tolerated in the name of profits. And they successfully convinced the people that the laws were for them.
The start to all true industrial horror stories: "As the companies became more desperate to survive, they looked to save money where they could." It never fails. When businesses cut corners and ignore regulations, this is where catastrophe happens. I can't think of a more terrifying situation than being in an enclosed mine when the ceiling ruptures and a river begins emptying into it. Great video as always.
#capitalism
please listen to Pete Seeger's rendition of The Bells Of Rhymney, the best protest song about the viciously cruel business of coal mining. it was written by Idrys Davies about mining in Wales and the utter lawlessness of the coal mining business
So true and not entirely blaming the companies.
I always wonder what would happen if workers were given a 10% pay increase and asked to pay for their own health and safety, how much of the pay increase (if any) they would contribute.
@@wilsjane That would likely depend on whether they were being paid a living wage to begin with, and whether future raises were assured.
If you pay people near poverty wages, then offer them a few more an hour but say "you're responsible for all your own safety equipment"it's almost a guarantee that many of them will not spend adequately on their own safety. Anyone who has lived in poverty knows that.
It is very human and predictable that a man might skimp on his own safety in order to buy his kids winter coats that year, or pay off a crushing debt that's been accruing interest.
Hell,simply working in a coal mine was already gambling with your life and health in order to meet your family's most basic needs in a region where few other jobs existed.
Of course, all that is an aside here. Safety in a coal mine largely has to be managed from the top down, its not a simple matter of a hard hat and a good respirator. This is not yet another thing that extreme fiscal conservatives in government and management can simply offload onto the working and lower middle classes, the way they did when they replaced pensions with 401k's.
@@wilsjane Right, it's not black-and-white. People are often completely willing to do their job in a risky fashion just out of pure laziness. Some people will do a lot of crazy things when provided some real incentive.
Thank you for making this video. My uncle was one of the men who lost their lives in this accident. My dad would tell me this story a few times over the years.
RIP to all the men who lost their lives.
I am so sorry for your loss. Tough work, can’t imagine how they did it year after year.
I live in the "Coal Region of PA and never heard of this disaster. There are many abandon mines left here. You can tour the Pioneer Tunnel in Ashland, which I did a few yrs ago. You really get an errie feeling down there and also a great appreciation for those that worked in the mines.
Absolutely horrible. Sorry for your family's loss.
Hopefully your brave uncle and his friends are in heaven now.
JP Videos did a video on this story as well. There is a plake with the men who were lost on it.
Your uncles has not been forgotten. My condolences to you and your family. 🙇
I'm sorry for your loss.
Honestly, I’m surprised only 12 men died in this accident.
Given how bad older mine incidents can be, and given the severity of this one in particular.
Having a majority of the miners survive is a miracle.
A factor which helped: a lot of the mines in the region were interconnected allowing more routes than would typically be present.
@@DanielleWhite
Yeah, the two large escape groups showed this aspect well.
You know what would've been more of a miracle? If nothing this tragic ever happened in the first place
@@Viking_Luchador rlly?? i thought tragedies were a good thing 🙄
@@Viking_Luchador And even more of a miracle- if all those men were wealthy and never had to mine in the first place...Some of us appreciate and acknowledge miracles no matter how small they may seem to others.
I absolutely love how no tragedy is too small for this channel. Every tragedy is treated as it should be, with the upmost respect and honor to the victims. And low-key shaming the people who were responsible
Take a look at the Australian (Tasmanian) Beaconsfield mine collapse in 2006. Two men survived trapped for two weeks before a successful rescue. An amazing story which gripped the nation.
I remember racing home from school every day for those weeks to find out what happened to the Beaconsfield miners, was so happy to see them rescued live. I remember people got upset because the survivors asked for chips and gravy when they were stuck and were denied, I did too, give the poor bastards some gravy chips 😂
I heard of that one here in the US 😮
How did I not hear about this?? I even lived in Tassie in 2003.
Thanks man I will check it out and if your looking for a crazy story you should out Patrick McKenna emperor of death row watch that it's top 3 craziest wildest 100% true story
I guess being in Australia counts as an extra degree of difficulty
"The stop line was 50 feet from the river-bed." Okay, sounds reasonable!
"A union deal was made that allowed them to mine within 35 feet." Oof, okay, but that's not so bad, I'm sure a surveyor okayed--
"They were actually mining 19 *inches* from the river bed." ...nope, the boss-men (union and boardroom both) were definitely not listening to their surveyors. 😔 Tale as old as time...
Exactly!! I said the same thing in a way. Even though the company "allowed" them to dig that close, the men that were digging should have known that 19" is absolutely too thin of a barrier between them and millions of tons of water!!! I'm not saying they deserved it but just cuz your mum says you can go play in the street, there's a part of your brain that tells you "that's not a smart choice!". How can you have a "stop line" of 50' and then push the limit to 19"!!?!!! That's just insanity. They are accountable as the company. Not saying they deserved it but C'MON!!! A bit of sense goes A LONG WAY!!!!
Just tragic - push the safety boundaries for greed, and pay the cost in lives lost.
This!!!!!
I have burn scars over a large part of the left side of my body caused when the union (UAW in this case) gets in bed with the company they are supposed to be protecting us from. Unless you have had it happen, no one can understand the searing pain molten aluminum can cause. The company knew the machines weren't working right but they wanted as much production as they could get in retaliation to a union strike right after the plant opened. Safety switches were tied back and the timing tables that controlled the die casting machines were sped up. OSHA had always managed to let the company know when a "surprise inspection" was going to happen so machines that were not safe were put on "maintenance' or "die changeovers" until the inspectors left. Then the offending machines would be started right back up. It was one of those machines that malfunctioned and sprayed me with molten aluminum. The bastards actually had the balls to demand I come back to work the next day and the union stood by with their heads up their anal cavities and watched as I was put into the boiler room because I refused to go back on my machine until I had healed. One of the even sadder aspects to what happened to me was while I was in the hospital getting my bandages changed the next day, the lady that relieved me was brought in with a crushed hand. The SOB's had not even cleaned the overspray off of the timing table of my machine and it slammed shut on her hand, crushing it. A few months ago I actually drove back out to that place and had the great satisfaction of seeing everything boarded up and abandoned. To this day of you mention anything to do with unions around me you'd best be damned fast on your feet because what I may do will not be fun for you!
@@richardcline1337 The best case AGAINST unions is being a PART OF ONE. The most disgusting outright SCAMS ever made. Useless old fogeys sitting at the top with a total lack of PROPER experience demanding that all the NEW members go through all the fancy training that THEY THEMSELVES COULDN'T PASS IF THEIR CAREERS DEPENDED ON IT. (Which they are never required to do because they all have convenient "grandfather clauses" that say their decades of doing things WRONG is good enough.)
Makes me wish they had all been beaten to death back during their founding years.
Reminds me of the eight miners trapped in the Burkina Faso zinc mine just a month ago. The rescue efforts took three weeks (they were actually delayed by a while, a rescue wasn’t started until families protested and did a sit-in to demand action) but they weren’t able to find anyone alive, I believe they’re still trying to recover the bodies. It’s a truly horrific situation, I really feel for the families that just had to wait and hope that their loved ones returned. I hope the people responsible are actually held accountable this time and the families can receive some kind of closure
(inhale) Three *weeks?!?* I could understand needing a couple *days* to break down the nature of a mine collapse and assemble a few skilled geotechnical engineers to help determine the best way in which to open possible escape routes, but nearly an entire goddamn MONTH? That's not just laziness, that's intentional homicide! Every single person dragging their feet on that timeline oughta be charged with murder for that. There's a good chance a number of those miners had survived the initial collapse but either starved or suffocated within the week. Homicide. Blatant homicide, I tell ya.
#capitalism
Sadly, it took the lives of twelve men & left their families without a husband, father, son, brother & so on to raise awareness. I am sorry for those left behind who love & miss them everyday.
They will never be forgotten.
My great grandfather was in a mine collapse in Exeter, PA in 1926. They were able to get him out but he was mostly crushed and didn't survive. I've never been but I believe you can go to the spot of this collapse and they have a memorial.
Condolences to you and your family. Your grandfather and his friends worked very hard under those awful condishtions. You know they loved their families very much to do what they did for their familys or to just surport themselves. 🙇
@@ghostcityshelton9378 thanks! Agreed those guys went through hell. Have to appreciate the time we live in.
My grandfather's uncle worked in a mine in Horning, PA, south of Pittsburgh. He happened to be away from the mine when an explosion occurred that killed somewhere between a dozen or two dozen men. When he heard about the disaster he hurried back to the mine to participate in the rescue operation.
If you are referring to the spot of the Knox mine collapse that is correct, you can get to the spot. There's a stone memorial along the rail trail by the river. I was there about ten years ago and you could still see remnants of the rail cars sticking out of the river bank.
@@jb-zi7cj actually yes. It was the Exeter Colliery of the Lehigh valley coal company. This was almost 100 years ago now. It can be totally buried by today I have no idea. I've never been there. I just heard stories about it from my dad. I actually found the news article and death certificate of it on Ancestry.
I am from the Ruhrgebiet (Ruhr area), a famous german coal mining area, and coal mines always fascinated me. The narrow tunnels, heavy, cold air and feeling of pressure always was something else for me. This always came with a slight sense of fear the shafts might collapse, but it was exciting at the same time. As far as I know we had some major accidents here, but a larger number of smaller ones but coal mining and heavy industry was the driving economy back in the days, so they didn't change much regarding safety and regulations.
Although every mine is shut down at this point, you can still visit some as they were turned into museums. If you ever find yourself in germany, pay them a visit. It is beyond fascinating.
Perhaps you could even feature one of the major ones in german mining history? There are a few that killed more than 100 people in the late 19th and early 20th century
Anyways, I love your content. Keep up the great work!
The industrial heritage sites in the Ruhrgebiet are definitely worth a visit. I’ve been to the Zollverein UNESCO site and Zeche Zollern in Lütgendortmund 2 years ago just before COVID, and it was fascinating to see all that machinery was still standing there. I remember standing on top of one of those coal silos and looking around the area. You can see countless old factories, refineries and mines dotting the landscape. I wonder what it looked and sounded like when the mining business was still active there!
Thanks for the tip Otto, my best friend lives in a small village 15 kilometers from Frankfurt. I’m hoping for a return visit to stay with him next summer. Are there any mines close to the Frankfurt area you’d recommend?
they are still mining braun coal there arent they.
Ruhrgebiet native coming from a mining family here!
There were se severe accidents, my great grandfather was incredibly lucky to survive a mine collapse. He had to stay at the hospital for 8 months (which meant little to no income) and he had to live with a partially cut off nose and his face halfway stained black due to dirt and dust infecting the wound for the rest of his life.
Incredibly enough, he lived up to 80 years
I was born and bred in the Ruhrpott, but live abroad now, so it's nice to see some people from my region online
Of course no one faced jail time for these lives lost so carelessly! Coal mining companies had so much of the legal system in their pockets back then.
Same goes for the fossil fuel industries now.
Tax evasion will get you every time though.
@@dawnstorm9768 it did, yes thankfully- but I would rather have seen them with manslaughter charges on their records, as that’s what they committed.
I’m not going to dig up the legal research but the “overturned on appeal” is extremely sus…much simpler to corrupt a sitting judge than a jury trial.
@@TheZackofSpades very true. Unfortunately back then many judges were in the pockets of those mining companies as they were big business. Legal system is still very much the same today- just different industries.
I live 25 minutes from the site of the Knox Mine Disaster. My dad who lived down the street when it happened told me stories about the effort to plug the hole. He’s also said that when the water is low you can still see some of the train cars used to plug the hole. Great video as always
I have goosebumps just imagining what those train cars must look like, that's incredible!
I spent some time up in Wilkes Barre for a comedy show several years ago (I live in the southeast, not too far from Philly), during the visit on our spare time, a friend of mine and I decided to check out a cemetery where there was an old fan house from the mine along the outskirts of it. Had I known at the time what it was, perhaps I might have taken a few more pictures than I did. Once I got home and did some research, I learned about this disaster. After learning about it, I heard there were still remnants of those old cars you're referring to alongside the river. I wish I had known beforehand, I would have looked for them.
Any relation to Lee Strubeck?
Mining is scary. The oppressive dark and sense of being entombed, the heavy stale air and risk of suffocation and poisoning from noxious gases. West Yorkshire (where I live) used to be a major mining area and the hills on which my neighbourhood stands are riddled with abandoned and lost mine workings. I once went into a mine near Wakefield which has been preserved as a museum and whilst it was fascinating, I couldn't imagine spending most of my life down there. Huge respect for miners who were very shoddily treated by the British Government on numerous occasions (culminating of course in the 1984 strike that pretty much resulted in the destruction of the industry and accompanying way of life.)
To be fair, probably a net positive for the world that the industry started to die off - unimaginable human suffering with the goal of extracting a fossil fuel? That belongs in the past. Not that it came about in any altruistic way, of course. May the soil lie crushingly heavy upon Maggie.
@@alastormedial I was in a pub after Thatcher died and this guy was going on about wanting to pee on her grave. My mad mate Mike went beserk shouting 'you can't do that'!!!! Then he explained 'you will make it too slippy for dancing'. Yeah I'm from a mining community (Staffordshire).
@@alastormedial I've heard of one conspiracy theory among global warming-deniers that the "hoax" was actually created by Thatcher to doubly screw the striking miners. Which is extremely ironic if you think about it.
In his "Notes From a Small Island", Bill Bryson, while visiting the museum at Ashington near Newcastle, notes that just about every mining community had at least one major disaster (Ashington's was in 1916, when an explosion killed 13 people; as usual, the owners were let off with just a finger-wagging).
I heard about a yorkshire mine where one hazard was sheep, openings up to t surface would occur & curious sheep could get too close & fall in, fortunately only minor injuries were ever suffered by miners....or sheep
The death chart visual is incredibly useful for understanding here. I can't stop thinking about the story that must be there for that smaller group of miners. Half heard a concerning safety thing and heeded the warning, probably well understanding why their co-workers decided to remain. Within a very short time those co-workers were gone, and, whatever the living miners make of that it's a lot of truth to carry around for the rest of their lives.
The death chart brings out that the responses of these men to absolute disaster saved the majority of them - even with utterly lacking safety, they were strategic about mine safety, which speaks to professional know-how and a heck of a lot, humanly speaking. It's frustrating because, as woefully unprotected as these people were on all sides, it seems like many of them, living and dead could have done a better job of mine safety than everyone above them did.
Here here, the infographic really brings it home and gives those that died more of a name so to speak.
We had the Coalbrook mine disaster in South Africa 🇿🇦 that was quite disastrous. 437 people died when 900 pillars caved in, almost 180 metres underground.
What a huge number of victims. How awful.
Such tragedy.
Reminds me of the 1959 mining disaster in which 47 died, at Auchengeich by my home village near Glasgow. Used to play in abandoned shaft entrances a a child in early 70’s. Dont know how much archive material exists, but I would just love it to get the Fascinating Horror treatment some day🙏
As a Pennsylvanian, I have to give you props for pronouncing Susquehanna properly.
the real killer in PA is Schuylkill River in Philly. I just say its like Google but with an Sk instead of a G at the beginning
I'd like to hear him tackle Monongahela or Youghiogheny.
@@jamesmull8579 Oh, everyone knows it's Mon City, lol!!!! Let him pronounce Charleroi where i live, lol
@@mattcat231 oh I know Charleroi. I work in Donora.
Try pronouncing "Tchoutacabouffa" (a river in Mississippi).
Absolutely addicted to your videos mate. Keep up the amazing work!
Hi there
He is just brilliant.
Oooh...I wanna get a check mark too so that I can promote other people's channels and be seen as one of the top comments!
They need more gore
And you too!
Man all old mines are horrifying. The actual conditions and dangers these guys worked in is insane. Respects from 🇨🇦
I agree.
I used to live in an old coal miner's house and could see the location where this happened right out of my window! I didn't know what horrors laid under that riverbed until many years after living there.
I concur on the tragedy of mining disasters. My local graveyards are full of their victims. RIP Aberfan 1966👍
Aberfan was horrific. May they all RIP. And the bastards who ignored the safety protocols, well I hope they get their just punishment
This reminds me a little bit of the Pike River Mine disaster here in New Zealand. Absolutely tragic. Love the videos! Keep it up
Every disaster reminds someone of another disaster.
Greymouth ae?
@@footrot17 No ea (I'm trying to make "featured comment" here)
New Zealand does have an unproportionate amount of tragedies and disasters for their small population.
I found an old abandoned mine near the north cap of the southern island in NZ and almost impaled myself on the broken rails because a waterfall was going through said abandoned mine shaft and ripped away my footing.
I had clung onto the rusty railing and managed to stop my fall just before I was about to hit a broken off part of the rail that looked like a tetanus infested rusty spear.
Shit made me realise that I won't ever step another step into a cave be it for a job or just fun.
I later found out that this mine was also closed due to the deaths of 2 men in the early 60s who got squashed by their mine cart lift malfunctioning.
Weird stories you hear in NZ especially caving stories.
@@PuddingXXL reckless proportioning nonetheless.
That's so messed up that the motivation to plug the hole and pump the mine was solely to try and continue mining the same spot
How is trying to save 7500 jobs "messed up"?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Gah I’m so glad you done this one. I’ve watched videos about the Knox mine for years. One of the craziest mine collapses I’ve ever seen
I grew up in West Pittston which borders the susquehanna river where this happened. They never fully stopped the flow of the water; to this day you can see a small whirlpool where water makes its way into this shaft. Unfortunately water flowing through coal mines and feeding into the river have heavily polluted the Susquehanna river. Coal mining has left a lasting, and mostly negative legacy in Pennsylvania.
I lived a short way from where Knox mine disaster happened, you can still see a old railway car that they used to plug the hole that floated down river and rusted away. Amazing video, thanks for covering this!
My family and I are from the Wyoming Valley in PA. When my mother was a young girl, her great-uncle took her to the site to watch the railcars being sent down the mine to try to block the river's flow. She did not understand the magnitude of the disaster at the time, but her uncle did. He and his two brothers worked in the mines in Plymouth since they were the age of eight or nine as breaker boys. His one brother was killed in a mine accident in 1948/49. His other brother died of "black lung" in the mid 1950s. Many of the stories about how miners were treated and the poor work conditions were true, and I have heard many over the years. If it was not for coal miners, this country would not be where it is today, and that is why many defendants are very proud of their heritage.
You should really do one about the Farmington mine disaster. There’s many good stories on UA-cam from that disaster. They sealed the mine with 70+ men still inside. A year later they went back and un sealed the mine and ran a miner threw the rock falls looking for the missing men. They ended up finding quiet a few but eventually sealed the mine again entombing several men for ever.
Holy shit that's grim
I’m guessing there was something of an “Alive” situation for food? Sealing the mine for a year sounds bonkers if they expected anyone to come out of that without resorting to cannibalism
@@RobotacularRoBob stupid comment. they would have died long before their need for food
@@RobotacularRoBob they took air samples which showed the mine couldn't sustain human life, the miners inside were almost certainly dead already.
@@RobotacularRoBob They were dead. They were looking for the bodies when they unsealed the mine and they knew that. The OP is a little misleading.
My grandpa was a miner in WV and western Pennsylvania from 1918 to 1979. He told me countless stories of cave ins and deaths from noxious gasses. He was a modern medical miracle with black lung, smoking a pipe until he died in 2002 at the age of 97. He was born in 1905 and started at the age of 14. I will never forget the stories of death and he survived the Pitt son mine cave in
Imagine 14 years olds working in mines now. They're phone's wouldn't get reception.
There’s a really interesting movie called Harlan USA. The wages paid and dangers faced were really brought to life. This episode is a great reminder of how the safety rules get ignored and corporations never pay a price.
I love these episodes. They are so well done. One of our towns Centralia is an episode in this series. There are still I think maybe 2-3 families living there. Watch the episode. I’ve read up on this place. Read the stories after the fire. Very interesting.
This one happened about 3 miles from where I grew up. I used to walk by the historical marker all the time.
👍🏻
I live in Old Forge.
Excellent video. Many of my ancestors spent their lives working in Pennsylvania coal mines. That you for highlighting their story.
I lived very near to this area and was only five years old when the incident occurred. My parents must have watched a lot of the local TV news coverage because, while at the time I was too young for any of the serious matters to sink in, overhearing the coverage did leave a strong impression. I had nightmares about a strange, dreamworld recreation of hundreds of train cars and locomotives being thrown down a vast hole in the ground. It was a recurring nightmare all through childhood that left a very disquieting aura after waking up. As I got older, I forgot about the dream and did not discover what it was about until, as a 56 year old adult in 2011, I read a historical account of the Knox Mine Disaster on the internet having occurred only a stone's throw up the road from my childhood home! The meaning of the dream immediately clicked.
This channel is criminally underrated, fantastic content as always
How tragic that after all the often violent turmoil earlier that century involving miners’ unions and management to improve work conditions, this mine ended up a corrupt union rep essentially on the owners payroll. I wonder, were the people actually down in the mine aware of just how absolutely insanely close to the river bed they were digging?
You should talk about the Cazier wood accident (1956), it is not very well known outside Belgium. And this could make a good video .
Living less than 20 minutes from the site of the disaster, as well as learning about it from the Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour really hits home. My great grandfather, as well as great uncles had worked in the mines, some right under where I used to live, and suffered terrible fates from it. I don’t believe anyone I was related to perished in the disaster, but I do know that they knew the men. You know, when you hear about these disasters, you can usually disconnect from them reasonably. But, when it’s something that’s surrounded you for your whole life, it really, honestly makes you think.
2 million gallons per second is more than 265,000 cubic feet per second. That is an incomprehensibly huge amount of flow
That's alot of water
Now multiply that by 3 days before the hole was plugged 😳
That’s a big mine or a bloody big hole!
@@doctorjohnsmithchloecharlo6711 518.4 billion gallons in 3 days, if my math is correct?
@@Aaron_Hanson In Australia when we measure incomprehensible volumes we use Sydharbs (the capacity of Sydney Harbour) 1 Sydharb is 132 billion US gallons (500 gigalitres) so this amount is truly enormous and hard to comprehend even compared to a body of water we all know well.
@@marvindebot3264 I too am Australian so having you comparing this volume of water to Sydney harbour tells me that indeed it’s an unfathomable amount of H2O 😳
It’s been quite sometime since I’ve heard of this disaster. I always enjoy the content you put out. Keep up the great work good sir!
Your accent makes the videos so much better.
I grew up in Carbondale, my brother and I would walk to the back of the breaker and you could see the steam still coming from some of the shafts with holes. They leveled it a few years ago and I’ve moved since (to Pittston, and 2 other places now) then but the coal mines were always something talked about in town. Went on a field trip in the 4th grade and was amazed at the hardships they faced but had to keep pushing to feed their families.
If you want to watch another video on this event, Plainly Difficult covered this a while back. I enjoy seeing the similarities and differences in FH and PD videos
I was wondering why this story was so familiar. I must of watched the PD video as well!
Yes I saw that one too. Different creators bring different aspects to the forefront or just have a different presentation.
The house I grew up in was about 15 minutes from there. No one even knows how many mines there are under this area. You can still find old poorly capped mines and go down pretty deep in them. Some of the old timers used to dig coal out of their backyards if they were lucky enough. Hell, my friend still has a coal heater in his house. The Walmart in Taylor actually struck some coal while building and delayed construction while they mined it.
I'm live near Scranton PA. My mother's father died in a coal mine collapse in Pittston/exeter PA. Amazing what those men did for a living. (As immigrants, some not speaking English, did they have much of a choice?
Being a Pennsylvania native, it was neat to see the Susquehanna River featured in one of your videos! Never heard of this tragedy before. You should look into the Johnstown Flood of 1889. It's another tragic event in Pennsylvanian history. A dam used to hold water for a manmade lake used by the industrial elite was poorly built and maintained and it broke, flooding Johnstown and killing thousands of people.
Interesting stuff. Originally from the UK and now reside in Pennsylvania. Very hardy people here. Get on with things with little fuss, very self sufficient. Respect that.
Awesome video. I love how respectful you are when making these. And you always make sure to lets everyone know what was learned and how we went about making sure it doesn't happen again. TY.
My dad was born on that exact day and year
While he was being born others were dying
Thats true for all of us to hear about specific events is different
At least the supervisor called for an evacuation immediately! That almost never happens
One of the most gripping tales of a mining disaster I've ever read is a book called "The Buffalo Creek Disaster". It was written by Gerald Stern, the attorney who litigated the case. My college roommate had to read it for one of his classes, but he procrastinated. I asked if I could read it since he wasn't, and I was thinking "It was written by a lawyer, so. it will be boring. I will just read a few pages and put it down when I get bored."
I NEVER got bored! I couldn't put it down. Missed some meals and lost some sleep, but I finished it in 2 days. When my roommate started reading it, he also couldn't put it down and finished very quickly. A fascinating account, with a good ending. True story too.
My grandson-in-law works in a coal mine in Utah. I'm thankful he doesn't have to go down underground. He's a surface mechanic. But he has lots of friends that DO go underground there. We are acutely aware of the many coal mine disasters that have occurred in the past, and saddened that the majority of safety improvements over the years have come at the expense of many lives lost. As they say in many industries, 'Safety rules have been written in blood'.
Growing up in PA, I always heard that anthracite used to be huge, but I never really knew that this one incident was a major part of its downfall. Nor did I expect that one of my favorite UA-cam creators would teach me an important lesson about my home state. Excellent work!
(And you almost got "Susquehanna" right! It's sus-qua-Hannah.)
48cm!!!!! GASP 😳
I was just about to say how terrifyingly close to the river 10 metres was, and then you said 48 freaking centimetres.
That’s only just slightly wider than a standard issue school ruler!!!
GASP again 😳
Yikes! 😨
Utter and complete insanity.
Thank you so much for taking the Patreon suggestion for this. You always do the stories justice, with respect too. You’re the best! Love this channel so much
Thank you Fascinating Horror! Best channel about tragic stories on UA-cam. I'm amazed at things you find to do videos on.
I'm claustrophobic - there is NO way I'd cope being in a mine when there was a collapse & I knew I didn't have a quick, safe exit available! How very frightening for the miners!
Yep, won't catch me underground.
I am not claustrophobic but you would never catch me in a tight spot like a mine. I'd rather die.
Wait long enough, and a Fascinating Horror will cover your hometown.
That would be the Amazon Warehouse Tornado for me. Not exactly my hometown, but I do get to see it on my way to work.
My great uncle worked in this mine when this happened. An incident he would not talk about, but grandmother remembers it vividly, describing the trees, mine cars, and other debris flowing into the hole.
I lived in Wilkes Barre and Pittston PA years ago, I was told many stories about this mine collapse. I was also told how massive the mines were as well, apparently you could go from downtown Wilkes Barre all the way to downtown Scranton (~20 miles) all on foot underground. They didn't stop people from going into them either. My friend's wife even told me that she had seen them dump the train cars into the hole, people from miles around gathered to see what happened.
Excellent a new video to listen as I fall asleep. It is because of the calm voice and something that I enjoy to drift into Sandman land.
I remember hearing the stories about the town of Centralia, Pennsylvania and their underground coal mine fire that still burns to this day.
There's a video about it on this channel if anyone's interested!
Thank you for showing a story from my hometown. My husband took me to the local office of the PA Department of Environmental Protection. I saw the photos from underground after the water levels receded. Those rail cars that were dumped in an attempt to “plug the hole” were twisted like tin foil. Unbelievable. The entire mine field under the area was completely flooded, that’s why mining in the area came to a halt. RIP to the miners.
I'm quite happy for you and your channel. I was there towards the beginning and it's nice to see that you're garnering such a following. Also an impressive way you've stayed on course as far as narration, story, format. Your first video is just like this format.
I grew up here... thanks for covering this!
There was an unusual disaster involving a mine, on 20 November 1980, at Lake Peigneur, Louisiana, USA, an Texaco exploration rig searching for oil, mistakenly drilled into the Diamond Crystal salt mine, causing the lake to drain into the mine, resulting in a whirlpool, incredibly, all miners managed to get out, due to well rehearsed evacuation drills. There is footage of the Lake Peigneur disaster, as the lake drained down the maelstrom, even sucking down some of the land too, it's indeed fascinating horror.
Such a video is here on YT somewhere. I watched it recently, but I can't remember who uploaded it.
I've seen that on Engineering Disasters on the Science Channel. I hope FH covers it someday.
0.50 what a fantastic photograph, all those people, trains and then 2 people shaking hands.
Awesome image, thanks for sharing this video with me, much appreciated 🙂❤️🐿
Having lived in the area my whole life, it's always wild to see my neck of the woods in videos like this. Thanks for another great doc @Fascinating Horror
My great great grandpa was a Pennsylvania coal miner in the 1800s. He tried to unionize the workers way back then and got killed for his trouble. Not a fan of corrupt and greedy mine owners
Glad you're telling his story. It's important. Terrible how greedy people can cause so much pain.
Thank you for taking my suggestion!
Being from Pennsylvania and fishing that river right there ...Is crazy... they never recovered the 12 guys and they were right under my feet .
✌👽👍
I was a caretaker for my friends grandpa, he worked as an engineer in the PA mines. He would tell me stories about the mines daily. He had a documentary about this disaster on VHS that we watched together. The film footage of the hole and the train cars being dumped into it was absolutely terrifying, car after car just disappearing..God rest the souls lost, and God be with you Frank, I wish I got to hear more…
If you want another interesting mining-related story, check out the Elliot Lake Uranium mines in Ontario, Canada. Working conditions were bad and there was a ton that was being covered up. It got bad enough that several different mining groups banded together to form a wildcat strike in 1974, which eventually led to the creation of the Occupational Health & Safety Act for the province.
Makes me think of the Beaconsfield mine collapse here in Tassie, that happened just over half an hour from my home town/city of Launceston where I was living at the time and just under an hour from where I live now back on April 25 2006, trapping 3 men underground, 1 of the men died in the collapse, his name was Larry Knight, the other 2 miners, Brant Webb and Todd Russell were rescued 2 weeks after the collapse thanks to dedicated rescue crews including specialist mine rescue ones flown in to assist with the operation, conveyed to Launceston General Hospital but both were discharged the same day only having received somewhat minor injuries but both went on to develop PTSD from their ordeal. There is an exhibit in the mining museum just adjacent to the old mine site where it happened, (which closed a few years later after the mining company declared bankruptcy or something), depicting the whole thing and contains the cage they were trapped in and the rescue tunnel that was used. It also has a TV playing all the news stories/updates from the time of the disaster talking about different elements of the rescue operation and any updates as they came to hand. A book was published about it called Bad Ground, they did a tell all interview with channel 9 and in true Australian fashion a movie was made about it, it’s what us Australians do after any major disaster, it was called Beaconsfield after the town the disaster took place in, the 2 lead roles consisted of Shane Jacobson as Brant Webb and Lachy Hume as Todd Russell. Will never forget that.
Also Richard Carlton from Sixty Minutes had a heart attack and died after asking one of the mining bigwigs a question at the site during a press conference whilst they were still yet to be rescued.
No Aussie alive at the time will ever forget that. Real crappy way to bring a nation together tho.
Yes, I remember about Richard Carlton’s sudden passing, a police officer that was there administered CPR until the ambulance came and they took over, they rushed him to Launceston but he was pronounced dead upon arrival.
I just love this channel. Every new video that come out captures my attention. I like that the videos are almost always about 10 minutes long. Just right. Yet the information provided is thorough and captures the true events quite nicely.
I am excited to see this channel growing so much. I don't think it will take long to get to 1M subscribers. At the time of this comment it's at 864K subs. Nearly there. I think good quality videos like the ones found on this channel earn their subscribers in a way that some others don't. They earn it through consistent uploads with predictable quality of information and visual documentation of events while somehow keeping the length short enough that you can watch one on your coffee break! Well done, again.
another great addition to your catalog good sir. well done!
Love these videos, look forward to next one keep em coming
I'm 51, my grandfather was not a miner, but he was a breaker boy when he was like 10 or 12 years old. This was also in NE PA.
I've read about many mining disasters throughout US history, but the way you tell the stories in your videos--conveying little known details--brings these and other such disasters to life. Fascinating indeed.
grew up a few minutes from here and it’s so crazy to see you covering this.
It's interesting how many major American mining accidents are just a result of workers ignoring the things like safe digging areas and warnings about overmining areas beyond their safety limits. The section of the Vulture Gold Mine that totally collapsed in the 1920's is believed to have collapsed because workers where mining ore from parts of the cave that were supposed to be left untouched to act as support pillars and where likely doing this to smuggle gold and other ores out of the mines to sell themselves.
Exactly. You're the only person I've seen say something like this. Even though the company "allowed" them to dig that close, the men that were digging should have known that 19" is absolutely too thin of a barrier between them and millions of tons of water!!! I'm not saying they deserved it but just cuz your mum says you can go play in the street, there's a part of your brain that tells you "that's not a smart choice!".
@@kenkaniff8428 Of course if your mum is telling you about playing in the street you're probably still a kid, and parents are the ones responsible for their children.
@@rafetizer just as a mother is responsible for her kids so is the supervisors and the safety guys responsible for the guys digging. Same concept. That's why I used that analogy
History has shown to us many times that those high up in management who are culpable in ignoring / breaking laws that lead to great disaster and loss of life, seldom, if ever, are punished by jail time…
On Tuesday mornings, thanks to this channel, we learn about catastrophic industrial negligence. Another excellent video!
You continue to do great videos!
Thanks you!!!
Always so truly interesting !
Morbid, but quite educational!
I expect several people have been waiting for this particular topic. 👍
The main thing that's worth waiting for in the week
Love your videos and have been on a caving disaster binge lately so this is a gift!
Your voice is so nice. It makes listening to some of these horrors a lot more palatable.
Would you cover the Titan 2 missile explosion in Arkansas?
I would add that NE PA has and still does have some of the worlds largest and only antracite coal beads. THis coal was specifically desired as it was 'smokeless' compared to other coal. Which made it great for home heating. As electrciity, oil, and natural gas became the fuel of choice for home heating, the need for antracite coal declined. This coal is fairly different from the type of coal people think of today which powers power plants and so forth. Also good job pronouncing Susquehanna .
I love the new graphics you are using! Keep up the great work!
Thankyou for another fascinating episode. I'm amazed, and relieved, so many made it out alive.
William Pit Disaster 1947 and Wellington Pit Disaster 1910, both in Whitehaven, Cumberland (England) are both worth a video.
Mining is, was, and always will be one of the worst occupations one can experience. If the health risks don't kill you, there's always the shady practices of management (to say nothing of the environmental impact on the local community). Then you throw in something like this...
Coal mines are 50x safer now than they where back then. Very rare to hear of a mining death these days and it’s usually someone who brought death upon themself with working un safely.
UBB was the last big incident
Keep crying.. 🙄
@@edwardbellingham3509 Spoken like a true company man. If you love it so much, go down a coal mine and take a deep breath.
@@goblebrotherracing5525 The same is true of firefighting and logging, but you'll still find them on list of most dangerous jobs in America... alongside coal mining. As for that last bit, I don't know man, that sound like victim blaming. And UBB was 2010! Is that supposed to be comforting? That's NOT that long ago.
So excited when I see you posted a new video! Thanks so much! RIP to the victims of this story.
I'm from NEPA and my father was only 9 when this happened. It was a huge, horrific tragedy that shouldn't have happened. Mines continue to be an issue here. Yards and even roads have sink holes that open. Its a combination of our hilly residential areas combined with all the underground mines. The crazy sounding claim that they stuffed whatever they could get their hands on, including mine cars themselves, down the open mine opening is true. Mining was big money and the safety of the workers wasn't even remotely close to important to these companies back then. Great video.
The names of those who died were Samuel Altieri, John Baloga, Benjamin Boyar, Francis Burns, Charles Featherman, Joseph Gizenski, Dominic Kaveliski, Frank Orlowski, Eugene Ostrowski, William Sinclair, Daniel Stefanides, and Herman Zelonis.
I'm sorry .... The wives and CHILDREN had to work in the silk mills?! Wow I had to rewind and make sure I heard that right.
It wasn't until 1938 in the US, that a national law was passed prohibiting a portion of child labor under the age of 14--there were exemptions for agriculture and domestic employment, acting, and delivering newspapers is allowed, for 14 & 15 years olds, they can work a much broader range of jobs, but are limited by the number of hours, and the time of day that they can work. (before that starting in 1910 individual states started passing laws restricting child labor.)
Very well presented video as always, thank you for your hard work
I appreciate how informative you videos are