From volcanoes to fires to snow, we have MANY episodes on Natural Disasters! Ep 38: Volcanoes Pt 1 - Mt. Toba's Echo: Journey into Earth's Cataclysmic Past Ep 42: Volcanoes Pt 2 - Time Capsule of Tragedy: Exploring Pompeii's Frozen History Ep 46: Volcanoes Pt 3 - The Silent Summer: Tambora's Echo in Time Ep 51: Volcanoes Pt 4 - Krakatoa: Exploring the Tectonic Plates Beneath the Cataclysmic Eruption Ep 59: Volcanoes Pt 5 - Mud, Fire, and Ash: The Mt. Pelée Eruption Ep 66 - Volcanoes Part 6 - George Vancouver, this is it!: The Eruption of Mt. St. Helens Ep 71 - Volcanoes Part 7 - The End of the World - Yellowstone & Mass Extinctions Ep 73: Disaster in the Desert: Saga of the Salton Sea Ep 74 - Get Your 'Blood's Worth': The Great Fire of London Ep 77 - Cloudy with a Chance of Terror: Cumulonimbus Ep 78 - Ditka's Inferno: The Great Chicago Fire Ep 86 - Shake it like you mean it - The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake Ep 89 - Fire In the Rubble: The Great San Francisco Fire Ep 95 - The Highest Graveyard on Earth: Mt. Everest Ep 99 - Dying in the Deep: The Blue Hole Ep 136 - Cave of Doom: John Jones & Nutty Putty Cave Ep 142 - Death Lurking in the Deep - Limnic Eruptions Ep 163: Deep Blue Something - Tom & Eileen Lonergan Ep 164: Incarcerated & Fire Fighting - California's Conservation Camps BONUS: Real Life Stories - Incarcerated Firefighting with Brett Crawford Ep 196: Table for 87? - The Donner Party
Ep 38: Volcanoes Pt 1 - Mt. Toba's Echo: Journey into Earth's Cataclysmic Past
Ep 42: Volcanoes Pt 2 - Time Capsule of Tragedy: Exploring Pompeii's Frozen History
Ep 46: Volcanoes Pt 3 - The Silent Summer: Tambora's Echo in Time
Ep 51: Volcanoes Pt 4 - Krakatoa: Exploring the Tectonic Plates Beneath the Cataclysmic Eruption
Ep 59: Volcanoes Pt 5 - Mud, Fire, and Ash: The Mt. Pelée Eruption
Ep 66 - Volcanoes Part 6 - George Vancouver, this is it!: The Eruption of Mt. St. Helens
Ep 71 - Volcanoes Part 7 - The End of the World - Yellowstone & Mass Extinctions
Ep 73: Disaster in the Desert: Saga of the Salton Sea
Ep 74 - Get Your 'Blood's Worth': The Great Fire of London
Ep 77 - Cloudy with a Chance of Terror: Cumulonimbus
Ep 78 - Ditka's Inferno: The Great Chicago Fire
Ep 86 - Shake it like you mean it - The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake
Ep 89 - Fire In the Rubble: The Great San Francisco Fire
Ep 95 - The Highest Graveyard on Earth: Mt. Everest
Ep 99 - Dying in the Deep: The Blue Hole
Ep 136 - Cave of Doom: John Jones & Nutty Putty Cave
Ep 142 - Death Lurking in the Deep - Limnic Eruptions
Ep 163: Deep Blue Something - Tom & Eileen Lonergan
Ep 164: Incarcerated & Fire Fighting - California's Conservation Camps
Ep 196: Table for 87? - The Donner Party
Hi Friends! Our transcripts aren't perfect, but I wanted to make sure you had something - if you'd like an edited transcript, I'd be happy to prioritize one for you - please email doomedtofailpod@gmail.com - Thanks! - Taylor
• • • • • • • Hello and welcome to Doomed to Fail. My name is Taylor and along with my co host Fars, we bring you stories of history's most notorious disasters and epic failures. • • And for the next two weeks I'm going to highlight some natural disaster stories that we did. • So first • • let's start with the OG Listeners will know our seven part series on volcanoes. • • So episode and I'm going to list episodes in order now they're all going to be in the show notes, you can always go back and find them. And then for the volcano and fire stories, they also have a omnibus episode where it's like five hours long if you really wanted to listen to the whole thing. • • • So episode 38, volcanoes part one is about Mount Toba. So this is the • • • • volcano that erupted like 70,000 years ago. And we are all • • • • • • • • born from the humans that survived • • • and the Neanderthals that we • hooked up with. And then we're that, that's it, that's humanity. So that was like 70,000 years ago. • And then episode 42 is • • • Pompeii. So you learn about how • • • • Pompeii became • • one of the, • • • you know, most interesting archaeological sites ever. • And did you know that Napoleon's sister • • is one of the people who was really a big part of the original excavation of Pompeii because it was lost for like • • • a thousand years, thousands of years, which is wild. • • • Episode 46, Volcanoes Part 3 is about Mount Tambora. • • • That is when we had the year that. • • • • • So • • • there was so much ash in the air from this that • • in Europe the next summer it was really gloomy. And that is when Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, which is super interesting. And we talk about the Shelley's as well. So you can find an episode on them. • • Episode • 51 is on Krakatoa, which is how we learned about tectonic plates kind of for the first time. And by the way, we didn't really know or agree on them until the 1960s, but Krakatoa is really interesting because it • • was • • the first time that it was like • • • international news. You could have international news very quickly because of the way the technology was working. • • • So people knew about it right away. And it also really affected the weather globally. • • • Episode 59, Volcanoes Part 5 is about Mount Pele. This one's fun. It's in the Caribbean and it is, I mean, fun as in • • • • when the • • pyroclastic flow starts coming down from the top of the volcano. Giant scorpion, scorpions and centipedes are coming into people's houses. They're batting them away. But try not to die. And a lot of people die. • • It's super, super interesting. Episode 66, Part 6 is on the eruption of Mount St. Helens up in Washington state in the United States. • • That one was something that, where, you know, several people died. They knew something was happening. • • There's an exciting story • • • about, you know, people who were there doing • • • work and then it happened really fast. And then actually since then I've seen. Well, since I did this episode, I've seen • • the X Files. Remember the one with Bradley, • • • Gosh, the guy from the West Wing where he • • • is like the volcano guy and he like, likes the girl and they end up living in the volcano. It's kind of like that, but not really. Anyway, • the book I read for episode 66 about • Mount St. Helens, I emailed the author and told them that I had written I'd done this episode. And they listened to it and wrote back and were very kind and they were like, my wife and I loved it. We laughed really hard. So that was fun. And then volcanoes wraps up with episode 71 • • • • about what will happen when Yellowstone erupts, which it will someday. And there'll be some mass extinctions. We talk about other mass extinctions and • • • a lot of • • • • • • volcanoes on the moon and Mars and other places. So lots of volcanoes. • • Parts one through seven are available. • • • • • • •
Next, let's talk about • • other • • • • • disasters that are natural disasters. Episode 73 is on the Salton Sea, which I can kind of see from my house if I climb a mountain. And it is a man made lake soil, sort of. That was supposed to be like a paradise town. And it is absolutely not. • • • Episode 74 is about the Great Fire of London, which starts our fire series. • This one, • you know, like all of the cities, as we will learn, that • • burn down in these huge massive fires. They are made of • sticks and stones. You know, it's like they are • • • just a tinderbox. Everything is dry that year. It's windy, it's • all those things. And you're in a society • • where, and this is in 1666, • • a society that you rely on fire. • So obviously things are just like a tinderbox. Exactly that. • • Episode 77 is about clouds. • • • • There's a couple • • times in history where people have been like stuck in a cloud or times that clouds like caused plane crashes and did different things. And it's interesting and fun. So listen to that one. • • 78 is on the Great Chicago Fire. It was not the cow in the barn, • but it did happen in front of the barn. • • • And it also. • • • The house didn't burn down, but the barn did. And everything south of it. So super • • • wild. Also during the great Chicago fire, this is right after Lincoln was assassinated a couple years later. And poor Mary Todd Lincoln was there and had to like, evacuate. Just like, • • • what a life. That poor lady. • • Episode 86 is on the great San Francisco earthquake, which is going to be • fold into episode 89 about the great San Francisco fire. So first came the earthquake, then came the fire. In this case, it's not as much as like • • in London, it was a bakery. In • • Chicago, it was probably like a cigarette. And then just like built and built and built. But with, • • • • • with this one, • • once the earthquake came, then like gas lines were broken and, • • you know, cooking pots were, • • • were pushed over and • the fire just kind of raged out of that, out of that disaster. • • Episode 95 is about Mount Everest and all the people who've died on their way there. If you die on your way there, they leave you there. • • • • They just leave you there. And there's this, that purple, yellow boots, yellow boots. The guy, his body's up there and they're not certain who he is. And I'm like, • • • • check his pockets. • • • I don't get it. And also in the news the other day, there was a long line to get the top of Mount Everest. Just like, • • • people are starving. • • • • Anyway, • • • • • episode 99 is about the Blue Hole, which is a terrifying place to • • go underwater and dive and potentially die. Never, • • • never scuba dive in a cave. Guys. Just don't do it. Let's not do it. Let's. No. And speaking of Caves, episode 136 is about John Jones. He's the guy who climbed into that cave in Utah and ended up • • like in the wrong place. And he did one of those things • • • makes you. Makes me nauseous. Where you • • • have to get to the next part of the cave by like • • squishing your body in the tiniest way possible. But he was in the wrong spot and he ended up just like face down in a hole. And he died there. And he's still there. His body's still there. They couldn't get him out. • • Just absolutely awful. • • • • • • Then we go to episode 142, about limnic eruptions, which is like gas that's underneath a lake that comes up. And it's happened a couple times in Africa where entire villages and livestock are killed just instantly by this rise of this poison gas. • • • • Episode 163. Another reason to stay out of the water is the terrifying story of Tom and Eileen Longernan • • Lonergan. I'm so sorry, you guys. Who • • are the people who were on the scuba Diving trip, and they got left behind by the boat, and • no one found them. They just somehow you know, either got eaten by sharks or • • drowned. It's the story in open water, that movie. It's terrifying, • • and it's a true story. • • • •
And then let's talk about fires one more time, because in the beginning of 2025 • was obviously the big fire in Los Angeles area. • • And I learned about conservation camps, which is where incarcerated people • can learn to fight fires. And I • had some questions. It was being, • • • • • • I don't know, proposed in the media a couple different ways. And I'm like, should I be happy that they're given this opportunity? Is it exploitation? Like, what is it? What does it mean? So I learned a little bit about it. Where it came from, where it started. And then I met a • on Instagram named Brett Crawford, who is an incredible artist, and he • was a firefighter when he was incarcerated years ago. And we talked about it and interviewed him, and it was a great conversation. So that is a bonus episode • • right after episode 164.
And then we'll end with episode 196, which is the Donner Party. And this is a natural disaster if there ever was one. They took the wrong turns. Could you imagine, • • • like, I'm afraid, driving a car on • • • • a • • • • mountain that has, like, • • • a • thin road, you know, like in Malibu, not in, like, Reno, where you are driving up a mountain, and it's not a road, it's just like a path. And you have horses and they're dying because they're starving. And then you have this huge • • • wagon that you eventually just kind of abandon that you end up in this place by this lake, and you have to live there because there's nowhere to go. And everyone starves to death. And it's freezing and it's snowing. • • When they go back to the place where the Donner Party lived, they. The trees are cut down, like • • • 12ft above the ground because that's how high the snow was, you know? So, like, when it's snowing, you cut the tree down, but you're not even. You're not even on the ground. • • • • Super sad. • • So that's it. There's so many. • • I'm going to • • actually post some of these • • in • • our feed so you can find them easier. But also, please go back and find them. And then, yeah, for the next two weeks, let's focus on some natural disasters. Go back, learn something. If you have any questions or if you know of one that we should cover, • • let us know. Doomdefilapod@gmail.com. you can find us on all the social media at Doom to Philipod. Thank you. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •