Christmas, in the western world at least, is usually a cheerful time.
Families and friends gather to celebrate and exchange presents.
And for the more religious minded, church services may be part of the tradition.
Those from dysfunctional families might find some joy in spending the holiday alone.
And some will just experience depression and loneliness with an intensity that is almost
unbearable.
Whatever emotional baggage they might be carrying, most people don’t expect to meet a sudden
and violent end on Christmas.
But it happens more often than you might think.
Let’s look at several disasters that struck on or around Christmas.
The Tangiwai Disaster
Trains are used all over the world.
For the most part, they efficiently move freight and people from place to place.
But on Christmas Eve in 1953, some New Zealanders found out what happens when this
normally safe method of transportation fails.
At around 3 pm, the express train began carrying 285 passengers and crew from Wellington to
Auckland.
It passed through Tangiwai Station about 10:20 pm.
Observers noted that the train was traveling less than the maximum rated speed for the
track.
After passing through the station, the train had to cross another river.
Before reaching the river, a passerby named Cyril Ellis stood on the track and waved a
flashlight.
Cyril knew that flood waters damaged the bridge the train would use to cross the river.
The train’s crew understood the warning and tried to react.
They applied an emergency brake and stopped the engine.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.
The bridge collapsed as the train moved over it.
Of the eleven cars attached to the train, eight of them fell into the river.
Cyril immediately jumped into action trying to rescue the people who were trapped and,
with some help from people nearby, succeeded in saving fifteen lives.
In total, 151 passengers died in the accident.
Twenty of them were never found.
It was assumed the river washed their bodies into the ocean.
An inquiry tried to determine what caused the accident.
They found it wasn’t caused by human error.
There was just no way for those on the train to know the bridge was unsafe.
This unfortunate accident did result in positive change.
In 1999, New Zealand installed an early warning system for any sudden rise in river levels.
It did result in preventing a similar accident in 2007.
The Acteal Massacre
This didn’t happen on Christmas.
But it’s close enough that we felt compelled to include it.
Mexico is a complicated society.
Much like the United States and Canada, they still have communities of indigenous people.
And they don’t always treat them well.
On December 22, 1997, a group of indigenous people in the village of Acteal were attending
a Roman Catholic prayer meeting.
A right-wing paramilitary group called Máscara Roja murdered all forty-five of them.
Among the victims were twenty-one women and fifteen children.
The victims were part of a Mayan pacifist organization called Las Abejas.
And they suffered for promoting peace.
The attack was so brutal that some of the pregnant women had their abdomens opened with
bayonets.
You’ll have to use your imagination to figure out what happened to the unborn children.
We don’t want to share those details.
Beyond the fact that people died needlessly, this event was additionally horrible because
the Mexican government played an active role.
Witnesses give varying accounts.
Some claim that several of the murderers were wearing state police uniforms.
Others report that after the massacre, state police tampered with the crime scene
and removed evidence.
Dozens of people have since been convicted of killing the villagers.
The Mexican government eventually admitted its involvement in September of 2020.
Understandably, many indigenous people distrust the government and feel justice has
not been served.
The Italian Hall Disaster
In the early 1900s, the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company was the largest copper mining
company in Michigan.
By 1913 there were 15,000 men working in the mines.
At least 9,000 of them were members of the union.
The workers requested concessions from management, and management refused.
The workers voted to strike on July 23, 1913.
The strike would continue until April 1914.
On Christmas Eve 1913, several striking miners and their families decided to meet for a Christmas
party.
This party took place on the second floor of a Calumet building called the Italian Hall.
The only way to reach the second floor was to climb a steep stairway.
It was also the only exit that could be easily reached.
As the night progressed more people arrived.
Eventually the party contained over four hundred people.
Then somebody yelled “Fire!”.
There wasn’t a fire.
Nobody knows for sure why an anonymous person yelled the warning.
Some suspected that the mining company sent an agent to scare the striking miners.
But nothing has even been definitively proven.
Although the building was not on fire, people panicked.
They rushed for the stairs and began piling on top of one another as the staircase filled
beyond capacity.
Seventy-three people died, fifty-nine of which were children.
There were numerous claims that the doors of the building opened inward, which is the
reason people couldn’t escape.
The mining company claimed otherwise.
The Italian Hall Disaster remains the largest unsolved manslaughter case in United States
history.
Fire at The Library of Congress
Washington D.C. has seen its fair share of destruction over the past three hundred years.
The Library of Congress has experienced most of it.
Originally, the Library of Congress was in the United States Capitol building.
The first time it was set on fire was when the British invaded during the War of 1812.
Although they didn’t succeed in destroying the White House, the British did burn the
library to the ground.
Once the war was over, Thomas Jefferson helped the library.
He sold his entire book collection to the Library of Congress.
Jefferson’s collection was the largest in the United States at the time.
The first time Jefferson’s books were nearly consumed by flames was on December 22, 1825.
Someone left a burning candle unattended on the upper level of the library.
Thankfully, somebody saw the fire while it was small and alerted authorities.
The fire was extinguished before it spread to other areas of the building.
A valuable rug and several duplicate copies of books were lost.
The damage was minimal.
On Christmas Eve in 1851, the Library of Congress would suffer a much more devastating fate.
The building caught fire again.
This time most of Jefferson’s books were lost in the blaze.
There were no other copies in existence.
Thus, they are lost forever.
Black Christmas 1941
For those in the wrong place at the wrong time, Christmas can be the worst day of their
lives.
During World War 2, being captured by the Japanese could result in a fate worse than
death.
At best, they would starve captives and torture them.
Sometimes, Japanese soldiers would also randomly kill prisoners and, in extreme cases,
eat them.
The population of Hong Kong was all too aware of the cruelty that awaited them should the
Japanese invade.
And they had good reason to be fearful.
On December 8, just a few hours after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese military began their
invasion.
This event would be known as the Battle of Hong Kong.
The British, Indian and Canadian armies, along with Hong Kong locals, attempted to hold off
the Japanese troops.
But they were outnumbered four to one.
Eventually they were all trapped on the island of Hong Kong with no way to escape.
On December 25, it became clear that the Allies could not win.
Hong Kong and everyone within it surrendered to the Japanese on Christmas Day.
This day became known as Black Christmas.
Predictably, the Japanese massacred several groups of soldiers and civilians during the
seventeen-day conflict.
They ruled Hong Kong for three and a half years, murdering over ten thousand citizens.
Eventually there was at least some accountability.
At the end of the war General Takashi Sakai, who led the Japanese invasion, was extradited
to China.
He was accused of war crimes and convicted.
The Chinese executed him with a firing squad on September 30, 1947.
Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami
Early on the morning of December 26, 2004 off the coast of Sumatra an earthquake began.
It was the third largest earthquake ever recorded with a magnitude of 9.3.
The largest earthquake ever recorded was a magnitude 9.5.
Most quakes of this intensity happen in the ocean.
And when they do, it turns the ocean into a weapon of destruction.
The earthquake off the coast of Sumatra caused a tsunami to form.
A series of waves combined to create a massive wall of water that was 100 feet tall.
It rushed inland at the speed of a jet passenger plane.
The waves spread throughout the Indian Ocean, eventually striking fourteen different countries.
The exact number killed isn’t known, but estimates place the body count at 227,898.
The aftermath of the disaster also created a humanitarian crisis since the loss of life
and property was immense.
The tsunami also washed industrial chemicals and waste into unintended areas.
Additionally, various habitats were ruined or thoroughly damaged.
So, in addition to killing people, this destructive event also created numerous environmental
disasters.
Has our exploration of the worst Christmas disasters made you feel more fortunate this
holiday season?
Or are you perhaps more depressed than ever?
Well, cheer up.
Death and destruction may be completely random and unavoidable.
And mother nature may not care about your feelings at all.
But you still have us to keep you company.
And if you’re still watching, maybe you should like the video and subscribe to our
channel.
Think of it as giving us a Christmas present.
Thank you for watching Bad Things in History.