The Winds of Hell: Historical Photos of the 1940 Armistice Day Blizzard

Monday, November 11, 1940 was Armistice Day, the remembrance of the symbolic end of World War I. On the 22nd anniversary of the end of the war, two of the Allied powers were not at peace. France was under Nazi occupation and Britain was under siege by the Germans. Newspaper headlines in the U.S. recounted President Franklin Roosevelt’s Armistice Day message, which denounced the world’s dictators. A small story buried inside most papers told of new Japanese demands. It would not be long until America was drawn into the conflict.

Across the Upper Midwest, termperatures had been well above normal through the first weeks of fall. On the morning of the 11th, temperatures were in the fifties across the area, well above normal for the season. At 7:30 in the morning, the temperature at Chicago was 55F. It was 54F in Davenport, Iowa. Highs the day before had been in the 50s and 60s across the entire region. Hunters took advantage of the holiday and the extremely mild weather to take to lakes and rivers across Minnesota and Iowa. They were to be rewarded with an overabundance of waterfowl. Many would later comment that they had never see so many birds. The birds knew something most of the hunters didn’t. They were getting out of the way of the approaching storm.

Weather forecasting was not a very reliable thing in 1940. There were no winter storm watches or blizzard warnings. The Weather Bureau did post a moderate Cold Wave Warning on the morning of the 12th, but Forecasts were only calling for a change to colder with snow flurries.

But all it took was one look at a home barometer to know something was up. The needle was nearly off the dial at places like Des Moines, where the pressure stood at 29.09 inches. At Charles City, Iowa, it bottomed out at 28.92. While it was 54F at Davenport, Iowa, it was 12F at Sixoux City on the other side of the state.

A perfect storm was brewing, with warm Gulf air racing into the vortex, where it mxed with extremely cold Canadian air. The Weather Bureau office in Chicago, however, was not staffed at night. So no one saw the rapidly exploding storm.

As hunters sat in blinds or in their boats, a line of dark clouds approached from the west. It began to rain and the wind began to roar. The temperature dropped like a rock and the rain quickly changed to snow. The mercury would fall forty degrees in just a few hours from the 50s to the single digits. The snow fell with a vengeance. Blizzard conditions radpily developed.

When it was all said and done, 26.6 inches of snow had fallen at Collegeville, Minnesota. Furious winds up to 60 mph whipped the heavy snowfall into drift twenty feet high. A total of 154 people perished in the terrible storm. Over twenty were hunters who froze to death when they found themselves trapped in the onslaught of the ferocious storm.

The U.S. Weather Bureau was roundly criticized after the disaster. Congressional inquiries would lead to significant changes, including offices that were staffed full time.

One of the worst storms ever to strike the Upper Midwest was the Armistice Day blizzard of Nov. 11-12, 1940. At least 49 people died in Minnesota alone, thousands of cars were marooned by the 16.2-inch snowfall and property damage was estimated at $1.5 million.

Mountainous drifts were piled up by gusts of wind that reached a velocity of 60 miles. These cars were buried on Excelsior Blvd.

Passenger train stalled near Granite Falls, Minnesota.

The Armistice Day Blizzard in 1940 -- stalled cars.

Raymond "Ray" Sherin rests on a bed of blankets in the Fountain City boatyards before being taken to Winona General Hospital for treatment. With him is his father, Torge. In Raymond's area, more than a dozen other hunters died.

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Rare and Historic Photos of the Harriet Quimby's Plane Crash on July 1, 1912

Harriet Quimby (1875-1912) is classified among the most famous American female aviators. Her career as a pilot did not last long but was undeniably heroic. Quimby was the first American lady to become a licensed pilot and the first woman to fly across the English Channel. She was called as “America’s First Lady of the Air.” She was also a movie screenwriter. Even though she died very young, Harriet Quimby played a key influence upon the role of women in aviation.

On July 1, 1912, while flying her new Blériot XI, a two-place, single-engine monoplane, at the Third Annual Boston Aviation Meet at Squantum, Massachussetts, Harriet Quimby and her passenger, William A. P. Willard, organizer of the Meet, flew out over the water.

As the pair returned from circling the Boston Light far out in the bay, the sky had turned a dazzling orange. Five thousand spectators watched as the monoplane approached over the tidal flats, strikingly silhouetted against the blazing sky. Without any warning, the plane’s tail suddenly rose sharply, and Willard was pitched from the plane. The two-passenger Blériot was known for having balance problems, and without Willard in the rear seat, the plane became gravely destabilized.

For a moment it seemed that Quimby was regaining control of the plane. But then it canted forward sharply again, and this time Quimby herself was thrown out. The crowd watched in horror as the two plunged a thousand feet to their deaths in the harbor. Ironically, the plane righted itself and landed in the shallow water with minimal damage.

The cause of the accident is unknown and there was much speculation at the time. What is known is that neither Quimby nor Willard were wearing seat belts. Also, the Blériot XI was known to be longitudinally unstable. With the nose pitched down the tail plane created more lift, which caused the nose to pitch down even further.

Harriet Quimby with William Willard, organizer of the Third Annual Boston Aviation Meet of 1912. With Willard, as passenger, Quimby circled the Boston Lighthouse as part of the airshow. (Image: San Diego Air and Space Museum's Library and Archives)

On the return flight back the aircraft was at 1000 ft. making its landing descent. Inexplicably, Willard was thrown suddenly from the plane. The aircraft pitched further and Quimby also was ejected. Both died on impact in the shallow waters. The tragedy took place on July 1, 1912. (Image: San Diego Air and Space Museum's Library and Archives)

This appears to sadly be the retrieval of Harriet Quimby's body in Squantum, MA after she and her passenger, William Willard, were thrown out of her Bleriot Monoplane and fell to their deaths during the Third Annual Boston Aviation Meet on July 1, 1912. (Image: San Diego Air and Space Museum's Library and Archives)

(Image: San Diego Air and Space Museum's Library and Archives)

(Image: San Diego Air and Space Museum's Library and Archives)

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Incredible Photos That Capture the Ruins of Sarnia, Ontario After the Tornado in 1953

A powerful tornado struck the city of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, on the afternoon of May 21, 1953. It made at least 150 homes on the more suburban outskirts of the city were damaged and in some instances reduced to rubble. Financial losses in Canada totaled $15 million; five people were killed, 48 were injured, and 500 were left homeless.

Take a look at these incredible photos from John Rochon to see what Sarnia, Ontario looked like just after the tornado in 1953.

Christina St. looking south from Lochiel St.

Clean-up work on the Vendome Hotel

East side of Christina St. looking south to Cromwell St.

East side of Front St. between Lochiel and Cromwell Sts. showing tornado damage to the Barr building and the Mackenzie-Milne building

East side of Front St. just south of Bank of Commerce

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10 Surprising Facts About the Hindenburg Disaster

On May 6, 1937, the German airship Hindenburg burst into flames while attempting to land at Lakehurst, New Jersey. In little more than 30 seconds, the largest object ever to soar through the air was incinerated and the era of commercial airship travel was dead. Explore nine surprising facts about the massive zeppelin and its fiery demise.

1. Survivors Of The Hindenburg Disaster Far Outnumbered The Victims.

Anyone who has seen the graphic newsreel video of the Hindenburg plunging to earth in flames may be amazed to know that of the 97 passengers and crew on board, 62 survived. The disaster’s 36 deaths included 13 passengers, 22 crewmembers and one worker on the ground. Many survivors jumped out of the zeppelin’s windows and ran away as fast as they could.


2. The Hindenburg Disaster Wasn’t History’s Deadliest Airship Accident.

Thanks to the iconic film footage and the emotional eyewitness account of radio reporter Herbert Morrison (who uttered the famous words “Oh, the humanity!”), the Hindenburg disaster is the most famous airship accident in history. However, the deadliest incident occurred when the helium-filled USS Akron, a U.S. Navy airship, crashed off the coast of New Jersey in a severe storm on April 4, 1933. Seventy-three men were killed, and only three survived. The 1930 crash of the British military airship R101, which claimed 48 lives, was also deadlier.


3. The Hindenburg Disaster Wasn’t Broadcast Live On Radio.

Morrison was on the scene to record the arrival of the Hindenburg for WLS in Chicago, but he wasn’t broadcasting live. His wrenching account would be heard in Chicago later that night, and it was broadcast nationwide the following day. His audio report was synched up with separate newsreel videos in subsequent coverage of the Hindenburg disaster.


4. U.S. Law Prevented The Hindenburg From Using Helium Instead Of Hydrogen, Which Is More Flammable.

After the crash of the hydrogen-filled R101, in which most of the crew died in the subsequent fire rather than the impact itself, Hindenburg designer Hugo Eckener sought to use helium, a less flammable lifting gas. However, the United States, which had a monopoly on the world supply of helium and feared that other countries might use the gas for military purposes, banned its export, and the Hindenburg was reengineered. After the Hindenburg disaster, American public opinion favored the export of helium to Germany for its next great zeppelin, the LZ 130, and the law was amended to allow helium export for nonmilitary use. After the German annexation of Austria in 1938, however, Secretary of Interior Harold Ickes refused to ink the final contract.


5. Despite Containing Highly Combustible Gas, Passengers Were Allowed To Smoke.

Despite being filled with 7 million cubic feet of highly combustible hydrogen gas, the Hindenburg featured a smoking room. Passengers were unable to bring matches and personal lighters aboard the zeppelin, but they could buy cigarettes and Cuban cigars on board and light up in a room pressurized to prevent any hydrogen from entering. A steward admitted passengers and crew through a double-door airlock into the smokers’ lounge, which had a single electric lighter, and made sure no one left with a lit cigarette or pipe.

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41 Incredible Snapshots That Capture the Life of Borgo Valsugana, Italy in the 1966 Flood

The 1966 flood of the Arno in Florence killed 101 people and damaged or destroyed millions of masterpieces of art and rare books. It is considered one of the worst floods in the city's history in particular, and of Italy in general.

In addition, the flood also affected other parts of Italy, and Borgo Valsugana is one of them. These incredible snaphots from Ecomuseo Valsugana | Croxarie that captured Borgo Valsugana comune in flood in 1966.

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20 Vintage Photographs Captured Scenes of the Dust Bowl During the 1930s

The Dust Bowl refers to the drought-stricken Southern Plains region of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during a dry period in the 1930s. As high winds and choking dust swept the region from Texas to Nebraska, people and livestock were killed and crops failed across the entire region. The Dust Bowl intensified the crushing economic impacts of the Great Depression and drove many farming families on a desperate migration in search of work and better living conditions.

The Dust Bowl was caused by several economic and agricultural factors, including federal land policies, changes in regional weather, farm economics and other cultural factors. After the Civil War, a series of federal land acts coaxed pioneers westward by incentivizing farming in the Great Plains.

Buried machinery in a barn lot; Dallas, South Dakota, May 1936.

A dust storm approaches Stratford, Texas, in 1935. (Photo by George E. Marsh)

A farmer and his two sons during a dust storm in Cimarron County, Oklahoma, April 1936. (Photo by Arthur Rothstein)

Dust buried farms and equipment, killed livestock, and caused human death and misery during the height of the Dust Bowl years. (Photo: NOAA Photo Library)

A gigantic dust cloud engulfs a ranch in Boise City, Oklahoma, in 1935. (Photo: AP)

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Vintage Photos of German Submarine U-118 Washed Ashore on the Beach at Hastings, 1919

After World War I ended, the German Navy surrendered and many of its ships were interned at the Royal Navy's chief naval base at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands north of the Scottish mainland. The German submarine U-118, however, was destined for France to be broken up for scrap. While she was being towed, a fierce gale snapped the cable and she ended up like a gigantic beached whale washed ashore on Hasting's Beach, in front of Hasting's finest hotels.

SM U-118 was one of nine huge ocean-going mine laying submarines. Launched on February 23, 1918, she was 267 feet long, displaced 1,200 tons and was armed with a 150mm deck gun, 14 torpedoes and 42 mines. SM U-118 had a lackluster career, sinking only two ships, one just off Ireland's north coast and the other northwest of Spain. She was surrendered to the Allies on February 23, 1919, exactly one year after she was launched. While being towed to France through the English Channel in rough seas, U-118 broke free. Despite attempts by a French destroyer to break her up, she ended up aground on the beach in the middle of the city of Hastings on the Sussex coast in southern England on April 15, just in time for the Easter Holiday.

The stranding caused a sensation. Thousands of people flocked to see this monster that had washed ashore, it's true size evident from the aerial view taken shortly after the beaching. Three tractors tried to drag it back to the sea, but failed. At that point, the city fathers decided to make the best of this instant tourist attraction. The Admiralty put the local coast guard in charge and allowed the town clerk to charge sixpence apiece to visitors wishing to climb onto the deck of U-118. After two weeks, nearly £300 (UK£ 13,200 in 2017) had been raised for the Mayor's Fund for the welcome home of troops planned for later that year.

Two members of the coast guard, chief boatman William Heard and chief officer W. Moore, showed important visitors around the interior of the submarine. The visits were curtailed in late April, when both coast guard men became severely ill. Rotting food on board was thought to be the cause, however, the men's condition continued and got worse. Moore died in December 1919, followed by Heard in February 1920. An inquest decided that a noxious gas, possibly chlorine released from the submarine's damaged batteries, had caused abscesses on the men's lungs and brain.

Although visits inside the submarine had stopped, tourists still came to take be photographed alongside or on the U-boat's deck. Finally, between October and December 1919, U-118 was broken up and sold for scrap. The deck gun was left behind, but was removed in 1921. Some of the ship's keel may yet remain buried in the beach sand.

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The Rileys - Survivors of the Sinking of the Lusitania, Cobh (Formerly Queenstown), Co. Cork, May 8, 1915

The Rileys in Cobh (formerly Queenstown), May 8, 1915

The Riley family: Annie and Edward Riley and their 4-year-old twins Ethel and Sutcliffe. Given that only 764 of the nearly 2000 souls aboard the Lusitania were saved (more than a few due to Irish rescue boats and fishermen).

It's very telling that this image seems to capture one of the few (and perhaps only) families to survive the Lusitania sinking "intact". Other young families were not as fortunate. It is good to know that they continued their journey home to Bradford, where they lived the rest of their days....

(Photo by A.H. Poole Studio Photographer, via The National Library of Ireland)

The World’s First Car Accidents Ever

If you are a car lover you have probably asked yourself many times: “When, where and how was the first accident ever?”

If we talk about the first steamed engine it happened in 1869 when Irish scientist Mary Ward and a woman was driving and when she rounded a curve on the road she felt off of her seat, was hit by engine’s wheel which broke her neck and killed her.

First gasoline powered car accident happened in Ohio in 1891. The engineer James Lambert was driving himself and his friend when the car hit a tree root sticking out of the ground. Lambert lost control and the vehicle hit the hitching post leaving both men with minor injuries.

Portrait of John W. Lambert and view of Lambert and two passengers posing in a Lambert car. Handwritten on front: "J.W. Lambert, 1909. Buckeye Mfg. Co. J.H. [undecipherable], 1908. J.H.C. in Lambert friction drive en route to Bay City. 30 + 3 clincher tires. Removable toneau [sic]." Handwritten on back: "Lambert, John W."

In 1896 there was a first recorded pedestrian involved in a car accident. Bridget Driscoll step out on the road and was struck and killed by a gas powered car driven by Arthur Edsall. The car was driving on top speed of 4 miles per hour and Driscoll was frozen in place because of what she was seeing so the collision was inevitable.

The first driver death in car accident happened in1898 when a man and his son were driving from Brighton to London. Near the end of their trip, father lost his control while driving down a hill. They crashed through the fence and the driver was thrown from the seat and injured his leg. The surgeons had to amputate his leg while his son was not even injured. After the operation he remained unconscious and died the next day.

(via More fun, more information!)

Dirigible Airship Accident: Rare Snapshot of the Last Flight of Aeronaut Charles O. Jones in Waterville, ME, Sept. 1908

In full view of 25,000 spectators on the Maine fair grounds Charles Oliver Jones, the well known aeronaut, of Hammondsport, N. Y., fell a distance of 500 feet to his death. Among the witnesses of the frightful plunge were Mrs. Jones and her child. They were the first to reach the side of the dying man. The aeronaut expired about an hour and a half after the accident.

Jones had been at the fair grounds with his dirigible balloon, the Boomerang, known as a Strobel airship, since the opening day of the fair.

When the aeronaut reached a height of more than 500 feet the spectators saw small tongues of fire issuing from under the gas bag in front of the motor. At this time the balloon had passed out of the fair grounds. Many persons in the great crowd shouted to Jones of his danger, but several minutes elapsed before he noticed the fire. Then he grasped the rip cord and endeavored to reach the earth. The machine descended but a short distance when a sudden burst of flame enveloped the gas bag, the framework immediately separating from it.

Jones fell with the frame of his motor, and when his wife and child and the spectators reached him he was lying dying under the wrecked machinery a quarter of a mile from the grounds. The gas bag was completely destroyed. It is thought that the bag leaked again and that a spark from the motor caused the disaster.

Jones was forty years old.

(The Cranbury Press New Jersey ~ September 11, 1908)

21 Rare Photographs of the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake

The 1933 Long Beach earthquake took place on March 10 at 5:54 P.M. PST south of downtown Los Angeles. The epicenter was offshore, southeast of Long Beach, California, on the Newport–Inglewood Fault. The earthquake had a moment magnitude of 6.4 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII. Damage to buildings was widespread throughout Southern California. An estimated forty million dollars' worth of property damage resulted, and between 115 and 120 people died. Many of these fatalities occurred as people ran out of buildings and were hit by falling debris.

The major damage occurred in the densely-populated city of Long Beach on the south-facing coast of Los Angeles County, and extended to the industrial area south of downtown Los Angeles. Unfavorable geological conditions (landfill, water-soaked alluvium) combined with poorly constructed buildings increased the damage done by the quake. In Long Beach, buildings collapsed, water tanks fell through roofs, and houses were tossed off their foundations. School buildings were among the structures that incurred the most severe damage.

The earthquake highlighted the need for earthquake-resistant design for structures in California. Many school buildings were damaged, with more than 230 school buildings that either were destroyed, suffered major damage, or were judged unsafe to occupy. The California State Legislature passed the Field Act on April 10, 1933, mandating that school buildings must be earthquake-resistant. If the earthquake had occurred during school hours, the death toll would have been much higher.

Here's some of amazing photographs from a souvenir booklet that was published shortly afterwards.

City Hall, Compton

Continental Bakery, Long Beach

Wreckage of Business Block, Long Beach

Elks Club, Compton

St. Anthony's Church, Long Beach

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North Sea Flood of 1962: The Biggest Catastrophe Since World War II in Germany

The North Sea flood of 1962 was a natural disaster affecting mainly the coastal regions of Germany and in particular the city of Hamburg in the night from 16 February to 17 February 1962. In total, the homes of about 60,000 people were destroyed, and the death toll amounted to 315 in Hamburg.

In addition, three people were killed in the United Kingdom by high winds, which damaged around 175,000 houses in the worst affected city, Sheffield.

The flood was caused by the Vincinette low-pressure system, approaching the German Bight from the southern Polar Sea. A European windstorm with peak wind speeds of 200 km/h pushed water into the German Bight, leading to a water surge the dykes could not withstand. Breaches along the coast and the rivers Elbe and Weser led to widespread flooding of huge areas. In Hamburg, on the river Elbe, but a full 100 km away from the coast, the residential areas of Wilhelmsburg was most affected.

120 square kilometres or a sixth of the city of Hamburg were flooded, destroying 6000 buildings. Streets were unusable and railway operation was suspended, leaving Hamburg unsupplied for an indetermined period of time.

These photos will show you a small part of this terrible disaster.

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Fire Escape Collapse: A Mother and Her Daughter Falling From a Fire Escape, 1975. Only One Survived...

On July 22, 1975 a fire raged in one of the apartment buildings on Marlborough Street in Boston, Massachusetts. Nineteen-year old Diana Bryant and her two-year-old goddaughter, Tiare Jones were trapped and awaiting rescue on a fire escape.

One firefighter, Robert O’Neil, was shielding Bryant and Jones from the flames as a ladder approached, ready to lower them to safety. O’Neil would be the first to step onto the ladder and instructed Diana Bryant to pass Tiare Jones to him once he was in place. Robert O’Neil had just begun to pull himself onto the ladder when the fire escape collapsed, taking Diana and Tiare down along with it.

Fire Escape Collapse, also known as Fire on Marlborough Street, is a black-and-white photograph by Stanley Forman which received the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography in 1976.

Diana Bryant died from her injuries but Tiare, who had fallen on Diana’a body survived the fall. ‘Fire Escape Collapse’ is one in a series of photos taken by Stanley Forman, photographer for the Boston Herald, at the scene of the fire. When the photo was originally released in his publication there was an overwhelmingly hostile reaction from the public. As the pictures quickly spread around the world, media was accused of pandering to sensationalism and invading Diana Bryant’s privacy.

Despite the controversy surrounding the photo, the series by Stanley Forman was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography in 1976 and additionally, was named The World Press Photo of The Year. It also prompted the city of Boston, as well as many other cities across the United States, to revise laws on fire escape safety.

Today, the photo is still used by fire safety groups to promote their efforts. In 2005, photographer Stanley Forman gave his account of the tragic events he witnessed on that day in an interview with BBC:

“It was 22 July 1975. I was about to leave the offices of the Boston Herald for the day. A call came in about a fire in one of the city's older sections of Victorian row houses. I rushed to the house and followed one of the engines to the fire. I ran to the back of the building, because on the way there they kept yelling for a ladder truck because there were people trapped in the building on the fire escape.

“I ran to the back of the building and when I looked up there was a woman and a child on the fire escape and they were basically leaning at the furthest point from the building because of the heat of the fire behind them.”

When the fire escape collapsed.

In the meantime, a firefighter called Bob O'Neil had climbed on to the front of the building on the roof and saw the pair on the fire escape. He lowered himself on to the fire escape to rescue them.

“I took a position where I could photograph what I thought was an impending routine rescue. The ladder went up to pick them up - they were about 50ft (15m) up. Mr O'Neill had just told Diana Bryant that he was going to step onto the ladder and asked her to hand the baby to him.”

Because of the heat of the fire behind, Bryant and Jones were “basically leaning” at the point farthest from the building.

Mr O'Neil was reaching out for the ladder when suddenly the fire escape gave way.

“I was shooting pictures as they were falling - then I turned away. It dawned on me what was happening and I didn't want to see them hit the ground. I can still remember turning around and shaking.

“It transpired that I wouldn't have seen them hit the ground as they fell behind a fence where the bins were. When I did turn around I didn't see them but I saw the firefighter still clinging onto the ladder with one arm, like a monkey, with all his gear. He hoisted himself back up the fire escape to safety.”

The tillerman of the first fire engine to arrive at the scene, Robert O’Neill, asked Bryant to lift the toddler Jones to him on the roof, but Bryant was unable to do so and O’Neill jumped down to help before the ladder could reach them..

They say the woman broke the child's fall. The woman died later that night.

“At the time, I didn't know that the picture was going to be so big or have such an impact. When I started looking at the negatives I was looking at the rescue picture, where they were holding on to each other. I didn't even look at the next frame, I didn't know exactly what I'd got. I knew I had shot them coming down, I didn't realise how dramatic it was until I had developed the film.”

Bryant sustained multiple head and body injuries and died hours later. Jones survived the fall as she had landed on Bryant’s body, softening the impact.

The picture was first published in the Boston Herald and then picked up and published in newspapers all over the world. There was much debate about showing such a horrific picture.

“I was never bothered by the controversy. When you think about it, I don't think it was that horrific. The woman at the time was not deceased; we didn't show a dead person on the front page. She did die, which is a horrible thing. I didn't think it was that bad, but then I am the photographer, so I'm biased.”

The baby survived because she landed on the woman’s body.

Any time there are stories about fire safety issues or issues such as those people went through with the hurricane in New Orleans, it wakes people up.

“My photograph prompted people to go out and check their fire escapes and ushered in a law that meant that the owner of the property is responsible for fire-escape safety. It was also used in many fire-safety pamphlets for many years.

“Thirty years later it's nice to know that I did the right thing. I haven't seen anything like it since. I've seen pictures that I wish I'd made but I haven't seen anything as dramatic as that, and I've seen some pretty good pictures.”

When you say a picture tells a thousand words, this one certainly told 10,000.