I’ve been saying I want to see which months have the most tragedies for years now. I’m going to put my April Theory to the test. I decided to start it today after seeing a This Day in History via History.com link someone else posted on Facebook today.
What caught my eye about it was it referred to, what else?, a tragedy. This day in history in 1865 saw the worst maritime disaster in American history. The steamboat Sultana exploded on the Mississippi River and sunk. 2,100 passengers were on board. It killed all but 400. The explosion was thought to be the result of a boiler malfunction.
Very tragic indeed. Even more so because it was right after the Civil War ended. Just days after. Most of the passengers onboard were soldiers. Mostly Union veterans who had survived serving time in brutal Confederate prisoner of war camps only to be released and meet their ends this way.
More April victims.
But will we see other months with similarly sad and tragic stories? I know we will, but come this time next year which month will have racked up the most stories?
I’m officially on my way to finding out. No sense putting it off any longer. Might as well just dive right in starting today. And so I have.
Next I’d like to track if any of these tragedies happened during Mercury Retrograde cycles, or other astrological events.
But that’s research for after I’ve compiled all my tragedies data. Excited to be on my way with this study, though. Looking forward to what comes of it!
OTHER BIG EVENTS ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
1521: Magellan killed in the Philippines (not exactly a “tragedy” but newsworthy then and interesting to note now)
1789: Mutiny on the HMS Bounty (again, not a tragedy of the sort I’m documenting but another interesting historical tidbit to note)
*1992: Riots in Los Angeles (BINGO! This is exactly the sort of thing I believe April is famous for.)
*1996: Port Arthur Massacre in Australia (Ditto the above. Another BINGO! find.)
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Tags: April, April Theory, disasters, history, tragedies, Tragedies Study