The audio version of today’s post is free to the public. Listen here.
Sometimes storm chasers die when that tornado turns in a direction they’re not anticipating and they’re all oh fuck we are so fucking fucked. Same thing happens to volcano chasers, when an unexpected pyroclastic flow comes at you at 400mph and you only have time to say “Oh, fu—.”
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: June 3, 1991--
French couple Katia and Maurice Krafft had a good run. For a quarter century they were pioneers in the tracking and recording of the world’s most active volcanoes. The two met in university and had a shared loved of mountains that go boom. The couple first visited Mount Stromboli in Italy to record its continuous eruptions. They discovered people and governments were willing to pay for that kind of footage and analysis, and a lifelong career as globetrotting volcanologists was born.
The pair was fearless, which is a necessary trait when your job involves hiking up an explode mountain that others are fleeing from. They were often the first on the scene of a newly erupting volcano, and were rock stars in the world of exploding rocks. Unfortunately, you can only say fuck you Mother Nature so many times before Mother Nature decides to say, “No, fuck you” and melt your ass and your fancy volcano suit along with it.
Maurice had once said that when he died, he wanted it “to be at the edge of a volcano.” On June 3, 1991, Mt. Unzen in Japan said sure dude, no problem. But it wasn’t just his and Katia’s luck that ran out that day. So did the luck of an American volcanologist named Harry Glicken, along with 40 firefighters and journalists covering the eruption.
Maurice had also said that despite wanting to die at the edge of a volcano, he figured the probability of that happening was “quite low.” Well, they were at the edge of the volcano, and despite being experts in predicting when a boom mountain is going to go big boom—knowledge they shared with the world and likely was used to save lives by letting people know when it was time to fuck off from an area that’s about to become seriously unpleasant—they should have watched Raiders of the Lost Ark where Belloq says, “Archeology is not an exact science. It does not deal in time schedules.” Yeah, neither does volcanology. Shit explodes when it damn well wants to.
Unexpectedly, a cloud of gas, rock, and ash superheated to 800° Celsius swept up and over the plateau the group had selected to make their observations from, instantly killing 43 people.
Support keeping this daily column free and get access to subscriber only content:
Get the book On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down.