1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 3 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. Before we start today's episode, 4 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:22,239 Speaker 1: we have one last chance to tell everyone that right 5 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:25,319 Speaker 1: now in the year twenty twenty four, July nineteenth, we 6 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 1: are having a live show for the first time in 7 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:29,920 Speaker 1: a little bit. Yeah, we have not gotten back out 8 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:32,800 Speaker 1: there in a minute since everything's shut down, But now 9 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:35,839 Speaker 1: we are gonna have our first live show in a 10 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:38,920 Speaker 1: while at the Eugene and Marylyn Click Indiana History Center. 11 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:43,559 Speaker 1: As she said, that's Friday, July nineteenth at seven point thirty. Uh, 12 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:47,160 Speaker 1: and you can join us, and we would love that. Yeah. 13 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: Tickets are available at Indianahistory dot org. We are both 14 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:55,320 Speaker 1: really looking forward to the show, really excited. It's the 15 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:57,880 Speaker 1: second time that we will have done a show at 16 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: the Indiana History Center, so once again July nineteenth, twenty 17 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:07,080 Speaker 1: twenty four, seven thirty pm at the Eugene and Marylannglick, 18 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:13,040 Speaker 1: Indiana History Center and tickets available at Indiana History dot org. 19 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:16,319 Speaker 1: Poh see you there. Yeah, And well, now we'll move 20 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 1: on to our episode today, which has nothing to do 21 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:24,399 Speaker 1: with Indiana. I think at any moment. Uh years and 22 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:27,480 Speaker 1: years ago, when we started doing Saturday Classics, we didn't 23 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:30,600 Speaker 1: really have a thought out plan for deciding what episodes 24 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:32,520 Speaker 1: to rerun. We were just kind of asked to start 25 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:36,400 Speaker 1: doing that, so we did. But we've evolved into a pattern. 26 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: For the most part, I try to pick episodes that 27 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: have some kind of reason to be back in the feed, 28 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 1: whether it's related to something from a recent or upcoming episode, 29 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 1: or something that happened on that day in history or whatever. 30 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 1: And that means I am periodically looking at various this 31 00:01:56,160 --> 00:02:00,160 Speaker 1: Day in History lists things that happened on this day. 32 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: While I was trying to figure out the classic episode 33 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:06,960 Speaker 1: for June eighth of this year, one of the things 34 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 1: on one of those lists was a volcanic eruption that 35 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:13,360 Speaker 1: happened in seventeen eighty three, and this eruption went on 36 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 1: for months into seventeen eighty four, leading to the deaths 37 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:20,239 Speaker 1: of thousands of people, affecting the climate in the lot 38 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:24,360 Speaker 1: of the world. Really enormous incident, but it was not 39 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:28,160 Speaker 1: a volcano whose name I recognized today. This is known 40 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: as Lackey or the Locky fissure or the Craters of Locke, 41 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 1: and it's in Iceland where this event is also known 42 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:38,919 Speaker 1: as the scofft Our Elder or the scoffed Our Fires. 43 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: We have a trip to Iceland planned for the podcast 44 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:47,280 Speaker 1: in November, so that was not the inspiration for this episode, 45 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:49,359 Speaker 1: but that did mean and I checked in with Holly 46 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 1: before starting on it to be like, Holly, is it 47 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:55,080 Speaker 1: okay to talk about some like terrible Icelandic volcanoes a 48 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:58,800 Speaker 1: few months before we go to Iceland? Holly said, sure, 49 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:01,280 Speaker 1: I mean I grew up with Mount Helen's not the same, 50 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 1: but I forgot that, you know. Yeah, I'm like this 51 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: was cool. Also, just like, expect our pronunciation of Icelandic 52 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: to be very, very bad. I know, folks really really 53 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: mean well when they send us things like big descriptions 54 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: of how to pronounce different sounds and different languages. I 55 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:23,960 Speaker 1: assure you I already spent so much time with this. 56 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:27,760 Speaker 1: We are gonna do our best. Icelandic is a very 57 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: different language from English in a lot of ways. Oh yeah, 58 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: I mean I had a wonderful experience when I was 59 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:38,440 Speaker 1: there last year with one of our guides who was 60 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: talking about how difficult it is to learn Icelandic. And 61 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: he was like, even for Icelanders, and he pulled up 62 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: on his phone because he grew up there. He's like, here, 63 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 1: twenty different ways to say this one word. Like sometimes 64 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 1: there there are challenges. So for outsiders, Yeah, we'll talk 65 00:03:57,160 --> 00:03:59,760 Speaker 1: more about about Icelandic and some things that I really 66 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:02,560 Speaker 1: love about the Icelandic language on our Friday behind the scenes. 67 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 1: But like I'm just gonna say, I'm struggling with how 68 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:09,920 Speaker 1: to say words. So, Iceland was settled by the Norse 69 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:13,240 Speaker 1: during the Viking Age, likely in the ninth century. The 70 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:16,280 Speaker 1: two main accounts of the settlement of Iceland give slightly 71 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:21,400 Speaker 1: different timelines. Although people had absolutely visited Iceland before this point, 72 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 1: it had no human inhabitants before the Norse arrived. Over time, 73 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: Iceland became an independent commonwealth governed by a parliament called 74 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 1: the All Thing, with Icelandic growing into its own language 75 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 1: similar to Norse dialects found mainly in western Norway. Iceland's 76 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:44,239 Speaker 1: first inhabitants were polytheistic, but in the tenth century Christian 77 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:49,920 Speaker 1: missionaries arrived, and Iceland eventually became a Christian nation. After 78 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:55,200 Speaker 1: the Protestant Reformation, Iceland became Lutheran. Iceland had come under 79 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: the control of Norway in the thirteenth century, and Norway 80 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 1: and Denmark had united in the fourteenth century. During the Reformation, 81 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:08,159 Speaker 1: Denmark Norway was also becoming a Lutheran nation, and this 82 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 1: process of establishing Lutheranism in Iceland increased the Danish influence there. 83 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:18,760 Speaker 1: There was some violence involved in all of the things 84 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:20,920 Speaker 1: that I just said. We're not really getting into any 85 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:23,160 Speaker 1: of that. I'm just trying to give a very basic 86 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:26,839 Speaker 1: sense of where Iceland was as a nation by the 87 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:31,839 Speaker 1: seventeen hundreds, Although Iceland was under Danish control, the Danish 88 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: didn't have a lot of investment in the day to 89 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: day realities of life there. From the point of view 90 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:40,480 Speaker 1: of King Christian the seventh and the government in Copenhagen, 91 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:44,120 Speaker 1: Iceland was mainly a source of revenue thanks to exports 92 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:46,839 Speaker 1: of things like fish and wool, and its need to 93 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:50,560 Speaker 1: import a lot of basic necessities and resources, including wood 94 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: and iron, which because of the trade monopoly, it could 95 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 1: only get from Denmark. This scenario was not unique to Iceland. 96 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:01,839 Speaker 1: Denmark also control Old other islands in the North Atlantic 97 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:05,160 Speaker 1: and had a similar outlook with them as well. There 98 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:08,839 Speaker 1: were some Danish officials living in Iceland, but Icelandic leaders 99 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:12,200 Speaker 1: could often just make their own decisions, especially if they 100 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:15,560 Speaker 1: were unanimously agreed on something, or if the issue at 101 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:18,479 Speaker 1: hand wasn't something that would be of particular importance to 102 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:24,359 Speaker 1: the crown. In the eighteenth century, Iceland was almost entirely rural, 103 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:28,280 Speaker 1: with a total population of only about fifty thousand people, 104 00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 1: and those folks mostly lived along the coast, since the 105 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:34,839 Speaker 1: interior of Iceland is really rugged and a lot of 106 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: it's covered by glaciers. Today, Raykivic is the capital of 107 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 1: Iceland and is home to almost half of its population, 108 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:46,479 Speaker 1: but in the seventeen eighties there were only about three 109 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 1: hundred people living in that area. It was more like 110 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:52,960 Speaker 1: a trading post and a fishing village than like a 111 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 1: really established city or town. Reykievic wasn't formally granted municipal 112 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 1: powers until three years after this eruption happened, and in fact, 113 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:08,520 Speaker 1: there were no chartered towns anywhere in Iceland until seventeen 114 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:12,720 Speaker 1: eighty six. Only a very few people in Iceland had 115 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 1: any kind of wealth at this point. These were typically 116 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:19,600 Speaker 1: people like landowners and merchants or royal officials from Denmark. 117 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 1: Virtually everyone else was a tenant farmer or a worker 118 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 1: on a tenant farm, or perhaps they worked in the 119 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:31,160 Speaker 1: fishing trade. Governors, magistrates, and clergy were overwhelmingly also working 120 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: as farmers. The soil in Iceland and the short growing 121 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 1: season were not well suited for a lot of crops, 122 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:40,400 Speaker 1: so a lot of people were raising cows or sheep 123 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:42,920 Speaker 1: for their milk and meat, and in the case of sheep, 124 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:47,040 Speaker 1: for their wool. People also raised horses for both transportation 125 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:51,440 Speaker 1: and labor. There really wasn't much currency in circulation in 126 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:54,080 Speaker 1: Iceland in the eighteenth century, and most people got what 127 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:57,360 Speaker 1: they needed through bartering. There was sort of a general 128 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:00,800 Speaker 1: understanding that everyone had a right to food and shelter, 129 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:04,600 Speaker 1: so when things were more difficult than usual, people usually 130 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:07,240 Speaker 1: took steps to try to make sure everyone was taken 131 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:12,040 Speaker 1: care of. At the same time, pauperism and vagrancy were 132 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:15,880 Speaker 1: seen as unacceptable, so people who had lost their homes 133 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:19,560 Speaker 1: or their farms for whatever reason would be resettled or 134 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 1: assigned to a contract to work for another farmer. Sometimes 135 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:28,960 Speaker 1: this was basically involuntary, but even looking out for each other, 136 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:32,800 Speaker 1: virtually everyone in Iceland was living at a subsistence level, 137 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:36,720 Speaker 1: so if a massive disaster struck, it was possible that 138 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:40,320 Speaker 1: there just wouldn't be enough to go around, and of 139 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 1: course there were disasters. Iceland sits on the mid Atlantic Ridge, 140 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,280 Speaker 1: which is the longest mountain chain in the world, running 141 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:52,040 Speaker 1: all the way from the Arctic Ocean to Antarctica. Almost 142 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:54,840 Speaker 1: all of this range is under the Atlantic Ocean, but 143 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:57,760 Speaker 1: there are some islands and archipelagos where it breaks through 144 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:00,760 Speaker 1: the surface, and these places are home to a lot 145 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:04,520 Speaker 1: of earthquakes and volcanic activity because the mid Atlantic Ridge 146 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:08,640 Speaker 1: is where the North American, Eurasian and African tectonic plates 147 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:13,840 Speaker 1: meet and are continually but slowly moving apart. The discovery 148 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:16,280 Speaker 1: of the mid Atlantic Ridge in the nineteenth century was 149 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:20,320 Speaker 1: part of what confirmed that Alfred Wegener's idea on continental drift, 150 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:23,160 Speaker 1: which we have talked about on the show before, were 151 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:28,400 Speaker 1: at least partially correct. So volcanoes are, of course one 152 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:30,960 Speaker 1: of the disasters that can have a major effect on 153 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 1: life in Iceland. People often say that volcanoes erupt at 154 00:09:35,640 --> 00:09:40,880 Speaker 1: certain intervals, or they'll describe specific volcanoes as overdue for 155 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:44,800 Speaker 1: an eruption, but volcanoes are really not on any kind 156 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:50,479 Speaker 1: of timetable. Broadly speaking, though, there's at least one volcanic 157 00:09:50,679 --> 00:09:54,560 Speaker 1: eruption somewhere in Iceland about every three to five years, 158 00:09:54,800 --> 00:10:00,679 Speaker 1: and small earthquakes happen pretty much continually. I googled how 159 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:03,920 Speaker 1: many earthquakes in Iceland and it was like five hundred 160 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:07,160 Speaker 1: a week, most of them two week for people to 161 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:10,959 Speaker 1: just feel them walking around. But during the eighteenth century 162 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:15,000 Speaker 1: there were also other disasters as well, including outbreaks of 163 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 1: smallpox and other diseases, as well as periods of severe 164 00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:22,680 Speaker 1: weather and famine. The volcanic eruption we're talking about today 165 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:26,480 Speaker 1: took place during the period of overall global cooling known 166 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:29,000 Speaker 1: as the Little Ice Age, that stretched from about the 167 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:33,079 Speaker 1: fourteenth through the nineteenth centuries. As we've discussed on the 168 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:35,920 Speaker 1: show before, this was more complicated than just the world 169 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:38,680 Speaker 1: was cooler, but it did mean that life in Iceland, 170 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: particularly in the winters, could be especially difficult. The waters 171 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:46,800 Speaker 1: around Iceland were home to fishing fleets from all around Europe, 172 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:50,240 Speaker 1: but during colder months the ports could freeze over, meaning 173 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:52,760 Speaker 1: that people couldn't get there or they could not leave. 174 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:56,680 Speaker 1: During the coldest, darkest months of the year, merchants would 175 00:10:56,760 --> 00:10:59,040 Speaker 1: arrive with the last ship full of cargo in the 176 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:01,600 Speaker 1: fall and then live in Iceland until they could take 177 00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:05,240 Speaker 1: the first shipment back to Denmark in the spring. Sending 178 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:07,840 Speaker 1: someone to Denmark on a ship was the only way 179 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:10,280 Speaker 1: to ask for help, but for months at a time, 180 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:13,120 Speaker 1: no ships could be sent to do that if help 181 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:16,160 Speaker 1: was needed. All this means that by the time this 182 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:20,640 Speaker 1: eruption happened, Iceland really had its own attitudes and cultural 183 00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:26,080 Speaker 1: memory about volcanoes and hardships. The ongoing threat of volcanoes 184 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:29,000 Speaker 1: had just become a fact of life, and Iceland had 185 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:32,360 Speaker 1: a really long history of dealing with and responding to 186 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:36,720 Speaker 1: things like plagues and famine. People had found ways to 187 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:40,760 Speaker 1: adapt to Iceland's climate and geology and to recover in 188 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:44,160 Speaker 1: the wake of things like volcanic eruptions and other disasters. 189 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:47,720 Speaker 1: But the eruptions that are recorded as starting in June 190 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:52,600 Speaker 1: of seventeen eighty three were massive, not necessarily unprecedented, but 191 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:56,800 Speaker 1: well beyond anything in living memory. There are a number 192 00:11:56,840 --> 00:11:59,319 Speaker 1: of ways to describe the size of a volcanic eruption, 193 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:03,679 Speaker 1: and one is the volume of lava produced. It's estimated 194 00:12:03,679 --> 00:12:07,480 Speaker 1: that this eruption produced twelve point three cubic kilometers or 195 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:11,080 Speaker 1: two point ninety five cubic miles of lava, which covered 196 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:14,440 Speaker 1: five hundred ninety nine square kilometers or two hundred thirty 197 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:19,880 Speaker 1: one square miles of land. In Iceland's recorded history, only 198 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:24,160 Speaker 1: one eruption is known to have produced a greater volume 199 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:28,280 Speaker 1: of lava than this one. That's Eldya, or the Fire Gorge, 200 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:31,200 Speaker 1: which is to the southwest of the Laki fissures, and 201 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:35,280 Speaker 1: it's part of the same volcanic system as the volcano Katla. 202 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:40,120 Speaker 1: Eldya erupted from the spring of nine thirty nine until 203 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:43,160 Speaker 1: the autumn of nine forty, and it produced an estimated 204 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:48,800 Speaker 1: nineteen cubic kilometers or four point five cubic miles of lava. 205 00:12:49,559 --> 00:12:52,600 Speaker 1: So that was almost eight hundred years before the Laki 206 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:56,760 Speaker 1: Fissier eruption, only about a century after Iceland was first settled, 207 00:12:56,880 --> 00:13:01,400 Speaker 1: not something that people had in their collective memories at 208 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:05,800 Speaker 1: that point. Really, these numbers measuring lava volume and land 209 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:09,600 Speaker 1: coverage are so big that they're actually pretty hard to conceptualize. 210 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: In the book A misst Connection and Environmental History of 211 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:17,320 Speaker 1: the Locky Eruption and its Legacy, doctor Katrin Kleman puts 212 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:21,560 Speaker 1: it in terms of Olympic sized swimming pools. At its peak, 213 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:25,080 Speaker 1: the Locki eruption could have filled more than two Olympic 214 00:13:25,160 --> 00:13:30,400 Speaker 1: sized swimming pools every second. And this was not just 215 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:33,960 Speaker 1: about the lava. As dramatic as that sounds, we will 216 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:46,360 Speaker 1: get to more about that after a sponsor break. The 217 00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:50,559 Speaker 1: Locky Fissures, or Locky craters as they're often known today, 218 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:55,360 Speaker 1: are in this generally more southern part of Iceland, running 219 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:59,600 Speaker 1: northeast to southwest, with the Locky Mountain roughly in the 220 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:03,080 Speaker 1: middle of this chain of fissures. They're part of a 221 00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:08,200 Speaker 1: broader volcanic system called Grimsvoten, which is Iceland's most productive 222 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:14,480 Speaker 1: volcanic system. Grimsvoten produces a volcanic eruption roughly every two 223 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,480 Speaker 1: to seven years on average. I think it's been a 224 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 1: little more often more recently. Part of this system runs 225 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:27,000 Speaker 1: under the Vatani Yolkle Glacier, which is Iceland's largest ice 226 00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:30,000 Speaker 1: cap and the second largest ice cap in all of Europe. 227 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:33,680 Speaker 1: So eruptions within the system can be really dramatic and 228 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:38,680 Speaker 1: cause huge ash plumes as this volcanic material interacts with 229 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 1: the Glacier. The nearest settlement to these fissures is Kurkee 230 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:47,840 Speaker 1: Byer Cloister, which means church Farm Cloister and is often 231 00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:52,600 Speaker 1: referred to just as Cloister. This is on the coast 232 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:55,840 Speaker 1: on Route one, also called the Ring Road, which is 233 00:14:55,840 --> 00:15:00,240 Speaker 1: what encircles Iceland today, and this region of Iceland is 234 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:05,200 Speaker 1: known as the Fire Districts. Today, Iceland has lots of 235 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:08,960 Speaker 1: monitoring to measure seismic activity in the presence of gases 236 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:12,000 Speaker 1: that can give some advanced warning of a volcanic eruption, 237 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:15,000 Speaker 1: but that, of course, was not the case in seventeen 238 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 1: eighty three. The number and duration of earthquakes had probably 239 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:22,320 Speaker 1: been increasing for a while before the eruption started, but 240 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:24,920 Speaker 1: it wasn't until May that they were strong enough for 241 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:29,240 Speaker 1: people to start noticing them. Around May twentieth, sailors on 242 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:33,160 Speaker 1: a Danish ship called the Torskin also reported seeing fires 243 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 1: in the mountains. This account is not very exact, but 244 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:40,000 Speaker 1: it is possible that something was erupting in the mountains 245 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:43,000 Speaker 1: that the people on the coast couldn't feel or see 246 00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:46,720 Speaker 1: from their vantage point, either from the area around Lockey 247 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:50,760 Speaker 1: or elsewhere in the Grims Vaughten system. One of our 248 00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:54,680 Speaker 1: major sources of information about this eruption is the riding 249 00:15:54,800 --> 00:16:00,280 Speaker 1: of Lutheran pastor Jan Stangerson, who was originally from northern Iceland. 250 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:03,720 Speaker 1: In addition to his religious duties, he tended to the 251 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:06,360 Speaker 1: medical needs of his parish as sort of a self 252 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:10,600 Speaker 1: taught doctor. Stangerson wrote an autobiography, which was one of 253 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:14,160 Speaker 1: the first autobiographies written in Icelandic, as well as a 254 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 1: treatise about this eruption. This treatise became known as the 255 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:21,400 Speaker 1: Fire Treatise, and for reasons that we will be getting to, 256 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:27,480 Speaker 1: Stangerson became known as the Fire Priest. According to Stangerson's account, 257 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 1: by the start of June seventeen eighty three, the earthquakes 258 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:34,800 Speaker 1: in the area had become quite pronounced. June eighth was 259 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:38,480 Speaker 1: the holiday of Pentecost, also called Whitsunday, which is observed 260 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:42,000 Speaker 1: on the seventh Sunday after Easter. At about nine in 261 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:45,400 Speaker 1: the morning, people living in the area around Cloister could 262 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:48,240 Speaker 1: see dark clouds of ash billowing up from the mountains 263 00:16:48,280 --> 00:16:52,000 Speaker 1: to the north of the settlement. Stingerson wrote that the 264 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:54,640 Speaker 1: cloud was so dense that it blocked out the sun, 265 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:58,280 Speaker 1: making it seem dark as night when people were indoors 266 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:01,600 Speaker 1: and that rain started to fall. That was like black ink. 267 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:05,920 Speaker 1: Eventually the ash cloud cleared and people in Cloister could 268 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:08,960 Speaker 1: see the light of fires from up in the mountains. 269 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:12,800 Speaker 1: For the people living near the coast around Cloister for 270 00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:15,679 Speaker 1: the next few days, it was obvious that something was 271 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:18,560 Speaker 1: going on to the north of them, but they really 272 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:22,639 Speaker 1: didn't have much detail. Roughly speaking, the Locky fissures are 273 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:26,560 Speaker 1: about fifty kilometers or thirty miles north of the coast 274 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:32,040 Speaker 1: through increasingly difficult terrain. So people could see fires, plumes 275 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:35,600 Speaker 1: of ash and occasional fireballs in the distance, and sometimes 276 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:38,200 Speaker 1: they could hear the sounds of the eruption and its 277 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 1: after effects. The air was also really thick and foul smelling, 278 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:46,120 Speaker 1: but they couldn't just like walk out to the side 279 00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:49,840 Speaker 1: of the eruption to see what was actually happening. It 280 00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:53,080 Speaker 1: didn't really seem right away like they were in some 281 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:57,119 Speaker 1: kind of immediate danger from a lava flow, though. But 282 00:17:57,200 --> 00:17:59,920 Speaker 1: then on June tenth, the water in the Scoffta glacial 283 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:03,639 Speaker 1: River to the west of Cloister evaporated and within a 284 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:07,720 Speaker 1: day it had filled with lava. Then Cloister was hit 285 00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:11,720 Speaker 1: with a snowstorm, which Stingersoon said lasted for five days, 286 00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:15,240 Speaker 1: with the snow seeming to come from the volcanic cloud. 287 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:18,639 Speaker 1: The people in Cloister did not know this, but at 288 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:21,560 Speaker 1: this point a second volcanic fissure had opened in the 289 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:26,280 Speaker 1: highlands above them. Although the eruption had initially seemed like 290 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:30,560 Speaker 1: something that was happening in the Icelandic interior, by mid 291 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:34,600 Speaker 1: June that lava flow down and around the Glacial River 292 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:38,679 Speaker 1: valley was threatening the settlement, and by July eighteenth a 293 00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:40,960 Speaker 1: lot of people in Cloister started to think that its 294 00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:45,159 Speaker 1: destruction was inevitable. In addition to the lava, there was 295 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:49,360 Speaker 1: just continual smoke and foul air and a lot of lightning. 296 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:54,679 Speaker 1: Even so, Stangerson held church services as normal on Sunday, 297 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:57,960 Speaker 1: July twentieth, expecting that this was going to be the 298 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:01,800 Speaker 1: last time that he held services in Oyster. The lava 299 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 1: flow seemed to be approaching the church when services started, 300 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:08,800 Speaker 1: but when services ended, the edge of the floe was 301 00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:13,160 Speaker 1: still in the same spot. Stingerson described the lava as 302 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:17,239 Speaker 1: piling up on itself, rather than continuing to advance and 303 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:20,000 Speaker 1: then being drowned in a flow of water from nearby 304 00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:24,400 Speaker 1: lakes and rivers. This service was later named the Eldmasson 305 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:27,880 Speaker 1: or Fire Service, and this is when Stingerson became known 306 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:33,000 Speaker 1: as the Fire Priest. As the eruption continued, another fissure 307 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:37,800 Speaker 1: opened and another glacial river evaporated, this one the kaver 308 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:42,280 Speaker 1: Vishnut to the northeast of Cloister, as had happened with 309 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:45,960 Speaker 1: the Skafta River. Once the water was gone, the entire 310 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:50,040 Speaker 1: river gorge filled with lava, and then the lava broke 311 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:53,399 Speaker 1: out of that gorge and started spreading across the land, 312 00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:58,919 Speaker 1: destroying several farms. This cycle of new fissures opening and 313 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:03,919 Speaker 1: new surges of law continued repeatedly until October, with this 314 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:07,880 Speaker 1: chain of fissures ultimately stretching across about twenty seven kilometers 315 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:12,159 Speaker 1: or seventeen miles. Although the eruption is considered to have 316 00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:16,160 Speaker 1: peaked over the summer in early fall, less intense volcanic 317 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 1: activity continued until at least February of seventeen eighty four. Yeah, 318 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:23,679 Speaker 1: I found some accounts that put the end of it 319 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:27,320 Speaker 1: in like seventeen eighty five, but seventeen eighty four seems 320 00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:32,240 Speaker 1: to be what most sources coalesce around uh We've mostly 321 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:36,520 Speaker 1: been talking about the lava flows and the settlement around Cloister, 322 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:40,879 Speaker 1: but another major issue was gases being emitted from the 323 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:44,480 Speaker 1: volcano and that affected all of Iceland. Over the course 324 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:48,199 Speaker 1: of these eruptions, these fissures emitted roughly one hundred and 325 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:54,359 Speaker 1: twenty two megatons of sulfur dioxide and eight megatons of fluorine. 326 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:58,959 Speaker 1: These and other gases caused a thick haze to settle 327 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:01,320 Speaker 1: over a lot of Iceland and other parts of the 328 00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:05,080 Speaker 1: world which we will be getting to. These gases caused 329 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:09,560 Speaker 1: a lot of health effects, including respiratory illnesses, especially in 330 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:12,960 Speaker 1: people who had conditions like asthma, as well as pregnancy 331 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,919 Speaker 1: losses and even deaths. The sulfur dioxide stayed close to 332 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:20,919 Speaker 1: the ground and caused acid rain that defoliated plants and 333 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:25,240 Speaker 1: irritated and burned the skin. The fluorine contaminated much of 334 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 1: the grasses and other forage that were grown for livestock, 335 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:32,040 Speaker 1: and the livestock who ate those things died, including an 336 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:36,800 Speaker 1: estimated ten thousand cattle, twenty seven thousand horses, and one 337 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:41,120 Speaker 1: hundred ninety thousand sheep. By some estimates. This killed more 338 00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:45,000 Speaker 1: than seventy percent of the livestock in Iceland, and those 339 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:48,879 Speaker 1: gases blocked the sun all across Iceland, which had a 340 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:53,880 Speaker 1: psychological impact as well as an environmental one. The winters 341 00:21:53,920 --> 00:21:57,760 Speaker 1: in Iceland are long and cold and dark, like this year, 342 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:00,960 Speaker 1: on the winter solstice, the sun is going to rise 343 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:04,360 Speaker 1: in raykievic at eleven twenty two am and then it's 344 00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 1: gonna set at three point thirty PM, so the sun 345 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:09,960 Speaker 1: will be above the horizon for a little more than 346 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:13,679 Speaker 1: four hours. But on the summer solstice this year, the 347 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:16,679 Speaker 1: sun rose at two fifty five AM and then it's 348 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:19,800 Speaker 1: set a little after midnight, and then the hours between 349 00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:23,960 Speaker 1: sunset and sunrise those were still in twilight. So the 350 00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:26,960 Speaker 1: summer in Iceland was supposed to be a time that 351 00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:29,680 Speaker 1: was more plentiful than the rest of the year, when 352 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:32,480 Speaker 1: people felt a lot more joyful and free than they 353 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:36,840 Speaker 1: did during this long dark of the winter months. Instead, 354 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:39,719 Speaker 1: in seventeen eighty three, the sun was dim and the 355 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,879 Speaker 1: air was toxic, and then that was accompanied by hunger 356 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:46,680 Speaker 1: and illnesses and dying livestock. The effects of all these 357 00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:50,840 Speaker 1: gases became known as the mist hardships or mist famine. 358 00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:55,440 Speaker 1: Then When winter returned, it was much colder than normal, 359 00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:59,359 Speaker 1: likely connected to all the volcanic materials in the atmosphere. 360 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:04,280 Speaker 1: The widespread livestock deaths led to critical shortages of food. 361 00:23:05,119 --> 00:23:07,800 Speaker 1: At times, the haze had made it impossible to get 362 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:10,679 Speaker 1: out to sea to fish, so even fish was in 363 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:15,040 Speaker 1: short supply as well. Officials in Copenhagen had learned of 364 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:18,480 Speaker 1: this eruption in September of seventeen eighty three when a 365 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:22,800 Speaker 1: merchant ship arrived from Iceland and King Christian the seventh 366 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:25,800 Speaker 1: had dispatched a ship full of grain and a team 367 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:29,280 Speaker 1: to assess what was happening in report back. But because 368 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:32,800 Speaker 1: of various delays and the colder than normal weather, the 369 00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:36,439 Speaker 1: relief ship encountered ice in the fjords around Denmark and 370 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:39,000 Speaker 1: it had to take shelter in Norway over the winter. 371 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:43,520 Speaker 1: Because of this and the ice around Iceland, sports the 372 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:48,320 Speaker 1: grain didn't actually get there until April, and then distributing 373 00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:51,920 Speaker 1: it to outlying areas was almost impossible because so many 374 00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 1: horses had died. In addition to the long break in 375 00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:59,560 Speaker 1: communications over the winter, one of the big challenges involving 376 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:02,760 Speaker 1: relief efforts from Denmark was that the Crown was reluctant 377 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:05,840 Speaker 1: to take action on what was happening in Iceland if 378 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:08,919 Speaker 1: they didn't think they had enough information about what was 379 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:11,879 Speaker 1: going on. But since the only way to get that 380 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:16,520 Speaker 1: information was by ship, it took forever to arrive, especially 381 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:20,480 Speaker 1: in the winter when conditions were the worst. Denmark's trade 382 00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:23,360 Speaker 1: monopoly with Iceland also meant that there weren't ships from 383 00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:25,520 Speaker 1: other nations that might have been able to get a 384 00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:30,120 Speaker 1: message somewhere faster. In seventeen eighty four, trading ships bound 385 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:33,440 Speaker 1: for Iceland from Denmark were ordered not to turn back 386 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,560 Speaker 1: if they encountered ice, but to wait until it cleared 387 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:40,360 Speaker 1: so their supplies could be delivered with less delay. Relief 388 00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:44,960 Speaker 1: efforts from within Iceland were also, for the most part ineffective. 389 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:48,760 Speaker 1: In theory, Officials in Iceland had the right to ban 390 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:53,320 Speaker 1: food exports during times of emergency, but not long before 391 00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:57,000 Speaker 1: this eruption started, Iceland had been admonished by the Crown 392 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:02,440 Speaker 1: for purportedly abusing this right. Merchants whose livelihoods came from 393 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:05,840 Speaker 1: exports were also reluctant to comply with orders to keep 394 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:10,760 Speaker 1: their goods in Iceland instead, so dried fish and mutton 395 00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:13,639 Speaker 1: that could have helped sustain the population over the winter 396 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:17,240 Speaker 1: of seventeen eighty three and seventeen eighty four had been 397 00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:20,920 Speaker 1: exported by the time that winter started, and then when 398 00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:23,800 Speaker 1: exports were banned in early seventeen eighty four, it was 399 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,760 Speaker 1: only from the ports to the west and northwest of 400 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:31,439 Speaker 1: the island. Famine and shortages continued in Iceland into the 401 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,920 Speaker 1: difficult winter of seventeen eighty four to seventeen eighty five, 402 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:40,760 Speaker 1: during which Iceland also faced a smallpox epidemic. In the end, 403 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:44,520 Speaker 1: about twenty percent of Iceland's population died as a result 404 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:48,240 Speaker 1: of this volcanic eruption, most of them from exposure to 405 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:52,680 Speaker 1: toxic gases or from starvation. Some froze to death because 406 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:56,200 Speaker 1: of fuel shortages during the colder than normal winters. About 407 00:25:56,280 --> 00:26:00,200 Speaker 1: fifteen percent of Iceland's farms were abandoned after the eruption. 408 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:03,800 Speaker 1: Before the eruption, the parish at Cloister had six hundred 409 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:08,560 Speaker 1: and thirteen members. Afterward there were only ninety three. Some 410 00:26:08,960 --> 00:26:12,840 Speaker 1: had left, but many of them had died. Iceland's population 411 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:16,160 Speaker 1: didn't start to return to pre seventeen eighty three levels 412 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:21,120 Speaker 1: until the eighteen tens. After this, officials in Denmark and 413 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:25,000 Speaker 1: Iceland started working on a plan to both rebuild Iceland's 414 00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:30,320 Speaker 1: economy after this disaster and to establish free trade. Free 415 00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:32,879 Speaker 1: trade would be put into place over the following years. 416 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:37,760 Speaker 1: Dissatisfaction with Denmark's relief efforts during this crisis has also 417 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:42,040 Speaker 1: been cited as an influence on a movement for Icelandic independence. 418 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:46,080 Speaker 1: Although Iceland did not transition towards being a self governing 419 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:49,920 Speaker 1: nation for more than a century after this, and initially 420 00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:53,200 Speaker 1: that was kind of a home rule situation, Iceland became 421 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:57,919 Speaker 1: a fully independent republic in nineteen forty four. This eruption 422 00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:01,320 Speaker 1: also had a major impact outside of Iceland, and we're 423 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:13,600 Speaker 1: going to talk about that after a sponsor break. The 424 00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:16,840 Speaker 1: Lackey Fissier eruption took place in the context of the 425 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:20,520 Speaker 1: Enlightenment in Europe, which was of course a period associated 426 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:24,000 Speaker 1: with a lot of interest and curiosity about science and 427 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:27,760 Speaker 1: the natural world. A lot of the scientific disciplines that 428 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:32,120 Speaker 1: are involved in studying volcanoes and environmental phenomena today were 429 00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:34,240 Speaker 1: really just starting to develop at the end of the 430 00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:38,080 Speaker 1: eighteenth century. So the effects of the eruption in Europe 431 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:40,879 Speaker 1: caused a lot of concerns about things like the weather 432 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:45,200 Speaker 1: and acid rain and a strangely red sun, but also 433 00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:49,240 Speaker 1: a lot of fascination. Because of the confluence of weather 434 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:53,800 Speaker 1: and atmospheric phenomena, some sources describe seventeen eighty three as 435 00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:58,640 Speaker 1: an anismerabolis or a year of wonders. The enormous quantity 436 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:02,040 Speaker 1: of volcanic gases that released from the Lacki Fissier eruption 437 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:06,040 Speaker 1: caused a conspicuous haze to form over a lot of 438 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:10,080 Speaker 1: the northern hemisphere, including North America, North Africa, and most 439 00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:13,120 Speaker 1: of Europe. It was reported as far away as Syria 440 00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:15,840 Speaker 1: to the southeast, and to the Altai Mountain range in 441 00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:20,480 Speaker 1: Mongolia to the east. Many reports of this haze describe 442 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:23,720 Speaker 1: it as a dry fog, and it persisted all over 443 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:27,800 Speaker 1: Europe until August or September. In some places it may 444 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:31,320 Speaker 1: have lasted until October, although in written accounts it becomes 445 00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:34,280 Speaker 1: hard to distinguish between the dry fog of the Lachi 446 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:38,880 Speaker 1: eruption and ordinary autumnal fog caused by moisture in the air. 447 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:43,000 Speaker 1: In the words of Benjamin Franklin, who was in Paris 448 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:46,880 Speaker 1: as the US Minister to France, quote during several of 449 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:49,760 Speaker 1: the summer months of the year, seventeen eighty three, when 450 00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:52,160 Speaker 1: the effect of the sun's raised to heat the earth 451 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:55,600 Speaker 1: in these northern regions should have been greater, there existed 452 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:59,160 Speaker 1: a constant fog over all of Europe and great part 453 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:02,719 Speaker 1: of North America. This fog was of a permanent nature. 454 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:05,440 Speaker 1: It was dry, and the rays of the sun seemed 455 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:08,520 Speaker 1: to have little effect towards dissipating it, as they easily 456 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:12,240 Speaker 1: do a moist fog arising from water. They were indeed 457 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:15,640 Speaker 1: rendered so faint in passing through it, that when collected 458 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:18,760 Speaker 1: in the focus of a burning glass, they would scarce 459 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:22,840 Speaker 1: kindle brown paper. Of course, their summer effect in heating 460 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:26,960 Speaker 1: the earth was exceedingly diminished. Hence the surface was early frozen. 461 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:31,280 Speaker 1: Hence the first snows remained on it unmelted and received 462 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:35,520 Speaker 1: continual additions. Hence the air was more chilled and the 463 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:39,600 Speaker 1: winds more severely cold. He went on to say, quote, 464 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:43,040 Speaker 1: the cause of this universal fog is not yet ascertained, 465 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:46,200 Speaker 1: whether it was adventitious to this earth, and merely a 466 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:49,760 Speaker 1: smoke proceeding from the consumption by fire of some of 467 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:52,800 Speaker 1: those great burning balls or globes which we happened to 468 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,800 Speaker 1: meet with in our rapid course. Round the sun, and 469 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:58,560 Speaker 1: which are sometimes seen to kindle and be destroyed in 470 00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:02,240 Speaker 1: passing our atmosphere, and whose smoke might be attracted and 471 00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:05,600 Speaker 1: retained by our earth. Or whether it was the vast 472 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:09,040 Speaker 1: quantity of smoke long continuing to issue during the summer 473 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:12,600 Speaker 1: from Hecla in Iceland and that other volcano which arose 474 00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:15,800 Speaker 1: out of the seat near that island, which smoke might 475 00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:18,480 Speaker 1: be spread by various winds over the northern part of 476 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:22,720 Speaker 1: the world, is yet uncertain. It seems, however, worthy the 477 00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:27,040 Speaker 1: inquiry whether other hard winters recorded in history were preceded 478 00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:31,680 Speaker 1: by similar, permanent and widely extended summer fogs, because if 479 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:34,960 Speaker 1: found to be so, men might, from such fogs conjecture 480 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:38,880 Speaker 1: the probability of succeeding hard winter, and of the damage 481 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:41,600 Speaker 1: to be expected by the breaking up of frozen rivers 482 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:45,040 Speaker 1: in the spring, and take such measures as are possible 483 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:49,200 Speaker 1: and practicable to secure themselves and effects from the mischiefs 484 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:54,240 Speaker 1: that attend the last Franklin first proposed that this strange 485 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:56,840 Speaker 1: haze might have been the result of a volcanic eruption 486 00:30:56,960 --> 00:30:59,520 Speaker 1: in seventeen eighty four, but he wasn't actually the first 487 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:03,200 Speaker 1: person in Europe to do so. That was French naturalist 488 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:07,560 Speaker 1: Jacques Antoine Moorge de Montredon in an address before the 489 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:11,760 Speaker 1: Royal Society of Sciences of Montpillier on August seventh, seventeen 490 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:16,480 Speaker 1: eighty three. Before that early freeze, Franklin described the weather 491 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:20,080 Speaker 1: in much of Europe was hotter than normal in some areas. 492 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:23,120 Speaker 1: The high temperature records set during this summer of seventeen 493 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:26,640 Speaker 1: eighty three would not be broken for a century or more. 494 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:30,720 Speaker 1: More recent climate modeling studies have concluded that this heat 495 00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:34,840 Speaker 1: wave was an unusual climate variation that wasn't related to 496 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:38,200 Speaker 1: the volcano, and that without all the volcanic material in 497 00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:41,960 Speaker 1: the atmosphere, it actually would have been worse, but people 498 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:44,120 Speaker 1: didn't know that at the time, and a number of 499 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:47,280 Speaker 1: written accounts from that summer reference both the dry fog 500 00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:51,640 Speaker 1: and the heat. As one example, English writer and art 501 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:55,800 Speaker 1: historian Horace Walpole wrote a letter to Lady Austhree on 502 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:59,120 Speaker 1: July fifteenth, said in part quote, as much as I 503 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:02,239 Speaker 1: love to have summer in summer, I am tired of 504 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:05,600 Speaker 1: this weather. The dreaded East is all the wind that 505 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:10,160 Speaker 1: blows it, partses the leaves, makes the turf crisp claps 506 00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:13,600 Speaker 1: the doors, blows the papers about, and keeps one in 507 00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:16,719 Speaker 1: a constant mist that gives no dew, but might as 508 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:20,520 Speaker 1: well be smoke. The sun sets like a pewter plate, 509 00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:23,400 Speaker 1: red hot, and then in a moment appears the Moon 510 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:26,440 Speaker 1: at a distance of the same complexion, just as the 511 00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:31,600 Speaker 1: same orbit a moving picture serves for both. Naturalist Gilbert 512 00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:34,400 Speaker 1: White similarly linked the haze and the heat in his 513 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:38,240 Speaker 1: natural History of Selborne, which was presented as a collection 514 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:41,920 Speaker 1: of letters. One to the Honorable Danes Barrington read in 515 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:44,880 Speaker 1: part quote, the summer of the year seventeen eighty three 516 00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:49,160 Speaker 1: was an amazing and portentous one, and full of horrible phenomena. 517 00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:53,840 Speaker 1: For besides the alarming meteors and tremendous thunderstorms that affrighted 518 00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:57,360 Speaker 1: and distressed the different counties of this Kingdom, the peculiar 519 00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:00,680 Speaker 1: haze or smoky fog that prevailed from many weeks in 520 00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:03,400 Speaker 1: this island, and in every part of Europe, and even 521 00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:07,840 Speaker 1: beyond its limits, was a most extraordinary appearance, unlike anything 522 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:11,120 Speaker 1: known with the memory of man. By my journal, I 523 00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:13,680 Speaker 1: find that I had noticed this strange occurrence from June 524 00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:17,440 Speaker 1: twenty third to July twentieth inclusive, during which period the 525 00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:21,000 Speaker 1: wind varied to every quarter without making any alteration in 526 00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:24,719 Speaker 1: the air. The sun at noon looked as blank as 527 00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:27,840 Speaker 1: a clouded moon and shed a rust colored, ferruginous light 528 00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:31,800 Speaker 1: on the ground and floors of rooms, but was particularly 529 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:36,160 Speaker 1: lurid and blood colored at rising and setting. All the time, 530 00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:38,960 Speaker 1: the heat was so intense that butcher's meat could hardly 531 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:41,640 Speaker 1: be eaten on the day after it was killed, and 532 00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:45,000 Speaker 1: the flies swarmed so in the lanes and hedges that 533 00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:49,720 Speaker 1: they rendered the horses half frantic and riding irksome. The 534 00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:53,240 Speaker 1: meteor he mentions, and that Franklin kind of alluded to 535 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:56,720 Speaker 1: in his riding was the Great Medior of seventeen eighty three, 536 00:33:57,200 --> 00:34:00,200 Speaker 1: which was visible across much of Britain and Ireland on 537 00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:05,760 Speaker 1: August eighteenth. At the time, meteors weren't clearly differentiated from 538 00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:08,480 Speaker 1: comets and a lot of writing, and they also weren't 539 00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:11,080 Speaker 1: very well understood, and there were a lot of people 540 00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:14,879 Speaker 1: who thought that this meteor and the dry fog were 541 00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:18,680 Speaker 1: somehow connected. The northern hemisphere saw a lot of the 542 00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:21,319 Speaker 1: same effects as Iceland did as a result of this 543 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:25,760 Speaker 1: dry haze that summer, like acid rain that defoliated trees 544 00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:30,279 Speaker 1: and damaged crops and killed insects and respiratory illnesses and 545 00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:33,560 Speaker 1: other negative health effects. Over the summer. There were a 546 00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:35,480 Speaker 1: lot of worries that this was going to lead to 547 00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:39,279 Speaker 1: a massive crop failure, but by harvest time a lot 548 00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:43,080 Speaker 1: of crops seemed to have recovered, especially fruit and wine grapes. 549 00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:46,280 Speaker 1: A lot of vineyards in particular had a bumper crop. 550 00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:51,279 Speaker 1: The winter, however, was a lot colder than usual. More 551 00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:55,080 Speaker 1: recent research suggests that temperatures all across Europe fell by 552 00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:58,160 Speaker 1: about one point five degrees celsius over a span of 553 00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:02,000 Speaker 1: two years during and after the eruption. That's the kind 554 00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:05,239 Speaker 1: of shift that can cause huge changes in the day 555 00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:09,440 Speaker 1: to day weather. Tree ring research in Alaska suggests that 556 00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:13,600 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty three and seventeen eighty four were significantly colder 557 00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:17,920 Speaker 1: in northwestern North America as well. A study published just 558 00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:20,720 Speaker 1: a couple of years ago tried to figure out why 559 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:25,160 Speaker 1: the tree rings reflected a colder year in seventeen eighty three, 560 00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:28,960 Speaker 1: even though this eruption didn't actually start until June, and 561 00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:32,720 Speaker 1: they found differences in the cell walls of the cells 562 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:35,480 Speaker 1: that made up the rings, showing evidence later in the 563 00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:40,279 Speaker 1: year that had evidence of a steep temperature drop that 564 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:44,000 Speaker 1: happened later on. This colder winter meant that there was 565 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:46,960 Speaker 1: a lot more snow and ice and frozen over waterways, 566 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:49,680 Speaker 1: and in a lot of the northern hemisphere a lot 567 00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:53,000 Speaker 1: of flooding that followed in the spring thaw. And there's 568 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:56,160 Speaker 1: some research to suggest that the volcanic eruption and its 569 00:35:56,200 --> 00:36:00,520 Speaker 1: effects on the atmosphere also affected the monsoon season northern 570 00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:04,320 Speaker 1: Africa and the Indian subcontinent and the periodic flooding of 571 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:08,759 Speaker 1: the Nile River as well. French philosopher Constantine Flancois de 572 00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:12,240 Speaker 1: Chais beuf Comte de Vounis wrote of the Nile quote, 573 00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:16,000 Speaker 1: the inundation of seventeen eighty three was not sufficient. Great 574 00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:18,520 Speaker 1: part of the lands therefore could not be sown for 575 00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:21,319 Speaker 1: want of being watered, and another part was in the 576 00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:25,200 Speaker 1: same predicament for want of seed. In seventeen eighty four, 577 00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:28,359 Speaker 1: the Nile again did not rise to the favorable height, 578 00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:32,840 Speaker 1: and the dearth immediately became excessive. Soon after the end 579 00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:36,680 Speaker 1: of November, the famine carried off at Cairo nearly as 580 00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:40,000 Speaker 1: many as the plague. The streets which before were full 581 00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:44,439 Speaker 1: of beggars now afforded not a single one. All had 582 00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:49,280 Speaker 1: perished or deserted the city. An estimated fifteen to twenty 583 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:52,760 Speaker 1: percent of the population of the Nile River Valley died 584 00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:55,799 Speaker 1: in the wake of these famines, and the disruption to 585 00:36:55,800 --> 00:36:58,680 Speaker 1: the monsoon season is also cited as a factor and 586 00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:02,120 Speaker 1: the Chelisa famines of the Indian subcontinent in seventeen eighty 587 00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:05,879 Speaker 1: three and seventeen eighty four, although that disruption has also 588 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:09,800 Speaker 1: been connected to an unusual phase in the cyclical climate 589 00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:13,080 Speaker 1: pattern known as El Nino, which may or may not 590 00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:17,480 Speaker 1: have been volcano related. Although Jacques de Montredon and Benjamin 591 00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:21,160 Speaker 1: Franklin each suggested that these climate and weather phenomena may 592 00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:24,520 Speaker 1: have been connected to a volcanic eruption in seventeen eighty 593 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:27,560 Speaker 1: three and seventeen eighty four, it took a while for 594 00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:31,720 Speaker 1: this to be well studied and understood. At first, documentation 595 00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:36,080 Speaker 1: of the eruption itself was pretty minimal. In seventeen eighty five, 596 00:37:36,239 --> 00:37:40,279 Speaker 1: Magnus Stevenson wrote a work translated as Short Description of 597 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:43,600 Speaker 1: the New Volcanic Eruption in Iceland that was published in 598 00:37:43,719 --> 00:37:48,799 Speaker 1: Danish in Copenhagen, Icelandic naturalist and physicians Van Pausen, who 599 00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:52,040 Speaker 1: studied the glaciers and volcanoes of Iceland, was the first 600 00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:55,760 Speaker 1: person to find the Lacky fissure system in seventeen ninety four. 601 00:37:56,680 --> 00:37:58,520 Speaker 1: I think the fact that it was more than a 602 00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:02,480 Speaker 1: decade after the volcanoes that somebody actually found where the 603 00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:09,759 Speaker 1: fissures were like illustrates how difficult the terrain is. I 604 00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:13,200 Speaker 1: find this person really fascinating though he walked a whole 605 00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:16,160 Speaker 1: bunch of glaciers and just went looking for volcanoes and things. 606 00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:18,719 Speaker 1: But I'm not sure there's enough information available to do 607 00:38:18,760 --> 00:38:23,440 Speaker 1: a whole episode on him. In eighteen fifteen, Mount Tambora 608 00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:26,560 Speaker 1: erupted in Indonesia, leading to what came to be known 609 00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:29,400 Speaker 1: as the Year Without a Summer. We have an episode 610 00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:31,319 Speaker 1: on this in the archive, which we ran as a 611 00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:35,040 Speaker 1: Saturday Classic last year. The Year Without a Summer is 612 00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:38,160 Speaker 1: probably better known in a lot of Europe and North 613 00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:41,480 Speaker 1: America than the Lackey eruption, thanks in part to a 614 00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:43,960 Speaker 1: lot of artwork and literature that grew out of it, 615 00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:47,800 Speaker 1: including novels like Frankenstein and Dracula, and some of the 616 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:52,040 Speaker 1: artwork of Casper David Friedrich We've talked about Casper David 617 00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:54,799 Speaker 1: Friedrich on the show as well. Yeah, prior hosts talked 618 00:38:54,800 --> 00:39:00,200 Speaker 1: about Frankenstein and Dracula, and yeah, all of it. We 619 00:39:00,239 --> 00:39:04,040 Speaker 1: have covered all of these things in abundance. There are 620 00:39:04,760 --> 00:39:08,080 Speaker 1: so many parallels between these two eruptions and there after effects. 621 00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:11,120 Speaker 1: But it really wasn't until the eighteen eighty three eruption 622 00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:15,279 Speaker 1: of Krakatau that scientists and researchers really started to get 623 00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:18,720 Speaker 1: a handle on this connection and working backward to study 624 00:39:18,719 --> 00:39:23,000 Speaker 1: the climate and weather effects of earlier eruptions. Today, this 625 00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:27,440 Speaker 1: is often described as a volcanic winter. There is still 626 00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:30,760 Speaker 1: a lot of research being done into the locky Fissier eruption. 627 00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:34,880 Speaker 1: Papers that we mentioned about things like tree ring research 628 00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:39,120 Speaker 1: and climate modeling were all published in twenty twenty or later. 629 00:39:39,719 --> 00:39:43,080 Speaker 1: It's possible that further research will find evidence of effects 630 00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:46,160 Speaker 1: in the southern hemisphere as well. Pretty Much everything that 631 00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:49,920 Speaker 1: I came across in connection for this episode was focused 632 00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:52,279 Speaker 1: on the northern hemisphere, but it's possible that this was 633 00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:56,359 Speaker 1: really something global. Do you have any listener mail that's 634 00:39:56,480 --> 00:40:00,840 Speaker 1: less eruptive? I do I have listener mail. This is 635 00:40:00,880 --> 00:40:05,240 Speaker 1: from Alfred and Alfred wrote, after our discussions of Google 636 00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:10,120 Speaker 1: street View images inside a museum, this email says, Hey, 637 00:40:10,160 --> 00:40:12,960 Speaker 1: they're Tracy and Holly. Your podcast behind the Scenes and 638 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:16,640 Speaker 1: email sections discussing the Google street View of museums reminded 639 00:40:16,680 --> 00:40:19,640 Speaker 1: me that our museum, the Centennial Center of Science and 640 00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:24,160 Speaker 1: Technology aka the Ontario Science Center, had Google come through 641 00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:27,720 Speaker 1: in September twenty twelve. They were going to record walks 642 00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:31,080 Speaker 1: through the entire center, but stopped after completing only about 643 00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:34,040 Speaker 1: a third of our daunting, multi level four hundred and 644 00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:38,200 Speaker 1: eighty thousand square feet of public exhibit space. Unfortunately, they 645 00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:40,279 Speaker 1: missed some areas that may have been of interest to you, 646 00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:43,200 Speaker 1: the Banting and Best Lab that was transferred from the 647 00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:46,280 Speaker 1: University of Toronto to the Center, I believe in nineteen 648 00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:49,560 Speaker 1: sixty nine as it opened. The Ontario Science Center is 649 00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:53,160 Speaker 1: also the proud owner of a working nineteenth century Jaccard 650 00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:57,480 Speaker 1: loom owned by weaver John Campbell of Ontario, which operated 651 00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:02,240 Speaker 1: daily weaving demonstrations. The third is the largest museum collection 652 00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:05,919 Speaker 1: of whimsical artwork by Roland Emmett, which is brought out 653 00:41:05,960 --> 00:41:09,440 Speaker 1: and displayed every winter holiday season. Many of the pieces 654 00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:12,520 Speaker 1: can be seen in the movie Chitty Chitty Bank Bank. 655 00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:16,160 Speaker 1: I did say that unfortunately Google missed these exhibits as 656 00:41:16,200 --> 00:41:18,239 Speaker 1: they will no longer be available for the public to 657 00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:21,279 Speaker 1: view in their historic fifty five year old building as 658 00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:24,080 Speaker 1: it was suddenly closed on June twenty first due to 659 00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:27,319 Speaker 1: building safety concerns due to a very long run of 660 00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:31,319 Speaker 1: financial starvation and neglect by the provincial governments. I've been 661 00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:34,200 Speaker 1: walking past these and hundreds of other exhibits, both new 662 00:41:34,239 --> 00:41:36,600 Speaker 1: and old, for twenty four years and will miss them. 663 00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:39,799 Speaker 1: It will be some consolation that Google has recorded some 664 00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:41,920 Speaker 1: of these pass through the center, and I will be 665 00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:44,640 Speaker 1: able to revisit the memory of those halls after they 666 00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:47,760 Speaker 1: are torn down, that is, until Google decides to update 667 00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:50,239 Speaker 1: their street view. I hope they have some sort of 668 00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:54,160 Speaker 1: archive for me and others to peruse occasionally in the future. 669 00:41:54,200 --> 00:41:56,680 Speaker 1: I hope that the new, much smaller center, to be 670 00:41:56,760 --> 00:41:59,480 Speaker 1: located on the waterfront will have enough room to accommodate 671 00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:02,960 Speaker 1: at least so some of these historically significant, scientific, technological, 672 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:06,920 Speaker 1: and artistic artifacts. Thank you for your most wonderful podcast 673 00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:09,239 Speaker 1: that has been part of my daily fifty miles one 674 00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:13,320 Speaker 1: way commute for many years. I am almost an sym 675 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:16,719 Speaker 1: IHC PhD. Member, as there are a couple of episodes 676 00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:19,640 Speaker 1: that make me too queasy to drive and I've never 677 00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:23,480 Speaker 1: gotten through them, I e. The Blood Transfusion one be 678 00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:26,160 Speaker 1: Your personalities make the podcast a joy to listen to, 679 00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:28,920 Speaker 1: and I laugh and shuckle to your silliness and perspectives. 680 00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:31,439 Speaker 1: A gigly podcast where I learned something makes my day. 681 00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:35,680 Speaker 1: As a subject suggestion, maybe some of the above paragraph 682 00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:38,640 Speaker 1: could be topics for future podcasts. I would also like 683 00:42:38,680 --> 00:42:42,439 Speaker 1: to suggest Elsie McGill, Queen of the Hurricanes, born March 684 00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:45,040 Speaker 1: twenty ninth, nineteen oh five. Her one hundred and twentieth 685 00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:48,000 Speaker 1: birthday is coming up. There's something inspiring about her story 686 00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:50,000 Speaker 1: that I've liked ever since. We had a small exhibit 687 00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:53,120 Speaker 1: about her contributions to women in the field of engineering. 688 00:42:53,320 --> 00:42:57,200 Speaker 1: So as a levy of Canadian duty for you, I 689 00:42:57,239 --> 00:43:00,200 Speaker 1: have included a Canada Day picture of our thirteen year 690 00:43:00,239 --> 00:43:04,880 Speaker 1: old Corgi Clover, born on St. Patrick's Day. Clover was 691 00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:07,759 Speaker 1: rescued from a breeder when she was retired from show 692 00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:12,000 Speaker 1: and breeding programs. Not apparently a goofy, loud barking Corgie, 693 00:43:12,080 --> 00:43:15,759 Speaker 1: but a calm and serene dog, liking people a lot 694 00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:20,400 Speaker 1: more than other animals. And then there's also a thirteen 695 00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:23,960 Speaker 1: year old house bunny named Dash and Clover and Dash 696 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:27,239 Speaker 1: are close friends, but not buddies. Dash would like to 697 00:43:27,239 --> 00:43:29,480 Speaker 1: be Clover's buddy, but Clover is not having any of it. 698 00:43:29,560 --> 00:43:31,600 Speaker 1: I think she fears for having to share her kibble. 699 00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:39,120 Speaker 1: I cannot get over how adorable these animals are. Holy moly. 700 00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:44,240 Speaker 1: I mean, Corgi's are a cute breed of dog in general, 701 00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:49,560 Speaker 1: but what a sweety pie. And then we have also 702 00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:55,120 Speaker 1: a rabbit next to just a buffet of green vegetation 703 00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:58,480 Speaker 1: to be eaten, also incredibly cute, Thank you so much. 704 00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:01,800 Speaker 1: I went and looked around the street of the recently 705 00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:04,840 Speaker 1: closed Ontario Science Center and a lot of what was 706 00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:08,960 Speaker 1: captured is like the ground level, so you see lots 707 00:44:08,960 --> 00:44:12,040 Speaker 1: of things like the cafe and where do I tickets? 708 00:44:12,280 --> 00:44:16,640 Speaker 1: And locker storage and that kind of stuff. One of 709 00:44:16,680 --> 00:44:19,400 Speaker 1: the things I had noticed about the Franklin Institute. The 710 00:44:19,440 --> 00:44:23,400 Speaker 1: Franklin Institute has multiple floors, and the street view images 711 00:44:23,440 --> 00:44:25,640 Speaker 1: that I could get to were all on the ground floor. 712 00:44:25,760 --> 00:44:29,440 Speaker 1: I'm not sure Google had a great way to figure 713 00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:33,239 Speaker 1: out how to differentiate different levels within a building. And 714 00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:37,720 Speaker 1: I know that having lived in Atlanta and driven through 715 00:44:37,719 --> 00:44:41,360 Speaker 1: the middle of Atlanta where you have like multiple interstates 716 00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:44,280 Speaker 1: and bridges and roads that are sort of in layers. 717 00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:47,840 Speaker 1: Sometimes the turn by turn instructions, at least when I 718 00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:50,879 Speaker 1: was living there, would absolutely freak out and be very 719 00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:53,680 Speaker 1: confused about where you were on these things that were 720 00:44:53,760 --> 00:44:56,759 Speaker 1: essentially on top of each other. Oh yeah, so that 721 00:44:56,880 --> 00:44:58,600 Speaker 1: just made me curious about the street. You. There are 722 00:44:58,840 --> 00:45:04,280 Speaker 1: a lot of user uploaded images for the Science Center, 723 00:45:04,440 --> 00:45:06,440 Speaker 1: so as you know, as long as Google keeps those 724 00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:09,920 Speaker 1: kinds of things available, those do still exist, not as 725 00:45:09,960 --> 00:45:12,520 Speaker 1: a walkthrough of the museum, but just pictures that you 726 00:45:12,520 --> 00:45:16,160 Speaker 1: can scroll through. So thank you so much for this email. 727 00:45:16,239 --> 00:45:20,240 Speaker 1: And man, these pictures such a cute dog, cute bunny, 728 00:45:20,239 --> 00:45:25,120 Speaker 1: awesome bunny. I want them to solve crime together. Yeah, 729 00:45:25,239 --> 00:45:30,439 Speaker 1: I think that's great. One very last chance to say, hey, 730 00:45:30,560 --> 00:45:33,920 Speaker 1: come see us if you live in Indianapolis. July nineteenth, 731 00:45:33,960 --> 00:45:40,719 Speaker 1: seven thirty Indiana History Center tickets available at Indianahistory dot org. 732 00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:44,480 Speaker 1: And you can subscribe to our show on the iHeartRadio 733 00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:52,720 Speaker 1: app and wherever you like to get your podcasts. Stuff 734 00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:55,520 Speaker 1: You Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio 735 00:45:55,880 --> 00:45:59,680 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple 736 00:45:59,680 --> 00:46:02,600 Speaker 1: podcas casts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.