The Man Who Survived Doomsday | 100 Wonders | Atlas Obscura 

another fantastically interesting video great job

Interesting Story, Well Done, And Thanks For Sharing!

I just watched this on "Mysteries at the Museum" show on the Travel Channel. love that show. However, I wanted to learn more about this. First time hearing about this story. Thank you Sir for bring this story to light. Excellent narrating. Though, 30,000 people perished. This sadden me because that a whole chuck of mankind died. Luckily this man survived, and thanks to Barnum Bailey for giving him a job.

Nice shirt change! Every one of these videos is a joy.

Did anybody notice that the volcano was called Pele, like the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes even though Martinique is in the Caribbean sea.

Damn love all your videos so far. Your videos give me the same feeling when I was in history class it was my favorite class's during all my school years and these videos give me a blast from the past

very cool

Think there was Two people that survived... Great info

Cool story

Hi thx for the vids and great historical pics ! But the name is Louis Auguste Cyparis...

2:40 Jaime Foxx err wut?

So it's basically like pompeii?

"To travel the country" - Martinique?

Aside from your very interesting and amusing content, I actually find you so HANDSOME! Did someone already tell you this Sir? Haha You are one of my favorite youtubers.

I like your videos.

Reminds me of The Wolverine movie nuke bomb scene...

Love your video's except the beginning of them. You talk a little bit of the topic and a title card then you talk a little more and another title card appears. Couldn't you edit them together into one title card? It gives your video's a weird pace at the beginning. Besides that awesome and wonderful job on your video's man!!!

Actually, three people survived the whole eruption, not one

i heard about this eruption as a child this man was truly save by the grace of God

The story is even more interesting. Some corrections though. Mount Pelee was not one of the most active volcanoes, it had erupted in the mid-1800s -a mild eruption..,, and was quiet until April of 1902. It started erupting. There were signs the mountain was going to have a violent eruption, but these signs were ignored because there was little information at the time. .However, when a river is flowing down a volcano -and the water becomes hot . Logic would indicate something big was going on. Things were made worse by the fact that there was an election coming up, this election who would determine whom would represent the island in the Frech Parliament in Paris. Would it be a white from the Plantation Class or a Black from the lower classes ? The Editor of the City's Newspaper ran a fake interview with "a Volcano expert" to reassure the population they were safe. During this time an Italian Captain of a ship, who was from Naples, watched the eruption with increasing anxiety. He decided it was not safe . Without taking on all the cargo he was supposed to he left . The Harbormaster tried to stop him but was unable to. The Captain stated I am from Naples, and if Vesuvius was acting the way Pelee was I would flee for my life. Mount Pelee claimed lives before the main event. A dam holding a lake high up on the side of Pelee broke, a slurry of hot mud( a Lahar ) raced down the mountain and killed up to 200 people at a sugar refinery . The mud continued to the ocean causing a small Tsunami. There are reports that Guard troops on the night before the eruption at Bayonet point kept people who wanted to leave the City for the all-important election . The Governor of the Island and his wife had come to the City of Saint Pierre from the island's Capitol Fort De France to reassure the populace . Just before 8 am on the morning of May 8th, the Telegraph Operator in Saint Pierre sent a message over the newly repaired cable -"Allez "-it was the last communication from Saint Pierre. There was an earthquake and a cloud of Volcanic ash in what is called a Plinian eruption- blasted up and out of Mount Pelee at supersonic speed high up into the atmosphere . .This cloud was visible at the Capitol Fort De France 30 miles away.---and on other islands nearby The sky got dark around St.Pierre .The side of the mountain gave away and a Cloud blasted out of the side of the top of the mountain . The cloud was both black and red, a glowing cloud. This was a Pyroclastic Flow, it moved up to 480 miles per hour. This was observed by people gathered over looking the City on high ridges -(one of them a Plantation owner Ferdinand Le Clerc who was running in the election -he had argued for the evacuation of the City )The fact the cloud was glowing lent its name to the French phrase for a Pyroclastic Flow -a Nuee Ardente -a glowing cloud. The cloud was 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. The cloud hugged the ground People in the main blast zone, out in the open- were turned to Charcoal.--at least those whose bodies were not buried under tons of rubble. More than 30,000 people had been killed because refugees from outside the City had gone there for safety. After the eruption, there were 2 more eruptions, both lateral blasts that hit Saint Pierre, one of them killed 2000 workers who were clearing rubble, the 2nd eruption was photographed at a distance by a lucky photographer. In the months after May 8th, the reason for the violent lateral blasts became evident. A huge volcanic Spine of rock rose at the rate of 30 feet a day in the crater of Mount Pelee . It reached a height over a thousand feet before collapsing. This was the Volcanic Plug in the throat of Mount Pelee that caused the lateral blasts . In 1980 a Volcanic Plug in Mount Saint Helens would cause the side of that mountain to swell and then cause the side of the mountain to collapse in a landslide . The Pyroclastic Flow went 18 miles at speeds over 500 miles per hour. There was another survivor, a shoemaker whose house was outside the main blast zone, he too was badly burned. Ships that were anchored off the shore a good distance also had survivors. A Captain of one of these ships managed to get his ship underway and arrived at one of the nearby islands. Hailed by the Harbormaster where he had come from the Ship's Captain replied "From Hell."-flesh on the Ship's Captain's forearm had been burned away down to the bone. Hope you found this interesting.

Is that Jamie Fox?

The middle three frames of the eruption at 1:07 look like a huge terrifying face. Had I witnessed that monstrosity in person, I'd probably start praying to whatever diety that resembles....no atheists in foxholes and all that lol

He must've turned teetotaller.

he was a very lucky man not to get burnt up like everybody else.

Do you have a story on the man who survived both Hiroshima and Nagasaki's atomic bombings?

Lets build a city by a volcano, what can go wrong.

More like st.pierre, was the pompeii of the carribean

Mr.Ballen.

Okay, now do some research of any two descendants who are remotely famous and do an ancestry “who do you think you are” type video looking for any similar curse turned blessing angle in their lives.

How do you know he was a drunk? Who cares. Important thing is he survived

wdum I survived too

He is so cute, you only HAVE to subscribe if he askes for it :D but, I probably would have anyway

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The perk of being a thug.

first!

Black lives mater!