Oct. 8, 2025

The Origin Of Weird: The Tunguska Event of 1908

The Origin Of Weird: The Tunguska Event of 1908
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A blue-white fireball tore across a quiet Siberian morning and turned a vast forest into matchsticks—yet left no crater. We dive into the 1908 Tunguska event with clear storytelling and sharp science, tracing how eyewitness heatwaves, global pressure ripples, and a strange midnight glow in London evolved into one of history’s most fascinating forensic puzzles. From Kulik’s grueling expeditions and the eerie “telegraph pole” trunks to microscopic silicate spheres and nickel-rich clues, we unpack how folklore gave way to physics and why the prevailing answer points to a powerful midair asteroid explosion.

We also explore the theories that refused to die—Tesla’s mythical death ray, alien misadventures, even a passing micro black hole—and explain where each one falls apart. Then we bring the story forward: Chelyabinsk’s 2013 airburst, NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, and DART’s successful asteroid deflection test. Tunguska stops being a bizarre footnote and becomes a clear lesson in risk, readiness, and the urgency of tracking near-Earth objects before they surprise us over a city instead of a taiga.

If you’re curious how a single morning in 1908 reshaped space science, disaster planning, and the birth of planetary defense, this is your guide. Join us, weigh the evidence, and decide which theory holds up. If the episode sparks new questions—or your own wild hypothesis—send them our way. Follow the show, share it with a friend who loves mysteries with real stakes, and leave a quick review to help more curious minds find us.

115 Years Ago: The Tunguska Asteroid Impact Event

nasa.govharfordastro.org

New Evidence Suggests 1908 Tunguska Explosion Caused by Meteorite, Not Comet! meteorites.asu.edu

Tunguska: A Phantom From The Skies by Sam Atkins

harfordastro.orgharfordastro.org

Tunguska event

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event#:~:text=,for%20a%20moment%2C%20but%20then

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00:00 - Welcome, Cats, And Setup

00:26 - Tunguska: The Morning The Sky Split

03:10 - Eyewitness Heat, Shockwaves, And Fire

06:16 - Aftermath: Flattened Forest And Global Ripples

09:00 - Why News Was Sparse And Myths Grew

11:31 - Leonid Kulik’s Quest Begins

15:06 - No Crater, Only “Telegraph Poles”

18:06 - Mapping Destruction And Midair Blast Clues

20:25 - War Pauses Research; Strange Spheres Found

22:20 - Wild Theories: Tesla, Aliens, Black Holes

24:00 - The Airburst Consensus And Energy Scale

26:00 - Lake Cheko Debate And Disproof

27:17 - From Curiosity To Planetary Defense

29:20 - Chelyabinsk, DART, And Asteroid Day

31:00 - Takeaways, Banter, And Closing CTA

WEBVTT

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It's there.

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Oh, hey there.

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How are you?

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I'm well.

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How are you?

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Doing well.

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I'm I'm Kate.

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I'm Bradley.

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And this is History Buffoon.

00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:28.640
The origin of weird.

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That's right.

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That's what this one is.

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I think you almost forgot.

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No, no.

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Don't, don't, no lies.

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No lies.

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We have.

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You might hear uh some background noise from our little guests.

00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:55.520
They will not officially be on the podcast, but uh this is the first time that we're recording at my house since uh the kitties have been here.

00:00:55.759 --> 00:00:57.280
Yeah, Stella and Sal.

00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:02.159
So we brought them up to the podloft to uh hang out while we record some podcasts.

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It's all new smells to them, so they are on the prowl.

00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:13.439
Yeah, so this uh the podloft, which also uh is the guest room area as well with a bathroom.

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They have not been up here before, yeah.

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Just about, I don't know, 10 minutes ago.

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So this is all new to them.

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They're they're exploring.

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And Sal's chirpy.

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He is very chirpy.

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If you hear any chirping, it's probably Sal.

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Probably Sal, right, Sal?

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He's like, ooh, what's back there?

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They don't quite know their names yet, but they're getting there.

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They're they're doing pretty decent though.

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Like they'll they'll still respond.

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Like in the morning when I go, Sal, Stella, they'll they'll come out and see me.

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So actually, they used to come out and see me.

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Now they're just hey, what's up?

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So they've they've adapted really well to uh new home life.

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So right, Sal?

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Hi buddy.

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You got some something on your whiskers.

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Uh cobweb.

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It's like okay.

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Come here.

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Anyways.

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Okay, so um we have um an event to talk about.

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All right.

00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:10.240
The 1908 Tungusta event.

00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:11.599
What's a Tungusta?

00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:16.879
It is um it's actually a place.

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Oh, okay.

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Yeah, so um on June 30th, 1908.

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Yes, remote hills of the Tungusta River in Siberia.

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Oh, reindeer herders, yeah.

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I think they call them caribou if they're most places.

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Yeah, caribou.

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Yeah.

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Um, and a few Russian settlers.

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Not a lot.

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There's there's not a lot of people population up there.

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Not in Siberia, it's pretty cold up there.

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They began their day, just like any other day, June 30th, and around 7.17 a.m., without warning, okay, the northern sky split apart with a blinding flash of light.

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Interesting.

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At 7 in the morning, you see?

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717.

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Damn.

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Okay.

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Eyewitnesses described a bluish-white fireball brighter than the sun streaking across the sky and leaving a trail of light.

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Interesting.

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One local trader sitting on his porch um about 40 miles away, saw the sky split in two as a massive fireball appeared above the forest.

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Okay.

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In an instant, the intense wave of an intense wave of heat blasted him.

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And he says, quote, as if my shirt was on fire.

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Oh dear.

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Seconds later, a huge explosion knocked him off his feet.

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Because there's a meteor.

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Potentially.

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Okay.

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And a shockwave shattered windows and shook buildings for hundreds of miles around.

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Oh wow.

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That's crazy.

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So for those closer to the epicenter, it was a little bit more apocalyptic, if you will.

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Sure, I would imagine so.

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Indigenous hunters camping near the blast were blown into the air and knocked unconscious.

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Jesus.

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Um, their their their tents and their trees around them were incinerated.

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Right.

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And two brothers later recounted that a wind and a loud whistling woke them.

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Then a wall of heat and for and force flung one of them into the campfire as the ground trembled.

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Okay.

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I mean, it sounds like an earthquake.

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I mean, it sounds like a meteorite hit the earth.

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Yeah.

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So they heard a sequence of five enormous booms as if thunder had hit the earth.

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Okay.

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And saw the forest around them ignite.

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Interesting.

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A pillar of fire rose high into the atmosphere, casting a red glow across the horizon.

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Okay.

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Moments later, a series of bangs, like artillery fire, um occurred and accompanied by shock waves powerful enough to flatten forests and level buildings.

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Interesting.

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Okay.

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Um, the few residents in this like sparsely populated area were tossed around by the force of the blast, and some described them feeling like it was an earthquake.

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Right.

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Is there still snow in June in Siberia where this is?

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I don't know.

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I wonder.

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I wonder.

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Because I mean it's a pretty cold place in the winter, obviously.

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But it is midsummer.

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Well, it's it's our summer.

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I don't know about Siberia.

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Siberia's I don't know what that is in terms of that, because it isn't like our winter, Australia's summer kind of thing, and so on.

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So it could be a little different.

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I'm not sure.

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But that also could be they're in the same, they're in the northern hemisphere, so maybe.

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Yeah.

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I don't know.

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But anyways, um, I mean, I've been to Colorado in July and there's snow on the mountaintops.

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Right, right.

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I don't know, maybe.

00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:08.639
Depends on how high above sea level it is.

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That, and I'm sure how much snow they got the year before or the previous winter kind of thing.

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So yeah, I don't know.

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So as quickly as it came, the fiery sky went dark and eerie silence fell over the forest.

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So local people would venture out after the blast and they were met with kind of a weird scene.

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Sure.

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The forest had been obliterated.

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Oh dear.

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Surveys would show that approximately 2,150 square kilometers or 830 square miles of forest was completely flattened.

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That is a lot of forest flattened.

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About 500,000 acres.

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Holy crap.

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An estimated 80 million trees lay on the ground, charred and pointing upward from the central impact zone.

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Wow.

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Okay.

00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:02.079
Yes.

00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:06.079
So if there's an impact zone, wouldn't that lead you to believe a meteor?

00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:07.360
Just wait.

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Oh.

00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:09.519
Alien ship.

00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:10.560
Potentially.

00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:11.759
Oh Jesus.

00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:13.600
Stella, what do you think?

00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:19.439
So for miles in every direction, trees had been scorched and not knocked down like matchsticks.

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Yeah.

00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:34.079
Um, closer to the epicenter, um, explorers later found trees that remained standing upright, but were stripped bare of their branches and bark as if the blast just like sandblasted the area.

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Sure.

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These branchless trunks were called telephone poles.

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Sorry, telegraph poles.

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Well, yeah, back in 1908, right?

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Yeah.

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And uh they mark that marked kind of ground zero.

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You hear the chirpin.

00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:48.560
Hi, chirpy sal.

00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:50.399
Hi, Sal.

00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:52.959
Hey, buddy.

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He's like, I don't know what's happening.

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There's my sister.

00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:05.519
So a few scattered reports uh trickled out from Siberia in the days after the event.

00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:15.519
Um, in villages hundreds of kilometers away, residents felt a powerful tremor and heard series of thunderous sounds rolling across across the countryside.

00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:16.079
Okay.

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Windows shattered as far as 60 kilometers away or 37 miles away.

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That's a pretty good distance.

00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:30.000
And a hot wind would rush through settlements, um, flinging people to the ground.

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Because it caught them off guard, kind of thing.

00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:32.799
Yeah.

00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:35.919
A hot wind sounds fucking terrible right now.

00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:36.399
It does.

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Because it's really warm up here.

00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:38.399
Yeah.

00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:40.240
I'll try and not fall asleep.

00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:41.519
Please don't.

00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:53.840
So because the region um of Tungusta was so isolated, hundreds of miles from major cities, news of the disaster was pretty obscure.

00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:54.399
Right.

00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:59.519
Um, there was no official investigation or immediate rescue effort or anything like that.

00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:00.080
Okay.

00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:12.720
The event was so remote that it would have very little attention in Tsarist, Russia, um, and only like very sparse notices in the local newspapers at the time.

00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:13.440
Sure.

00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:16.399
So authorities had no clear idea what happened.

00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:22.799
Some speculated it might have been a mining accident or an eruption of a distant volcano.

00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:29.120
So many of the indigenous community um turned to folklore.

00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:29.759
Of course.

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They believed the exposure, the explosion was the wrath of Ogdi, the god of thunder, who had smashed the forest and cursed the land.

00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:48.320
And for years afterwards, the loc um the indigenous population and other locals avoided the blast zone, considering it haunted.

00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:50.000
Or like bad luck kind of thing.

00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:50.399
Yeah.

00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:50.879
Okay.

00:09:51.519 --> 00:10:01.840
Um, so seismic instruments in Russia and Europe registered the event as if it were an earthquake, which had a magnitude around 5.0.

00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:03.840
That's pretty good size.

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Atmospheric pressure waves ripped around the globe.

00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:16.000
Observatories in Germany, Denmark, Croatia, Great Britain, and even Batavia and Washington, D.C.

00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:18.799
recorded disturbances in the air.

00:10:19.919 --> 00:10:26.639
In the night skies of Europe and Asia, a strange glow appeared for several nights after June 30th.

00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:37.919
Um, night skies were bright to the point where people in London could read their newspapers outdoors at midnight without a lamp.

00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:38.879
What the fuck?

00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:40.399
All the way in London?

00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:41.919
Okay.

00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:46.879
Um, despite the uh ferocity of the blast, yeah.

00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:50.799
Confirmed human casualties were fairly few.

00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:57.919
Because the area was so sparsely populated, it was believed that maybe two, three people might have died.

00:10:58.159 --> 00:10:58.480
Okay.

00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:05.120
Um, indigenous nomads might have been killed near the epicenter, but there was no like official report of that.

00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:06.559
So we actually don't really know.

00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:10.159
Yeah, I don't know how they would even probably be able to get those numbers.

00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:10.480
Yeah.

00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:11.519
Because of what happened.

00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:22.720
If if they if it obliterated trees and whatnot, I'm sure that if there was people right there at the epicenter, for sure, they would have been also obliterated.

00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:30.080
So what was obliterated, other than the trees, were the hundreds, if not thousands, of reindeer grazing in the forests.

00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:32.960
Yeah, I was I figured that was coming back into play.

00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:33.679
Yeah.

00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:37.360
Um, their carcasses were found burnt, blown apart.

00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:38.320
That's wild.

00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:43.840
So if if there was a city right there, it would have been like pretty much a total loss of lives.

00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:45.120
Yeah, it would have been destroyed.

00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:46.480
Yeah, I'm gonna take a drink.

00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:47.360
No worries.

00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:53.679
I mean, it's unfortunate that all those reindeer had to I don't know, lose their life.

00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:54.080
Yeah.

00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:56.159
That's a lot of good meat gone.

00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:02.000
Is that venison too?

00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:06.240
I wonder.

00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:08.080
You should ask Nathan.

00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:09.120
Maybe he'll know.

00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:10.879
He's the outdoorsy type.

00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:12.240
He's the venison guy.

00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:13.759
He's the venison guy.

00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:15.039
I'm gonna ask.

00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:16.000
Chippy?

00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:17.840
Yeah, chat G P T.

00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:20.080
Chat G P T.

00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:21.120
A.K.E.

00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:22.000
Chippy.

00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:26.159
Is venison Is is what meat?

00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:28.480
What is reindeer meat called?

00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:36.639
Hurrow! So Sal is currently climbing in one of the cubbies of the table.

00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:38.159
It's all I can see is his tail.

00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:39.120
And he looks really cute.

00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:39.600
There he is.

00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:40.960
That's so cute.

00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:42.879
What'd you find?

00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:45.039
What nonsense are you doing?

00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:46.960
I think I find some popcorn.

00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:50.559
What was that?

00:12:50.799 --> 00:12:53.360
I think that wasn't Chippy trying to answer my question.

00:12:53.600 --> 00:12:55.519
Okay, we don't need volume on him.

00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:57.440
Okay, Chippy.

00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:00.879
Is caribou slash reindeer the same as venison?

00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:08.879
Venison is a general term.

00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:15.360
Caribou and reindeer are both types of deer, so they can consider medicine.

00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:21.039
But if you want to get a bit more specific, sometimes people just call it caribou or reindeer meat.

00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:21.600
Wow.

00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:25.600
Okay.

00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:26.960
That's enough.

00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:28.000
That's enough.

00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:30.320
That's that was a disappointing answer.

00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:34.320
But you can also just call it caribou or reindeer meat.

00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:35.120
Well, no kidding.

00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:37.200
You can call it deer meat too if you want.

00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:43.279
Okay, so for years this event remained an enigma largely forgotten by the outside world.

00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:49.200
Russia was engulfed in World War One, leaving very little energy to Siberian exploration.

00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:50.799
Yeah, which totally makes sense.

00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:58.480
So it wasn't until the 1920s that the scientific world s turned its attention to Tungusta.

00:13:58.799 --> 00:13:59.120
Okay.

00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:05.360
And remember, there wasn't because of their folklore, the locals didn't go near there.

00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:05.840
Correct.

00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:08.080
So it's pretty much left as alone.

00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:08.559
Yes.

00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:09.279
Yeah.

00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:26.000
So um leonid Kolik, a Soviet mineral mini mineralologist, mineralologist, and meteorite researcher.

00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:26.639
Okay.

00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:35.759
Um he actually stumbled upon some re um re references to the 1908 quote unquote meteoral fall meteorite fall, Lord.

00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:44.720
So Kolik convinced the Soviet Academy of Sciences to fund an expedition.

00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:45.279
Okay.

00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:46.000
Okay.

00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:51.200
Um he wanted a chance to recover recover valuable meteorite iron.

00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:51.840
Sure.

00:14:52.080 --> 00:15:02.639
So in 1921, he set off into the wilds of Siberia and found the impact site, but the forest was vast and pretty inaccessible.

00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:13.840
Kulik's first attempt failed to even reach the blast zone area due to spring thaws and swampy terrain and exhaustion.

00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:15.519
So that kind of answers the question a little bit.

00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:16.320
Probably not a lot of things.

00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:40.000
I bet.

00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:41.360
In every direction.

00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:42.879
Yeah, no kidding.

00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:51.919
So the expedition gazed over like this pattern of devastation that looked like a huge oval.

00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:56.480
They called it like butterfly shaped, but it's more like oval-shaped.

00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:56.960
Okay.

00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:04.159
But it um the the flattened forest basically spanned about 50 kilometers across.

00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:04.720
Wow.

00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:14.000
So um trees uh pointed away from the central area, indicating an explosive blast high above.

00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:22.320
So when Kulick reached what he calculated to be the epicenter, he was puzzled because there was no crater.

00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:23.679
Really?

00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:24.480
Really?

00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:25.840
Interesting.

00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:35.519
At ground zero, he found an expanse of marshy ground where upright tree trunks stood still, charred, and limbless.

00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:36.080
Okay.

00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:50.879
So if it was a fireball had exploded in the air directly above, scorching the treetrop treetops and stripping the bark, but the downward blast had pressed outward rather than gouging a hole in the earth.

00:16:52.000 --> 00:17:01.120
So the solid ground had been uh the solid ground had been like heaved outward in giant waves, like like waves in water.

00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:01.519
Isn't it?

00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:06.000
Yeah, like you drop a drop of water in water, yes, and it goes outward.

00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:06.720
Yeah.

00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:12.079
So no impact crater at all was was found.

00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:12.720
Right.

00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:19.920
So over the weeks, um Kulik's team surveyed and mapped the pattern of the destruction.

00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:20.880
Wow.

00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:29.200
They saw signs of intense heat, um, chart tree stumps and spheres of melted resin on pine trees.

00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:35.680
They cut cross sections of trees, noting that the growth rings virtually stopped after 1908.

00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:39.599
That was my phone.

00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:44.960
I'd like to be known on the record that my phone is silent.

00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:46.720
Just saying.

00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:58.720
Um, hoping to find meteor fragments, Kulick focused on numerous small crater-like bogs in the area, suspecting that they might be hiding pieces of the object.

00:17:59.039 --> 00:17:59.519
Sure.

00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:09.039
His team dredged, drained, and drained the the bogs, yeah, digging for meteoric iron, and they found nothing.

00:18:09.599 --> 00:18:10.160
Interesting.

00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:13.680
They found like a drowned tree stump in one bog.

00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:14.799
Which is nothing.

00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:15.519
Nothing.

00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:32.960
Um, so n despite the searches in 1927 and on return expeditions in 29 and 1930, Kulik never found a sizable piece of meteorite or a definitive impact crater.

00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:33.440
Okay.

00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:44.319
So his photographs of the um the trees at the epicenter and the miles of tree fall captured global attention at this time.

00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:44.960
Right.

00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:52.160
The Tungusta mystery began to filter into Western scientific discussions in the 1930s.

00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:52.480
Okay.

00:18:53.279 --> 00:19:02.000
Um, there was evidence of the immense explosion, likely from the sky, but obviously obviously there was no crater or meteor debris.

00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:02.559
Right.

00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:08.480
So Kulik himself became convinced that whatever hit Tungusta must have exploded in mid-air.

00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:09.359
Oh.

00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:10.640
Yes.

00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:22.880
And in 1938, on his last visit, Kulik even conducted an aerial survey, taking hundreds of photographs from a low-flying plane to chart the full extent of the devastation.

00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:23.440
Okay.

00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:32.640
The area view aerial views confirmed the blast pattern and helped late later researchers calculate the trajectory and force of the explosion.

00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:36.960
Isn't it wild that 30 years later you can still basically see what happened?

00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:37.440
I know.

00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:43.359
I mean, you would think most things like regrow and like would it be overgrown again, but apparently that did not happen.

00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:44.480
Not here, no.

00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:45.279
That's crazy.

00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:46.079
Yeah.

00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:51.200
So World War II cut short the um investigations.

00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:52.000
Understandable.

00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:58.480
Kulik volunteered to fight in 1941 and died at in a POW camp in 1942.

00:19:58.720 --> 00:19:59.599
Oh, that's sad.

00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:03.359
Then Tungusta site lay untouched again for decades.

00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:04.880
I say for a while, I bet.

00:20:05.039 --> 00:20:05.359
Okay.

00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:06.160
Yes.

00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:13.920
So they um over years, Soviet expeditions and internal researchers continued to study Tungusta.

00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:27.839
They collected soil and tree samples, finding unusual tiny like silicate and mag magnetite spheres embedded in the soil and resin, as well as elevated levels of nickel.

00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:28.079
Okay.

00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:29.759
Can you please silence your phone?

00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:31.279
Jesus Christ.

00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:34.079
I never had this much activity on my phone.

00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:44.799
So they collected soil and tree samples, finding um silicate and magnanite, magnetite um spheres embedded in the soil and resin.

00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:45.039
Okay.

00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:54.799
As well as elevated levels of nickel and other materials hinting at possible extraterrestrial origin.

00:20:55.519 --> 00:20:57.119
I mean meteorite.

00:20:58.240 --> 00:20:58.880
Yes.

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:17.440
I mean, wouldn't the meteorite kind of fall under that purview or so despite strong scientific sense consensus, Tungusta's nature um invited a wild theories and explanations over the years.

00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:18.480
I'm sure.

00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:21.599
Especially because there was no impact crater.

00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:25.599
That is a weird aspect of it, obviously.

00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:26.079
Yes.

00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:32.240
Because I mean, if anything, if let's say it is a meteor, it would have had to explode right above the ground.

00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:32.640
Yes.

00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:34.160
At the just right time.

00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:38.160
And something, if it's got any type of size like that, is hitting the ground.

00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:38.799
Yes.

00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:40.880
Because something would have to make it explode.

00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:46.400
And could it have the pressure of the air, something weird, way more science than I know?

00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:50.160
Maybe, but that doesn't seem likely, at least in my opinion.

00:21:50.240 --> 00:22:00.480
But again, I'm not I'm I'm no scientist, so so Nikola Tesla was trying to invent a death ray.

00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:10.000
Um, he was experimenting with massive electrical transmissions in New York, attempting to send power through the air.

00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:10.960
Yeah.

00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:18.720
And according to this theory, Tesla had developed a powerful directed energy weapon called the Death Ray.

00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:30.640
And on the night of June 30th, 1908, he tested it by sending a beam toward the Arctic, but overshot the target and blasted Siberia instead.

00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:33.680
From New York?

00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:34.480
Mm-hmm.

00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:37.920
That seems unlikely.

00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:40.640
No evidence, of course.

00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:41.440
Of course.

00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:49.599
Tesla's transmissions were high voltage, but they could not deliver the kinetic energy of 10 million tons of TNT.

00:22:50.160 --> 00:22:55.440
Yeah, that's that's where I you lost me instantly with that theory because no.

00:22:56.079 --> 00:22:59.519
And of course, the next theory is Aliens.

00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:02.559
Bradley's favorite theory.

00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:05.680
The third one, because we're not going to talk about that.

00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:07.920
Uh, mini black hole.

00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:10.880
Oh, that's way more believable than aliens.

00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:11.599
No.

00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:22.319
In the 1970s, some uh physicists speculated that Tungusta might have been the result of a micro black hole passing through Earth.

00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:24.319
Passing through Earth.

00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:27.920
How does a black hole just pass through a planet?

00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:41.920
A tiny primordial black hole left over from the Big Bang, zoomed through our planet, entering the atmosphere over Siberia, and then exited out the other side, possibly in the North Atlantic.

00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:51.279
But of course, there was no second X explosion, which they would have had an exit, they would have had an exit strategy, I guess.

00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:52.480
An exit wound?

00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:52.960
Yes.

00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:53.440
Yeah.

00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:56.559
Um, so yeah that's yeah, that's not gonna happen.

00:23:56.799 --> 00:23:58.480
No, that doesn't seem likely at all.

00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:24.799
So the consensus is that on June 30th, 1908, a small asteroid, yes, um, roughly 50 to 60 meters in diameter entered Earth's atmosphere at high speed, blazing across the morning sky, and around five to ten kilometers above the ground, the combination of pressure and heat caused the space rock to explode in an airburst.

00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:30.240
That's what I said, releasing its energy in a massive blast wave before it ever hit the earth.

00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:33.119
Okay, so yeah, that seems more believable.

00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:41.119
The airburst is estimated to have released um on the order of 10 to 30 megatons of energy.

00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:41.759
Wow.

00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:48.720
Equivalent to a hundred uh Hiroshima atomic bombs detonating at once.

00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:49.599
That's crazy.

00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:50.319
That's a lot.

00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:55.119
Yes, wow, it is also comparable to the 1980 eruption of Mount St.

00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:55.759
Helens.

00:24:56.079 --> 00:24:57.200
Oh, good old Helen.

00:24:57.680 --> 00:24:58.640
Good old Helen.

00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:13.200
So um they also said that at an altitude of around five miles or eight kilometers, the combination of pressure and he caused it to fragment violently.

00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:13.759
Okay.

00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:18.799
Um, dumping energy equivalent of that 10 to 30 megaton blast.

00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:19.359
Sure.

00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:25.680
And then that scenario would pretty much match the butterfly or the oval blast footprint.

00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:26.240
Okay.

00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:42.960
In a 2013 study, scientists analyzed soil and peat samples from Tungusta and found microscopic inclusions of minerals like iron sulfide and iron nickel alloy embedded in fragments of resin and wood.

00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:43.359
Okay.

00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:52.480
While not definitive, this evidence tilts towards an asteroid rather than like a comet or anything else.

00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:56.240
I feel like if it was an actual comet, it would have destroyed the Earth.

00:25:56.480 --> 00:25:56.880
Potentially.

00:25:57.279 --> 00:25:58.319
Comets are pretty big.

00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:02.400
I mean, I I'm not, again, no expert, so I'm probably wrong by saying that.

00:26:02.480 --> 00:26:05.440
But in my brain, I feel like if a comet hit us, fuck, we're screwed.

00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:05.920
Yeah.

00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:08.160
Put a meter right, sure.

00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:09.599
That could definitely happen.

00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:13.200
I mean, it's happened in the past, but um I don't know.

00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:17.119
It just that's way more believable than aliens.

00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:25.599
So over the years, yeah, there was speculation that perhaps a fragment of the object did survive and hit the ground.

00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:26.160
Okay.

00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:43.279
In 2007, a team of Italian researchers proposed that Lake Checo, a small round lake located about eight kilometers northwest of the epicenter, might be the impact crater from a surviving chunk of the meteor.

00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:44.079
Really?

00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:53.599
They noted that Lake Checo is unusually deep and cone-shaped, with sediment layers suggesting it formed around the time of the event.

00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:54.319
Really?

00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:55.200
Interesting.

00:26:55.839 --> 00:27:00.880
Acoustic surveys showed a possible dense object under the lake's bottom.

00:27:01.119 --> 00:27:01.440
Oh.

00:27:01.680 --> 00:27:12.240
However, subsequent Russian investigators in 2017 refuted this hypothesis by showing that Lake Checkos sediment layers indicate an older origin.

00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:13.440
Oh, really?

00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:15.200
Well before 1908.

00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:15.920
Gotcha.

00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:16.160
Okay.

00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:26.400
Moreover, impact's physics make it unlikely that a meteorite would remain intact enough for an airburst to carve out a neat crater.

00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:28.400
Yeah, that's I mean.

00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:32.240
So ultimately it disgr disintegrated in midair.

00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:34.799
When it exploded or whatever.

00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:35.519
Okay.

00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:44.160
So the Tungusta event is the larger c largest cosmic impact event in recorded history.

00:27:45.359 --> 00:27:52.319
No other known natural explosion on Earth has matched its scales since humans have been recording things.

00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:55.839
Which is what, been five years or so before that?

00:27:56.799 --> 00:28:05.759
Tungusta was a wake-up call because uh for much of the 20th century, Tungusta was often dismissed as a once in a million fluke.

00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:06.240
Okay.

00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:20.079
But in February 2013, a 20 meteor as meter asteroid exploded in the atmosphere over um Chelobinsk, Russia, injuring over a thousand people with its shockwave.

00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:22.400
Why have we heard of Chilabinsk before?

00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:23.359
We what was that in?

00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:24.480
We talked about that.

00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:25.680
Yeah, that's what I thought.

00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:28.319
Was that in the um Krakatoa?

00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:30.880
Was that in but it's in Russia?

00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:31.279
Oh well.

00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:32.960
So would that be Dyatlov?

00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:34.640
Oh, maybe it was Dyatlov.

00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:35.920
Because we've we've said that before.

00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:39.200
We talked about the yeah, the February 2013 meteor.

00:28:39.359 --> 00:28:40.000
Yeah.

00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:47.119
So that meteor, um, though smaller than Tungusta, produced a blast about one-thirtieth as powerful.

00:28:47.599 --> 00:28:55.279
Um, and suddenly Tunduska was not just like historical curiosity, it was an event that might reckon with the future.

00:28:55.599 --> 00:28:56.160
Sure.

00:28:57.200 --> 00:29:07.519
So governments and space agencies have established programs to discover and track near-Earth objects called NEOs.

00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:08.480
Interesting.

00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:10.480
And that could pose a threat.

00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:10.960
Yeah.

00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:16.880
So NASA formed its Planetary Defense Coordination Office in 2016.

00:29:17.119 --> 00:29:18.319
I remember hearing about that, yeah.

00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:28.480
To coordinate detection of potentially hazardous asteroids and develop strategies to deflect or evacuate if one is on a collision course.

00:29:28.720 --> 00:29:35.440
Well, yeah, they they need to come up with new strategies because unfortunately, Bruce Willis has his thing going on and he can't go up there and drill a hole anymore.

00:29:35.680 --> 00:29:36.880
In the asteroid, he can't.

00:29:37.039 --> 00:29:37.359
That's sad.

00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:38.960
I really feel bad for Bruce Willis.

00:29:39.039 --> 00:29:39.839
I love Bruce Willis.

00:29:39.920 --> 00:29:40.079
Yeah.

00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:43.279
And the fact the shit he's going through, that's gonna be hard on him and his family.

00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:43.759
Yeah.

00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:46.640
But I mean, we gotta find other ways to drill.

00:29:47.440 --> 00:29:59.839
In 2022, NASA even tested a prototype asteroid deflection mission, the DART spacecraft, okay, by success successfully altering the orbit.

00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:06.799
But of a small asteroid, a direct response to the kind of threat Tungusta represented.

00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:18.400
The date, June 30th, the anniversary of Tungusta, has been designated International Asteroid Day by the United Nations.

00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:19.039
Okay.

00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:24.880
A day of um awareness about um asteroid impacts and what we can do to prevent them.

00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:26.640
So it's like look to the sky.

00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:28.079
I mean, what the hell?

00:30:28.160 --> 00:30:28.400
Okay.

00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:36.480
So each year on that day, scientists and educators around the world of Tung remain remind the world of Tungusta's lesson.

00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:36.880
Right.

00:30:37.119 --> 00:30:39.759
The cosmos is not a silent void.

00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:41.920
Sometimes it strikes without warning.

00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:44.720
Well, yeah, I mean, there's a lot of shit floating out there.

00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:46.799
A lot of shit that we don't know about, too.

00:30:46.960 --> 00:30:48.240
So that's crazy.

00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:51.119
That is the Tungusta event of 1908.

00:30:51.359 --> 00:30:52.799
I have never heard of that before.

00:30:53.039 --> 00:30:53.680
Me either.

00:30:53.920 --> 00:30:54.640
That is wild.

00:30:54.799 --> 00:30:55.119
Yeah.

00:30:55.359 --> 00:31:12.960
And weird because I mean everything leads you to believe it's some type of meteorite event that again, and that's kind of what I said, not so eloquently, but it like exp it could have had messed with the pressure or whatever of the atmosphere and then blew up.

00:31:13.039 --> 00:31:13.359
Yeah.

00:31:13.519 --> 00:31:14.160
Right above.

00:31:14.319 --> 00:31:21.119
Because if it shockwave that out, I mean, that's the only thing that makes sense, especially with no crater.

00:31:21.279 --> 00:31:24.480
So it's just wild that nothing has grown back there.

00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:26.720
That's also really weird.

00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:27.759
It is weird.

00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:38.640
Because even over time, a hundred and well now, seventeen years, wouldn't you think stuff would be I'm sure there's some things maybe, but all the trees are still fucked and whatever.

00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:39.039
Yeah.

00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:40.160
That's just weird.

00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:40.640
Yeah.

00:31:40.880 --> 00:31:41.839
But you know.

00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:42.960
Well.

00:31:43.200 --> 00:31:43.920
I suppose.

00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:46.559
All right, buffoons, that's it for today's episode.

00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:50.880
Buckle up because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you next time.

00:31:51.119 --> 00:31:53.279
Feeling hungry for more buffoonery?

00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:58.240
Or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore?

00:31:58.480 --> 00:31:59.920
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00:32:04.880 --> 00:32:09.200
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00:32:09.359 --> 00:32:12.400
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00:32:17.440 --> 00:32:20.799
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