07. The Peshtigo Fire: Part 1

Badger Bizarre

In the first of a 3 part series, Scott and Mickey discuss one of the most infamous dates in American history, October 8th, 1871.

Of course, that is the date of the Great Chicago Fire, maybe the most famous fire in our nations history. Though on that very same day, and burning at the very same hour, was another fire 250 miles north, in the forests of Peshtigo, WI.

And although after the flames were out, the city of Chicago received all of the nation’s attention, its sympathy, its aid, the people in and around the town of Peshtigo, WI received none of that, even though the fire in Peshtigo dwarfed the Great Chicago Fire, in the number of lives lost, by upwards of 8 times.

It is still today the deadliest fire in the history of North America and one of the worst wildfires the world has ever seen. But yet, unless you live in WI, and really even if you do, chances are you’ve never heard of Peshtigo, or the fire that ravaged the town and 1.2 million surrounding acres.

Chances are you haven’t heard the survivor accounts of people seeing their family members incinerated by an actual fire tornado, accounts of buildings being swept off the ground by 100 mile an hour winds and exploding in mid-air, or the accounts of seeing the annihilation of the town as the sun rose up the next day, and noting not one building, not one, still stood.

It’s a fire that’s often deemed as “Forgotten” by the annals of history; lost in the shadows of the Great Chicago Fire, about which many folk tales have been told and songs written in the decades since, while Peshtigo lay dying...

But Peshtigo didn’t die. It rebuilt, literally on the ashes of itself and today is alive and well. Located just off the shores of Lake Michigan and 40 minutes north of the city of Green Bay, Peshtigo embraces its tragic history.

Tune in to hear more about "The Forgotten Fire."

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Opening Trailer:

Ed Gein Sound Byte : "Hard Copy" - Paramount Domestic/CBS Televsion

Frank Lloyd Wright and Jeffery Dahmer Sound Byte - WISN 12 News - Milwaukee, WI

Jeffery Dahmer Quotes: "Inside Edition" - King World/CBS Television/CBS Media

Attribution for Music:

Trailer: Composer: Adam Phillip Zwirchmayr https://www.pond5.com/

Intro: https://pixabay.com/

Outro: Composer: Viacheslav Sarancha https://www.pond5.com/

Attribution for logo design:

Red Claw Scratch Photo

Sources:

Gess, Denise and William Lutz: https://www.amazon.com/Firestorm-Peshtigo-Deadliest-American-History/dp/0805072934

Pernin, Peter: https://www.amazon.com/Great-Peshtigo-Fire-Eyewitness-Wisconsin/dp/087020310X

Wells, Robert W: https://www.amazon.com/Embers-October-Robert-Wells/dp/B005QAF0MW

The Peshtigo Fire Museum: http://www.peshtigofiremuseum.com/