William Langewiesche’s A Sea Story (sinking of MS Estonia in 1994) is one of the most gripping pieces I’ve ever read. It was originally published in the Atlantic and is now stuck behind a paywall, but I found this link (https://www.patreon.com/beyondthebreakers/posts/sea-story-64972356 ) which will hopefully work.
Incidentally, he has written a ton of other great longform articles (including the Air France 447 crash) if you need that itch scratched.
i cannot go more than a month without trying to get someone to read this piece! he never does that true crime sort of misery voyeurism that makes me uncomfortable- it's a complex breakdowns of systems, how they fail, and how people react to that. it's technical without being overwhelming, and deeply human without being maudlin.
I came here to mention the same article. It’s excellent.
Interestingly, though, I lost some faith in him after reading his shockingly poorly premised article on the Boeing 737 max crashes. He basically tried to pin the blame on the pilots, which was just bizarre.
You beat me to it - I came here to recommend Langewiesche's MS Estonia story and his other pieces on air disasters.
Langewiesche was such a fantastic writer. In addition to writing about aviation, he also wrote great pieces on the French Foreign Legion, on environmental pollution in the Amazon, and a whole host of other topics.
I think the first proper long form piece I read was his MH370 one in the Atlantic, and it got me interested in both disaster investigations and journalism of this type. Very sad that he passed last year.
Same. The follow up too. Just imagining what it was like to have to yell, “Clayton is gone,” over a roaring flood while clinging to another child in a tree is gut wrenching.
The guilt that would come with it too. I had a sister die from a seizure when she was 17 because none of us happened to be in the house when it happened. That was really hard for everyone. I don’t think I’d like to know what it’s like to have a raging river rip a child from my hands and never see them alive again. It wasn’t their fault, but human nature is human nature. You’re never really be able to shake it all the way off.
Same, I could not get over the part where the mom was holding the kids on the kitchen counter when the counter just started detaching and sliding away.
I feel super-burned out on nearly all podcasts in the last couple of years but the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist turned it into a podcast and it was somehow even better than the article: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/where-the-river-took-us/id1896345297
Haven’t read the article but I’ve read Into Thin Air forever ago (and some of his other books). I’ve been thinking about rereading the book so I’ll give the article a looksee! Thank you!
A beloved teacher's hubris gets himself and a bunch of kids killed in an agonizing drawn out horror show in what became Mt Hood's deadliest ever disaster.
A beloved mother and sister's paranoia, magical thinking, and hubris gets herself, her sister, and her son killed in an agonizing drawn out horror show in Gunnison National Forest.
I truly feel so bad for that kid. In particular, the only thing he brought to entertain himself for essentially ever was a big choose your own adventure book and a book of word games.
Before things turned deadly, I cannot fathom how boring those months were for that poor kid in that little tent. It isn't like they were using that time to improve their situation or prepare for winter.
Snow Fall is my favourite piece of journalism, full stop. Absolute masterpiece.
Your ask made me think of the Esquire article about the Zanesville Zoo Massacre. I found it to be so gripping! Lots of animal death though, so be warned if that bothers you.
Agreed! The writing was fantastic but the interactive component just made for such an enjoyable reading experience. I have been chasing the Snow Fall high for a looong time! A lot of articles in this thread are new to me though, so I’m excited to dive in!
Thats funny, I came into this thread thinking about the Zanesville Zoo Massacre also, but I'm thinking of thr GQ write up - https://www.gq.com/story/terry-thompson-ohio-zoo-massacre-chris-heath-gq-february-2012 . Always stuck with me despite having read it over a decade ago.
I am unfamiliar with the Plura Cave Disaster so I’m excited to dive in to this article (no pun intended). The Tahoe avalanche thing was so interesting to me because it made me think of the Snow Fall article. Thanks for the suggestions!!
The Admiral is brilliant. Makes complicated and technical concepts easy to understand. Particular love when she looks at Russian or USSR aviation because that’s what her masters was on (I believe!)
Avalanche at Tunnel Creek. This is one of the best NY times articles I’ve read, with interactive elements that really helped me understand the logistics.
The Atlantic's article on MH-370, if you count aviation disasters. If you're looking for natural disasters, I second School Beneath the Wave, which someone else linked.
I have always thought that Michael Paterniti's story about the Swissair crash for Esquire was a beautiful piece of writing: https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a1115/long-fall-one-eleven-heavy-0700/
Chris Rudolph was a customer I worked with and was fond of and the Steven’s Pass avalanche was devastating. We read the NYT piece and it provided some amount of closure. We weren’t close friends or family but I thought it was respectful piece that had the potential to save lives.
Also, this isn't technically a disaster piece, but if you like the survivor-focused articles this has the same vibe imo: 27 Days in Tokyo Bay: What Happened on the Diamond Princess. It's about the cruise ship that was quarantined for COVID-19 in early 2020.
I don’t know if this counts, but the GQ article Inside the Nightmare Voyage of the Diamond Princess, about the passengers who were trapped aboard the cruise ship for two weeks when the COVID outbreak hit.
Lenferlesautres | 6 hours ago
William Langewiesche’s A Sea Story (sinking of MS Estonia in 1994) is one of the most gripping pieces I’ve ever read. It was originally published in the Atlantic and is now stuck behind a paywall, but I found this link (https://www.patreon.com/beyondthebreakers/posts/sea-story-64972356 ) which will hopefully work.
Incidentally, he has written a ton of other great longform articles (including the Air France 447 crash) if you need that itch scratched.
metamorphotits | 5 hours ago
i cannot go more than a month without trying to get someone to read this piece! he never does that true crime sort of misery voyeurism that makes me uncomfortable- it's a complex breakdowns of systems, how they fail, and how people react to that. it's technical without being overwhelming, and deeply human without being maudlin.
umwamiikazii | 5 hours ago
That article is TERRIFYING.
farinelli_ | 3 hours ago
So haunting. I adore it.
birdtripping | 5 hours ago
Everything by Langewiesche.
Mathlete69743325 | 4 hours ago
Here's the archive link: https://archive.ph/2021.10.06-230909/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/05/a-sea-story/302940/
danieloakwood | 5 hours ago
I came here to mention the same article. It’s excellent.
Interestingly, though, I lost some faith in him after reading his shockingly poorly premised article on the Boeing 737 max crashes. He basically tried to pin the blame on the pilots, which was just bizarre.
jhau01 | 5 hours ago
You beat me to it - I came here to recommend Langewiesche's MS Estonia story and his other pieces on air disasters.
Langewiesche was such a fantastic writer. In addition to writing about aviation, he also wrote great pieces on the French Foreign Legion, on environmental pollution in the Amazon, and a whole host of other topics.
[OP] beandog77 | 5 hours ago
Yes I love that one! I haven’t read any of his other work though, I will look into that!! Thanks
rockstaraimz | 2 hours ago
Welp, I just read that for the first time and I won't be sleeping tonight. 😳
relaxweredust | 3 hours ago
Best article ever
UArkMom | 2 hours ago
I was going to comment on Langewiesche's aviation disaster pieces. Absolutely riveting.
hereforfakestories | 28 minutes ago
Langewiesche’s piece on the sinking of the El Faro is similarly brilliant.
I think the first proper long form piece I read was his MH370 one in the Atlantic, and it got me interested in both disaster investigations and journalism of this type. Very sad that he passed last year.
Key-Level-4072 | 5 hours ago
[Texas Hill Country Floods of 2025](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-flood-firsthand-account/)
It won a Pulitzer.
DistributionFit3958 | 5 hours ago
A haunting read…. It has stayed with me since I first read it.
doryfishie | 3 hours ago
As a mother that was absolutely heartbreaking to read.
Key-Level-4072 | 3 hours ago
Same. The follow up too. Just imagining what it was like to have to yell, “Clayton is gone,” over a roaring flood while clinging to another child in a tree is gut wrenching.
The guilt that would come with it too. I had a sister die from a seizure when she was 17 because none of us happened to be in the house when it happened. That was really hard for everyone. I don’t think I’d like to know what it’s like to have a raging river rip a child from my hands and never see them alive again. It wasn’t their fault, but human nature is human nature. You’re never really be able to shake it all the way off.
hungrygoose2 | 3 hours ago
I think about this article frequenly
Dry_Huckleberry5545 | 2 hours ago
Same, I could not get over the part where the mom was holding the kids on the kitchen counter when the counter just started detaching and sliding away.
I feel super-burned out on nearly all podcasts in the last couple of years but the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist turned it into a podcast and it was somehow even better than the article: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/where-the-river-took-us/id1896345297
rockstaraimz | 2 hours ago
This essay is unreal. So good..
Educational_Car_615 | an hour ago
I remember when someone posted this here. A haunting, horrifying, and very tragic tale. I feel for their family.
babymama917 | 6 hours ago
“The Deadly Choices at Memorial” a 2009 nyt magazine article about the evacuation of Charity Hospital during Hurricane Katrina.
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/magazine/30doctors.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
[OP] beandog77 | 5 hours ago
Not sure if I’ve read this article but I’ve read the book Five Days at Memorial. So good!! Thanks for the rec
marticcrn | 6 hours ago
This one is horrifying/amazing
maeve117 | 5 hours ago
It’s 30 years old, but Krakauer’s Everest article in Outside is a classic. I read his book about it right afterward.
shrimpcreole | 5 hours ago
90s Outside was full of extraordinary writing
farinelli_ | 3 hours ago
I miss that era from Outside.
[OP] beandog77 | 5 hours ago
Haven’t read the article but I’ve read Into Thin Air forever ago (and some of his other books). I’ve been thinking about rereading the book so I’ll give the article a looksee! Thank you!
ExpandingLandscape | 18 minutes ago
Anything by Krakauer is good! He's one of my favorite writers.
BostonBlackCat | 5 hours ago
Mount Hood's Deadliest Disaster
A beloved teacher's hubris gets himself and a bunch of kids killed in an agonizing drawn out horror show in what became Mt Hood's deadliest ever disaster.
The Women Who Walked Away
A beloved mother and sister's paranoia, magical thinking, and hubris gets herself, her sister, and her son killed in an agonizing drawn out horror show in Gunnison National Forest.
oatmealndeath | 4 hours ago
That second one is very, very sad. TW for a sweet child caught up in a situation they have no control over and paying with their life.
BostonBlackCat | 4 hours ago
I truly feel so bad for that kid. In particular, the only thing he brought to entertain himself for essentially ever was a big choose your own adventure book and a book of word games.
Before things turned deadly, I cannot fathom how boring those months were for that poor kid in that little tent. It isn't like they were using that time to improve their situation or prepare for winter.
caserace26 | 4 hours ago
Both of these are excellent!!
[OP] beandog77 | 5 hours ago
Can’t wait to read this one, thank you!!
BostonBlackCat | 5 hours ago
I added a second as well that has a similar vibe.
[OP] beandog77 | 5 hours ago
I think I did read the second one when it first came out but I’m actually visiting Colorado right now so it’s the perfect time to reread :)
adilys | 4 hours ago
The first story is also covered in a fascinating multi-part series on the “Against the Odds” podcast.
freecoffeerefills | 4 hours ago
It gets posted here about once a year, but my first thought was John Hersey’s Hiroshima https://web.archive.org/web/20170131075215/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1946/08/31/hiroshima
This week is the 80th anniversary of its original publication in The New Yorker
snuggleslut5 | 3 hours ago
This is what I came to recommend. A gripping read.
BlueIvysMom | 5 hours ago
Snow Fall is my favourite piece of journalism, full stop. Absolute masterpiece.
Your ask made me think of the Esquire article about the Zanesville Zoo Massacre. I found it to be so gripping! Lots of animal death though, so be warned if that bothers you.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a12653/zanesville-0312/
[OP] beandog77 | 5 hours ago
It’s so good. I have trouble visualizing things in my head so the graphics are so helpful. I wish more articles included things like that.
Thanks for the recommendation though! I haven’t even heard of the Zanesville Zoo Massacre so I’m excited to read
BlueIvysMom | 5 hours ago
Agreed! The writing was fantastic but the interactive component just made for such an enjoyable reading experience. I have been chasing the Snow Fall high for a looong time! A lot of articles in this thread are new to me though, so I’m excited to dive in!
mimi_kanassis | 4 hours ago
Thats funny, I came into this thread thinking about the Zanesville Zoo Massacre also, but I'm thinking of thr GQ write up - https://www.gq.com/story/terry-thompson-ohio-zoo-massacre-chris-heath-gq-february-2012 . Always stuck with me despite having read it over a decade ago.
lbdwatkins | 5 hours ago
Oh man I went down this rabbit hole a few
Months ago. The Plura Cave Disaster from BBC was excellent: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36097300
Also there was one a few months back on the Tahoe avalanche.
That rabbit hole took me to missing persons cases; which if you have any interest in, I’d highly suggest Tom Mahood’s blog, otherhand.org.
[OP] beandog77 | 5 hours ago
I am unfamiliar with the Plura Cave Disaster so I’m excited to dive in to this article (no pun intended). The Tahoe avalanche thing was so interesting to me because it made me think of the Snow Fall article. Thanks for the suggestions!!
lbdwatkins | 50 minutes ago
This one about the girls at Camp Mystic was also a great piece, absolutely devastating though: https://archive.ph/Cahh5
brokenkey | 5 hours ago
Death and Valor on an American Warship Doomed by its Own Navy, by ProPublica about the USS Fitzgerald collision in 2017. There's a whole series on US Navy accidents but that one is a good place to start.
mdp300 | 3 hours ago
House of Cards, about the Surfside apartment building collapse.
farty__mcfly | 10 minutes ago
Ok I want to read this, but this article is brutal. Why are there graphics for each paragraph. It’s like an article/graphic novel hybrid.
criimebrulee | 3 hours ago
My niche interest is aviation disasters, and I love everything Admiral Cloudberg writes. Her write up on the 2025 midair collision over the Potomac is an incredible read.
[OP] beandog77 | 2 hours ago
I’ve seen people mention Admiral Cloudberg on other threads so I will definitely be checking this out! Thank you
hereforfakestories | 26 minutes ago
The Admiral is brilliant. Makes complicated and technical concepts easy to understand. Particular love when she looks at Russian or USSR aviation because that’s what her masters was on (I believe!)
tomatofrogfan | 4 hours ago
The school beneath the wave: the unimaginable tragedy of Japan’s tsunami
About Okawa Elementary School in Ishinomaki, which was inundated in the Japan Tsunami.
VolumniaDedlock | an hour ago
Oh wow, just read that. Devastating.
butterbeanscafe | 5 hours ago
Avalanche at Tunnel Creek. This is one of the best NY times articles I’ve read, with interactive elements that really helped me understand the logistics.
https://www.nytimes.com/projects/2012/snow-fall/index.html?eafs_enabled=false#/?part=tunnel-creek
[OP] beandog77 | 5 hours ago
lol yes that’s one I mentioned in my post! It’s amazing. As someone who has trouble visualizing things in their head, the graphics are so helpful.
butterbeanscafe | 5 hours ago
lol. I’m a total goof. I thought my one was called The avalanche at tunnel creek so I didn’t put two and two together. Whoops!
light_sweet_crude | 2 hours ago
The Atlantic's article on MH-370, if you count aviation disasters. If you're looking for natural disasters, I second School Beneath the Wave, which someone else linked.
linmre | an hour ago
There are a few well-known articles about shipwrecks in here already. This is another one that really stuck with me: “The Clock Is Ticking”: Inside the Worst U.S. Maritime Disaster in Decades
GiraffeThwockmorton | 4 hours ago
Does the Zanesville Zoo Massacre count?
I prefer the Esquire article -- GQ covered the same story, but I think Esquire had the better opening line.
travelsoapdish | 2 hours ago
I have always thought that Michael Paterniti's story about the Swissair crash for Esquire was a beautiful piece of writing: https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a1115/long-fall-one-eleven-heavy-0700/
Kdubntheclub | 2 hours ago
Chris Rudolph was a customer I worked with and was fond of and the Steven’s Pass avalanche was devastating. We read the NYT piece and it provided some amount of closure. We weren’t close friends or family but I thought it was respectful piece that had the potential to save lives.
I second Outside’s coverage in the OES disaster:
https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/mount-hood-disaster-1986/
cheesemagnifier | 6 hours ago
Commenting so I can come back to this thread later.
PieComprehensive1818 | 3 hours ago
Yes, me too
Turtle_Ten | an hour ago
Same
melancholymagpie | 3 hours ago
Collapse: The Oso Mudslide and the Community That Survived It.
Also, this isn't technically a disaster piece, but if you like the survivor-focused articles this has the same vibe imo: 27 Days in Tokyo Bay: What Happened on the Diamond Princess. It's about the cruise ship that was quarantined for COVID-19 in early 2020.
conquestical | 2 hours ago
ProPublica’s feature on the 2017 USS Fitzgerald crash: https://features.propublica.org/navy-accidents/uss-fitzgerald-destroyer-crash-crystal/
[OP] beandog77 | an hour ago
At first I thought this was referring to the Edmund Fitzgerald lol. Thanks for sharing!
lemonloaf76 | 2 hours ago
Favorite is kind of a stretch because it was devastating but this one really really sticks with me and was so powerful:
Lost in the Storm
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/30/magazine/hurricane-harvey-houston-floods-texas-emergency.html
planets1633 | an hour ago
I don’t know if this counts, but the GQ article Inside the Nightmare Voyage of the Diamond Princess, about the passengers who were trapped aboard the cruise ship for two weeks when the COVID outbreak hit.