The Ashtabula train disaster and bridge collapse was the worst train disaster of the 19th century, claiming the lives of 97 people. The engineering and structural failures that caused the collapse of a bridge that stood for over a decade, also took down the most luxurious train of the day, “The Pacific Express #5.” The accident happened in Ashtabula, Ohio on December 29, 1876 during a raging blizzard, sending the luxury train crashing 70-feet into a river gorge and costing the lives of 97 people. The disaster shocked the nation, yet it’s a story that’s been lost in the pages of history. In a strange twist of fate and intrigue, the bridge disaster also became the backdrop to the still unsolved murder of Charles Collins, the railroad’s chief engineer. It also contributed to the eventual suicide of millionaire Amasa Stone, the president of the railroad and the designer and builder of the bridge.

Jaw-dropping real-life footage, from the funny to the dramatic, reveals exactly what can go wrong when we venture onto the roads

Reg Sherren revisits the players and the places that were critical in the Gimli Glider incident of July 1983.

The film is a documentary on the day April 17, 2013, when West, a small farm community in Texas was changed forever by a devastating explosion.

In November 2017, a devastating earthquake hit western Iran. It took only 13 seconds to lose everything. This is a fleeting observation of the days after the disaster.

The World Trade Centre attack was perhaps a foretold disaster waiting to happen. The proof is in this highly incandescent film: a rapid-fire montage of images taken from 20 years of Hollywood blockbusters. Edited and crafted with mastery in the Metamkine laboratory.

A found footage experiment made using footage from a 50s disaster film. Slowed down audio and lots of distorted textures are present.

The largest man-made disaster of the 20th century, now largely lost to history. A journey through the early history of Los Angeles and the city's water needs. Ever-growing demand led to larger and larger projects, and eventually to tragedy. The history of the tragedy, the role of William Mulholland in the disaster and the city's water development, and how the lessons of the tragedy reflect on our current infrastructure needs today.

This pseudo-newsreel uses special effects to illustrate the fire caused by the San Francisco earthquake. A miniature model of downtown San Francisco is set ablaze and filmed.

This shows the heart of one of the tremendous drifts in the east end of Galveston. Hundreds of dead bodies are concealed in these immense masses, and at the time the picture was taken the odor given out could be detected for miles. The subject shows a gang of laborers clearing away the debris in the search for corpses, one of which was discovered while the picture was being taken. (Edison film catalog)

The festive start and disastrous aftermath of the launch of the H.M.S. Albion.

A poor family returns to their village from Dhaka after The Great Bengal Femine 1943. This movie centers on their struggling life during the World War II period.

Ancient myths tell of catastrophic destruction by fire and flood. The legends are so extreme that they are often dismissed. Earth Under Fire connects "myths" to science in order to reconstruct the details of prehistoric disasters and explain how they could recur. Compelled by ancient warnings hidden in zodiac lore, and working with science, to confirm that our Galaxy's core exploded at the end of the last ice age, unleashing cosmic rays that enveloped our solar system in a nebula, leading to darkness, frigid cold, solar storms, searing heat, and floods that plagued man for generations. Linking science to details in the myths and monuments of the ancients, he shows how our ancestors recorded the causes of these events, knowledge of which may be crucial for the human race to survive. This information reveals the intelligence and ingenuity of our ancestors who, when faced with extinction, found the means to warn us that the apocalypse that destroyed them could occur once again.

The story of Australia’s worst peacetime disaster On 7th February 2009, Australia suffered its worst peacetime disaster ‘Black Saturday’ claimed 173 lives, left more than 7,000 homeless and destroyed close to half a million hectares of Victorian bushland

THE DEVIL'S FIRE is an original documentary from WSKG Public Television and filmmaker Brian Frey. Utilizing never-before-seen photographs and investigative archival material, the film tells the story behind the Binghamton Clothing Company's charismatic owner, Reed B. Freeman, and the young immigrant workers trapped in the deadly blaze that hot Tuesday in July of 1913.

The scene is a railroad track on the side of a steep mountain, with a tunnel in the background, toward which a train is running at a high rate of speed. At this instant the audience is appalled at the sight of a second train rushing out of the tunnel. Both trains are on the same track and traveling toward each other at a high rate of speed. They collide. Cars and engines are smashed into fragments and thrown down the steep incline. (Edison Catalog)

The film documents the launch of HMS Albion at Blackwall on the 21st of June, 1898—an event that was witnessed by 30,000 onlookers, 37 of whom lost their lives when the jetty upon which they were standing became washed away by the resultant swell.