Fascinating Friday
Welcome to Fascinating Friday!
My name is Visio Roughton, and I am one of the spring 2025 editors for the River.
From the manmade floating islands of the Americas, to the volcanic eruption that thrust the world into an endless winter, join me as I explore a weekly stream fascinating topics and the lessons that they provide.
Updates every Friday
Killer lake – A Look at the Nyos Lake Gas Eruption 1986
By Visio Roughton Lake Nyos is a deep, picturesque lake located in the Northwestern Region of Cameroon, about 196 miles away from the country’s capital Yaoundé. The lake itself sits on the side of a dormant volcano at a point just above a magma chamber that has been known to leak Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) into…
Elaborate Fake or Unsolved Mystery – Exploring the Voynich Manuscript
By Visio Roughton For thousands of years, humans have been writing things down on everything from clay tablets to books. Of these many written works, one of the most intriguing and mysterious is the “Voynich Manuscript”, a 15th-century codex that researchers believe was written in medieval Europe. To this day, the author remains unknown, as…
When Boston Harbor was Stained Brown – The 1919 Boston Molasses Flood
By Visio Roughton Molasses has a long, rich history in American society. A byproduct contrived from sugarcane refining, it was a common ingredient in many households. It was a cheaper sweetening agent, thus demand for the liquid intensified, especially in the early 20th century. It was imported in large quantities from the Caribbean, adding to…
The Sampoong Mall Collapse – How Greed Led to South Korea’s Largest Peacetime Disaster
By Visio Roughton Corporations will often skirt around rules in the name of turning a profit. Oftentimes, the dangerous conditions that come from this will go unchecked until tragedy strikes. This is something many people experience daily, and historically, the destructive influence of corporate greed has devastated thousands of lives. Some of the worst peacetime…
What an Island Can Teach About Life – The Fascinating Case of Surtsey Island
By Visio Roughton There are very few places on our planet today that have been untouched by the general human population, and this reality has been true for many years. This was true during the 1960s as well, so when underwater activity spawned a new island out of nowhere off the coast of Iceland, scientists…
The Summer That Inspired Modern Sanitary Systems – London’s ‘Great Stink’ of 1858
By Visio Roughton London is rich in history, having existed from the bronze age until today. Thus, such a city has had its fair share of urban disasters; fires, blizzards, floods, and plagues. In the summer of 1858 however, one of London’s greatest crises would take hold of the city. The River Thames, a force…
Mystery Disease in the 20th Century – A Look at the First Outbreak of Legionnaires
By Visio Roughton Modern medicine has made notable growths in terms of its ability to track and treat diseases, however, there was a time when this was not the case, and it was incidents such as the Legionella outbreak that rattled through Philadelphia in the summer of 1976. What superficially appeared to be nothing more…
When Summer Never Came – A Look at the Mount Tambora Eruption
By Visio Roughton The eruptions of Mount St. Helens or Mount Vesuvius are often synonymous with volcanic disasters, and they are, in fact, some of the most well-known eruptions to date. While each event was undeniably catastrophic, and their histories still affect us today, neither eruption can compare to the magnitude of devastation that the…
Plague of Vampires – A Look at New England’s Vampire Panic
By Visio Roughton During the 18th and 19th centuries, many communities throughout Europe and the United States were ravaged by an invisible illness. Tuberculosis—then known as “consumption” or the “white death”—was one of the deadliest diseases of the time, and it affected people living in New England in an especially disastrous way. With little to…
Chalk River – Home of the World’s First Nuclear Accident
By Visio Roughton Nuclear power has had a significant impact on humanity and the science field in the past century, and humanity’s understanding of energy has only grown. Today, it is utilized to power cities and medical treatment, and none of this could have been possible without decades of endless research to gain an…
Fire In the Sky – A Look Back at the Carrington Event
By Visio Roughton In late August of 1859, Earth was struck by the most powerful solar flare in recorded history, the effects of which peaked on September 1st and 2nd of that same year. The aroura that lit up the night sky following the solar flare was so bright that some even feared the red…
Floating Cities – The Islands of the Uros and the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan
By Visio Roughton Many cultures have learned to adapt to their environments, living alongside rather than against them. These civilizations, both ancient and modern, reflect the true power of human ingenuity. Two examples of this can be found in the floating islands of Lake Titicaca with its floating islands built by the Uros people, and…
The Town That’s Burned for 60 Years – A Brief Exploration Into the History of Centralia, Pennsylvania
By Visio Roughton Throughout American history, there are many examples of towns that are erected near or around areas that are rich in natural resources. From gold and silver to gravel coal, many of these towns flourished until the resources ran dry, or it became too costly to continue excavation. As a result life in…