LOST FLIERS LEFT FUNERAL INSTRUCTIONS

Three lost fliers who crashed in the wilderness left written funeral instructions before freezing cold killed them.

The trio had been on a survey flight for a lumber company, according to news reports. Their provisions were sparse.

Wreckage of aircraft that went down in September 1939 was discovered the following March on the barren coast of Labrador. The men left a note dated November 1939 stating they expected to perish at their makeshift camp.

INFERNO IN BUSY TUNNEL; 1 DIED, MORE THAN 60 HURT

A truck illegally hauling 80 drums of a restricted chemical from Jersey City to Manhattan triggered a fire inside the Holland Tunnel - blistering the tiled interior of the busy Hudson River crossing.

The blaze started about 3,000 feet from the New Jersey side at a depth of roughly 80 to 90 feet.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the tunnel, said: "Firemen entered the eastbound tube from the New Jersey entrance and worked their way through two lanes of parked vehicles formed by more than 100 automobiles, buses and trucks."

More than 60 people were hurt in the historic disaster on May 13, 1949, and a New York City Fire Department battalion chief, Gunther E. Beake, died three months later from the effects of the smoke and chemical fumes.

[Photo: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey]

FLYING CAT LEAPS 40 FEET, LAPS BOWL OF MILK

As firefighters attempted to rescue her from a 40-foot pole, a grey cat belonging to Mrs. Fanny Levinson jumped - surviving a daredevil dive unscathed.

Once home, Mrs. Levinson fed the frightened flying kitty a bowl of milk. The feline was perched atop the pole for 30 hours.

The incident occurred Dec. 6, 1941, in Paterson, New Jersey.

[Photo: Paterson News via Paterson Fire History]

RUSSIANS COVERED UP FLAMING SPACE DISASTER

The Russians covered up a space disaster that killed more than 50 people.

A blazing rocket blast roasted a launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome while space personnel checked for a technical glitch. Investigators determined the engine on the R-16 rocket's second stage ignited.

A survivor said he "walked away for a smoke" moments before, reports say. 

Topping the fatality was Chief Marshal of Artillery Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin, in charge of the rocket program. Historians dubbed the catastrophe the "Nedelin Disaster." The Soviet government acknowledged the Oct. 24, 1960 tragedy almost 30 years later.

[Photo: Russian Space Agency]

DID DANCE FROLIC CAUSE NIGHTCLUB DISASTER?

Boston's mayor blamed a popular and heel-kicking dance - "The Charleston" - for triggering the catastrophic collapse of the Pickwick nightclub.

Forty-four people died when the floors of the Prohibition-era venue gave way.

Survivor Rocco Carparto - a professional singer known as ``Teddy Williams'' - watched the disaster unfold from inside.

"Just how it happened I don't know and I guess nobody does," Carparto recalled. "I made a jump for the stairway. But the stairway had dropped and I tumbled down."

Investigators determined chronic structural problems brought down the Pickwick - not the heel-kicking - in July 1925.

KILLER FIRESTORM DEVOURED POPULAR AMUSEMENT PARK RIDE

On Aug. 13, 1944, a deadly fire erupted on a spinning amusement park ride, sending leaping flames roaring across a landmark New Jersey playground.

There were six fatalities - three boys and three girls - and 125 injuries in the swift-moving blaze that started at the Virginia Reel ride at the Palisades Amusement Park, located along the Hudson River facing New York City, according to the September 1944 edition of Fire Engineering magazine.

The 15-acre park was especially busy that day with families seeking relief from a fourth successive day of record-breaking hot weather. An estimated 25,000 people fled from the flames, the Associated Press said - and some scaled fences to reach safety.

Firemen from 18 communities answered the alarm and one fire engine was burnt while pumping water.

Fire Engineering described the Virginia Reel as a ride "built in the shape of a mountain," with bucket cars pulled to the top and released down "a twisting, turning path, passing through a small tunnel."

BOSTON'S CASCADING KILLER MOLASSES WAVE TOWERING TERRIFYING 25 FEET

[Photo: Private Collection]

On Jan. 15, 1919, an industrial storage tank burst, sending a deadly tidal wave of molasses coursing through Boston's North End at an estimated 35 miles per hour.

At its peak, the gooey wave towered 25-feet over street level.  

"The destructive flood threw people and horses about, smashed buildings, and even damaged the steel supports of an elevated railway," the Atlantic Magazine recalled.

"Rescuers had to wade through knee-deep molasses and sticky debris to reach survivors," the magazine said. "Twenty-one people died in the disaster, another 150 were injured, and the cleanup lasted for weeks."