The morning of January 12, 1888, towns across the Great Plains of the United States encountered relatively warm weather for an area experiencing a frigid winter. But the afternoon would bring a nasty surprise at about the same time as children were being let out of school for the day. A ferocious blizzard raced across the plains like a stampeding horse, moving with supernatural speed and swallowing those outside at the time whole before they even knew what was happening.