When I was a young boy, one of my most treasured books was Ripley's Believe It or Not

Accidents and Disasters, published in 1982. It had a bright orange and red cover featuring

illustrations of the fiery crash of the Hindenburg,

a seaside town with the caption,

The Village that slid 100 feet down a mountain during an earthquake without cracking a single

wall.

There was a final illustration of some guy surfing with the caption,

the man who wrote a tidal wave on a plank from his destroyed house.

Each caption ends in an exclamation

point, of course, and is hand-lettered in a familiar comic book style. I loved that book, and I still have

it. It's full of fantastic coincidences, shocking bad luck, tales of tremendous heroism, and horrible

heartache. All of them are short, punchy, and thrilling

to a 10-year-old boy. Here's one about the ghost ship that came back to haunt its namesake.

The SS Northumberland, rocked by a violent earthquake in Hawks Bay, New Zealand, was lifting

anchor and heading for the safety of deeper water when the quake brought up to the surface beside

it a sailing ship that had lain at the bottom of the sea for 44 years. The derelict was also

named the Northumberland. Well, on today's Saturday matinee, we're going to stay in this space,

bringing you another story of a ghost ship from the podcast Hidden History

with Dr. Harini Bot. This one is named the Mary Celeste, a vessel found drifting in the Atlantic in

1872 without a single soul on board, its entire crew missing without a trace. I hope you

enjoy. While you're listening, be sure to search for and follow

Hidden History with Dr. Harini-Bot. We put a link in the show notes to make it easy for you.

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