The Nebraska Church Explosion
On Wednesday, March 1, 1950, choir practice was to start at 7:20 p.m. at the West Side Baptist Church. It always began at that hour, so this was not at all odd. The church burst around 7:25, which was rare. It has been hypothesized that the blast may have been caused by a gas leak that occurred after the furnace was lit to prepare for the choir's arrival. It was so strong that it even managed to take the local radio station off the air and blow the windows out of neighboring buildings. And because nobody was present, nobody was injured.
One evening, every single choir member was running late. Everyone was running behind schedule for various reasons. After lighting the furnace, Reverend Klempel returned home to have supper but was delayed since his daughter's clothing got soiled and his wife was ironing a clean one.
After eating her own dinner, the church pianist passed out at home and didn't wake up until 7:15. A high school student was having trouble with one of her homework's mathematics problems. Two further team members struggled to start their vehicles. While one man assisted her mother, another was having trouble penning a letter. The chapel was empty when it finally blew because a total of 15 different people were late for a total of 15 different reasons.
