ShortHand: Lake Nyos - Fog of Death

Summary

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RedHanded — ShortHand: Lake Nyos – Fog of Death

Episode Date: February 20, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this chilling ShortHand installment, the RedHanded hosts Jesse and Christian expose the terrifying true story of the 1986 Lake Nyos disaster in Cameroon. The episode uncovers how a tranquil African lake suddenly released a massive, invisible cloud of carbon dioxide, killing nearly 1,800 people and thousands of animals in a matter of minutes. Through macabre storytelling and sharp banter, the hosts explore the science behind the disaster, folklore and myths surrounding the lake, upstream scientific failures, the enduring fallout for survivors, and the looming threat at other volcanic lakes. With their trademark blend of wit, horror, and chemistry exam flashbacks, the hosts leave listeners pondering: is this the most terrifying natural disaster you’ve never heard of?

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Setting the Scene & Local Myths (02:48–10:04)

• Idyllic beginnings: Lake Nyos once supported a thriving community, with mentions of lush hills, baboons, and fruit trees.
• Folklore: Local myths warned that lakes could "rise, sink, teleport people, or even explode." Notably, the Bafmen people lived on high ground out of respect for the lake’s dangers, advice newcomers ignored—tragically with consequences.
• Geological wisdom embedded in myth: The hosts discuss how myths often encode memories of real disasters, a concept anthropologist Holla Eugenia Shanklin calls "geomythology."

“It was described…as a Ripley’s Believe it or Not event.” – Christian (05:04)

The Disaster Unfolds (04:47–06:11; 26:28–32:07)

• The event: On August 21, 1986, a sudden environmental calamity asphyxiated 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock in a single night.
• First accounts: Through the story of young Luke searching for his brother, listeners witness the village transformed into “a place…dead silent, bodies of dogs, cattle, goats, and chickens…escape was impossible.”
• Testimonies from survivors: Joseph Naquin’s haunting account (30:30–31:19)—waking at midnight to burning skin, a horrific smell, and losing consciousness as the gas took hold.

“I could not speak. I became unconscious. I couldn’t open my mouth because I smelled something terrible. I went to check on my daughter and I collapsed and fell.” – Joseph Naquin (30:30)

• Aftermath: The lake’s waters ran red, birds and even flies perished, and mass graves filled quickly to prevent disease—leaving the true death toll uncertain.

Scientific Inquiry & Global Bafflement (14:55–19:28)

• Previous warning signs: A similar event at Lake Monoun in 1984 killed 37; volcanologist Haralder Sigurdsson hypothesized CO₂ saturation as the cause, but his scientific warnings were dismissed.
• CO₂ science explained:
  • Dissolution: Deep, cold, high-pressure lake water can “hide” vast quantities of CO₂—up to 20 times more than surface water.
  • Trigger: An event—possibly a landslide or temperature change—brought the saturated water to the surface, causing a literal "explosion" of gas that suffocated everything in its path.
• Analogy: The pressure release resembled opening a shaken bottle of Coke (15:00).

“The science made sense. Carbon dioxide is colorless, odorless, and much heavier than air. Air with 5% CO₂ can snuff out candles. At 10%, people hyperventilate and lapse into comas…at 30%, people drop dead.” – Christian (15:11)

“He wrote his findings up and dubbed the phenomenon as a hitherto unknown natural hazard which could wipe out entire towns…they actually rejected it and said his theory was too far-fetched.” – Jesse (16:33)

The Chain of Catastrophe (26:28–36:53)

• Explosion mechanics: 120 million cubic meters of CO₂—enough to fill 10 football stadiums—exploded from the lake in 20 seconds, creating a 40-meter tall "killer fog."
• Impact: The fog traveled up to 23 km at 100 km/h, wiping out entire villages.
• Victims: Most died in their sleep; some were found half-naked, confused and delirious, others bled from their mouths or had burns—a result of asphyxiation and chemical exposure.

“Some people could smell eggs, hydrogen sulfide. Others reported the smell of gunpowder, which probably would have been sulphur dioxide. The lack of oxygen would’ve caused…confused and delirious [states] before losing consciousness.” – Christian (29:08)

Survivors, Science, and Lingering Peril (33:07–41:36)

• Ongoing risks: Researchers discovered CO₂ was still accumulating in Nyos and Monoun—another disaster was inevitable without intervention.
• Innovation: After years of debate, "degassing pipes" were installed in 2001 to diffuse gas build-up safely.
• Existential threat continues: Erosion threatens the lake wall; if it fails, a limnic eruption could kill tens of thousands—even crossing into Nigeria.
• Wider concern: Only three lakes are known to have such eruptions—Lake Nyos, Lake Monoun, and Lake Kivu (on the DRC-Rwanda border), which is 1,000 times larger than Nyos, contains methane, and threatens 2 million people.

“There are only three lakes around the world known to have limnic eruptions…Lake Kivu…contains not only CO₂, but flammable methane gas. A limnic eruption at Lake Kivu would result in one of the largest natural disasters in human history.” – Christian (39:06)

• Displaced survivors: Many resettled survivors faced further trauma, including massacres amid Cameroon's civil unrest, with thousands still lacking basic needs.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Quote / Moment | Attribution | |-------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------| | 05:04 | “It was described…as a Ripley’s Believe it or Not event.” | Christian | | 07:08 | “Much of the folklore warns of the destructive forces of lakes…they can even explode.” | Jesse | | 16:33 | “He wrote his findings up and dubbed the phenomenon as a hitherto unknown natural hazard which could wipe out towns…but his theory was too far-fetched.” | Jesse | | 19:28 | “...Lake Nios did exactly the same thing, only on a scale 50 times larger, killing almost 2,000 people.” | Jesse | | 21:04 | “I was the last nuffield. We were the last year to do the nuffield chemistry exam because it was so fucking awful…” | Christian | | 26:28 | “120 million cubic meters of CO₂…was released in 20 seconds…but cloud killed almost every human, animal and insect.” | Jesse | | 29:08 | “Others reported the smell of gunpowder, which probably would have been sulphur dioxide. The lack of oxygen would have caused…confused and delirious [states].” | Christian | | 30:30 | “I could not speak. I became unconscious…His arms were covered in burns…She looked like she was sleeping…she was dead.” | Joseph Naquin (survivor, as quoted by hosts) | | 33:07 | “...national army units were deployed to quickly bury the decomposing bodies in mass graves....didn't pause to keep count.” | Christian | | 37:35 | “There’s literally nothing you could do to stop it once it happens. The gas is just traveling. It’s just out there.” | Christian | | 39:06 | “There are only three lakes around the world known to have limnic eruptions…Lake Kivu…contains not only CO₂, but flammable methane gas. A limnic eruption at Lake Kivu would result in one of the largest natural disasters in human history.” | Christian | | 41:11 | “Don’t trust the lakes. Don’t go anywhere near a lake ever again.” | Jesse |

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Intro banter & myths: 02:48–10:04
• Events of August 1986 recounted: 04:47–06:11, 26:28–32:07
• Folklore and Bafmen tradition: 07:08–10:04
• Science and the overlooked warning: 14:55–19:28
• How the CO₂ disaster works: 21:04–24:20
• Firsthand survivor accounts: 30:30–33:07
• Disaster aftermath & ongoing risks: 33:07–41:14
• Global risk (Lake Kivu): 39:06–41:11

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Tone & Style

• Conversational and darkly humorous: The hosts’ banter (e.g., parenting podcast jokes, “Don’t, Don’t, Don’t”), chemistry jokes, and irreverent comments add levity to terrifying content.
• Honest and empathetic: Survivor testimonies are presented with somber respect.
• Educational yet macabre: Details are vivid and often deeply unsettling but rooted in accessible science explanations.

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Conclusion

This ShortHand episode masterfully reveals the unknown horrors lurking in Cameroon’s crater lakes, culminating in one of history’s most lethal, invisible natural disasters. With a keen eye for the intersection of myth, science, and human tragedy, the RedHanded hosts turn a little-known event into a story not just of terror, but of human resilience—and enduring peril.
It all ends with a signature blend of wit and warning:

“Don’t trust the lakes. Don’t go anywhere near a lake ever again.” – Jesse (41:11)

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Transcript

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[Christian]

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[Jesse]

I'm the same born from the dead. I want the same thing everyone else wants. A bride.

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[Jesse]

Hello, hello and welcome to Shorthand, which is. Oh, I am so loud in my own ears. Hold on. Much better. I don't like my voice any more

[Christian]

than you do too much sometimes when it's in your own ears, though your own voice in your own ears is. Well, apparently I think we'd be used to it by now.

[Jesse]

Yeah, I feel like sometimes I do get used to it, but then sometimes it like sneaks up on me like a ghost. Apparently you don't like the sound of your own voice played back to you because you're listening to it vibrating through your own bones, so it's deeper when you hear it. So that's why a lot of people listen to their own voice and be like, I'm not that high pitched. Ah, yeah. Apparently also might be completely false, but I'm choosing to believe it.

[Christian]

You're not here for facts, people.

[Jesse]

Especially not on Shorthand, the factual show where we talk about facts that we like.

[Christian]

You're not here for facts about bone ears. You're here today for facts about lakes that explode. Kinda. Yeah.

[Jesse]

Hook in the far northwestern corner of Cameroon, in a deep valley nestled between lush Green hills lies a tranquil lake with cream coloured cliffs rising from its water's edge. Colourful birds, troops of baboons and kaleidoscopes.

[Christian]

I was trying to set the scene.

[Jesse]

Give us your baboon noise.

[Christian]

Is that what they sound like? I actually don't know. Eh. They're a bit more screechy, aren't they?

[Jesse]

I don't know but I must have told this story before, but my friend's brother lives in Simonstown in South Africa and he accidentally left the kitchen door open.

[Christian]

Oh, yes.

[Jesse]

And the kitchen is on sort of like ground level. It's like one of those upside down houses where the bedrooms are downstairs. And he came back into the kitchen and there was just a family of baboons with their own Tupperware that they had brought. I'd leave taking stuff out of the fridge. Oh yeah, it would be the baboon's house.

[Christian]

Yeah.

[Jesse]

I would not live there anymore.

[Christian]

Have fun living in this house.

[Jesse]

So, yeah, Marcel had to rush them because that's what you have to do. You have to make yourself look bigger. So I don't know what sound they were making, but they did cower in Marcel's abominable presence. So we have Ceruti's noises, we have colourful birds, we have troops of baboons and kaleidoscopes of butterflies all around fruit trees and hilltops. Once upon a time, Lake Nyos would have been bustling with the sounds of children playing and men and women hard at work in orchards and tending to their homes. But what was once an idyllic paradise community has now been all but deserted. And the once clear blue waters of Lake Nyos run red. The people of the surrounding villages had no idea that their beloved lake had been hiding all this time a deadly secret.

[Christian]

That is until 21 August 1986, when 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock died. On that Thursday evening, they died suddenly and all at once.

[Jesse]

That's a lot.

[Christian]

It's a lot. And it was described this event rather ineloquently, yet aptly by M. Peter McPherson, administrator of the U.S. agency for International Development as a Ripley's Believe it or not event. Christ. A local Dutch Roman Catholic priest would later say that it looked as though a neutron bomb had gone off. So what happened?

[Jesse]

This is the shorthand before the catastrophe unfolded. That day, Nazarius, a teenager from a nearby settlement, visited Nios village. It was market day. Nazarius told his mother that he was going to spend the night at a Friend's and would be back in the morning. But when he wasn't home by lunchtime, Nazarius mother sent his little brother Luke to find him. And nothing could have prepared the young boy for the scene that he was about to stumble upon. The second he reached the outskirts of Nyos village, Luke knew that something was off. The place was dead silent.

[Christian]

As Luke cautiously continued down the narrow street leading into the village, he was met with the bodies of dogs, cattle, goats, and chickens. The air began to burn his nose, and the inescapable stench of rotten eggs flooded his nostrils. When Luke reached the first house in the village, he found inside a man lying in the doorway. In a panic, Luke sprinted to his friend's house where Nazarius was staying. And there Luke discovered the bodies of his friend's family and his brother. Luke desperately shook Nazarius, trying to wake him up, but it was no use. The teenager was dead. In a state of shock, Luke stepped out of the house and made his way through the village's streets, only to discover that the entire place was littered with the bodies of the dead.

[Jesse]

By the time the news of the tragedy eventually reached the surrounding towns and Yaounde, Cameroon's capital city, which I definitely have pronounced correctly, so shut up. Rumors of demonic forces had already begun to spread. Ancient local mythology documented by anthropologist Holla Eugenia Shanklin suggests that people around Nyos have long been wary of the lake's underlying evil. In fact, much of the local area's folklore warns of the destructive forces of lakes, claiming that they can rise, they can sink, they can teleport people, and they can even explode. One legend tells of a story where a group of villagers led by a man with magic powers, attempted to cross Lake Nyos. The man parted the waters like Moses, and they began to walk along the lake bed to the other side. But when they were no more than halfway through, a mosquito bit this man on his testicle. And when he swatted the mosquito away, the man lost his focus and in turn, his grip on the lake, which came crashing down and drowned the helpless villagers who were following him. I do think a lake is less impressive because, like, just go around.

[Christian]

Yeah. You know, and I also. Look, I haven't got any testicles, so I'm bitten on my testicles.

[Jesse]

You hope.

[Christian]

But when you get bitten by mosquito, it doesn't really hurt, so.

[Jesse]

No, it hurts later. Yeah.

[Christian]

So why are you swatting it away then there and then and letting everybody drown in the lake?

[Jesse]

Maybe he was just so shocked he was sated. With his testicles the whole time. So he was always looking at them and he was like, I see you, I see Mosquito Joe.

[Christian]

So the legend goes that these drowned villagers souls were trapped forever in the watery grave of Lake Niles. And in Cameroonian mythology, such souls always bring death and destruction. As such, the Baph men, one of Cameroon's 200 plus ethnic groups, have always believed that houses near lakes should be erected on high ground. So for hundreds of years, they lived on the high cliffs around Lake Nyos, forming the Upper Nyos village, which is about 250 meters above the lake. But sometime around 80 years ago, other ethnic groups began to settle around Lake Nyos itself, and they didn't adhere to the customs of the Bath Men. And by the early 1980s, several thousand people had settled on Lake Nyos lower shores. Interestingly, the Bath Men living on the upper banks of Lake Nyos were completely unaffected by the mysterious disaster. So could the myths have been true? Had the malevolent souls trapped in the lake reaped their revenge on the surrounding inhabitants?

[Jesse]

Probably not. However, there clearly was some wisdom within the myth and customs of the Baffmen, which. That's usually how it goes. Shanklin refers to such stories as geo mythology and believes them to be factual accounts of actual disasters that once occurred. It's like every civilization ever has the Great Flood, because it probably happened. The stories, of course, become exaggerated and more mythical as time goes on, but they do serve a purpose. And when the scientists were deployed to Lake Nyos to investigate, it became clear that in order to solve the mystery, they did indeed have to look at the past. Because on the 15th of August 1984, two years before the tragedy at Lake Nyos, something very similar occurred. 60 miles south of Nyos lies Lake Monoon. And like Lake Nyos, Monoun is one of the 40 or so crater lakes in the region of Cameroon. Although smaller than Lake Nyos, Monoun was a heavily populated area. And on that day, 37 people mysteriously died in the same area, suddenly and all at once. Rumours spread that perhaps there had been a chemical attack, but a handful of government officials speculated that the long dormant volcano underneath Lake Manoon had reawakened. Like in Moana.

[Christian]

One of my.

[Jesse]

I have many parenting techniques that I'm not proud of, but the only one I am proud of is that whenever Mabel has a bath, we listen to the Moana soundtrack.

[Christian]

Nice.

[Jesse]

So now when I play the first track of the Moana soundtrack, she just gets in the bath.

[Christian]

Oh, my God.

[Jesse]

I know.

[Christian]

That is amazing. That is top parenting.

[Jesse]

That's how it starts.

[Christian]

That's a very good tip to add to our parenting podcast. Don't do it was it don't do it?

[Jesse]

It's just called Don't, Don't, Don't.

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[Jesse]

I've never. No, he's not from Rhode Island. He is from the Scandiwegees.

[Christian]

He is. He is.

[Jesse]

Well, Iceland, maybe he is.

[Christian]

But yes, he has made his home in Rhode island, sir. Harlager quickly rejected the theory that the deaths were due to a volcanic eruption as the water had an increase in temperature, nor were there any sulfur compounds. But he did notice something very strange. Halada had collected some water from the bottom of Lake Monoun, and when he opened it on the surface, the lid popped off like when you shake a bottle of Coca Cola. The water was full of carbon dioxide. It quickly became clear to hager that the 37 victims had died of CO2 asphyxiation. And although something like this had never happened before in recorded history, the science made sense. Carbon dioxide is colorless, it's odorless, and much heavier than air. Air with 5% carbon dioxide can snuff out candles. At 10%, it can cause people to hyperventilate and lapse into comas. And while at 30%, people drop dead. After studying Lake Manoon for weeks, Harlader hypothesized that CO2 had been released from magma deep underneath the lake's floor. The gas would have seeped into the lake bottom layer for centuries, building into an enormous hidden time bomb of CO2. He wrote his findings up and dubbed the phenomenon as a hitherto unknown natural hazard which could wipe out entire towns. Just a few months before the disaster at Lake Nyos, Halida submitted his study on Lake Manoon to Science, a prestigious US journal, Science. But they actually rejected it and told him that his theory was too far fetched as there was no precedent for it.

[Jesse]

Two things.

[Christian]

Yes.

[Jesse]

First thing, you can have five English pounds. If you can tell me the. What is it called when, like. So you're like. Oxygen is O2. What's that called? The short urine.

[Christian]

The chemical.

[Jesse]

Okay, if you can give me the chemical of sulfuric acid, you can have sulfuric acid.

[Christian]

Is it sulfuric acid? It's like HS2 or something.

[Jesse]

You're so. That's very impressive.

[Christian]

H2s HS2.

[Jesse]

It's H2s. O4.

[Christian]

H2. So 4. Very good though, really testing my chemistry. A level there.

[Jesse]

We learned A rhyme in, like, year nine. And that's the only reason I know. Yeah.

[Christian]

What's the rhyme?

[Jesse]

It's like someone is like, oh. What he thought was H2O is H2SO4.

[Christian]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jesse]

And he died. Whoops.

[Christian]

Yeah. Poor little Billy. For what he thought was H2O was actually H2SO4.

[Jesse]

That's exactly it. Yeah. Second thing, when we do eventually do the episode on Chernobyl, which I have been sitting on like a golden egg for some time, I can't write. It's a very similar situation where the guy who figures out eventually what happened, because what happened was supposed to be impossible, right? And then the guy that figures out, he's like, no, this is what happened. They're like, nope. And he's like, yeah, but we all saw it. There's graphite on the ground. The core has exploded. And they're like, nah.

[Christian]

Yeah, yeah. I think it's hard, isn't it? Because with science, it's like. It's like if you watch Oppenheimer in that, the big part is like, snore. Fucking won everything, didn't it? I don't know.

[Jesse]

I mean, yeah, I don't. I feel like I should. You know what? I should have watched Salt Blood at Home and I should have watched Oppenheimer in the cinema, that I should have

[Christian]

swapped those two things, to be fair. I watched it in the fucking IMAX and I was like, it's okay. It was fine. It was fine. It was just a big. And maybe I'm just very cynical and this isn't an episode about my thoughts on Hollywood, but it just felt like a big Hollywood circle jerk. That's what it felt like.

[Jesse]

Yeah, but those are the ones that win the awards.

[Christian]

They are the ones that win the awards. You're right. But, yeah, in that the whole point is basically about, like, theoretical physics. And I feel like theoretical science, guys, like, let's maybe listen to these people that are saying this could happen, this could have been the case, and then investigate. They're just like, no, rejected. Rejected. Mr. Volcanologist, we don't want to hear it.

[Jesse]

And as a result, most of the scientific community never heard about this theory. And then Lake Nios did exactly the same thing, only on a scale 50 times larger, killing almost 2,000 people.

[Christian]

That is unbelievable. 2,000 people. I feel like it's something we can't really fathom, like, how many people that is. We're talking about villages and it's like, oh, it's little. No, 2,000 people died.

[Jesse]

The key to understanding how Lake Manoon or Nyos could release enough carbon dioxide to kill thousands is to understand how CO2 dissolves in water. Which is something I did not know because I don't have a chemistry A level. I was in set four science and I did double science. I didn't even do triple science but I did get a B, so suck it. Mr. Gower, do you remember the test

[Christian]

for testing for CO2 in water?

[Jesse]

Is it holding your breath? I can't remember.

[Christian]

Whatever.

[Jesse]

Okay, so we're all gonna journey back to picture the scene. Sariti Bala is on a public bus on her own clutching chemistry a level textbook to go to a different school to do her chemistry.

[Christian]

Yep. I was the last like a Jacqueline Wilson bus. Yes, 100%. And it's like the last samurai. I was the last nuffield. We were the last year to do the nuffield chemistry exam because it was so fucking awful. The book had experiments in to do with benzene and our teacher was just like we're just gonna skip past the next four pages and we're like why miss? They're like oh, because it's got experiments in there with benzene. And benzene is now illegal to use because it's a grade A carcinogen. I'm like how old is this fucking book anyway?

[Jesse]

This is bringing up a lot of issues. Okay, so 17 year old Sriti Bala, 16 year old, probably would have told you immediately that all gases have a certain solubility in water, which I again did not know. Meaning a limit beyond which no more gas can be mixed into the water. Is that what makes water fizzy?

[Christian]

Yes.

[Jesse]

Okay, well now I know I have a sodastream. Okay, for carbon dioxide this limit is around 1 liter of gas to 1 liter of water.

[Christian]

That's easy.

[Jesse]

So if you attempt to add any more carbon dioxide, it will just bubble out from the surface.

[Christian]

Carbon dioxide is what makes water fizzy. That's why when Harligan brought the bottle up to the surface and took it off, it popped. The water would have been bubbling with it.

[Jesse]

Got it. So the mass of the extra gas added will be the same as the mass of the gas in the bubbles, leaving. However, the solubility of gas in water can be increased by increasing the pressure and or decreasing the temperature. And where do you find high pressures and low temperatures? You find it at the bottom of deep deep lakes. And the crater lakes like Manoon and Nyos are really deep.

[Christian]

Lake Nyos had a depth of 682ft. That's 208 meters. That's about the length of two football fields. And I'm talking football. Our football, not your football.

[Jesse]

Real football, not hand egg.

[Christian]

I don't know how big a hand egg field is.

[Jesse]

Oh, my God. I'm gonna look up when the Eurostar.

[Christian]

Oh, yes. But I will continue to tell you about this, dear listener. So, at this depth.

[Jesse]

June.

[Christian]

June. There you go.

[Jesse]

When we're at Sirius. Jen's wedding.

[Christian]

Oh, there you go. So at this depth, the pressure is 20 times larger than it is at the surface, because obviously the weight of the water creating all that pressure, which means that the solubility of CO2 is also 20 times larger than it is at the surface. And since 1 liter of water can hold 1 liter of CO2 at atmospheric pressure, then at the bottom of Lake Nyos. It's pretty simple math, guys. One liter of water can hold 20 liters of carbon dioxide, which is, scientifically speaking, a fuckload. And because no light reaches the bottom of the lake, it's also super cold, which means that the water can likely hold even more CO2 than that. But where did the CO2 come from? I hear you scream. Well, it turns out that our old friend, volcanologist Harligan, was correct about that, too. Lake Nyos had formed around 400 years ago at the site of a volcanic eruption. And although the volcano is dormant, there is still some activity deep beneath the lakebed. This creates CO2, which then seeps through the cracks in the rock and bubbles into the bottom of the lake. Exactly. Into the Goldilocks area, where CO2 solubility is highest. But still, there is a limit as to how much CO2 this water can hold. As more and more CO2 dissolved into the depths of Lake Nyos over hundreds of years, it became more and more unstable, edging closer and closer to a disaster.

[Jesse]

And that is exactly what happened.

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[Will]

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[Jesse]

The heavily CO2 loaded cold water at the bottom of the lake was somehow moved upwards into the warmer, lower pressure layers of the lake and that caused an explosion. As a result, around 120 million cubic meters of CO2, which is enough to fill almost 10 football stadiums, was released in 20 seconds. And this enormous killer fog of CO2, 40 meters in height, hugged the land and traveled along the valley towards Lake nyos village at 100 kilometres an hour, which is 60 miles an hour. And that cloud killed almost every human, animal and insect that crossed its path.

[Christian]

That is crazy.

[Jesse]

Of the 1,000 inhabitants of Nyos village, only two survived. The fog would have reached the village before midnight. Most died in their beds where they lay. Part of the fog then crept northwest to the village of Cha, where it killed 58 people and reached as far as Koskin, a village 23 km away from the lake. The other branch of the killer fog travelled northeast towards the village of Suburn, 15 km away, where it suffocated 400 people, which was half of the village's population.

[Christian]

I can't believe how far it traveled.

[Jesse]

Me either. I am sure that I have listened to a Radio lab about. There was this myth in Finland in the war that these horses spontaneously froze to death. And it was something to do. So it turns out that it did actually happen. It's something to do with the bacteria in the water of the lake that if it's dealt with in a specific way, like a crash or like a big disturbance, it will freeze anything in its path. And it froze, like six horses that were just standing on the shore. If anyone can find that, please send it to me because I'm sure I haven't made it up. Yeah. So there was this, like, long standing legend of, like, people who'd been in Finland in the war and they were like, I saw these horses and they just froze. And it's to do with a specific water bacteria. I'll find it, I'll send it to you.

[Christian]

But coming back to Lake Nyos, survivors recalled the smell of rotten eggs, which would have been hydrogen sulfide.

[Jesse]

I went to a cafe yesterday to do an edit and I ordered a toastie and the bread tasted like banana. That's not right, is it?

[Christian]

No.

[Jesse]

Am I dead?

[Christian]

I have no idea what's going on there. Maybe they're trying to use up all that banana bread.

[Jesse]

Or leftover from 2020.

[Christian]

Exactly. So, yeah, some people could smell eggs, hydrogen sulfide. Others reported the smell of gunpowder, which probably would have been sulphur dioxide. And the lack of oxygen would have caused the killer fog's victims to become confused and delirious before losing consciousness. Some people were even found half naked as they tried to remove their clothes in a panicked state as they struggled to breathe. Others were found having bled from their mouths with burns on their skin. I think that's the thing that's so terrifying, right? You're just going about your day. You can't see anything. It's just this air, this smell, and suddenly you can't breathe. Like the idea of just choking when there's nothing you can see that is absolutely terrifying.

[Jesse]

Well, yeah, Hannah's talking about Chernobyl again in the HBO series, which, like, if you haven't watched, it's some of the best television I've ever watched in my life. There's a bit where they're moving this woman, this old lady, out of the exclusion area. And she was like, everyone told me to move in World War I, in the Revolution in World War II, and now you're telling me to move because of something I can't even see. Get fucked. And then they kill her cow.

[Christian]

You know, it is honestly one of the best TV series I've ever watched. I fast forwarded through all the dog shooting.

[Jesse]

Yeah, that's rough.

[Christian]

Anyway, so. Joseph Naquin, a survivor from Subham, recalled how he'd been awakened at midnight as his skin began to heat up and he heard a noise like an airplane. He said, I could not speak. I became unconscious. I couldn't open my mouth because I smelled something terrible. I went to check on my daughter and I collapsed and fell. Joseph only regained consciousness at 9am the following day. He had red stains on his trousers. His arms were covered in burns. He couldn't speak. Joseph checked on his daughter again. She looked like she was sleeping and he passed out again until 4:30pm When Joseph woke up, he realised that his daughter was dead and so was every one of his neighbours. It is some crazy apocalyptic shit.

[Jesse]

Yeah, it's like 28 days later. Yeah. Ephraim Che was in his mud brick house on the cliffs high above Lake Nyos. On that night, death came from the water. It was about 9pm when he heard a rumble like a rockslide and then watched as a white mist arose from the moonlit surface of Lake Nyos. Che told his four children that it looked like rain was coming and he went to bed feeling a little bit ill. His friend Halima Suli, a little lower down the cliff, had already gone to bed. But she too heard the rumble, only she passed out shortly afterwards. The following morning, Che made his way down the hill and he noticed the crystal blue waters of Lake Nyos were now red.

[Christian]

Can you imagine?

[Jesse]

No.

[Christian]

Have you seen all those rivers in Russia that are turning red? No. I'll talk about it in another duvet next week. It's fucking mental.

[Jesse]

There were no sounds of songbirds, nor the cacophony of insects. Silence filled the air. But then he heard his friend Suli. She was screaming. She ripped off her clothes and was in tears, screaming, why won't they move? Suli was kneeling over the bodies of her four children, trying to shake them awake. 31 members of her family and their 400 cattle laid scattered around too. Che would later say on that day there were no flies on the dead. The flies were dead too. Suli wasn't one of them, but many who had miraculously not died in the toxic fog, but had remained unconscious for a day and awoken to find their family dead, killed themselves, according to the UN.

[Christian]

In all, 1,746 people died, 300 ended up in hospital, 3,000 were displaced and 3,500 head of cattle were killed. But the true toll may well have Been far higher before scientists realized that these people and these animals had died of asphyxiation. The government feared there'd been an outbreak of some sort of deadly disease and a potential epidemic was brewing. As a result, national army units were deployed to quickly bury the decomposing bodies in mass graves. And they didn't pause to keep count. Within days after the disaster, pathologists, geologists and chemists from Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, England and the US arrived in Nyos. Some immediately assumed that the disaster was a result of an underwater volcano. But others recognized right away that this is what Harland Sigerson had written about at Monoon. And after weeks of disagreement, they all finally agreed. Harlad Sigurdsson's unknown natural hazard was for real. The natural disaster of dissolved CO2 erupting from deep water was named a limnic eruption or a lake overturn.

[Jesse]

Jesus. Yeah, that's the sequel to Lake Mongo.

[Christian]

Yeah. Lake overturn produced by Red Handed Limited colon limnic eruption.

[Jesse]

What wasn't so obvious though, was what had caused the build up of CO2 to be released. Something had to have detonated it. Some accounts, like Che and Suli, have told of hearing a rock slide which may have explained it. There was also a cliff face that scientists found which showed signs of having just shed a layer. Another possibility was a sudden change in temperature. This would have caused the surface water to cool down and sink, which would have displaced the CO2. Heavy water beneath it, and then again, a strong wind could have done exactly the same thing. Scientists were at a loss, but they needed to learn as much as possible as soon as they could. Mainly they needed to know how likely it was that this would happen again. The military ordered almost 4,000 of the survivors to vacate their homes until it was confirmed safe for them to return.

[Christian]

Scientists then tested the depths of Lake Nyos and Manoon, and to their horror, they found that the eruption hadn't changed anything. There was still a significant amount of built up CO2 at the bottom of the lakes, meaning that another tragedy could take place at any time. They considered every solution to prevent CO2 from accumulating in the water. Everything from dropping bombs and dumping lime to digging tunnels in the lake beds were thought of. But they were either too dangerous or sadly, too expensive. In the end, however, a fairly cheap yet effective solution was thought of. They were to stick pipes in the bed of the lakes which would safely allow the pressurized CO2 laden water to shoot out. Like a geyser. Think of it like a sustained controlled explosion, but not Everybody was convinced, and understandably so. This was an area of science that was little known and dangerous. And there was a real chance that sticking pipes down into the lake could just set off a new explosion. But it was the best solution that anyone could think of. And after almost 15 years of research and lobbying for funds, the degassing process of Lake nyos began in 2001. An automatic alarm system was also installed at the lake's gateway to alert residents of any potential dangers.

[Jesse]

Even still, it may well not be enough. 5,500 tons of CO2 pours into the lake annually. And worse yet, in 2005, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs and the United Nations Environment Program issued a joint. The wall of the lake will crumble within a decade and it needs to be reinforced, or else it could break apart and trigger a disaster worse than the one that happened in 1986. And if this does happen, it would cause a limnic eruption, which would cause CO2 to travel as far as 50km to the border of Nigeria, with an even bigger death toll.

[Christian]

And there's literally nothing you could do to stop it once it happens. What are you gonna do? The gas is just traveling. It's just out there.

[Jesse]

This is what makes me believe in aliens.

[Christian]

If this can happen. Exactly.

[Jesse]

Yeah.

[Christian]

I think that's the name of our new podcast. This is what makes me believe in aliens. And it's just unbelievable things that we can find, patent pending.

[Jesse]

And as for the thousands of survivors of the Lake Nyos disaster. Disaster. I've been talking to my mum this morning. Of the Lake Nyos disaster. They lost everything almost 40 years ago and life hasn't gotten any easier for them since. What they want more than anything is to be able to return to their homes. And some have. Despite warnings from the government, 12,000 others were relocated to various resettlement camps, hoping to rebuild the lives they once had. One of these was the buabua camp. In 1916, Northwestern and Southwestern regions of Cameroon descended into civil war, and defence groups destroyed the buabua camp in 2020, killing 19 survivors of the Lake Nyos disaster. The displaced people of Nyos are now caught in the middle of their fears of a recurring natural disaster and attacks from local armed groups. And the war has only displaced thousands more people. The displaced are in desperate need of access to schooling, food, electricity, sanitation and medical facilities.

[Christian]

Today, the area where 1,000 people once lived in Nyos village is hidden by dense vegetation, and there are only a few remnants of houses left. And the mass graves remain unmarked. There are Only three lakes around the world known to have limnic eruptions. Lake Nyos, Lake Manoon, which you now know about. But the third is the one that the world is keeping an eye on. It's Lake Kivu, one of Africa's Great Lakes. On the border between the DRC and Rwanda, Kivu is Africa's 8th largest lake and the 20th deepest lake in the world. And it sits upon a rift valley slowly being pulled apart, causing volcanic activity around the lake. Geologists have found substantial evidence of mass local extinctions having occurred every thousand years caused by a limnic eruption. But what's even more terrifying about Lake Kivu is that it's a thousand times the size of Lake Nyos and contains not only CO2, but flammable methane gas. Not to mention that the area around Kivu has one of the highest population densities in the African Great Lakes region, with 2 million people residing there. A limnic eruption at Lake Kivu would result in one of the largest natural disasters in human history. Well, that's absolutely fucking terrifying.

[Jesse]

And that's why I believe in aliens.

[Christian]

My God, that is horrifying.

[Jesse]

Truly.

[Christian]

Are we stuck any pipes in there? What's going on? It's huge.

[Jesse]

Someone call a plumber. Someone call the International Union of Plumbers. Someone put a pipe in there.

[Christian]

I'll be around Wednesday, maybe. Maybe. Fuck it out. Oh, my God. That is actually so terrifying. Well, yeah. There you go, guys. Don't trust the lakes.

[Jesse]

Don't go anywhere near a lake ever again.

[Christian]

Don't.

[Jesse]

And if you live in the lake district, move.

[Christian]

I don't believe that. That's the only lake they didn't believe. That guy. I don't believe this.

[Jesse]

Oh, my God.

[Christian]

Okay, well, that's it, guys. That's his week. Shorthand. We hope you enjoy. Enjoyed it. Don't be too scared. Don't live near a lake, but visit them often. Or don't. Don't. Yeah.

[Jesse]

Parenting podcast.

[Christian]

Listen to the Bathman and we'll see you next time. Bye Bye. Sa.