The 1980 Eruption of Mount Saint Helens | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror



“On the 18th of May, 1980, a massive volcanic eruption took place at Mount Saint Helens – an active volcano located in the state of Washington in the USA…”

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CHAPTERS:
00:00 – Intro
00:44 – Background
04:24 – The 1980 Eruption of Mount Saint Helens
08:36 – The Aftermath

MUSIC:
► “Glass Pond” by Public Memory
► “Underworld” by Myuu

SOURCES:
► “Five stories unfold under an ashen sky” by Adam Lynn, Andre Cherry and Craig Hill, published by The News Tribune, May 2005. Link: https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/special-reports/article25858843.html
► “Future Eruptions at Mount St Helens” by the US Geological Survey. Link: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mount-st.-helens/future-eruptions-mount-st-helens
► “World of Change: Devastation and Recovery at Mt St Helens” by NASA Earth Observatory. Link: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/StHelens
► “Pre-1980 Eruptive History of Mount St. Helens, Washington” by Michael Clynne, David Ramsey and Edward Wolfe, published by the US Geological Survey, May 2005. Link: https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2005/3045/
► “Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St Helens” by Steve Olson, published by WW Norton & Company, March 2017. Available via: https://wwnorton.com/books/eruption/

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32 thoughts on “The 1980 Eruption of Mount Saint Helens | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror”

  1. I grew up just southwest of Calgary, Alberta, hundreds of miles from the eruption. The sky was a dull yellow for a week after the Mt St Helen's blast, and we had ash accumulation for over a month.

    Reply
  2. Just watched Dantes Peak last weekend because I live by where it was filmed, and then went down a Mt St Helen's rabbit hole because I used to live not far from it. I was born shortly after the eruption, but it's just crazy to hear the stories from my parents and how crazy that day was. Now this video pops up. Lol

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  3. Wow. As many documentaries as I've watched on Mt St Helens, I'd never heard the story of Harry Truman before. Those poor cats!

    I hadn't heard about the photographer either. He must have realized he wasn't going to make it, so he tried to make his last moments count.

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  4. My husband is a photographer and I believe he worked for Mcgraw Hill at the time. They had him go up into a tree and there was a large type of basket that he sat in. He took pictures of the eruption, but was far enough away that he wasn't injured. It was an experience he will never forget.

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  5. David was my hero, and a hero for making sure him and his photographer were amoung the very few killed. Had the mountain been at capacity, the death toll would have been in the hundreds, possibly thousands. Unfortunately, he was despised for forcing people out of their homes, and stopping tourism and camping. Upon his death, he was greatly mourned.

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  6. Got to the visitor center and watch the film. A cameraman was filming when the mountain blew. He realized the could was headed right for him and he ran, he kept filming. He thought he was going to sue and wanted to leave his family a message.
    On the film we see it all, the cloud moved so fast. The crowd of people screaming and yelling while running.
    The video showed a blue sky one moment and darkness the next. That’s how fast the cloud moved.
    They couldn’t see their own hands in front of them it was so dark.
    They ran for around 15
    Minutes when all of the sudden the group turned a corner and ran out of the cloud into blue sky.
    It’s all on video and you can watch it at the visitor center.

    I was loading up onto a school bus for a band trip for a parade in Vancouver B.C. .
    I lived in Seattle then.
    We all heard what sounded like a car backfire so ignored it.
    When we hit the border, the Agents asked if we were fleeing the Volcano and wanted more information. That’s when we learned what had happened.

    Phone lines were down because of people over taxing the phone lines. Our Band teacher kept us calm and for 2 days we knew nothing and the news told us nothing but that the whole state was under ash.

    When we left to go home, we didn’t know what we were going to find. We found that all was well. The ash cloud went another direction and the Seattle was fine.

    I told my Mom what we had heard on the news and she laughed saying only a small part of the state got covered in ash. It went East and not north.

    The ash gave the state a bumper crop that year. In everything that was planted.

    That’s when we learned that the Pacific coast was above the pacific rim.
    That means we will not see Lava – Molten rock like Hawaii or Japan.
    Only Ash, heated rock and dust, dry ash.

    You can still see ash mounds along the freeway near Chehalis. Now they will look like hills around the river, covered in grass. They are not. They are mounds of ash dredged out of the river
    And put in the banks so the water would stay its course.

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  7. i grew up in gig harbor, just outside of tacoma. ive been to the visitor center a few times. its beautiful up there, and seeing the mountain in person is very humbling. my parents used to own a coffee table book about the eruption, i remember flipping through the photo timelapse pages and just being mesmerised.

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  8. My mom was about almost nine when this happened and lived in a small town in Washington at the time. She told me that when it erupted, her dad had lifted her up so she could see all the smoke. We visited it a couple summers ago and seeing how massive the area was honestly makes your stomach sink the first time you visit.
    For anyone whose thought about visiting, I'd suggest doing so during the summer. It will be hot, but the sky will be clear enough to see everything and really take it in.

    Reply
  9. WA native here – there are so many active volcanos in our state, it's expected there can be a significant earthquake and following eruption at any time. Even more of a threat than Mt. St. Helens is Mt. Rainier. The eruption is expected to be long overdue and on a much greater scale than St. Helens. It is something that is warned about to people who move here. Also, this story is something taught in Elementary schools to learn about geology.

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  10. You should try a story on the merrimack valley explosions, might be hard with all the typical american government coverups and payoffs though to get any real info on it. I bet 99% of americans have no idea about it.

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  11. Great video. If anybody's inclined St. Helens is a hike you'll never forget. At the southern base are lava flows from a much earlier eruption including caves you can poke around in. I made a solo ascent on a clear night and had the summit to myself for a good hour watching the sun rise until I left. It was really crazy standing a couple feet from being on the news and/or death and having no second opinions or means of getting help, just me and my judgement on where to stand for the photo.

    Reply

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