The Donner Party: America’s Most Gruesome Tale of Survival
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- Опубликовано: 18 сен 2024
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Biographics should absolutely do an episode on Dr. John Rae, famed Scottish explorer and outdoorsman who dedicated himself to the Hudson Bay Company, and more notably, discovered the tragic end of the Franklin expedition, only to have his reputation sullied after exposing the drastic measures the crew resorted to trapped in the ice.
Agree!
Was that the expedition buddy levy wrote about in "the labyrinth of ice"
I definitely agree
He already did...
@@hanisk2 Not John Rabe. Not John Franklin.
So basically the true villian of this story is the guy the totally lied about a shorter route existing.
The true villain in this story is pride
That was the nail in the coffin, so to speak. But there were a lot of other factors as well. Really it was just a succession of bad luck and unfortunate events.
@@matthewjames206 and arrogance
Yes
@@nadiadelphi6850 “Ah, my pride!”
Abraham Lincoln was invited on that journey, as he was one of the group's lawyers, but Mary Todd Lincoln convinced him it was a terrible idea & she was heavily pregnant at the time. One of those odd little butterfly effect/'what if?' moments in history. There's an awesome book called 'The Indifferent Stars Above' about the Donner Party that's well worth a read.
It's true that Lincoln would have liked to travel to California or Oregon some day, but he never seriously considered joining the Donner Party, as he aspired to a political career and doing so would mean giving that up. Reed was Lincoln's friend and legal client, whom he helped to declare bankruptcy.
Imagine That. If Lincoln would've been on that Journey, he would've died, Americas fragile union would've collapsed and the north and south would've been in war for decades
I still find William Hook's story, the most interesting/bizarre. The guy was in the Donner Party, got rescued and then immediately died from overeating.
Wasn’t he the kid who ran who stole food, ran away to eat it then came back a day later sick
I'm surprised he didn't mention it. It's always amazed me. And yes I'm one of those morbid dudes who read the entire Wikipedia page. I was always fascinated by this story from back when my dad would tell me stories about it as a kid (probably not the best stories to be telling an 8 or 9 year old). You feel for the guy. He was so close only to lose it at the end.
Refeeding is a sad thing
Common fasting error. I’m not saying fasting will prepare you for an event like this - it’s hardest when there IS no food, but from fasting you learn that’s EXACTLY not what you should do after a long period of time not eating!
This also happened to a group of holocaust survivors sadly
I remember learning about the Donner party in Social Studies class. Later that day, we were allowed to play Oregon Trail on the old Apple computers in the Library. I remember my party running out of food and wondering "why is there no Donner Party option?".
Lol loved that game on old apple computers
It was a great day at school when you got to go to the library to play oregon trail.
Or poptropica
Goood times
"Fair's fair, George. We drew straws, you lost. Now get in the pot".
The State of California created the Donner Memorial State Park in 1927. It originally consisted of 11 acres (4.5 ha) surrounding the monument. Twenty years later, the site of the Murphy cabin was purchased and added to the park. In 1962, the Emigrant Trail Museum was added to tell the history of westward migration into California. The Murphy cabin and Donner monument were established as a National Historic Landmark in 1963. A large rock served as the back-end of the fireplace of the Murphy cabin, and a bronze plaque has been affixed to the rock listing the members of the Donner Party, indicating who survived and who did not. The State of California justifies memorializing the site because the episode was "an isolated and tragic incident of American history that has been transformed into a major folk epic". As of 2003, the park is estimated to receive 200,000 visitors a year.
Been there, and hiked in the mountains that overlook it. It's an absolutely sublimely beautiful part of California, and Truckee has to be about the cutest little tourist town I've ever seen in my life!
Been there as well in the Spring, it really is beautiful. The water that runs in those creeks is crystal clear and very cold. The museum itself is interesting too
History is often cruel but it’s odd that we commemorate the stupidity of these voyagers.
Literally drove through Donner Pass over a hundred times and i still get chills thinking about it every time
I would too
Wuss I bet human flesh tastes like pork always curious
I grew up in Reno and still don’t live far away. Creepy to think that not too far away from my house is Americas greatest horror story
Ive been to the monument so many times living up there on school trips.
Fun fact, donner pass is still deadly. People die every year on donner pass from vehical accidents because the roads in the winter are terrible.
I lived near several high elevation mountain passes in central Colorado and can attest to the fact that they can be squirrelly at best and dangerous at worst. Though from my experience, that is affected as much if not more by the behavior of the drivers than the weather.
Fun Fact and deadly, now that not a combination I hear often.
@kegsofvomitspit deffinatly, most of the bad accidents are people who don't understand how to drive on ice. donner is a huge curve that has grades going both ways and breaks will send you off road in a bad spin. So slow, steady, and chains when it's real bad. But truckers sometimes can't maintain speed on The down grade thats a curve and just slide off.
@@lo0nyt0onz : For real. Momentum can be a b*tch.✌️
You're right. People die every year on Donner Pass from vehicle accidents because of roads packed with snow & ice AND because too many drivers are terrible and don't respect winter conditions, too.
I believe few understand exactly what the travelers faced and experienced attempting to cross the Sierra Nevada mountains. In my younger days, I traveled about the Sierras from Lake Tahoe down through Kings Canyon, mostly in and through Yosemite during all the seasons. To (relatively) safely survive, I/we had winter worthy tents, sleeping bags that had the approximate insulation of at least 30 wool blankets thick. We had enough freeze dried and dehydrated food to more than last our expected time in the wilderness with stoves and more than enough fuel. For transportation, we had modern mountaineering skis; SO much easier than trying to trudge through knee to waist deep snow wearing leather boots, woolen socks (likely worn thin) and woolen pants and skirts and even easier than snowshoes. While I do not know the conditions during that winter, Sierra snow tends to be "wetter," causing everything to get soaked and then freeze; a very dangerous situation. Trips that those folks took in desperation, we did for casual sport and I am humbled by their drive and ability to survive.
17:50 Good on James for at least informing that there was a party to be rescued. He could have posed as a lone trapper and said 'screw this shitshow' - but he didn't. Interesting that. Good on him (particularly since he was cast out in the first place).
Wasn't it because his family was still with them?
In Canada we have a similar story, the Rennie party. They were trying to reach Barkerville during the Cariboo gold rush, and it also ended horribly. The theatre in Barkerville still puts on plays, I remember one time I visited they had a play about it.
I'd like to suggest a Biographics on Otto Von Habsburg. He was the final Crown Price of Austria Hungary which he was forced to abdicate when he was 5 years old after WW1. He then lived in exile all over Europe, got his PhD in political science in Belgium. Then he fled the Nazis for the United States where he became a major celebrity and often met with high level figures in the American government, including FDR, to warn them about the dangers of Hitler and fascism. After the war he returned to Europe where he became a leading advocate for the formation of the EU and was a member of the European Parliament for 20 years. He was active in politics until the end of his life at nearly 100 years old. He's considered to be an all around great person with an absolutely fascinating life.
Top 5 Habsburg
Von Habsburg family rules elites. It tops evil rotschilds and Rockefeller. World doesn’t need to glorify them
As a long haul trucker here in the States I’ve driven over Donner Pass more times than I can remember at all seasons and a local in Truckee told me once that during the winter they never measure the snow in inches during a storm but in feet. Around Donner Pass, 13 Ft is average.
I'm from, and still reside in, Springfield. The fact that the Donner Party started here is obscured by anything and everything Lincoln. It's a crazy piece of history and I wish Springfield would recognize it.
A biography about Arctic Explorers like Shackleton,Scott and Nansen would be an interesting and fascinating topic
The Franklin Expedition would be interesting indeed.
Fun fact: The PBS show American Experience in 1992 aired a documentary on the Donner Party produced by Ric Burns. It is now considered the most deeply disturbing films ever made, even by horror fans.
🤨 "Dinner Party"?
@@DragonGoddess18 Donner Kebabs
@@DragonGoddess18 oops I fixed it
@@katdroiddshould've kept it- it was technically still true
@@missyouwish88 😆
Not the first time I've heard this story, but it's fascinating to see how the tale gets presented by different folks, from different sources and so forth. If anybody should've faced legal action over this, maybe Hastings. He acted in bad faith with his "shortcut," and I don't for a minute think he didn't know good and damn well he wasn't endangering people.
I think only Hastings and Reed should have been charged as Hastings knew very well that route was most likely more dangerous and Reed murdered someone.
Lol they managed to rejoin the standard trail without anyone dying. So idk why blame Hastings.
@@raptorhacker599Because his “shortcut” caused the party to loose over a month on the journey which in turn is what caused them to get stranded and cut off from any help or assistance.
Caitlin Doughty made an amazing video on this. Very detailed
She even went to the site.
I feel like even (already) Simon’s made a video about this lol
I loved her video. My favorite one of hers is the one about how the real Moby Dick was way worse.
Edited for autocorrect errors.
Just for perspective, the winter storms in the Soerra Nevadas from December '22 to the end of March '23 were similar in scope of how much snow fell in a relatively short time.
Some of my ancestors went on the Oregon Trail in 1848 & 1849. One ancestor kept a trail diary that was in the family for several generations, but it's now in a museum. Some of them died on the trail or shortly after, but at least they weren't the poor Donner party.
They covered less than 2 miles a day and yet I lose my mind if it takes me longer than 15 minutes to get home from work(6 miles)
I’ve lived in the core of part of the Rocky Mountains and the thought of crossing them east to west on foot or by wagon train sounds incredibly daunting, under the best of conditions, let alone when it was completely “untamed” and modern medicine was in it’s infancy.
You'd think all those gravestones of my party members dying of dysentery and other hijinks would be warning enough...
@@Benson_aka_devils_advocate_88 I think there actually is one on Switch!
Often, my ear’s sophisticated palate heard them called the “Donna Reed” party.
That would probably have been more fun.
That is what I thought I heard too!
I used to watch the Donna Reed show on Nick at Nite.
@@btetschner she’s adorable! So great in It’s A Wonderful Life also.
@@harrietcraig6716 Yes! That is my favorite Christmas film too.
When I was in 3rd or 4th grade, we had to read a book for school called Patty Reed's Doll. Traumatised the hell out of me. Who decided the Donner Party was appropriate content for 9 year olds?
I just looked up that book, I can already understand how it can be traumatising.
Very unusual that it comes from the perspective of the doll.
What was amazing is the heroic effort made by the rescue teams that went and helped save who they could! True heroes!
my dad. 😆 He used to tell me stories about the Donner party. It might explain things about me today actually... hmm
MY ASS
I always pick up a hitchhiker when I drive through the Donner Pass, just in case.
😊 Now, there's a man with good taste!
Never trust a confident man who says, 'I know a short cut!'"
'Trust me bro! My uncle [no relation] told me about it one time' 🫠
It should be mentioned there were indigenous people in the area that tried to help them by offering them food like deer. However, the DP ran them off repeatedly and when they saw them resort to cannibalism, the tribe (whom I think did have one of their members eaten by the DP) noped out of there and left them to fend for themselves.
This!
Then they earned what they got. A fellow human tried to help and you want to act self-righteous
Debunked leftist lie
@@RachelG1979 that makes zero sense they earned having to eat someone else? This is what leftist thinking gets you. Listen hun imma tell you something somebody's else shouldve. We weren't friends with the Indians at the time that's all a bunch of bs. We looked at them as savages. Right or wrong. That's how it was. But keep trying to judge people for a decision you would've made yourself to. Have fun being that self righteous.
@@nayaabshah1155 not this learn history and you'd understand not everyone is friends.
Two cannibals were eating a clown when one said to the other “ Hey does this taste funny to you? “
Spending some time in the sierras as a kid in the winter I was always thinking what it must of been like for these people the snow is so deep and the mountains are so big and hard to climb because of the decomposing granite what a nightmare
After their service had ended in the Mexican War some of the members of the Mormon Battalion went to Sutter's Mill. They were some of the first people to find gold in California. They stayed to help built to Fort Sutter. The Mormon Battalion were also the rescuers of the survivors of the Donner Party. They buried the dead in graves and burned the cabins where the horrific cannibalism took place to the ground as well.
The fact Simon probably has no idea what those last few lines were a reference to saddens me. "...anyway...we delivered the bomb."
How brave. All those Pioneers. I'm English by heritage and so can't really ever understand the "Full" story of how these people basically created a country.( By means that may be covered in another of Simon's videos. I hope! ) But you cannot deny the courage it must take to give up your home and everything you can't carry, on a wagon, and set off into the unknown hoping you will find something better. And for Lansford Hastings to write that guide when he didn't know sh!t about the route, the cause how many deaths? Boy would he get sued today! As ever, a really interesting bit of content, well presented by Simon. Now do a video on "How" America was made, from what was already there! Please!
Been through Donner pass a couple times and always creepy growing up hearing the story.
Few title descriptions or short names convey such a full and emotional tail as "the Donner party".
Some random ideas for future episodes: Apollo 11 (or 13). Irish harpist Carolan. Further US presidents. The Louis v. Schmeling fight. The charge of the Light Brigade. The battle of Stalingrad. The model T automobile. Gutenberg and the printing press. One or more of the Marx Brothers. Rin Tin Tin. The Christmas Truce of 1914. John Brown's raid on Harpersferry. The princes in the Tower. The First Folio. The Nuremberg Trial. The Versailles treaty. The voyage of the St. Louis. The invention of the transistor. Forgive my oversight if you've done a few of these. Your videos are well done.
Cannibalism is a great way to meat friends.
It will enhance your love of your fellow humans.
as a person who grew up in the valley of the sierras- I can confirm the winters are awful. Even now they aren't kind. It is so windy and cold, That pass is an awful one driving. You have to be the safest driver to do it. Even then it is a sketch one while driving. I have driven through it while it rained and it was the worst. When it just rain it gets very foggy, You can barely see the car in front of you at some points.
A+ video!
Great writing, images, and explanation of the event!
“The Indifferent Stars Above” by Daniel James Brown is an amazing, detailed book about them.
I loved that book, such a hard read at times but so good!
There's a 2010 independent movie entitled "Meek's Cutoff" that is supposedly based on a similar true story that happened in 1845.. If you come across it I would advise passing it by, it's slow, plodding, boring, and it just kind of ends abruptly, probably when the production ran out of money. It's an hour and forty-five minutes of my life I wish I had back!
Makes sense this was a party heading towards Oregon since if you ever played the PC game back in the day you could barely go a few steps before someone dropped like a ton of bricks 💀
Tuberculosis has entered the chat
Oregon trail ? I played that in school on a green screen mac computer. yeah I never got very far in that game.
I’m confused, didn’t you do this recently on Into the Shadows?
Like, extremely recently
He did. Last week
How many views does that channel get? I personally only watch 3-4 of his channels and that’s not one of them.
@Ryan Hamstra I only watch about 10 of his channels and I did see this one. Waaaaay darker and detailed.
@@Dr.RichardBanks then I’m fine seeing this PG version. It was dark enough for me
I hear oregon trail and my mind knows "you have died of dysentry" is coming
Its important to note that the 2 natives mentioned were Miwok. When found, murdered, dressed and cannibalized they were going to an Miwok post where they knew there was help. Only a few days later, Ironically, there were Miwok Indians who came to the aid of the Forlorn Hope and made sure they got down to safety.
There is evidence of a separate tribe, the Washoe, also tried to help a few times along the way. Looking back, many think it was met with hostility because of the Plains natives and their more ruthless history. Sierra natives were far different.
Crazy to think I could just hop in my air-conditioned car and drive to California in just a few days.
Secure hotel rooms with comfortable beds to sleep in along the way, and able to stop for food and drink whenever I felt like it. No wonder Americans have such a love affair with the automobile.
Hastings hadn't even traveled his trails.
I read Virginia's account of the journey.
Lol, he was a menace
My first introduction to the Donner party story was a joke in a Gex game (I forget if it was 2 or 3, but I imagine it was 3 since that one had a snow level.)
The quote was “Donner party for 20? Donner party for 20.” Said like a waiter calling for people waiting for a table at a restaurant. I had no idea what it was in reference to when I was ten years old, but I remember bursting with laughter when I learned the details years later, and finally got the joke, much to the confused horror of my mother who recounted the gist of the event.
My family goes back to the Reed family. Its a wild story.
Mine goes back to lansford. Do you want to have a duel?
The lack of random tangents (about kids, good wine and super old granny living south Africa) is saddening
Wrong channel for that. Only on BB will you wants be satisfied:)
They couldn't catch fish, hunt game, shoot birds or find water by melting snow. Didn't know that people from today used time machines to go back to 1840s.
Dyatlov: "Now thats cute!" *dies*
Luis and Salvador were murdered by the very people they wanted to help.
Truckee is a brutally desolate place in the Winter. The Truckee Donner Picnic Area confirms this. You're snowbound in the Winter...you ain't going anywhere
I remember playing the Oregon trail game as a kid in school. I wish they had a Donner party setting because honestly I think I would have won a couple of rounds if I was allowed to eat some of my passengers
Back in the mid 2000s there was a mobile version of the Oregon Trail that I played (on a Nokia flip phone) for a few months. There was a route you could take where you would meet George Donner and he would give you "stew." It looked funny/odd but you took it anyway. 😄
This is why you should only ever trust directions from locals, and why you should always bring extra supplies.
Fascinating story. I first learned about it from a novel a few years ago ("The Hunger").
this is what you were talking about, the Into the Shadows about the Donner Party. i wonder Dear Leader, if they made Kebabs out of their dead.
“To ward off the spectre of Death they engaged in the ultimate Taboo”
The Donner Party lacked a Dutch Van der Linde as their core leader cos AIN'T NO ONE GONNA STOP US FROM SURVIVIN' ARTHUR! 🗿
the guy who told them about the shout cut must of been Micah
Cannibalism the ultimate taboo I would say if it's between that and death cannibalism doesn't seem like such a bad thing
I've never heard of the Donner party until now. Thanks for teaching something new.
U forgot that local natives offered them food but they refused
The story of the donner party is very sad and morbid but its also too intriguing and well written to be true. Like every character seemingly tries to do the right thing at some point but they all get ruined by mother nature. And all the politics of the camps and stuff
You have an eye for these things, this so-called world is full of storytellers
everytime I've flown over the Sierra Nevada mountains, making my trip from the midwest to California in just hours I think "what would the Donner party think/feel if they could know what we can do now?" Incredible, really.
Growing up in a small town called Fernley, NV (about 40 minutes east of Reno, which is also close to the Sierras) this is a story we were taught very young as a part of Nevada history.
Sidenote: there is also a section in my town called Donner Trails. Many of the streets named after the Party.
Tamsen Road, Hastings Way, Emigrant Way, Short Cut Drive, etc.
😂 im out clearing brush when that gunshit went off in my headphones.... I nearly impaled myself on a stick hittin the dirt 😂😅
You should research and do a story on Leonidas Hubbard. He was a journalist from Boston who starved to death in the Labrador wilderness. The story is told in the book "Lure of the Labrador Wild" by Dillion Wallace who Hubbard convinced to go with him. Wallace managed to survive the ordeal.
I always wonder the same thing: Did they eat Donner... kebab? 😅 Morbid curiosity
Ain't no party like the Donner Party cuz the Donner Party don't stop.
Tamsen Donner's maiden name was Wheelwright, a direct descendant of the Rev. John Wheelwright, one of the founders of New Hampshire.
From Independence, MO, myself. The Donner Party is one of those stories that a lot of people here know as part of our local mythos, so to speak. It is very strange to see that illustration of the historic Town Square before it got developed as it is today. Anyway, there are historical societies and museums here that take great pride in the part the town played in Westward migration. Ask enough questions though, you might get an older person who loves local history to recall that horrible party that resorted to cannibalism. I guess it is what you might call an open secret; not denied, but rarely acknowledged unless drawn on the point.
I hope you can do a video on the whaleship Essex sometime.
Next: Lewis &Clark; Teddy Roosevelt in the Amazon; Captain Cook and Australia; History of Mt. Rushmore.
The area in which the Donner party perished came to be known as Donner Pass In the 1860s the Central Pacific Railroad cut and blasted it's way through Donner Pass on it's way to Reno Nevada and further Eastward digging several tunnels and erecting wooden Snow Sheds to keep the tracks free of winter snows many of which are still used by the Union Pacific Railroad today.
Meals on wheels.
Reed wagons were a pioneer RV
“Damn you Hastings!”..
I had a stomach flu in which I couldn’t eat anything for 3 days. The abdominal cramps were excruciating. I can’t imagine what happened to the Donner Party to be anything less than hell on earth.
I Liked The Captain Quint Reference In The End.
Nice little Jaws reference at the end there Simon.
1:05 - Chapter 1 - A plan takes shape
3:45 - Mid roll ads
5:10 - Chapter 2 - Westward ho!
8:55 - Chapter 3 - A fatal mistake
12:25 - Chapter 4 - The trail of death
14:35 - Chapter 5 - A frightful feast
17:40 - Chapter 6 - Relief & rescue
PS: I do see this a followup to your episode on Into the Shadows *The Donner Party: American Cannibals*
Having listend to several audio bokks about the Donner party one thing that always strikes me how, relativitly speaking, they got even with all the hardships before the snow came.
Those Donners sure knew how to party
Calling table for Donner, party of 50… Oh it’s 48 now?
This gruesome misadventure makes me appreciate my Donner Party snow globe that much more.
camera tips! Try choosing a lower f/stop, the lower the better (like 2.8 or so) it'll blur the background real nice and soft. And try warming up the white balance just a little bit, it'll look more natural on your skin, and it will feel a little more cozy visually!
You should do one of these on frank zappa. Definitely one of the most interesting musicians of the 20th century
Underestimation, Hastings, bad judgment, and a very atypical winter were only some of the mistakes. Read Virginia Donner's book of the actual account. There are also letters from other members about the trip that are included in her book.
I just visited Donner Memorial State Park, where i bought and read a 2017 book, The Best Land Under Heaven by Michael Wallis, which i highly recommend.
From the many accounts of people stranded in deadly environment, there is a substantial portion of them who resorted to cannibalism and thus survived. On the other hand, we don't know the stories of people who ate others and died anyway, mainly because there was nobody to tell the tale afterwards. I rate this survival method ??/100.
Both Weird History and Thoughty2 made videos about this event and tought me a valuable lesson (never take any kind shortcuts)
What don't you talk about....I've searched shipwrecks religion and heard about the donner party and here you are 😂 I appreciate your hard work 🙏
I’m sure that this story was the inspiration for the movie Ravenous. Pretty graphic but interesting.
I have been wanted this episode for sooooooooo long!!!!!! Thank you Simon 😊
I always wanted to see the Osmond family portray the Donner Party; with their massive dentition they could make short shriff of each other!
“This is delicious who is this?”
Please do a biographics video on John C. Fremont
@1:09, James was sick of his neighbors and sold his property to the Flanders family. Happily leaving the area , and the Simpsons family behind.