Disaster Area

Or where have I been the past three months?
(Alas, it's not as interesting as the title makes it sound.)

It should have just been a regular Saturday night dancing to rock music and having a good time at the relatively new dance hall outside of Saint-Laurent, France. But in the early morning hours of November 1st, 1970, what was likely one dropped match or cigarette turned the Club Cinq-Sept into an oven.
Videos:
Pierre Montillo interview

AP News clips of the fire

Articles and books:
The worst thing is the sound of silence": 50 years after the "5-7" tragedy, the memory and the grief remain intact.

Youth to Burn: Guy Debord on the fire at Saint-Laurent-du-Pont

Virtual Globetrotting: Diagram of the layout of the Club Cinq-Sept

France: An Unusual Silence

1970: Nightclub inferno 'wipes out generation'

It would start with a headache, a fever, maybe a funny tummy. But soon enough your knee would give out, or your arm would hang limp, or you would struggle to breathe. You'd be taken to the hospital, where you'd get your diagnosis - polio. If you survived, you ran the risk of doing so with paralyzed limbs, struggling to walk on bulky leg braces. Your parents would be terrified they might lose you, and so everybody wanted the one thing that could stop all of this - a vaccine.
Videos:
New England Journal of Medicine: The Cutter Incident, 50 Years Later

American Experience: The Polio Crusade

The Iron Lung and Polio by M.Rockoff | OPENPediatrics

Articles and books:
Polio: An American Story, by David M. Oshinsky

The Cutter Incident, by Dr. Paul Offit

NEJM: The Cutter Incident

It would start with a headache, a fever, maybe a funny tummy. But soon enough your knee would give out, or your arm would hang limp, or you would struggle to breathe. You'd be taken to the hospital, where you'd get your diagnosis - polio. If you survived, you ran the risk of doing so with paralyzed limbs, struggling to walk on bulky leg braces. Your parents would be terrified they might lose you, and so everybody wanted the one thing that could stop all of this - a vaccine.
Videos:
New England Journal of Medicine: The Cutter Incident, 50 Years Later

American Experience: The Polio Crusade

The Iron Lung and Polio by M.Rockoff | OPENPediatrics

Articles and books:
Polio: An American Story, by David M. Oshinsky

The Cutter Incident, by Dr. Paul Offit

NEJM: The Cutter Incident

NOTE: This was released in May of 2025, but due to life being what it is, I didn't get to finish the final two parts of the episode. So I am rereleasing this episode this week, and the next two weeks I will release the following two episodes. I have now officially backed myself in a corner and I simply MUST finish the episodes now. 
It would start with a headache, a fever, maybe a funny tummy. But soon enough your knee would give out, or your arm would hang limp, or you would struggle to breathe. You'd be taken to the hospital, where you'd get your diagnosis - polio. If you survived, you ran the risk of doing so with paralyzed limbs, struggling to walk on bulky leg braces. Your parents would be terrified they might lose you, and so everybody wanted the one thing that could stop all of this - a vaccine.
Videos:
New England Journal of Medicine: The Cutter Incident, 50 Years Later

American Experience: The Polio Crusade

The Iron Lung and Polio by M.Rockoff | OPENPediatrics

Articles and books:
Polio: An American Story, by David M. Oshinsky

The Cutter Incident, by Dr. Paul Offit

NEJM: The Cutter Incident