*Ø* Blogmanac December 28, 1879 | Unluckiest day of the year (Childermas)

1879 The Tay Rail Bridge disaster, Dundee, Scotland during a fierce gale. A section of the bridge collapsed, wrecking a train which was running over its single track. 75 passengers on the 7.15 Edinburgh to Dundee train were killed, including the son-in-law of the bridge’s designer, Thomas Bouch. Engineers quickly determined that the metal used in the bridge's design was of poor quality, and modern structural analysis of the bridge also shows its design was not sufficient to resist the strong winds commonplace in the Tay estuary.

The Victorian poet William Topaz McGonagall (1825 - September 29, 1902) – whose work has been distinguished as, "The worst poetry ever written, in any language, at any time" – commemorated this event in his poem 'The Tay Bridge Disaster'.


It must have been an awful sight,
To witness in the dusky moonlight,
While the Storm Fiend did laugh, and angry did bray,
Along the Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay,
Oh! ill-fated Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay,
I must now conclude my lay
By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay,
That your central girders would not have given way,
At least many sensible men do say,
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses,
At least many sensible men confesses,
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed.
William Topaz McGonagall, often claimed to be the world’s ‘best bad poet’, 'The Tay Bridge Disaster' (1879)

Read also about Childermas (Feast day of the Holy Innocents killed by King Herod) – and the slaughter of the innocents in 2003.

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today – said to be the unluckiest day of the year – in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.