3. The Christmas Train Crash
Considered one of New Zealand’s worst train crashes ever, this catastrophe took place on the Christmas holiday of 1953. Somewhere around 10:30 PM on Christmas Eve, an express passenger train carrying about 285 people passed onto a bridge above the Whangaehu River. However, no one noticed that a flash flood had washed away the bridge’s supports a few minutes prior. Sadly, as the train crossed the bridge, the structure gave way, plunging all five second-class carriages, and one first-class carriage, into the river. In all, 151 people were killed.
4. The Christmas Race War
It’s sad that a holiday like Christmas can be tainted by racist hate, but alas, it can. A perfect example happened a few days before the Christmas of 1896 where the citizens of Mayfield, KY witnessed a flat-out Christmas Race War between white citizens and African Americans. Roughly 250 armed African Americans sought revenge for the lynching of Jim Stone among other racial injustices. So, they took to the streets with violence. White people were encouraged to stay in their homes as bullets filled the streets. Surprisingly, only three people died.
