August 21, 1986, was a busy market day in the village of Lower Nyos and that evening most people went to bed early. The next morning, some 1,700 people and 3,000 domestic animals were discovered lying ...

In 1986, Lake Nyos in Cameroon experienced a devastating limnic eruption, releasing a massive carbon dioxide cloud that killed approximately 1,700 people and 3,500 animals. This rare phenomenon, ...

When people talk about volcanos, it's common for others to picture the kinds of apocalyptic eruptions often shown in disaster movies — as well as, unfortunately, in recent news. While these ancient ...

Atlas Obscura on Slate is a new travel blog. Like us on Facebook, Tumblr, or follow us on Twitter @atlasobscura. "I could not speak. I became unconscious. I could not open my mouth because then I ...

The residents of several villages in northern Cameroon went to sleep on August 21, 1986, unaware that many of them would never wake up. Late in the evening, around 10 p.m., a tragic series of events ...

The evening of August 21, 1986, was like any other night around Lake Nyos, a deep crater lake high on the slopes of the Massif du Mbam mountain range in northwest Cameroon. Some residents of the local ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. It was a scene out of a horror movie. There was no sound, the air was deadly still, and the putrid smell of rotting eggs wouldn’t ...

In August 1986, Lake Nyos in Cameroon suddenly released a massive cloud of carbon dioxide that swept through nearby villages.

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

ON THE NIGHT OF THE APOCALYPSE, Ephriam Che was in his mud-brick house on a cliff above Nyos, a crater lake in the volcanic highlands of northwest Cameroon. A half-moon lit the water and the hills and ...