Meteor strike 1876--looking for some thoughts

Size of Boom...

I'm liking the various things I'm hearing here. The BOOM was heard far and wide, but did not wreck three states. It wrecked a big chink of northern New Hampshire, and did relatively minor damage in the more populated southern areas of the state--broken windows and the like. Seen by many, for certain. There will be photographs of the mushroom cloud--the cloud is very visible in all of New Hampshire, and quite noticeable in BOSTON! Photography was a new art, but the coud will move slowly enough to be photographed. Things like the size of the cloud--and height--will be measurable.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the reaction in the former rebel states? Could this trigger any sort of foolishness?

Regarding federal disaster relief--the first reaction on the part of some will be that the nation was attacked--THAT places it in the jurisdiction of the Commander in Chief and the War Department. I am postulating Federal action at first. Incidently, the area is a popular resort location; I'm postulating that the New Hampshire Executive Branch is decapitated by the strike. The governor was at a resort on Profile Lake--he will never be found--but declaring him dead will take time. It's the commander of the New Hampshire National Guard that will initially be asking for help, in light of an attack on the state. I see Grant responding not as a politician, but as a general.

I definately agree that the evangelicals get a boost here. I'm not sure if the nation can recover from that. On the other hand, it might prove interesting when some choose to try to disregard science in favor of religion, and outlaw teaching things that don't fit their viewpoint. Perhaps an earlier polarization between fundamentalists and science will result.

If I knew more about Mark Twain, he'd be a great one to include in the timeline!
 
I definately agree that the evangelicals get a boost here. I'm not sure if the nation can recover from that. On the other hand, it might prove interesting when some choose to try to disregard science in favor of religion, and outlaw teaching things that don't fit their viewpoint. Perhaps an earlier polarization between fundamentalists and science will result.

I'd caution against taking the atheism subreddit and porting it straight to the 19th Century - while I do not share their views, that particular strain of evangelical Christianity is very hard to pigeonhole in this period. In particular, the trend that took power from the elites and brought it to mass politics - the direct election of Senators and the income tax in particular - while mass movements, got a lot of their voting strength from the evangelicals. Public schools were another thing that the evangelicals of the period were behind as well (on the grounds that they were needed to combat the perceived evils of Catholic Schools).

Evangelical strength earlier could accelerate the trend of the 19th Century towards a more mass democracy. The irony of course is that democratization - of education, of voting rights, etc. - did lead to the reaction against fundamentalism in the 1920s. In an ATL with a big rock hitting, these trends could occur quicker, with more conflict.
 
Mixed results

I know well that the evangelical movement had some mixed results, soime better than others. I can easily see the evangelical strengths pushing some things forwards faster--but I can easily see a lot of them wanting a strictly religious explanation of something this major--which leads to conflict, and plenty of it. Ultimately, I suspect that anyone trying to claim that every word in the bible is fact will run into massive conflict with those seeing a scientific explanation--and in a time when people want answers, this conflict could ome faster.
 
I know well that the evangelical movement had some mixed results, soime better than others. I can easily see the evangelical strengths pushing some things forwards faster--but I can easily see a lot of them wanting a strictly religious explanation of something this major--which leads to conflict, and plenty of it. Ultimately, I suspect that anyone trying to claim that every word in the bible is fact will run into massive conflict with those seeing a scientific explanation--and in a time when people want answers, this conflict could ome faster.

Perhaps a rebirth of a more covenantalist theology, more reminiscent of the first settlement of New England? I could see that sort of community based thinking getting popular, especially if there's any sort of drought soon after the event.

Anyone know if there were any droughts or crop disasters in OTL 1876? Would a rock of the specified size kick up enough dust to have an effect?
 
Does anyone have any thoughts on the reaction in the former rebel states? Could this trigger any sort of foolishness?

If I knew more about Mark Twain, he'd be a great one to include in the timeline!

I can't see it directly causing many problems even in the South. The Federal government has plenty of troops to continue reconstruction and respond to the disaster. There have been several disasters in US history that have killed multi thousands of people and we've forgotten about nearly all of them and moved on pretty quickly. Where you've placed the explosion is going to have little direct impact outside of the people immediately nearby. For most, even as close by as Boston life is going to go on as normal. I can see a lot of "serves them right" grumbling in the South but the Confederacy was well and truly beaten and isn't going to be rising again.

If the impact does cause trouble in the South I can see it much more from a religious standpoint. With such a clear sign from God more radical preachers are definitely going to gain a following. Whether you see their movements growing or losing steam depends on where you want to take the story.

Also, in June of 1876 Mark Twain would probably have been at his summer home in New York. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarry_Farm
 
Difference of type

I can't see it directly causing many problems even in the South. The Federal government has plenty of troops to continue reconstruction and respond to the disaster. There have been several disasters in US history that have killed multi thousands of people and we've forgotten about nearly all of them and moved on pretty quickly. Where you've placed the explosion is going to have little direct impact outside of the people immediately nearby. For most, even as close by as Boston life is going to go on as normal. I can see a lot of "serves them right" grumbling in the South but the Confederacy was well and truly beaten and isn't going to be rising again.

If the impact does cause trouble in the South I can see it much more from a religious standpoint. With such a clear sign from God more radical preachers are definitely going to gain a following. Whether you see their movements growing or losing steam depends on where you want to take the story.

Also, in June of 1876 Mark Twain would probably have been at his summer home in New York. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarry_Farm

You mentioned that many disasters have killed thousandfs, and yet were soon forgotten by most. IMVHO, this wouldn't be one of them. Other disasters have killed thousands and made long term changes. I can see a reaction, long term, like 9/11 rather than like Hurricane Katrina. It's not the munber of dead, but the way the died--a completely new form of disaster. Also, the mile-wide crater--and soon to be crater lake-- whrere Profile Lake was, will be a constant reminder. The blast blew down the Old Man of the Mountain as well--a major New Hampshire landmark even then. The physical signs of the disaster will be very visible for many miles around, and many years to come--blasted trees and such.

I am contemplating the reaction in Europe; I see it as a short-term story since it happened in the USA--which was a nation underestimated by Europe for a long time after that.

Once the railroads are rebuilt to the crater, I imagine that there would be people trying to profit by running tours to the disaster area.

Lots still percolating in my mind...
 
If the impact disrupts the flow of a stream or two a nice crater lake would eventually form. This is going to have a big impact on N.H. tourism once (pardon the pun :eek:) the dust settles. Perhaps (astro)photographer John Adams Whipple captures a photograph of the inbound meteor a few hours before it strikes (too late to do anything but send off a few hurried telegrams to people who won't receive or believe them until after impact). While the "event" will likely be named for the township, county or the state, the crater lake may well be named for Whipple. Whipple's photographs would be as central to this event as the Zapruder film was/is to JFK's assassination.
 
I like that...

If the impact disrupts the flow of a stream or two a nice crater lake would eventually form. This is going to have a big impact on N.H. tourism once (pardon the pun :eek:) the dust settles. Perhaps (astro)photographer John Adams Whipple captures a photograph of the inbound meteor a few hours before it strikes (too late to do anything but send off a few hurried telegrams to people who won't receive or believe them until after impact). While the "event" will likely be named for the township, county or the state, the crater lake may well be named for Whipple. Whipple's photographs would be as central to this event as the Zapruder film was/is to JFK's assassination.

A crater lake is going to form in a few years, I figure. There's a lake there now, so a bigger hole should be a bigger lake. I like the idea of Whipple photographing the rock, and the lake being named after him. I'd beenplanning on having the lake named after the vaporized governor, but this is better. (Governor Person Cheney will be the first governor to be VAPORIZED while in office...)
 
Out of curiosity (and to make a more informed comment), how does this impact event affect other towns in the area, especially Berlin?
 
Damage...

Berlin is about 40 miles away from the blast. The effects will be more severe than in Manchester, but still relatively mild. Almost everyone will feel it, even if inside. Windows and dishes will break here and there, some clocks will stop, some things will fall over. The mushroom cloud will be quite visible unless there's a mountain in the way, fairly close to Berlin. (I'll need to check on that.) Fragments of rock will fall from the sky about 2 minutes lare--mean size is small--but still, ROCKS an inch or two across, along with much finer stuff!

In Berlin, the damage is minor--though glass IS expensive--until reports start to come in from closer to the blast.

By comparison, 10 miles from the blast, most wooden buildings are destroyed, most trees are knocked over--devastation is massive--and the ejecta's mean size is a meter and a half.

20 Miles out, there's no windows left, and fragemts with a mean size of 10" will fall from the sky.

Blast, of course, will be somewhat channelled by mountains--not sure just how much, though.
 
If there's not severe damage to anything in the region, I'm not convinced it'd have a lasting impact - no pun intended - to be honest. I don't see a one-time disaster scaring people away from the region, which means all of the research that will come in future decades still happens. Broken glass and falling debris is a result of a lot of seasonal storms in other parts of the country, after all.
 
Impact...

It's not a harbinger of meteors to come. My goal is to provide an unmistakable BOOM that shows that there's danger in the skies, and lots we don't know about--but without the cliche of smashing a major city. Make the world panic--no. Make people concerned--yes. Other disasters make a mess--but it's clear that, had that been just a bit south, it would have wiped out a major city. I hope to do up a logical timeline based on this.
 
Out of curiosity, why do you think this would have any more impact than, say, a tsunami off the coast of Washington/BC at the same time? Both would be equally misunderstood and panic-inducing, but I don't see why either would leave a lasting effect without any damage - simply because there is no reason for them to do so. Bizarre and unexplained disasters have happened throughout history, usually without any more significance than as a historical side note.
 
It's not a harbinger of meteors to come. My goal is to provide an unmistakable BOOM that shows that there's danger in the skies, and lots we don't know about--but without the cliche of smashing a major city. Make the world panic--no. Make people concerned--yes. Other disasters make a mess--but it's clear that, had that been just a bit south, it would have wiped out a major city. I hope to do up a logical timeline based on this.

It will be interesting to see how this (your) event influences both the popular and scientific understanding of other unconnected but related (as in happening "out there" yet having ramifications for us here on earth), such as the:
September 1-2, 1859 solar storm
November 17, 1882 aurora
 
Damage...

Out of curiosity, why do you think this would have any more impact than, say, a tsunami off the coast of Washington/BC at the same time? Both would be equally misunderstood and panic-inducing, but I don't see why either would leave a lasting effect without any damage - simply because there is no reason for them to do so. Bizarre and unexplained disasters have happened throughout history, usually without any more significance than as a historical side note.

Tsunamis are something that, althouth capricious and unpredictable, have happened before; they are a part of the long litany of known disasters. This is NOT. That's why I think it could have a much more lasting effect than other sorts of disasters. People will likely be killed by falling rocks far and wide, and there's that mushroom cloud. I made a few errors earlier, the cloud should be over 120,000 feet high--which means the top is visible over 400 miles away.

If it turns out that this BOOM won't be enough to create major changes that echo through the 20th century, then I could make it a bigger one, so that Concord gets more damage, and Manchester gets the broken windows, and Berlin is severely damaged. (I plan to keep the explosion exactly where it is.)

The timeline would be boring if the efects were minor...
 
Except that meteors were understood by both science and the general populace much, much earlier than tsunamis, and yet neither caused mass panic merely by existing - and tsunamis would actually have an easier claim to that than meteors.

Unless it actually causes major destruction, or is absurdly large - see Tunguska - I don't foresee it actually changing history all that much, based upon historical parallels.
 
I doubt there would be any panic by "evangelicals" - who were mainly Methodists, Congregationalists, etc. and hardly given to hysteria - or by anyone. Life was hard back then. People didn't react the way we think "normal" when their lives were threatened. They were always under threat anyway; who knows when the next epidemic/hurricane/war/miscellaneous disaster would occur. People died from blistered toes. They died from ear infections. They died from things that $3 worth of penicillin could cure. Death was all around them, all the time. Mass death would not scare them the way it would us.
 
Panic--or just reactions...

Mass death happens back then--but a totally new and unknown form of mass death is another story, I'd expect. That wasn't a volcano--and nothing else known can blow a crater a mile across out of solid granite, and drop rocks down from the sky 30-40 miles away. As an anology, we have storms like Katrina, or the tsunami in Asia, or big earthquakes, that kill many thousands, and we move on--but 9-11 kills 3000+, and it's had effects that reverbrate through our entire society today.

My take on the evangelicals is that this could look like the wrath of a god, rather than a more normal disaster.
 
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