11 Interesting Events You May Not Have Learned In History Class

Published June 13, 2014
Updated March 12, 2024

Interesting Events: Tunguska Explosion

Tunguska Explosion

Source: NASA

On June 30, 1908, an explosion 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, estimated to have the effects of a 5.0 magnitude earthquake, and was as hot and bright as the sun shook the wilderness of Tunguska, Siberia. About 80 million trees fell and the explosion lit up the night sky, able to be seen as far away as London.

Interesting Events Tunguska

To this date, nobody is quite sure what caused the Tunguska Event. Witnesses claim that a fireball descended from the sky to cause the devastation, though some scientists believe that a meteor exploded just above the ground.

Some wilder theories posit that a UFO crashed into Earth, that it was all Nikola Tesla’s fault somehow, and even that a black hole touched the Earth. But the real truth remains a mystery.

Tunguska Aerial View

An aerial view of Tunguska.

author
Katie Serena
author
A former staff writer at All That's Interesting, Katie Serena has also published work in Salon.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.