it's happened again. everyone at the cocktail party is talking about their favorite absurd/esoteric incidents again and you aren't conversant in any of them. thank god you have this thread of absurd/esoteric incidents handy

We’ll start with one some might call basic. I call it foundational. Dylatov Pass incident: Nine Soviet hikers enter the pass, all run from their camps, freezing to death in the night, fleeing… something. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_Pass_incident

Less morbid is the likewise foundational Balloonfest '86. Only "less" morbid, because it still led to the death of two fisherman. A massive cloud of balloons was released over Cleveland, causing a disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloonfest_%2786

The JetBlue flight attendant incident: in 2010, a flight attendant grabbed some beers and made an emergency exit on the tarmac at JFK. It's unclear why he did this — the eyewitnesses all denied his explanation that a passenger had been awful to him. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JetBlue_flight_attendant_incident

The Jimmy Carter rabbit incident — in which then POTUS was pursued by a wild rabbit escaping some dogs. The rabbit made a beeline towards his fishing boat. Maybe a Soviet plant? No one believed him about it until they saw the photo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter_rabbit_incident

The Bloops is perhaps not an incident so much as a phenomenon; discerning cocktail party attendees may call you out. Regardless, it's worth listening to the bizarre noise made in the dead silence of the ocean in 1997, the source of which is still unknown. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloop

If anyone at the party is from the Second City, they'll be sure to talk to you about the Dave Matthews Band Chicago River incident. The band bus dumped nearly half a ton of Dave Matthews Band feces & urine on an unsuspecting tour boat below in August 2004. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Matthews_Band_Chicago_River_incident

Make sure there are no children around when you bring up the Pinyan incident, or more commonly, the Enumclaw horse sex case. The death of a Boeing engineer after intestinal perforation from anal sex w/a horse led Washington to change its bestiality laws. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enumclaw_horse_sex_case

If you, like me, live in DC, many cocktail parties will be teeming with counterproliferation specialists and military enthusiasts. They may already know of that time in 2007 when the US Air Force lost six nukes for about a day and a half. Oopsie! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_States_Air_Force_nuclear_weapons_incident

Every well rounded incident-knower is necessarily a student of history. Brush up on the Dancing Plague of 1518, when crowds of inhabitants of Strasbourg started dancing. And dancing. And dancing. Until they died. Demons? Food poisoning? A hoax? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_plague_of_1518

Oh this one is just really funny Bush sr. just barfed all over the prime minister of Japan one time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._W._Bush_vomiting_incident

In 1995, some scientists launched a rocket that, if you were a Russian missile defense agency, looked a lot like an incoming US Minuteman III nuke. Yeltsin watched with the nuclear briefcase active; the Russians eventually saw it was flying away from them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_rocket_incident

(The above incident is an excellent follow-up to anyone bringing up another classic, foundational incident, which almost saw modern human society wiped out but not for the intervention of a rational Soviet officer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident)

4,000 people were exposed to radiation from cobalt-60 melted down from radiation therapy equipment and reused in rebar that was then distributed across Mexico and the US in 1984. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciudad_Ju%C3%A1rez_cobalt-60_contamination_incident

It's bedtime, but rest assured, there are more incidents I have to educate you with tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a list of a list of incidents at Disney resorts. These incidents are relatively minor on their own. Incident hors d'oeuvres. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_incidents_at_Disney_parks

I'm actually starting an incident consulting service. if you want me to start an incident for your birthday party, wedding, corporate event, etc., DM me. Incidents with a zero death guarantee starting from $7,950. If you can tolerate a death or two or twenty, as low as $3,500.