More Graphic Footage Of Eastland Disaster Discovered

By Chuck Sudo in News on Feb 26, 2015 7:00PM

A couple weeks back we shared with readers never before seen video of the SS Eastland disaster. That footage from the EYE Film Instituut Nederland showed first responders pulling victims out of the wreckage and crews attempting to right the ship after the disaster 100 years ago.

Now more footage from the Eastland disaster has been discovered, hiding in plain sight online. The invaluable British Pathé archives uploaded the 65-second footage to Youtube 10 months ago but it wasn't until Alex Revzan, a student at Northern Illinois University, found the footage and brought it to the attention of the Eastland Disaster Historical Society that news of its existence started to spread.

Warning: We've embedded the British Pathé video in this post but discretion is advised since it depicts rescue crews pulling bodies out of the ship.

Ted Waccholz, chief historian and executive director of the EDHS, said of the footage:

This second discovery of digitized film from the Eastland Disaster stretches our imagination further than ever before. The scenes in the video are chilling and heart-breaking. They jar your emotions much more than the videos viewed earlier this month

844 people lost their lives in the Eastland disaster when the ship keeled over while docked in the Chicago River on July 24, 1915. It remains the worst accident in the city's history.