Talk:1963 Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum gas explosion

Samaritan Hospital, Fort Thompson, and bleachers
Even though the Drabek's Disaster in Aisle 13 book talks about the injured being sent to Samaritan Hospital and the Fort Thompson hospital, I question whether this is accurate. I've lived in Indianapolis since before the explosion, and I've never heard of either facility before. I have to wonder if Drabek got the names confused with ones from another disaster investigation he worked on.

Also, I don't think "bleacher" is the correct term for the seating in the coliseum. Given that large chunks of concrete were thrown through the air, I think a better term would be "grandstand". The article in the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis says it was mezzanine seating and that pieces of its concrete floor slab were thrown. Indyguy (talk) 21:52, 22 December 2021 (UTC)


 * Thanks for pointing this out, not sure how I overlooked this, but Drabek 1968 pp. viii–ix states that "the names of almost all nongovernmental organizations" had been changed. I noticed earlier some confusion regarding Midwest Gas Corporation being used by Drabek instead of Discount Gas Corporation (the name used in all other sources that gave a name), but if I were to assume, the same probably applied to the name of the hospitals. I will edit the page accordingly, additionally changing the phrasing for other groups referenced by Drabek 1968. Additionally, I edited the name of the seating in the coliseum. Thanks for bringing this all to my attention! -JJonahJackalope (talk) 04:16, 23 December 2021 (UTC)


 * Ah, that explains it. Thanks for creating this article. There were several times when I thought that the explosion should be included in Wikipedia, but I never made the effort to write it. Indyguy (talk) 05:59, 23 December 2021 (UTC)

"Indianapolis explosion" listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has identified a potential problem with the redirect Indianapolis explosion and has thus listed it for discussion. This discussion will occur at Redirects for discussion/Log/2022 June 2 until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. Jay (talk) 20:18, 2 June 2022 (UTC)