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On the morning of 30 June 1908, something from space exploded in the sky over central Siberia and flattened a forest larger than a city. The Short follows Darya, a fictional storekeeper at the Vanavara trading post, about 60 km away, through the minutes before and after. This is the history behind it.
Vanavara was a trading post on the Podkamennaya Tunguska river, where Russian merchants traded with Evenk reindeer herders.15
DARYA
Furs in, flour and tea out. Nothing ever happens here!
About 7:14 am
A second sun
Witnesses saw a fireball brighter than the Sun cross the sky. An Evenk witness said it was "as if a second sun appeared".1
KOLYA
Mama, look! There's a second sun in the sky!
Moments later
The sky splits
The object exploded several kilometres above the forest. At Vanavara, a man named Semenov, sitting on his porch at breakfast, said "the sky was split in two" and felt heat as if his shirt had caught fire.12
SIBERIA30 JUN 1908 07:14
The blast wave
Thrown off his feet
Semenov was thrown several metres and the trading post's windows were blown out.12 Around the blast site, about 2,150 km² of forest was flattened.13
DARYA
Away from the windows, Kolya! Run!
That day
The dead
At least three people died, all Evenki, along with many reindeer. The area was remote and almost empty, and the full toll is unknown.14
1927
No crater
Nobody reached the site until Leonid Kulik's expedition, 19 years later. He expected a giant crater and found none: at the centre, trees still standing but stripped bare, and further out, trees flattened in a ring pointing away from it.23
Nobody reached the blast site until 1927, 19 years later.
They expected a giant crater. They found none.
Darya is fictional. The missing crater is real.
Every line, checked
Each line from the Short that makes a historical claim, beside what the record says.
On screen · opening
Siberia, 1908. Something from space is about to explode 60 km from this trading post.
The record
Vanavara lay about 60 km south of the blast centre.12 What exploded is still debated, but most scientists think it came from space.1
High
On screen · life
DARYA
Furs in, flour and tea out. Nothing ever happens here!
The record
Vanavara was founded around 1899 as a trading post where merchants traded goods with the Evenki. This comes from a local history source.5 Darya and her store are our invention.
Medium
On screen · the omen
KOLYA
Mama, look! There's a second sun in the sky!
The record
An Evenk witness described the fireball as "as if a second sun appeared".1
High
On screen · the event
SIBERIA30 JUN 1908 07:14
The record
The explosion happened at about 7:14 am local time on 30 June 1908.12
High
On screen · break
KOLYA
Mama! The sky split in two!
The record
Semenov, at Vanavara, said "the sky was split in two". His account was recorded by Kulik in 1930.12
High
On screen · chaos
Windows shattered 60 km away. About 2,150 square km of forest fell flat.
The record
Windows were blown out at Vanavara, about 60 km away, and about 2,150 km² of forest was flattened.123
High
On screen · aftermath
At least three people died, all Evenki. Almost nobody lived nearby.
The record
At least three Evenk people are known to have died. Evenk custom made people reluctant to speak of the dead, so the true number is uncertain.14
High
On screen · fact card
They expected a giant crater. They found none.
The record
Kulik expected a large impact crater and found none.3
High
Open question
Open question
Why was there no crater?
Most scientists think a stony space rock about 50 to 60 metres wide exploded 5 to 10 km up, before it ever reached the ground. A comet has also been proposed, and the details are still debated.1
For nights afterwards, skies across Europe and Asia glowed so brightly that people could read a newspaper at midnight.12
Medium
Think about it
Nobody reached the site for 19 years. What made it so hard, and what evidence might have been lost in that time?
Kulik expected a crater because that is what impacts usually leave. How can expectations shape what an investigator looks for?
Much of what we know comes from witnesses interviewed years later. How reliable are memories recorded long after an event?
Why might an explosion this large have had so few known victims?
Glossary
Airburst
An explosion in the air, before an object reaches the ground.
Bolide
A very bright fireball made by a space rock entering the atmosphere.
Meteoroid
A small rocky or metal body travelling through space.
Evenki
An Indigenous people of Siberia, traditionally reindeer herders and hunters.
Taiga
The vast northern forest of larch, pine, spruce and birch.
Trading post
A settlement where goods are bought and traded, in Vanavara's case furs for flour, tea and tools.
Darya
Kolya
KOLYA
SIBERIA30 JUN 1908 07:14
DARYA
