On August 21, 1986, an invisible cloud escaped from Lake Nyos in Cameroon and killed 1,746 people while leaving the villages around them almost completely untouched. The disaster was caused by an enormous release of carbon dioxide that had accumulated for decades in the deep water of the volcanic lake. This episode follows the earlier warning at Lake Monoun, the investigation that revealed what happened, the misleading evidence that initially suggested something more violent, and the question scientists still cannot answer with certainty: what triggered the release? The cause of the deaths is settled. The trigger that started the eruption remains unresolved. ─────────────────────────────── IN THIS EPISODE— A volcanic lake quietly accumulating carbon dioxide for decades— The earlier disaster at Lake Monoun that should have been a warning— How an invisible gas cloud killed four villages without destroying them— The unresolved question of what triggered the Lake Nyos eruption SOURCESScience, 1987Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal ResearchLake Nyos degassing research, Michel Halbwachs and colleaguesScientific studies of Lakes Nyos, Monoun and Kivu ─────────────────────────────── Narration in this episode is AI-assisted. Research, writing, and editorial decisions are human. Reality Is Strange — real phenomena, verified, and stranger than they should be.

The Lake That Killed 1,746 People

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