A high-stakes nuclear facility teeters on the brink of disaster — not from mechanical failure, but from the fragile minds of the men who keep it running.

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ABOUT WEIRD DARKNESS: Weird Darkness is a true crime and paranormal podcast narrated by professional award-winning voice actor, Darren Marlar. Seven days per week, Weird Darkness focuses on all thing strange and macabre such as haunted locations, unsolved mysteries, true ghost stories, supernatural manifestations, urban legends, unsolved or cold case murders, conspiracy theories, and more. On Thursdays, this scary stories podcast features horror fiction along with the occasional creepypasta. Weird Darkness has been named one of the “Best 20 Storytellers in Podcasting” by Podcast Business Journal. Listeners have described the show as a cross between “Coast to Coast” with Art Bell, “The Twilight Zone” with Rod Serling, “Unsolved Mysteries” with Robert Stack, and “In Search Of” with Leonard Nimoy.
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IN THIS EPISODE: it’s #ThrillerThursday. Tonight I’m bringing you some dark science-fiction… which ended up after the story was published, being less science fiction and more science fact. Almost as if the author was a prophet. "Blowups Happen" is a 1940 science fiction short story by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. The story describes the tensions among the staff of a nuclear reactor. Heinlein's concept of a nuclear reactor was one of a barely contained explosion, not the steady-state thermal plants developed later. As a consequence the work is dangerous, and the slightest mistake could be catastrophic. All the technical staff are monitored by psychologists who have the authority to remove them from the work at any time lest they crack under the pressure and precipitate a disaster. The monitoring itself contributes to the problem.

SOURCES AND RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODE…
“Blowups Happen” by Robert Heinlein, from the book “The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology”: https://amzn.to/3BsZ2mU
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Originally aired: July 22, 2021
NOTE: Some of this content may have been created with assistance from AI tools, but it has been reviewed, edited, narrated, produced, and approved by Darren Marlar, creator and host of Weird Darkness — who, despite popular conspiracy theories, is NOT an AI voice. (AI Policy)
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