Tale of the Week – The 3rd Atom Bomb

The United States is the only nation ever to drop an atomic bomb. In fact, we’ve done it three times.

August 6, 1945 on Hiroshima, Japan
August 8, 1946 on Nagasaki, Japan
March 11, 1958 on Florence, South Carolina

That’s right. South Carolina was hit with a 3450kg hydrogen bomb, 100 times more powerful than the previous two. It was not an act of war. The South was not under attack. It’s simply fell 15,000 feet out of a B-47 Stratojet Bomber departing out of Hunter AFB, Georgia. Just a mistake. No harm, no foul. My bad!

Luckily for all living on the east coast, it was unarmed. When it hit Walter Gregg's farmhouse outside of Florence, the detonating device exploded creating a crater 50-70 feet in diameter and 25-30 feet deep. It caused minor injuries to Mr. Gregg and five members of his family. Locals were examined for several months to see if they had been exposed to any radiation.

To get there:
Drive I-20 eastbound to Florence and then Mars Bluff. After Francis Marion College, turn right on Mars Bluff Road and proceed about a mile. The site of Walter Gregg's farmhouse is now a swamp.