Скачать или смотреть The Real-Life Train Wreck That Haunted Charles Dickens

🚂 Charles Dickens’ Real-Life Nightmare: The Staplehurst Train Crash

When we think of Charles Dickens, we picture the man behind A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, and A Tale of Two Cities.
But did you know that one of his most haunting ghost stories was inspired by a real-life tragedy—a train crash that nearly killed him and left him haunted for life?

On June 9th, 1865, Dickens survived the Staplehurst rail disaster, one of the worst train accidents of the Victorian era.
Ten people died, forty-nine were injured, and Dickens himself spent hours pulling survivors from the wreckage—before realizing his next manuscript was still inside the shattered carriage.

That moment—and the trauma that followed—would inspire his chilling ghost story, The Signalman.
And in an eerie twist, Dickens died exactly five years to the day after the crash.

In this video, we’ll uncover:

How human error caused the crash

The role of Ellen Ternan, Dickens’ secret companion

The guilt that drove foreman Henry Benge to madness

Signs of PTSD long before the term existed

And how this real disaster inspired Dickens’ most haunting tale


00:00 – Introduction: The Other Side of Charles Dickens
01:03 – June 9th, 1865: The Staplehurst Rail Disaster
03:25 – Dickens and the Rescue
05:12 – The Guilt of Henry Benge
06:30 – Dickens’ Trauma and Panic Attacks
07:55 – The Signalman: Fiction Born from Fear
09:50 – The Eerie Coincidence of Dickens’ Death

📚 Sources & References

Ripley’s Believe It or Not: Charles Dickens and the Staplehurst Crash

The Railways Archive: Staplehurst Train Disaster Summary

Voyager of History: Charles Dickens and the Staplehurst Train Crash

BBC News: Charles Dickens and the Staplehurst Rail Tragedy

The Priory: Did Charles Dickens Have PTSD?

🎧 Podcasts Referenced:

Happy Horrordays — “The Signal-Man”

Unhallowed — “The Signal-Man and Premonitions of Death”

Tags:

Charles Dickens, Staplehurst Train Crash, Victorian ghost stories, The Signalman, Rail disaster, Haunted history, True Victorian stories, Dickens ghost story, PTSD in history, Ellen Ternan, Victorian tragedy, History channel YouTube, Ghost stories explained