Belgium’s Fog of Death

Belgium’s Meuse River valley has long been an inviting tourist destination. The Meuse River meanders through northern France before taking an L-shaped path through Belgium, where it leisurely passes historic towns, striking abbeys and châteaux nestled among its extremely impressive scenery. From Belgium it then crosses into Holland, where its name changes to the Maas River.

But for almost five days starting December 1, 1930, this scenic valley was occupied by a creeping horror — a wet, impenetrable and extremely toxic fog, centered at the town of Engis. Before it lifted completely on December 6 1930, 65 residents of Engis and several other towns, who had been exposed to the dense clouds, had died horrible, choking deaths. Hundreds of others were stricken with mysterious respiratory illnesses, and thousands of cattle, horses and other farm livestock asphyxiated and died in the fields “like flies sprayed with poison gas.”

Meuse Valley residents were thrown into terrified confusion by this lifeless, mysterious and deadly miasma that reduced visibility to about three meters (or arms’ length) and caused blindness, nausea and horrific choking fits. Many locked themselves into their homes and chinked every crack with rags. Some even brought their farm animals indoors with them to save their lives.