The West Side Baptist Church in Beatrice, Nebraska exploded one evening in 1950 just five minutes after choir practice had been scheduled to start.

15 people were scheduled to be there before 7:20 PM to start practice but not one of the fifteen people had arrived when at 7:25 p.m. an explosion demolished the church. The blast forced a nearby radio station off the air and shattered windows in surrounding homes.

Where this gets strange:

Past performance indicated that most of the singers were in the habit of arriving around 7:15.

So what happened to make them all late at the same time?

• The minister, his wife, and daughter had to replace a soiled dress. The replacement had to be ironed.
• Ladona Vandergrift was having trouble with a geometry problem.
• Royena Estes was ready, but the car wouldn’t start. So she and her sister called Ladona Vandergrift, (the girl running late due to homework).
• Sadie Estes also had a car that refused to start.
• Mrs. Leonard Schuster ran late helping her mother get ready for a missionary meeting.
• Herbert Kipf was working on an important letter to someone.
• Joyce Black was feeling lazy that day.
• Machinist Harvey Ahl was talking to his children and lost track of time.
• Marilyn Paul fell asleep.
• Mrs. F.E. Paul was late simply because her daughter was. (the sleeping one)
• Lucille Jones and Dorothy Wood were late because Lucille was busy listening to a radio program.