History has proven time and again that accuracy is often easily recognized in hindsight. However, in the present moment, distinguishing the truth from a conspiracy theory or nonconforming idea can be incredibly difficult.
Often, people who dare to go against the stream of public opinion by speaking their truth are considered insane and not given the benefit of a listening ear to heed their warnings. But sometimes the very warnings they provided are eventually proven right – and under some of the most catastrophic and devastating circumstances.
This collection features whistleblowers throughout history who tried to warn us about imminent danger, but were ultimately dismissed.
As an engineer for Morton Thiokol, a company contracted by NASA to oversee the launch of the space shuttle Challenger, Bob Ebeling reviewed data and argued against the shuttle’s blast-off up until the night before its catastrophic explosion. Although he and four of his coworkers remained adamant the launch would end in disaster, Thiokol and NASA refused to delay the process.
In an interview for NPR, Ebeling explained that he and a few other engineers recognized that the rubber rocket booster seals (O-ring seals) wouldn’t sufficiently isolate the rocket’s flames in colder weather. Furthermore, January 28, 1986, was set to be the coldest day in launch history. According to Ebeling, delaying the lift-off could have completely changed the course of the shuttle’s fate and saved the crew members on board.
That morning, he and his exasperated coworkers watched the televised launch from Thiokol’s headquarters in Brigham City, UT, fearing the craft would explode. Ebeling felt so guilty about the incident that he couldn’t even reveal his name to the public until the Challenger explosion’s 30t
Dr. Alice Stewart first hypothesized that radiation exposure might lead to higher cancer risk in the mid-1950s. However, she was ignored until other doctors came to similar conclusions two decades later.
In the mid-19th century, x-raying expectant mothers to see the fetus’s position was common practice. Oxford-employed Stewart first came across the revelation when she conducted a small survey and found that babies x-rayed in the womb were twice as likely to develop cancer later in life. When she asked for funding to further her research, Stewart was snubbed and denied by doctors and nuclear scientists. Her research was finally accepted when doctors conducted similar surveys in the 1970s.
Babies who developed childhood cancer from low amounts of radiation weren’t her only concern; Stewart also attempted to compile as much information as possible concerning the health of people employed in the nuclear weapons industry. However, she eventually lost a 14-year battle with the US Department of Energy over the matter and was banned from accessing their records. The persistent physician continued to petition the House Subcommittee until the information was finally released in 1990.
On May 21, 2002, presenting a 13-page letter, Coleen Rowley addressed the FBI’s failure to investigate crucial information that might have prevented the 9/11 attacks. In the document, she noted that on August 16, 2001, the Minneapolis FBI arrested Zacarias Moussaoui after a flight school representative reported that he was acting strangely in class.
According to the account, the informant specifically noted that while Moussaoui was participating in flying lessons, he wasn’t interested in learning how to take off or land an aircraft. Suspicious, the FBI arrested the man on immigration-related charges and requested a warrant to search Moussaoui’s computer hard drive for evidence of terroristic plans.
Arguing that they didn’t have enough evidence, FBI headquarters refused Minneapolis officials’ request. Moussaoui was still in custody on the morning of September 11, but was later charged as a co-conspirator of the attacks.
UK factory inspector Lucy Streatfield was one of the first females to ever hold the position in 1898. As she moved through asbestos factories, she noted there were many adverse medical problems associated specifically with those who worked in the factories, so she called for further examination of the substance.
Specifically, Streatfield mentioned in her research that employees at asbestos factories suffered from bronchial tube and lung issues, which she believed were tied to breathing in the asbestos fibers manufactured in their working facilities.
At the time, her observations went largely ignored. It wasn’t until the 1930s that the UK began placing regulations on asbestos factories – including ventilation systems, face coverings, and protective clothing for factory employees.
In late December 2019, ophthalmologist Dr. Li Wenliang warned his friends on social media that a mysterious virus was circulating in the Wuhan hospital where he worked. Local law enforcement responded by accusing the doctor of spreading false rumors, and officials ignored his cautionary foreboding.
Unfortunately, Li fell ill and succumbed to the coronavirus a few months later. The public, who viewed the doctor as a symbol of the importance of free speech, was outraged. Mourners flocked to Li’s social media page to express their sorrow over his passing and their disgust at the government’s delayed response to his warnings, reminding the public of the doctor’s words from his last public interview:
When McDonnell Douglas joined with contracting company Convair to create the DC 10 jet in the late 1960s, the cargo doors became the forefront of the design discussion. Despite Convair engineer Dan Applegate’s insistence that a hydraulic mechanism attached to the piloting system was the safest option, both companies ignored his hesitation regarding the alternative electrical design.
Applegate’s warnings about the unsafe electrical latch proved accurate when a DC 10 almost crashed in 1972. Upon realizing the possibly fatal mistake, the Convair engineer again approached the companies, attempting to persuade them to revise the design. However, chief contractor J.B. Hurt ignored Applegate’s requests; the company feared taking responsibility for correcting the mechanism on every plane already in commercial flight rotation and was uncertain of where liability would fall if it admitted its error.
On March 3, 1974, Applegate’s fears came to fruition as the cargo doors of a DC 10 leaving Paris flew open, causing the plane to crash, with all 346 people on board losing their lives.
It was a particularly windy day on July 14, 1999 at the construction of Miller Park (now American Family Field) when Terry King recognized that a giant crane, nicknamed “Big Blue,” wasn’t evenly elevating roofing materials into the proper position.
King, who had temporarily relocated to Milwaukee from Miami specifically for the baseball park’s construction, recalled that he tried to warn the project’s supervisor, Victor Grotlisch, that the roof piece was tilting at an unsafe angle – with one piece at least 10-15 feet higher than the other side. According to his account, the supervisor ignored his cautionary remarks three separate times and continued with the project.
The 567-foot crane ultimately collapsed, killing three ironworkers: Jeffrey Wischer, William DeGrave, and Jerome Starr. While officials claimed that the account could not be verified, King recalled
Nineteen ninety-six Olympic gold medalist Dominique Moceanu first alerted the media about abuse happening within the gymnastics community in 2008. When she voiced her mistreatment under the coaching of Bella and Martha Karolyi, most people ignored her accusations, and instead accused her of being too sensitive in a highly competitive environment.
Moceanu herself wasn’t sexually assaulted. However, she later explained that the ignored comments she made about the emotional, psychological, and physical abuse she endured during her time competing opened the doorway for abusers like Larry Nassar – convicted on multiple accounts of sexual abuse in 2018 – to assault young athletes without repercussions.
In an interview with The World, Moceanu elaborated:
The New York Times first broke the news that Harvey Weinstein had been accused of decades-long sexual harassment in 2017. However, musician Courtney Love first warned the public of the film producer’s misconduct toward women in the industry in 2005.
On the red carpet for Comedy Central’s Pamela Anderson roast, reporters asked Love if she had any advice for young women hoping to start their careers in Hollywood. After showing a moment’s hesitation and voicing her concern over the repercussions, she responded:
Although allegations against Ticketmaster’s business practices increasingly made headlines in 2022, Pearl Jam recognized the business model as a scam and boycotted the company in 1994.
Even in the mid-1990s, Ticketmaster was notorious for charging hidden service fees while devising secret contracts with venues in major cities to use the company as their only point of sales for events. When Pearl Jam made plans for their 1995 tour, the group demanded Ticketmaster have a clearly printed $1.80 service fee on their $18 tickets. The company, which usually charged two to three times that amount in hidden fees, refused.
Justice Department officials approached Pearl Jam to take their complaints to court. Meanwhile, the group made plans to use an alternative ticketing company, ETM Entertainment, for event sales, and booked lesser-known venues in smaller towns to boycott Ticketmaster’s monopoly.
Ultimately, Ticketmaster escaped the lawsuit, which would have required the company to be transparent about its service fees.
Financial analyst Harry Markopolos first accused Bernard “Bernie” Madoff of running a Ponzi scheme nearly a decade before he was finally convicted. Although the SEC investigated Madoff and his business for illegal activities at least eight times, the organization never found the convincing evidence needed to place Madoff in custody. Instead, it only turned up a few minor trading violations and a business run by a stockbroker with a stellar reputation.
Markopolos first grew suspicious of the company’s business strategy when he was asked to reproduce Madoff’s success at his Boston-based firm. After analyzing the broker’s numbers, Markopolos realized that achieving that amount of success was impossible. From there, he and other members of his team investigated by reaching out to the company under the guise that they were interested in an offshore account.
According to the financial analyst, he and his crew recognized the scam in minutes. However, Markopolos insisted that the SEC’s inability to effectively communicate between the New York and Boston offices and Madoff’s outstanding reputation blinded the organization from what he considered an obvious reality.
In 2012, many people mocked Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for his comments in an interview with Wolf Blitzer when he expressed concern about Russia being the “number one geopolitical foe.” As he explained:
At the time, the US was invested in the War on Terror, and many people, including then-president and Democratic nominee Barack Obama, believed Romney’s concern was an outdated worry of the 1980s and no longer relevant. However, when Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022, Romney’s comments resurfaced in the light of hindsight.