The Man Who Survived in a Jail Cell
May 8, 1902
On 8 May 1902, Mount Pelée on the Caribbean island of Martinique erupted and sent a superheated cloud of gas and ash over the city of Saint-Pierre, killing almost all of its roughly 28,000 people. One of the very few survivors was Ludger Sylbaris, a prisoner held in a thick-walled, partly underground stone cell with only a small opening. Badly burned, he was found several days later. He was later pardoned and toured with the Barnum & Bailey circus, billed as the man who survived doomsday.