Dave Crockett: Escaping from the 1980 St. Helens Eruption

[only1too]

wonder if he was an atheist before...!?!?!

[britters220]

@only1too

I wonder if he is religious before... !?!?!

[only1too]

@britters220

before begging God not to do him right then and there...!?!?

[britters220]

@only1too

for all you know he could be Agnostic...?!?!

[Tanmanshredstar666]

Hero...

[wipeout2098]

Dave Crockett. He simply walked out of Mordor. And films it too!

He then gets reprimanded for losing his TV station's car. I think his boss needed some damn perspective here.

[britters220]

@wipeout2098

i bet he was thinking "ALL THIS.... for just a fucking camera shot!"

[Capt777harris]

Dude's a survivor.

[teenonator]

@tedGEGI is being facetious, children......I hope

[GraemeStone]

My God what a story. Just that last look at light, just enough to keep him going. Amazing.

[Speirs248]

"Now kids, this is exactly why you never tell your mom no...."

[tedGEGI]

It's totally amazing that 2 famous figures in history, Davy Crockett and Harry S. Truman, were both lucky enough to witness this cataclysmic event.

[GoddyofWar]

@tedGEGI Harry S Truman died in 1972....

[Seahorsefan]

@GoddyofWar

Different Harry Truman. :)

[GraemeStone]

@tedGEGI

Not sure how "Lucky" Truman was. He died. But he did stay where he wanted.

[IMPOnlineProductions]

how the hell did he survive THAT!!!! ???? :L

[RupunzelTangled]

I watched it in my classroom

[chimayai]

When I first saw this footage, I was in 8th grade in Grand Prairie, TX, and recall saying that I would never have been so brave nor as strong. Since then, I've seen an F-4, two F-5's, and survived a car crash that by all rights should have killed me. Those moments of survival and strength are in all of us, I have realized. lol I'm sorry; I thought I would share that. Peace to all.

[RupunzelTangled]

wow



[jadeyrah]

This footage made me want to be a geologist at age four. Now at 28, I have a geology degree and have never looked back. Dave Crockett, AMAZING footage!

[nasja1984]

I have the booklet about this event and remember it well. Thank you for posting this.

[Cherubim64]

It is May 18.2010. I feel like watching this video is like a Deja Vu. I lived at the base of the mountain not as close as Dave Crockett was but about 20-25 air miles..I can remember it getting dark with freaky lightning.I can remember when the mountain blew and the earth beneath me moving while in the garden. As we watched the mountain the national guard came up telling us to evacuate bridges were wiped out and pyroclastic mud flows were pouring into the Toutle River. We survived Mt. St.Helens

[fourbears1970]

He's lucky that he had a guardian angel looking over him

[walp86]

@ 4:00 I just realized who famous South Park Geologist Randy Marsh is based upon...

[theurge14]

He survived the Alamo too. What a guy!

[Tammililley]

we watched this in Earth Science today. It was quit intresting cuz we're learning bout Volcanos rite now

[strayspark1967]

thank God he can

[jonnygouda1]

I haven't seen this video in over 30 years. I was only 9 and half years old in MN when the raw footage of this guy came out. It's still as creepy now as it was then. I remember the "hell on earth" comment and then about him showing his grand kids. 30 years later, I hope he does indeed have grand kids and they've gotten to see him. There must be much more that wasn't aired. Awesome story of cheating death.

[meklopfklopf]

Interesting vid, thanks for posting

[BobbyRossRacing93]

anyone remember a video of mt st helens called: The fire below us!

[PyrrhusIV]

@BobbyRossRacing93 -I own it!

[BobbyRossRacing93]

@PyrrhusIV it's a great video right :D

[fayfran]

I remember seeing this footage not long after the eruption and being just so amazed and delighted that the guy lived. It's great to see it again, what an amazing story.

[yeshuahfullofit]

A toast!! Happy New Year! Harry Truman. You will be with your beloved mountain forever. " It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives." - Samuel Johnson

[DannyLovesOregon]

I read the dinosaur book one time, from the library and the author misspelled the year 1982 and I knew the whole paragraph was suppose to be written in the year 1980

[Apocalyptikai]

VOLCANOES... NATURE'S NUKES.

[rainellierents]

Amazing... just amazing... scary and amazing!

[xVxxxGhostxxxVx]

0:40 Thats the most amazing footage of a volcano I've ever seen, anyone know anything about it?

[Tammililley]

@xVxxxGhostxxxVx i think i know but i cant remember and i'm learning about volcanos rite now in Earth Science...

[whokilledzekeiddon]

Not an expert in anything like this, but judging from where he abandoned the car it looks like he's an inch away from where he would have died had he been a minute or less from high-tailing it?

[kmz365]

wow did you have a rabbit's foot up yer ass!

[dolphini55]

OK... Who pissed the mountain off?

[Re1Mu2R3]

Lol I though he spent 25 years escaping...

[budureasa99]

He had a feeling something was going to happen.? They had been warning about this weeks before it happened.

[ChicaTheLadybug]

I remember this guy when it happened. Thanks for posting, brought back memories.

[dan8852]

So amazing.

[Brefrzr12keykt]

Thats one of the most amazing stories of survival that ive ever heard. Thanx sooo much for posting! That guy is awesome!

[ThePantop]

thankyou it helped with my project

[mattjohnkearney]

Beautiful turn at the end....great attitude, we should all have it!

[cochranexyz]

I remember this broadcast.  I remember his interview after he returned. Spooky then and now.

[MonsterLover1997]

i whent there for my b-day this year. it was a great sight!!! everyone should go see it!!!!!!

[EyeSeeQQ]

Any relation to "Davey Crockett.....King of the Wild Frontier" ?? ;-)

[EyeSeeQQ]

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmnnnnn!!! I mean......VOLCANO!! Oh, man, I would have thought I was going to die, too! Thankyou for posting this!!

Did your car end up getting burried? You know, you could use this for disaster preparedness. it's amazing that you were situated where you were.

I admire how you changed your predicament into a positive one.

Are there any signs of this volcano in the building up phase again? I keep an eye on the earthquakes daily with the USGS website...lots up by you!

[imtinaodarby]

amazing footage

[jadeyes914]

woah... that's one helluva hunch...

[rockondon]

i remember watching this at lot whitcomb elementary school..seems just like it was

yesterday :0)

[chubbsuperfly]

nice one, Dave...you got the story and lived to tell it. Way to play the hunch. That's good journalism. peace.

[tudssquadbuisness]

Did you know the guy? If you do tell him that I said "Bless You".

[tudssquadbuisness]

1:36 Freakin' apocolypse

[PatchesRips]

Oh, please tell me this guy won the Pulitzer. :)

[theninjachannel]

maybe the feeling was ever news channel in the country was talking about it

[thelionwaits]

I remember this video. It was everywhere. It gives me chills even today. My uncle is a geophysicist (ret.) and he brought back sample jars of ash and rocks from the mountain. Nature can one scary b*tch when she wants to be.

[nedeepak]

Scary!!

[apologeticsman]

i WATCHED THIS FILM FOOTAGE IN 3RD GRADE. mY TEACHER HAD A JAR OF THE ASH FROM THE EXPLOSION, AND SHE ACTUALLY FOUND A SMALL SLIVER OF HUMAN BONE IN IT

[k31north]

@apologeticsman out of all the ash that fell from that mountian, and the 57 people that died, ur teacher just happened to have a human bone in it....i lived in seattle at the time and there was ash falling there so ur teachers a liar

[carrollthirteen]

Nice upload! I too remember seeing this footage as a kid. Funny coincidence:I went up there today and saw a Komo truck drive through Cougar.

[niflap]

The explosion was heard up to 200 miles away, but was not very audible up close,apparently. Krakatoa 96 years earlier-however-was heard 3,000 miles away & shattered eardrums of nearby observers.

[funnyman6869]

They showed this footage in that HBO movie with Art Carney and it's still haunting!!

[watchingallthetime]

My gawd, I distinctly remember watching Crockett's report on KOMO TV news the day of the eruption, and for the week following and feeling so afraid. I had a black & white TV so no color didn't matter. We lived north of the volcano, on Ft Lewis, thinking the boom and the shaking was artillery fire practice. No ash hit us.

[watchingallthetime]

My gawd, I remember watching this on KOMO TV news the day of the eruption and being so afraid. I had a black & white TV so no color didn't matter. We lived north of the volcano, on Ft Lewis, thinking the boom and the shaking was artillery fire practice.

[Liberty4ev63]

The photos are starting at :40

are licensed and credited to a photographer named Gary Rosenquist who took them 11 miles from the summit.

Dave Crockett did not take those catastrophic first minute shots.

[joshuabrooks21]

Here we are on the 30th anniversary of my Home State's most devastating Volcanic eruption, and you people are saying how the ash reminds you of something, or you're saying things like "You're stupid...Go pray to the moon!" when you ought to be paying tribute to people like Harry Truman, and Davey Johnston. If it wasn't for these two men, we'd've probably lost more then 56 people!

[Orlor]

@joshuabrooks21 I can see paying tribute to Johnston but Truman? He was some old guy who was too stupid to get out of the way. How did he save any lives?

[teenonator]

The first time I saw this a week after the explosion on KOMO, it was the most moving thing I'd ever seen on TV.

[nighthawk584]

Wow, most incredible story ever. sends chills up my spine.

[TimmyGal]

I have the 10 year special that aired most of this. It's a great story. Mine was a little less dramatic! I was still a kid, but I remember us having to evacuate our home in Toutle.

[mixon100]

I dunno about anyone else but I see many faces in those clouds... interesting open minded folks agree????? 1.37 Harry S Truman perhaps?

[dingles420]

@mixon100 your stupid....go pray to the moon...

[TheMysnickers]

I remember this as an amazing, defining video from my childhood - so happy to find it again - thanks for posting PortlandDriver! A fantastic story from the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens!!

[aerobique]

fake

[nthrasher04]

@aerobique you wish

[jbpink]

To answer macktheknife's question which many others are also asking watch the CBS news video in the column on the right. It's 5:37 long. Instead of blowing it's top it blew out it's side.

[starguts]

@aerobique

Hahaha!

Look everybody, its the rare Volcano Troll!!

[macktheknife888]

When Katla in Iceland erupts it will make mt st helens look like a match.

[nthrasher04]

@macktheknife888 I hope this doesnt come off as stupid but I was wondering if they had any Idea when something like that could happen? I know Its not like tomorrow or anything lol, but 5 years 50 years?

[RDog4484]

This was from a TV special called "Up From the Ashes" made in 1990. I have the entire special on VHS lol.

[4SCARECROWS]

I see a Tyrannosaurus Rex's head on the left of the cloud pillar at 1:42. It looks like it has a shorter lower jaw. I don't see any devils head though. Well no, I do see two more faces. At the top of the pillar it has squinty eyes with buck teeth, and its chin overlaps and makes the forehead of the face below it. The face below it looks like A male australian aborigine or a papua/ new guinea native with afro hairstyle. You have to stop at exactly at 1:42 to see maybe. But I don't see any devil.

[julie1300]

This is the BEST Mt ST Helens video EVER ! THANS FOR POSTING !

[ajhgfhgjbjhbjhb]

ive seen this in middle school. its crazy

[xKatyKFx]

thankyou sooo much for posting this! omg i have this report thats due tomarrow..this sved my butt! :)

[stefanfilms123]

stop the video at 1:42 u can see the devils face in the smoke the weird??

[Mike44598]

Hey smart one, try David Johnston, THANK YOU!!!

[FudgeButters]

2:02 what a pussy

[IMINYOURWIFE2]

sort of thing a computer geek would say ..........

[ScremoSkullz]

wait a minute wait a minute, isnt Davy Crockett dead? or was that Davy ok thats creepy, his name has ALMOST the same as a pioneer, but nice video

[ripped131]

pause at 1:37 you can see the face in the ash and debris. Top center of the screen it is clearly visable, pretty cool. thank you nonextfx777 for pointing that out

[djjazzydj]

think the ash has got into your eyes and the heat has got to you!

[5978888]

Dude that is awesome thanks man I needed that for a project!

[EMT308]

What alarm is that that is going off?

[IrishRedRose]

It's his own car's alarm, I think.

[Doggieman1111]

awesome

[shannonkuratli]

How funny...here I am showing this video to my son, who is now the age I was when she blew...I have a film canister of the ash. He simply cannot fathom what it was like to be jumping rope outside with grey powdery ash falling down. I will never forget it.

[nonextfx777]

check out the side profile of a face in the volcano smoke. Fast froward to 1:37 and pause

[Wilforknowledge]

@nonextfx777 strangely similar to Harry Truman...

[tirdtosser]

this is the best video i have ever seen of mt st helens erupting. great job. this is awesome. a+ for posting this. love it.

[Phase171]

Yes, thank you. That's one hell of a story he's got to tell his grandkids.

[drftgy67]

Thank you for posting this!!!

[Bonemeal2]

@drftgy67 and Phase171

I concur!!! I've been looking for this video online ever since I saw it originally on an episode of Storm Stories on The Weather Channel!!!

[hendersonjerry]

Davy should have rescued Harry befofe he made a break for it.

Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier.